Hallie Jackson NOW – March 15 | NBC Recordsdata NOW

it's a busy Friday top of the hour on NBC news now and we are starting with what police are calling a mass casualty incident from these devastating tornadoes in the midwest at least three people dead after storms upended mobile homes flattened buildings and leaving tens of thousands without power we are.

On the ground in Ohio at the heart of this Devastation also breaking news out of Georgia the special prosecutor investigating Donald Trump has resigned in just the last few hours after the judge gave the fton County district attorney a Clear Choice it's either him or you so with that out of the way when will this case go to trial then in.

Tonight's original listen to this would you take a ton of steroids for a million dollars one swimmer says he's down to juice to the skills for a new type of sports competition we'll go in detail on that that would let athletes use drugs plus the carry on crack down on your flights passengers are fed up with a fees Airlines say the same rules apply.

But now they're actually enforcing them why now and the new Michael Jackson movie wants to be starting something a whole wave of controversy over the way it portrays the allegations that Jackson faced how the actors in the movie are responding that's later in the show good day I'm Tom Costello in foral and at this hour much of the Midwest is reing.

After deadly tornadoes ripped through the region overnight emergency services are calling it a mass casualty incident in Ohio where we can confirm three people have died folks out there still missing dozens injured across the state four states actually police have set out a massive search and rescue operation with Crews and caber dogs looking for.

More victims in the rubble Ohio's Governor Mike dwine touring some of the damage in his State this afternoon with this message to Ohioans I'm always amazed at the resilience of the people of the state of Ohio uh I had the chance to talk to some people who have lost their house or lost part of their house or who have been in.

In some way uh impacted Indian Lake Community will come back that's the message I got from everybody we will be back yeah well the damage is very telling here roofs torn off homes and a nursing facility filled with patients the destruction spreads wide across the Midwest from Kentucky to Indiana where.

The governor Ash in Kentucky has declared a state of emergency saying hundreds of structures were badly damaged mobile homes across the area completely overturned you can see it right there leaving people there trapped trees uprooted power lines down tens of thousands in the dark going into a Friday night of course and travelers.

Report flights had to be diverted with some airports stopping all inbound flights so we've got our team all over this as you would expect Shaquille Brewster on the ground in Ohio and meteorologist Bill Ken is with us as well Shaq let's start with you this was a monster storm that hit the Midwest and emergency crews say it's going to take a.

Long time to come back from this right so what are the the local authorities saying where you are and what are people who live there saying about the long row Head Road Ahead well well that's what they're saying that there is going to be a long road ahead you know based on my conversations with folks here they're.

Describing the damage not in terms of blocks but in terms of miles and when you talk about the how much it's impacted you can see for example here you have a mo a mobile home where the foundation is kind of where it's kind of off its foundation but then the houses down on the street are pretty okay then you go across the street and you see.

This building here that I frankly don't even know what this was before and you have that situation mile after Mile in this area I spoke to a lady who was inside of her mobile home as the tornado came through she said she got the alert she tried to leave realized it was too late went inside her bathroom put a mattress over her and rode out the storm.

There I spoke to another woman called Sherry who runs this mobile home community and spent last night going door too knocking on doors trying to rescue people she said she saw and identified two of the victims who were believed to have been uh killed here in this mobile home Community listen to a little bit of what she told.

Me it's hard when you know the people and they're your friends it's just hard it is just utter Devastation it feels like when you walk back there it feels like you're in a war zone a war zone is how she describes it and we went back to some of those areas and I'll tell you Tom just full transparency we couldn't get a signal.

Out of there that just shows you one of the impacts uh that you have when you have such damage that is uh such to this extent yeah certainly it takes out cell towers listen we're getting report shacked that Indiana gave people about 24 minutes of lead time from the time the tornado warning was issued telling people to take shelter before the.

Tornado actually touched down uh give us a sense of really what that means I mean you know they used to be giving uh even less than that a few years ago right right it saves lives I've talked to several people who were inside their home they got the alerts on their phone they were able to go to if basement if.

They had it a bathroom they were able to do what they were trained to do and have been trained to do but you know one thing our weather unit has noted is that because the climate is getting warmer you're starting to see this tornado season which we are in tornado season but you're starting to see it ramp up much more quickly you see the tornadoes.

Move further north than usual and you're seeing a bigger impact than normal and I think I think when you look at the video from not just where I am right now but from this entire region that really gives you a sense of the value of that advanc notice because for so many people they say it could have been so much worse okay sha thanks very much sha.

Brewster on the ground let's go to Bill Karen's uh Bill let's pick up with what Shaq just said right we know the Tornado Alley is is Shifting largely due to climate impact but talk us through how rare is it to actually have kind of a major weather event like this this far north in in mid-march and how dangerous these these tornadoes are yeah so let's.

Start with you know first off what the setup was we had record high temperatures in place the days before we had this tornado outbreak and one of the biggest culprits of why it was such a warm winter and why it's so warm around the planet right now obviously it's because of what we're doing to our planet and all the fossil fuels that.

We're burning up but you can see the ocean temperatures last year in January and then this year look at all the bright red so the oceans hold a lot of that heat a lot better than the land does and so that's one of the reasons we had you know temperatures across most of the US throughout winter and already at the start of March all of these dots in.

Red are the warmest start the March ever all the yellow dots are top five so there's no snow pack out there it doesn't look like the beginning of March or the middle of March you know it's you know if you walk outside lately it feels like it's already April so it's no surprise that we get tornadoes like this and as far as the shift goes you know.

When I was growing up it was always concerned you know Tornado Alley was Oklahoma Texas up into Kansas but over the last you know 50 years we've noticed a shift and this is where a lot of the we've seen an increase in tornadoes Illinois and areas of Indiana and that's exactly what we saw last night you know I was just now checking my phone amigo.

Because it's been so unusually warm here we hit almost 80° yesterday at the moment outside it's like 70° speaking to the fact that it's unusually warm and by the way we've got people evacuated by boats because of flash floods in places like Arkansas yesterday that Colorado massive snowstorm um they've opened the interstates but the storm could have a.

Second punch is that right yeah we've seen already one confirmed tornado today no damage that was in southern portions of Mississippi near the gulf and we still have two huge areas that are under severe thunderstorm watches including Houston the San Antonio the New Orleans area here through Pensacola mobile all the way to Panama City we do have a.

Couple areas with some really strong thunderstorms we have a really powerful there's downtown Houston we have a storm producing some very large hail from Rosenberg and this is heading up towards downtown Houston towards the peak of the rush hour this one could have large hail with it not tornadoes but large hail you know peak of Rush Hour Houston traffic a.

Severe thunderstorm with large hail that's a bad recipe for Friday hopefully a lot of people have to work from home and uh that'll be the story time the rest of the day is you know large hail with a lot of these storms especially in Texas okay Bill thanks very much Bill Ken there we have some breaking news now of the special prosecutor and former.

President Trump's Georgia election interference trial has now stepped down bringing to an end a dramatic Saga over conflicts of interest due to a romantic relationship that he had with the fton County DA fonny Willis who is leading the legal charge against the former president the resignation comes after the judge in the case gave Willis a.

Pretty simple ultimatum step down herself or remove special prosecutor Nathan Wade the judge let Willis stay on the case saying that he found there was no quote actual conflict due to the relationship but he really tore into her conduct writing that he does not condone what he's calling a quote tremendous lapse in judgment refering to her.

Decision to quote continue supervising and paying Wade all her relationship with Wade continued let's bring in our teams covering this NBC's Katie Fang and legal analyst Denny savalos I've been listening to all of you throughout the day for your expertise uh let's start here though if we could Katie after all the allegations and the drama and now.

Wade's resignation just how much of an impact will all of that have on this case moving forward so the case actually was ceeding already in fact just a day or two ago judge McAfee entered an order dismissing or quashing six of the counts in that indictment However the fact that it was such a swift move I mean within hours of this ruling coming from Judge.

McAfee that special prosecutor Nathan Wade resigned that's a very big signal that fonnie Willis the district attorney not only took seriously the admonitions from the judge but she understands that to get this case fully back on track she had to kind of clean house and I want to turn to that res ation letter that was written by Mr Wade he said the following.

I offering my resignation in the interest of democracy so if you consider that I mean and the fact that it was immediately accepted by the district attorney fonnie Willis you would think it'd be done right but it's not because Trump's Council and other defense Council have indicated they're going to chase down any and all available legal.

Remedies that go beyond Justice rolling from Judge McAfee today but let's underscore this the judge also said that he saw no conflict of interest as it relates to the prosecution of the former president that's correct so there was no actual conflict of interest found by the judge but the judge did find the appearance of impropriety in this.

Prosecution in order to cure that defect that's the reason why you saw Nathan Wade steep down but this is not the only thing that can stop the investigations into Wade and Willis there can also be an investigation by the state Georgia Bar we also know that the Georgia State Senate is also looking into fonny Willis it is not going to be the end of an.

Inquiry but when it comes to the case and the case at hand case will be back on track okay Katie thank you very much let's quickly go to Danny sabalos here because Danny I want to get your legal opinion uh as well here um as Katie said the judge said that the prosecution is encumbered by an appearance of impropriety but even with Wade gone will.

Those words resonate with a future jury in other words is she and the prosecution are they already tainted here two questions there the first one not likely because a jury's never really going to hear about any of this everybody pretty much but Danny but Danny they they read the newspaper they watch TV right so the truth of the.

Matter is unless they're living under a rock the jury is going to have known that there's something going on with that da yeah Tom here's the thing and I I bet Katie might be with me on this one you'd be shocked when you get to jury selection many of that jury pool they live squarely under rocks they simply are not paying attention on a level that.

You might expect and people like you and I are steeped in all this information every day and there are people who digest a lot of news uh the people who report for jury duty for some reason don't appear always appear to be the people who are steeped in news and it's just a reality of jury selection will they be aware on some level could this.

Affect the jury absolutely but uh both sides are going to try and sus that out through jury selection is it 100% successful no uh someone might get through who is Tainted by this uh really not favorable opinion of the fton County DA's office I mean yes they're allowed to continue but judge MCA hardly uh gave a glowing endorsement of what the Fulton.

County DA's office did but all in all I don't think the taint is fatal I think you can still pick a jury uh that will not come with preconceived or prejudicial ideas about the Fulton County DA's office but it is possible all right we have another development in just the last few minutes here and that is that another one of Mr Trump's four.

Criminal trials indictments rather uh the start of that New York hush money trial has just now been delayed until mid April and all these delays and stalling across all of these indictments this is not normal is it yes and no I mean delays are less common in federal court where federal court moves very quickly because of the.

Speedy Trial Act and because they're simply less congested than say the Manhattan courts or the courts in Fulton County there are simply less cases moving through those Federal cour houses but let me just give you an example at the end of 2023 if I had said to you hey the Fon County case is going to be delayed.

For 3 months because there's about to be a motion filed to disqualify because two of the prosecutors are involved in a romantic relationship you would have said I was crazy but I've been saying since 2023 that these trials may not go forward until 2025 if you pressed me then I would have said I don't know exactly what's going to delay it but.

Things happen and here you have another thing that has happened in the Manhattan DA's office or the uh New York County case which is that apparently there are hundreds of thousands of documents that the defense didn't know about or maybe they should have known about but either way something has come up in this case that delays it normal trials get delayed.

These are four criminal trials that are arguably uh very complex and the most important criminal trials in American history all at once things are going to happen delays are going to happen underscore that Danny there is nobody better thank you very much Danny savalos on the legal analysis here to Israel now which today approved a plan to launch an.

Offensive in Rafa for more than million people are Sheltering after escaping Israeli attacks in another part or other parts of Gaza Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pledging to evacuate civilians before the new operations start but the details are not clear here it's happening as a ship carrying desperately needed Aid has just.

Arrived in Gaza meanwhile President Biden today hosting the Irish Prime Minister one day before St Patty's Day Ireland notably one of the most Pro Palestinian countries take a listen to the Irish Prime Minister in the Oval Office today we need to talk about how we can make that happen and move towards a.

Two-state solution which I think is the only the only way we have lasting peace and security Mr Biden a pride proud Irishman as well let's bring in NBC's Monica Alba who is posted near the White House Monica talk about the significance of this meeting today at the White House on the backdrop of this war which is about.

To ramp up yet again exactly Tom and look the Irish leader has been very clear here in calling for a permanent ceasefire which differs from the official Biden Administration stance which is to call for a six- week temporary ceasefire which is part of the deal that's on the table right now to see if that can be agreed to by all the.

Parties to get the remaining hostages out of Gaza and to make sure that during that pause in the fighting more humanitarian Aid could be let in since of course that crisis is just getting more and more dire so those are different differing opinions but it was very clear in hearing there from Ireland and from other countries that have come.

To the White House in the last couple of months since the War Began who have been crystal clear on this as well and their differences but the president has also said that it's important to stand with Israel and to really uh agree that they need to have the right to defend themselves but at the same time it's coming after these comments where there.

Have been more blunt assessments of the situation and it was the president himself over the weekend who said that he really thinks that current Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is hurting Israel by not paying enough attention to the civilian casualties Tom okay let's zoom out here give us an update on the tension between the US and Israel and.

How how that could really affect where this war goes it doesn't seem as if this is resonating with Netanyahu at all exactly and it has been like this for weeks and so now the question is what will the Biden Administration do differently will it shift any of its policy will it start to condition some of its Aid or weapons that are going to.

Israel and none of that has happened yet but we are talking about that potential ground invasion in Rafa as a very key Point here the US has been clear that it has advised Israel not to go in without any kind of a plan for what would happen to the more than 1 million people who are really Sheltering there and so far the Biden Administration has been.

Crystal Clear Tom that they haven't seen any kind of military plan or a humanitarian plan so they are raising a lot of concerns about that they have expressed those but it also comes as we saw Majority Leader Chuck Schumer saying things and going as far as to say that Netanyahu should be ousted and Israel should hold elections that's not what.

The White House is saying they are saying that that he is democratically elected but that of course they did point out that something that Schumer said is shared privately by many in the administration and even some Americans Tom Monica Al at White House thank you very much Monica tens of millions of Russians head.

To the polls today for the first of three days of voting in that country's presidential election Vladimir Putin faces a handful of token really token opposition candidates most of whom refuse to criticize him at all and none of whom are polling higher than 6% that sets up for an easy victory for Vladimir Putin NBC's Chief International.

Correspondent Kier Simmons looks at how Putin's held on the power for nearly 30 years in tonight's breakdown three decades after the Soviet Union fell Russia once again ruled by a strongman Vladimir Putin certain to win another six-year term on the back of a decades long Crackdown on descent and opposition a slow March starting in the.

Late 80s with the rise of Soviet Premier Mikel gorbachov Mikel gorbachov the new leader of the Soviet Union he starts to democratize the Soviet Union and ends the Cold War Mr gorbachov tear down this wall then after a failed coup by Hardline Communist Party officials member states of the Soviet Union start to declare.

Independence gorbachov dissolves the Soviet Union in 1991 and leaves reformer Boris yelson to run the new Russian Federation as yelon tries to build a free market economy Russia is rocked by economic crisis he appoints the relatively obscure Vladimir Putin as prime minister and when yel steps down in 1999 Putin takes the.

Reigns Putin wins his first election in 2000 and immediately cracks down on descent from the media and opposition figures in 2004 he wins a second term but bar from seeking a third consecutive term Putin steps down in 2008 his handpicked successor Dimitri Medvedev appoints him prime minister so behind the scenes he is still in control Putin.

Changes the Constitution extending presidential terms from 4 years to six and wins a third term in 2014 is Ukraine starts pulling away from Russia towards the West Putin responds by annexing Crimea sparking a proxy war in eastern Ukraine and increased tension with the United States today I'm announcing a series of.

Measures that will continue to increase the cost on Russia and on those responsible for what is happening in Ukraine opposition figures continue to wind up dead though the Kremlin consistently denies involvement and in 2016 the US elects Donald Trump then after a bipartisan Senate intelligence report finds that Moscow engaged in a.

Widespread campaign to help get him elected Trump confronts Putin about those allegations which Putin denies he just said it's not Russia I will say this I don't see any reason why it would be in 2020 Putin changes the Constitution again so he can run for two more six-year terms that same year leading opposition figure Alexi naali is.

Nearly killed by poison which he blames on the Kremlin Putin denies involvement when navali returns to Russia he is immediately arrested and sent to a remote labor camp sparking major protests and in 2022 War Putin launches a fullscale invasion of eastern Ukraine claiming the.

Country's move towards NATO represent a security threat to Russia despite thousands of men sent to war and severe sanctions from the West Russia's economy proves resilient support for the war and Putin remains High according to an independent Russian pollster those who speak out against the war find themselves arrested and prosecuted under.

A new law and just last month Alexi Nali dies suddenly in his labor camp of what authorities call natural causes is a crushing blow to Russia's dwindling opposition and Kier Simmons is in Moscow for us tonight so K we mentioned those token opposition candidates tell us who actually is allowed to run in this election against.

Putin well that's a good question I mean none of those three have criticized President Putin all of them are effectively in favor of the war so it's an election you could say in all but name it's more like a referendum on President Putin himself and what the Kremlin will really care about is how high the turnout is because what.

President Putin wants to do after this weekend is openly say you see Russia supports me now of course this is a country Tom of 11 time zones it's impossible for us to know how free and fair this vote really is we did meet voters today who clearly believe in their vote and believed in voting for President Putin but there are no Western.

Election observers here there are observers Russia says from 106 countries including places like China so you can judge for yourself President Putin today seen voting online uh we saw electronic voting machines at the polling station that we were at today uh I think that's an attempt to try and increase the turn out and also increases the number of.

People saying well it's possible to manipulate this vote so K can somebody vote against Putin without without the you know potential ramifications uh yes if they vote for one of the authorized candidates what we have seen here though are stages you indications of of real Rebellion if you like there's been Arsen attacks Molotov.

Cocktails thrown at some polling stations die thrown into ballot boxes only a scattering of those kinds protest there are calls for other protests this weekend where people should just according to Alexi Nani's wife for example just turn up at a polling station uh and then just leave I mean people are finding ways to find their.

Voice if they do oppose President Putin but it's very high risk yeah Kier we're lucky to have you there thank you very much Kier Simmons in Moscow for us coming up more trouble for Boeing it's new advisory to Pilots after one fight took a scary nose dive and you won't believe the story that's got a top tennis tournament buzzing tonight you.

Get the clues we're coming back we're back why one farmer is breaking out a fork and a knife for his blueberries we'll show you that in just a few minutes but first a powerful realtor group is now agreeing to slash its long-standing commissions that agents make and that could be a big deal.

For people trying to sell their homes it's part of the samping $418 million settlement between the National Association of Realtors and the home sellers who sued in a massive class action suit as it currently stands a home seller pays a broker's fee usually 5 to 6% of the sale price when the home is sold half of that fee usually goes to.

The agent for the seller the other half goes to the buyer's agent but that's led to accusations that Realtors are colluding to steer buyers to more expensive homes thus inflating their own commissions now according to the SEL the agents the buyers and the sellers they'll have more options to negotiate that rate together and consumer.

Advocates say the competition could force those fees to drop rather dramatically and if this settlement is in fact approved by the federal court it could could be a major shake up for the housing market potentially boosting sales to be clear the Realtor Association though continues to deny any wrongdoing NBC's Brian Chung is.

Following all of this joins me now this has been a talker Brian and for any of us who have bought a home we know that that 6% rate is kind of steep when you buy and sell the home I should say it's also the norm though right even though it's not set in stone it's widely respected in the industry so the Realtors often refuse to drop their fees.

Which means we're stuck with paying that if we sell our house yeah and see here's the thing right when we talk about about this fee usually how this is uh set in the current standard is that the uh seller has a broker right and the broker will communicate with a buyer who in some cases will also have a broker those Brokers will have a conversation with.

Each other and try to decide what the commission rate should be and then they split it 50/50 like you just outlined but here's the thing over time and over a long period of time it's been very many decades by which the structure has been in place uh they'll negotiate something around 6% and it's been around 6% historically because all the.

Negotiation happens on this so-called MLS uh platform well they just haven't really changed it over time so what the argument in this lawsuit was well that doesn't seem very fair to the home seller who just ends up getting stuck with the 6% rate that they can't negotiate down because of a conversation that one broker had with another broker.

Perhaps behind their backs I mean it's transparent on the MLS site but again there's just not a lot of wiggle room there so what this lawsuit uh settlement does is it says well those conversations can't just happen between those brers that the seller should have the option to directly negotiate with their broker how much of a commission they get so.

That's the big deal here and in some cases that could bring down substantially the commission rates that they make yeah so the numbers here are striky if you if you have a million dooll home that you've just sold you're going to pay $60,000 just on the 6% fee $60,000 you have to pay as the seller if you have a.

$400,000 home at $ 6% you're paying about $24,000 so let's pick up where you just dropped off How likely is it that we'll see these rates come down and by the way the rest of the world doesn't pay the realtor 6% yeah well I mean here's the thing is that it's very uncertain I mean this is really just sending shock waves.

Through uh the housing market and the structure of how this has operated for many many decades so we don't know exactly what it's going to look like and one thing that is going to be true is that it's probably going to depend on what Market you're in because again commission rates the standard is usually 6% but it's going to vary depending on.

What Market you're in and maybe cooler housing markets perhaps the commissions are going to be a little bit lower but the idea is that the introduction of competition could bring some of those rates down which could lead to thousands of dollars of savings Tom and presumably it could juice the the the market right I mean right now the home the market for.

Buying a new home buying and selling has been stalled because we've had interest rates so high this could be a shot in the arm it could I mean you thousands of dollars trying to Savings in savings right that could be a big deal for a lot of people that are on the sidelines Going H is now the time to buy that could really be part of the margin.

Although I want to emphasize a lot of these changes won't happen until July and it still needs to be approved by the court so don't hold your breath for anything changing tomorrow and we've got lawsuits kind of working through their way through the system Brian Chong thanks very much good analysis we appreciate it all right let's get you.

Over now to the five things our team things you may want to know about tonight number one former vice president Mike Pence says he will not endorse his former Bross for boss for president speaking to Fox News Pence says former president Trump is pursuing an agenda that is in his words at odds with a conservative agenda they governed on it.

Comes as the former president has now secured a enough Republican delegates to become the gop's presumptive nominee number two the Supreme Court has rejected a request from an lgbtq student group that wanted to host a PG-13 drag show on the west Texas A&M University campus after school administrators had objections the UN University's president.

Wrote a message to the school that it would not be hosting drag shows because they stereotype women the group says its Free Speech rights are being violated the Court's decision likely means the group will not be able to host the event number three Target says it's still limiting the number of items you can buy in itself checkout lane starting Sunday.

You can only use the lanes if you are buying 10 items or less the stores also opening up more traditional lanes for Shoppers Target says the goal is to keep the checkout Lines Moving it also comes as many retailers sight theft as a widespread Issue Number Four some Buzz on the tennis courts in California look at this not because of a match but.

Because of a swarm of bees that caused a nearly 2hour long delay at an Indian Wells tournament quarterfinal dozens of bees attached themselves to an overhead camera somebody had to clean them all off with a vacuum a m a match later went on without interruption number five take a look at this a blueberry the size of a golf ball breaking the guins Book World.

Record it's a about 10 times the size of an average blueberry a farm run by Costa group in Australia grew it one of the expert gardeners there says the company grows new varieties of blueberries in response to changing consumer needs including demands for bigger berries sounds good after the break why those super popular weight loss drugs.

Are not getting to the people who may need them the most and where that's hitting hardest that story is coming up we're back you know you could spend all day trying to stay up on all the hundreds of stories that come into NBC news 24/7 so our Bureau teams have selected a few highlights this is what they tell us is going down in the.

Regions we call it the local from our DC Bureau here in Washington environmental health experts are worried about the air quality in a DC suburb after multiple oil tanks caught on fire there look at all that thick smoke the incident happened at an asphalt Quarry in Rockville Maryland some parts of that plant had to be evacuated fire.

Investigators still investigating out of a Midwest Bureau a bus driver possibly saved a child's life in Wisconsin new Dash can footage shows the kid running all by himself out onto a busy Street in Milwaukee you can see the bus driver pulling over bringing the child onto the bus he then called police the child was not injured and was reunited with his.

Family and from our Western Bureau Arizona firefighters jumped into action after a driver almost crashed right into them but hit some parked cars instead it was kind of a right place right time kind of thing the firefighters were playing pickleball outside of their station at Tempe when it happened one of The Rescuers pulled the driver out of.

The wreck the others grabbed their gear the driver is expected to be okay police are investigating it turns out those popular weight loss drugs aren't getting to the people who need them the most that according to exclusive data obtained by NBC News we're talking about drugs like OIC and wovi and they're not covered of course by private insurance.

And the outof pocket costs are more than $1,000 a month financially Out Of Reach For A lot of people who need that medicine and there's a racial component to all of this as well more than 4 million prescriptions were written for wovi and OIC last year in 2023 a vast majority of those prescriptions 85% were written for white people just 12%.

Written for African-Americans who have sign significantly higher rates of diabetes and obesity NBC's Berkeley lovely says joining us now he's been looking at the data all right so two things here that I notice as we're looking through this data here um two things at Play number one the prohibitive cost right and number two.

The drugs are being prescribed to people who may not need them the absolute most right so yeah there's a lot of things going on here so one is insurance and so as you mentioned before these drugs cost about $1,000 for a month supply uh and so insurance companies are often reluctant to pay that because it does cost so much uh but there's also a.

Stigma associated with obesity there's still many in society uh and even in the health industry who see this as like a a cosmetic concern or a willp power power issue versus a chronic disease so there's that uh then there's access so there's also in some states a lack of doctors who are qualified uh to prescribe these medications and there's.

Also very much telea health restrictions still at play even after the pandemic uh and then on top of that there's also costs so there might be white families who may be able to afford to pay $1,000 out of pocket if their insurance doesn't cover it uh versus maybe a black family who would not be able to pay that as well so we actually had a doctor in.

Norman Oklahoma who kind of laid that out for us as well well go a little bit deeper into the racial disparity issue here and what the implications are yeah so uh when we looked at the map we saw that the many of the sorry uh many in many of the states such as Oklahoma Louisiana and West Virginia they had very high adult obesity rates uh but.

Also very low uh prescription rates um and so when you look at the data it says Nationwide there's 85% of people who have these prescriptions are white people uh but if you look at closer at these states uh only 12% of black people have prescriptions but and it's interesting because as we mentioned there's there are higher rates of.

Diabetes of course and high blood pressure with African-Americans they're the people who presumably would need it the most for an acute medical condition not just to lose weight for cosmetic reasons right and yeah and we spoke with patients as well so we spoke to one patient in Oklahoma uh she also has a history of heart disease she's black um.

And she said she's basically just frustrated you see you know celebrities online because she can't afford it is that because she can't afford it and also you see these celebrities online talking about these weight loss drugs um a lot of times doctors will do everything they can to make sure they can try to get these medications a lot.

Of times there's nothing really they can do uh to get their drugs so a lot of times the conversation just goes to Alternatives um the patients have tried neutri system uh Weight Watchers everything you can think of uh and they're still struggling Way Berkeley thank you by the way welcome to DC thanks Berkeley lovelies with NBC News.

All right to tonight's original now with in-depth reporting on a topic we've been watching if you're still trying to get tickets for the Paris Olympics this summer today today might be your last shot the lottery for single game ticket starts today now we got to be honest here it's tough but there might be another option soon because our team is.

Learning about a new type of intern sporting competition the difference athletes can use performing enhancing drugs lots of them Chloe Mass has the story athletes some considered the greatest in their Sports and a new book is claiming that San Francisco Slugger Barry Bonds used steroids for at least five seasons sources say Rodriguez.

Admitted buying baned drugs a one-time icon of sports in America stripped today of his seven tour to fron titles now one group wants to celebrate athletes who make that choice they're calling it The enhanced games set for next summer and they plan to let athletes use performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in the competition the enhanced.

Games is the third version of the Olympic Games and now we're Reinventing it once again for the 21st century that's Aaron duza the Australian businessman whose Vision has attracted the attention and money of billionaire and right-wing activist Peter teal we'll see five core sports track and field swimming gymnastics weightlifting and.

Combat Sports and drugs are allowed including ones on the world anti-doping agency or wat's band list from anabolic steroids which boost muscle strength stimulants that can make the heart pump faster to cannabis even over-the-counter cold drugs like PSE Sudafed the Olympic stripping medals from athletes who take them like cyclist Lance Armstrong Runner.

Maran Jones and skater Camila valva the biggest name hurt by Russia's State sponsor doping scandal in a statement this week W condemned the enhanced games saying quote the health and well-being of athletes is W's number one priority clearly this event would jeopardize both but duza cites a 2011 study commissioned by W showing more than 40% of athletes.

Had used band supplements in the previous year what would you say to your adversaries who are you know not supportive of this who say that the Olympics it's about a clean environment to show how far you can push the human body on an even playing field well it's a different playing field the Olympics are like the Opera and we're like a rock.

Concert we want to be like Taylor Swift errors tour duza says doctors will monitor athletes who use the drugs and give Health screenings but is there any safe amount of some of these drugs medical experts say It's Tricky if you're using the lowest dose possible for the shortest duration possible and you've been selected as an appropriate.

Candidate for that particular use then I think you could probably do it safely but sort of this open-endedness that's where I think we start to see problems there's another Factor money the games which have not secured a TV deal yet promise athletes a fair based salary to be announced later plus bonuses a huge contrast to the international Olympic.

Committee which does not pay medalists that's left to home countries to decide and in the US only medalists get paid about 30,000 for gold way less than the minimum salaries in the big four men's sports here in the US the promise of a payout appealing to swimmer James Magnuson a three-time medalist from Australia who says he's never used.

Steroids but vowed to quote juice to the gills to get a seven figure bonus from the games' organizers if he can break the 50 meter freestyle record Magnus tells me the enhanced games are safe for athletes of his level in part because of the honesty behind it we're going to do this in the open there's no secrecy it's it's not done in the the Shadows I'll.

Document it I'll be completely open and honest with everything I take how it's making me feel how my performance is affected and if there are any side effects what what those are okay Chloe I'm kind of just almost without words here uh when you talk to your sources in the entertainment world is there is there a market for something.

Like this I don't even want to ask because we know there is right people get totally Juiced up and then what they go for it and we'll see if they survive and and how big of a of a game that they can turn in so I've been talking to athletes professional athletes retired athletes I've also talked to some people in the TV business and they all say it.

Would make for great entertainment okay especially if you have people compete in the enhanced games who are not on performance-enhancing drugs because you don't have to be on performance-enhancing drugs to take part in the enhanced games so therefore you could have somebody who says all right I want to go compete against somebody in.

The 100 meter dash I don't even know if that's part of the Olympics but let's just pretend it's a part of the enhanced games and they're not on steroids but they're compet competition is and then they beat them what a coup that would be right and so I think that when you look at the world of reality television when you look at the landscape right now Tom.

You see that people are pushing the envelope and networks are trying to bring in people and boost ratings which in turn means bigger ad sales bigger money and a better bottom line for them in the end so I do think this will find a home somewhere on television in the not so distant future I've got 15 seconds Chloe but are people concerned.

About the potential health impact of people juicing to the gills listen I spoke to Aaron as you see and he says that there will be a team of medical experts that will be watching over their athletes and that this is going to be done within reason there will be some guard guard rails okay Chloe thank you very much interesting.

Story back now with B telling Airlines to fly the 787 to check the switches that control the pilot seats because the switches could get stuck it comes after a sudden terrifying plunge on that lantum Airlines flight to New Zealand this week that left more than 50 people injured The Wall Street Journal reports investigators believe a flight attendant.

Delivering a meal to the pilot may have accidentally hit a switch that moves the pilot seat forward and then the stuck that that switch got stuck and that could have pushed the pilot into his controls forcing the nose of the plane down and sending passengers flying investigators say they have not reached a final conclusion about what caused the.

Incident but they are serious about this uh if you have been to the airport recently it probably seems like the enforcement of carry-on rules is getting stricter to be clear there's not a rule change Airlines have always limited passengers to one carry-on bag and one personal item it might be a problem though for people who are sick of.

Checked bag fees going up check bag fees look at this number from American Airlines they used to charge $30 for a checked bag recently they raised that up to $35 if you pay in advance 40 if you pay for it at the airport Jet Blue charging 45 for the first checked bag 60 for the second check bag $10 more than before NBC Sam Brock is joining us now.

From Miami International Airport hey Sam what's all the confusion about here there was a time when check bags were free that's a long time ago the cost keep going up airlines are making a lot of money on those checked bag fees and they're getting more strict now about the carry-ons right yeah so B check bag Tom is Big.

Business to the tune of billions of dollars for the airlines but we're also seeing a record number of Travelers right now as you have reported regularly and I do appreciate the irony of me talking about Aviation with you since this is your beat for the network but yeah I mean to add to this conversation you have all these people who are.

Traveling check bag fees in recent weeks have been going up and months and so what you're seeing is human nature people are taking more stuff with them onto the plane except now the airlines appear to be getting more Discerning and I say appear to be Tom because there's no formal acknowledgement whether it's Southwest or American or Delta none of.

These airlines are saying no we're cracking down in fact if anything Southwest is saying this isn't a Crackdown it's a clarification of existing rules but the reality is it's kind of like the pillow police if you look at the specific things that are considered personal items according to Southwest for example it sees you see.

Purses which includes cross body bags briefcases blankets pillows not neck pillows cameras food containers or laptops which is to say if you have more than two of those or if you have a carry-on and one of those and then you add on another thing they're going to flag you with the gate and more and more at least anecdotally passengers are.

Reporting the airlines are actually following through with this and it's getting harder to bring more of your objects onto the plane yeah and what people count as a carry-on my God sometimes these things are huge right and I'm thinking well if you put that in the overhead I got no place to put my bag that's true by the way the SNL skit.

Comes to mind of Keenan trying to take a tag that's like the size of a small truck onto the plane yeah you know they do have to be Discerning and I think that's a really great Point time is that there are ways to get around this if there's any question for you just gay check your bag right try to avoid the impress altogether or if you buy a you.

Know an economy ticket or you use a lowcost carrier make sure if you know you're going to bring a carry on that you purchase that at the purchase time of the ticket itself it's going to be a lot cheaper than if you try to do it when you get to the airport so there are ways of getting around this but the bottom line is Airlines want to run on.

Time they want to try to get as many flights off as possible the more delays you have because people are trying to cram 9,000 items into the overhead bin the harder it is to do that and that's why you're seeing this reaction yeah Sam it's a it's a talker thanks very much Sam Brock at Miami International for us all right in just a second why the.

Producer of an Academy awardwinning movie is slamming its director after his Oscar speech stay with us here we go top of the hour on NBC news now and we are starting with what police call this mass casualty incident from these devastating tornadoes out in the midwest at least three people dead.

After storms upend mobile homes flatten buildings leaving tens of thousands without power we are on the ground in Ohio at the heart of the devastation breaking news also out of Georgia the special prosecutor investigating Donald Trump has resigned in just the last few hours after the judge gave the fton County DA a Clear Choice it's him or you.

One of you goes with that out of the way when will this case go to trial then Israel prime minister defying President Biden's so-called red line on Rafa preparing a full offensive into the gazin city how it's becoming uh and it's how it's coming rather as the president meets with one of Palestinian biggest supporters Plus in the breakdown.

Vladimir Putin with another election win tonight if you can call it that how his strangle hold on power in Russia is growing and a powerful Real Estate Group forced to spash broker fees and a new settlement it is a game game changer for home sale sellers what will it mean we're going to ask all of that coming up later in the show good day happy Friday.

I'm Tom Costello in foral and at this hour much of the Midwest is reeling after deadly tornadoes ripped through the region overnight Emergency Services calling it a mass casualty incident in Ohio where we can confirm three people have died people there still missing dozens injured across four states police have set out on a massive search and.

Rescue operation with Crews and cadaver dogs looking for more victims in the rebel Ohio's Governor Mike dwine toured some of the damage in his State this afternoon he had a message for Ohioans I'm always amazed at the resilience of the people of the state of Ohio uh I had the chance to talk to some people who have lost their house or lost.

Part of their house or who had been in in some way impacted Indian Lake Community will come back that's the message I got from from everybody we will be back yeah well the damage really tells the story here roofs torn off of homes also off of a nursing facility filled with patience the destruction spreads wide across the Midwest from.

Indiana to Kentucky where the governor has declared a state of emergency saying hundreds of structures were badly damaged mobile homes across the area completely overturned you can see right there leaving people trapped inside trees uprooted power lines down tens of thousands in the dark as we go into Friday night and travelers report.

Flights had to be diverted with some airports stopping all inbound flights so we've got our team in place on this again Shaquille Brewster on the ground in Ohio and meteorologist Bill Karens has the big picture at the map board but sha let's start with you people are headed into their first night since all of this happened living with the reality.

Of the destruction possibly no communication no heat uh what are you seeing there on the ground well people are just saying they're prepared for a long road ahead not just for what's to come tonight but what's for come what's to come in the weeks and months from here and I want you to just look a little bit at one of.

The sc one of the scenes we're seeing here this is directly in the path of the tornado who are here in this area talk about having to hunker down they talked about that sound that you always hear about that sound of a train going to their bathroom putting a mattress over on top of them and you already see some people Milling about they're fixing.

Their Roots putting drapes on the roofs as uh already and doing what they can to clean up what they can in this moment I want you to listen to what I heard from a supervisor of one of the mobile park homes that they say got was directly in the impact of the tornado she spent the night going door a door to make sure her residents were okay she said that she.

Found two residents who were deceased listen to what she told me it's hard when you know the people and they're your friends it's just hard it is just utter Devastation it feels like when you walk back there it feels like you're in a war zone you get a sense of what she means by that war zone with what you see.

Behind me and it just makes more clear that it's not just what people are going to be dealing with today and it's not just the physical toll and physical destruction but there's an emotional and mental element that folks are going to be dealing with for the days and weeks to come you know sha this is also become kind of a reality right in the midwest.

Where you are as we've seen of course the weather changing and storms getting more violent earlier in the season um are local responders prepared for that have are they pre-positioning or Le leaning forward because of the possibility of this happening well there's definitely that early alert system many residents.

Telling me they heard the sirens they heard the alerts on their phone and did what they could to combat that of course you mentioned the climate is getting warmer these storms are getting are coming earlier and happening further north so those early alert systems will be key in the future to just save more lives time sha thanks very much sha.

Rooster who's on the ground for us in Ohio let's go to Bill Karen um bill can you talk to us just about the big picture here it it always seems that these well it often seems that these big tornadoes happen overnight right yes and uh the biggest thing you know get shorter lead times I guess is the biggest thing we want to talk about when.

You have the overnight tornadoes like during the day like yesterday I mean this was an incredible 4111 storm reports from Dallas all the way up here through Ohio each of these righted icons shows you tornadoes and now we've had 17 confirmed from yesterday and of course we had the three fatalities when when you see some of these damages out there.

To these manufactured homes it's amazing we didn't have more fatalities incredible that we didn't have and I think the big reason why is this so this was the line of storms that was approaching here's Winchester and here's Lake View this is where two the hardest hit communities were and these tornado warnings went out 727 739 almost at the.

Same exact time this is when the warnings went out so they knew to get either out of their manufactured homes get in their cars drive away or sometimes at the mobile home parks they have like a structure that is concrete barrier that's a safe place to be and Winchester they had a 24-minute lead time the average US lead time is 13.

Minutes this was an excellent forecast and in Lakeview they had 22 minutes of lead time this saved probably dozens of lives so Tom that was very important last night we do not have tornadoes this evening but we are watching areas of very strong thunderstorms including the Houston area with a thunderstorm right over the top you a lot of large hail in.

The region we'll continue to watch that throughout the evening okay Bill thanks very much Bill Karen we have some more breaking news coming into us right now the special prosecutor in a former president Trump inform former president Trump's Georgia election interference trial has in fact stepped down now bringing to an end that dramatic Saga uh.

Really involv in the conflicts of interest due to a romantic relationship that he had with the fton County DA fonnie Willis who was leading the legal charge against the former president the resignation comes just after the judge in the case gave Willis a very simple ultimatum step down yourself or remove the special prosecutor Nathan Wade the.

Judge let Willis decide she could stay on the case if in fact Wade went that's what happened he said the judge said he found there was no quote actual conflict of interest due to the relationship but he really tore into her conduct writing that he does not condone what he's calling a quote tremendous laps in judgment referring to her her decision.

To quote continue super supervising and paying Wade while her relationship with Wade continued let's bring in now our teams covering all of this NBC's Blain Alexander in Atlanta has been very busy legal analyst Denny savalos is also here Blain we begin with you does this mean that da Fon Willis can move on and focus on the prosecution at hand will Mr Trump.

And his lawyers even let that happen well that's a big question so yes she has done what the judge has asked she chose one of the two options Nathan Wade is now no longer a factor in this case and she can move forward with her prosecution as per the judge's ruling but the question the kind of unknown factor in all of this will Mr Trump or.

Any of his codefendants decide to try for an appeal now if that were the case that would take another however many weeks or another bit of time for that to work work its way through but at least one has already signaled that that's not an option that's off the table there um I want to read from you a little bit of what Nathan Wade wrote in his.

Resignation letter however it was pretty simple but basically said that while the judge found that there was no wrongdoing he still SE stepping aside he said I am offering my resignation in the interest of democracy in dedication to the American public and to move this case forward as quickly as possible so certainly that's what the DA's office is.

Hoping will happen that's obviously what Nathan Wade is hoping will happen we'll just have to see what happens if any of the defendants choose to try and appeal you know Mr Trump often benefits politically from from his legal troubles just look at the polling he he always bumps up at least after the indictments how much of an impact do you think that.

This will have on voters in Georgia which will be a critical Battleground state by the way these are the bumps in the primaries right what matters is of course the general election and the voters in the middle AB absolutely I think it depends on who you ask and where you're asking them Tom so if you're in Fulton County.

Which of course is a heavily Democratic County very blue area well the voters that I've spoken to they are strongly a forani Willis she's very popular here and so many of them have said that they actually thought that she was treated unfairly in this kind of saga that we've watched unfold over the past two and a half months but when you step further.

Out go to some of those more red counties you get a different opinion as you might expect here's a little bit of what we heard from voters today in the wake of this decision from the judge take a look no no penalty I mean she fires them whoopy do she disqualified or whatever whoop you do no big deal no no real.

Punishment it it doesn't pass a smell test so yeah that probably would have been a good decision to remove yeah it just looks bad that's all overall it just looks bad and so you heard from some voters kudos to our amazing ined n guamu for getting that sound and talking to those undecided voters because that really.

Does give us sense of what we're kind of looking for now of course Democrats and Republicans will point out there's plenty of time for Minds to change before November yeah bla Alexander thank you very much let's go to Danny now for some legal analysis is this the last that we're going to hear of these allegations in the courtroom setting or.

Do you think that the defense the Trump and and others who were involved in this case as as defendants that they might find a way to work all of it into their to their case when it actually goes to trial when you get to trial ordinarily you can't necessarily put the prosecution's uh actual conduct on trial unless it's related to the underlying.

Case itself and that's always been the key here none of these allegations against fonny Willis or Nathan Wade have anything to do with the substantive guilt or innocence of the defendants I think virtually everybody on even both sides agree that yes while the defense may say this violates due process this appearance of impropriety uh it doesn't.

Have anything to do with the actual facts in the indictment but uh will this possibly taint a jury I don't think so I've been thinking about this for the last hour since you last asked me that question about the jury Tom and I got to tell you think about all the people uh out there who may not even fully understand this complex ruling by the.

Judge and months from now frankly I think maybe a year from now when this finally goes to trial will they remember that there's one less prosecutor on the team I'm not sure you know I found it interesting Blaine who lives there in Atlanta and does an outstanding job cover ing the region and the courts for us said that fonny Willis is pretty.

Popular there um so that's kind of an interesting uh add to what you were just suggesting there and by the way we're just now Hearing in the last few minutes of another development in another one of Mr Trump's four criminal indictments the start of that hush money trial in New York delayed until mid April so how does how much does Mr Trump being a former.

President factor into his legal team's ability to delay things here across all of his indictments all four significant for two reasons one is very visible the other one almost invisible the visible one is of course in say the documents case I mean a lot of that defense is based on something called the presidential records act so Will trump.

Be treated differently because he was a former president yes because of the presidential records act he was the president but the invisible way is that courts are going to be extra careful in a prosecution of a former president he'll get difference and that difference comes in the way of delay all right Danny thank you very much other news now.

We go overseas to Israel which today approved plan to launch an offensive in rtha where more than a million people are Sheltering after escaping Israeli attacks in other parts of Gaza Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pledging to evacuate civilians before the new operations start with the details though not at all clear it's.

Happening as a ship carrying desperately needed Aid just arrived in Gaza meanwhile President Biden today hosting the Irish Prime Minister Ireland notably one of the most Pro Palestinian nations in Europe take a listen to the prime minister of Ireland talking to the president in the Oval Office we need to talk about how we can make that happen.

And move towards a two-state solution which I think is the only the only way we'll have lasting peace and security Mr Biden a pride proud Irishman as well let's bring in NBC's Monica Alba who is posted near the White House Monica talk about the significance of this meeting today at the White House on the backdrop of this war which is about.

To ramp up yet again exactly Tom and look the Irish leader has been very clear here in calling for a permanent ceasefire which differs from the official Biden Administration stance which is to call for a six- week temporary ceasefire which is part of the deal that's on the table right now to see if that can be agreed to by all the.

Parties to get the remaining hostages out of Gaza and to make sure that during that pause in the fighting more humanitarian Aid could be let in since of course that crisis is just getting more and more dire so those are differing opinions but it was very clear in hearing there from Ireland and from other countries that have come to the.

White House in the last couple of months since the War Began who have been crystal clear on this as well and their differences but the president has also said that it's important to stand with Israel and to really uh agree that they need to have the right to defend themselves but at the same time it's coming after these comments where there.

Have been more blunt assessments of the situation and it was the president himself over the weekend who said that he really thinks that current Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is hurting Israel by not paying enough attention to the civilian casualties Tom okay let's zoom out here give us an update on the tension between the US and Israel and.

How how that could really affect where this war goes it doesn't seem as if this is resonating with Netanyahu at all exactly and it has been like this for weeks and so now the question is what will the Biden Administration do differently will it shift any of its policy will it start to condition some of its Aid or weapons that are going to.

Israel and none of that has happened yet but we are talking about that potential ground invasion in Rafa as a very key Point here the US has been clear that it has advised Israel not to go in without any kind of a plan for what would happen to the more than 1 million people who are really Sheltering there and so far the Biden Administration has been.

Crystal Clear Tom that they haven't seen any kind of a military plan or a humanitarian plan so they are raising a lot of concerns about that they have expressed those but it also comes as we saw Majority Leader Chuck Schumer saying things and going as far as to say that Netanyahu should be ousted and Israel should hold elections that's not what.

The White House is saying they are saying that that he is democratically elected but that of course they did point out that something that Schumer said is shared privately by many in the administration and even some Americans Tom Monica Alba at the White House thank you very much Monica tens of millions of Russians head.

To the polls today for the first of three days of voting in that country's presidential election Vladimir Putin faces a handful of token really token opposition candidates most of whom refuse to criticize him at all and none of whom are polling higher than 6% that sets up for an easy victory for Vladimir Putin NBC's Chief International.

Correspondent kir simm looks at how Putin's held on the power for nearly 30 years in tonight's breakdown three decades after the Soviet Union fell Russia once again ruled by a strongman Vladimir Putin certain to win another six-year term on the back of a decades long Crackdown on dissent and opposition a slow March starting in the.

Late 80s with the rise of Soviet Premier Mikel gorbachov Mikel gorbachov the new leader of the Soviet Union he starts to democratize the Soviet Union and ends the Cold War Mr gorbachov tear down this wall then after a failed coup by Hardline Communist Party officials member states of the Soviet Union start to declare.

Independence gorbachov dissolves the Soviet Union in 1991 and leaves reformer Boris yelon to run the new Russian Federation as yelon tries to build a free market economy Russia is rocked by economic crisis he appoints the relatively rescure Vladimir Putin as prime minister and when yelton steps down in 1999 Putin takes the.

Reigns Putin wins his first election in 2000 and immediately cracks down on descent from the media and opposition figures in 2004 he wins a second term but barred from seeking a third consecutive term Putin steps down in 2008 his handpick successor Dimitri medev appoints him prime minister so behind the scenes he is still in control.

Putin changes the Constitution extending presidential terms from 4 years to six and wins a third turn in 2014 as Ukraine starts pulling away from Russia towards the West Putin responds by annexing Crimea sparking a proxy war in eastern Ukraine and increased tension with the United States today I'm announcing a series of.

Measures that will continue to increase the costs on Russia and on those responsible for what is happening in Ukraine opposition figures continue to wind up dead though the Kremlin consistently denies involvement and in 2016 the US elects Donald Trump then after a bipartisan Senate intelligence report finds that mosco engaged in a.

Widespread campaign to help get him elected Trump confronts Putin about those allegations which Putin denies he just said it's not Russia I will say this I don't see any reason why it would be 2020 Putin changes the Constitution again so he can run for two more six-year terms that same year leading opposition figure Alexi naali is nearly.

Killed by poison which he blames on the Kremlin Putin denies involvement when naal returns to Russia he is immediately arrested and sent to a remote labor camp sparking major protests and in 2022 War Putin launches a full scale invasion of eastern Ukraine claiming the country's move towards NATO represents a.

Security threat to Russia despite thousands of men sent to war and severe sanctions from the West Russia's economy proves resilient support for the war and Putin remains High according to an independent Russian pollster those who speak out against the war find themselves arrested and prosecuted under a new law and just last month Alexi Nali.

Dies suddenly in his labor camp of what authorities call natural causes a crushing blow to Russia's dwindling opposition and Kier Simmons is in Moscow for us tonight so Kier we mentioned those token opposition candidates tell us who actually is allowed to run in this election against Putin well that's a good question I mean.

None of those three have criticized President Putin all of them are effectively favor of the war so it's an election you could say in all but name it's more like a referendum on President uh Putin himself and what the kremin will really care about is how high the turnout here is because what President Putin wants to do after this weekend is.

Openly say you see Russia supports me now of course this is a country Tom of 11 time zones it's impossible for us to know how free and fair this votes really is we did meet voters today who clearly believe in their vote and believed in voting for President Putin but there are no Western election observers here there are observers Russia says from 106.

Countries including places like China so you can judge for yourself President Putin today seen voting online uh we saw electronic voting machines at the poing station that we were at today I think that's an attempt to try and increase the turnout and also increases the number of people saying well it's possible to manipulate this vote Tom.

Here can somebody vote against Putin without without the you know potential ramifications uh yes if they vote for one of the authorized candidates what we have seen here though are stages you indications of of real Rebellion if you like there's been Arsen attacks Molotov cocktails thrown at some polling stations a d thrown into ball boxes only.

A scattering of those kinds of protests there are calls for other protests this weekend where people should just according to Alexi Nani's wife for example just turn up at a polling station uh and then just leave I mean people are finding ways to find their voice if they do oppose President Putin but it's very high risk yeah Kier we're.

Lucky to have you there thank you very much Kier Simmons in Moscow for us coming up more trouble for Boe its new advisory to Pilots after one flight took a scary nose dive and you won't believe the story that's got a top tennis tournament buzzing tonight you get the clues we're coming back we're back why one farmer is.

Breaking out a fork and a knife for his blueberries we'll show you that in just a few minutes but first a powerful realtor group is now agreeing to slash its long-standing commissions that agents make and that could be a big deal for people trying to sell their homes it's part of the samping $418 million settlement between the National.

Association of Realtors and the home sellers who sued in a massive class action suit as it currently stands a home seller pays a broker's fee usually 5 to 6% of the sale price when the home is sold half of that fee usually goes to the agent for the seller the other half goes to the buyer's agent but that's led to accusations that Realtors are.

Colluding to steer buyers to more expensive homes thus inflating their own commissions now according to the settlement the agents the buyers and the sellers they'll have more options to negotiate that rate together and consumer advocat say the competition could force those fees to drop rather dramatically and if this settlement.

Isn't fact approved by the federal court it could could be a major shakeup for the housing market potentially boosting sales to be clear the Realtor Association though continues to deny any wrongdoing NBC's Brian Chung is following all of this joins me now this has been a talker Brian and for any of us who have bought a home we know that.

That 6% rate is kind of steep when you buy and sell the home I should say it's also the norm though right even though it's not set in stone it's widely respected in the industry so the Realtors often refuse to drop their fees which means we're stuck with paying that if we sell our house yeah and see here's the thing right when we talk about this.

Fee usually how this is uh set in the current standard is that the uh seller has a broker right and the broker will communicate with a buyer who in some cases will also have a broker those Brokers will have a conversation with each other and try to decide what the commission rate should be and then they split it 50-50 like you just outlined.

But here's the thing over time and over a long period of time it's been very many decades by which the structure has been in place they'll negotiate something around 6 % and it's been around 6% historically because all the negotiation happens on this so-called MLS uh platform well they just haven't really changed it over time so what the.

Argument in this lawsuit was well that doesn't seem very fair to the home seller who just ends up getting stuck with the 6% rate that they can't negotiate down because of a conversation that one broker had with another broker perhaps behind their backs I mean it's transparent on the MLS site but again there's just not a lot of wiggle room.

There so what this lawsuit uh settlement does it says well those conversations can't just happen between those Brokers that the seller should have the option to directly negotiate with their broker how much of a commission they get so that's the big deal here and in some cases that could bring down substantially the commission rates that.

They make yeah so the numbers here are striky if you if you have a million dooll home that you've just sold you're going to pay $60,000 just on the 6% fee $60,000 you have to pay as the seller if you have a $400,000 home at 6% you're paying about $24,000 so let's pick up where you just dropped off How likely is it that we'll.

See these rates come down and by the way the rest of the world doesn't pay the realtor 6% yeah well I mean here's the thing is that it's very uncertain I mean this is really just sending shock waves through uh the housing market and the structure of how this has operated for many many decades so we don't know exactly what it's going to look like and.

One thing that is going to be true is that it's probably going to depend on what Market you're in because again commission rates the standard is usually 6% but it's going to vary depending on what Market you're in and maybe cooler housing markets perhaps the commissions are going to be a little bit lower but the idea here is that the introduction.

Of competition could bring some of those rates down which could lead to thousands of dollars of savings Tom and presumably it could juice the the uh the market right I mean right now the home the market for buying a new home buying and selling has been stalled because we've had interest rates so high this could be a shot in the arm it could I mean you.

Thousands of dollars trying to Savings in savings right that could be a big deal for a lot of people that are on the sidelines Going H is now the time to buy that could really be part of the margin although I want to emphasize a lot of these changes won't happen until July and it still needs to be approved by the court so don't hold your breath for.

Anything changing tomorrow and we've got lawsuits kind of working through their way through the system Brian Chong thanks very much good analysis we appreciate it all right let's get you over now to the five things our team thinks you may want to know about tonight number one former vice president Mike Pence says he will not endorse his.

Former Bross for boss for president speaking to Fox News Pence says former president Trump is pursuing an agenda that is in his words at odds with a conservative agenda they govern on it comes as the former president has now secured enough Republican delegates to become the gop's presumptive nominee number two the Supreme Court has.

Rejected a request from an lgbtq student group that wanted to host a PG-13 drag show on the west Texas A&M University campus after school administrators had objections the UN University's president wrote a message to the school that it would not be hosting drag shows because they stereotype women the group says its Free Speech rights are being violated.

The Court's decision likely means the group will not be able to host the event number three Target says it's still limiting the number of items you can buy in itself checkout lane starting Sunday you can only use the lanes if you are buying 10 items or less the stores also opening up more traditional lanes for Shoppers Target says the goal is to keep.

The checkout Lines Moving it also comes as many retailers site theft as a wide spread Issue Number Four some buzz on the tennis courts in California look at this not because of a match but because of a swarm of bees that caused a nearly 2hour long delay and an Indian Wells tournament quarterfinal dozens of bees attached themselves to an overhead.

Camera somebody had to clean them all off with a vacuum a m a match later went on without interruption number five take a look at this a blueberry the size of a golf ball breaking the guine Book World Record it's about 10 times the size of an average blueberry a farm run by Costa group in Australia grew it one of the expert gardeners there says the company.

Grows new varieties of blueberries in response to changing consumer needs including demands for bigger berries sounds good after the break why those super popular weight loss drugs are not getting to the people who may need them the most and where that's hitting hardest that story is coming up we're back you know you could spend.

All day trying to stay up on all the hundreds of stories that come into NBC news247 so our Bureau teams have selected a few highlights this is what they tell us is going down in the regions we call it the local from our DC Bureau here in Washington environmental health experts are worried about the air quality in a DC suburb after multiple.

Oil tanks caught on fire there look at all that thick smoke the incident happened at an asphalt Quarry in Rock Maryland some parts of that plant had to be evacuated fire investigators still investigating out of her Midwest Bureau a bus driver possibly saved a child's life in Wisconsin new Dash Canam footage shows the kid running all by himself out.

Onto a busy Street in Milwaukee you can see the bus driver pulling over bringing the child onto the bus he then called police the child was not injured and was reunited with his family and from our Western Bureau Arizona firefighters jumped in into action after a driver almost crashed right into them but hit some parked cars instead it was kind of.

A right place right time kind of thing the firefighters were playing pickle ball outside of their station in 10p when it happened one of The Rescuers pulled the driver out of the wreck the others grabed their gear the driver is expected to be okay police are investigating it turns out those popular weight loss drugs aren't getting to the.

People who need them the most that according to exclusive data obtained by NBC news we're talking about drugs like ozanic and wovi and they're not covered of course by private insurance and the outof pocket costs are more than $1,000 a month financially Out Of Reach For A lot of people who need that medicine and there's a racial component to all of.

This as well more than 4 million prescriptions were written for wovi and OIC last year in 2023 a vast majority of those prescriptions 85% were written for white people just 12 % written for African-Americans who have significantly higher rates of diabetes and obesity NBC's Berkeley lovely says joining us now he's been looking at the data all.

Right so two things here that I noticed as we're looking through this data here um two things of play number one the prohibitive cost right and number two the drugs are being prescribed to people who may not need them the absolute most right so yeah there's a lot of things going on here so one is insurance and so as you mentioned before these drugs cost.

About $1,000 for a month supply uh and so insurance companies are often reluctant to pay that because it does cost so much uh but there's also a stigma associated with obesity there's still many in society uh and even in the health industry who see this as like a a cosmetic concern or a willpower power issue versus a chronic disease so.

There's that uh then there's access so there's also in some states a lack of doctors who are qualified up to prescribe these medications and there's also very much telea health restrictions still at play even after the pandemic and then on top of that there's also costs so there might be white families who may be able to afford to pay $1,000.

Out of pocket if their insurance doesn't cover it uh versus maybe a black family who would not be able to pay that as well so we actually had a doctor in Norman Oklahoma who kind of laid that out for us as well well go a little bit deeper into the racial disparity issue here and what the implications are yeah so uh when we looked at the map we saw.

That the many of the sorry uh many in many of the states such as Oklahoma Louisiana and West Virginia they had very high adult obesity rates but also very low uh prescription rates um and so when you look at the data it says Nation y there's 85% of people who have these prescriptions are white people uh but if you look at closer at these states uh.

Only 12% of black people have prescriptions but and it's interesting because as we mentioned there's there are higher rates of diabetes of course and high blood pressure with African-Americans they're the people who presumably would need it the most for an acute medical condition not just to lose weight for cosmetic reasons right and.

Yeah and we spoke with patients as well so we spoke to one patient in Oklahoma uh she also has a history of heart disease she's black um and she said she's basically just frustrated you see you know celebrities online because she can't afford it is that because she can't afford it and also you see these celebrities online talking about these.

Weight loss drugs um a lot of times doctors will do everything they can to make sure they can try to get these medications a lot of times there's nothing really they can do uh to get their drugs so a lot of times the conversation just goes to Alternatives um the patients have tried neutr system uh Weight Watchers everything you can.

Think of uh and they're still struggling Way Berkeley thank you by the way welcome to DC thanks Berkeley lovelies with NBC News all right to tonight's original now with in-depth reporting on a topic we've been watching if you're still trying to get tickets for the Paris Olympics this summer today today might be your last shot the lottery for.

Single game ticket starts today now we got to be honest here it's tough but there might be another option soon because our team is learning about a new type of international sporting competition the difference athletes can use performing and handing drugs lots of them Chloe Mass has the story athletes some consider the.

Greatest in their Sports and a new book is claiming that San Francisco Slugger Barry Bonds used steroids for at least five seasons sources say Rodriguez admitted buying banned drugs a one-time icon of sports in America trip today of his seven tour def fron titles now one group wants to celebrate athletes who make that choice they're calling it The.

Enhanced games set for next summer and they plan to let athletes use performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in the competition the enhanc games is the third version of the Olympic Games and now we're Reinventing it once again for the 21st century that's Aaron duza the Australian businessman whose Vision has attracted.

The attention and money of billionaire and right-wing activist Peter teal we'll see five core sports track and field swimming gymnastics weightlifting and Combat Sports and drugs are allowed including ones on the world anti-doping agency or wat's ban list from anabolic steroids which boost muscle strength stimulants that can make the heart pump.

Faster to cannabis even over-the-counter cold drugs like PSE Sudafed the Olympic stripping medals from athletes who take them like cyclist Lance Armstrong Runner Marian Jones and skater Camila valva the biggest name hurt by Russia's State sponsor doping scandal in a statement this week W condemned the enhanced games saying quote the health and well-being.

Of athletes is W's number one priority clearly this event would jeopardize both but Tusa cites a 2011 study commissioned by W showing more than 40% of athletes had used band supplements in the previous year what would you say to your adversaries who are you know not supportive of this who say that the Olympic it's about a clean environment.

To show how far you can push the human body on an even playing field well it's a different playing field the Olympics are like the Opera and we're like a rock concert we want to be like Taylor Swift errors tour duza says doctors will monitor athletes who use the drugs and give Health screenings but is there any safe amount of some of these drugs.

Medical experts say It's Tricky if you're using the lowest dose possible for the shortest duration possible and you've been selected as an appropriate candidate for that particular use then I think you could probably do it safely but sort of this open-endedness that's where I think we start to see problems there's another Factor money the games.

Which have not secured a TV deal yet promise athletes a fair based salary to be announced later plus bonuses a huge contrast to the international Olympic Committee which does not pay medalists that's left to home countries to decide and in the US only medalists get paid about 30,000 for gold way less than the minimum salaries in the big four men's.

Sports here in the US the promise of a payout appealing to swimmer James Magnuson a three-time medalist from Australia who says he's never used steroids but vowed to quote juice to the gills to get a seven fig bonus from the games as organizers if he can break the 50 meter freestyle record Magnuson tells me the enhanced games are safe for.

Athletes of his level in part because of the honesty behind it we're going to do this in the open there's no secrecy it's it's not done in the shadows I'll document it I'll be completely open and honest with everything I take how it's making me feel how my performance is affected and if there are any side effects what what those.

Are okay Chloe I'm kind of just almost without words here uh when you talk to your sources in the entertainment world is there is there a market for something like this I don't even want to ask because we know there is right people get totally Juiced up and then what they go for it and we'll see if they survive and and how big of a of a game that they.

Can turn in so I've been talking to athletes professional athletes retired athletes I've also talked to some people in the TV business and they all say it would make for great entertainment okay especially if you have people compete in the enhanced games who are not on performance-enhancing drugs because you don't have to be on.

Performance-enhancing drugs to take part in the enhanced games so therefore you could have somebody who says all right I want to go compete against somebody in the 100 meter dash I don't even know if that's part of the Olympics but let's just pretend it's a part of the enhanced games and they're not on steroids but their compet competition is and then.

They beat them what a coup that would be right and so I think that when you look at the world of reality television when you look at the landscape right now Tom you see that people are pushing the envelope and networks are trying to bring in people and boost ratings which in turn means bigger ads sales bigger money and a better bottom line for them.

In the end so I do think this will find a home somewhere on television in the not so distant future I've got 15 seconds Chloe but are people concerned about the potential health impact of people juicing to the gills listen I spoke to aarin as you see and he says that there will be a team of medical experts that will be watching.

Over their athletes and that this is going to be done within reason there will be some guard guard rails okay Chloe thank you very much interesting story back now with Boeing telling Airlines to fly the 787 to check the switches that control the pilot seats because the switches could get stuck it comes after a sudden terrifying plunge.

On that lantum Airlines flight to New Zealand this week that left more than 50 people injured The Wall Street Journal reports investigators believe a flight attendant delivering a meal to the pilot may have accidentally hit a switch that moves the Pilot's seat forward and then the stuck that's that switch got stuck and that could have pushed the pilot.

Into his controls forcing the nose of the plane down and sending passengers flying investigators say they have not reached a final conclusion about what caused the incident but they are serious about this uh if you have been to the airport recently it probably seems like the enforcement of carryon rules is getting stricter to be clear there's not.

A rule change Airlines have always limited passengers to one carry-on bag and one personal item it might be a problem though though for people who are sick of checked bag fees going up check bag fees look at this number from American Airlines they used to charge $30 for a checked bag recently they raised that up to $35 if you pay in.

Advance 40 if you pay for it at the airport Jet Blue charging 45 for the first checked bag 60 for the second checked bag $10 more than before NBC Sam Brock is joining us now from Miami International Airport hey Sam what's all the confusion about here there was a time when bags were free that's a long time ago the costs keep going up.

Airlines are making a lot of money on those checked bag fees and they're getting more strict now about the carry-ons right yeah so B check bags Tom is Big Business to the tune of billions of dollars for the airlines but we're also seeing a record number of Travelers right now as you have reported regularly.

And I do appreciate the irony of me talking about Aviation with you since this is your beat for the network but yeah I mean to add to this conversation you have all these people who are traveling check bag fees in recent weeks have been going up and months and so what you're seeing is human nature people are taking more stuff with them.

Onto the plane except now the airlines appear to be getting more Discerning and I say appear to be Tom because there's no formal acknowledgement whether it's Southwest or American or Delta none of these airlines are saying no we're cracking down in fact if anything Southwest is saying this isn't a Crackdown it's a clarification of.

Existing rules but the reality is it's kind of like the pillow police if you look at the specific things that are considered personal items according to Southwest for example it sees you see purses which includes cross body bags briefcases blankets pillows not neck pillows cameras food containers or laptops which is to say if you have more.

Than two of those or if you have a carry-on and one of those and then you add on another thing they're going to flag you with the gate and more and more at least anecdotally passengers are reporting the airlines are actually following through with this and it's getting harder to bring more of your objects.

Onto the plane yeah and what people count as a carry on my God sometimes these things are huge right and I'm thinking well if you put that in the overhead I got no place to put my bag that's true by the way the SNL skit comes to mind of Keenan trying to take a bag that's like the size of a small truck onto the plane yeah you know they.

Do have to be Discerning and I think that's a really great Point time is that there are ways to get around this if there's any question for you just gay check your bag right try to avoid the impressed Al together or if you buy a you know an economy ticket or you use a lowcost carrier make sure if you know you're going to bring a carry on that.

You purchase that at the purchase time of the ticket itself it's going to be a lot cheaper than if you try to do it when you get to the airport so there are ways of getting around this but the bottom line is Airlines want to run on time they want to try to get as many flights off as possible the more delays you have because people are trying to.

Cram 9,000 items into the overhead bin the harder it is to do that and that's why you're seeing this reaction y Sam it's a it's a talker thanks very much Sam Brock at Miami International for us all right in just a second why the producer of an academy award-winning movie is slamming its director after his Oscar speech stay with.

Us that is a wrap at this hour but the news continues right now on news now thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media

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