Hallie Jackson NOW – Jan. 30 | NBC Files NOW

we're coming on the air with new developments in Memphis where we now know a sixth officer is being relieved of his duty after the brutal police killing of Tyree Nichols with the first calls from reform on the federal level now from a republican Congressman but what are the chances change actually.

Happens we're live in Memphis and on Capitol Hill plus with a special counsel starting work this week President Biden he's trying to shift the conversation ahead of the State of the Union to his wins Steve kornacki is here to break down new data about how Americans feel about the state of our Union right now and in the breakdown a key deadline.

Tomorrow for seven states to come up with a plan for how they're going to share the water from the Colorado River because supplies running out and the FEDS are ready to step in Plus in tonight's original a public college in Florida being upended by the state's governor who says he's targeting so-called wokeness what it's telling us.

About onto Santa's education agenda and a desperate search down under for a potentially deadly but tiny radioactive pellet a dangerous needle in a massive Haystack somewhere on a stretch of road the size of California oh yeah we'll explain later in the show hey I'm Halle and tonight is sixth Memphis police officer has been relieved from duty but.

Not fired after the killing of Tyree Nichols with attorneys for the Nichols family tonight calling it extremely disappointing as we're looking ahead to a vigil in Memphis and a demonstration in Chicago tonight people in those cities said to add their voices to the chorus of demonstrators you see here demanding change demanding.

Accountability and mostly peaceful protests Coast to Coast it comes as the Memphis Police Department is disbanding its scorpion unit a special unit meant to Target violent crime but in the video the police have released of Nichols horrific beating and we want to warn you what you're about to see is incredibly disturbing.

You can see officers in that unit who kick and punch nickels to the point where he could no longer stand or sit up straight five officers have all been charged with second-degree murder related to Nichols death a court date set for next month as some of the attention shifts to Capitol Hill and the calls for Congress to do.

Something about police reform we'll have more on that in a bit but I want to go first to Priscilla Thompson in Memphis because Priscilla so many questions now about the sixth officer who was relieved from duty but um but not charged with those other five officers who were of course charged with second-degree murder can you help us understand the timeline.

Here and where this sixth police officer the sixth white police officer fits into this yeah Hallie so we're talking about officer Preston Hemphill he's a five-year veteran of the force according to the police department and what they are telling us is that he was placed on administrative leave at the same time as.

These other five officers who have now been fired but he has not been fired and for that reason that is why his name was never mentioned in the initial release that came out noting the five officers that had been fired and then were subsequently charged and we are now hearing from the attorney for Preston Hemphill who confirms that his client.

Was in video number one that is his body cam video and the attorney says that Hemphill was was a part of the first uh interaction the first confrontation with Tyree Nichols but he was not a part of that second confrontation obviously the one that was quite a bit more violent and brutal and he says that his client is fully cooperating with the.

Investigation but today we're also hearing from the attorneys for the family of Tyree Nichols and as you mentioned they say they are disappointed that this information about this officer was not revealed to them prior to this and they say that in some ways it feels like the police department is trying to Shield this white officer as they put it.

From being from being held sufficient from sufficient discipline and accountability is what the attorney for the family of Tyree Nichols had to say about all of that Hallie by this point Priscilla here we are Monday evening and by this point I think the people who wanted to look at the video right to assess its newsworthiness and obviously.

It is incredibly newsworthy have done so the people who have hoped to not see that video because of how disturbing it is have presumably managed to avoid it to the degree that they want to the question now is what comes next right because that video shows officers screaming at Nichols to keep his hands up when they were up the.

Officers approaching Nichol's car the question of whether that traffic stopped that he was stopped for initially in the first place was even legal and now the disbanding of this scorpion unit altogether which by the way was one of the things that some of these demonstrators said they wanted to see right there are a whole host of.

Questions that a lot of the people who have been out demonstrating have about all of this first of course is questions about why the initial report that police released does not seem to align with what we're seeing in the video police described what happened as a confrontation but what we see in the video is officers getting out of their.

Cars with tasers drawn and one of them opening the passenger passenger or the driver's side door and pulling Tyree Nichols out and that none of that was mentioned in that initial report it also talks about Tyree Nichols complaining of shortness of breath but we now know that after that beating as you mentioned he could barely sit up as they propped him.

Up against the side of the car so it seems unclear if he was actually able to complain about shortness of breath and then on top of that the Memphis police chief is now saying that she hasn't found any justification for the traffic stop so a lot of people here saying there's still a lot of questions and they want more accountability about the.

Two fire Department officials who are have been placed on leave about the two Shelby County sheriff's deputies that have been placed on leave among other things Hallie Priscilla Thompson live for us there in Memphis Priscilla thank you one of the things that we are hearing from Terry Nichols family today are calls for change for accountability.

For police reform with those calls knocking at the door of the Capitol building not far from where I'm sitting many of this discussion focusing on the George Floyd Justice in policing act which among other things would boost police accountability would Target police misconduct if that sounds familiar to you it's because it is this.

Try to get through Congress back in 2021 it passed the house but did not pass the Senate with questions now of whether this time could be different joining us now in Ryan Nobles and Ryan that is the question right could this time be different it is an open question despite just late today one Republican member of Congress the first that we've seen so.

Far former police officer expressing some support for something on police reform federally yeah that's right Hallie uh and that Congressman uh is from Long Island a former New York City police detective Congressman die Esposito and he said in a tweet over the weekend he said quote this demonstrates the need for greater.

Federal involvement uh in setting police training standards immediate action must be taken to prevent such senseless violence from ever occurring again but Halle to be clear this is just one Republican member of Congress it's the only Republican member of Congress that has said anything specific as it relates to passing some sort of legislation that.

Would encourage police reform and the simple fact is if they had difficulty getting through this legislation in the last Congress in which Democrats had control of both the house and the Senate it's even more difficult now that Republicans control the house and so there will likely be more conversations about this there may even be legislation.

That's introduced perhaps the George Floyd policing act uh does once again come up for a vote uh but there is very little optimism at this point that anything will actually get accomplished what what de-escalation training training thing Ryan as we were coming on the air just a couple of minutes before.

Senator cornyn was on the floor talking about um and and what this law does as far as moving the needle here is it enough for Democrats let me play senator cornyn use of force should only come into play when absolutely necessary and this legislation will provide Law Enforcement Officers with the knowledge of what.

Alternatives are available to them I'm glad this legislation is now the law of the land and the Department of Justice must implement it as quickly as possible will it move the needle around what do we know about it well so you know this is an example of compromise that Republicans and Democrats were able to push over the.

Finish line but you know as soon as Senator cornyn uh got off the the floor for making that speech where uh he was basically kind of imploring uh you know different levels of government to try and Institute these changes he then conceded that it's going to be very difficult for any new legislation to get over the finish line that uh that.

Because there is divided government because Republicans control the house Democrats control the Senate it's going to be very difficult for them to find some sort of compromise usually these Flashpoint issues at least bring them to the table Hallie but again things are not very optimistic at this point it's a gut check and an important one Ryan.

Noble is live for us on the hill thank you we're learning tonight that the special counsel who's looking at President Biden's handling of classified documents is expected to start that job this week ramping up that investigation even as President Biden tries to ramp up ahead of next week's State of the Union in a very different way by focusing on.

His wins you've got the president speaking today in Baltimore outside a tunnel that will get money from his signature infrastructure law saying it's about making sure no American is Left Behind it's about making Investments America's cities towns heartlands and Rural America it's about making things here in.

America again it's about good jobs it's about the Dignity of work it's about respect and self-worth and it's about damn time we're doing it so check out the president's schedule you see he's got Philly on Friday New York tomorrow and right in between a one-on-one here in Washington at the White House with speaker Kevin McCarthy.

On how to avoid a potential financial crisis in this country a meeting that puts the spotlight on the president's new reality of divided government so that's the context for some new data we're going to show you from our first post midterms poll Steve kornacki is here to break it down hey Steve so listen the big takeaways.

Here seem to be the president is kind of where it was at months ago and people really aren't that happy with how things are going Fair yeah New Year same political climate I mean take a look here Joe Biden's approval rating in our new poll 45 percent continues to be underwater take a look at what we were finding that's just consistent with.

Everything we were seeing last year during the midterm campaign low approval ratings for Biden also economic insecurity asking folks is your income keeping Pace with the cost of living two-thirds of respondents in our poll say they feel like they're falling behind inflation continuing to loom large in people's mind and then this.

What you're seeing here is just a whole host a whole list of traits and attributes and asking do you have a positive or negative view of Biden on these and what you can see here look at all the red ink these are areas where he's upside down areas like honesty competence mental and physical health to do the job of President so you're seeing.

A bunch of negative numbers from Biden and we've been seeing seeing him for the last two years really okay so go to the person who may be ending up challenging him for the White House come 2024 right if the president decides to say he's running and if Donald Trump actually gets the nomination former president Trump who just is starting now at the.

Very beginning of getting out on the campaign Trail well that's the other thing so we say this has been the story for Biden and yet Democrats hit a pretty good 2022 midterm All Things Considered and this was why we're still seeing it in our poll now our new poll Biden is underwater he's unpopular Democrats are unpopular but Republicans are even less.

Popular and Donald Trump is even more unpopular than Joe Biden that's what saved Democrats in the 2022 midterms a lot of Voters took it as a choice between Biden and Democrats who they didn't like and Trump and Republicans who they liked even less so if that Dynamic is still at play heading into 2023 2024 and we asked Republicans are.

You do you consider yourself more a Republican or a trump voter 33 percent one-third say they're really more loyal to Trump and then we asked him consider yourself Republicans part of the Maga movement the make America great again movement two-thirds of Republicans basically saying yeah they're on board with trumpism.

The question is is Donald Trump going to be the one to carry the mantle of trumpism right that's still I think a question mark to be decided one thing we do know about the dynamic the rest of this year and the next year Steve is it's going to be a divided government in Congress and this new data gives us a sense of what do voters actually want.

Congress to do and so you take a look here we asked should should not the most popular issue on this list that we asked voters at least was that pathway to citizenship for the uh undocumented 80 percent there harder line against China 75 percent border security over 70 percent you can see where the cutoff line here climate.

Change still a priority for folks you get to Ukraine a lot more mixed opinion on that Steve kornacki great to see you thank you as always friend love to see you at the Big Board you got it Howie so listen ice has started to come down in Texas and parts of the South as we speak as a winter storm ramps up a.

Frigid one with 35 million people under these winter alerts 10 million people have wind chill alerts in the Rockies the planes freezing temperatures are expected there and listen we are talking super duper cold parts of Utah this morning almost 60 below zero wind chills in Montana hit 50 below zero 40 below in The Dakotas that's bananas you're.

Looking at sleet coming down in Arkansas by the way as part of that three-day storm hitting from Texas to West Virginia the ice the freezing rain that stuff makes it so dangerous to travel that also UPS the risk for potential power outages meteorologist Bill Cairns is tracking all of it cold cold cold some of the country is feeling it more.

People will be feeling it soon yeah it's finally winter Hallie I mean at least in some spots not quite on the East Coast I didn't even need a jacket in many areas of the Eastern Seaboard today but that'll change as we head towards the weekend so let's talk about the immediate first and that's the areas that were bitterly cold this morning we.

Mentioned that negative 60 and Peter thinks uh Utah now that's at 8 000 feet it's a bowl it's traditionally one of the coldest locations in the country so that wasn't widespread but it's just a pretty cool fact that was the coldest in 21 years in that state of Utah this morning now all of these little light pink areas here these are all wind chill.

Advisories so we've got gotten rid of many of our warnings so it's not as bad as it was this morning but it's still pretty cold only you know Fargo's negative 20 earlier today they're about negative 40. when uh wind chill in Chicago is at negative one and now that cold air is sinking to the South so Wichita even St Louis are in the single.

Digits and how about that cold coming in this is going to be Friday night and when you wake up Saturday morning negative 42 in Vermont Albany negative 32 again these are the cities so if you're in the mountains it's going to be even colder than this New York City negative 11 and even DC this will get your attention in the single digits to.

About 10 Halle again it's short-lived by the time you get to Sunday afternoon it's done I'm used to 10 degrees bill that's what it feels like in our studio every day you know I mean for sure Bill Karen's thank you very much we're going to be live by the way on the ground in Dallas in our next hour we'll see you then appreciate it today we're learning.

That the principal of that Elementary School in Virginia where a six-year-old boy shot his first grade teacher is no longer on the job she is no longer the principal she's been removed but she's still working for the school system comes to students today we're back for the first time since the shooting you see kids with their parents police.

Officers there welcome signs the school has some new rules in place like permanent security officers they've got metal detectors now at this Elementary School they've got doors in classrooms that didn't have them in certain areas before the kids are all getting clear backpacks police Say the 25 year old teacher who was shot.

Abigail's Werner is a hero since after she was shot she's still safely got about 20 kids out of her class Katie Beck is joining us now Katie the school today is also offering some emotional support service but these signs of what happened are still so visible right for the parents dropping them off for the kids now that have to deal with metal.

Detectors and clear backpacks and have the Specter of this sort of hanging over their school day yeah Halle at the beginning of the day there was a lot of anxiety that first entry point after the shooting parents feeling very anxious as they dropped off their kids but the school district I have to say made a really really big.

Effort to try and create a security here to try and create some sense of normalcy for these kids and even beyond that an encouraging sense of welcome back they had about a dozen police officers waiting outside the school lined up giving high fives and handshakes to kids and flowers to teachers there were emotional support dogs in the school.

Today and then additionally those first graders that were actually in the classroom wear this horrific incident happened have been relocated to a different classroom that the community painted and put a number of their items from the previous classroom inside so they would feel familiar so there was a big effort to try and make today a.

Positive day a positive experience and I think on the way out of school felt much different than on the way in a lot of interesting really happy to be reunited with their friends they've had three weeks off so that's hard for kids to sort of be separate separate and sort of desocialized for that long of a time I think they were really happy to get back.

Yeah that makes it so interesting to hear the dynamic from sort of drop off to pick up Katie I'm sorry go ahead jump in yeah we also parents I think are feeling encouraged by as you mentioned some of these leadership changes I think they see these administrative changes as being the culture shift that is.

Necessary on a broader sense to correct this problem and I just want to play for you some of the sound from those parents that we spoke to today uh saying about their hopeful sense of what's to come I think it'll help all the schools in the City of Newport News you said you don't love the idea of seeing the metal detectors but if they work you're out.

For them yeah it's the it's they should be unnecessary um but if we need them we need them very okay with the administrative changes because I just feel like they're not doing their job if they're not protecting everybody and again Hal you mentioned those clear backpacks some of the kids came out and.

Showed them to us after school and believe it or not they were like really excited to show off these these backpacks I think again the school has done a good job of trying to positize which is a pretty negative situation so you talked about some of the staff changes Katie the principal's out although still employed by the school.

System the assistant principal is out the superintendent was fired by the board last week it feels like there's a clear it feels like the school district wants to kind of send a message that they are working to you know in some ways start fresh or maybe move you know start the page turning Beyond this even though Abigail's Werner the 25 year old.

Teacher who was shot has been in the hospital for two weeks she's now recovering at home yeah yeah I think that the point here is if we could do things differently maybe we should and I think that's what the school district is trying to do moving forward let's get some some new eyes on the subject let's try some new protocols.

Let's see what works but I mean hearing all of these reports of threats ahead of this day ahead of this incident and even on the day the reports that this child had a gun uh were three and four different times the school was alerted so I think it's it's pretty hard not to take a look at this situation and say can we do things better you know I think.

The answer is we can Katie back thank you very much live for us there in Newport News Virginia appreciate it overseas now Secretary of State Tony blinken will be meeting with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas tomorrow wrapping up his mid East trip during a big spike in violence there today he met with the Israeli Prime.

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling for peace from both sides we continue to believe that the best way to achieve it is through preserving and then realizing the vision of two states as I said to the Prime Minister anything that moves us away from that vision is in our judgment detrimental to Israel's long-term security and its.

Long-term identity the most recent round of violence started last week with an Israeli raid in the West Bank followed by Palestinian shooting in a Jewish settlement that killed seven Israelis even today right before secretary blinken arrived the Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man Kelly.

Kobia is joining us now from Jerusalem and Kelly you know the the the trip for secretary blinken had been planned before this happened right and yet here he is now at this critical moment meeting with the critical leaders as part of this what are the expectations I think the hope is that the presence of the secretary will sort of calm passion.

Tensions the message from Secretary of Lincoln has been so far that both sides need to take steps to reduce tensions and he said that just after stepping off the plane and then reiterated it while standing side by side with uh with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I think you can expect him to deliver the same kind of message to.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas when he meets with him tomorrow that not only do both sides need to take steps to reduce tensions to stop the cycle of violence but also that the U.S the Biden Administration is committed in the long term to a two-state solution and doesn't want to see anything uh disrupt that in in the shorter term you can also expect.

Him to talk to the Palestinian president about this security coordinate coordination agreement with Israel the Palestinian president Paul the Palestinian Authority out of that agreement after that raid on the West Bank it basically allows the Palestinian Authority to cooperate with Israel in the territories to to identify and at.

Times arrest militants and extremists people who may be allegedly plotting some sort of attack in Israel they pulled out of that the Secretary of State likely will try to get them back in this has been something that Palestinian Authority has done in the past as a sign of protests so it is possible that they'll agree to to to.

Resuming that coordination but it's it's it's something that is key some people say to maintaining a sense of calm Kelly kobia alive first they're in Jerusalem Kelly it's good to see you thank you for being on the ground for us there coming up here on the show the jury in that incredibly high profile South Carolina double murder trial.

Getting a first look at a gun that prosecutors say may have been used to kill the suspect's wife a look at some new body cam from the day after the killings plus new research looking into whether people's food cravings could be considered technically an addiction controversial discussion coming up next.

A lot of new evidence getting shown in that double murder trial that South Carolina papers are calling the trial of the century including some new video now from the day after the killings with the jury getting a first look at a rifle found in one of Alec Murdoch's gun rooms why does this gun matter the one you're looking at here.

Prosecutors say it's owned by Murdoch's surviving son Buster shell casings from it were found all over a property owned by the family that matched the shell casings found near the body of Murdoch's murdered life and remember police say they haven't recovered either the rifle that killed Maggie Murdoch nor the shotgun neither the Rival nor the.

Shotgun that killed Paul Murdock the Father the husband Alec Murdock is charged with killing his wife and son he has pleaded not guilty Blaine Alexander is following this trial from Atlanta and another high profile day today Blaine because prosecutors say they know what kind of rifle killed Maggie Murdoch that blackout rifle we just saw they just.

Can't prove for sure that it was that particular rifle as you see we're showing it here this parade of guns that the prosecution was pulling out and showing one after the other after the other from these boxes they brought in walk us through some of these new details we're getting not just that but some body cam footage the day after the.

Killings from an interview too that Murdoch had with investigators and that's a really good way to put it Hallie this parade of guns that investigators actually confiscated from the Murdoch home you know what's interesting about this really this isn't something that we typically see in open court we're evidence box effort or ever.

The evidence box is opened up and they brandish these large weapons and that's why we heard repeat uh objections from defense attorneys essentially saying listen ballistics tests have already ruled out these weapons they've already shown that these weren't involved in The Killing so why pull them out they said that it was unnecessarily prejudicial to.

Basically show those types of things to a jury when pictures would do the job equally as well but the prosecution says no this shows just how detailed and thorough they've been in the investigation I want you to hear a little bit of the back and forth over this and what specifically they said about that 300 Blackout rifle take a.

Look foreign how much to argue about I mean I'm sure there was an occasional thing that came up that we argued about but I can't tell you what it is I can't think of it okay so what you just heard right there Hallie was a kind of emotional testimony.

That we actually heard it was a recording of Alec Murdock being interviewed by investigators several days after the killings he was asked about his wife Maggie broke down and talked about the fact that they had a good relationship Hallie there's then the defensive strategy right so we've talked about the prosecution the defense.

Was trying to so doubt let's say it seems like they're bringing up this kind of second shooter type Theory to raise that reasonable doubt if you will that's because there were two different guns used so they're pointing to the fact that while there was one gun used to kill Murdoch's adult son Paul a.

Different kind of gun used to kill Maggie you know what we heard were defense attorneys really trying to do their best to poke holes in this and essentially say does it leave open the possibility that there were two different Shooters here's a little bit of that exchange take a look foreign.

Explanation of this data would be two Shooters one explanation not the but one not the only one yeah not the only one but it is a reasonable explanation just like one shooter running up that way correct sure now in redirect we heard a prosecution push back on that and say but it's also possible there was one shooter who used.

Two different guns so essentially trying to to wipe that explanation away as well Hallie Blaine Alexander are covering all that for us Blaine thank you very much appreciate it let's get you over to the five things our team thinks you should know about tonight number one former British prime minister Boris Johnson telling the BBC that Russian President.

Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike in the run-up to the invasion of Ukraine Kremlin spokesperson says Johnson's comments are a lie number two a U.S freestyle skier has died after getting caught in an avalanche in Japan Sunday a Japanese official says at least five foreigners were caught up in this another man also died no ID on him yet.

Number three the FAA says it's making some changes to try to prevent a repeat of the computer system outage that affected more than 11 000 flights this month the agency sent a letter to Congress and it's changed something to stop a bad file from damaging a backup database you got a lot of frequent flyers hoping it'll work.

Number four avatar The Way of the water has now passed Star Wars the Force awakens as the fourth biggest movie in history the only movies ahead of it still are the Avengers endgame movie and two other James Cameron movies Titanic and the original Avatar number five did you catch this the Empire's State Building lighting up in.

Eagles green yesterday after Philly beat the 49ers and like Yay Fly Eagles Fly but also why what that's in New York that's like giants country some people were not happy about it they took to Twitter to complain but the Empire State Building Twitter account sort of clapped back a bit it's apparently always been the plan to show the colors of both the.

Winning NFC and AFC Champs it just so happens that the winning NFC champ is the NFC East rival of the Giants again the Eagles again in case you missed it heading to the Super Bowl I just want to put a pin on that so listen you may have casually said this to a friend sometime oh those chips or those cookies or whatever I'm.

Addicted to those the researchers say food addiction could really be a thing for some older Americans a new survey just out today shows that one in eight Americans over the age of 50 show signs of being addicted actually addicted to really processed food and sugary drinks researchers say this kind of stuff Taps.

Into the brain's reward system which is similar to how your body responds to drug or alcohol use Dr Akshay style joins us now and Dr Cell what is the distinction between a food craving and a food addiction how are researchers how are clinicians drawing that line good evening you know it's a great it's a great question and I think a lot of us.

Have food cravings right like my myself myself I've been known to crave a slice of pizza or a slice of a cherry or you know can of cherry Garcia's from Ben Jerry's but the question is how does that become an addiction and the real simple answer is here when that craving starts to control your life when you go out of your way to when you stop.

Everything you're doing it go out of way to make sure you get those things that's what you're really worried about here and so how do they Define a food craving and what were they looking for so a food addiction so you know the first thing it's really intense Cravings the other thing inability to cut down and that means that maybe you say Saturday I'm.

Going to have a healthy day and you're just not able to follow through on that signs of withdrawal and believe it or not there's some early research here that shows that when you stop eating that junk food you can actually get headaches and irritability like you do when you stop caffeine and lastly increased levels of emotional distress.

Just from not having that junk food it is not a clinical diagnosis right like food addiction is not something that is an actual diagnosis you can receive clinically why is it is it controversial to do that do you think that this study is Raising some new questions about whether or not that should be the case.

Uh you know I think it does raise some questions but the short answer is there's the science really isn't there yet in the sense that we have smoking addiction and alcohol addiction but it's a really important point because we can't treat something if we don't Define it and if we Define what food addiction is we can start to look at treatments.

Like we have for smoking use disorder and alcohol disorder medications or therapy that might actually help people who are addicted to food uh overcome it this study focused on adults over the age of 50. um can you explain why that is do we think we'd see something similar in like a younger age population as well as it relates to the potential.

For you know as you say food addiction sort of not a capital A but a lowercase a this study focused on older adults so it's really hard to say what what may come from young adults but it's women you know twice as likely to as men to have this those age 50 to 64 really is where this is hitting hard as well as.

Those who are lonely isolation had a big risk factor those the lonelier you were the more likely you were to suffer from food addiction is it only junk food right because of the things that trigger we all know fat sugar right trigger those reward pleasure receptors in the brain the dopamine reward centers just like gambling just like any other.

Addiction it's the same reward centers Dr akshayal it's fascinating thank you so much for that in-depth look at that appreciate it yeah still to come A different kind of school board fight in Florida we're looking at why tensions are running high at a small liberal arts college and why critics call what's going on there a conservative takeover.

Stay with us foreign 's original now with in-depth reporting on a topic we've been watching and tonight it's the latest Battleground for American culture wars a Florida College Governor Ron DeSantis the Republican governor in that state making headlines for months now with this.

Ambitious education agenda targeting what he and some describe as quote unquote lokeness in schools well now the governor is going one step further something to do with critics described as a conservative takeover of a small public liberal arts college in Sarasota NBC's Maura Barrett has the story foreign.

College of Florida's recent student meeting with new board members article 3 is titled religious should be let's go to another person I want to make sure that we get possible but I'm happy to answer your question tensions are running high as a student asked a follow-up question Governor Ron.

DeSantis recently replaced six of the board's 13 members in an apparent bid to transform this intimate 700 person liberal arts college into what Florida's Commissioner of education has touted as a Hillsdale of the South referring to a private Christian University with explicit conservative views one of the things that makes teaching at new.

College a real privilege is that our students want to take risks new College's more flexible learning style and tight-knit lgbtq friendly Community Drew in second year student Sam Scharf became a new college for a reason and they're trying to take that from us one of the new board members Chris Ruffo told a New York Times columnist the.

Board has plans to conduct a top-down restructuring and design a new Core Curriculum from scratch including scrapping diversity equity and inclusion initiatives you've called the in statement of the new board and what you're looking to do is a hostile takeover of the college why is the word hostile necessary sure I mean I mean.

It's it's a fact just here today some Anonymous activists sent a death threat to my fellow trustee Eddie Speer rufo told us the governors quote political genius will be the new board's Guiding Light anytime that you have a vision for transforming an institution there will be conflict I want to be very.

Uh open and honest about that and transparent in the process but beyond that conflict I think is academic Excellence it's world-class research meanwhile the governor's recent legislation restricting how lessons on race and gender are taught are currently blocked from being enforced in schools a federal judge calling the policy.

Positively dystopian what do you make of something that your efforts are surrounding is being described as dystopian yeah I obviously disagree but what I would say is this um I've exposed in my reporting so many instances of kind of vicious racialist ideology left-wing political activism under the guise of for so-called.

Anti-bias training or Dei programming and we're going to say left-wing political ideologies are no longer going to be administrative best practices and that's not to say that right-wing political ideologies are going to be we want to have a balanced system we want to have more voices more freedom more expression more robust exchange of ideas.

NBC News reached out to Governor desantis's office for comment but have not heard back it's a lot of attention for a state school on Florida's Coast they targeted us first because we're a small school with predominantly LGBT body and a lot of other marginalized peoples go here some students and faculty believe.

It's the governor's latest attempt to stoke National political tensions we very much do feel like political pawns and and the greater culture war and our governors National political Ambitions and rufos careerist Ambitions politics shouldn't really be playing a big role in our education what happens here is going to.

Have implications for public colleges and private colleges and universities across the country leaving many students anxious and threatened about what could come next Maura is joining us now and Maura you heard some of those students describe themselves they see as like sort of Pawns in this whole thing.

If if that is a pervasive feeling couldn't I mean students could just choose to not attend right I mean this is something that could affect enrollment it could infect tuition affect tuition for the school it could affect the school's reputation Etc it could affect what the school looks like going forward in years to comes.

Right Hallie and I think what's important to acknowledge is that both students and faculty did say to us we understand that being part of a public education system means that state oversight comes with the territory they get that that's part of how it works the bigger picture issue here for them is that it feels like the political.

Additive into what they're seeing at school could influence the overall picture of public education in Florida and then when you tie in the factor of the potential of Governor DeSantis running for president in 2024 that's why they feel this role of being upon and when I asked trustee ruffa one of the new board members about that concern.

About these worries from students and faculty he all but said too bad he pointed back to the fact that Florida Citizens elected the governor who then appoints the trustees and they then get to make the decisions about the school he said that he and his colleagues are agents of the democratic process and he didn't acknowledge students worries.

About their overall implications on their education or what this could indicate about National politics Hallie Moore Moore Barrett thank you very much for that reporting appreciate it coming up here on the show Oregon police are looking for a torture suspect who they say could be using dating apps to find victims or people who can help them.

Avoid police we've got the latest on that investigation plus a scary crash in Hawaii look at this we'll tell you what rolled through this family's house later in the local deadline day is approaching for states bordering and on and in the Colorado.

River which gives water something like 40 million Americans it's been dealing with drought for four decades uh two decades rather and now new emails obtained by the Associated Press show that States along that River wrote a total impasse basically about how to share what water is left again tomorrow is.

This deadline now to try to get to an agreement before the federal government steps in to do it for them bringing us to the breakdown where we lay out what this whole thing actually means foreign stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California the Colorado River gives fresh water to people across seven states.

But drought climate change and a growing population has shrunk the river's water flow to its lowest levels ever now states that rely on the river have until Tuesday to figure out how to share the limited water supply if they don't the federal government will step in to do it for them this all started back in 1922 when the Colorado River compact was.

Signed dividing the river's water use by something called acre feet what is that it's how much water you need to cover an acre of land in a foot of water the upper Basin States Colorado New Mexico Utah Wyoming we're supposed to share something like seven and a half million of those acre feet of water every year and the lower Basin States California.

Nevada Arizona allotted about eight and a half million per year Mexico where the river meets the sea got 1.5 million okay fine so a lot of numbers but here's what you need to know the math worked as long as the river provided about 17 million acre feet a year but that number has been going down and fast in the last three years years the river's water.

Levels are so low that those original allocations are impossible the states that are affected have been trying to figure out what the new math should be themselves but so far no luck Everybody's Got A Reason too the upper Basin States say hey they've already cut about half their allotment Nevada says they've cut their usage by about a third.

Arizona which receives the least amount of water from the river says more people and agreements with Native American tribes prevent them from making any cuts at all and California which gets the most amount of water from the river points to its big agricultural industry as one reason why they can't cut back either without a simple solution and.

With a Water Crisis growing the federal government Now set to step in and force these states to cut back quite a bit if the federal government does have to step in they'll look to cut between two and four million of those acre feet of water in all according to those emails obtained by the AP it would be the first time ever that the government has had to.

Do this kind of thing for the Colorado River NBC News 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 Northeast Bureau New Jersey police are.

Offering a ten thousand dollar reward for any information leading to the arrest if whoever threw a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue you just saw some of that surveillance video that's the suspect in a ski mask there nobody got hurt no damage has been reported from our Southern Bureau a police chase in Atlanta ending in a very dramatic.

Rescue this weekend look at this officers say this guy stole a cop car before it flipped onto some tracks body cam video shows officers smashing Windows look at this pull the man out of the car right before a train came through I mean wow the suspect is facing multiple charges but of course is it's.

Okay physically from our West Coast Bureau look at this that is the boulder that barely missed a woman when what crashed through her home in Hawaii did you see that foreign that came within like inches it through went through a couple of walls I mean.

You see at least two walls there no idea why it started rolling into a house in the first place but luckily nobody was hurt not what police call in all hands on deck operation as they're looking for somebody suspected of brutally beating and kidnapping a woman in Oregon 36 year old Benjamin Foster has been on the run.

For nearly a week police say he's been active on dating apps maybe targeting new victims or maybe looking for somebody to help him escape the victim was found tied up and unconscious unconscious rather near a town called Grants Pass Tuesday she's currently hospitalized in critical condition officials warn that.

Foster is very dangerous and might be armed Dana Griffin is joining us now Dana this is obviously an incredibly scary situation what else do we know about this person and about this dating app usage thing hello good evening so Benjamin Foster is wanted for attempted murder kidnapping and assault and here's why the search.

Has become even more dire so investigators say the suspect is still using dating apps to contact unsuspecting people who may be lured into helping him Escape or could potentially become it could potentially become victims as well police have found the suspect's car and believe he still may be in southern Oregon now the police.

Chief shared this message recently listen foreign we will not rest until we capture this individual I'm disgusted by what I know happened this was an evil Act we are working hand in hand with our.

District attorney the most appropriate charges will be filed so on top of this case Foster has a record of similar assaults including a 2019 case in Nevada where according to the Las Vegas Review Journal Foster was arrested for holding his then girlfriend captive for two weeks and beating her.

And Holly that details so gruesome including breaking her ribs and burning her with lie horrific to even think about Dana who is this person that believes have arrested a woman for allegedly helping this guy yeah so they say that Foster likely received help fleeing the area from a 68 year old woman her name is Tina Marie.

Jones and at this time it's unclear what their relationship is she was arrested and booked for hindering prosecution now Holly a 2500 reward is being offered for information that leads to Foster Dana Griffin thank you for being on top of this one for us please please keep us updated appreciate it when we come back a frantic hunt in Australia for a very.

Dangerous and Tiny device what officials are doing to help find a mini toxic capsule across an area that's hundreds of miles long that's next foreign to a desperate scramble in Australia right now where officials are basically.

Looking for a radioactive needle in a haystack they are hoping Beyond hope to find a tiny radioactive pellet capsule that could be deadly that they think fell off a truck from a mining company this thing is Tiny like less than half an inch I'm not like that's what it looks like that is very very small.

And you know what makes it even harder to find they're looking for it over an 870 mile stretch of road that is almost as long as the state of California so you're looking for that half inch thing the size of your fingernail in the state of California it's it's dangerous right there's radioactive stuff in it that gives off potentially.

Deadly amounts of radiation it can burn your skin if you're exposed to it for too long it could even potentially cause cancer it's so powerful that officials are telling people if you can even see it stay pretty far away from it like 16 feet were back don't pick it up and put it in your pocket cure Simmons is joining us now this is kind of a banana.

Story cure right because this little thing dropped off the back of a mining truck it's not great for humans um and it can be really scary if you're exposed to it for too long if you even see it yeah I mean it would be worrying and you wouldn't necessarily know because as you mentioned it's so small not okay it's in.

A big area but what happens if it gets picked up they're worrying about this gets picked up in a tire ends up in a town ends up you know in the hands of someone who doesn't realize and they wouldn't necessarily know I mean I listen like I found here in my house in the UK uh Ali a dime that's about how big it is as you mentioned it's not.

Almost 900 miles of road so they're looking for that on that stretch of road in Western Australia and uh I don't know how to say this without insulting anyone Australian watching but but there aren't that many people in Western Australia it's not that well populated let me put it that way so uh it's a needle and Haystack a radioactive needle in a.

Haystack is a good description and to be clear it's not like it's a radioactive bomb right like it's not it's not a nuclear it's not going to blow up and like but but the bottom line is there's like an accountability Factor here as well right this is not the first time that the mining company involved with this has had problems.

You're right the Smith company's called Rio Tinto and it's already had a controversy when it did enormous amounts of damage to a historic Aboriginal site that was many many thousands thousands of years old so you're right it's not anyone who has uh some not great feelings about mining companies and and there are going to be some watching are.

Just going to be nodding and saying all right yeah I get it it fell off the back of this truck it's used in a device that measures depth from mining how did it fall off it's a question I mean I get that it's small but but you would want it to be more protected than that the com the company the contraction contractor that was carrying it is.

Properly qualified apparently uh but I mean they're going to be questioning what really happened once they find it I mean that's going to be the first priority just finding the thing and they're not and they're not using just like their eyeballs to look for it right here I mean there's actually like tools and things that are a part of this.

Yeah which they're fitting to Vehicles as they drive along this road so yeah they are trying to work out there are those saying they're going to find it they do believe they're going to find it but I don't know necessarily that you can be sure because well has it fallen off the road and bounced I mean you know where where is it it is a question that.

We may never have an attitude and in a way Hallie that would be a good thing because if we never hear about this thing again then then everyone will be breathing a sigh of relief problem is you don't really know right I mean that that's the issue by the way these dimes which I amazingly I managed to find um how many question for you how are you.

Supposed to know how much that's worth because it just says a dime on it I I was considering this one a while before times yeah it's ten because you just know you just like learning yeah yeah God bless you we're gonna get you back here we're gonna do a little Financial Accounting lesson for you okay we're gonna get back we're gonna pull out some.

Pennies um it's such a wild Story Probably this thing was in a box and it jiggled loose in this whole nine yard keep us posted if they find this tiny pellet thank you here appreciate you you bet that's it that's it for Kieran his dime and his U.S education on American money that's going to happen and that's it for this.

Hour we've got a whole lot more coverage picking up right now thanks for watching our YouTube channel follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app

Sharing is caring!