Tuesday, October 13, 2026

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1:02Breaking news tonight. Pope Leo diagnosed with lung cancer after undergoing surgery. Part of the American Pope's right lung removed after surgeons planned to just take out a nodule. The reaction coming in from around the world and what doctors are saying about the diagnosis. Also tonight, horrifying new details on that deadly roller coaster accident. A teacher identified as the man killed after being tossed out and landing on a haunted house. as Six Flags shuts down other roller coasters across the country. So are the rides safe? We speak with an expert. Kimberly Guilfoyle resigning as ambassador to Greece after the White House requested she step down.

1:42What the president said today about the woman who used to date his son. The Saudi national working for OpenAI allegedly caught on camera planting eavesdropping devices. A former Massachusetts police officer on trial for allegedly killing a woman and staging it as a suicide. What surveillance video played today in court shows from the day she died. The close call at a Florida hair salon. A car barreling through the front window, pinning this couple to the reception desk. What we know about that driver. And runaway pumpkin. The massive inflatable rolling through traffic. How this man eventually grounded the gourd.

2:27Plus the unprecedented supermarket cyber attack. Hackers sending fridge temps soaring, spoiling food. Could it happen in your home? Top Story starts right now.

2:45Hi there, good evening. Thank you for joining us. I'm Ryan Nobles in for Tom. And we begin tonight with that stunning news from the Vatican. Pope Leo, the first American in the role, has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Earlier today, undergoing a surgery to remove the lower lobe of his right lung. Doctors went into that procedure intending just to remove a nodule when they discovered it was cancerous. The Vatican says the Pope was in the operating room for roughly three hours and is now recovering in the hospital. The 71-year-old seen just this morning arriving for the surgery, waving to supporters gathered there and appearing to be in good spirits.

3:25The stunning diagnosis comes just a year and a half into his historic papacy. It marks the first major health problem that Pope Leo has disclosed. Tonight, there are still questions about what future treatment will look like and how that could impact his ability to lead the Catholic Church. Just a few months ago, Tom spoke with the Holy Father about a potential trip to the U.S. But tonight, his travel plans are less certain, including an upcoming trip to South America, where he's scheduled to visit several cities and make dozens of speeches. So will that trip still happen? Our Ann Thompson leads us off tonight with the late details.

4:06Tonight, the stunning diagnosis for Pope Leo, lung cancer. The Holy Father today arriving at Gemelli Hospital in Rome for surgery to remove a nodule from his lung. The Vatican press office says the Pope was in the operating room for about three hours. The surgery itself lasted approximately 90 minutes, and that the lower lobe of the right lung was removed using a video-assisted technique. The Vatican confirming that while the surgery was successful, Pope Leo was found to have the most common form of lung cancer. NBC News' Claudio Lavanga is in Rome. I waited with dozens of journalists from around the world here at the Vatican press office for an update on the surgery.

4:48And we learned only later at night that that nodule the doctors removed from the Pope's lung is cancerous. Now the Vatican is trying to keep its message reassuring, saying that the surgery today went according to plan. Tonight, Pope Leo is resting in his hospital room. His future schedule unclear. Just earlier this year, he had told Tom he was planning a visit to the United States. Will Americans see you soon in America? They will see me there. By coincidence, today we were looking at the calendar for the next couple of years. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I certainly hope to be there soon.

5:25Dr. David Jones is a thoracic surgeon at New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. If he has stage 2 or 3 disease, then he will need additional treatment. If it's stage one localized, he will not need additional treatment. The 71-year-old Pope is expected to spend a week recuperating in the hospital.

5:47Tonight from Portugal's Our Lady of Fatima Shrine and around the world, prayers for his recovery. Anne Thompson, NBC News. All right, thank you, Anne. Joining us here on set is Dr. Stephanie Chang. She's a thoracic surgeon at NYU Langone here in New York. So, Dr. Chang, there's obviously millions of Catholics concerned about the Pope's future and his health. What can you tell us about this specific type of cancer that he's been diagnosed with? Yeah, so he was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, which is the most common type of lung cancer. The most important thing is the stage or how advanced is it.

6:24The fact that they went directly to surgery and were able to perform surgery does show that it's promising and earlier in terms of stage. AND THEREFORE, WHILE I DON'T KNOW HIS DETAILS, IS A GOOD PROGNOSIS. YEAH, AND YOU, OBVIOUSLY, YOU ARE NOT THE POPE'S DOCTOR, BUT THE POPE DID SAY THAT THIS NODULE WAS DETECTED AT A VERY EARLY STAGE. MAYBE EXPAND ON THAT A LITTLE BIT MORE. WHY IS THAT SUCH GOOD NEWS THAT THEY WERE ABLE TO CATCH IT THIS EARLY? YEAH, SO IF YOU FIND THE NODULE WHEN IT'S SMALL AND WHEN IT'S CONFINED TO THE LUNG AND HAS NOT SPREAD OUTSIDE TO THE LYMPH NODES, IT OFTEN CAN BE CURED WITH SURGERY ALONE.

6:59Again, there's a little more nuance to that, but finding it early means, again, a better prognosis. And while we try not to say cure, again, he should live a relatively long and good life pending the pathology results. Yeah, but talk about that. There's still some tests that need to be done. How soon will we have an idea of just what stage this cancer was at? So the most important thing is they did some staging before going to surgery. After surgery, we have all of the tissue, so the lymph nodes, the lung itself, and you do a lot more tests on that to figure out what's going on. Depending on the hospital, it generally takes about a week to get those results.

7:36Once they have that, then you can give a full picture of, does he need any more treatment or is this really all he needs? And if there were additional treatment that were necessary, what could that look like? Could it be chemotherapy, radiation, something along those lines? Again, it's hard to determine until the answers are back. A lot of patients, depending on what the tumor is made of, IF YOU THINK HE MIGHT NEED CHEMOTHERAPY OR IMMUNOTHERAPY, THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF ADVANCES LATELY. BUT AGAIN, HOPEFULLY THIS WAS EARLY AND CURED AND THIS IS IT FOR HIM. YEAH. IS IT THE TYPE OF CANCER THAT'S LIKELY TO RECUR OR DOES THAT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH HOW SOON IT'S CAUGHT?

8:13A LOT OF IT HAS TO DO WITH HOW SOON IT WAS CAUGHT. SO AGAIN, THE EARLIER THE STAGE, THE SMALLER IT IS IF THERE'S NOT INVASION OF THE NODES. THAT REALLY IS WHAT DICTATES HOW DOES IT COME BACK? what's the likelihood and what's survival. This pope has an ambitious schedule ahead of him. He's scheduled to travel to South America, potentially be at high elevations. How much could this impact the plans that he has for the next few months? Yes, so I was hearing about those plans and I think unfortunately there will be a little impact. A lot of how you recover and what you can do is patient dependent.

8:46If everything goes great, you can do international travel a few weeks after surgery. He had minimally invasive surgery, so that's always easier to recover from. But I did hear he might go to Cusco, which is very high. And so I'm not sure if he will make all the stops, if he will be able to do quite as many lengthy speeches, but hopefully with him and his team, he'll be able to figure out what works. Okay. Dr. Stephanie Chang, thank you for giving us all that information. We appreciate it. Of course. Absolutely. Thanks. And we're learning more tonight about that horrific death at Six Flags Amusement Park near Atlanta, including the identity of the man who was thrown from the Goliath roller coaster.

9:23And tonight, Six Flags temporarily shutting down similar rides at parks across the country. Ryan Chandler is there for us tonight. Tonight, investigations into what went so wrong as a man was thrown to his death from a popular Six Flags ride near Atlanta. The tragedy on the Goliath roller coaster triggering a pause on nine similar rides in Six Flags parks nationwide out of an abundance of caution. New details emerging tonight. The victim identified as 42-year-old Hassan Kareem. Police telling NBC News Kareem was at the park with family Monday afternoon. Eyewitnesses recounting his horrifying fall.

10:02The Goliath, as six flags, just launched a man out of his seat. Eyewitnesses tell us they watched on in shock as they saw Kareem fall off of the Goliath roller coaster, towering over the park here, his fall injuring other riders on the way down. before he crashed onto a roof. Kareem tonight remembered as a beloved life partner and educator at Wesley International Academy in Atlanta who taught technology and coached robotics. The school saying they are heartbroken and that he left a lasting impact on generations of students. Jasim Conrad is Kareem's former student growing up to eventually work alongside him.

10:41A very knowledgeable teacher, but also it's just the calm presence that's always there. He was always in the hallways checking in. He had the same greeting to me as a student and as a teacher, just how you doing, young man, with a nod. Just a really smooth, caring guy for sure. As tonight, so many impacted by Mr. Kareem. Remember a life cut so short. Ryan Chandler is outside Six Flags over Georgia for us tonight. Ryan, obviously this is such a tremendous tragedy. Do we know anything more, though, about how this man fell out of the roller coaster? Ryan, it's the top question on investigators' minds as so many different agencies try to piece this together.

11:23I'll say we were talking with some people who were riding the Goliath just before this tragedy yesterday. Some of them expressed some surprise at the nature of the safety mechanism on such a wild ride. We also did hear from the company that manufactured the Goliath. They are a Swiss company with one of the best safety records in the business. They also tell us tonight that they are working to gain a better understanding of what transpired. Ryan. Okay, Brian Chandler in Atlanta. Thank you for that, Ryan. For more now on the renewed conversations about roller coaster safety, I want to bring in Todd Martins.

11:56He's a columnist for the L.A. Times who covers theme parks and roller coasters. Todd, so we mentioned that Six Flags has shut down those nine other coasters. What could they be looking for? Are they expecting the rides? Are they reviewing protocols for the employees? Could it be a combination of both? Well, when you look at the nine coasters that have been shut down, they are either from the same manufacturer or they have a similar sort of lap bar, sort of clamshell pull down over your lap sort of setting. So I think while this investigation continues, this is obviously very tragic and very upsetting to so many people.

12:29I think it's only prudent that they pause any coaster with any sort of similarity in how the lap bar is adjusted. So you've been on the Goliath roller coaster, the version that they have at Six flags in California. That's one of the rides that's now been suspended. Talk to me about your experience. I've watched the YouTube videos. It does seem like a pretty thrilling ride, but how secure did you feel on it? And can you explain for our viewers just what type of restraint it is? I know you talked a little bit about it before the clamshell, but maybe expand on that. Yeah, absolutely. So it's a lap bar that you're going to pull down.

13:02It's going to be in front of you. And the idea is that it rests primarily over your legs and hips, and it locks you into place. So you will still feel a little bit of airtime on such a restraint. That means you'll lift off the seat just a little bit at various times. The Goliath here in California is a slightly different coaster. This is two to a row. The one in Georgia, I believe, is four to a row. So they do have different feels. But it's a very intense coaster. It gets about 70 miles per hour. It has multiple lifts, multiple turns that do pull you out of your seat. I get a little queasy on any coaster that has close to 90-degree angle drops.

13:38But, you know, people who go on coasters live for these sort of daredevil-like attractions. Yeah, part of the thrill for sure. Six Flags, of course, is the largest theme park operator in the United States. I mean, millions of people go to these parks every year, in part because they trust that they're going to be safe. You know, we have this tragedy now. There's also that string of lawsuits about Six flags is X2 coaster which people said left them with brain injuries should people be more concerned about going to these parks well I mean I think the reason this is such a shocking story to so many people and the reason so many people are affected is because it is a relatively rare thing to see some especially like what happened in Georgia that doesn't really happen and I think that's why so many people are shaken up about this you go to these places to connect with your friends your loved ones your family as we're learning more about this incident this that's with exactly what this person was doing.

14:29You don't go to these places. You go to these places to expect to be fully safe. And, you know, they have a good track record. I don't necessarily think people should be alarmist. The two situations you mentioned are very different, X2 and the Goliath. X2 was a coaster that had alleges of brain problems over a number of years, whereas this sounds like a very different accident, one that is very rare and very shocking. Okay. Todd Martins, the roller coaster expert for us tonight. Todd, thank you for your perspective. We appreciate it. Now to a shakeup in the Trump administration, Kimberly Guilfoyle resigning as ambassador to Greece.

15:02Amid allegations, she asked a donor to pay off her credit card bill and after the White House asked her to step down. Here's Gabe Gutierrez. Tonight, in a dramatic shakeup, U.S. ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle is out. Did you speak with Kimberly Guilfoyle personally and what did she say to you? I didn't speak to her, no, but she will not be there. I didn't like what I read. Guilfoyle's dismissal announced today by new White House Press Secretary Katie Zachariah at her first briefing. We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team and we wish her well.

15:41Guilfoyle had been under scrutiny over allegations she asked Trump donor Eric Dieters for$100 ,000 to pay off her American Express bill. days before her 2025 confirmation hearing in exchange for access to senior administration officials. She said to me she would be my ride or die. Once married to Democrat Gavin Newsom. Donald Trump will never stop fighting for you. Guilfoyle had more recently been engaged to the president's son, Don Jr., before breaking up in 2024. No, she wasn't a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago, but she wasn't. No. Guilfoyle today calling her role as ambassador the honor of a lifetime, writing she would be forever grateful to President Trump, but adding these allegations are false and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity.

16:31Her attorney saying Dieters owed her$150 ,000 for speeches and consulting work, a claim Dieters tells NBC News is a complete lie. Gabe Gutierrez joins us now from the North Lawn at the White House. Gabe, you have some new reporting about Guilfoyle's last-ditch effort to save her job? Yes, Ryan. According to a source familiar with the matter, Guilfoyle was making calls to allies within the administration as recently as yesterday to fight for her job. But there was concern among senior aides here at the White House about what a State Department Inspector General probe would find. Ryan. All right, Gabe Gutierrez, thank you for that.

17:10New developments tonight after the arrest of Selma Blair, the actress appearing emotional in front of a judge following a violent mid-flight outburst. And tonight, we're learning more about what exactly unfolded. Our Sam Brock has more. Tonight, disturbing new details about the accusations leveled at actress Selma Blair as a crush of cameras captured her just hours after she was arrested and formally arraigned on assault charges. Yes, sir. Her attorney appearing to wipe Blair's eye with the prosecutor outlining the allegations. The defendant kicked the officer in the face, the neck and the chest.

17:50Blair pleaded not guilty. And all of it coming after a Delta pilot Sunday called air traffic control, requesting medical attention at JFK. One flight attendant and one passenger that sustained some minor injuries, a bloody nose as well as some light marks. Blair was detained, but those assault charges actually stem from what happened next, highlighted in a criminal affidavit. that says on the ride to the hospital, an officer was securing the defendant on a stretcher. The defendant removed her leg from the stretcher straps and kicked the officer repeatedly. According to the affidavit, at the hospital, she then kicked a registered nurse in the chest, causing substantial pain.

18:28Ms. Blair did not get on that plane intending for any of this, Your Honor. Blair's lawyers explaining the actress missed several doses of her medication, controlling severe neurological symptoms. During the flight, there was an incident where Ms. Blair actually fell and hit her head. These factors, Your Honor, coupled with the altitude, resulted in a state of severe confusion and disorientation. And Ryan, this is not the first time that Blair has been accused of biting someone. In her memoir, she describes biting celebrities like Kate Moss and Sienna Miller at parties and admitted to having social anxiety.

19:05Her next court date is in January. Ryan? All right, Sam Brock, thank you. We're back in a moment with the former gang leader sentenced to decades in prison for orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur, what the rapper's family said in court. Plus, the daring rescue out at sea, a woman stranded in the water for 20 hours after jumping off a cruise ship. We'll show you the mission that saved her. And an out-of-control driver wreaking havoc inside a hair salon, leaving a couple pinned against the counter. How they managed to get out ahead on Top Story.

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21:0014 to 20 % average weight loss in one year in non-diabetics with obesity or overweight with a weight-related medical condition versus 2.2 % to 3.1 % in placebo R. Rx only. To stay informed about serious side effects, go to roe.co slash safety. Back now with justice. 30 years in the making. The man convicted of orchestrating the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur learning his fate. Here's Dana Griffin. Tonight, a judge issuing a 40-year sentence for the man accused of orchestrating the murder of rap icon Tupac Shakur. You don't get to take a man from his family. You don't get to take his very life, his whole future from him and just walk away from it, especially when that man is Tupac Shakur.

21:42Dwayne Keefe D. Davis staring blankly as a sentence is read. Tupac's family emotional speaking in court. I miss my brother. I do, I do, I do. I miss his skin. I miss his scars on his head. Count one, murder with use of a deadly weapon. In August, Davis was found guilty of first-degree murder after an 11-day trial where jurors heard audio of Davis describing the killing himself. So you hand the gun to the backseat? Yeah. I gave it to Dre, and Dre was like, no, no. And Lane's like, you're a popper. So Tupac's trying to jump in the backseat. And what's your gun? Just ducking? He couldn't really talk to me.

22:24Tupac was shot while sitting in this car, moments after a fan snapped this photo. He died six days later. Prosecutors say Davis planned the killing in retaliation for this beating of his nephew by Shakur and others captured on camera inside a Las Vegas casino earlier that night. For years, Davis has acknowledged he was in the car but never pulled the trigger. Who shot Tupac? The defense arguing in the trial, Davis lied in interviews and his own memoir to make money. Meanwhile, Tupac's family expressing the pain and loss they've endured for the past three decades. We lost something. Our whole generation lost something huge.

23:12Dana Griffin joins us now from Los Angeles. And Dana, Davis says that he plans to appeal. He does, Ryan, telling the judge today he will appeal his guilty verdict. Davis is the only man from inside that white Cadillac 30 years ago to ever face charges. The other three men accused or who were involved in Tupac's murder have all since died. Ryan. All right, Dana Griffin, thank you for that. Now to the Massachusetts murder trial gaining national attention. A former police officer accused of killing a pregnant woman and staging it as a suicide. This is 23-year-old Sanda Birchmore, who prosecutors say, or prosecutors allege was groomed and sexually abused for years by former Stoughton detective Matthew Farewell.

23:59Now, according to prosecutors, the two met when Birchmore was just 13 years old and signed up for the police department's youth program. They allegedly carried on a sexual relationship for years, up until Birchmore was found dead in her apartment back in 2021. The state's chief medical examiner originally ruled her death a suicide, but years later changed the ruling to undetermined after a federal investigation. Now, this case coming on the heels of two high-profile murder trials of Lindsay Clancy and Karen Reed thrusting Massachusetts back into the national spotlight. I want to bring in our Stephen Romo, who is tracking this one for us.

24:37So, Stephen, I should note that a little different than Karen Reed in the Lindsay Clancy case, this is a federal trial. so there will be no cameras in the courtroom. But walk us through what the prosecution's case is and what the defense is saying. Yes, some really disturbing allegations here, but the prosecution's case really comes down to motive and intent here. They allege that Farwell killed Birchmore because he worried that she would reveal the years of sexual abuse that started when she was 15 and this ongoing extramarital relationship he had with her. The defense maintains that Birchmore took her own life, which was the original finding of the medical examiner, but it was later changed to being undetermined as if it were taking her own life.

25:17Prosecutors pointing out some video, some surveillance video from Birchmore's apartment the day of her death. You see it here. And they allege that this is Farwell with that hood on and a COVID style mask going into her apartment. The defense pushed back on this video saying that this is not a murderer. This is a man who is trying to hide an affair from his wife. We'll see what the jury ends up believing. Well, I mean, let's talk more about that affair. How much do we know about the timeline of Farwell's alleged relationship with Birchmore? Yeah, the timeline is interesting here, as it is disturbing, because Birchmore wanted to be a police officer, by all accounts, from the witnesses we've already heard from.

25:57So she joined this youth police program. And then in 2012, Farwell started messaging with her online. That is according to court documents. In 2013, when she was just 15, the indictment alleges that he started an abusive sexual relationship with her, and it continued into adulthood. Leading to October of 2020, court documents allege Birchmore wanted a child. So Farwell agreed to get her pregnant if she would keep quiet about his criminal acts. And then in December, she found out she was pregnant. And this is where it takes a bit of a turn. In January, a friend of Birchmore called his police department, according to these court documents, telling them about the whole situation.

26:35Farwell allegedly found out about that and was enraged to hear that. And the very next month, February 2021, Birchmore was found dead in her apartment. I mean, we're only on the first day of testimony, but what are we hearing from both witnesses for the prosecution? Yeah, so far, it really seems like the prosecution witnesses are building this picture of Birchmore's life and someone who started out in this grooming-type relationship whenever she was a young teenager, and then also her excitement for having a child. They were really pushing back against that defense narrative that she did take her own life.

27:09And we heard from witnesses who worked with her saying that she was thrilled to be pregnant. She was excited for the future. You can see them laying out that case there. They're also pointing out the circumstances surrounding her death, including that surveillance video. So meanwhile, the defense is pushing back, asking how well did these witnesses even know Birchmore in this situation? Of course, their witnesses are yet to come. We'll hear more from the defense's side as this progresses. Sounds like a very complicated case. All right, Stephen, thank you for breaking it down for us. Still to come tonight on Top Story, the massive cyber attack overseas.

27:42Hackers targeting supermarkets, forcing food to be thrown out. Could that happen here? Plus, the glowing spectacle in the sky. What caused this so-called space jellyfish? But first, Top Story's top moment and the unexpected roadblock that had drivers screaming, oh my gourd, when a massive inflatable pumpkin decoration broke free, barreling down the road. It's going to hit us. The pump's going to hit my car and damage my car. Before it hits you, let me tell them. Ah!

28:24Oh my gosh, look at this is crazy talk. Absolutely terrifying and I do not believe that slow motion. Drivers and workers getting involved to stop the jack-o-lantern on the lam. It was all part of the pumpkin fest display at a farm in Cary, North Carolina. But fear not, the farm shared that the great pumpkin is back home, safe and sound. My parents live in that area. I've checked in on them. They are fine. We're just grateful no one got squashed. I'm sorry. Stay with us. More top story after this.

29:04We are back now with the arrest of an OpenAI employee, a Saudi Arabian national accused of bugging an executive conference room at the company's San Francisco office. This is the device his co-workers say they found plugged into the back of a TV late last month. It was discovered just days after it was placed there. Security footage capturing the suspect looking right at the back of that TV after the device was found. NBC's Liz Krutz is following this one for us. So, Liz, this employee has been arrested and charged tonight? Yeah, Ryan, that's right. He's been charged with using or endeavoring to use an electronic device to intercept oral communications.

29:46According to authorities, this is a 35-year-old man, a Saudi national, who began working at OpenAI in San Francisco, the parent company to chat GPT, last year in 2025. They say that OpenAI personnel on September 30th discovered a USB behind a TV in this executive conference room that was sort of disguised in toilet paper. They were able to determine it had probably been there for a couple of days. Five days later, after they discovered it, on October 5th, they were able to capture this man, who they say is the suspect, looking for that USB behind the TV. They then arrested him a few days later.

30:22He's now in federal custody. And he had a court appearance today. He has another appearance coming up on October 19th, Ryan. And do we have any idea what he wanted to do with these recordings, who he wanted to share them with? Did he plan on sharing them with anyone? It's a really good question, and that is the big question. We did not get that from authorities today. That might all still be part of the ongoing investigation. What authorities did say is that he did record sensitive communications in that room. They say this is a highly confidential, a room where highly confidential meetings take place.

30:56It's a conference room he did not or should not have had access to. And authorities say that they are considering this incident a matter of national security. Ryan. All right, Liz Krutz in Los Angeles. Thank you for that, Liz. Now to Alaska, where tonight President Trump is rallying support for the Republican senator there, locked in a tight race that could determine which party controls Congress. NBC's Steve Patterson is there. Tonight, for the first time in years, the last frontier is a midterm battleground. I'm right now going to Alaska to try and help Dan Sullivan. President Trump here tonight to campaign for Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan.

31:37Whenever the Democrats get power, they come after Alaska, shut down our energy, they kill thousands of jobs. But Sullivan is in a surprisingly tight race in a state President Trump won by double digits. He's very down to earth. Craig Carter telling us he's backing Sullivan. He's very blue collar, you can say. If you don't like the president, you're not going to like him. I guess maybe I just happen to like the president. He gets it right most of the time. Sullivan running against Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman. Lifelong Republican David Traver voted for Trump in 2016, but will now vote for Peltola, saying the GOP did not keep its promises.

32:16I think they don't think rationally. They don't think logically. They have sold their soul to an idea that's flawed, to a man that's flawed. Here in the 49th state, the issue that may decide the election is affordability, where everything from gas to groceries gets higher, the more remote you are. Jeff Estes telling us he's struggling to get by. He's now having to look for alternatives to crude heating oil to heat his home. Is it affecting the way you live? I'm burning wood. Because it's cheaper. Tonight he tells us he's still undecided on his vote. Steve Patterson joins us now from the president's rally in Wasilla, Alaska.

33:00Steve, we just saw the president touch down in Alaska moments ago. He's expected to take the stage there any minute? Yeah, we should expect the president on stage in just a few minutes. As you mentioned, our White House team telling us there is touchdown. We believe he's boarded Marine One and should be on his way here. Expect some of the same talking points on affordability, opening up natural gas pipeline in the area, but hyping up his guy, of course, Senator Dan Sullivan. right? And Steve, there's another critical moment in the Alaska Senate race this week. What can you tell us about that? Yeah, the big debate, the last debate in this Senate race expected in just two days.

33:39And keep in mind, if the Senate does come down to Alaska, we could be waiting a while. It takes a minute to count those more rural votes anywhere from days to several weeks, which may mean we have a cliffhanger in the last frontier. Maybe Steve Patterson will be spending Thanksgiving in Alaska, depending on how that vote count goes. All right, Steve Patterson, thank you for that. And for the latest polling on the most critical races, let's get right to Steve Kornacki at the big board. Steve, you also have some new numbers on how popular the president is as we head into this final stretch. Well, take a look here.

34:12Donald Trump's approval rating here on average 38 percent here, under 40 percent. Dangerous place for an incumbent president to be with his party facing midterm elections here. Of note, if you went back to Donald Trump's first term, his approval rating heading into his midterm in 2018 was actually a little bit higher than that, and Republicans did lose control of the House back then. You take a look at the generic ballot here, asking folks which party they'd like to see control Congress. Democrats with a nine-point advantage right there. Again, this is a tick higher than what polls were showing in the run-up to that 2018 midterm.

34:46So there are some very big warning signs there for Republicans. Democrats here, they're looking to flip the Senate, too, not just the House. Democrats would need a net gain of four seats if they're going to do that on the Senate side. So where are they looking? Maine is their obvious target here. That's the only Republican-held seat, Susan Collins there, in a state that Donald Trump didn't carry. You see, Kamala Harris carried it. But you look at the rest of the list here, if the Democrats are going to take back the Senate, it's going to mean necessarily that they make some inroads into some very Republican, very pro-Trump states.

35:16So take a look at some of those targets more closely here. Texas is one that Democrats, they've been hoping for decades on this one, they think Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general there, is a ripe target. Very high negatives for Ken Paxton. Democrats are hoping a one-two punch of the suburbs of Dallas and Houston, along with the heavily Hispanic areas around the border, that they could propel them to victory in Texas. Another target, we mentioned Susan Collins. 30 years she's the incumbent there. Democrats, it seems every six years they think they've got her beat. She gets away. She's sort of the white whale for them.

35:47See if things go different for them there this year. And then Kansas here, sort of a reach for Democrats. To put it mildly here, Democrats are very encouraged in Kansas because this part of the state, right around Kansas City, south of it here, has been getting more and more blue. But there is still a lot of red. There's still a lot of rural, very Republican Kansas here. That's a very tall order for Democrats. They're having a very big night if they get Kansas. And on the Republican side here, Republicans hoping to turn the tables on Democrats here to pick off a Democratic-held seat. Here's three Republicans are looking at Democratic-held Senate seats here.

36:21One in particular, it's in Michigan. Remember, a state that Donald Trump carried twice, Democrats opted to nominate here for the United States Senate, Abdul El-Sayed, a candidate pretty far to the left. We've seen candidates like El-Sayed win Democratic primaries in districts and in cities that are heavily Democratic, where they're going to win the general election no matter what. But this is a real test if his brand of politics in an authentic swing state can pass muster. He's got the climate at his back here, but Rogers has been trying to make a big issue here of El-Sayed's ideology. This is a really interesting test, and if Republicans win it, it could potentially save the Senate for them.

37:00Back to you. We can tell Steve's getting excited. We're getting closer and closer. Tune in tomorrow night. That's when Tom goes on the road to the midterms. He'll be live from Battleground, Michigan with just three weeks until Election Day. Now the top stories news feed starting with a major update tonight out of Cornell University. The school says that it's suspending all parties and social events at fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year. It comes as Cornell faces outrage over its handling of allegations that a female student was sexually assaulted nearly two years ago. The school's president says the move will allow more time for an investigation into fraternity life on campus.

37:41And a historic fine against Bank of America. The Treasury Department ordering it to pay$1.2 billion, accusing the bank of violating anti-money laundering and sanction laws. It marks the third largest penalty ever handed down by the agency. In a statement, Bank of America officials wrote, quote, Financial crime compliance is serious. And we are responsible for getting it right. At a terrifying moment in Jacksonville, when a husband and wife were hit by a car that crashed through the front of a hair salon. Video shows the vehicle barreling into the store, pinning the couple against the checkout counter.

38:20The driver then reversing, giving them enough room to get out. Both were hurt, but are expected to be okay. Investigators now looking into what caused the crash. And a stunning scene over central Florida this morning. Check it out, that glowing cloud formation created by SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It's a phenomenon called a space jellyfish. Scientists say it can happen when launches occur just before sunrise or sunset. The rocket is part of NASA's resupply mission to the International Space Station. Turning overseas now to a stunning rescue caught on camera near Greece. A woman found safe 20 hours after jumping overboard a Royal Caribbean cruise.

39:08And officials say she did it deliberately. Our ref Sanchez has the video. Hey Ryan, yeah, this was a pretty extraordinary rescue at sea. The Greek Coast Guard tells us a woman deliberately jumped off of a cruise ship wearing one of those orange round lifesavers because she, quote, wanted to get off the ship while it was still in transit. She spent the next 20 hours floating in the Mediterranean while this frantic rescue effort was scrambled. Eventually, a passing ship saw a light on her life jacket. They called the Coast Guard. Coast Guard was able to get up to her and they threw her a literal lifeline to get her out of the water.

39:49She was then taken to the Greek mainland where authorities say she's in pretty good physical health, but she's also undergoing psychiatric evaluation. She hasn't been formally identified, but authorities say she's 44 years old. She's a citizen of El Salvador. Now, the ship she jumped off of is called the Odyssey of the Seas. This is a luxury cruise liner, some 5 ,000 passengers on board. The first they knew about this situation was when the captain came on the PA and announced that somebody had gone overboard. We later saw some posts on social media from passengers saying that they were happy this woman was found safely and alive.

40:29But there was some frustration that she had disrupted the travel plans of literally thousands of people. Now, the water out there in the Mediterranean right now, about 75 degrees Fahrenheit, that is survivable over an extended period. But towards the end of the year, those temperatures are going to plunge. And after that, it would be very, very difficult to survive in the water for 20 hours or so. What seems to have made the big difference here is this woman had that lifesaver on, so she was floating rather than actively swimming for most of those hours. Ryan? All right, Raf Sanchez, thank you for that.

41:03In France, investigators hunting for hackers believed to be behind a large cyber attack. This may come as a surprise. Their target, supermarkets and their refrigeration systems that keep food fresh. Tom Costello is tracking this one for us. Aisle after aisle of fridges and freezers totally empty. Mountains of foods tossed in the trash. Entire sections of fresh and frozen food cleared out. All after a cyber attack crippled the cooling systems in grocery stores across France. Reuters reports French cybersecurity investigators are working to track the hackers who reportedly cranked refrigerator temps at hundreds of stores, in some cases as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit.

41:55The CEO of French supermarket Intermarche telling this French broadcaster the attack will likely cost millions of euros. Some of the fridges and freezers were controlled by technology that France's cybersecurity agency says had a vulnerability. According to Reuters, Danfoss, one of the companies behind the technology, says the affected units were old enough to not receive software or security updates or running outdated firmware. One vulnerability in that software can now attack every refrigerator in Europe. Cybersecurity expert Mark Rash says as we rely more on technology in our daily lives, the same kind of threat could put businesses and homes here in the U.S.

42:38also at risk. We update our phone from time to time. We update our computer from time to time. But nobody's running around updating their doorbell. And so because we don't update them, they become vulnerable to attack. And Rash says the meltdown in France signals a shifting strategy for cyber attackers. Previous attacks were all based on information, stealing information, stealing credit cards. Now they can shut things down, cause traffic jams, cause things to stop working by attacking these small devices. The potential reach of these attacks not stopping at France's borders, with reports of similar problems elsewhere in Europe.

43:17NBC News reached out to the stores and electronic companies reportedly involved in the incident, but did not hear back. This week, Anthropic put out a memo warning that AI models could soon begin self-replicating on everyday consumer products. things like fridges and ovens and automatic vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers, the everyday things that we have in our homes that are connected to the Internet. The company said if AI got out of control, it could be hard to shut it all down, adding that the company expects a future awash with agents running all types of hardware, including some that aren't under human control.

43:53Ryan. Tom Casello, thank you. We're back in a moment with one family story painfully relatable for so many Americans. Both parents working steady jobs but living paycheck to paycheck. The unexpected expenses that put them over the edge. The latest installment of our series Affording America coming up next. Need a holiday gift that lands instantly? Make it a Zorro. The most wanted eau de parfum and tints opens with vibrant cardamom, warms into an addictive toffee accord, and tops it off with an amber woods. Know someone who needs something a little bolder to match their personality? Pick up the most wanted parfum or forever wanted elixir.

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46:06Any preferences on anything we do this week for food? No, I mean, well, we need something easy with Glow Heaven Dance. Yeah, and you like lasagna. That's pretty easy. Oh, do we have parent-teacher conferences this week? Not this week, next week. My name is Sydney Jensen. I'm Mike Jensen. Hello. Good morning. Same, buddy. Oh, there we go. We have two kids. Our daughter was born in 2021, and then our son was born last April, so he's just over a year old now. I feel like everyone is just like a few bad days from being in the same situation that we are, from going from feeling really good about your finances and like you've worked really hard to get where you are and then suddenly some things happen and you're sitting there like, where did we go wrong?

46:56I love you sweetie, have a good day okay? Love you. All right, be good, be a good listener okay? Yeah I will. You know, I'm a teacher, and I think teachers, you know, it's hard to argue that we're well-paid. It's sort of historically in the canon that teachers are not the highest-paid individuals or professionals out there. But, you know, even with the bills that we pay, like, we are a dual-income household. We both have full-time jobs, and yet we are still struggling. We are spending more for groceries and gas now than I think we ever have.

47:36What did you pay the other day? I swear to you, buy our house. It was like$4.80. What? It's crazy. I make enough money that we should be able to pay our bills. I don't feel like I'm severely underpaid for what I do. I think that we're like a lot of families in that we live paycheck to paycheck. And so when something comes up that's not in our normal budget, that is where we're in trouble.

48:10Yep, but you got to keep moving. Don't step on your art stuff.

48:18If we look back to October of 2024, we had a really healthy savings account. We had just found out that we were pregnant with our son. We've made like aggressive payments on our house. And so we feel like we're in a really good spot. towards paying off our mortgage. And then my car broke down and it was the transmission and it was gonna cost more to fix it than it was worth. And so we unexpectedly had to buy a new car. And we came home one day this summer and our house was like, what did it say? Like 93 degrees inside or something. They were able to get our AC running for several hundred dollars.

49:04But they also looked at our furnace, which is 38 years old, and they put like a camera in to look at things and they said, you shouldn't turn this on, it's not safe. But this morning when it was 66 out, I became keenly aware that actually it's going to get cold sooner rather than later and we are going to have to figure something out and kind of what we're doing. And we live in Nebraska, so like it's going to snow, it's going to drop below freezing, we have two small kids, and so like that's not something that we can just go without for an entire winter. And we got quotes from like four or five different companies.

49:36And most of them are pretty similar in the$10 ,000 to$12 ,000 range. We have sold things on Facebook Marketplace. We're trying to set aside what little money we can every month. Hey, big dog. I feel like every bill that is paid, like two days later, I get an email like, hey, this is coming due. And it's like, I just paid this. I think it doesn't feel like there's a ton of time where there is like this like big relief section of life. It's like, oh, now the power's due. Okay. The power's due again. We just pay the power bill. We spend about two times our mortgage on daycare every month. For our son, since he's still under 18 months, it costs us close to$300 per week.

50:25With our daughter, she recently started kindergarten, and so we thought things would get a little cheaper, but I write a check to daycare for about$2 ,000 every month, at minimum. The months that have five weeks are, I don't know how we survive them. He's a baby. Matthew, are you all done?

50:52Are you all done? It feels like we're doing the things we're supposed to be to not have to like think to ourselves, oh geez, when is our paychecks coming in? Like when are we, like are we able to like buy eggs this week or do we need to wait and just have that be a thing for next time?

51:14Uh oh. Uh oh. I don't know. I think it's true of every parent that you hope that your kids are more prosperous than you, that, like, they're better off than you, they, you know, all of those things. And, you know, I'm a teacher, and I love my job so much. And my daughter says right now, at least, that she wants to grow up, and she wants to be a teacher like her mom. Are you excited for school, see your friends? Yeah. Yeah. And I would love that for her. And also, So I don't know how that will work if in 20 years it just has continued to get worse in terms of just like the cost of living. And that makes me really sad because I want her to not feel the way that we feel of struggling to make sure that she's getting the life and her brother are getting the life that we want for them.

52:13And you can see more from our series Affording America on NBCnews.com and in the NBC News app. When we come back tonight, the major milestone for a young boy with big dreams. After a life-saving gift from his brother, that special moment and what he plans to do now. Stay with us. Finally tonight, a young boy's story of survival made possible by the life-saving donation from his own brother. Here's Tom.

52:47These are the moves of a kid who just got a new lease on life. That's 11-year-old Peyton Stewart. Suit on, bow tie ready to go, all dressed up with good reason to celebrate. Peyton spent part of his childhood at Manning Family Children's Hospital in New Orleans, battling a rare autoimmune disorder. When he needed a life-saving bone marrow transplant last year, it was his older brother, A.C., who stepped up. The best big brother I could ever ask for. Now, a year later, Peyton is celebrating the transplant's success, New Orleans-style, with a brass band and a traditional second-line dance. All of it, alongside the hospital staff who got him to this moment.

53:36They saved my life. To see him with his strength back and happy and smiling, it was, man, it's unexplainable. It's unexplainable. Now he's ready to get back to what he loves, shooting hoops and being a kid, chasing big dreams. I get to look forward to being home, playing basketball and following my dreams. including becoming the future CEO of Manning Family Children's Hospital.

54:06Only after my NBA career.

54:14He's got some great moves. Our thanks to Tom for that one. Thank you so much for watching Top Story. I'm Ryan Obles. Stay right there. There's more news on the way.

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