Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Episode Date: December 29, 2022

The holiday travel nightmare continues as Southwest Airlines canceled another 2500 flights today, warning it could be days until it’s back on track. Pope Benedict XVI is “very sick” according to Pope Francis. The 95-year-old resigned from the role nearly a decade ago, the first Pope in 600 years to do so. The U.S. requires Covid testing for visitors from China. Plus, an update from the police in Moscow, Idaho and a desperate search for a young father who vanished from his home in Virginia.

Tonight, the holiday travel nightmare continues. Southwest Airlines canceling another 2,500 flights today and warning it could be days until it's back on track. Seas of unclaimed luggage at airports around the country, many bags reaching a destination before their owner. The incredible moment, one traveler found his luggage in the chaos during an NBC News Now report. How other airlines are now trying to assist stranded travelers ahead of New Year's. Plus, the vice president of the Southwest Pilots Association joins us live, why he believes the company should have been prepared for the meltdown. Also, Pope Francis, revealing former Pope Benedict is, quote, very sick. The 95-year-old resigning from the role nearly a decade ago, the first Pope in 600 years to do so, what we know tonight from the Vatican.

New travel restrictions, the Biden administration just announcing new guidelines for anyone flying into the U.S. from China as the country deals with a surge in COVID cases. how the U.S. is planning for possible new variants. A plea for clues, police in Idaho asking for any information that might help solve the murders of four college students six weeks ago. Officials now clearing a professor as a possible suspect after she was accused of the murders by a TikTok tarot card reader. What they're saying could be key to cracking the case. Plus, desperate search, a young father banishing from his home in Virginia. His family discovering his abandoned car with blood in it just days, later, where that investigation stands now.

And a year in extremes. Catastrophic flooding, hurricanes, and heat waves. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association saying extreme weather cost the U.S. $15 billion this year alone. Is this the new normal? Top story starts right now. Good evening. I'm Jacob Ward in for Tom Yamis. Tonight, Southwest Airlines, in a table.

wheel spin, accounting for nearly 90% of all canceled flights within the U.S., while other carriers quickly recovered from the holiday weekend delays, seemingly little progress for Southwest Airlines. The carrier already canceling another 2,400 flights tomorrow. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg telling our Tom Yamas, Southwest has clearly crossed the line, and it could mean financial compensation for passengers. The mistakes piling up around the country. Many travelers desperately searching for their luggage, with some bags ending up thousands of miles from their destination.

One lucky passenger only found his bag after seeing it while watching NBC News now. While Southwest CEO says he is optimistic the company can get back on track in the coming days, the airline's pilot union said this all could have been avoided if the company had fixed its antiquated system. We'll hear from one of those pilots in just a moment, but we want to begin tonight with Emily Akata, who leads us off from O'Hare Airport in Chicago. As most airlines rebound, tonight the travel nightmare for Southwest passengers presses on. They've told us that the flight was canceled. Making up nearly 90% of today's cancellations, Southwest Nixing another 2,500 flights. That's on top of the more than 11,000 already canceled in the last week.

I really hope they figure out whatever the problems are and get back. on track. So what's keeping one of the country's largest carriers from bouncing back? Industry experts blame a trifecta of bad weather, the airline's outdated scheduling system, and its lower cost point-to-point flight design, which sends planes from one destination to the next and so on, instead of the popular hub-and-spoke system, connecting passengers and crews through a central point. In a point-to-point system like in Southwest, you can see a real domino effect of cancellations, where if one flight gets canceled, it puts a lot. lot of future flights that that plane and pilot and crew were supposed to operate at risk.

The airport Armageddon, no surprise to the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association. We've been warning of this for over five years. The last two years, we've seen more meltdowns, they've been more severe. The Senate's Transportation Committee promising today to investigate the causes of Southwest flight cancellations and their cascading effects seen in the scores of unclaimed suitcases from Dallas and St. Louis to Chicago. and Baltimore, where a viewer fetched his luggage after spotting it during a report from NBC's Chamari Stone. It's supposed to be in Denver.

I was in D.C., so I drove up, found my bag. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg telling Tom this week, the continued mayhem is Southwest's direct responsibility. They told me in their words that they will go above and beyond their written customer service plan. I'm going to be holding them accountable for doing that. Does that mean financial compensation? Please also hear that I'm truly sorry.

Southwest CEO apologizing to the airline's employees and customers, today rolling out a new website for travelers to submit requests for any refunds. Compensation experts say could cost the airline hundreds of millions of dollars. But for some passengers, it may be too little, too late. We need to be compensated bigger than just us, our flights. It makes me second-guess flying Southwest or ever checking a bag again. Emily Akeda joins us now from Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Emily, it's the question we all want to know. Do we have any idea when this travel nightmare will end? Jake, the question on everyone's mind. Southwest says it is flying just a third of flights in the coming days until it can operate at fuller capacity, hopefully next week.

In the meantime, American Delta United all announcing that they are capping fares in markets that Southwest operates in to help get stranded passengers home. Jake? Emily, Acadia for us in Chicago. Thank you, Emily. Tonight, another of our NBC correspondents is on the receiving end of this Southwest collapse. Gotti Schwartz, our beloved correspondent, has been on the road, and he's joining us live tonight. Gotti, I can't believe it. I mean, you're in the car, right? You have a partner and a one-year-old in the car with you. As I understand, you've been driving almost 12 hours.

I mean, you're in my own personal imaginary circle of hell here. How is it going? How has your journey been so far? How are you guys holding up? Yeah, so far, we were supposed to fly out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. That's where my family lives. It's where I'm from on Monday. I started to see on Sunday the flights were going down. You and I traveled so much, and I knew that I should probably book something protectively. So I booked a protective flight Wednesday. That Monday flight got canceled. Then I was like, okay, we're fine. We can fly out on Wednesday. That Wednesday flight got canceled. And then we went to go rent a car, records were like, okay, well, we've got to take, Keira. This is my one-year-old daughter and my wife home. It's about a 12-hour drive. If you don't have a one-and-a-half-year-old that we need to stop for pretty frequently to just stretch out her legs. So we went to go rent a car. We went to Hertz. We had a confirmation number. Everything was fine. Then Hertz told us, nope, sorry, we have no cars to rent you because of what's going on at Southwest. So it was ripple effect after ripple effect. And Jake, I want to show you something. I've got the

Southwest app right here, and I've been checking it pretty religiously just to see what the options are. If you look, it's hard to make out here. But right there, that's showing Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, no available flights. So even if we still were in Albuquerque trying to get out, we'd be unable to do so until possibly this weekend. And that continues to get pushed further and further. So what we did was my dad, he offered to drive us. So we've got my dad, my stepmom up here, The MVP's, I don't think he likes my driving, so he wants me to sit in the back where it's safe. We've got Kira here. We've got Miss Rachel, her favorite YouTuber.

Thank goodness for Ms. Rachel. And we are just, we've got two hours to go. Fingers crossed. But we're starting to hit L.A. traffic, so that could easily be two and a half hours, three hours. It's just been quite the ordeal, Jake. Gotty, I cannot imagine what you've gone through it. Will you all simply live together from now on and never fly to one another again? I mean, what have we learned from this experience?

Well, I mean, that's the thing. We've been talking about that and we're like, okay, what do we do next year? If my entire family, there's like 15 to 16 of us, they would have all come to L.A., and they would have had to try to go back to New Mexico. It would have been an absolute disaster. But the unfortunate thing is so many people are now planning, and if you live far away from your family, You have to take that into consideration, like, are we going to risk getting stranded? When the ripple effect that you see from Southwest happens, it's not just one airline.

It affects all the different airlines. At one point, we were looking up other flights on some other airlines, from Albuquerque to L.A. on economy, we were seeing flights as much as $2,800 per person, and that was still three or four days out. So it's just, you know, so many people have families that live for. far away. And now the unfortunate thing is we're going to have to take this into the calculation when we try to figure out what we're going to do for the holidays. But for now, we've got a lot of quality time with Bullo up there. Grasias, wolo. And the wife and Kira's learning how to do a road trip. So so far, she hasn't screamed in like 20, 30 minutes. Well, bless her, bless you guys,

bless your father for driving. And thank you for bringing us a firsthand seat in there. I'm glad you're in L.A. traffic and almost home. Thank you, got me. Now, for more on the Southwest Mess. We're joined here by Captain Michael Centoro. He's a Southwest Airlines pilot, and he's vice president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association. Captain Centoro, thank you so much for joining us. Now, it could seem, you know, like this travel nightmare is supposed to be, I mean, we've been told it's the result of a massive winter storm and a holiday week coming together. But as I understand, the Pilots Union at Southwest says the airline's longstanding problem with outdated software is a big factor here.

Walk us through that. Sure. Well, thanks for having me. So the winter storm was definitely the catalyst that began the whole snowball. But the real problem is our scheduling software infrastructure is just outdated. It's not able to keep up with the complexities of our network, the number of flights we have, a number of destinations we have, and the number of crew members we have. So what happens is when you get mass cancellations, we have airplanes and

And pilots out of position, and it can't figure out how to get them back together again. So that's the major problem that's going right now. And while you're seeing these mass cancellations, even when the weather is nice, is they're trying to reset the system and get us all in the right position so that we can reboot the system. And Captain Centoro, you heard earlier in our broadcast a description of Southwest's unique sort of point-to-point system as opposed to planes flying in and out of a central hub. Is that a contributing factor here? Well, I mean, our network is definitely more complex than a hub and spoke system. Point-to-point is more complex.

There are significant benefits to that system. And if we can enhance our IT and our scheduling department so that it can track where our pilots, flight attendants, and airplanes are all at the same time, it will, it's far superior than the hub and spoke. It's just a matter of Southwest investing in the infrastructure to do that. And we've heard extensively from passengers and, you know, from our own correspondents who've been affected by this disaster. But I want to know, you know, from an employee's perspective, what has all of this been like for airline workers and pilots? So it's pretty frustrating for us as a union.

We've been telling them this problems existed for since 2015 or 16-ish. So this isn't a new thing for us. And so when we see this happen, and of course, this is the biggest event I've ever seen in my 16 years itself. It's just incredibly frustrating for all our pilots. We feel for our customers. We apologize to them constantly. But just let, you know, I want everybody to know that our pilots were there. We're ready to work.

We are able to work and ready to take you to your families for that Christmas vacation. But the airplanes, the Southwest just couldn't match us up to the airplanes. And, you know, we apologize for that. Obviously, those employees are just, you know, as much sort of hostage to the circumstances as the passengers in many. ways. So obviously the holidays aren't over just yet. New Year's is going to bring a crush of new flights with a massive amount of people trying to get home. Do you think Southwest is ready for that and is the airline industry as a whole? So I think Southwest will be ready for that. There's one more day of the reset and they're saying Friday will be a mostly normal schedule.

We'll see how that works out. Hopefully tomorrow we can get everybody in position to make that happen. And then Friday, Saturday, back to a more normal schedule for the new year. You know, Up in the air, we'll see. God willing. Yeah, well, thank you, Captain Michael Centoro. Friday, it sounds like you heard it here from a Southwest pilot. We really appreciate your time. Last week's massive winter storm snarled travel nationwide, but for Buffalo, New York, it meant a deadly blizzard with a death toll that is still rising.

Five days later, the city is still digging out, and officials have started pointing fingers. Our Jesse Kirsch is there. In Buffalo tonight, roads are clearing. But more than five days after that monster blizzard began, this city is still under a travel ban with officials trading bars. There's not going to be happy to hear about it, but storm after storm after storm after storm. The city, unfortunately, is the last one to be opened, and that shouldn't be the case. It's embarrassing, tell you truth. And I'm just going to chalk it up to someone feeling that pressure and crumbling a little bit under it.

Local leaders scrutinized on cleanup and weather travel bans were announced quickly. enough as the death toll climbs. She was a hustler. She was a caretaker. Casey Macaron says her 52-year-old mother, Monique Alexander, went out Saturday afternoon. You're still waiting for her to come home? Yeah. Macaron says a stranger she calls an angel found her mother lying dead in the snow, moving her body under an awning for recovery. My son asks all the time, why does she have to go in the storm? Now the National Guard doing wellness checks. Amid concerns, people are running out of medicine and food. I'm afraid of what might happen if we said, go ahead and go to the grocery store.

We'll have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of vehicles driving in areas that really we can't handle because of the issues with snow. You need shelter. The same snow, Craig Elston says sent strangers flocking to his barbershop Friday, starting with someone banging at the door. He was crying. He was saying, yo, I'm going to die. Sue Nelson says his shop was filled with people seeking refuge, some also leaving during the blizzard. You realize you might have saved many lives. What do you think about? That could have been my daughter. That could have been my father. That could have been my brother. That could have been me. Jesse, there is still all that snow behind you and the city remains under a travel ban, but conditions on the ground could change soon. Is that right?

Yeah, Jake. Temperatures jumped to the 50s on Friday. and with rain coming, we're going to see a rapid melt. And with this much snow possibly about to be melting here, there was some concern over the possibility of flooding. The National Weather Services, the chance for flooding here is minimal, and it would be more of a nuisance variety. But there is another grim reality ahead. The police chief here in Buffalo says as the snow melts,

more bodies will be found. Jake? Jesse Kirsch for us in Buffalo. At the Vatican tonight, prayers for the retired. Pope Benedict, the 95-year-old Benedict described by Pope Francis today as very sick. His health reportedly deteriorating. Ann Thompson has late details. The news came from Pope Francis, revealing at the end of his general audience that Pope Emeritus Benedict

the 16th is very sick. Asking for prayers for his predecessor. The 95-year-old has appeared frail for some time, as seen here in August. when Francis introduced Benedict to the newest group of cardinals, including San Diego's Robert McElroy. The Vatican said Benedict's condition worsened due to his age, and he is now constantly monitored by doctors. Francis visited Benedict today in the monastery where he has lived since stepping down in 2013. That news shocked the world. It was something no Pope had done in six centuries.

An intellectual and the first German pope in a thousand years, Benedict said his bad health made it impossible to lead the church, then roiled by corruption and sexual abuse scandals, as well as declining mass attendance in Europe. This was a gesture of honesty. He felt that he no longer had the strengths to give the church what it needed. It was certainly a gesture of a profound humility. Today on social media, the hierarchy of the U.S. church joined Francis in praying for Benedict, who led the church for eight years and to open the door to retiring from a job for life. A move once thought impossible. Anne Thompson for us. Now to the latest on the nationwide COVID outbreak in China,

the U.S. will start requiring a negative COVID test for anyone flying from China to the U.S. starting on January 5th. Take a look here. In new rules enforced by airlines, pastors will need to present a recent negative COVID result or proof of recent recovery, regardless of nationality or COVID vaccine status. For more on this new policy, NBC News medical analyst, Dr. Vin Gupta, joins us now. Dr. Gupta, other countries like Japan have already announced plans to test travelers from China on arrival. What do you believe pushed U.S. officials to implement this plan here? Jake, good evening. Great to be with you.

You know, clearly it's the lack of data that's being shared from the Chinese. What we are not getting from them in the global case of the various, variants that may be arising worldwide. What we're not getting from them is, well, what are they seeing? What we do know is happening is there are millions of estimated infections now that they've done away with zero COVID. Their hospitals in some cases are being exhibiting surges. We don't know.

What are they actually experiencing in terms of specific variants? Are those variants susceptible to the vaccines that exist even in China? Do the treatments work? That lack of surveillance, that lack of intelligence is what has prompted this change. Let me remind all your viewers, this is nothing new. We've had this type of policy before, pre-departure testing, voluntary testing on arrival. This existed throughout 2020 and 2021. So this is an important policy change just to give us surveillance, and surveillance is key.

So considering that there isn't the proper transparency between the two nations to understand whether a new variant has emerged, I mean, give us sort of the worst-case scenario, right? If there were a variant that had emerged in China and it made its way here, how would we detect it and what could, such a variant, you know, mean for the spread of COVID? Well, let's take your second question first. The worst case scenario is, in some cases, what we saw early with Omicron. We saw big surge in cases, hospitals, big surge in January 2021 in terms of hospitalizations. A variance of concern arising in a place of rapid spread, uncontrolled spread, that negates the efficacy of the vaccines that exist today.

That would be a nightmare scenario. That's why we don't like situations like what's happening in China. where that, we're creating an environment where that might be possible. That's worst case scenario. What can we expect to with this new policy? We can expect that some of these tests that are done will be sent for sequencing, Jake, and that genomic data that we're lacking now will then will then be accrued here in the United States, at least at six airports across the country, and we'll be able to get a sense.

Are we seeing anything that's concerning, anything that should tip our hat to say, we need new vaccines, we need new treatments. Right now we don't have that data, but we will. will soon. And are we in any way off the hook here in the United States because of our high levels of immunity, our high rates of vaccination at this point? I mean, is it enough to just say, you know, slap masks on all Americans? Would that just do it? I mean, how safe are we here? You know, certainly mitigation measures like masks, especially in places that have surge capacity issues in children's hospitals. We should be doing with common sense public health measures to

protect our hospitals. That's not happening. To your point, are we protected? Yes, I mean, Depending on the zip code, in certain places, we're very protected from our hospitals getting similar surges to 2020. However, let me be clear here. We are already experiencing Jake in New York City, parts of the northeast, a new variant, XBB.1.5, for those that want the full digits. That is causing a surge in instances. Hospitalizations in New York have increased for the first time in 2022, highest rate all of all this calendar year. So we're already seeing some difficulties here with new variants that are very contagious. So while something in China might arise, we have our own challenges here in the United States to deal with,

like public health policies in the face of these new variants. So we shouldn't let what's happening in China distract us from the challenges that exist today that we need to tackle head on. Dr. Gupta, Forrest, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Now to Ukraine, where the southern city of Kursan is once again facing a barrage of Russian artillery. The officials now reporting 33 Russian missiles were fired at civilian targets in Khrsan just in the last 24 hours. This, as the eastern town of Bakhmut remains battered with intense fighting. President Zelenskyy saying today, quote, there is no place that is not covered with blood, but still Bakhmud stands. To talk about these developments and more, NBC's Matt Bradley joins us now from Kiev.

Matt, the onslaught of attacks on civilians this week has just been brutal. The UN now estimates 40% of Ukrainians needing humanitarian assistance. we know about the impact on the civilian population now, 10 months into this war? Yeah, I mean, now that we're in the 11th month of this war, Jake, I mean, the fact of the matter is that the civilian bombardments have been going on since the beginning. And, you know, we keep talking about how the civilians are bearing the brunt of this, and I've been watching it firsthand, just people who are leaving, people who are returning from the front lines, people who were leaving from Mary Opel back months ago. Remember that story? It was a tragic case,

and now we're seeing it in Bahmoud, and all through. throughout the eastern and southern fronts. But you know, you mentioned those U.N. figures. 40% of this population is in need of assistance. That's about 18 million people. But, you know, the U.N. also mentioned something that was interesting. 7% of this country, when asked, said that they wouldn't leave. Jake?

Wow. 18 million people affected. Now, of course, Matt, we know Ukrainian forces are focusing in on the Russian-occupied city of Kremlin. Walk us through the strategy here. Why is we're taking that eastern city so crucial? Yeah, I mean, that is a city that's very near Bahmoud, which is we've heard so much about that city over the past five months. It's one of the longest lasting battles in this whole war. But just north of it is Kremlin. And, you know, we heard from the governor of Lohansk region just today saying that the Russians know that if Kramina falls to the Ukrainians, then the whole line will fall.

That is probably a bit hyperbolic. But the fact is, is that once the Ukrainians take Crimea, they're going to be within striking distance of two other major cities, Lizzy Chansk and Severo Donetsk. And once they're able to do that, then they'll be in a good position to move well into the Dombas region. But the idea that the whole line could fall just from taking Kramina, well, the Russians have a lot of assets in that region. And also, remember, Vladimir Putin believes, rightly or wrongly, that he has a new group

of enlisted soldiers who are headed to the front line right. now. And we're talking about numbers in the hundreds of thousands. And they are already there, some of them, and they're already on their way. That could potentially tip the balance of the conflict. But it's unclear what that will do. Right. Obviously, a key strategic point there. So President Putin just announced a ban on oil sales to any nations that agreed to a Western price cap, and that includes the U.S., the European Union. But most of these countries already have a ban in place on Russian oil. In the few moments we have left here, Matt, what effect is this decision expected to have?

Yeah, I mean, most of that is going to be symbolic. Just like you said, most of the countries that are buying oil from Russia are not party to this treaty. And actually, they're already buying that oil at less than $60 a barrel, which is the price cap that was set by the G7 and by the European Union. By the way, the European Union has already basically said that they have a full embargo on almost all exports from Russia. So this isn't necessarily going to affect anything. But the fact of the matter is that this is a symbolic move. And one that comes as Russia is warning that, you know, Europe is going to be facing a cold winter without electricity, without gas. Well, they aren't. The weather has been good. Those stocks are high. Things are looking okay for Western Europe. So it looks like that, you know, second weapon that Vladimir Putin thought he had isn't deriving. Matt Bradley for us in Kiev. Thank you, Matt. Still ahead tonight, the desperate search for a young father in Virginia, a 20-year-old missing the first Christmas with his daughter. building discovery made by his family after tracking his phone.

Plus, the latest in the murder of four University of Idaho students, how authorities are now sifting through troves of misinformation for any clue on what they are asking of the public. And the investigation just launched into a congressman elect who admitted to lying on his resume. Stay with us, top story is just getting started. We're back now and bring you to Moscow, Idaho. Police, there are still investigating new leads and sorting through thousands

of tips trying to find a suspect in the murder of four college students, this while also trying to clear up widespread speculation online about a particular professor saying that they do not believe she is involved at all. Steve Patterson has more. Tonight, Idaho police making a plea to the public to help solve the quadruple murders in Moscow, Idaho. In a press release stating their focus, quote, remains on the investigation, not in individual's activities displayed in the tip, and to keep sharing, writing, your information might be one of the puzzle pieces that helps solve these murders. Also, still pursuing that 2011 to 2013 white Hyundai Allantra. Authorities say they have looked into more than 22,000 cars since identifying the car as a potential

lead and that they think the occupant of the car may have, quote, critical information. We just want to talk to that person or persons in that vehicle to see what they may know. In the six weeks following, police have yet to publicly identify any suspect, but now they're trying to clear up speculation around one person. A University of Idaho professor Rebecca Schofield, the police saying at this time in the investigation, they do not believe she's involved in the crime. Schofield was accused of the murders in videos by a self-described TikTok internet salute who uses tarot cars, she says, helps solve crimes. When Rebecca Schofield, the one who merged the four Idaho college students, see my videos. The videos were reposted

and viewed by millions. The professor filed a defamation lawsuit, denying any wrongdoing after the user refused to take down the videos. In the lawsuit, Skullfield alleges her reputation was injured and that she was, quote, subject to online ridicule and threats from online commenters. And now fears that she or her family will be the target of physical violence. It's just another example of the police responding to the tremendous amount of misinformation surrounding this case. They even have a rumor control section of their website. I think rumors always hurt us in an investigation. But it's our job. to go back and utilize our resources and to continue to vet those and make sure that all that

information is still cataloged so that we have it. Their focus is now on the thousands of tips left to sort through, reporting more than 7,000 email tips, 4,000 phone tips, and 4,500 digital media submissions. The family of one of the slain students, Kaylee Gonzalez, still questioning what truly happened that night and if police are handling the investigation correctly. Their attorney telling NBC News in a text, trust is earned, and they need to remember that because the way they've handled things so far haven't garnered much trust. Steve Patterson joins us now from Los Angeles. Steve, students will start returning to campus as classes begin again next week. What is being done there to help them feel safe?

Yeah, Jake, the University of Idaho says it is adding additional personnel to their security team while also working with law enforcement to maintain a heightened presence on campus, enhancing neighborhood. patrols close to campus, also students feel safe when they return. Jake? Steve Patterson for us in Los Angeles. Thank you, Steve. When we come back, officer fired. The Florida officer caught on camera dragging a woman across the Florida, Tampa jail. What his former department is saying tonight, stay with us. Back now with Top Stories News Feed, and we begin with new details on a suspected serial killer here in Northern California. Wesley Brownlee is now linked to a seventh murder. Authorities say the killings happen in the East Bay in April 2021. He's also facing four new murder charges

and an attempted murder charge for a string of deadly shooting spanning 2021 to the fall of this year. He's being held without bail. A police officer in Florida fired tonight after a disturbing arrest caught on camera. Security footage shows Tampa officer Gregory Damon dragging a woman by her sweater and arms into a jail. Police say the incident began when the woman was found sleeping outside of a health center and was arrested after refusing to leave the area.

Police say she also refused to leave the squad car. An internal investigation determined Damon had violated multiple departmental policies. Now, an update to a story we brought you last night, Congressman-elect George Santos is now under investigation. The Nassau County District Attorney's Office confirming to NBC News, they're looking into whether the 34-year-old Republican committed a crime. This week, Santos admitted to lying about his job experience and college education. The representative for Santos has yet to comment on the probe.

And Taylor Swift, breaking another record. Her 10th album, Midnights, has reportedly become the first album in 35 years to sell more vinyl records than CDs. Since its release in October, Midnights has sold an estimated 800,000 VIII. final copies. It also broke several other records this year, including the most streamed album on Spotify in 24 hours. And now, let's turn to the ongoing search for a 20-year-old father that's been missing for one week in Virginia. His family desperate to find him after a disturbing discovery in the backseat of his abandoned car days after he vanished. Valerie Castro has that story. Tonight, a family's desperate search for a young father in Virginia, and they say blood,

found inside his car has them fearing the worst. My son would never do anything or hurt anyone. His mother says the 20-year-old vanished just days before Christmas. There was no Christmas for us. There was no celebration. We were grieving for my son. We were in the streets looking for my son, in the rain, in the cold. Jose Guerrero, dad to 10-month-old daughter Avery,

left his home in Woodbridge last Wednesday around 8 p.m., his loved ones say. He didn't mention where he was going or what he was going to do. He mentioned he was going to come back in five to ten minutes. His girlfriend and Avery's mom, Sheila Perez, expected him to return after a few minutes for a planned date. But as hours passed, she began to worry and reported him missing to Prince William County Police. They weren't taking us serious. They thought this was just a missing person. And since he is 20 years old, they thought he must have ran away, some other.

excuse, no. That's not the issue here. This is serious. The family finding his car two days later, abandoned less than a mile and a half from their home. They told us that there was a big amount of blood in the back seat of the car. The family also says they found a trail of blood drops leading to nearby woods. Police are not releasing many details, but are now calling Guerrero a missing endangered adult and say he vanished under suspicious circumstances. This photo of him taken earlier this month in front of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, now a distant memory of a happier time. I shouldn't be here looking for him. We should be at home. The family continuing to scour the area around where his car was found, hoping to find an answer. And we're going to continue to search

until we find him or anything that will lead us to him. Valerie Castor joins us now from New York. Valerie, we heard there from Guerrero's girlfriend that police may not have been taking this seriously, according to her. What are police telling you about their investigation? Well, Jake, we asked police about those claims, and they say the seriousness of the case was upgraded once Jose's car was discovered. They also say they've conducted numerous searches and continue to follow up on multiple leads. The family says they're glad police are now classifying Jose as an endangered adult, but they continue to press them to do more in their search efforts. Jake? Valerie, Castro for us in New York.

Valerie, thank you. Coming up, a year of extremes. This week's deadly blizzard, not the only historic weather event of the year. So as the climate crisis worsens, is this our new normal? There's the wind speed as I'm standing next to. to a building, which is somewhat protecting me. So I'll take a knee. Whoops. I can take a knee here. And that was Kerry Sanders, reporting from Punta Gorda, Florida in late September.

You can see him there having to take a knee wearing a helmet as Hurricane Ian made landfall as a monster category four storm. Ian's deadly wrath and this week's historic blizzard, just two of several record-breaking weather events that took place in 2022. And as the climate crisis worsens, experts say, these. These disasters will continue and could become even more extreme. Here's NBC's Dylan Dreyer with a look at what this year might tell us about our future. 2020, a violent year of climate and weather extremes.

From heat waves and drought to catastrophic flooding and hurricanes, the impacts reverberating around the globe. So far this year, $15 billion weather disasters hit the U.S., according to NOAA, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. The final count yet to be tallied. The first billion dollar disaster came in the spring when warmer temperatures fueled three deadly tornado outbreaks in as many weeks. Run, right, right! Spawning more than 200 reported tornadoes across more than a dozen states. It's very devastating when you, you know, like it's all your hard work. It's just going up in the air. In the West, sections of Yellowstone National Park were devastated by destructive flash floods.

Roads were washed away, and the park closed to the public for the first time in three decades. Climate change causing the atmosphere to be warmer and wetter, making conditions right for these types of events. It was very surprising how quickly it came. This summer was a story of extremes. Europe had its most intense heat wave in recorded history. London set a historic all-time high of 104 degrees. Back in the U.S., six, one-thousand-year flood. occurred in the span of five weeks in July and August. Places like St. Louis, Dallas, and eastern Kentucky deluged with 8 to 15 inches of rain in just 24 hours.

Death Valley received its entire year's worth of rain in just three hours. The footprint of climate change leaving its mark across nearly the entire U.S. Parts of the West baked in the most severe heat ever recorded in the month of September. I've never dealt with something that's hot before. hundred weather stations hitting their hottest temperatures in places like Salt Lake City, Reno, and Sacramento. Meanwhile, already extreme drought conditions in the region worsened. Lake Meade's water level plunged to its lowest yet, the Bureau of Reclamation declaring a tier two water shortage for the first time ever, hoping to avert a water crisis.

After a slow start to the hurricane season, Category 4 Ian roared ashore southwest Florida, with winds topping 150 miles per hour, tying for the fifth strongest hurricane ever to strike the United States. Neighborhoods in Fort Myers and Naples left in ruin. Warmer waters are acting as jet fuel, causing the storms to rapidly intensify. Just as the season was coming to a close, Category 1 Nicole became the first November hurricane to make landfall in nearly 40 years. Scientists attribute this to warmer sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean.

This year, running up to three and a half degrees above average. Nicole is the nail in the coffin for Daytona Beach Shores. Ian came in and did all this damage, and now Nicole is just putting us away. In upstate New York, winter arrived early when a massive November snowstorm rewrote the history books, burying neighborhoods and even the Buffalo Bills Stadium under 80 inches of snow. There's nothing in the store. You can't get a little bit bright or anything. Finally, with eerie similarity to last year, a series of deadly cool-season tornadoes ripped through the South. More than 100 reported over two weeks across seven states between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This one house right here, y'all, my house is just gone. The December twisters, part of a massive week-long cross-country storm that dropped four feet of snow in the West, brought blinding blizzard conditions to the upper Midwest and dozens of tornadoes to the south. Dylan Dreyer, NBC News. When we come back, the results are in. Netflix released its top streaming movies and TV shows of 2022. Can you guess who topped the list? And did your favorites make the cut?

That's next. Yeah, I cruise through the city and I roll the streets. You better die when I show up to hear you know. Did you recognize that scene? It's from the hit Netflix show Wednesday, and it also went viral on TikTok. The spooky series about the Adams family daughter was one of the most streamed Netflix shows in 2022, and it had good company. The streaming giant revealing its top ten most streamed shows and movies of the year. We're joined now by television host and entertainment news expert Andrew Freud.

Andrew, thank you so much for being here. So let's start with the shows that we love to watch on Netflix. It is a very stacked list. Let me show you a look at numbers four through ten. You can see there Bridgeton inventing Anna Ozark. That was my jam. The Watcher, the Sandman, the Umbrella Academy, Virgin River. Did any of these grab you?

Yeah, I mean, Bridgerton, of course, which was a huge success, came back really strong with season two. And the thing that is staggering, Jake, about these. are the numbers. It is insane. How many people watched Netflix, Bridgerton alone over a billion views, one of their highest rated shows of all time. And of course, people like that period, piece drama, they like the costumes, they like the sets, all that kinds of thing. So Bridgerton to me was my jam. Also, you know, as you said before, Ozark. I mean, Jason Bateman kills it every single time. Of course, it had to be one of Netflix's shows as well in 2022 you know it really is startling to me how how huge these numbers are and how

you know varied human taste is right i think that's what netflix is sort of teaching us you know rounding out the top of the list in the number three slot is a show by ryan murphy and this one caused a little bit of controversy got a lot of people talking have a look here i was just head home to crack open a few bruskeys how about you come with me. You got some weed, drink a few beers, have some weights. And then I'll drive you out there. Yeah, man, that sounds great. No, dude, don't get in that car. That was a bad idea.

That was Dahmer taking third place. I don't know. I don't know. Don't get in the car. It doesn't matter what he's got in his house. You know, like I mentioned, there was, of course, controversy surrounding this series. It's based on real tragedy here. And the stories of Dahmer's victims were portrayed in a way that many of their families did not feel was sensitive.

What do you think about its placement on the list here? You know, again, that Dahmer was the number three show on Netflix of all times. it gained over 856 million hours in the first 28 days it was released. And, you know, people like to see drama. They like to see crime. And when you combine true crime drama and serial killers, people are fascinated. They like to see things that maybe make them slightly uncomfortable. They like to see things that are, you know, these wild, salacious tales, you know,

and even when you show that footage, you know, I scream, don't get in the car. But really, why do these people get in the car? I don't know. I don't understand. I know. It's absolutely true. Now, in second place is a very different kind of thing. The latest installment to the Adams family is Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega in the leading role. This one only came out in November, but it has broken so many records and it has torn through my house. My kids can't get enough of it. What did you think about this one? The thing about Wednesday that's fascinating to me is that I think its popularity is really propelled due to TikTok. Like that dance scene that we saw earlier, a lot of the kind of marketing

that Netflix isn't really even paying for is because of the social media content that's coming out of the show. You know, like you said, your kids love it. But people of all age love it. And of course, Tim Burton is a visionary director with a very specific aesthetic. And people love to see anything that Tim Burton makes. So you combine Tim Burton, the Adnis family, TikTok, boom. You you got a hit on your hands. Yeah. And in first place here, a series that, of course, and forgive the pun,

no stranger to a spot at the top. Have a look. That's the fourth season and, you know, just a monstrous hit. What do you think explains that? You know, obviously, you know, the first few seasons that came along were a huge hit. This current season is now the number one most watch show on Netflix of all time with 1.3 billion hours streamed within the first 28 days it was released. And people just fell in love with the characters. You know, you have, of course, you have Winona Ryder, but you have the kids, and people have grown up with these kids.

And now those kids don't look like kids anymore. It's absolutely true. And something about that sort of pre-technology era they live in. That's part of what grabbed me. Yeah, that one I also can't get enough of. So next, we, of course, have the number one docu series that really took the world by storm here. The Tinder Swindler about the man who allegedly scammed multiple women out of millions of dollars. Let's take a look at that one.

He took me to a five-star hotel. He said we had a special connection. It felt like stepping into a movie. And then the middle of the night. He said there was something he wants to tell me. He said he has threats against him. He means our cash. $20,000, $30,000.

$140,000. His life depended on me. It really just speaks to something in the human condition that people love this thing as much as they do. What do you make of that? I mean, as someone who's in the online dating world, Jake, I can completely relate to it because, you know, you're on your phone and you're on these apps,

and you've sometimes people encounter shady people. You don't know if you're real. They don't know if you're getting catfished. So I think people watch this show just because they could relate simply to the world we're in right now, and especially coming out of COVID, when we were trapped on our devices for two years, it really struck a chord with audiences. I think that's right. So turning to movies here, and it's so quaint, right, because they're no longer the dominant

format in the streaming area, but movies had some really big star power on the small screen here. In third place is Purple Heart. It's a movie, of course, about a singer-songwriter who agrees to marry a troubled Marine for military benefits and what happens when the lines get blurred there. Is this your kind of movie, Andrew? What did you think of this one? It's not necessarily my kind of movie, but I do see why it was so successful. The star, Sophia Carson, is a huge social media star.

She has a huge social media presence. So she alone, when she posts, hey, watch my movie Purple Hearts, that's going to draw in a lot of people. Plus, not to mention, it's, you know, a Y-A, a young adult film. So, you know, you have some of the Twilight fans, the Harry Potter fans, all these kinds of young teens that like this kind of young teen. angsty drama. You know, we all can relate to it for sure. Now, the next one in second place here is the Adam Project, which premiered in February and has an all-star cast, including Ryan Reynolds, Jennifer Garner, Zoe Saldana, many more of them. It's, of course, you know, it's about this time-traveling fighter pilot who teams up with his 12-year-old self to save the future.

And then I want to sort of jump ahead because I feel like it puts, it goes together with the last one here, the number one here, which is this star-studied cast. It's another act. It's another action thriller film. It's also taken the number one spot. And that is, of course, the Gray Man starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Anad Armas. You know, this is the thing is that these are two movies that didn't necessarily get great reviews, but just killed it in the viewership department. Why did sort of, why don't critics and audiences line up with that one? So I'm also a film critic as well. And I think that sometimes critics, they want to view movies with, you know, a critical eye, but we're not necessarily looking at the overall entertainment

value. And both of these films have star-studded cast, like you said. I sat down, I interviewed Ryan Reynolds' example for the Adam Project. And one of the things that we spoke about was that film has this nostalgia factor. It reminds you of like, back to the future, flight of the navigator. And the reason why the Adam Project was so successful is because of that. It reminded people of the films that they saw in their childhood. In terms of the gray man, that was a huge $200 million dollar epic espionage action. It was directed by the Russo brothers who, of course, directed all the Avengers films. So you had the explosions and all that sort of thing. So audiences, you know, they like escape. They like to see, you know, worlds that aren't themselves. So

Netflix really, really killed it this year in terms of numbers and in terms of viewer's hands down Netflix, hands down Ted Sarandos. You guys killed it. Andrew Freund, walking us through the Top Streaming series and movies and docuseries. Andrew, thank you so much for being here. And thank you for watching Top Story. For Tom Yamas, I'm Jake Ward. Please stay right there. More news is on the way.