Tuesday, October 6, 2026

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0:39Right. Okay, we can afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required,$15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. Breaking news tonight. The storm gaining strength in the Atlantic, on track to become the first hurricane of the season. The dangerous storm threatened to make the first landfall of 2026 as a cat, too.

1:12Tens of millions at risk in the Gulf. Could New Orleans get a direct hit? Bill Karens is timing it out. Also breaking, President Trump saying he will speak with Russia's Vladimir Putin over fears of that deadly plague that may have escaped a lab there. The death row inmate at the center of that botched execution, Krista Pike, now conscious and talking days after two failed lethal injections. Violent clashes in France, at least a quarter million taking to the streets, thousands arrested, trash set on fire, the tear gas standoff with police. Are Richard Engel and his team in the middle of it all?

1:51Our first look at the tens of millions in gold bars allegedly stolen by a CIA officer. New details on the mansions and designer watches he bought on the government's dime. The marriage proposal interrupted by one woman's racist outburst. We'll show you what happened before this man got down on one knee. And Hayride Gone Haywire, a tractor barreling through a neighborhood, the driver thrown more than a dozen injured, how he lost control. Plus, a state of emergency declared over a measles outbreak will tell you where cases are spiking. Top Story starts right now.

2:31Good evening. We are coming on the air with the tropical threat now intensifying. On track to become the first hurricane of the season, the storm forecasted to reach Category 2 strength in just a matter of days. You can take a look at the system here. At this hour, the tropical depression is brewing in the Gulf just off Mexico, but is quickly gaining speed and force by the hour. Tens of millions now in this potential path. Landfall could be anywhere from New Orleans to Florida's panhandle. The region at risk of dangerous winds, heavy rains, and catastrophic storm surges. Our Bill Cairns is tracking it all.

3:02And, Bill, I'm glad you have that graphic there because it shows how big this storm is. Yeah, and our really quiet hurricane season is coming to a crashing halt. Everyone on the northern Gulf Coast is now waiting to see, is the storm going to head for us? And at what strength will it be here? So, today it kind of got its act together. It has a center circulation, as we call it. And that's where you see this L where it's spinning. That's the center of it. So we're going to track that over the next four days until we get it somewhere near the northern Gulf for its landfall. So at 5 p.m., and remember, these updates come out every six hours, 5 and 11 a.m.

3:35and p.m. on the East Coast. And this will be updated again at 11 p.m. this evening. This got our attention because this has a Category 2 storm just south of New Orleans, south of Biloxi, Gulfport, here south of Fort Walton Beach, Pensacola, Panama City, Friday afternoon, 100-mile-per-hour peak winds. That's a serious storm. That's power outages. That's storm surge. That is going to deal with some serious rain, possible tornadoes, too, wherever we get, especially to the right of that center. What's going to be interesting about this storm is that this is one of our first big battles between our computer models.

4:06So everyone wants to know, where's the storm headed? So we look at our computer models, and these are our physics-based. This is our math equations. These are the ones we've shown you for the last 20, 30 years. They are all to the left. Remember, this black line is the hurricane center right now. They're right on the border of Mississippi, Alabama. All of our physics models are towards New Orleans. Well, now we have these new super powerful AI computers, and they're also giving us weather forecasts. And the one that's been the most accurate has been Google's DeepMind. They're calling it Weather Next.

4:35And that has almost all of its spaghetti lines, all potential lines, all the way here over towards Pensacola, Fort Wallen Beach areas, maybe Mobile. Nothing towards New Orleans like our physics models. So this is a real big test in comparison of this new technology and just what the impacts will be and how it will happen. So this is just the past. This doesn't have to do much with the intensity. As far as the intensity goes, I think the storm will peak in two or three days and it'll weaken as it's making landfall. So because it's a category two or three south of the U.S., by the time it hits land, we're going to get some wind shear.

5:09We're going to get some drier air sucked into it. We'll likely reduce it by a category or two. At least that's the hope. Regardless, we got a ton of rainfall problems wherever we get that landfall up to about 10 inches. We'll pinpoint that in the days ahead, Tom. But the big story right now is first hurricane is going to come make landfall. And Alabama especially could be targeted. We've got the Georgia-Alabama football game in Tuscaloosa. The president is supposed to be there on Saturday. We don't know if that's going to be canceled or delayed. Who knows what's going to happen. But a lot of people on the Gulf Coast, now is the time to get your stuff together to prepare.

5:42Bill, I've got a few more questions for you before you go. First, since you opened the door there, what is the main difference between sort of the AI models and those physics models you were talking about. Right. So the physics models are math equations, you know, all the calculus that goes into the computers. They spit out these equations for dots on a map, and it makes a forecast. We've done that for, you know, since the beginning of the computers with forecasts. The AI models take into account all the information that's fed into them. Just like anything, if you do put an AI question in there, it takes all the weather scenarios that have happened in the past, takes the current scenario, and it gives it, spits out what it thinks is the most likely to happen.

6:17And that's why this is much different than the weather map I showed you before this with all these lines on. Let me get it back here for you. So these are all what we call the European model. We always used to say the European versus the American model. Well, those are these lines. These are the ones that we typically would watch. But now we know, because we can grade these things from their forecast, that the AI models have been beating the physics-based models. And so that's why now the Hurricane Center is even saying at their discussions that because of the Google DeepMind model, more to the east, more into Florida, they're also leaning that way.

6:50Not completely. We'll wait and see. And over time, Tom, in the next three or four days, this gap will shrink because we're going to get more data. We're going to get closer. And the more data we get in, the AI gets better. The physics models get better. So we'll pinpoint this now. But we'll wait and see who wins this battle. And then if we can go back to sort of the timing of this storm. You saw Friday overnight it intensifies right before landfall. We were seeing in 12-hour increments. Do you think this sort of makes landfall around 1 a.m. Saturday? So the hurricane center is leading towards a faster timeline on this, and this is still something that can tweak and change.

7:24So this would be 1 p.m. Friday. So this would roughly probably be about another, you know, 10 p.m., 11 p.m. Friday night. That's based on the hurricane centers. Some of our computer models have it Saturday morning. Some have it earlier on Friday. So the timeline right now is roughly late Friday for the worst of the impacts, wherever that landfall is, into Saturday morning. And then by the time we get through Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, it should be moving its way out. Bill, we thank you for that. We appreciate it. We're following breaking news out of the White House. President Trump late today asked about that mysterious death in Russia at a lab that studies the plague.

7:58As questions swirl over just how many people are sick and what exactly that lab was doing. Have you spoken with President Truman? I have a call scheduled. When is that call scheduled for? Very soon.

8:13Anne Thompson joins us now here live in studio. So, Anne, we know the president will speak to Vladimir Putin hopefully soon. We're also learning more about the alleged victim who died from this. We are, Tom. But first, we'll get to what the president and Putin could talk about, because there are lots of questions out there, not the least of which is they know how to treat pneumonic plague if, indeed, that is what this woman had. YOU HIT IT WITH ALL KINDS OF ANTIBIOTICS. BUT THAT DIDN'T WORK IN THIS CASE. WHY DIDN'T IT WORK? WHEN DID THEY REALIZE THAT SHE WAS SICK? THOSE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT THEY WANT TO TALK ABOUT.

8:47RUSSIAN HEALTH AUTHORITIES ARE INVESTIGATING THE DEATH OF THAT LAB WORKER AT THE ANTI-PLAGUE INSTITUTE IN SIBERIA. AND IT WAS, HER DEATH WAS ORIGINALLY ATTRIBUTED TO A PNEUMONIA OF AN UNKNOWN CAUSE. TONIGHT THAT VICTIM HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED BY HER MOTHER AS DERIUS SHIPILOVA. The World Health Organization today saying that the risk is low to the rest of Russia and to Europe from her death, whatever caused it. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio is urging the Russian authorities to give people more information and talking to health authorities over the last couple of days. There is just a paucity of information here, and they really need to know what was she doing?

9:31DID SHE DROP A TEST TUBE AS SOME REPORTS INITIALLY INDICATED? WHAT WAS SHE WORKING ON? AND WHY DID SHE DIE? AND WITH THE STATE CONTROLLED MEDIA IN RUSSIA, JUST THE WORRIES ABOUT WHAT INFORMATION ARE WE GOING TO GET OUT? OKAY, ANN, I'M SURE WE'RE GOING TO BE TALKING ABOUT THIS THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. THANK YOU FOR THAT. WE HAVE A MAJOR UPDATE ALSO ON THAT BOTCHED EXECUTION IN TENNESSEE. KRISTA PIKE IS NOW AWAKE AND SPEAKING AFTER TWO DOSES OF A LETHAL INJECTION DRUG FAILED TO KILL HER. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Laura Jarrett joins us now and said, so Laura, what more do we know about Pike's condition?

10:05Yeah, it's just dramatic. Almost hard to believe if you think about it. After that failed execution, we learned from her attorneys today, Tom, she is conscious. She is speaking. It's unclear what her exact status is and what damage might have been done from that failed execution last week. She was given two doses of lethal injection. It didn't work. The state had been warned about some troubles with her veins. And it's, again, unclear exactly what went wrong there, but we do know she's still handcuffed. She's still shackled to her hospital bed. She's still receiving medical treatment, even though she's scheduled to be executed.

10:38So some people might say, well, why is she on a ventilator? Why was the state going through all of this trouble? The governor, after this happened, actually put all executions on hold. So they're still technically on hold tonight, Tom. And there's a court hearing tomorrow, which would lead me to my other question, which is, could she be executed again, at least the attempt to execute her again? At least theoretically, yes. Now, again, as of right now, executions are on hold. She's still trying to fight her execution at a federal appeals court. She lost at the Supreme Court. She's still trying to fight it.

11:08Tomorrow, we believe it's actually about a preservation of evidence. Her attorneys want all the evidence that happened in that failed execution room actually gathered in case, you know, there's still some further fallout from that, Thomas. So we'll look to see what happens tomorrow. Very complicated there. Laura, thank you for being here. Now to the violent and fiery protests raging across France. Hundreds of thousands taking to the streets what started with students demanding better conditions at school quickly spiraling into violent riots across major cities. Richard Engel is on the ground in Paris in the middle of it all.

11:39In France, students are in revolt. And today, they got reinforcements. Teachers, parents, and France's main labor union joined the demonstrators. Some protesters set fires and clashed with riot police. Okay, okay, okay. There was just a charge by the police. Now they're pulling back. They are definitely trying to break up these demonstrations. Hundreds of demonstrators were injured, along with dozens of police. Police came out. They've been using fireworks a lot, So it's not a real explosion, but it does startle you quite a bit. At times, it looked like a cloud of tear gas descended over parts of Paris.

12:2518-year-old students Julia and Mary Lou say students were horrified to go back to school after the summer to find rats, leaks, and overcrowded classrooms. Yeah, it's very bad conditions. Do you think this is going to lead to a change? We have. We have said. Around 900 schools across France are now temporarily closed or blockaded by students who say they won't give up until conditions improve. Police arrested more than 500 demonstrators today, more than 6 ,000 since last week. So far, the government is refusing to bend to demands for higher education budgets and say the protesters are being manipulated by political parties, jockeying for position ahead of French elections next spring.

13:10And it's not over. More student demonstrations are scheduled with new supporters promising to join. All right, Richard joins us now live from the streets of Paris. Richard, is school even in session at this time? Are classes being held or is everything put on pause? There are about 900 schools that have either been temporarily closed by the government or that are being blockaded by the students themselves. The students will go, they will stand in front of the doors, and they won't let teachers, staff, other students go inside. And this is something that is being supported by many of the students that we saw on the streets today.

13:48So when you're talking about 900 schools nationwide, it doesn't mean that no one is going to school in this country. It only applies to high schools, so universities are still functioning, lower schools are functioning. BUT THERE IS TALK NOW THAT THIS COULD EXPAND, COULD EXPAND TO ALSO INCLUDE UNIVERSITIES AND EVEN MORE LABOR UNIONS ARE LOOKING AT JOINING ONTO THIS MOVEMENT. SO IT IS GROWING, IT IS IMPACTING LIFE ON THE STREETS AND IT IS CERTAINLY IMPACTING EDUCATION. AND THEN, RICHARD, BEFORE YOU GO, FROM YOUR REPORTING AND TALKING TO PEOPLE, WHAT DO THE NEXT FEW DAYS OR WEEKS LOOK LIKE THERE IN PARIS AND ACROSS FRANCE?

14:26SO THERE'S TALK THAT THERE MIGHT BE ANOTHER SERIES OF DEMONSTRATIONS ON THURSDAY. AS WE WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT, SCHOOLS REMAIN CLOSED OR BARRICADED FOR NOW. SO YOU COULD HAVE A FLARE-UP AT ANY TIME. BUT THE REAL DATE THAT PEOPLE ARE LOOKING TOWARD IS THE 17TH OF THIS MONTH, WHEN THE DEMONSTRATORS ARE GOING TO BE BACK ON THE STREETS. THEY'RE GOING TO BE JOINED BY MORE LABOR UNIONS. AND THEY'RE PLANNING THIS AS NOT JUST AN EDUCATION RALLY, NOT TO JUST DEMAND BETTER SCHOOLS, MORE MONEY FOR EDUCATION. THEY ARE ALSO DELIBERATELY TARGETING MACRON. MACRON IS LEAVING OFFICE. HE SERVED TWO CONSECUTIVE TERMS, FIVE-YEAR TERMS.

15:10SO HE'S BEEN IN OFFICE ALMOST 10 YEARS NOW. AND THE PEOPLE ON THE STREETS WANT TO GIVE HIM A ROUSING GOODBYE. SO IN SOME SENSE, THIS NEXT DEMONSTRATION LATER ON THIS MONTH will be about students, but it'll also be about all of Macron's political opponents getting together and creating a political movement of their own. Richard Engelfurst. Richard, great to see you there. To politics down tonight, a new front line in emerging in the battle for control of Congress. The state of Kansas. This black and white footage is from the 1930s. This was the last time the people of Kansas had a Democrat representing them in the Senate.

15:47Senator George McGill, you see him here, served in Congress so long ago. our team couldn't find any video of him, only still photos. Now, nearly a century later, polls show Democrats within striking distance of ending that drought. Candidate Adam Hamilton, a minister, calls himself an independent-minded Democrat, hoping to flip historically red voters. We travel across the state. About 30 % of the people who come to each of my events are Republicans. They're telling me I've never voted for a Democrat before. It's possible to bring people together. It just takes a little bit of work. On the Republican side, the White House back sitting Senator Roger Marshall, who is trying to paint his challenger as a woke Democrat.

16:27We're proving over and over that he's too weak, he's too woke, he doesn't stand for anything. I'm the person that's out here fighting for hardworking Kansans as opposed to a big government socialist. But could this be Democrats year in Kansas? Here to give us a reality check, our man Steve Kornacki. Steve, walk us through what the polls show, do Republicans really need to be concerned right now about Kansas? Yeah, I think Republicans are a little concerned when they see numbers like this. This is a New York Times-Siena poll here showing Marshall and Hamilton tied in this poll. Certainly, you're seeing Republicans start to direct some resources here.

17:03Exactly how much danger Marshall is in, though, I think is a matter of some dispute. One thing worth keeping in mind here, twice since 2014, in 2014 and in 2020, the first time that Marshall ran for the Senate, Yeah, had Senate races in Kansas where Democrats thought they had a real chance to beat Republicans and where the polling was tight. And then ultimately on Election Day, it turns out the polls have been off a little bit. There was more Republican support than had been picked up in the polls. And I think that's one thing to keep in mind here in Kansas. You know, a lot of the Democratic strength in the state there is right outside Kansas City in the eastern part of the state.

17:38There's a lot of rural Kansas, a lot of working class Kansas here that is still very, very Republican. And if it turns out it turns out big, that could still be it. That's plenty for Marshall to lean on. And then President Trump won Kansas by 16 points in 2024. Republicans are struggling there. What does this mean in states where the president won by a much smaller margin? Yeah, look, I think it just becomes a question, like I'm saying here, a lot of the evidence in the polling is suggesting that that rural vote, that working class vote for Trump in a state like Kansas may be a little depressed.

18:12or is the polling just missing it? And there's some evidence in the past of the polling missing it. So that's the big question in Kansas. And it's going to be a big question. You talk about some of these other states here that went for Trump by solid margins. Iowa, not quite as big as Kansas, but it's another state with a big rural population that went for Trump. It's got a very competitive Senate election. Same question there in Iowa that we're asking about Kansas, about that sort of backbone of the Trump coalition and whether it's going to be activated, whether it's going to show up, and whether the polls are missing it.

18:42Those are all open questions. All right, Steve Kornacki, always great to see you, even when you're in D.C. Now to disturbing new video of that deadly school bus crash in Florida that killed two people, including a 16-year-old girl and sent more than two dozen to the hospital. Here's Erin Gilchrist. Tonight, video capturing the moment of that deadly Florida school bus crash. The Polk County Sheriff releasing this graphic video and audio today. The bus video shows passing traffic on that two-lane road before a car drifts across the center line and hits the bus's rear tire, sending the bus careening into an oncoming Jeep.

19:18The second view shows the 34-year-old bus driver and several students whose faces were blurred by the sheriff's office being tossed by the impact. The sheriff says the bus driver was hurt but got out of her seat. She pulls herself out of being wedged in this crash, pinned in, and then immediately starts helping the students on the bus. 16-year-old sophomore Adina Luz Prieto Oyola was killed in the crash. Teachers loved her. Friends loved her. Yesterday was to be her first day of cheerleading practice. School leaders describing video of other students trying to get Adina Luz off the bus. One young man is actually heard, excuse me, on a recording saying, don't worry, I won't leave you.

20:06The driver of the Jeep hit by the bus, 26-year-old Deshaun Smith, was also killed, the sheriff says, on impact. And as the investigation continues, the 23-year-old driver who hit the bus is cooperating. She didn't mean to create that crash that morning. The sheriff adding he doesn't see anything that's criminal in nature at this point in the investigation. Aaron Gilchrist, NBC News. All right, we are back in a moment with the couple arrested for child abuse in California. Authorities say they had at least 14 kids, 14 by surrogacy. Why authorities raided the mansion where they lived. Plus, terrifying moments caught on camera.

20:43A man allegedly trying to drown a 21-year-old who was on crutches. What happened here? And at the end of an era for one of the goats, Lionel Messi, taking the field for the last time for Argentina. That's ahead tonight on Top Story.

21:02This message comes from Wise Business, the only account your business needs to scale globally. You're building a business with global ambitions, but hidden fees are eating into your margins. With Wise Business, you can pay overseas suppliers without exchange rate markups. Have customers worldwide get payment details in 22 currencies so you get more of each hard-earned payment without hidden conversion fees. Be smart. Get wise business. Download the app. T's and C's apply. Ever notice how every new AI tool asks you to explain your business to it all over again? Google Workspace with Gemini skips that.

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22:16I get ad free, I get background play, and there's like a ton more in there. You should try it. If you like YouTube, you'll love YouTube Premium. Try it now for two months free at youtube.com slash premium. Trial eligibility varies. Terms apply. Cancel any time. That's a mouthful. We are back now with the mansion raided in Los Angeles in connection to a child abuse investigation. Authorities say the couple that lived there used surrogates to have at least 14 children. Investigators calling the treatment of those children horrific. Dana Griffin has the details. Tonight, this couple arrested from this massive mansion outside LA following allegations of a shocking surrogacy scheme and child abuse investigation.

22:56This house could only be described as a house of horrors. 66 year old John Schwann and 39 year old Sylvia Jung used surrogates to have at least 14 kids according to authorities. These photos from inside the home show rows of children seated in what investigators called learning centers. This photo shows a nanny allegedly about to strike one of the children. Investigators say Nanny Shun Mei-Li is on the run. The couple now facing charges of conspiracy to commit child abuse. Their bail set at$100 million. One surrogate says she thought she was carrying a baby for a couple struggling to have a child.

23:33Only to find out later, she was one of many women carrying a child for them. You just don't expect that you're going to hand the baby over to their parents and then all of a sudden find out that there was abuse and neglect going on. The investigation began in May of last year after police were tipped off by medical staff when the couple's two-month-old son, Walter, showed up to the hospital with this injury to his head. The parents said he fell off a bed, according to authorities. Did your client abuse these kids? No, my client did not abuse these kids. Juan's attorney telling me his client, a real estate businessman from China, simply chose to have as many kids as he wants.

24:15All right, Dana Griffin joins us tonight from Pasadena. Dana, do we know where these kids are now? Yeah, Tom, we are outside that multi-million dollar home where investigators say this house of horrors took place. It's about 10 ,000 square feet. All is quiet out here right now. investigators tell us all of the children are now in state custody. Tom. All right, Dana Griffin for us. Dana, thank you. Now to an unnerving story out of Massachusetts. A man there charged with attempted murder after he was caught on camera allegedly slapping and trying to drown a 21-year-old. Erin McLaughlin with that video.

24:50Chilling video shows the moment prosecutors allege Stephen Dana trying to drown 21-year-old Matthew Duffy. A grand jury indicted the 71-year-old on charges of attempted murder, strangulation, and assault and battery on a disabled person. Duffy was on crutches at the time. Time to go. In the video captured on a GoPro belonging to Duffy's friend back in June, you hear Dana tell the group to leave the lake with their jet ski. You live there and listen to you doing it all day long and see how you like it. Whoop-dee-doo, you bought a house on the lake. The situation in Hopkinton, Massachusetts quickly escalates.

25:28Come on, big boy. What are you going to do? Come on, big boy. Come on, big boy, do it. What am I going to do? Come on, big boy. You're the one coming up to me. Come on, big boy, let's do it. Come on. Use that big mouth of yours and just loose up about it. **** your mouth. Yeah. **** out of here. ****. According to police, Dana is then seen straddling Duffy from above, holding him underwater before Duffy's friends notice and someone shouts to pull Dana off. According to police, Duffy was submerged for 10 seconds. I just remember I yelled help to my friends or I tried to, and then I just got like swallowed a mouthful of water.

26:02But I just kind of felt helpless. I'm very glad it was caught on video. Dana pleaded not guilty in district court. He's currently out on a$7 ,500 bond. His next superior court date is later this month. Aaron McLaughlin joins us now. Aaron, people may be watching this and going$7 ,500 bond and it was attempted murder. What's going on over there? Yeah, well, it's not unusual when you consider THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS AND ITS LAWS. IN MASSACHUSETTS, BAIL IS A MEASURE OF FLIGHT RISK. THIS DEFENDANT IS 71 YEARS OLD. CLEARLY THE JUDGE DID NOT DEEM HIM TO BE A FLIGHT RISK THAT HE WOULD BE RETURNING FOR HIS NEXT COURT PROCEEDING.

26:42NOW, THE QUESTION OF DANGEROUSNESS IS CONSIDERED SEPARATELY BY THE COURT. IS THE DEFENDANT A DANGER TO THE PUBLIC? AND IN THIS CASE, NOW THAT THE GRAND JURY HAS HANDED DOWN THIS INDICTMENT, IT'S ENTIRELY POSSIBLE THAT THE PROSECUTOR WILL now come forward making the argument that he is a danger to society and should be held without bail. That will be at a judge's discretion. It's also at this point at the prosecution's discretion to come forward with that argument. So the 70-year-old, he slaps around that 21-year-old before attempting to drown him. The little guy, the 21-year-old, is he okay? He's okay.

27:15He says he's okay. But clearly from that interview that he gave to our NBC Boston affiliate, he's very shaken. Yeah. Okay. All right, Aaron, thank you. When we come back, the shocking crash caught on camera, a hayride tractor flipping with kids on board the moment things went wrong, plus brewing controversy at Starbucks, a new lawsuit alleging your so-called sugar-free drink might actually have as much as a candy bar. But first, Top Story's top moment and the incredible career highlight for one Stanford professor, Carl Diceroth, just won the 2026 Nobel Prize in medicine for his pioneering work on light and the brain.

27:50And the first people he wanted to share the news with, his kids. Take a look. I just had a phone call this morning that I won the Nobel Prize.

28:04What? What? Oh my God, what? Nobel Prize winners, they're just like us. They were just getting ready there for school when they found out. His colleagues also incredibly proud, greeting him with a standing ovation on campus. Congrats, Professor. That's awesome. Stay with us. More Top Story after this.

28:37We're back now with Top Story's Health Check and new details about the growing measles outbreak. Cases in Pennsylvania now topping 1 ,000, the largest U.S. outbreak in more than three decades. Already this year, Pennsylvania health officials say there have been five measles-related deaths. Now in nearby New York, the governor declaring a state disaster emergency as cases grow there and in neighboring states. Joining me now tonight is New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald. Doctor, thank you for joining Top Story tonight. You worry that there could be an outbreak in New York as big as the one in Pennsylvania?

29:11Yeah, so that's why this executive order from Governor Hochul is so important. You know, her top priority is public safety. We don't want to see happen in New York what is happening in Pennsylvania. YOU KNOW, RIGHT NOW, AS OF TODAY, we're at 124 CASES. THE LAST TWO MONTHS HAVE BEEN PROBLEMATIC IN NEW YORK. SO I'M GLAD THE GOVERNOR IS SPEAKING A PROACTIVE APPROACH. WE REALLY NEED TO GET AHEAD OF THIS AND WE NEED TO GET AHEAD OF IT SOON. IS THERE A WORRY ABOUT A POTENTIAL MEASLES OUTBREAK IN A PLACE LIKE NEW YORK CITY? COULD IT SPREAD IN A DENSELY POPULATED AREA? YEAH, SO MEASLES DOESN'T REALLY CARE ABOUT BOUNDARIES LIKE CITIES AND COUNTIES.

29:44ONE THING ABOUT THE OUTBREAK IN NEW YORK RIGHT NOW, IT'S OCCURRING IN RURAL AREAS. And what I mean by rural areas is it could happen in the city, but the immunization rates in the city are really quite good. In the rural areas of New York State, it's the adult immunization numbers I'm most worried about. One of the things that's unusual about this outbreak in New York right now, two out of three cases are involving adults, which is pretty similar to the Pennsylvania outbreak, by the way. So if I'm somebody who has gotten the vaccine, right, and I live in a community where most, the vast majority of people are vaccinated, should I be worried about these outbreaks?

30:18Yeah, so if you had two measles, mumps, or umbrella vaccines, you're protected. It's a great vaccine. The MMR vaccine's been around since 1971. Who should be worried is people who don't have that immunization. That's who needs to be worried about this. And really, when you think, right, the MMR vaccine is the best protection to prevent this outbreak from getting any worse. You know, one of the things we're seeing in New York, same thing in Pennsylvania, about one in five people are ending up in a hospital. measles can be a very serious disease. So, Dr. McDonald, there have been nearly 3 ,900 cases reported this year across the country.

30:54How urgent of a situation do you think this is right now? Yeah, this is not normal for the United States. I think we need to hold on to that, right? This year, we're seeing almost 3 ,900 cases in 26. Last year, there was almost 2 ,300 cases. But if you look at the previous 25 years, we're averaging about 100 cases a year. this is not normal. And let's choose not to let this be normal. And I think this is one of those things where this is a national problem and it needs a national solution. One of the things I go back to is in 1992, federal government got tired of having tens of thousands of measles cases, created the Vaccines for Children program.

31:30Federal government worked with state governments. It was eliminated by the year 2000. You know, and I think this is really where we do need the federal partnership to help us get ahead of this national issue. Yeah. If you have it in communities like the Amish communities, the Mennonite communities? How can someone like you, this is your job, how can you break through to those communities to try to either convince them and or educate them to offer them the choices that maybe they would want to get a vaccine or is it just a no-go there? You know, here's the thing we're seeing in New York. We're seeing our local health departments do wonderful outreach in all kinds of rural communities.

32:03But it's really not so much vaccine-hesitant communities as vaccine-unaware communities. You know, in the last eight weeks. So unaware means we're open to this, but we just need to learn about this. In other words, what we've seen is we've given over 1 ,200 doses of immunizations in the last eight weeks. But vaccine unaware means I might be willing. This is part of why the executive order was so helpful, though. I need more health care workers, more testing and more vaccine data. With all that more, we can get more done in New York and hopefully get ahead of this. All right, Dr. McDonald, we thank you for being here tonight here on Top Story.

32:38Appreciate having you here as a guest. Now to Top Stories news feed. We start with a scary scene at one of the country's busiest airports. A Delta plane's wingtip clipping an Air Canada flight's tail at LAX. You can see some of the damage here in the TMZ video. The FAA says the incident happened this morning as that Delta flight was taxing. Luckily, though, nobody was hurt. Investigators still trying to figure out how this one happened. And new video tonight out of an out-of-control hayride in upstate New York. You heard me right. You see it here, the tractor flying down the road, then rolling over.

33:10People are asking why that hayride was going so fast. Officials say 21 were initially on board and that nearly a dozen were hurt. Five others were able to jump off. Imagine that. The 16-year-old driver was airlifted to the hospital. He's in critical condition tonight. And it's the end of an era for one of the biggest soccer stars of all time. Just moments ago, Lionel Messi stepped onto the pitch for the last time for Argentina. This is the 39-year-old's final game suiting up in that iconic blue and white jersey. I sat down for a rare interview with Messi late last year who said it was always a dream to play for the national team and win the World Cup for his country, which he finally accomplished back in 2022.

33:47And a passing to note here, legendary Oscar award winner Eva Marie Sane has died. Sane's career spanned several decades, but it was her debut in On the Waterfront that earned her an Academy Award. She went on to star in other massive Hollywood films like North by Northwest. She was 102 years old. Now to a major update on a story we've been following closely. An ex-CIA officer admitting to stealing nearly$200 million from the federal government in a scheme that seems to have fooled officials at the highest level. For the first time, we are seeing the 298 gold bars seized from David Rush's home back in May, along with stacks of cash, watches, all of it worth around$40 million.

34:29All part of a plea deal, Rush now admitting to requesting those gold bars for official CIA work, but keeping them for himself. And Rush also admitting to a second scheme in which he bought luxury homes in South Florida valued at$145 million with money taken from the federal government. Julia Ainsley has been following this story from the beginning. She joins us now from outside the federal courthouse in Virginia. Julia, this is a wild one. Break down what we know about these two schemes and how Rush managed to fool so many people in the CIA for as long as he did. Well, Tom, as you said, this is a story we have been following here at NBC News for a long time.

35:06And much of what we learned in court today confirmed the details. One, that he was a high-level CIA officer who lied about his background, even where he went to his college and the fact that he was a Navy pilot and that he got these bars in a scheme that was part of a fake program that he put up at the CIA and said that he needed this money to pay for U.S. operations abroad. But we learned some new details as well, and you mentioned that, and the real estate deals in South Florida. Prosecutors today laid out the details of that in which Rush basically made up a program within the CIA that he said could only be—only a few people could know about it, And he let a very small number of those know those people helped put money into a LLC that would then go buy these homes.

35:55These are incredibly luxurious homes in South Florida. Altogether, it's$200 million that prosecutors say Rush has stolen from the U.S. government. And then, Julia, does this mean we won't see further charges for some of the other accusations, or is that door still open? It appears to be closed for now because this is a plea deal, which means that Rush has agreed with the prosecutors who have all of this information that if he agrees to plead guilty, as he did today, to this one count of wire fraud, they will not pursue further charges. They're not actually charging him with the theft from the U.S.

36:31government. What they charged him with initially was stealing public funds by lying about the time he was working. And today, wire fraud, which is incredibly broad, but it does carry a maximum of 20 years in prison. And they say that they want the$200 million paid back. Okay, before we go here, this may not have been his most vile crime, if you will. He's also admitted to exposing a spy working for the U.S., exposing or, I guess, unmasking a spy. That's right. And that can have serious consequences for U.S. national security, as well as the livelihood of whoever this clandestine human informant was.

37:12We understand that Rush told a foreign government official who was not authorized to know about that individual who this informant was. And, of course, that could mean serious risk. The reason we aren't getting all the details about everyone who was involved is because this all really concerns a lot of top secret national security matters. Much of this case has been sealed. Actually, Tom, I'm surprised we learned as much as we did today, but this is a case we will continue to follow as there are other investigations, including an inspector general investigation, into Rush and how he could fool so many people inside the nation's top spy agency.

37:48All right, Julia Ainsley. Julia, we thank you. Now to California, where a scenic proposal was interrupted by a racist outburst. Video of the confrontation in Orange County drawing millions of views, and now the couple is speaking out. Andres Gutierrez has a story.

38:07A racial tirade interrupting a surprise proposal in scenic Laguna Beach. The confrontation unfolding Friday just as Emmanuel Banuelos was arriving with his girlfriend Haley Lugo ready to get down on one knee. It's every single f**king weekend and I'm sick and tired of it. A woman walking her dog seemingly upset with the proposal set up. People can't come here and picnic on the evening when they want to. Interrupting her tirade, a mariachi band hired by Banuelos to serenade the couple. Once the music starts playing, that's when she kind of, you know, snaps and starts saying the racist remarks. Haley's sister, Trinity Lugo, captured the whole thing on her meta glasses while hiding nearby to film the surprise.

38:53It was really shocking and it was really sad too. The now engaged couple says the proposal took months to plan. She's been talking to me about like wanting to be like an ocean view at sunset. And only moments to derail. Just tell him to tear down. You're going to have to anyway. I'm sick of this. This is the next one. What was that moment like for you when you heard those words? My heart sank like I've never experienced like racism like that. The video of the racial outburst going viral with more than one million likes on Instagram. NBC News was not able to confirm the woman's identity. Despite the unpleasant interruption, the band played on.

39:35And Haley said yes. And with that, Andres Gutierrez joins Top Story tonight. Andres, it was terrible what that woman said to that couple that had just gotten engaged or was about to get engaged there, right? But that was quite the setup. I mean, you had several mariachis there. You had that beautiful, it looked like maybe a podium or an arch that was set up. Were they able to do that? I know it's a public park, but they didn't need any kind of permit to do that kind of big celebration? Yeah, Tom, we ended up reaching out to the city of Laguna Beach. They acknowledged that video and said in a statement that they, quote, reject hateful language and behavior.

40:08They add that the park is open to everyone. But the setups like the one that you ended up seeing in that video do require permits. But here's where things get a little complicated. LAW ENFORCEMENT DID CHECK THE PARK AND THEY FOUND A PERMIT FOR AN ENGAGEMENT AT THAT SAME PLACE AT THAT SAME TIME AND IT TURNS OUT THAT PERMIT ACTUALLY BELONGED TO A DIFFERENT COUPLE SO THE OFFICERS DID NOT INTERVENE AND THE PROPOSAL FOR EMMANUEL AND HALEY CONTINUED WITHOUT A HITCH. TOM? ANDRES GUTIERREZ FOR US ANDRES, ALWAYS GREAT TO SEE YOU. COMING UP ON TOP STORY, WE'RE GOING TO TAKE A TURN HERE AND FOCUS ON A VERY IMPORTANT STORY.

40:40WE'RE GOING TO GO INSIDE ONE WAR-TORN UKRAINIAN CITY WHERE FOOD IS running out and it's almost impossible to escape with mines and drones surrounding the paths out. The desperate steps now being taken to get supplies in. Stay with us.

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42:19Make work less work. Try Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle slash workspace with Gemini. We are back now with Top Story's Global Watch and the dire crisis unfolding in a Ukrainian city. RUSSIA CAPTURED THE CITY OF OLESHKY ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WAR BACK IN FEBRUARY OF 2022. FOUR YEARS LATER, FOOD IS RUNNING OUT AND EVACUATING IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE. A UKRAINIAN OFFICIAL SHARING THIS VIDEO WHICH REPORTEDLY SHOWS RESIDENTS MAKING A DEATH DEFINED ESCAPE ON BIKES KNOWING THE ROADS COULD BE COVERED IN MINES AND DRONES COULD SWARM AT ANY TIME. THE RAPIDLY DETERIORATING SITUATION SPARKING OUTRAGE.

42:59JUST TODAY DEMONSTRATIONS BREAKING OUT IN KYIV AND IN WARSAL. IT IS PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE AS IT SITS ALONG THE SOUTHERN FRONT. THE RUSSIAN OCCUPIED TERRITORY DIVIDED FROM THE REST OF UKRAINE BY A RIVER. ANDRE DOBRYONSKY JOINS ME ON SET. HE IS A POLICY EXPERT AT THE CENTER FOR U.S.-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS. ANDRE, IT USED TO BE A BUSTLING CITY. KIDS WERE PLAYING OUT THERE. People would be out fishing. Now it's a city in ruins, completely cut off really from the rest of the world. How did we get here? Well, there's a lot of things that got here. You talked about the war and the occupation at the beginning.

43:31Then in 2023, I was there in June of 2023, the Cahoka Dam was exploded. That was 18 cubic kilometers of water. That's four and a half grand canyons swept through that area. So a town of 26 ,000 people, that's Key West. 90 % of Key West is gone, right? We're down to a couple of thousand. You have 200 children, seniors for the majority of people who left behind. And what's happened is Russians are preventing those people from either leaving or, more importantly, they cannot get food in there. You can't grow food on stuff that that many kilometers of water have washed over years of silt. We're talking about from the 1950s, radiation from Chernobyl that got into the river and silt down.

44:11So they can't grow anything. People in the hospitals aren't getting medical supplies, and that's why the attention is being brought to Eleshka. What are the other dangers people are facing there? YOU MENTIONED THE FOOD. PEOPLE ARE QUITE LITERALLY STARVING. YEAH, ABSOLUTELY STARVING. WE HAD FOUR METRIC TONS ATTEMPTED TO BE BROUGHT OVER BY UKRAINE'S AMAZING DRONE FORCE. THAT JUST HAPPENED IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS. BUT WHAT'S REALLY BEEN HAPPENING, AND SINCE MAY, THAT'S THE LAST TIME AN OFFICIAL WAVE OF FOOD WAS DELIVERED SUCCESSFULLY PRIOR TO THESE DRONES BEGINNING. AND EVEN BACK IN MARCH, WHEN PEOPLE PUT PEOPLE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER, THE UKRAINE SIDE, THEY STARTED TRYING TO DO DRONES AND PULLING FOOD ACROSS THE WATER.

44:47So back in March, they understood this is a problem. We got people in hospitals with critical care. We have no food and we have 2 ,000 people, and that is a critical need. What about the communications? Are you able to communicate with people there? It's very hard because this is an area that was destroyed by a lot of rushing bombing. So a lot of telecommunication towers are down. You can't get live connections. What you can do is send phone-to-phone voice messages, and that's where we're getting a lot of journalism from. Thanks to people like the Radio Free Europe, The Guardian, other international resources, THEY HAVE BEEN ABLE TO CONTACT PEOPLE AND THEY ARE NOT TALKING DIRECTLY.

45:19YOU HAVE TO RECORD A VOICE NOTE, INCLUDING A WOMAN WHO LOST 100 POUNDS IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS. YEAH. SO IN A NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE THAT SORT OF PUT THIS ON THE MAP FOR US AND OUR RADAR, UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS ALLEGED THAT RUSSIA IS PURPOSELY MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE TO LEAVE, WRITING MOSCOW FEARS THAT ONCE CIVILIANS ARE OUT OF THE WAY, THE REMAINING RUSSIAN FORCES WILL BE ROUTED AND LOSE THE CITY. THIS IS A NARRATIVE RUSSIA HAS

45:47Russia has been doing since the beginning of this war, which is using people as a human shield. Here in this area, it's very fascinating because over 20 ,000 Russian troops were pushed back from Kherson on the other side of the river. They were pushed back by the Ukraine counteroffensive in 2022. And how they did that, they escaped by having civilian population with them, oftentimes commandeering cars and say, you sit in the passenger seat, my group of guys is driving with you guys. So they've been using this for a while. They've also occupied entire towns outside of Kiev in the early days of the war and forced an entire population of a town into a school basement.

46:19That's where they lived until the Russians cleared out. So this is part of their strategy. But the most heinous part, it's the food. It's the deprivation and the starvation. And for me and all these Ukrainian diplomats, I'm already beginning my genocide commemoration. You know, Stalin starved Ukrainians. Over six million Ukrainians starved in 1933. The entire month of November is dedicated to starvation. Here, we have the exact same thing. A town surrounded. You're not able to grow your own PEOPLE FOR FOOD. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS GUARDS ARE ON THE OUTSIDE PREVENTING YOU FOR GOING OUT AND FORAGING FOR FOOD.

46:51AS THE WHOLE DEMOR IN 1933 TAUGHT US, THE SAME THING IS HAPPENING TODAY. THE QUESTION IS WHY WHEN WE SAID NEVER AGAIN ARE WE ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN IN EUROPE TODAY? IS THERE ANYTHING THE U.N. CAN THEY COME TO SOME KIND OF TRUCE OR AT LEAST AGREEMENT WHERE THEY CAN GET THE REST OF THE CIVILIANS OUT? WILL THE CIVILIANS LEAVE? WELL, THERE WAS AN EVACUATION OF CRITICALLY INJURED PEOPLE FROM THE ELESHKA HOSPITAL, BUT UNFORTUNATELY THAT HAPPENED PARTIALLY FROM THE RUSSIAN SIDE, AND THEY ALLOWED THEIR AMBULANCES TO BE STOCKED WITH MILITARY SUPPLIES FOR THEIR OCCUPYING FORCE. THIS IS A FORCE THAT HAS BEEN ACTUALLY CITED FOR WAR CRIMES IN THE 2014 INVASION.

47:24THERE WAS A TOWN CALLED ILEVYSK WHEN THE RUSSIANS MADE A DEAL IN MINSC WITH UKRAINIANS. THAT TOWN WASN'T CURRENTLY OCCUPIED BY RUSSIANS, SO THE UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS HAD TO PUT DOWN THEIR WEAPONS AND LEAVE. THAT VERY SAME BATTALION THAT'S SURROUNDING OLECHKY SHOT UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS THAT WERE UNARMED TRYING TO LEAVE ILOVYSK. THESE ARE THE KIND OF PEOPLE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, AND THAT'S WHY WHEN UKRAINE IS TALKING ABOUT SITTING DOWN FOR PEACE, IT'S A JUST PEACE. LET'S MAKE SURE THAT THE WAR CRIMINALS ARE PUNISHED. WE HOPE SOME RESOURCES, SOME FOOD CAN GET TO THOSE PEOPLE THERE IN OLECHKY. ANDRE, WE THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE ONCE AGAIN.

47:54STILL TO COME TONIGHT here on Top Story. Back at home, the show of support for one teacher leaving work on her last day before undergoing brain surgery. That emotional moment with her students right after this.

48:09All right, we're back now with a new legal battle brewing tonight. Starbucks is facing a consumer lawsuit accusing the coffee giant of mislabeling its sugar-free drinks and claiming they may actually have more sugar than a Kit Kat candy bar. Our Brian Chung is here to break it all down for So, Brian, first, walk us through the lawsuit exactly. What is Starbucks accused of in court? Yeah, this is a class action lawsuit concerning specifically Starbucks' line of protein drinks. So that would include this specifically sugar-free vanilla matcha, which I think I nailed on this one. This one's a grande in this case.

48:41And, again, what they're saying here is that these are sugar-free drinks. And if you look on the app when you order it, it says less added sugar or no added sugar. But again, if it's branded as sugar-free, why is there a lawsuit that now says, hey, well, why is there sugar in it? Apparently, this all breaks down to the fact that the syrup is sugar-free. That is what Starbucks says. Okay. But there's milk in here that does, like other milks, have sugar in it. In this case, there's 10 grams in this particular one. And so the lawsuit is saying we feel like that's misleading. And Starbucks on their part say we believe these claims have no merit.

49:12Okay. All right. So the sugar's in the milk. How much sugar are we talking? Yeah, well, it's going to be different depending on what drink you're talking about. in the case of this one that I brought to set. There's 10 grams in this. Again, it's a protein drink. It's got like over 30 grams of protein as well, but it's really the sugar that's in question here. But I should also point out, again, what Starbucks is saying is that that sugar is not coming from the syrup. It's coming from the protein-infused milk. But again, I think the semantics of all this, if you're someone that's trying to buy a drink and it's branded as sugar-free, you would imagine you probably don't want sugar in there.

49:43So this kind of breaks down to what is the expectation in the ingredients that are in there for things like milk? Is there an option on that drink that is no sugar whatsoever? Is there a protein with no sugar, a milk with no sugar? If you take the protein-infused milk out of it, then it's no longer the protein drink. So, yes, you could get it, but it would no longer be, in this case, the protein matcha. I presume that it would still have ice. What is Starbucks saying? Are they saying, like, listen, this is, I mean, we heard what you're saying. Yeah. They're saying it's the milk. We're saying it's not the syrup.

50:11I get it. At some point, though, somebody's going to win this case. Well, yeah. Again, in a statement that they provided to NBC News, they say, we believe these claims have no merit. And they also add that they, quote, have consistently and clearly provided information about its protein beverages on their menus, on their marketing online. And it is indeed true that the reason why we know that there's 10 grams of sugar in this is because of the contents online. But again, it seems like the lawsuit is taking issue with the fact that it's primarily branded as a sugar-free vanilla matcha. You go to Starbucks.

50:38You and I go. We're going to have our daily coffee like we always do. As we always do. It says, what does it say? It says no sugar. It would say sugar-free. Sugar-free. Although, when we went down to the Starbucks, we tried to check it out downstairs. It wasn't on the menu today. Maybe it's just rotating as part of another menu, but online, it does say sugar-free under the section of no added sugar drinks. So, people are on a special diet. I'm sure they're going to be surprised. All right, Brian, we thank you for that. Finally tonight, the heartwarming send-off for a beloved teacher preparing to go on medical leave.

51:10How are students surprised her with hugs, flowers, and lots of love?

51:17This is not the scene middle school teacher Jessica Kostolak was expecting on her last day at work before brain surgery. Cheers. Joy. And support filling the halls all the way outside.

51:39A surprise from her colleagues and her students so she wouldn't feel alone as she heads out on leave. Doctors found a tumor in Jessica's brain this summer and she's having surgery to remove it on Friday. I was absolutely overcome with emotion. I felt this absolute rush of love and joy and cheer. And while Deer Lake Middle School might be in Tallahassee, on this day, the school was embracing the Big Easy. Jessica is from New Orleans and known for her hometown pride. So a Mardi Gras themed sendoff felt right. Jessica thanking the teachers and the kids with high fives and hugs. If you have your support system, if you have your community, then you don't have to worry about anything because they've got you.

52:28I'm going to show my students and my own children that this is a really good example of how we are going to do hard things and we're going to do them together because we're never alone. What a great lesson. Thanks so much for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamas in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.

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