Top Story with Tom Llamas - Sept. 14 | NBC News NOW
[Music] and good evening is the u.s economy barreling towards a major train wreck the looming rail strike already affecting commuter travel and it could put an even bigger strain on your wallet about 50 000 freight rail employees could walk off the job as early as friday and it could cost the economy billions of dollars a day with nearly half of all goods shipped long distance in this country relying on that rail system the possible strike already hitting america's farmland shipments of crops could be stopped as early as tomorrow key farming products like fertilizer pulled off trains the news comes just one day after a surprising inflation report showed the price of groceries is up 13.5 percent from a year ago the biggest yearly spike in more than four decades and also tonight amtrak cancelling all long distance trains starting tomorrow now there are desperate calls for washington to step in including the president so let's get right to miguel almaguer who leads us off tonight [Laughter] tonight as cargo and passenger trains crisscross our nation on a tangled web of rail lines the u.s may be on track for a strike the two largest unions representing nearly 50 thousand active freight train conductors and engineers could walk off the job as early as friday a double disaster that could further the supply chain and bring passenger service to a grinding halt who would be impacted by a strike basically everybody you know what moves on the rails is everything related to manufacturing warehouse distribution even close with negotiations already gridlocked even after the white house intervened the rail union says work life balance scheduling that leaves workers on call 24 7 is the biggest hurdle even amid a plan to bump up salaries 24 percent a deal still can't be reached as the organization representing rail companies says it's critical to prevent rail service disruptions michael lindsey is a trained engineer this is not about the pay necessarily these companies that think that they own our lives this is a lot bigger than just the railroad industry if a strike isn't diverted it could cost our economy two billion dollars a day forty percent of goods that are shipped long distance in the u.s traverse the
rail system many departing the port of long beach into a network of distribution hubs the frozen flow of goods from food to everyday products could empty shelves and raise prices a catastrophic blow for the u.s already battling supply chain issues labor shortages and inflation the economy really the rail companies and the labor track as of tomorrow canceling all long distances outside the north they ride on are owned by freight companies how am i going to get to work tonight a looming strike threatening to derail train travel and the u.s economy miguel joins us tonight live from los angeles so miguel you mentioned there at the top of your story the white house got involved do we know who got involved and what if anything came out of it tom we know in previous days the president and the transportation secretary were part of those negotiations more recently the labor secretary has been involved and tom we just heard a short time ago negotiators just ordered dinner they're going to be working through the night to try to reach a deal tom yeah they need this so we know friday's the deadline just around the corner congress can intervene as well there yeah that's right congress can intervene they can write legislation to impose the deal of course congress doesn't want to have to do that they want both sides to reach an agreement on their own and in order for them to write that legislation both democrats and republicans need to agree and remember every day that passes the u.s loses billions of dollars in
efforts to the economy yeah i know it's a great point all right miguel almaguer leading us off tonight that looming rail crisis threatening to worsen inflation and a supply chain already stretched thin for more on what it could mean for consumers i want to bring in phil levy he's the chief economist of flexport a transportation logistics company phil we heard miguel there say that the estimate could be two billion dollars lost every day the strike goes on can you just explain to our viewers how important this is and how detrimental the strike could be i think it's a it's a very important threat that the concern is as you documented earlier lots of stuff moves through rail and even if it doesn't spend its whole journey working on rail if that's blocked stuff doesn't get to where it needs to go either directly to consumers or to another producer some of what moves is energy and the like so you're talking about something that could really block a lot of american economic activity phil how quickly would americans feel this if it does happen if the strike happens well you know we've actually seen a fairly big uptick in inventory so i don't know that you'd see that right away but as this lasts you'll see more obviously people who plan to travel and are seeing you know a long distance amtrak competed would feel that right away um it wouldn't take terribly long when you've already started to see some of the rail companies not do things like refrigerated containers for worry for the concern that they'll get stuck in between so you know i also want to ask you there were issues with fertilizers when the war in ukraine broke out this could also affect fertilizers as well as we've been reporting how could that affect agricultural and farm companies across the country it really has to do with what supplies they have on hand and how much they were doing just in time but also very much with how long this lasts if this is very brief um then maybe not very severely as it of course it depends a little bit on seasonal things too for for planting and the like but if it goes on for a long time that would be among the supplies that could have a big impact phil before i let you go what what is your gut telling you does the strike happen oh you're gonna put on the spot for that um i think there's a lot of incentive to get this resolved um and i don't i i'm very hopeful that we will not have a long rail strike because people are going to realize just how damaging it would be phil levy for us tonight phil thank you for giving us your perspective on that we want to turn out some breaking news just in tonight singer r kelly found guilty on six counts of child pornography charges this federal trial centering around new allegations from several women as well as accusations that kelly conspired to bribe and intimidate witnesses during his 2008 child pornography trial kelly already sentenced to 30 years in prison on racketeering and sex trafficking charges i want to bring in nbc news correspondent shaq brewster who's been following this for top story tonight so shaq my first question to you break down this guilty verdict what do the six charges mean well tom it means that the jury over the course of the four-week trial decided that they agreed with what prosecutors were arguing in that r kelly the former r b superstar had sex with minors on multiple occasions and recorded many of those interactions that includes three counts of child pornography for making videotapes of himself sexually abusing his 14 year old god daughter now the jury took about 11 hours over the course of two days to come to this verdict they asked multiple questions about the nuance of the law throughout the day and it's important to note that kelly was also acquitted of about seven other counts connected to conspiracy the jury not agreeing with prosecutors as they argued that he paid people to withhold and cover up evidence connected to his 2008 acquittal kelly's not getting out of prison anytime soon how much time does this add on to it yeah that's right tom he's already facing 30 years in prison for a 2019 conviction also involving sexual misconduct with a minor but each of those big three counts carried a 10-year prison sentence prosecutors late tonight saying that they plan to ask the judge to have him serve them consecutively so this could mean significantly more prison time for the former r b superstar senior international correspondent keir simmons joins top story tonight from london here you reported on that massive line to see the queen can you give us an update how long is it still well tom look at it that line on that bridge behind me there snakes right along the river on the other side and tom on this side they're being told that it will be more than an hour before they reach the queen's casket the palace of westminster is just to my right over there and these people tom are expected to keep coming 24 hours a day for the next four days today was a day unlike any we've seen in recent decades what what stuck out to you and again i always love asking you this question after these big days what do you think is the one image you're going to remember most you know i don't think you can answer in any other way than just that image of william and harry walking behind the casket because it brings back so many memories doesn't it of them doing the same and when you get a chance just google that image they were so young when they were walking behind their mother's casket and again we've said it before remember that the queen their grandmother consoled them after the death of their mother what must have they been made what must they have been thinking during those moments tom no it was quite the side it'll be interesting to see what happens to the brothers in the days ahead as we get closer and closer to monday finally you know the focus really has been on the queen but of course this is also king charles's first week as king we saw a moment maybe the weight of everything maybe he's a little tired we don't know the king's showing a little frustration as he struggled with one of the pens he was using to sign a proclamation with let's take a quick look and listen all right here so this is sort of the second hiccup we've had with the pens i don't know if we can call it pengate just yet but what's the deal with depends on king charles right yeah he seems to have a pen problem doesn't he or at least by his account in that video there's something up with his pens look in the end prince charles was a prince now he is a king the spotlight is completely different he will be under the microscope and it will be a test of his character his kingly character and you got to say it and i know that this is a a week of grieving and and there will be many more years to come but tom you've got to say it the queen would never have been caught acting like that keir simmons for us from london tonight here we appreciate it we want to stay in europe but switch gears down to the war in ukraine president zielinski visiting territory won back from russia vowing to fly the ukrainian flag again in every city and village the president tonight involved in a car accident in kiev but was not seriously hurt megan fitzgerald is there tonight in a rare trip outside of keeve ukraine's president zielinski touring two eastern cities just recaptured from russian control seeing the devastation left behind the view is very shocking but it's no shock for me because we we began to see the same pictures from bucha bucha was the site of some of the most horrific atrocities of the war but growing fears at the harkeev region is even worse as ukraine's counter-offensive presses on tonight russia releasing this video eager to show they're still in control in reclaimed villages the trauma and pain left behind is overwhelming this woman says russian troops murdered her son i screamed so that the whole town could hear she says it's an indescribable grief also felt thousands of miles away i feel like part of my life went out of my body it was at 3 50 on august 23rd and his dad called to tell me that he had been killed on a mission misty gossett's 24 year old son joshua a u.s army veteran from tennessee had no connection to ukraine but answered their call for volunteers to join the fight what was that moment like when he said i'm going to ukraine to fight this war he said i'm not trying to hurt you but i have to go she says he always felt a duty to help it's been 23 days he died on the 23rd i have no peace misty is still waiting for her son's remains she doesn't know when they'll be returned tom megan fitzgerald with that american mother tonight all right megan we thank you for that and staying in ukraine nbc news speaking to three ukrainian civilians subjected to filtration it's a grueling process in which civilians have been interrogated forcibly deported into russia and sometimes killed u.s officials drawing comparisons to the holocaust nbc's josh letterman has a disturbing story when anastasia and her mother fled occupied mariupl in may she says there was only one safe way out through russian filtration a system set up by russia to temporarily detain and interrogate ukrainian civilians the goal to single out any who might pose a threat to russia's invasion according to u.s intelligence their first stop a
center in donetsk where she says they slept with 50 others in a school gym that smelled of trash and death that night somebody did somebody died yeah somebody died while you were at the filtration center it was an old man when i saw that they just took away this body i just think okay so you are not a people you are not a human if you behave like this the next day she says they were sent farther east to the russian border where they were interrogated about ukraine's military and on their views about the war you have to smile while because you have to survive anastasia says the russians let them walk over the border into russia where they began a weeks-long journey back to ukraine the united states says as many as 1.6 million ukrainians have gone through filtration including 260 000 children some have reported being beaten and tortured denied food and water what it boils down to is a series of horrors happening in real time in europe that echoes a very dark period of the past vlad buryak was 16 years old in april when he says his car was stopped at a russian checkpoint he says troops searched his phone and found pro-ukrainian social media and these russian soldiers put on me guns and say me [Music] maybe i kill you right now vlad says he was detained at a filtration camp for 48 days in uh 48 days i worked and my obligation was cleaned the torch room it was a room where russian soldiers torture uh ukrainian military people ukraine uh civilian people how did they torture them um russian soldiers use electricity uh use the needles under the nails vlad says his cellmate a 24 year old church worker emerged from two days of torture and slit his wrists in front of vlad i tried to save him but i understand that this man have a problem with his head after tortured he uh [Music] broke vlad says he doesn't know whether the man survived and a few weeks later vlad says he was released from russian filtration a new u.s intelligence assessment lays out the filtration process from intake at centers or checkpoints to interrogation and processing it says those deemed most threatening are detained some indefinitely those less threatening are forcibly deported to russia ukrainians deemed non-threatening are either deported or allowed into ukrainian-held territory last month yale university and the conflict observatory used satellite imagery to identify 21 filtration sites with high confidence just in one part of eastern ukraine at one prison camp they identified recently dug up earth we believe that there is enough evidence to say that these objects are consistent with graves moscow dismisses all of these allegations as propaganda russia's u.n ambassador says more than 2.4 million ukrainians have entered russia since the war started but all voluntarily fleeing ukrainian violence and none of them imprisoned or mistreated do you seriously think that such a large number of people could be forced to move and forced to keep silent but the head of ukraine's national security and defense council says ukraine knows the truth where it should go he says after the war we'll do everything in our power to return ukrainians to their motherland if hennia not her real name is 22. she says she and her two-year-old daughter were stopped at a checkpoint after fleeing constant shelling in luhansk she says she was blindfolded and led into a filtration center to be searched for pro-ukrainian tattoos when male russian troops forced you to strip down to your underwear were you afraid that you might get raped uh yes the chestnuts she says i was more worried about my child you can beat me rape me mock me just please don't touch my child evgenia says they saw the scar from her c-section and insisted she was hiding contraband inside her body her young daughter was detained in a separate room my daughter was crying mama mama she says i'm begging them please let me go to my child josh letterman tonight and his team with a fresh look at the victims of the ukrainian war all right still ahead tonight growing outrage a human trafficking victim ordered to pay a hundred fifty thousand dollars to the family of her alleged rapist after she killed him her emotional message in court plus that reported explosion at boston's northeastern university why authorities believe it may be a hoax and the moment a seven-foot mako shark leaped out of the water and onto a fishing boat what the crew did next stay with us [Music] we're back now with new developments in the case involving a 17 year old who stabbed and killed her alleged rapist a judge clearing her prison sentence but she still faces consequences including a six-figure payment to that alleged rapist family maya eaglin explains tonight a teenager the alleged victim of unspeakable crimes of human trafficking and rape after fatally stabbing her alleged rapist will stay out of prison but a court ruling piper lewis must pay a hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the family of the man who raped her the events that took place on that horrific day cannot be changed as much as i wish they could seventeen-year-old lewis pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury in the 2020 killing of 37-year-old zachary brooks she says he raped her multiple times in the weeks before his death i wish the events that took place on june 1st 2020 never occurred but to say there's only one victim to this story it's absurd her charges punishable by up to 10 years each in prison but the judge taking a different path at sentencing miss lewis i will defer your judgment lewis given five years of probation but she could be sent to prison if she violates any part of that her conviction also carries an automatic requirement by iowa law to pay restitution to brooks's estate the judge saying the court was quote presented with no other option lewis's attorney disagreeing at sentencing if you defer judgment mr brooks estate is not entitled to any restitution whatsoever frankly his estate doesn't deserve it because of his own conduct a gofundme started for lewis has now exceeded that amount saying the excess money will support her continued education lewis was just 15 when she stabbed brooks more than 30 times in a des moines apartment officials say she was a runaway seeking to escape an abusive foster home piper said in court that a man took her in before forcibly trafficking her to other men for sex she testified that one of those men was brooks who repeatedly raped her at knife point we reached out to brooks's attorney but have not heard back police and prosecutors have not disputed lewis was assaulted and trafficked but they have argued that brooks was asleep at the time he was stabbed and not an immediate threat prosecutors today telling nbc news they quote recommended that she goes to a woman's facility to provide structure and deal with the issues that she has advocates argue her actions were the result of the trauma she faced many of the things that we heard during the trial around not only what she experienced but also her reactions to that are very common trauma reactions for survivors piper circumstances are not uncommon of the more than 25 000 cases of children who had run away and were reported missing to the national center for missing and exploited children in 2021 the center says one in six were likely victims of child sex trafficking lewis is not the only alleged child sex trafficking victim to kill an abuser but she is one of the few to avoid prison time after such a crime that that does feel in some ways like a win though to be really real and really frank the way that our criminal legal system works five years probation in a controlled facility means that you don't have any wiggle room that day a combination of complicated actions took place resulting in the death of a person as well as stolen innocence of a child maya eaglin joins us now maya this is a really sad and complicated story what's next for piper where will she go now so piper spent the last two years in a juvenile detention center she completed her ged and now prosecutors are recommending that she head to a women's facility the judge even mentioning that that facility will help provide her the structure to successfully complete that probation period you mentioned there was a gofundme page how much has she been able to raise so so far over 260 thousand dollars from over six thousand donations and someone who claims to be a former teacher of piper created that page for her okay maya eaglin with a lot of reporting on this story maya we appreciate it for more on the legal implications of the decision in lewis's court case i want to bring in nbc news legal analyst danny savalas danny people at home are going to be watching this and going wait wait what she has to pay the victim's family i say victims but but the man who who apparently raped her 150 000 yes he killed her but what did the law say there in iowa right if they have mandatory restitution then often the judge's hands are judicially tied there's very little that he or she can do in a situation where there is a finding of guilt and you have a mandatory restitution statute then you have to order the restitution and you can tell right away that this must be a mandatory restitution because no judge would ever order 150 000 restitution to a 17 year old he would never set that uh of his own subjective it wouldn't come up to him as an idea to set that dollar amount because no 17 year old can pay that kind of rest especially a victim of sex trafficking so she's been able to raise 260 thousand dollars as we just heard can she use that money legally to pay this off to pay that family in theory yes assuming it doesn't violate any kind of iowa charitable laws which it doesn't appear to that i can see but yes ideally she can use it for that purpose but i mean as long as she uh the idea behind the fund isn't limited to something like uh legal fees or something else like that but in all likelihood she can and will use it to pay that that very serious high restitution bill i got to tell you i mean most of the time restitution is nowhere near that because judges take into account what this particular defendant can pay because it's unrealistic here's the problem you set a huge restitution and even if she's on a payment plan of five bucks a week she could violate that and that could potentially be a violation of probation and you know what happens then then you get right back into prison she is still behind bars this happened when she was 15. the judge was was pretty
tough on her do you think the judge handled this case in a fair manner it's hard to say i mean especially when you get into charging juveniles juvenile responsibility for crimes is really a study of american neurology and are changing ideas about what the brain as it develops how much you can accept responsibility and what you find as you go to state to state is that we have totally different laws about the age of consent or the age of criminality so we don't even agree as a country who's criminally responsible at what exact age and we probably never will agree on uniformly on any particular age so it's no surprise i did a ton of juvenile work in my day and what you find is judges across the board have widely divergent views about the responsibility of a particular juvenile in a particular case some think hey if you're 13 you're you know as much as an adult others take the view that look these are mines that probably aren't maturing until their early 20s and we should recognize that all right danny savalas a million other questions to ask you but we're tight on time danny we appreciate you when we come back the scandal involving hall of fame quarterback brett favre newly released text messages revealing he may have known that federal welfare dollars were being diverted to pay for a new facility for his daughter's school the details next [Music] all right we're back now with top stories news feed and we begin with new details on a package explosion at boston's northeastern university sources now telling nbc news the fbi is investigating if the entire thing was a hoax a 45 year old employee was injured after he said a pelican case exploded but investigators say his injuries are not consistent with an explosion and no explosives were found an investigation also underway in washington after a car slammed into a security gate outside the vice president's home here's a new video showing police searching the silver mazda shortly after it crashed into a security barrier at the u.s naval observatory much of that area was temporarily shut down no word yet on the location or condition of the driver vice president kamala harris was in buffalo at the time and a major scare for boaters off the coast of maine take a look at this video shows a seven foot long mako doing acrobatics in the water when it suddenly leaps onto the deck of the boat neither the shark nor any of the people on board were injured that shark was tagged and released back into the ocean okay now to an nbc news series the fleecing of america and we turn to a welfare scandal in mississippi new evidence shows an nfl hall of famer brett favre was much more involved than previously thought kendall anyone has been following this story and has those new details tonight a new twist in the growing investigation into the misuse of government welfare funds in mississippi showing nfl hall of famer brett favre and the state's former governor might have been more deeply involved than first known text messages included in newly released court documents show farv asked then governor phil bryant for help securing state money for a college volleyball facility where farv's daughter played the sport and bryant sent him to the state welfare agency farv soon began texting with a non-profit executive named nancy new who was doling out millions in federal funds sent to mississippi for families in poverty new has since pleaded guilty to fraud and is cooperating with prosecutors after new was able to secure 4 million dollars in welfare funds for the volleyball project farv texted very big deal and can't thank you enough two years later farv asked for more money just left brett favre bryant texted new in 2019 can we help him with his project text messages show new proposed paying favre 1.1 million dollars for radio ads but the tech show far was worried about how it might look he wrote if you were to pay me is there any way the media can find out where it came from and how much new replied no but added i understand you being uneasy about that it's all part of a broader welfare spending scandal that has led to an fbi investigation though there is no indication farv is under law enforcement scrutiny he paid back the 1.1 million
dollars brad piguet was hired by the state welfare agency to claw back 77 million dollars that was misspent but when pyget demanded answers on the volleyball building he was fired the state agency says they weren't on the same page we asked him tonight about the new text mr farb all but badgered the governor of mississippi to get this public money to his uh the purpose of building a volleyball facility all right ken dolanian joins us now from washington live so ken you know i got to ask you first did brett favre know the money was coming from funds that should have been used to help aid welfare recipients his lawyer insists he didn't know it was federal welfare money tom but he knew it was from the department of human services which is mississippi's welfare agency the whole point of the department of human services is to provide assistance to low-income children and families good point how have the former governor and far responded to this investigation his lawyer told me he has behaved honorably that he paid the 1.1 million dollars back that he got paid directly a lawyer for former governor phil bryant declined to comment but bryant has said that he was not aware that welfare money was going to these projects and real quick before you go brett favre is not in any type of criminal trouble right now correct the fbi interviewed him a while ago but his lawyer says he hasn't heard from law enforcement recently tom okay ken delaney with us uh on that story first can i appreciate it for more of these new revelations i want to bring in sports writer and co-author of the book loving sports when they don't love you back all right kavita davidson joins us now live here on top story so so put this into perspective for us brett favre made millions and millions of dollars i think he made more than a hundred million dollars during his time in the nfl why did this happen it's a really good question tom he is not one of those athletes who it has gone broke after retirement he's in the hall of fame the name brett favre itself would make him money if he were in any financial straits and as far as we know he's not i think there's something that happens when uh you're you're able to get something for free especially when you're as famous and beloved in mississippi as brett favre is and clearly he had a lot of political clout and his name carries a lot of weight and that was what he was banking on here do we know if there was a quid pro quo in any of this i mean i mean was there any kind of political connection in this brett favre obviously as you said huge name in mississippi was there anything expected from him if this deal was going to happen uh it's funny actually one of the intricacies in how some of the money was directed towards him 1.1 million dollars was in exchange for speaking fees or public engagements that actually never happened i don't think that was the quid pro quo and there is not anything specific that we can point to right now but it does score political points for the former governor for the current governor frankly uh for anybody who has brett favre in his corner he has campaigned for republicans in mississippi who have won their their campaigns in the past so it is a it is a good political move to have brett favre on your side how do you think this affects his legacy it's not his first scandal but but people love brett favre nfl fans loved the way he played and what he did for the packers do you think this this sort of i don't know tarnishes his legacy in any way unfortunately i think that especially in mississippi and in wisconsin the name brett favre goes so so far that uh football fans tend to have a short memory on things like this the rest of the league and the rest of sports fans are are fairly up in arms about this but i don't know how much this tarnishes his legacy in the long run kavita we thank you so much for joining top story we really do appreciate it thank you all right now to top stories power and politics and the results of last night's primaries candidates supporting former president trump won big in new hampshire and are now set to take on a number of incumbent democrats in november dasha burns on the ground with a look ahead to the midterms tonight a clear victory for maga republicans in new hampshire this is your victory you did this don bolda clinching the granite state's republican senate nomination edging out the more traditional conservative chuck morse despite a late push by the gop establishment to keep a more extreme candidate off the ballot in november and newcomer and former trump white house staffer caroline levitt beating out another trump world candidate for a chance at new hampshire's first district house seat this upcoming election in november is about one thing stopping the radical biden pelosi pappas socialist agenda in its tracks both now poised to take on democratic incumbents levitt will go head-to-head with democratic representative chris pappas bolduc will face democratic senator maggie hassan in what's expected to be one of fall's marquee match-ups is a bad u.s senator but that's not the only key senate race for the gop this november and questions remain whether trump backed america first campaigns will be able to win general elections against more experienced democratic opponents they wanted to write a story that this campaign would be the death of donald trump's america first agenda ladies and gentlemen it ain't the death of the ohio race looking tighter than expected with a recent poll showing democratic representative tim ryan and trump-backed republican j.d vance virtually tied
despite donald trump winning the state by eight points in 2020 in sweden state arizona two democratic groups launched a new tv ad painting trump endorsed republican blake masters as extremist on abortion masters has been on the defensive softening his stance in his razor tight senate race against democratic incumbent mark kelly in georgia with millions of dollars pouring into the race from across the country still a tossup as former football star and trumpian gop nominee herschel walker hopes to unseat democratic senator rafael warnock and in the keystone state a tight race between democrat jon fetterman and trump backed dr mehmet oz it's garnered attention from both president biden and former president trump with just eight weeks until the midterms only time will tell whether these candidates will carry the mega mantle to victory or defeat control of congress hangs in the balance and tom as we've seen with so many other races since the supreme court overturned roe versus wade it did not take long for abortion rights to take center stage here in new hampshire just hours after dawn boldick officially became her opponent democratic senator maggie hassan released an ad claiming abortion rights are at stake in november tom dasha burns on the campaign trail tonight dasha we thank you for that and coming up on top story the massive glacier collapsing and it's all caught on video ice plummeting off a mountain and why experts are saying events like this are happening more often stay with us back now with top stories global watch and the shelling intensifying between armenia and azerbaijan funerals held today in azerbaijan for soldiers who have died in the conflict both sides reporting a combined 155 troops killed the two countries blaming each other for restarting the fighting today after russia tried to broker a ceasefire in chile warm temperatures causing a massive glacier to collapse at a national park new video shows ice and debris cascading down from the top of a 650-foot mountain while park visitors looked on the national park was located about 750 miles south of the capital city santiago no one was hurt experts say climate change has made events like this more frequent around the world and some welcome news today from the world health organization the agency declaring that the end of the covet 19 pandemic is quote in sight after revealing weekly global deaths from the virus were at their lowest level since march 2020 the u.n also reporting both deaths and cases dropped in the past week by more than 20 percent worldwide all right coming up saving a life while playing wordle we'll explain right after this break a stranger coming to the rescue with a critical organ donation the emotional moment they met for the first time stay with us finally tonight a stranger's amazing act of kindness a texas man going under the knife and giving away more than half of his liver to a complete stranger saving that man's life and getting a new lifelong friend in the process on february 11th of this year the wordle answer of the day stood out to randy staples who plays the online game every day it's because he had a life-altering decision in front of him the wordle of the day for you is a maze and what's about to happen in nine days is amazing just think about it my portion of my liver is going to go into another person to save that person's life randy was originally approved as a liver donor for a close friend but after that friend suddenly passed away randy still felt he could help someone else i just knew that i needed to continue if i could save another human's life i wanted to so randy decided to move forward with his organ donation giving away more than half of his liver to a complete stranger i'm almost certain this is the first one that's been done in north texas where the donor and the recipient did not know each other that surgery a success randy spent months in recovery waiting to meet his transplant recipient to me that meeting is going to be amazing you know just to have just to know that i saved somebody's life that meeting finally happened this august are they here yet randy meeting his liver recipient lee hatcher for the first time in this emotional moment [Music] both men happy but more importantly in this case healthy everything's wonderful randy remember he's an avid wordle player describing the relationship over text the text chain we got going the text feed is called chop liver and then lee is just a sliver i did that because it rhymes but in reality he took a chunk the pair showing off these liver transplant t-shirts inspired by wordle but for lee there's only one word to use how he feels and it doesn't fit in a five-letter box i'm grateful it's my blood brother you know um grateful pretty grateful love that reunion video we want to thank our station in fort worth for their help on that story and we want to thank you for watching top stories tonight i'm tom yamas in new york stay right there more news on the way thanks for watching our youtube channel follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the nbc news app you
2022-09-20 17:16
