Hallie Jackson NOW – Jan. 18 | NBC News NOW

as we come on the air we're getting our first look at the man accused of trying to kill four New Mexico politicians in court with new video piecing together the timeline of what happened in the days before these attacks began part of my conversation with one of the people who was targeted just ahead and what's.

Next for the suspect plus a stock sell-off and a big tech company announcing big layoffs as we're also getting some positive vibes from some new economic numbers showing the U.S may be climbing out of this inflation Funk we'll talk about what's real and what's not about this economy and lawyers for convicted X cop Derek Chauvin say the.

Trial that put him behind bars for murdering George Floyd was not fair but will a judge agree plus a new study today seems to debunk a kind of popular diet thing why doctors now say intermittent fasting may not be so effective and the best-selling female reporting artist ever going back on tour Madonna announcing a new trip around the.

World how she's grabbing the attention of a new generation of fans years after she came onto the scene that's later on in the show hey I'm Halle and tonight we're coming on the air with the man accused of orchestrating shootings at the homes of four New Mexico Democratic politicians making his first court appearance in just the last few minutes.

Here he is in court Solomon Pena no plea entered but we're learning he's going to be held without bond until his next hearing no release all of it coming as we're getting some new details about what went down before the shootings including some new video from a ring doorbell camera you're seeing it here this is it appears.

To be penius showing up but one of these Democratic officials old addresses her former home listen hi my name is Solomon Pena can I speak with Debbie O'Malley Debbie O'Malley is one of the people police say who was targeted here by this losing Republican candidate we know that based on what they say he showed up to.

Other officials houses those officials describing him to us as erratic he lost this race for New Mexico state house back in November I talked to one of the Democrats targeted State speaker Javier Martinez he says it was scary and highlights the danger that a lot of politicians are facing in this country from the local level to the National.

Listen my family came here from Mexico a place where politics and journalism can get you killed and the fact that this happens not only in our country but that it happened in our own backyard is terribly disappointing our democracy is is fragile in our democracy is not free.

Police arrested Pena earlier this week in connection with these shootings describing him as the ringleader officials say he was angry that the election and his view was rigged against him the New Mexico Secretary of State's office tells our team that's not true that no fraud was found in the state's election NBC has reached out to penis.

Campaign no response Von Hilliard is covering this one from on the ground for us in New Mexico Von talk us through what we just saw in court and importantly what is going to come next here for Solomon Pena right that initial court appearance just wrapped up not too long ago Hallie and he is so far not entered a plea here at.

This time there is no cash bail here in New Mexico and the judge is holding him without bond here at this time his next court appearance is scheduled for February 1st and we should know the investigation continues around the broader shootings here politically potentially motivated shootings there are deep allegations that run throughout.

That arrest warrant here that leaves a lot of open doors about other players that may have been involved in this uh alleged scheme one of the things that we I think keeps coming to light Vaughn as there's more and more reporting about this is how much worse this could have been in New Mexico with police saying that there was.

A bullet we talked about this that landed in the bedroom of a ten-year-old a 10 year old daughter of one of these people so close they got sheetrock dust onto this little girl's face um we know the D.A is not ruling out the potential for more serious charges perhaps down the road like attempted murder and police say that the intent of.

Pena was to cause serious injury or even death right and Pena is already a convicted felon he had already served seven years in prison he actually did was not discharged from supervision until March of 2021 so he announced his bid lost his bid by nearly 50 percentage points but then you saw over the course of the next.

Two months he clearly if the prosecutors are able to prove their case went out and tried to overturn the election not only through providing evidence what he claimed to be evidence through local officials to try to not certify election but then through intimidation at the bare minimum that's what this is there are 15 counts that have been so far.

Filed against him including being a felon with uh with the weapon he's been charged with conspiracy he was charged for firing from a vehicle there are serious charges already levied against him as you said potentially more on the way pull back for a minute because well you've been on the campaign Trail for.

The last seven years I think I mean that's been a huge part of your life and what we've seen over the course of the last maybe five years or so has been an increasing concern about politically motivated violence against lawmakers against elected officials Etc Capitol Police are out with some new numbers uh in the last.

24 hours on threats to members of Congress 7 500 last year less than the year before but nearly almost double the number from 2017. talk to me about what you're hearing in New Mexico about this because in my conversation with speaker Martinez with commissioner bar boa some of these officials targeted to a t like one thing that they all said to me was.

You know democracy what you heard from speaker democracy is not free that like it shouldn't be like this in this country and that the temperature has got to get lowered right you know this is about more than January 6 of 2021 up at the U.S Capitol here you're talking about a state house district that is overwhelmingly Democrat.

In deep blue Albuquerque one in which this individual lost by 50 percentage points he had still couldn't come to grips with the idea that the election wasn't rigged against him here and that is where you go around the country and how you and I have had this conversation folks are truly living in a different fantasy world there is a great number of.

Folks who truly believe the American government is being run by the so-called deep State you go back to Cincinnati and the FBI offices back in August that were attacked uh by that armed individual there are folks who truly believe that there is an undermining effort uh underway and they along with the likes of the Donald Trump are at the Forefront.

Of it this is not just Washington D.C this is down to the local officials here in Albuquerque New Mexico Allie Von Hill you're live for us there in Albuquerque Von thanks for being on the ground for us appreciate it just before we came on the air tonight we got some new details on what was found in Idaho murder suspect Brian krubberger's apartment.

With a search warrant just unsealed remember coburger is accused of killing those four college students with police apparently finding things like a black glove possible hair strands two cuttings from an uncased pillow with a reddish brown stain and mattress covers with multiple stains some of which were sent to a lab for testing Steve Patterson.

Joins us now and Steve I know that this is just sort of new into us new into our Newsroom as we're looking through this what else are you learning yeah this is all coming out this is an uncert unsealed as you mentioned search warrant from December 30th search of coburger's apartment it tells us essentially two things obtained by the way by the New.

York Times and released in a redacted format uh I want to talk about a few things it tells us a few things one it tells us what police were looking for which was essentially any sort of strand of DNA any possible blood evidence that they could match to the scene and it tells us what they found which you just listed and I will sort of zoom into a.

Few of these items and explain why they might be important so hair strands including possible human and animal hair strands anybody that's been following the case know that Kaylee Gonzalez had a dog if they can match maybe some of the DNA from the hair strand to the apartment that helps bolsters the prosecution this case uh forensics on.

These dark red stains that were apparently found uh possibly on like a pillow case and maybe a mattress self-explanatory they want to match that DNA from inside the apartment to what they found in the house will help bolster the prosecution's case the single black nitrate glove more self-explanatory as well also a computer.

Tower always important in these investigations because they can do a search on the actual search history which may help explain maybe some of the motive which in effect helps bolster the prosecution's case all of this of course Central to the core investigation but more importantly Central to the prosecution and Central to what's next.

In this court date which would be in June for that preliminary hearing because we know both sides will be presenting evidence and possibly even calling witnesses to another essential step in this judicial process as we move forward Steve Patterson thank you very much we are also getting some disturbing new details today from Massachusetts.

Prosecutors about how they say Brian Walsh killed his wife Anna in court today they say he assaulted and beat her then dismembered her body and disposed of her remains they also told the court about Google searches that Brian Walsh made apparently and the minutes before he claims he last saw his wife on New Year's Day here are just some of those.

Searches I'm quoting here how long before a body starts to smell how to stop a body from decomposing he Googled according to prosecutors 10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to the next day Walsh searching can you be charged with murder without a body among others.

He is pleading not guilty to these charges Kristen Dahlgren joins us now Kristen truly some jaw-dropping moments in court today talk us through it right hey there Hallie and it's important to note there is nobody the body of Anna Walsh hasn't been found yet and so this evidence of prosecutors are presenting is going to be very important.

As they build a case so there are those internet searches but then also things like his cell phone and surveillance video putting him in the location of three different apartment complexes in those days following her disappearance and they talk about how he was disposing of trash bags on the surveillance video listen to what the prosecutor had to say.

Today he walks through the dumpster carry a garbage bag he's leaning and it appears to be heavy as he has to heft it into the dumpster and then there is the physical evidence they say they were covered in another dumpster outside of Brian Walsh's mother's home in that dumpster they say.

They found human blood on his DNA on his coveted vaccine card clothes appearing to be what Anna was last seen in cleaning agents and gloves a hacksaw a hatchet and cheers Hallie so quite a bit of evidence presented in court today Brian Walsh has pled not guilty it sounded like he was fairly unemotional if some of these details were coming out.

He only spoke once to say that he understood the charges here is there any word from his lawyers on how they plan to approach this or what comes next right and he did stare Straight Ahead he only sort of nodded as they were reading some of those internet searches we did hear a statement from his attorney uh in.

It she says it's easy to charge a crime even easier to say a person committed that crime is much more difficult thing to prove it so she talks about uh how so she hasn't gotten a lot of the evidence from the prosecutors yet and she will have to see what they have and then also what is admissible in court Halley Kristen Dahlgren live for us there in.

Quincy Massachusetts Kristen thank you very much let's talk about the business world the economic picture today with the stock market taking a bit of a late tumble the Dow dropping some 600 points look at that red red red all across the board the s p hitting its worst day in more than a month because of some new data.

Out today about retail sales that led to some concerns about a recession but there's a lot of other numbers we should talk about here too starting with layoffs and Microsoft and the number there five percent that's how much of its Workforce Microsoft says it will lay off ten thousand employees Amazon with a new.

Round of cuts today 18 000 people could lose their jobs here's another number that we should talk about today this one wholesale prices what stores spend on stuff now that went down half a percent that's actually some good news because experts say maybe that means inflation is getting a little bit better none of it changed spending habits over.

The holidays we talked about retail sales people didn't spend as much on holiday shopping as expected against less demand for stuff could get maybe prices to come down and if you're thinking about buying a home mortgage it's down to the lowest rate since last fall more people applying more people want to buy a house joining us now is.

Brian Chung so Brian we just laid out like four or five different numbers there that paint an economic picture um help us fill in the paint by numbers drawing you know what I mean like how should we be seeing the broader snapshot of the Economy based on the data that we have yeah well if I could try to kind of Connect the Dots here what it's telling.

Us is that this economy is slowing the question is is it slowing too fast or is it slowing too slow and what we kind of want to gather from that is whether or not prices are going to go down that is the big macro question right inflation inflation inflation prices that peaked at 9.1 percent more expensive in the middle of last year compared compared to.

The year prior we've seen that inflationary number come down a little bit but Americans are still feeling the pinch here so when you look at for example when you retail sales and you see that Americans are not going out there and spending as aggressively as many had expected during the very busy Peak holiday season well that tells you.

That the appetite is simply not there which might actually create pressures on the businesses in this country to lower prices to meet them at an area where maybe Americans would be willing to spend hopefully that means price is coming down we've seen that Trend does that continue this year we'll have to see but then put us in the mind of some.

Of these big corporations like Microsoft or Amazon and I know that you are neither the CEO of Microsoft nor of Amazon so let's take that for what it's worth right but if you're looking at the economic picture what's up with these big tech companies moving forward layoffs given some of the numbers we're seeing help us understand that yeah well.

When it comes to these big tech companies when money was cheap and borrowing costs were really low then you can do lots of moonshot projects right that's what the tech companies are known for but guess what the FED hiked interest rates at the fastest rate they've seen in decades that means that those big tech companies have to trim.

They have to cut costs that's what shareholders want that's the reason why we're seeing these big eye-popping head account reductions at the likes of Microsoft walk us through this mortgage rate drop here we talk about the housing market a lot on this show it feels like it is aspirational for so many people right.

Who maybe want to buy a house can't buy a house right now what's going on with supply and demand yeah well for what it's worth mortgage rates are not directly related rather to what the FED is doing but we've seen that mortgage rates have come down from the peak of around seven percent last year and that has incentivized people to.

Get more active into the buying Market as we saw mortgage applications go up by 28 but keep in mind the FED is continuing to raise interest rates don't expect to see three or three and a half percent mortgage rates anytime soon Howie Brian Chen there is nobody we want to connect to the academic dots more than you thank you for helping us do it.

You have achieved it thank you friend appreciate it in a Minneapolis court today lawyers for X cop Derek Chauvin are making an argument to try to toss out his convictions in the killing of George Floyd I know you remember this case it triggered huge black lives matter protests after Floyd was killed and today chauvin's lawyers say the.

Pre-trial publicity around it all was too much for it to be fair they say it was not a fair trial calling out how the trials courthouse at the time had a ton of security I remember actually somebody's pick pictures that we're going to show you in a second barbed wire National Guard troops concrete blocks all in the event that the jury.

Acquitted Chauvin Floyd died after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with his knee on his neck he was sentenced to 22 and a half years after the jury found him guilty of murder and of manslaughter Chauvin later pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights charge and was sentenced to 21 years Shaq Brewster joins me now Derek shovin is supposed to.

Be spending a lot of time in prison but today his attorney wanted to highlight how much attention this case has drawn and according to him that made it unfair to shove and help us understand that because there are a lot of cases that get a lot of attention and there's not an automatic assumption that that means that though that they are not fair.

Yeah and that was kind of the point in the uh points that you heard the state making and state prosecutors making during these arguments when you listen to what Derek chauvin's attorney team attorneys and his team of attorneys are saying they're essentially saying he didn't receive a fair trial in that there was no way in which he could.

Receive a fair trial in the state of Minnesota their specific request is they want this appeals court to force a new trial so they want them to reverse his conviction force a new trial in a different venue that's not in Minneapolis that's not in Hennepin County and if not that then they want the sentence to be reduced and the main.

Reason that you heard is those pictures that you're seeing on the side of the screen next to me they said that if you looked at the courtroom it was very clear the implications of this trial there were riots before there were dramatic protests not just in the United States but all around the world there was no way in their words that there was.

Going to be an impartial jury that could be seated you also heard them really point at one juror in particular uh juror number 52 who after the trial there are images of this juror attending a protest in Washington D.C on the anniversary of MLK's I Have a Dream speech they said that this juror was not clear about that during the questioning.

Process ahead of the trial that is a point that they spent a vast majority of time on but you also heard met with a lot of skepticism from the judges on the panel I want to take you inside the courtroom and listen to that moment there I'm having a hard time understanding how he was not forthright at all in terms of.

Answering any of the questions because of the if he would have revealed the issues about the March rally protest in Washington it would have prompted other questions from Council which goes back to is in a council's duty to Bear out those questions and ask those probing questions and that was the point that you heard.

The state really pick up on saying that this was your responsibility to ask those questions that this was a fair trial and they praised the judge for handling this case so carefully that I think is important to talk about here Shaq is that some expert have suggested that this particular issue at hand here and and what we're seeing.

Unfold that you're describing could actually be less relevant to Derek Chauvin and more relevant down the road for you know future police involved killings if you will explain that piece yeah yeah if you look at Derek chauvin's situation even if he's successful in this appeal and by the way legal.

Observers warn that's not particularly likely there's a high bar for him to be successful in overturning his conviction but even if he is successful in this it's not really going to fundamentally alter the amount of time he's going to spend in prison because he had a plea deal with the federal government that pretty much mirrored the sentence that.

He got in the State uh case what it will do is set to precedent because this is an appeals court for future convictions and future prosecutions of police officers Jack Brewster live for us covering the story on Derek job and Shack thank you 90 days we'll see how this one goes appreciate it.

So listen right as we were coming on the air our team here at NBC News has been able to debunk another apparent lie told by controversial Congressman George Santos here's the deal immigration records obtained by NBC News show that Santos's mother was not even in the U.S when 9 11 happened why does that matter remember.

What Santos campaign website said that his mom was in the South Tower of the World Trade Center in our office when The horrific events of that day September 11th happened the site goes on to say she survived the attack but then died of cancer a few years later now keep in mind Santos has admitted to lying about his education there's still.

A whole lot of other questions about a whole lot of other claims he's made Ryan Nobles is joining us now and Ryan the the records I believe show that even though Santos's campaign site has said that his mother died um years after 9 11 but was in the south tower on that day she was apparently in Brazil until 2003.

Yeah that's what these records appear to show and they were discovered by a genealogist by the name of Alex kazareth who has a lot of expertise in this field he was able to acquire them for through a Freedom of Information Act and shared them uh with us here at NBC specifically my colleague Garrett hake and we poured through these documents and confirmed.

What they tell us and the most obvious thing is that she applied for a Visa in 2003 which specifically stated that she'd not been in the United States since 1999. so if she was out in the country between that period of time 1999 to 2003 that would mean that she couldn't have been sitting in an office in the South Tower of the World Trade.

Center on September 11th and and so far Santos and his Representatives have not responded to yet another a falsehood uh that has been debunked despite the claims that he has made repeatedly on a number of topics over the course of his campaign for Congress and now he here he is a sitting member of Congress Congress and this has been pretty much par for.

The course Haley he uh you know he's kind of caught up in these claims they're turned out to not be true and he doesn't explain why uh he made these false accusations and it you know I think one thing that I'm sure Republican leadership is grappling with Ryan is that it is like a drip drip drip every couple of days there's something else.

There's something else that has Santos's name again in the news Brian Nobles thank you for that appreciate it you and your team and Gareth there some breaking news out of the White House today saying that the special counsel investigation looking at President Biden's classified documents sources say is probably not going to play a role is.

Not going to play a role in whether or not the president decides to run again and these sources are telling our team the top advisors have not agreed on a timetable for that announcement but two people familiar with the talks say for now it's not going to come until after the State of the Union on February 7th Cara Lee is just out with this new.

Reporting her and our Mike memley there okay so Carol what is so interesting here is the context for this because the there was some discussion that perhaps the State of the Union would be kind of a launching pad for a candidate Biden it sounds like that timeline is Shifting or maybe people don't even really know what the timeline is help us understand this.

I think it's highlight that people really just don't know what the timeline is but it's just been fluid that the president has not told his aides that he's made a final decision so they're still working through a lot of the machinations of this but that we what this was described to us in terms of the decision to do this after that February.

7th State of the Union as the White House wanting the president to be a president when he stands there before both houses of Congress and not a candidate so they want that moment to be seen as very presidential that the president is presiding in his job in as anybody holds an office and not not running for a re-election so they're.

Trying to separate the two things there and then they're also saying that his these this documents investigation is not going to affect the president's timeline and adding to that that their from their perspective they don't think that the documents whatever comes of that investigation is going to be an issue in November of 2024. that all.

Remains to be seen but that's the White House's view at this stage Carol Lee out with that new reporting commend folks to read it nbcnews.com Carol thank you very much let's talk about the justice department announcing a big crypto bus today saying a Russian national ran a crypto exchange that was widely used by well Crooks.

Talking about a majority shareholder of a hong kong-based exchange that the doj says processed more than 700 million dollars in illegal funds right prosecutors say that this money was filtered through the dark web laundered money stolen and ransomware attacks with one top official out with this warning watch.

Today's law enforcement actions put all all those who seek to exploit the cryptocurrency ecosystem unnoticed there is no place that is beyond the reach of U.S law enforcement and our partners no place beyond the reach of law enforcement and that includes the world of crypto candelanian is joining us now.

Ken the doj does a lot of money laundering investigations and announces a lot of money laundering busts we don't talk about them all the time like on on the news right this one is a is a big deal explain it it's a big deal and that was the deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco you just heard from the number two official in the department behind.

Attorney general Merrick Garland and she came out to this news conference today because they really wanted to highlight this uh this case that they cracked because it involves crypto it involves Russia and China and um and it shows that the FBI and the justice department can reach out and touch people who think that they are isolated and insulated.

From American Justice what they're saying here is this was a massive dark web scheme to launder money through crypto as you said ransomware gangs use this drug dealers use this according to the FBI it was a place where people could set up Anonymous accounts and stash their ill-gotten gains and but but as with most people people who do any.

Kind of work in the financial system It ultimately touches the United States in some way and that's how the FBI and the justice department were able to get this guy they arrested him in Miami today they didn't say how they lured him to Miami even though he's again a Russian national who was living in China but they say that they've also shut down.

This crypto exchange they've seized the servers and the treasury Department came in and sanctioned them giving them essentially the death penalty so they're portraying this as a big win for against money laundering uh here today there is pressure where I am sitting Ken just a couple blocks here from the United States capitol for members of Congress.

Who do something to regulate crypto prosecutors wanted to drive home the point today as we look at sort of as a as a nation as the federal government looks at this how do you get a handle on crypto they wanted to make the point you are not totally Anonymous when you deal in crypto that like if you're doing weird sketchy stuff like they may very.

Well be able to track you down absolutely it's easier to track than cash Holly because there's a ledger of every transaction that never goes away the thing is the investigators have to figure out what humans are behind the code the ones and zeros and the way they want to do that is they want these exchanges to know their customers to.

Keep a record of all the customers this exchange was not doing that because it was a criminal exchange so that's the way that they are trying to ensure that this system works um and that's the regulate they hope every government will will adopt which is know your customer just the way Banks do in other financial institutions but absolutely crypto it's.

Easier to trace than cash it's not a safe haven for criminals Ali Ken delaneyan live for us there at the doj Ken thank you very much appreciate it coming up a helicopter crash in Ukraine killing at least 14 people including one of the country's cabinet members we're live in Kiev with the latest on this investigation plus prosecutors say.

They're going to announce whether they will charge anyone in that rust movie Set shooting tomorrow what we know about this big decision after a break we are finding out today the two U.S citizens and two legal permanent residents were among those killed in that plane crash in Nepal over the past weekend the state department.

Spokesperson confirming their deaths saying that the U.S is ready to support Nepal in any way you'll remember this Yeti Airlines flight crashed right before landing on Sunday killing all 72 people on board the investigation into how this could have happened is still going on investigators are also looking into why.

A helicopter went down killing Ukraine's interior Minister and some other government officials today but they say there's no evidence that the helicopter was shot down today you have the President Biden first lady Jill Biden expressing their condolences saying that the U.S stands with the people of Ukraine in the face of this tragedy the.

Ukrainian President Vladimir zielinski says in all 14 people were killed including one child you're looking at some of the images here of the crash aftermath which happened just outside Kiev the crash happened right near a kindergarten damaging that building along with the 14-story like kind of.

Apartment building basically a building where people live Ralph Sanchez is joining us now and Raph you know what happened here um what could have been the cause do we know well that is the big question Hallie it is a question that president zielinski has told Ukraine's State security agency to get an answer as an absolute top.

Priority this is the domestic Security Agency of Ukraine you could compare it to the FBI it has a much bigger role than that in domestic security they say Hallie they are ruling nothing out at this stage they say there's a possibility this was pilot error there was Heavy fog across Kiev today when that helicopter went down they say.

They're looking into the possibility there was some kind of technical malfunction on board that government helicopter but how do they say it is also possible that this was a deliberate act to bring down a chopper carrying the interior Minister of Ukraine several of his top aides now as you mentioned there is no indication this helicopter was.

Shot down by the Russians we have not seen any Russian aircraft over the city today we have not seen any Russian missile activity but the possibility I assume that the Ukrainian investigators are looking at is whether this could have been some kind of sabotage whether something could have been planted on this helicopter so president zielinski.

Is saying he wants answers he wants them soon as you know Hallie investigations into aircraft crashes they can take a while yeah they sure can I think people know veloda mirzolenski the Ukrainian president I think he is a familiar face to a lot of people in this country this interior Minister you know not so much but the highest ranking government.

Official who has died since Russia's invasion of Ukraine started almost a year ago I mean this is somebody who was a a real player in in the Ukrainian government a critical person a real player very very senior member of President zielinski's wartime cabinet and remember Hallie right this is not just any government operating under.

Normal times this would be a big job at the best of times but during war when they are constantly looking out for Russian spies Russian saboteurs that was the job of the Interior Minister that is why President Biden praised him in this statement today saying he was one of the leaders in Ukraine's fight to preserve its democracy you could compare his role.

To the Secretary of Homeland Security in the U.S but he really had a more expansive remit than that he's in charge of the police he was in charge of the Emergency Services Hallie we actually drove to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant this morning before this crash in cave we turned around and came back but as we went both ways we passed through a.

Dozen or so Ukrainian checkpoints many of those are manned by forces from the interior Ministry so this this is a very very serious job president zielinski has tapped one of the other Deputy ministers the surviving Deputy minister to fill the role at least temporarily but this is too important a job to not fill permanently so we may see a replacement.

Sometime in the coming days Sally Rob Sanchez live for us they're in key with that reporting ref thank you let's get you over to the five things our team thinks you should know about tonight number one Georgia police say speeding was the main cause of the crash that killed the University of Georgia football player this weekend along with.

Another individual according to the police report they say defensive lineman Devin willough was not wearing a seat belt a 24 year old staffer who was driving also died in the crash number two a big update on a major Supreme Court case during oral arguments it seems like justices were leaning towards ruling in favor of a deaf.

Student who says his school did not provide him a sign language interpreter the student sued after he said he couldn't graduate because of it he's hoping to create a clearer legal pathway for other disabled students number three billy eilish now requesting a restraining order against a guy who allegedly broke into her parents home.

Earlier this month and then professed his love for eilish according to her Court filing the singer says she is very scared for her and her family's safety and that this 39 year old man showed up at her parents house multiple times in the past few weeks number four a big upset at the Australian Open all-time great Rafael Nadal the.

Defending champ in the top seed spoiler alert man he lost he lost to American Mackenzie McDonald Nadal hurt his hip during the match and then said afterwards that the loss has destroyed him mentally number five Marvel movies are making their way back to China they've pretty much been banned there for the past few.

Years officials who approved foreign film releases never gave a reason why they blocked these movies the Black Panther wakanda forever and the new Ant-Man movie are going to be the first one to hit screams in China next month in the last couple of hours we're learning about a big decision set to.

Come tomorrow from a New Mexico district attorney about whether or not she plans to press charges in the shooting death of cinematographer Helena Hutchins on the set of the movie rust a spokesperson for the D.A giving zero clues about which way they're leaning simply saying that this announcement is going to be a solemn occasion to respect the victim's.

Family you probably remember this story it was huge news Hutchins died in October of 2021 when a prop gun fired by the person you see on the left side of your screen Alec Baldwin went off the DA's office has said Baldwin is one of four people who could could face charges again we don't know Baldwin has.

Insisted he did nothing wrong the producers of the film reached a settlement with Hutchins Widow last fall Angela sanadella joins us now Angela you know what is the anticipation here because there are four people as we said who could face charges what has this investigation looked at so far there is so much anticipation here but I would.

Disagree that there are no clues so first of all we have not seen this thorough of an investigation in a long time the investigators took a year before they gave any such report to the D.A and then the D.A in October filed for funding from the state to pursue these massive criminal charges this is an extraordinary step like a d would not.

Be doing this unless they expected to use this money otherwise they have to return the three hundred thousand dollars that was approved as a result I believe that they are going to file charges tomorrow and we're going to see them trace the path of the ammo from the ammo supply flyer to the people who looked at the gun to the people who put.

The ammo in the gun and then also two Alec Baldwin himself very possibly who shot the gun and who also refused training from the armor according to the Armor's own words would you could there be an expectation and and I hear you this was a long investigation I just this statement didn't seem to tip hands one way or the.

Other could is it entirely possible that the deal could come out and say like we're not going to charge anybody here of course I mean absolutely anything is possible but first of all to come out with such a strong statement like that to put everyone on guard and ready for an announcement seems a little anti-climactic for D.A than to say.

Actually no charges will be filed after we made a fuss to the state and got funding Etc so I believe we're really leaning in that direction but Anything Could Happen who knows Angela sanadella thank you very much for that we will see how that goes obviously we'll be covering it tomorrow right here on the show appreciate it when we come.

Back a new study takes a look at what matters more as it relates to weight loss when you eat or what you eat we're going to tell you what researchers found after a break so you know intermittent fasting that thing where you like have a window you have a limited window number of hours of.

When you eat turns out it may not work so well if you're trying to lose weight a new study shows that it's not when you eat but what and how much that has the biggest impact on weight the research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association showing that eating smaller meals and cutting calories is more effective for weight loss than.

Restricting meals to a certain number of hours the study analyzed the health records of nearly 550 adults over six years and found that the amount of time between a person's first and last meal of the day was not linked to weight loss Dr John Torres joins us now Dr John like help us like walk us through this right because there's been a lot talk a lot of.

Talk about intermittent fasting I know there's a lot of people who do it it's the kind of thing where like let's say your last meal is at 8 pm then your next meal is at noon or whatever right you shrink the number of hours in a day when you're actually eating it seems like it doesn't work but aren't like all bodies are different bodies is.

It is it really so easy as to say calories in calories out it feels like that has also been debunked it's just more complicated than that for a lot of people and Hallie that's one of the big Keys here one of the things that we're looking at with a study but I myself have been doing internet intermittent fasting for the last couple of months.

And I've had a little bit of success with it I start at nine and at seven and you know some studies are saying it works this study is saying it doesn't work and what they're saying Works smaller meals like you mentioned and having more of those meals throughout the day so the portion control the calories in and you know I learned in.

Medical school decades ago that it was calories and then calories out and since then the studies have expanded on that and part of it is if you look at this study it's the demographics behind the study here at the average age again 550 people participated it was a six year study they've tracked their meals for six months and then look back six years.

To see how much they weighed in their height and they went forward four months to see if they'd lost any weight but on the average average age 51 8 out of ten were women the Atlantic coast coastal region where most of them came from and so you can see the demographics weren't matching the demographics of the country in particular in the world in general.

And so that brings into the question you know how appropriate is this or how much does this apply to everybody there's no one answer here Hallie and that's probably the main thing no one answered behind it and that's why we're seeing all these different studies showing different things this one said you know it doesn't matter if you space out the.

Time between you eat and go to bed that doesn't seem to matter the time between you wake up and have breakfast that doesn't seem to matter other Studies have said yes it does matter to a certain extent and all these are to a certain extent meaning that you need to try these one at you know different studies for different reasons and for.

Different people and it doesn't happen in isolation this diet or this type of eating on top of exercising as well those calories out type portion of it that's the key to weight loss I struggle with this sometimes Dr John because it like is it truly truly as simple as calories in calories out what.

About hormones what about family history what about genetics what about things like trauma right I mean there's so much that goes into each person's individual you know body Journey you know all bodies are good bodies right it's something that is also out there the the weight loss industry is a huge like it's a huge industry 58 billion.

Dollars it is a money maker here and this is it just feels very complicated sometimes I think for people who are trying to make sense of this and hell it's extremely complicated and that's why it's such a big industry because they can kind of cherry pick which study they want to go with highlight that study and have their product or their.

Diet aimed at that study and say this is going to help and it might help some people but it's not going to help everybody and like I said you know we learned decades ago calories in calories out subsequently over time we've learned that that doesn't necessarily mean the same thing for every person calories out could be exercise but on top of that.

Your metabolism how you digest the food your gut microbiome all these different things count up for the calories in how much you digest and the calories out how much you burn off because we don't all do it the same way Hallie so you're right everyone's individualized there's no one answer for everybody and the industry is certainly looking at this.

Saying hey this might be a new way to do a diet let's see if we can make some money off of it Dr John Torres Dr John always good to have you thank you very much coming up millions of Americans under weather alerts tonight possibly snow possibly tornadoes we'll talk about where it's all headed plus a slow speed chase in North Carolina look at this how.

Police eventually stopped this allegedly stolen tractor in the local across the country tonight there's a big two-sided storm affecting a lot of people on the one side you have the sort of wintry piece of it all a ton of snow a ton of wind overnight from Colorado all the way to the Northern Great Lakes.

18 million people under winter alerts right now on the other side of the storm you have the like rainy thunderstormy part of it this is what it looks like in Arkansas in the South 5 million people at risk the big concern there possibly tornadoes possibly hail let me bring in Angie lastman who's got a closer look at the forecast Angie you know we have seen.

Some destructive tornadoes in the last couple of weeks these rare January Twisters does this look like it's going to be more the same not quite as active as say last week when we were dealing with that but the potential Hallie is still there the ingredients are there for us to still see some of these tornadoes developing as we go through.

The rest of our evening and that's why we have a tornado watch in effect and you mentioned it it's a two-sided storm we've got a whole lot of snow in parts of the high plains we've got all this rain stretching basically from the Gulf up into the Great Lakes region in and that's going to be impactful for some but let's focus on the tornado watch.

First this is going to last through nine o'clock Eastern time so if you have family friends or if you live in these areas that extend basically from the border of Texas into Louisiana Arkansas and up into portions of Texas Tennessee and into Mississippi you're going to want to be watching for this listening for alerts as we go through the.

Afternoon this line of thunderstorms is going to continue marching to the east you can kind of see the bullseye of some of those bigger cities that are included in this four million people now it's been shrunken down just a little bit but the impacts really remain the same Memphis to Alexandria will see the potential for it you mentioned it Haley.

Hallie the hail as well as the wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour really the only reports that we're seeing so far are the wind gusts so that's good news we don't have tornado reports just yet but we also have a lot of snow the blowing wind that's that's causing the blowing snow reducing visibilities and even some ice that has accumulated in.

Parts of the high plains anywhere from 10 to 15 inches tally in in places like North Platte which is going to be you know tricky for travel for sure Angie thank you very much people are obviously hoping this thing will clear out pretty soon appreciate it NBC covers hundreds of stories every day and because you couldn't possibly read or.

Watch or listen to them all our Bureau teams have done it for you this is what they tell us is going down in their regions in a segment we call the local from our Southeast Bureau Police in Boone North Carolina say somebody stole a tractor and then LED officers on a Chase look at this officials say they got a call about somebody trying to hit.

People with this tractor whoever was in it apparently did hit some cars a dumpster a church even a police car they try to stop and look at this by using Spike sticks Stop Sticks they didn't work eventually you know officers did they cornered this guy and then shot the tires on the tractor turns out it was super scary because the guy.

Jumps off it holding a knife got tased and then got taken into custody fortunately nobody got hurt also from our Southeast Bureau the University of Texas at Austin is blocking Tick-Tock on any device connected to the University's Network employees also have to delete tick tock from anything issued by the university.

Like the phone or the iPad or whatever the school says it's doing this to try to protect people's data Tick Tock telling our Austin affiliate it's disappointed in the move and that this policy is based on false info and won't do anything to advance cyber security from our Western Bureau firefighters and neighbors helped rescue look at this 70.

Pomeranians and a cat from a burning house in California neighbors actually brought over their own crates to try to help Corral the animals they say they knew the family had dogs they didn't know just how many dogs one of the people living in the home was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation no word yet on the cause of the fire 70.

Dogs one cat how about that still to come Madonna is used to causing a commotion she doesn't seem to care about all the people hung up about her bad girl Behavior over the years well now the material girl has taken her Decades of music back on tour what we know about it did you catch all those song titles count them next.

Right now a lot of questions around the death of a California public defender who died in Mexico celebrating his first wedding anniversary his family's lawyer says he died Saturday outside his hotel room in Rosarito Beach about 30 miles from San Diego with the attorney general in Baja California saying it looks like he died from a fall from a three-story.

Balcony basically or a window but his family thinks he was the victim of in their words a brutal crime here's Aaron McLaughlin hey there Holly what began as a trip to Mexico to celebrate his wedding anniversary ended in tragedy now the family of 33 year old Elliot Blair is demanding answers saying they believe he.

Was the victim of a brutal crime the Orange County public defender was on vacation with his wife at a resort in Rosarito Beach which is just 32 miles south of San Diego according to a statement from the family lawyer Blair died on Saturday his body was found in his underwear and socks and a sleeping t-shirt outside of his hotel room where.

He and his wife were staying and had stayed in the past the statement adding that Blair was not intoxicated now the family says they've not heard about his death directly from local authorities instead they learned about the death from a liaison to the coroner's office the liaison telling the family that Blair died of severe head trauma and.

That his case had been forwarded to prosecutors for a possible homicide investigation now the Attorney General of Baja California did not respond to NBC these request for comment but in a statement to the Orange County Register the Attorney General said the death appeared to have been the result of an accident from a fall the deceased.

According to that statement falling from a third story floor now the U.S state Department said it was aware of reports of the death of a U.S citizen in Rosarito Beach Mexico and stands ready to provide Consular assistance meanwhile the family says it plans to carry out its own private independent investigation Holly.

Our thanks to Aaron McLaughlin there with that reporting we'll stay on top of those developments we want to bring you an update now and a story that we've been bringing you for a while a date now for the Senate hearing that Taylor Swift fans including several on this team have been waiting for next Tuesday the problems and that's probably being.

Generous with ticketing for her tour going to be looked at by a Judiciary Committee subcommittee you're going to remember Ticketmaster I'm sure you remember this if you have anybody in your life who is under the age of 28 like you know about this Ticketmaster scrapped its General on sale ticketing for Swift's tour after a verified fan.

Pre-sale crashed the site hundreds of thousands of fans were shut out no word yet on Witnesses for the hearing do you know what I mean like could maybe somebody big show up we're gonna find out speaking of pre-sale tickets if you don't have yours for Madonna's yet get ready for Friday morning 10 a.m for your.

Chance to see the Queen of Pop take the stage Madonna launching her celebration tour she's gonna go through her 40-year catalog of Music in a 35 City Tour six months coast to coast in the U.S then over to Europe wrapping up in Amsterdam in December Madonna says the tour is going to pay respect to her adopted home of New York City that does it for us.

This hour more of you here tomorrow same time same place coverage picks up right now foreign thanks for watching our YouTube channel follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app

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