Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

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

Tonight, China's leader touching down to the U.S. just moments ago for a high-stakes meeting with President Trump. The historic welcome ceremony on the tarmac right now. Next, the critical talks on everything from AI to trade to Taiwan. Also breaking shots fired at Miami's airport, videos showing first responders in tactical gear, and rifles at the scene, a person taken into custody. West Bank ramming attack caught on video, the son of Israel's ambassador to the U.S., seriously hurt, his father saying he needs a miracle. The shocking incident on a united flight, the heinous act allegedly committed by a man on board,

a female passenger told she had to sit back next to him. Two UK Air Force pilots ejecting moments before their fighter jet erupts into a huge fireball. What happened next? Meet the mayor embracing the controversial data center in his town. We ask him why he's personally giving residents tours of the plant as pushback mounts in his community and across the country. META's new AI personal assistant app dubbed the concierge at your fingertips. So what can it do will show you? Plus, Dolly Parton's family feud reaching a boiling point, while the late country's

star's own relatives are fighting in the wake of her death. Top story starts right now. And good evening. We begin tonight with that historic meeting between President Trump and China's leader, Xi Jinping, the unprecedented face-to-face welcome on the tarmac that hasn't happened on U.S. soil in more than 60 years. in more than 60 years. Just moments ago, she's touching down

at Joint Air Base Andrews, President Trump welcoming him with a red carpet and a Air Force ban and fighter jet flyovers. And new tonight, the U.S. and China already getting to work,

extending their trade agreement that was set to expire in November, now it will last through January. That according to Treasury Secretary, Scott Besson. Their last in-person meeting in Beijing just a few months ago marked by similar pomp and circumstance,

but now the two major superpowers facing a changed geopolitical landscape, forced to confront AI and Taiwan. And the war in Iran, including China's continued economic support for that country, the Iranian president, speaking defiantly at the UN General Assembly today, as the war with the U.S. approaches its seventh month. All of it, as Trump's legal battle with the media

plays out in the background, three outlets suing the administration after being banned from the White House. And it's the reason why you're not seeing video of today's events with major news organizations, including NBC, waiting for, a judge's decision before rolling their cameras again. There's a lot to get to tonight.

We've got full-team coverage on all these major headlines. We want to begin with Gabe Gutierrez in that pivotal three-day summit with China's leader. Tonight, President Trump, greeting China's leader Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews. The airport welcomed the first for a world leader besides the Pope since the 1960s, and featuring a 100-foot-long red carpet, the Air Force band, and two B-1 flyovers. We have a great relationship. If he wants to get along, then we want it. We're going to get along.

It follows the pair's previous summit in China, where President Xi rolled out his red carpet. This week's visit expected to include critical discussions over AI, trade in Taiwan. But it's drawing rare criticism from a top Senate Republican. Our commander-in-chief should keep in mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushing back. The idea that we would not interact with them at the high.

highest levels is irresponsible. It's outrageous. We have to. Also looming over the high-stakes summit, China's economic support of Iran. Today, Iran's president, Masoud Puzeskian, on American soil at the UN General Assembly, defiant. We are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force, he says. But Secretary Rubio argues Iran is stalling on a deal until after the midterms. I think the Iranians misread our system. I think the Iranians are under this illusion that Democrats are going to win in November and the president will no longer be able to do things against them. I just don't think they understand our system very well. In a separate diplomatic push, Rubio also revealing the U.S. has invited Russian President

Vladimir Putin to a G20 summit later this year in Miami. We think it's an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president but with other world leaders. All right, Gabe, joins us tonight live from the White House. And Gabe, we mentioned Treasury Secretary Scott Besson announcing an extension of the U.S. China trade deal. What more do you know tonight? Well, Tom, actually, that announcement came as a surprise, basically just minutes after President Xi Jinping had touched down in the U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson saying in an interview that he had an unscheduled meeting with China's vice premier earlier in the day.

And yes, that trade truce has been extended. It was set to expire on November 10th. It will now expire on January 10th, and its possibility it could be extended after that. Now, Tom, you'll recall that at one point, terrorists between the U.S. and China, it was set up. And it was a possibility, it was a had gone up to 145 percent. Since then, they've come back down significantly. And this latest move is being seen as a step forward in terms of economic stability for both countries. But the Treasury Secretary said there are still talks that need to go on and the U.S. hopes that China will agree to buy more agricultural products. So stay tuned over the next couple of days, Tom. Well, stay tuned, Gabe. We thank you for that. For more on the high-stakes meeting between

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and President Trump, I want to bring in our Beijing-based, foreign correspondent, Janice McEfrae, who's live for us this morning there in Beijing. Janice, what is China hoping to get out of this visit? How is it playing over there in their country? Well, Tom, China's looking for a few things here. First, like Gabe mentioned, stability, which was a win as soon as Xi Jinping touched down on U.S. soil with the extension of the trade truce. Second, it wants access, fewer restrictions on Chinese technology, on investment, and continued access to the U.S. market. And third, some strategic. space, particularly on Taiwan, where Beijing wants the U.S. to show some restraint on U.S.

arms sales to the island. President Trump has already been saying that he sees that as leverage with China, so he signaled to Beijing that the issue is already on the table. But there's also the bigger message that Xi Jinping wants this visit to project, that China isn't equal to the United States. This is not a country coming to Washington looking for handouts, but one that's confident that it has some leverage of its own. Tom? Yeah, and then, Janice, it's early in Beijing. People are just getting up. What do you think the reaction, the long-term reaction to this trade deal would be? Is this sort of resonating in China?

Well, what it gives China at the very outset of this visit is valuable. There's predictability and there's this tone of negotiation and stability. And it keeps the tariff war from flaring up again, which is pretty key for China, with the economy here lagging from the property crisis. consumer demand. So it also gives some breathing space to work on other issues like access to technology, rare earths, ultimately the broader U.S.-China relationship, and the optics are so important with these two leaders showing that they can deliver something concrete before the summit even starts. Janice, and the whole AI debate, how is it playing over there? There's now word that there's going to be

this emergency hotline between China and the U.S. in case AI gets out of control. or attacks one of the two governments. You know, there's a big debate here on whether President Trump should have allowed those chips to be sold to China, and there's a whole debate and arguments for and against that. What is China saying? Yeah, Tom, it's interesting that the two sides

are coming at AI from very different directions. The U.S. is focused on staying ahead and making sure that regulation doesn't slow down innovation. China is regulating AI more aggressively here in Beijing, but at the same time, it wants to be a global AI leader. This is like an industrial strategic priority, and it doesn't want the rules for that technology written in Washington and then imposed on Beijing.

So a sweeping agreement on AI regulation is unlikely out of this summit, but what we might get is a more narrow agreement on managing those risks. While both sides continue to compete over who gets to shape the technology and especially the rules around it, Tom. Okay, Janice Mackie Freyer, we thank you. We're also following updates in President Trump's legal battle with the media. A trio of outlets banned by the president in court today, arguing their ban from the White House was unconstitutional. And major news outlets, including NBC News, are waiting to roll their cameras until a judge weighs in.

Kelly O'Donnell is following this one closely for us. And, Kelly, when do we expect to hear from the judge? Well, Tom, it was clear the judge acknowledged the urgency of this issue and said he would make his decision known soon. We don't know exactly how much time he will need. Judge Tim Kelly was appointed by President Trump in 2017. And here's what is at issue. Tonight, these three news organizations that were banned by President Trump from the White House, they made their arguments in federal court.

So that's CNN, MS now, and Politico. They made an urgent appeal to restore their access to the White House grounds here, to use positions like this, to be able to report to their viewers, and to have access here in order to do any of their reports. They want their press passes that were confiscated and deactivated to be restored. Now, the judge did say right at the start of the hearing that the White House had not followed the law by not providing due process before confiscating those badges. The organizations say their Fifth Amendment due process rights were violated, and within that,

a government must give early warning before taking some kind of action. So that is something the judge hinted his feelings about. The outlets also claim the president violated their First Amendment rights by expelling them based on what he called fake news, negative stories, stories he didn't like, unfair reporting. But that rationale began to shift after the three outlets sued the president. The White House has now evolved its justification and claims the reason is national security. So the DOJ argued that those outlets have reported on sensitive and classified information and that it is the president's judgment that they pose a national security risk. Lawyers for the media argued that is discrimination based on the content of their reporting, and they call that a clear violation of the First Amendment. Tom?

Kelly, while we have you there, this is all playing out, obviously, during one of the most high-profile weeks for the White House. The president welcoming China's leader a day after speaking to world leaders at the UN. What does this fight mean in terms of his coverage, at least for this week? Well, interestingly, the government lawyers asked the judge not to restore access to these three organizations. while the China visit is happening because of national security. The practical impact of what is happening is we're seeing still photos there instead of moving video because CNN has been barred from playing its role as one of the five networks that provide television coverage in a logistics and shared way to other media outlets around the nation and frankly around the world.

And so other news organizations are saying until the judge rules on this, not going to provide any of that typical media coverage. And there is a real expectation here that the president, because he said more outlets would also be banned, that it could affect other news outlets. So our viewers will get a different set of images. But let me be clear, our team and many other teams are covering the president. We're here at the White House. We're doing reporting. We're talking to sources. We're still doing that work. It's the logistics and the visual of how that's conveyed that's different for the moment. Okay, Kelly O'Donnell, explaining it all. We thank you for that. We're going to turn to a chaotic scene at Miami International Airport. New video shows one person being taken into custody. After reports of gunfire at the airport, deputies, some carrying rifles, swarming the area. Victoria DeCardinus with NBC Miami is there, our station in Miami. Victoria, walk us through what happened, and do we know anything about the suspect?

Hey, Tom. So we know that those shots were fired just after four this afternoon in the parking lot just behind me. That prompted, as you mentioned, that massive police presence here at Miami International Airport. And several of the entrances to the terminals were closed as they were moving in. And we actually just heard from officers who said this was an isolated incident. This man fired multiple rounds and some in a garbage can. Fortunately, though, no one was heard. We've also been told, Tom, that they are actively questioning that suspect in the airport right now. But we do not know of his connection to South Florida if there is any.

But again, this investigation is still very fluid. Parts of this area still blocked off as that investigation continues. Yeah, and then I guess the bigger question is, are operations back to normal? I'm sure there were flight delays and cancellations. Yeah, there were several delays. airport is fully operational at this moment. But like you mentioned, there are going to be some delays throughout the night since there was such a high security presence here as they work to quell down the scene for just a little bit. But we can't expect delays for those flying in and

flying out of Miami International. Okay, Victoria de Cardenas, we thank you for joining us there from Miami. We're going to head overseas now because there's disturbing new video of a car ramming attack in the West Bank. The victim is the son of Israel's ambassador to the U.S. He says his son is now fighting for his life. Matt Bradley is in Israel and has a story. Tonight's surveillance video capturing the moment a Palestinian driver rams his car into an Israeli soldier. Hamas celebrating the attack, calling it heroic. And now we've learned the victim is the son of Israel's ambassador to the U.S. Naria Lighter. You can see the car hit Lighter while he's standing on the median. The driver then crashes across the street, gets out and runs across the road as

soldiers open fire. The IDF says the driver was eliminated. Medics seen here trying to revive Lider, an Israeli army reservist and U.S. citizen who was manning the checkpoint. His father, Ambassador Yehia Lider, writing, doctors are fighting to save his son's life and that he needs a miracle. The Palestinian health ministry identified the suspect as Mahmoud Suleiman. The Lider family has already been deeply affected by the war. Neri's older brother, Moshe, was killed in Gaza while serving in the Israeli military in 2023, U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, calling on the public to pray for the lighter family. Matt Bradley joins us tonight from Tel Aviv.

And Matt, how is Prime Minister Netanyahu responding to what happened there? Well, Tom, we know that the Prime Minister met in Jerusalem with the Leiter family. He extended his condolences publicly on X. He's also doing all of this just as he heads to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, that much anticipated meeting that we've been talking about all day. He is expected to make a speech there with few friends in the audience. But, you know, he already has previewed what he's going to say. He told Mayor Mamdani that he is going to tell the truth about Mamdani.

He told everybody that he is going to be telling the truth about Israel's soldiers. I mentioned to you one of the things that has been really, really causing a lot of noise here in Israel is that documentary Naza that came out just a couple of weeks ago that's about to be shown in New York City. The Prime Minister has said that he will be talking about that. We know from in the past that he's been showing props. He shows maps. Sometimes he gets a little colorful. So we can believe him when he says, as he said tonight,

that there will be surprises at his UN speech. But with elections coming up next month, it looks like the Prime Minister. Whatever he says in front of the entire world at the United Nations, it's going to be meant for audiences here at home in Israel. Tom. Okay, Matt Bradley for us. Matt, we thank you for that. Back here at home, we're going to turn to the severe weather.

threat intensifying for millions along the East Coast, racing for a powerful Northeaster, but much of the country already dealing with damaging storms. In El Paso, floodwaters rushing into this moving bus, the roadway quickly turning into a river. Out east in Virginia, a parking lot overcome with water as torrential rains slammed the region. And right now, the race is on to shore up East Coast beaches, monster waves already pounding the beach in Maryland. Look at that. For more, I want to bring in meteorologist Bill Karens. Bill, timeout the North Easter for us. We see it's getting pretty big there behind you. When you say the word nor'easter, it's a trigger for a lot of people.

Typically, it happen in the winter. It means school cancellations. It means snow and ice and all sort of travel and logistical issues. This is a fall in Neweaster. No snow. This is going to be rain. This is wind. This is big waves at the coast.

And because the storm is mostly offshore, we're not going to get those high winds inland. So we're only going to see isolated power outages at us. I don't think it's going to be widespread. I don't think the rain is going to be heavy enough to give us really many flooding problems. The exception could be in areas of Cape Cod. But as far as the wind gusts, go, when these max gusts in the 30 range, even with leaves on the trees, I don't think we're going to have many down trees. But when we get to areas like Long Island and out here on the

islands, that's where we could see wind strong enough for some scattered power out of just. Rainfall, as I mentioned, I do not expect flooding concerns. So for millions, this is going to be a big inconvenience and annoyance this weekend. A lot of canceled plans, a lot of indoor time, because of the wind and the rain. But I don't think we're going to have a lot of damage from it itself. The exception being at the beaches, and Tom, you just showed those waves. Every high tide for the next four or five days is going to take chunks of beach, and eventually we're going to have some significant coastal flooding issues. Bill, I know you're also tracking another potential significant hurricane for Hawaii, which is sort of wild.

Explain to us and take your time here because I know the Hawaii, the track of the storm looks like it's off the islands, but that storm surge could still push towards the islands. Yeah, and the rain will no matter what. So this is the third tropical system, likely hurricane, to make it to Hawaii. It had been 20 to 30 years since the last one before this season. So this is a lot to do with El Nino and the warm water here. So let's get to the storm. Hurricane Center is now tracking it as tropical storm.

No, though, it's due south of the big island. It's going to head pretty much due north for about the next 48 hours. And the million dollar question is, when will it take the left turn? If the left turn happens too late, it makes it and it has a significant impact on the island. If it's earlier to that left turn, then we may just get a glancing blow. So right now the hurricane center has it as a major hurricane. So this is a serious storm, only about 150 miles south of the big island. Regardless of that track where the center goes and the high winds, we are going to get epic amounts of rain.

The tops of the volcanoes here are thousands of feet high. We could see isolated totals up to three feet of rain. And we learned with the last storm, Tom, that is life-threatening, catastrophic, landslide, mudslides, everything that comes with that much rain. They can't get a break there in Hawaii, at least not this time of year. We thank you for that, Bill. We're going to be back in a moment with the mid-air and nightmare. You're not going to believe this one. A woman says she had to leave her seat because of a disturbing scenario with the man sitting next to her.

You can't imagine what this guy allegedly was doing, how the airline is responding. Plus, a college student sent to the hospital for a broken ankle, then dies from an over-prescription of painkillers at that very hospital, why her parents are blaming the system. And Dolly Parton's multi-million dollar estate, now at the center of a growing public feud, the troubling accusations against her nephew and what he's saying tonight. Stay with us. We are back now with a disturbing incident that allegedly happened on a United Airlines flight. A woman says she was forced to sit back down next to a passenger committing a heinous act in his seat next to her. Stephanie Gosk has more and a warning the language used is sexually explicit.

Tonight, a shocking incident on a United Airlines plane. A 25-year-old woman says the man sitting next to her was masturbating during a one-hour flight Labor Day weekend. The woman who does not want to publicly share her name tells NBC News she got out of her seat and told the flight attendants, but they forced her to go back and sit next to him for landing because the flight was full. She adds, on multiple instances, I said I feel uncomfortable doing that. The man was then allowed to leave the plane without anyone confronting him, she says, and a United Gate agent asked her, what am I supposed to do about it? The airline then eventually offered her a $100 credit for a $400 flight. United says safety is their top priority, adding we take these matters seriously and are looking into what happened.

We have been in contact with the customer and apologized for her experience. According to the FBI, there are dozens of sexual assault cases on board flights every year. I just froze up and my mind was like screaming. Dana LaRue Park describes being groped on a red-eye flight. in 2011 and she has this advice for other victims. Try and get someone's attention right away so that someone might see what's happening. The FBI couldn't bring charges in her case, she says, because there were no witnesses.

It's not just on the victims to be responsible for what happened to them. It's also up to the airlines to provide the proper support. The FBI says that most of the sexual assaults that take place on planes happened during long-haul flights and typically when the victims are asleep and are the most vulnerable. Their advice to people is, if it happens to you, speak up, tell people, and get help. Tom? Okay, some good advice on that very crazy story. Thank you, Stephanie.

Also, tonight, the growing conflict tied to the death of Dolly Parton, the company that's managing Parton's estate, accusing her nephew of extortion and of threatening to commit violence. Jesse Kirsch picks it up from there. Tonight, a battle involving Donnie's Dayenne. Pardons estimated $650 million estate getting ugly. And I'm representing the Parton and Owens family today announcing the passing of my Aunt Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean.

Parton's nephew, Brian Siever, the man who announced her death to the world, now accused in a lawsuit of trying to extort the company controlling her business interests. And late today, a temporary restraining order granted against Siever, who led Pardon's security team for years. When Dolly Parton died in August, the country music icon left behind a wildly popular and valuable brand, hit songs, a theme park, even an upcoming Broadway show. Pardon designated She's Alive LLC or SAL to manage and protect her professional property according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges Siever wanted to cause fear and chaos to extort money for his personal gain. I'm going to set up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly's brand partnerships, or

expletive pay me, he allegedly wrote, according to the court filing. Seaver telling TMZ, nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the comments I stand by. Seaver adding, a lot of these messages are two guys having rage talk and crying on the phone together while we were grieving. Still tonight, the loss that united so many now fueling a public rift. And Jesse joins us live from Miami. Jesse, what else is in this lawsuit? Yeah, time.

I'm going to read another portion of the allegations from SAL, the company that is now responsible for Dolly Parton's business interests. In their lawsuit, the company says that we, Seaver sent an email at one point to a lawyer that had represented his aunt. And I'm going to read from the alleged email here. SAL says that in this email, Seaver allegedly said in part, quote, I'm not an entertainment person. I'm a killer. I sold $27 million sign worth of ammunition and arms to the Haitian police. on the day Dolly died. So that is just one of the statements that this company's pointing to as they try to paint a picture of who they say Seaver is. And a reminder, yet again, that Dolly

Pardon's nephew, Brian Seaver, is saying that his words have been misconstrued, Tom. We have tried to get an interview with him ourselves, but have been unsuccessful so far. Okay, Jesse Curish. Jesse, it was great to see you. Thank you. Coming up on top story, the new food recall impacting popular pasta sold at Walmart, what you need to know. Plus, offering tours of an AI data center, we speak with the mayor taking a different approach to get his constituents on board with his ideas and this project. But first, Top Story's top moment and a viral video that looks like it was straight out of a Budweiser commercial.

You see a horse going for a routine walk on a ranch, but she's led by an unexpected handler. Take a look. I think she's going to eat, buddy. Yeah, that's a golden retriever puppy confidently taking the reins of a horse many times his size. man's best friend for you, always ready to lend a helping hand or paw. All right, stay with us. More top story after the break.

All right, we are back now with the data center debate heating up ahead of the midterms. Scenes like this playing out all across the country. Residents protesting the power, water, space demands of the sprawling infrastructure, fueling the AI boom. The backlash in Port Washington, Wisconsin, reaching a fever pitch in December when three women, they were arrested after being forcibly removed from a council meeting about a data center. Yeah, it got hot and heavy there. Some locals even try to recall the city's mayor over the project, but ultimately failed to do so.

That mayor is taking a new approach. This is him offering tours to hundreds of residents to check out the $15 billion data center being built for Oracle and Open AI. That mayor, guess what? Joining Top Story live right now. That is Mayor Ted Nitesky. We thank you for being here. Mayor, welcome to Top Story. We've reported on how data centers across the country have been shrouded in secrecy.

through NDAs that prevent communities from really knowing who's building there. You've taken a different approach, and I will admit, I'm not sure if it's good politics, but walk me through your thinking with these tours. So one of the things that we wanted to do specifically was make sure that our community had the knowledge so that they could make an informed decision on what was going on in their own city. And I'm a teacher by training from years back, and educating people is really important to me and our council. So we took the approach that once a month we would take community members out to see, hear, smell, everything that was going on on the site so that when they were confronted with, you know, ideas or ignorance, they had the knowledge to, you know, say this is what I saw and this is what's happening. And I'll take anybody on that tour with us to just ensure that people have, you know, the facts and have a good understanding of what's happening.

So give me some of the specs here. We said it's $15 billion, open AI and Oracle. How much money is Port Washington going to get? So Port Washington's tax base is about to become five times our value. Port Washington right now has a total value of about $2 billion, and the estimates are running somewhere between this project being $8 to $10 billion and total new tax valuation for our city. Port Washington was a huge manufacturing community, and we are now part of the Rust Belt,

and our city council looked for a strategic way to, increase our infrastructure as well as employment opportunities and, you know, just shift our community because in Wisconsin, you either ripen or rot and we wanted to ripen. So talk to me about some of the big things, right? What about electricity? Will people's bills go up? What about water? What about the air quality? Have you checked all these? Are you sure it's safe for your residents? Yes, all of it. Before we even began this project two years ago, I went and visited data centers in Virginia. I went and visited the projects that were taking place in our state in the Kenosha area.

And we put in place some really strong stuff working with the state of Wisconsin. Number one, we have prohibitions or tariffs on power. Oracle, Vantage Corporation, and Open AI are paying for all of the infrastructural costs to the tunes of billions of dollars to them, not infrastructural costs being moved on to residents. The water usage at that site will be less than our public school district uses every single day because they use a closed-loop system. And they did not need clean air credits because they are not polluting.

Instead, what they are doing is they are self-sight cooling, and they don't produce any discharges other than if their backup generators have to be run, which with the redundancies is very, very rare. So our producer spoke with one of your constituents who said she's concerned that your little tours here aren't exactly as kosher as they seem, that you may be handpicking citizens to go on these tours. Is it open to everyone? It's open to anyone who contacts me. I mean, the last tour, the gentleman who launched my recall was on the tour with me. So, you know, the idea that I'm not allowing anyone on them, you know, you can see in the photo, actually, that you're running right now was the gentleman who ran my recall. So they are open to anyone. I've invited people who run local Facebook pages to attend so that they can see it.

People who contacted me get put onto the list, and then we run out the tours. I run one a month for about 30 community members and regional citizens, and anybody can go. You know, you said you did the tours and you did your homework. Were you able to get any sort of long-term studies on data centers? I know data centers have been around for a while. They were heavily used with sites that do online gambling because they needed that data and that power. But did you get any long-term studies on whether it's safe for residents? I mean, you know, it's good that you did your homework, but I just wonder long-term effects.

There's so much power. it is a massive complex generating all this energy, taking in all this energy. What does it do to the people around you? I mean, were you able to see studies like that? Yeah, so we looked at some of those studies, but then the other pieces where we located the data center construction project is on the outskirts of Port Washington

in a newly formed part of our city. And it's not near dense residences. It's in the country. There are neighbors near where the substation is, but there's no density there. There's farm fields all around it. Mayor Nikeski, we thank you for coming on Top Story explaining your approach to this. And maybe we'll have you back on.

We thank you for that. We're going to turn at Top Story's news feed now. We start with a fire eject crash in the UK. The Royal Air Force training plane appearing to lose control, forcing the pilots to eject and pull their parachutes. Seconds later, the jet nose dives towards the ground. This is happening in Wales, exploding into a fireball right next to buildings. Military officials, as you saw there, say both pilots were able to eject safe through the receiving medical treatment. They're now investigating what exactly went wrong with that crash. Pretty bad.

And an urgent recall at Walmart stores across the U.S. Do you hear about this? The FDA announcing that Lemon Alfredo Fedocini, Fedocini, maybe they call it Alfredo Feducini, is now being pulled from shelves over concerns about possible with stereo contamination. The foodborne illness has caused flu-like symptoms, but can be deadly for some high-risk groups. So far, health officials say nobody is reported getting sick so far. And the NFL season kicking off two weeks ago, but already several starting quarterbacks have gone down with injuries more than the league has seen in decades. Look at this. Some of the injuries are more serious than others, but this week there's a good chance that six teams

will have to go with backup QBs, and that hasn't happened within the first three games of the season going back to the year 2000. 29-R-Series, the cost of denial and two parents fighting for justice. Their daughter was admitted to the hospital for a broken ankle, but was brain-dural. dead 24 hours later after she was given a lethal dose of painkillers. Tonight, the legal action those devastated parents are not taking. 21-year-old Dale Alice Martin was an avid piano player and college student with her entire life in front of her.

But when she was brought to Connecticut's Waterbury Hospital with a broken ankle last year, her parents, Jillian and Lindsay, say their lives changed overnight. They're like, she's in the ICU. You need to come. Dale had gone into cardiac arrest. was soon declared brain dead. You must be thinking, wait a minute, she came in for a broken ankle. What happened?

Yeah. And I still didn't really process it when I saw her in front of me. State records showed Dale had been given oxycodone and morphine when a doctor treating her prescribed another powerful narcotic, dilated, but failed to tell the nurse to stop the other painkillers. An autopsy report confirming Dale was over-medicated. What was your reaction? I pulled over to the side of the road and cried.

You go into a hospital for treatment and you come out dead. They seem to just dose her up and left her in a room. What Dale's parents say they didn't know at the time, years earlier, Waterbury was owned by a company controlled by a private equity firm, that according to a bipartisan Senate report, paid out $650 million to investors as its hospital. hospitals fell into severe financial distress. They took out over $650 million, and then you read a report that says the nurses were buying patients' food. That can't happen in America.

Longtime Waterbury nurses, Marilyn Anthony and Sarah Campbell, believe staffing changes and cost-cutting under private equity left a lasting impact on patient care. E-mails were generated that we were to now call the patient's customers. So that set the tone. As things were breaking, they were just throwing stuff out and not replacing it. Some of our ICU nurses went out and spent $30 to $50 and bought their own thermometer. Waterbury Hospital was repeatedly flagged for understaffing and safety violations. And in 2025, the company that owned it, Prospect Medical Holdings, filed for bankruptcy.

I don't understand how the hospital was allowed to function. It was a zombie institution. The private equity firm that once owned prospect said it has had no control over the hospital since selling its stake in 2021 and that it left the company in strong financial condition. Today, more than one in ten private hospitals are owned by private equity firms, which aim to buy and sell businesses at a profit for their investors, but often leave those businesses deeply in debt. And research shows it can come at a cost to patients, from higher prices to staffing cuts.

A recent study finding Medicare patients died at higher rates in ERs owned by private equity. All setting the stage, Dale's parents say, for disaster. This is about the safety net being yanked out from under every patient. That's what private equity's done. Waterbury Hospital now under new nonprofit ownership said in a statement, the quality, safety, and well-being of our patients is our top priority, but referred our questions to prospect medical holdings. which could not be reached.

It's hard to not feel a deep rage towards the individuals who treated her in such callous way. But the system is broken. So I can't choose who I blame them most. Deals' parents have now filed a wrongful death suit against the doctor, nurse, hospital, and what's left of prospect. hope to send a message. When you make hospitals about profit and not about the patients, this is what you're going to get.

Laura Jarrett, NBC News. Here in New York, new reaction tonight from a top Cuban official following President Trump's fiery U.N. speech in which he called that country a failed state. Take a listen. It's an absolutely failed state. failing like never before, and it will fall. The delegation from Cuba, you can see here, rising from their seats and walking out.

Today, our own Andrea Mitchell, Press Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on the state of U.S. relations with the regime. I'm certainly not going to threaten anything. I'm just going to tell you that Cuba and its leaders or the people that are in charge of its government now have an opportunity to begin the process of forever positively changing that country, and it's an opportunity they should take.

Okay, Andrea Mitchell, fresh out of the UN, joins us now to discuss this. So, Andrea, talk to us about your conversations. You spoke with the top Cuban official. What do they tell you? Well, Cuba's foreign minister spoke to us exclusively. He said that the president's speech was very aggressive and denied that they were a national security threat to the U.S.,

as Secretary Rubio has said in the past. But he did confirm that there have been back-channel talks with Cuba. Let's watch. There are reports that there are talks with Ronald Castro's grandkids. Is he involved in possible negotiations about a better future, better relationship between the two countries? I told you before that I will not provide further details, but I can confirm that representatives of the Cuban government have had talks with U.S. counterports.

And I have also heard some U.S. politicians in the last few days saying that the purpose of the U.S. policy towards Cuba is to place Cuba on an irreversible glide path towards the interest of the U.S. This shouldn't be the case. Great question, and the Cubans there dodging, you pressing them for answers. I know you also asked them about the humanitarian crisis, the blackouts, you know, there's a problem with energy, with food, with gas, with everything else. What do they tell you? Well, he blamed it on what they call the energy siege,

which is the fact that not only did they lose their subsidies from Venezuela, once the U.S. took it over, but that there is a naval blockade now. This was the response. Before the blockade, there were blackouts. There were shortages. Before this naval blockade. Were they caused by the economic system itself?

the lack of private ownership. What is reported to be the taking of, you know, tourist revenue by the defense ministry and elites that didn't reach the people. It would be difficult to demonstrate that the efficient and the system to depend only on private property. It is true that in Cuba there have been difficulties, with regard to the energy system at different points in time. But the situation is totally different.

Today, we have a brutal energy equivalent to a evil blockade, which is an agri-of-war. So they were at a stalemate. Yeah. And the fact is that that Cuba is, they've long had economic problems. Right. This is a crisis.

Yeah, I do want to ask you, you've covered Cuba for so long, you've been there, you've traveled there. As we observe Cuba, as we observe what's happening in Iran, what's happening in Iran. What is your sense? Do you think they're just going to wait out the Trump administration and see what happens if they can wait another two years if the president doesn't act in Cuba? If he doesn't take an action like he did in Venezuela, do they just not change anything at all? Cuba is in an even worse situation than Iran. Iran has other sources. They've got back channeled. They're getting help from Russia and others. Cuba has

really no other source of either revenue or energy at this. point. They're much smaller. They have much fewer resources. Rubio said today that there are some people that they can deal with in Cuba, that he prefers a negotiated solution, not ruling out any kind of force, but saying that that's not his preference when I was asking him that. But the Cubans say that the talks that have happened so far have not produced any progress. So I, the stalemate continues, but this regime and the system is really on a thread now. Yeah.

And they acknowledge how dire this situation is. The next two years will be very important. I think some people thought it was going to happen faster, but it hasn't, and the Cubans are holding on. Andrea, thank you so much for that. Still to come tonight, the popular new AI assistant promising to help you with everything from booking trips to selling your car. So is it too good to be true? We're going to show you how it works. Stay with us.

We're back now with the new personal AI assistant promising to handle everything from booking flights to answering emails, even haggling down your phone bill. It's called Muse. It sounds amazing, but doesn't work. It's an AI agent created by META, the parent company of Facebook. Take a look. There are lots of great AI chatbots that can get you information. Muse is a personal agent that doesn't just answer you.

It goes and actually does the thing. Mews is different because Mews is incredibly capable. It has its own computer. So anything that you can do digitally, it can also do digitally. It's already getting a lot of buzz. Mews is now the number one free app on Apple's App Store hitting nearly 3 million downloads. That's pretty incredible since rolling out just two weeks ago. And meta stock, take a look at this, skyrocketing, rising more than 20% since that launch. But here's the catch. Mews relies on getting access to a bunch of your personal data, including your calendar, text messages, and credit card information. Our Allie Canal is joining me now and said to show us how it works. But before we start, Ali, I just want to understand why. Why? Why? Why? do we need this? And I got to be honest with you, I am impressed by the way Wall Street and the stock has risen and it's obviously people are downloading this. From that trailer, I didn't really understand how it works. Also, your phone already has your credit cards. It has all your personal

information. Why do we need this? I think what this does is it centralizes everything under one app. So you don't have to go to Open Table. You don't have to go to Expedia to book all these various reservations. You could just all do it through news. I also think the AI story has been interesting, right? I don't think the messaging has been there for consumers. I think we hear a lot about the business-to-business uses of AI. This is a tangible example of putting AI, these agents, into the hands of everyday Americans, and they can actually see some results here when it comes to booking a doctor's appointment, which apparently Muse can do. You can upload an Instagram recipe, and it'll show you all the different items that you need to shop for in order to

make that recipe, so those types of things. Sure, viewers, how this works, because I have a couple follow-ups after we kind of see how this works. Okay, so I'm a big foodie, so I figured let's book us dinner for two people near 30 Rock tomorrow at 815. Am I invited or no? You're invited, of course you are, Tom. So I will say, this took a little bit of time. It took us into the browser mode so I could see what the Muse agent was doing, looking up the reservations, said it was on it, it was checking for those tables, it went to open tables, searching bookable options. And then look at here. We have various restaurants available. Del Frisco's, Jupiter, it told us the time and the seating, what type of cuisine and the price

range that we're looking at, where exactly it's located. I figured you struck me as a steak guy, Tom. Yeah, we could do it. Yeah, let's do it. It's good. So I selected A, it's preparing the reservation, and it gave me all of the information. Again, where it's located. I got to be honest with you, this just seems like more work. We could have just gone to res your open table, book the table. I'm so confused. I agree. Now, it said, should I complete the reservation because like I told you this took a little bit of time I just said yes and it gave me a little thumbs up it's preparing the booking and like you can see it does take a bit of time so I think the more information it has the maybe the more efficient it will be because again

you need to put a lot of information in the same you know what you're just I'm just I'm still like getting though how it's going to make your life easier because it actually makes it feel like it's a little bit more complicated but people want this they're clearly they're downloading it and there's a race to sort of have the perfect AI assistant, right? Yeah. And if you think about the AI tools that we have right now, chat GPT, a Claude, a Gemini, this has been really portrayed as this partner to brainstorm, to write things. It can't actually go ahead. Take it one step further. And do anything for what we're talking about now with Muse. Yeah, let's actually have these things book the reservation,

do these things for you so that it's not just this partner, but it's someone that can actually help your life. But if somebody's looking at this and they say, I want to book two tickets to Vegas. I want to go see this terrible, but just because it was top of mind, carrot top because he's been in the news for sad reasons. But I want to go see a show. Is he still going to ask you, like, what are the seats do you want? Where do you want to sit in the airplane?

Does this flight work for... I mean, it's going to keep asking you that. So I'm just wondering how it cuts down on time. Yeah, and we did that, actually, for a Yankees game for tomorrow, because we know you like the Yankees. But, again, that took a long time asking you all this information. Do these times work? Do those times work? I mean, yes, this does take a lot of time. It requires a lot of access to your personal information. Now, I will say, everything is sort of

prompted, right? They say, oh, can I have access to this? Can I have access to it to infinity, or can I just do it for this one time? So it does try and make sure that you have autonomy over what it knows about you. Meta's facing these, first of all, do you have to have Facebook to do this? You do have to sign up through Instagram or Facebook account. Yeah. Good old Mark Zuckerberg. He's figuring it out. It's all connected. But there's these issues over privacy and data. But I kind of find these, I don't know if this is an authentic sort of problem to have,

because everyone puts their information to their phone. They save it into their Apple settings. I mean, if somebody else has it, I mean, is it that big of a deal? I tend to feel very similar to you, Tom. I mean, like at this point, all my information is out there. But security and privacy, it is a big concern, especially over the past few weeks. We've been talking about these AI advancements and how quickly everything is moving. And there are those real issues out there.

I mean, we heard from Amazon that actually blocked Muse from integrating. Why? Because they cited those security concerns. Now, all that being said... Amazon has all your stuff, too. Right, exactly. They have the data. Now, Muse does have other integrations with PayPal, Expedia, Instacart, Dix.

So that will use the Muse AI agent for you. And this is free for users, but there are subscription tiers. You can have a power plan for $20 a month, a max plan for $100 a month. This basically ups the usage. If my little guy gets into my muse and he's like, buy me this icon bat at Dix, is there a safety measure? Like, how does Muse know it's not me? It's my son who's trying to buy the bat? Well, it will double check with you.

It'll say, hey, are you sure you want me to go ahead and purchase this? But if your son says yes. If he's got the access to it, look, that's crazy. Right. Like a free credit card. Exactly. And I think that's part of all the concerns here. Allie, thanks for explaining.

Yeah. But Yankees and steak. And Delvers says, yes. I'm looking forward to both them. Right. When we come back tonight, the six-year-old capturing the hearts of an entire stadium after a milestone Homer ended up in her hands. How her response to the catch is going viral. Stay with us. Finally tonight, it was a home run ball ending up in the hands of a six-year-old Braves fan celebrating her birthday. Her smile is one you have to see and wait until you see what she did next.

In the eighth inning of the Reds Braves game Tuesday night, six-year-old Kalia's birthday celebration got even better. A baseball sailing over the left field wall ending up in the hands of the young Braves fan. They're celebrating with her family. And this wasn't just any ball. That's God! Slugger Ujano Suarez going yard, notching his 350th homer, a milestone hit for the third baseman. That ball, a collectible. Kalia thrilled to get it.

Fellow fans celebrating her as well and her smile, lighting up the whole stadium. But then she throws it back, tossing it down onto the field. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. The moment replayed the stadium. So we're here with Kalia. Kalia, you got a home run ball on your birthday. Why did you throw it back?

Well, you're showing off a pretty big arm. Kalia may have tossed the ball back, but she took home a priceless birthday memory. We can't get you a baseball. Do you want some cupcakes? Oh, that's great. You're talking about best day ever right now. Yeah, for a long time. What a smile and very small.

Very nice throw. We thank you for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamis in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.