Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

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 fears of a catastrophic tsunami fade after a massive earthquake triggered panic across the globe. The magnitude 8.8 quake and rush sparking warnings across the ocean. Video of the surgeons working as the operating womb shook. Tsunami waves flooding buildings. People seen running out of homes crumbling behind them. The rush in Hawaii to get to higher ground. Also breaking tonight, the dentist just convicted of murdering his wife by lacing her protein shakes with poison. New York mourning the loss of those killed in the midtown shooting as investigators reveal what they discovered inside the shooter's Vegas apartment. And we're just learning the gunman purchased that AR-15 style rifle from a former coworker.

Another high-profile burglary in Los Angeles will show you the sophisticated techniques criminals are using, knocking out Wi-Fi, making your devices so dark, and tracking your movements what you can do to protect yourself. The canned cocktail accidentally labeled as a popular energy. drink, the recall after a manufacturing mix-up between high noon and Celsius. Fashion forensics with designer counterfeits becoming more sophisticated will take you inside the luxury lab with the high-tech tools sorting the real deal from the replica. And the emotional farewell to Ozzy Osborne, the tearful goodbye from his family, as tens of thousands of fans lined the streets of the heavy metal legend's birthplace.

Plus, a disturbing attack on a Virginia lawmaker, the councilman set on fire at his workplace. We're learning. Top story. Starts right now. And good evening. We begin tonight with one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, triggering tsunami fears across the Pacific. The 8.8 magnitude quakes striking Russia last night. Video showing people scrambling to safety as buildings crumble. And scary moments in this operating room, take a look. Doctors seen shaking mid-surgery. Panic sea lions diving into the seawater there as the cliff. side topples above them. Here's a look at where that earthquake hit off the coast of Russia triggering tsunami alerts in Japan, South America, and the U.S. The warning leaving some

tourists stranded in Hawaii. Cars on the roads of Honolulu bumper to bumper. Hawaii just issuing an all-clear, but many coastal cities remain on edge. We want to get to NBC's Liz Croix, who leads us off from Hawaii tonight. Tsunami alerts issued as far away as South America. After that massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake, one of the largest ever recorded struck off Russia's Pacific coast. Sending people rushing out of crumbling buildings. Portions of the ceiling collapsing on travelers at an airport. Doctors here seen mid-surgery desperately trying to stabilize a patient.

Tremors shattering this rushing kindergarten building, the entire wall falling away. Thank God there were no children inside. says the quake happening along the Pacific's ring of fire. The first tsunami spotted in this small fishing village. You can see those buildings floating away. In Japan, millions evacuated, some flocking to rooftops. And in the U.S., tsunami warnings issued up and down the West Coast. We decided to go to elevated ground. Hawaii braced for the worst. It can move cars. It will throw fences around. If it hits, it can dislodge trees. in gridlock as residents raced to get away from the coast tourists at beachfront hotels forced to seek shelter above the fourth floor hundreds crowding and resort hallways for hours airlines cancelling flights the coast guard ordering all commercial vessels to evacuate harbors they left without us hold on I'll show you there they are they're leaving us Mandy Barry said she had to stay the night in a helo shelter after her tour bus didn't make it back before her cruise ship left port my first thought was

was why are they closing the gate? And then I second thought was, wow, this is really happening. They're really going to leave us. Overnight, waves crested to over five feet in some areas, but no major injuries or damage reported. Liz Kreutz joins us tonight from Honolulu. And Liz, you know, we have to point out there that Hawaii really notified its residents this time around of this emergency. And it looked like people were definitely listening. Absolutely, Tom. I mean, there's now an all clear here across all of the Hawaiian islands. There's also, all of those tsunami warnings and advisories. Those have also pretty much been lifted across the entire United States.

But here in Hawaii, as things are now back to normal, people are allowed to go back into the ocean, flights are back on time, that woman who was stranded from her cruise ship. We were told she is now back on her cruise, thankfully. And officials are crediting that early alert system. There was the sirens that went off, and they say that because of that, even though there was that traffic, people had more than four hours to be able to get safely away from the coast. Tom. All right, Liz Kreutz for us leading us off. Liz, great to have you there in Hawaii.

For more on this, I want to bring an NBC meteorologist, Bill Karens. Bill, walk us through the science of it all, and there were real concerns overnight. Tom, we only average one magnitude eight or higher earthquake on our planet every year, and this one was an 8.8. This was the strongest in 14 years. So when we saw that number pop up, we knew that we had the potential for a really dangerous tsunami to be propagating through the whole Pacific Basin. Now, we didn't know for about three to six hours, how large that tsunami was. Our warning systems, which your tax dollars paid for, did tell us there was one, but we didn't know until we started getting reports from Japan first, just how large it was. And Japan, by the way, it was about one to three feet

in the Hawaiian Islands. It was a little bit larger than that. And this is the top 10. It just shows you that ring of fire. And of course, we were worried, the other big ones on the map, you know, Indonesia, in 2004, hundreds of thousands of people killed by that tsunami. And also the 2011 in Japan, the Fukushima, that killed thousands of people. So, So those were the examples of what a powerful earthquake like this can do, and we know it moves at 500 miles per hour. So we had a six-hour period where it unknown, and then it finally arrived in Hawaii. We saw the water go out and back out into the ocean. The beach appeared, and then it came back in, and it was about four to about six feet.

So not big enough for any devastation, thankfully. Yeah, Bill, I want to ask you because we know that earthquake wasn't too deep, right, which makes the fear and the threat of a tsunami so much greater. Do we know why, or you can explain to our viewers, why such a powerful earthquake produced maybe such, and I don't want to call a weak tsunami, but not such a large tsunami. Yeah, this was only, roughly, it went from negative three to about six. I mean, we've had tsunamis that have been, you know, triple or quadruple the size of this one. So here's kind of the science behind it. The Pacific plate is running in here to the North American plates. So we've got two tectonic plates hitting each other. All the tsunami is is displaced water. A meteorite can cause a tsunami or an underground landslide in a mountainous region of the ocean.

But when the earthquakes happen, two plates are hitting each other. You need one to pop up, and that pushes the water up. These may have kind of filled in together or maybe just barely popped up, and that's why we did not see a huge tsunami out of this. So in some facets, we got lucky. We got very lucky. And just to be clear, Bill, we were hearing about all clears across coastlines, even in South America. It's going to be safe now.

We shouldn't expect any surprises. No, there's a lot of aftershocks. They've had like 50 magnitude 5.0s or greater, but we haven't seen any other problems. Okay, Bill Caron, so great for explaining that. We appreciate it. We want to turn out to a disturbing story and attack on a Virginia City Councilman, a suspect showing up at his work and setting him on fire. NBC's Garrett Haake has more of the alarming confrontation.

Tonight, police in a small Southern Virginia town have charged a 29-year-old man with attempted murder, accusing him of dousing Danville City Councilman Lee Vogler with a flammable liquid and setting him on fire. Witnesses at the local magazine where Vogler worked told police Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes somehow forced his way into the office and threw the liquid on Volger, who exited the building where Hayes then set him a light.

The magazine's publisher, shaken by the assault. This type of senseless act of violence has to stop. You do not have the right as a human being to get upset with someone enough to lash out and attempt to harm them in any way, much less this way. Witnesses provided a description of the suspect and his car. Hayes was arrested a short time later.

Police say the two men knew each other and that the attack stemmed from a personal matter, not related to politics or Vogler's position on the city council. This is Danvo City Councilman Lee Vogler. In 2012, Vogler, a Republican, became the youngest person ever elected to the council at 24. He was repeatedly re-elected, including last year, and wrote regularly for the magazine. often short posts about life with his wife and two young children. He is a very gregarious handsome gentleman with a tremendous energy. Garrett, this story is so horrific. Do we have any update on the status of the councilman?

Well, Tom, after the attack, we know that he was airlifted to a regional hospital. We've not been able to confirm which one. The magazine's publisher said that at the time he was conscious and he was speaking, but tonight we've got no additional update on his condition. Tom. All right, Garrett Hake first, Garrett. We thank you for that. We want to get to some breaking news. We're just learning about one child has been killed.

14 others have been injured after a car crash into a popular chain restaurant in a Chicago suburb. Police say the crash and happened at Portillo's restaurant in Oswego, Illinois. Just after 2 p.m. You can see the car lodged in some of this video completely inside the restaurant. The incident is under investigation right now, but preliminary reports indicate it was an accident. A two-year-old child has died. including the driver who is a 50-year-old woman were taken to local hospitals. Okay, also breaking tonight, the former Colorado dentist accused of killing his wife by poison found guilty of murder and other charges,

the jury deliberating for less than nine hours. NBC's Camilla Bernal has been following the high-profile case. It took the jury just about eight hours to render its verdict. We, the jury unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt, find the defendant, James Craig, guilty of murder in the first year. Jurors finding former Colorado dentist James Craig guilty of killing his wife Angela in 2003, who he cheated on for years. Surrounded by his lawyers, Craig showed little reaction as six guilty counts were read by the judge. The jury finding he deliberately and methodically poisoned his wife's protein shakes, doctored her pills, and injected her IV, killing her over the course of several days.

She was strong, and she knew who she was. She could command a room just by entering it. Angela's family speaking to the court after today's verdict. He was supposed to be my hero, and instead he'll forever be the villain in my book. And it occurs so bad every day. The jury also finding Craig guilty on all charges related to his attempts to cover a his crime. Craig's defense team asking for immediate sentencing. Dr. Craig unleashed a path of destruction as wide as a tornado and just as devastating. The judge declaring he will spend

the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. Camilla, we just see, we saw Craig there and the way he was looking when he was handcuffed. What was this demeanor like today in court? Hey, Tom, not a lot of emotion from him today. In comparison to you, yesterday during closing arguments when he was crying and wiping his tears as his team read portions of his wife's diary. On the other hand, you had a lot of emotion from the siblings, from his children, the family members just devastated as they spoke about Angela, as they spoke about how difficult this has all been, as they spoke about how they tried to help and couldn't help Angela in any way. Even the prosecutors getting emotional today after the verdict, they had

press conference and they talked about the fact that they can't stop thinking about Angela, that they think about her every single day when they asked them why the fascination for this case, why the national attention, the prosecutor saying that he believes it's because of how senseless this crime was, Tom. Okay, Camila Bernal on that case covering it from the get-go. We appreciate it. For more on the case and the verdict, I want to bring in trial lawyer and legal analyst and a good friend to top story, Misty's so great to see you. I'm looking at the list here, 50 witnesses, including two children who testified against their own father. This was a case for the prosecution to lose. Absolutely. The prosecution had a great case because of the electronic

footprint, Tom. We had searches on the internet, text messages, and couple that with the witness testimony. The prosecutors were able to put together this timeline of the time leading up to Angela Craig going into the hospital to her death. And that timeline was absolutely damning to the defense and really box them in because that was evidence they couldn't refute. The defense's case essentially, and correct me if I'm wrong here, was that he was such a bad husband that his wife was suicidal, but then they don't put him on the stand, no witnesses, I believe. How was their strategy in this? So they really didn't have anything to present because they were stuck in this situation

where Angela Craig had these substances in her system. They had to deal with that. They had to provide an alternative scenario which the jury could last. So they came up with this very far-fetched scenario that she was suicidal and poisoned herself. Right. Obviously, the jury did not buy that. They tried to use diary entries where she was talking about being unhappy in her marriage from 2009 and 2018, Tom. Think about that. Right.

This happened years later, so it really didn't live there. I want to show the charges in the case because some people might have found this stranger confusing. Guilty on six counts, but found not guilty on manslaughter because of aid of suicide. Essentially, meaning that they found that Craig did not help. Greg did not help his wife end her life, which was the case the defense was trying to build. No surprise is there, right? He wasn't going to be found guilty in all charges. No. So first degree murder was what he was found guilty of. That's a premeditated murder. He planned this out, just as prosecutors laid out to the jury. This was what's called a lesser

included offense. So since he conceded, he did acquire these poisons. He said it was to assist her in committing suicide. There had to be something on that verdict sheet from the defense perspective that would fit that theory. And that's why we see. saw that on the verdict sheet, but ultimately not guilty on that because he's guilty of the first-degree murder. Misty, we thank you so much for being here on top story tonight. All right, we're going to move on now to that deadly shooting spree at a Manhattan skyscraper. Tonight, we're learning new details about how the suspect got a hold of an AR-15-style rifle and what police found when they searched his Las Vegas apartment. Here's NBC's Aaron McLaughlin. Tonight, law enforcement sources say

Shane Tamora bought this AR-15 style rifle from a former co-worker for $1,400. Police say, he'd go on to use the weapon to kill four people at 345 Park Avenue before taking his own life. Law enforcement sources say Tamora's former coworker at the Horseshoe Casino purchased the gun legally, but they're still reviewing whether the sale to Tamura, who had a documented history of mental illness, was legal. Adding the former coworker is cooperating. The same sources tell NBC News. He also sold Tamora this black BMW that Tamora used to drive to New York City. They have a lot of work to take a look at what was clearly the motive. Was anybody else involved? Tonight we're also learning new details about what authorities found when they searched Tamora's Las Vegas apartment, including a second handwritten suicide note to his parents, writing, when I look into you and dad's eyes, all I see is disappointment. I love you, Mama. I'm sorry. Investigators also found several prescriptions in Tamora's name, including anti-psychotic and anti-epileptic medications.

Investigators believe Tumora may have been targeting NFL headquarters at the skyscraper. A suicide note found on his body indicated he believed he had CTE, a degenerative brain disease. The 27-year-old had played football in high school with the lone Neal. I know one time for sure he had to sit out a game because he had a concussion. He's a people person. Meanwhile today, the brother of slain security officer Alande Etienne remembered him as a hero. Always doing his part to make the seat. city of New York, a little bit safer every day.

And 27-year-old Julia Hyman was the first victim laid to rest. Julia changed our lives. She made us better friends, better listeners, and better people. Tonight, law enforcement sources say Tamora received two phone calls during his cross-country drive, including from an unknown caller in New Jersey, the day of the attack. Tom. All right, Aaron McLaughlin for us. Aaron, we thank you for that. And in Nebraska, fire is still burning one day after a devastating factory explosion. Authorities saying the blast killed three people, including two children, who were waiting for an employee to take them to a doctor's appointment.

Here's Johan Marin with our NBC station, WOWT. Tonight, more than 24 hours after this explosion tore through a biofuels plant in Nebraska. Crews are still battling the ongoing fire. The lightweight steel warehouse structure with concrete elevator structure, Making the structure basically very difficult to access. Multiple agencies are on the scene at the Horizon Biofuels, which manufactures wood pellets and animal bedding. We have confirmed there was one adult male

and two female juveniles in the building during the explosion. Right now, this has moved to a recovery effort. The Fremont mayor says the two children were waiting for the adult employee to get off work to go to a doctor's appointment. Half my world is here right now, and I can't even, I'm close, but I can't get any closer. We spoke with one of the girls' stepfathers hours after the explosion, who told us his 12-year-old's deaf daughter was spending time with her biological dad and younger half-sister. It's his time to get them for one week on, one week off.

He says first responders told the family they weren't able to reach the dad and knew the two girls were trapped in the break room. My heart hurts. It hurts for this situation. That's a tragedy. Authorities say the cause of the explosion is still unknown, a tragedy with more questions than answers. Horizon biofuels is cooperating with authorities, but we have yet to hear from them. Now, I did speak to the stepfather who says he's devastated by the weight and that no amount of community support will compare to having his 12-year-old daughter with him. Back to you, Tom.

Johan Marin from our Omaha affiliate, Johan, great to have you. Thank you for that. In Washington, the NTSB is now in the middle of a three-day hearing until last January. mid-air crash between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet over Ronald Reagan National Airport, killing 67 people. Today, investigators revealed that chopper pilots may not have known they were flying too high because a critical piece of equipment was malfunctioning. Here's Tom Costello. Highlighting surveillance video of the mid-air crash over the Potomac River, frustration from NTSB board members after Army aviation experts testified that one of the altimeters in a Black Hawk helicopter

fleet is often inaccurate by 100 feet or more. But the Army determined it was within tolerance levels and never advised the pilots. How much tolerance should we have for aviation safety whenever civilian lives are at risk? The Army Chopper was flying 78 feet above the 200-foot limit when it crashed into the American Airlines regional jet. I am concerned. There is a possibility that what the crew saw was very different than what the true altitude was. Air traffic control asked the chopper flying on a nighttime training mission as Pat-25 if it could see the regional jet, the CRJ. Then told the chopper to pass behind the jet.

At 2.5, that's fine, the CRJ. But the chopper's black box suggests the crew never heard the pass behind order. Today, family members wiped away tears as they listened to the crash details and the 15,000 previous close calls at Reagan Airport. Doug Lane lost his wife Christine and son Spencer coming back from a skating camp in Wichita. For me personally, you know, adapting to life as a single father. I have another son, a 13-year-old named Milo at home, and him and I have had to kind of navigate a new way of life. Also today we learned that the passenger plane pilots discussed not wanting to change the runway landing assignment as controllers asked.

But they did. And at the last second, they tried to pull up screaming an expletive as they were hit. Tom? Tom Costello on the investigation to that horrible crash. All right, Tom, when Top Story returns, the latest star athlete targeted by a home break and inside the high-tech tools like Wi-Fi jammers and cameras thieves are trying to use to get into your house. Former Vice President Kamala Harris closing the door on a run for California governor, but is she leaving the door open for a presidential run in 2028? and high-end designer dupes getting harder and harder to spot, costing customers big money, our forensic look at how to tell the reel from the fake. We're back now with news of yet another high-profile athlete

whose home was targeted by thieves, this time an ace pitcher with the Dodgers. It comes as the LAPD is warning about copycat crimes and robbers now adopting sophisticated methods from South American crime rings. NBC San Brock has a story. All-star Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto's Hollywood Hills home struck early this morning. Law enforcement sources telling NBC News three people jumped a fence and broke a rear-glass door,

but never entered the residence as staff was in the house. Add the ace pitcher to a list of targeted athletes criss-crossing the country. But in Southern California, break-ins have also rocked everyone from movie stars to regular residents of the San Fernando Valley. Prompting police to warn, the methods looked very similar to those deployed in many of these cases by South American crime ranks. They often know your patterns. They're finding that out through embedding cameras and bushes or in and around the community. I used my left foot to kick it out, and that's when I discovered it was a device. This West Covina homeowner showing NBCLA the camouflage device covered in grass he unearthed in his front yard.

I felt violated. It gave me the chills. Multiple police departments have shared images of concealed cameras. Thieves also using signal jammers. What can that thing do? It can take out every Wi-Fi device in your house and car. And with a push of a button. This little switch right here. If I did this right now, we'd lose our Zoom connection because I'm on Wi-Fi.

Security technology consultant Ted Neerhouse showing us how easy it is. Here we go. Then the screen did freeze, though Neerhouse says, you can protect against jammers by hardwiring your system or getting a special frequency from the alarm company. It would cost an extra maybe $30 a month. At least they won't be able to jam your frequency that's going out to call the police. A proactive action homeowners can take amidst an unnerving trend. All right, Sam, Sam, so much to ask you about this. First of all, that crazy looking device, the jammer. How easy is it to get one of those things? You saw the size of that thing,

the antenna is sticking out of everywhere. Does it look like? it should be legal? It's not legal. The FCC does not approve it. And yet, Ted, our tech expert here said, you can just go to a number of websites from China, order that. It will be packaged in something that looks different. And when it arrives, criminals suddenly are getting their hands on a device like that. That one is as big as it is. Maybe that can affect an entire house. There's larger, more industrial-grade versions that can help you wipe out the Wi-Fi network or the frequencies and an entire block. That is available on the market for hundreds or thousands of dollars. So the wired issue I get, right?

A lot of cameras are wireless now. The old ones were wired. It's actually kind of interesting. The newer technology is the more likely they are to be wireless. But for alarms, because some alarm systems are wireless too. Do those jammers work against the alarm system? There are some alarm systems that are off, many of them, I'm told, that offer a certain option where it's a frequency that's not publicly accessible.

It comes with a separate device. Maybe it costs you $30 or $40, $50 a month. It's not a huge expense, but it would protect you in the case that someone has a jammer. The problem is that many people don't want to put down the initial investment of hardwiring their home or offering this other protected device so they figure, I'm going to be fine, what's going to happen to me? It's interesting because when these gangs were taking off, the big discussion was over glass break, because a lot of time these gangs would come in, they'd get to a second floor, and there was no glass break on the second floor of these homes. But now the technology is moving even faster, and it looks like these criminals have it. As far as the hidden cameras work, right, because I'm trying to understand how these hidden cameras work, they would just hide them somewhere pointing towards the house they want a burglar. And I'm glad you brought that up, too, because you're just thinking, like, if you're in a regular residential neighborhood,

how would someone not see you with a grass-covered camera planting it in someone's garden? The reality is part of the model here is they're posing, in some cases, Amazon drivers or Uber delivery drivers or whatever it might be. They're hanging out in the neighborhood, observing your patterns, knowing when you're not there, then proceeding to put in cameras in these camouflaged versions in your front lawns and seeing when people are actually leaving the house and not leaving the house. They are that precise with your patterns and with what's happening at all moments of your life. It's pretty freaky. And so, I mean, to me, that was the most chilling thing to see this guy say, you know, I was just watering my lawn and I kicked it. And suddenly I found a camera.

That device was the strangest thing I've seen in a long time, along with a jammer. All right, Sam Brock, so great to see you. Thank you for that story. Still ahead, the big news in the sports world, three-time Super Bowl champ. Shannon Sharp officially out at ESPN. What we're learning about the networks, the network that cut ties with Sharp after reporting. reports he settled a sexual assault lawsuit earlier this spring. And customers thought they were grabbing a fitness drink, but what was in those cans had more

kick than caffeine. The major packaging makes up that trigger to recall. That's next. But first, top story's top moment and a special delivery for the Pope. Pope Leo greeting a crowd at the Vatican earlier this morning. You can see there, the Pope receiving a box of Rilio's pizza, the popular Chicago City pizza chain. The over 4,000 mile journey to Rome from Chicago involved three different. different friends and hours of travel.

Madeline Daly was the one that made the pizza delivery. Listen to what she had to say. When Pope Leo came around, he kept grabbing babies to bless them, but as soon as he saw the pizza, he had babies in his hand, but he was still saying, like, get me that pizza. I want that pizza. And seeing the logo made him light up, and his smile was from ear to year,

and he was extremely excited about it. We also spoke to the CEO of Aurelios, Joe Aurelio, to get his reaction. Pope Leo has been a lifetime Arrillo's fan and going to Aririllo's pizza in Homewood, Illinois, since the 1960s. So it's been part of his life and for him to recognize

and actually stopped there in the audience was amazing. We hope Pope Leo enjoyed a little slice of home all the way back there in Rome. And Aririllo's slice sounds really good right now. Stay with us. We're back in just a moment. We're back tonight with a major decision by the Federal Reserve that will impact buying a home or taking a loan. The Fed deciding not to lower interest rates with two of the decideres dissenting, a move not done in more than 30 years.

NBC's Gabe Gutierrez is at the White House with the latest. Tonight, in a widely expected move, the Federal Reserve is not changing its key interest rate. But for the first time in more than 30 years, two of the Fed's governors dissented. They were both appointed by President Trump. and wanted to drop the rate by a quarter percentage point. We should be lowering the rates. The president arguing critics' predictions that his tariffs would spark a big rise in prices were wrong.

I keep watching these talking points that the Democrats have. They say, oh, prices are way down. And he's touting new numbers showing the U.S. economy grew by 3% last quarter, more than expected, backed by strong consumer spending, but also partly because some companies increased imports earlier this year ahead of tariffs taking effect. What do you say to analysts who worry that lowering interest rates would actually lead to inflation?

Well, if that happens and we just raise them, what you do is you lower them, and let's see if there's inflation. We're keeping the rates high, and it's hurting people from buying houses. Fed Chair Jerome Powell defying public pressure from the president. Well, I'd love him to lower interest rates. He's saying despite the trade war, the economy is solid for now. Unemployment is low, and the labor market is strong. Higher tariffs have begun to show through more clearly to prices of some goods, but their overall effects on economic activity and inflation remain to be seen.

Gabe Gutierrez joins us tonight from the White House. Gabe, Trump announcing a trade deal with a U.S. ally after hitting India with new tariffs? Yes, Tom, the president just now with the South Korean trade delegation here at the White House, and he's just announced a trade deal that will subject South Korean imports to a 15% tariff rate. And he also says South Korea will invest some 350. billion dollars in the U.S. and also buy a hundred billion dollars in U.S. energy products. It's a busy day on the economic front here as he also announced that 25% tariff rate against India, although the president says they are still negotiating, Tom.

Gabe Gutierrez, hope you brought your calculator to work today. Always great having you on the show. We want to stay with politics. A big announcement tonight from former Vice President Kamala Harris. The top of the last Democratic ticket for president announcing she will not run for governor of California. The move ending months of speculation following her 2024 defeat to Donald Trump in the presidential race. For more on what this means for Harris and the future of the Democratic Party, I want to bring an NBC senior national politics reporter Jonathan Allen and a good friend to top story. Jonathan, great to see you tonight. In a statement, quote, Harris says she gave serious thought and deep reflection about running for governor. Do we have a sense of why she

ultimately decided not to run? She says she does not want to serve an elected office, but the two most important words were, for now. What this is doing politically, it might be that this is the end of the line for her, but what it also does is preserves her ability if she wants to run in 2028 for president of the United States. I think she and her team determined that if she wanted to do that, she couldn't run for governor of California and either lose and become a political pariah or win that office. leave the state of California immediately to start campaigning for president. Let me ask you a question. Did she have a chance in California? Could she have become the next governor of our biggest state? Sure. She had a chance to win in California. Absolutely. Would have been a competitive election there. There's no guarantee that she would have won.

And then, of course, you know, there's a question of whether she wants to be governor of California and to basically represent that large but left-leaning state and to fight the battles that she wants to fight from that person. And what she said is that she's going to be working from outside government to advance her ideals. Let's talk about if she does run for the White House, right? And if she does run, it's going to be a pretty crowded field from what we expect. We never know what can happen. But if we look at it right now the way it stands, this could be the list of potential 2028 Democratic hopefuls. It's so long we couldn't fit it all in one graphic. And I am sure there are other names there that we are not putting that maybe even have a better chance. And there's always the chance that the Democratic Party turns to an outsider this time, around. I got to ask you, John, you're plugged in, you cover politics for us. What is the Harris

brand right now? Does she even have a shot of surviving the primaries in her own party? I think she does have a shot of surviving the primaries in her own party. She would come to the table with some advantages. She has a huge fundraising list. She has a national name recognition. I think there are a lot of Democrats that would be shy about or would be Harris shy, so to speak, because she lost this last election. But, you know, if she gets in, you know, she will be one of the forces to be reckoned with. I think the biggest question for her is, what is it that she's going to offer the Democratic Party and more broadly the American public that she wasn't able to offer effectively in 2024?

She's got to come to the table. If she's going to run, got to come to the table with a real plan for the future of America. And you can't just run against Trump, right? You have to have a real plan. And this comes at a time when Democrats are doing a lot of soul-searching. and trying to figure out their new brand in 2025, if you will. Yeah, because so many Americans say that they don't trust or like the Democratic Party right now. The Democrats really do have to figure out who they are.

A lot of their policies are really sort of holding on to the things of the past. A lot of their rhetoric is opposing Donald Trump. And if they define themselves entirely as a party opposed to Donald Trump, then they're not vibrant, they're not active, they're not having the policy debates that the American public wants to hear. So they've got to figure out how between now and 2028 to rebounder, they will, you know, find themselves out of power again. Jonathan Allen, always great to have you on the broadcast. We thank you for your time. Thanks, Tom.

Turning out of Top Stories News Feed, we start with Brown University. You're hearing about this? They have struck a deal with the Trump administration to restore federal funding. The university agreeing to resolve discrimination complaints after the university was accused of not doing enough to stop harassment of Jewish students. As part of the deal, Brown will pay 50 minutes. million dollars over 10 years to Rhode Island workforce development organizations. And a warning tonight, high noon says some of its vodka celtzers were accidentally labeled as non-alcoholic Celsius energy drinks. The company says the high noon beach variety packs,

which have alcohol, were mislabeled as the Celsius Astro Vibe energy drink, both very popular with top story staffers. Those packs were shipped recently to six states in the eastern half of the country, so be careful. New dash cam footage capturing a wild police chase in Georgia. Video shows the reportedly stolen semi-trucks swerving over medians and driving towards oncoming traffic and eventually crashing into a fence. Authorities say the driver faces, quote, a long list of charges. And an unusual field of dreams in Maine paying tribute not to baseball, but an up-and-coming NBA star. Take a look at this masterpiece, a five-acre corn maze depicting Cooper Flagg, the Dallas Mavericks' newest draft pick,

propping up at a farm near his main hometown. Flagg's family and friends work for months on the design, which includes Flagg's nickname, the main event. Farm staff say the maze will open in September with proceeds going to Ronald McDonald House charities. That is very, very cool. Okay, former NFL star and media personality, Shannon Sharp will not return to ESPN,

according to a source familiar with the matter. This less than two weeks after Sharp settled a $50 million lawsuit brought by an ex-girlfriend accusing him of sexual assault. He has denied the allegations. I do want to bring in NBC's Ellison Barber, who's been following this for us. And Allison, what more do we know about ESPN split with Sharp? Yeah, I mean, look, so they are no longer going to have a relationship moving forward. And this is despite the fact that the network renegotiated his contract just last year,

and they announced when they renegotiated it, they were expanding his role on the popular morning show first take. So all of that is, according to a source familiar with the situation we have not heard yet directly. from Shannon Sharp or ESPN, but moving forward, they say he will no longer be part of ESPN's lineup. And you will remember he has not been on air there since April. He had stepped back when this lawsuit was first filed. And at the time, Sharp said that was the decision that he had made while he said he dealt with these false and disruptive allegations. But if you go through and you look at this civil lawsuit, I mean, these were incredibly serious allegations leveled against him. This is a Nevada woman who was only identified in court filings as Jane Doe. She says they met when she was 20 years old and they had a two-year relationship that she said was manipulative, controlling, and then later turned incredibly violent.

She accused him of raping her on two different occasions, October of 2024 and then again in January. He has denied those allegations, but it's not lost on anyone that two weeks after her attorney announced this settlement, saying that the matter was considered resolved. He said this in part when Jane Doe's attorney, Tony Busby, announced the settlement was reached. He said both sides acknowledge a long-term consensual and tumultuous relationship. We have reached a mutually agreed upon settlement. The matter is closed. We don't know the details of that settlement, but it seems, it's hard to not note that it has been, it is so close in timing as to when that was settled to when ESPN has said,

hey, this relationship, or at least sources have told us this relationship is over. All right, Alison, Barbara, with a lot of reporting there. Ellison, we thank you for that. We're going to be moving on now. We're going to turn overseas with Top Stories Global Watch, and we start In Canada, they will recognize a Palestinian state in September, that announcement from Prime Minister Mark Carney. It comes following similar announcements from France and the UK. The Canadian recognition could be largely symbolic, but indicates a larger global shift against Israel's policies in Gaza. Riots over fuel prices breaking out in Angola, leaving nearly two dozen dead and more than a thousand arrested. A three-day taxi drive strike over the rising prices spiraling into one of the worst conflicts for the country. years, video shows tires set on fire in the streets of the Capitol. The price of diesel was raised

by 33% as the government attempts to cut back on fuel subsidies. And Chilean authorities handing the FBI luxury goods belonging to actor Keanu Reeves. This is a strange one. Local police were covering six of the actor's valuable watches discovered in a raid. The watches are valued at a total of $125,000. Chilean prosecutors say Reeves identified them as items stolen from his LA home back in 2020. And a first of its kind satellite launching from India today in the hopes of collecting data that could help with disaster preparedness back on Earth. The satellite launched by NASA and India will survey Earth's terrain, tracking shifts in land and ice. Scientists say they will help forecasters and first responders remain on top of disasters like flooding and landslides. Okay, up next on top story, they look real, they feel real, but these counterfeit handbags called super fakes are fooling even the experts.

Tonight, we step inside the fashion forensics lab on the front lines of the luxury knockoff war. Plus, England's Birmingham bids farewell to heavy metal hometown hero, Ozzy Osborne, the emotional moments as fans poured in to pay their respects. Turning to the newest counterfeiting trend that fools even the savviest of shoppers. Fake designer handbags so convincing the luxury resellers are, fighting back with fashion forensics. Our correspondent Emily Aketa shows us the high-tech tools are using to divide the reel from the replica.

Hermes, Botega Veneta, Louis Vuitton, luxury brands have been around for decades. And so have the cheap, plasticy copycats sold for a fraction of the price. It is the Botega hop. This is fake. But a new generation of dupes far more convincing is emerging. I felt this leather before on this exact model and it does not feel like this. Fashion influencer Jonathan Guo says he was stunned by just how realistic this knockoff he purchased for more than $1,000 secondhand was.

Fortunately, he did get a full refund. It definitely is just like one among thousands of unfortunate instances and it's only things to like all the prior experience that I had that I was even able to detect that there might be something wrong. The so-called super fakes have brands and business. scrambling to ramp up authentication standards. I would say those really started to emerge around COVID, actually. Luxury reseller, The Real Real, pulled 7,000 counterfeit handbags off the market last year alone.

Is authentication more important than ever? Authentication is absolutely more important than ever. Counterfeits used to be very obvious. They would have misspellings. The logos would be off. Today, on the outside to sort of the untrained human eye, these items look really, really good. really good. So just how good? I put my own skills to the test alongside the Real Reels Hunter Thompson. I'm going to feel it. Okay, feels nice. Looking over, touching, even smelling these two apparent

Hermes Constance bags. I'm going to make a guess. I think this is the fake. It is? Good job. You're hired. I'm hired. The reason why is like I feel like there's a there is a slight difference in feeling. Absolutely. The look is absolutely the same, but there's a slight difference in how it feels. Subtle differences made much more evident with the help of the Real Real's newest edition. Our very state of the art, X-ray machine. As technology takes on a larger role in backing up even the trained eye, Thompson noting the differences in the hardware and springs.

When we look at the real deal here, you're going to see a difference in this spring. His team now also uses cameras to microscopically look at the surface. of an item. When that camera sees an anomaly, it's comparing it to all of this past data that we've collected and it's able to say, hey, something's up here. Let's take a deeper look. How about the Hermes Birken bag? Can you pinpoint which is fake? The real real looks for a funny smell, too perfect of stitching, cheaper metals, feet screwed on rather than hammered into the bag as red flags. This one is worth nearly $25,000. The speed at which counterfeits are produced has really enhanced over the last couple of years. We see items within the same season. We could see

a counterfeit honestly before we see the real item in some cases. And while many like Guo have mistakenly purchased a knockoff, one survey shows more than half of consumers worldwide have intentionally purchased a counterfeit. As experts say, the attitude around these super fakes has shifted amid an uncertain economy and fans fed up by sky high prices. Social media flooded with shoppers comparing dupes with the actual item. really be that rich because this is good enough. But Thompson says any suggestion super fakes offered the same quality is misleading. It's illegal to sell counterfeit goods. It's not illegal to buy a counterfeit goods. So what would your word of caution be to shoppers? Think about what this might be

fueling. Think about labor. It may look great on the outside for a couple of months, but a lot of the construction we see, especially like under X-ray, it's going to fall apart. It's just not worth it at the end of the day. So what's allowed these super fakes to get so good? Well, experts say some of the industry secrets have been leaked through factories. Also, think about the improvement, the advancement of technology. 3D printing. Counterfeiters have even mastered recreating receipts and certificates to provide that extra layer of apparent protection and safety around these superfakes. It's all aided by social media and encrypted messaging services where a lot of the orders are placed. companies like The Real Real are tracking all the trends so they know what to look for when it comes across their desk. Tom.

We thank Emily Aketa for that very interesting story. Okay, we're going to cross the pond now and head to Birmingham, England, where fans were packing the streets there to remember one of the greatest heavy metal singers of their generation, Ozzy Osborne's funeral procession, filled with emotional moments as fans poured into pay their respects. NBC's Molly Hunter shares how Osborne's family and fans are remembering him. Today on the streets of Birmingham, fans of the late heavy metal icon Ozzy Osborne lined up by the thousands to say goodbye to the Prince of Darkness. I've followed him all my life and even though he knew it was coming, it's just a big shock still. I'm very sad to see Ozzie go, but I think he'd be proud of the turnout today. We want to show our support today for him and his family. Osborne's final ride, a procession through the streets of his home city and the birthplace of heavy metal.

His wife Sharon and kids Kelly, Jack and Amy Osborne, breaking down in tears as they laid flowers at a bench named after Osborne's iconic rock band, Black Sabbath. Osborne died July 22nd after years of living with Parkinson's disease. And earlier this month, right here in Birmingham, the pioneering singer played one final concert with his original Black Sabbath band meets. You got no idea I won't feel it. Tonight, some of those lucky fans remembering his last stand. At that concert he was suffering, but he gave us the best set list and he gave us the

performance of a lifetime. So he's the definition of resilience, he's the definition of perseverance, and he's the definition a medal if you ask me. Osborne's successful band and solo careers included hits like Paranoys and Crazy Train. Osborne later introducing himself and his family to a new generation with a wild reality show that defined the genre and sparked conversations around their unusual family dynamic and parenting style. Give me the f***in' note. Today, the true end of an era, family and lifelong fans, bidding

Farewell to the legendary frontman. Molly Hunter, NBC News, London. Our thanks to Molly Hunter for that report. When Top Story returns, more on that special moment. We first brought you last night. The Chicago Bears superfan who endured five heart surgeries, now getting the surprise of a lifetime. The contract, the Jersey, the team huddle,

how this 13-year-old became part of the squad. That's next. Finally, tonight, an update on last night's top moment. You may remember Liam Woodworth. He's the Chicago Bears super fan who, at just 13 years old, has undergone five surgeries. He had the amazing opportunity to hang with the players at the team's summer training camp. Our Adrian Broad is has more from the day he'll never forget. Family on three.

Family on three. One, two, three. Family! On a football field where dreams are chased. John, you need to come hang out with the quarterbacks, man. Caleb. Nice to meet you, boss. And Indiana Farm Boy's dream waits.

It was just amazing. and one of my best days ever. 13-year-old Liam Woodworth, surprised by his favorite team, the Chicago Bears. What is it about the bears you love? They're like the underdog. A challenge Liam understands. I was born with three heart chambers instead of four. Liam's first surgery, 11 days after he was born, five operations, including three open-heart

surgeries. They call it half a heart. He has the biggest heart. It's that grit that landed him on the team's roster, signing a one-day-state. ceremonial contract. There we go. Congrats, bud. Thank you.

If you think today was hard, try living one day in this man's life. It just made me proud to feel like, um, um, um, it's a little hard here. What do those scars remind you of? Like the background of my life and what I've accomplished. Liam, break us down, man. bear for a day with memories for life. Family on three. One, two, three.

Family! Adrian Broadus, NBC News, Lowell, Indiana. All right, that does it for us tonight. Thanks so much for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamerson, New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.