Top Story with Tom Llamas – April 10 | NBC News NOW

Tonight if you still feel things are a little too expensive you're not wrong a troubling new Consumer Report showing inflation is not going away consumer prices rising higher than expected in March the findings dashing any hopes to Fed will be able to cut interest rates anytime soon inflation further pinching Americans already strained wallets what.

It will take for prices to finally come down and the impact on the 2024 election also tonight flood emergency deadly and dangerous storms battering the south in Louisiana dozens had to be rescued as a large twister ripped through the region torrential rain turning streets into rivers trees snapping on power lines leaving thousands without electricity.

The potential storm continuing on a destructive path overnight and into tomorrow we're timing it all out letting Assange off President Biden considering ending the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Juliana Assange Assange facing Espionage charges after he allegedly published millions of classified documents that prosecutors say put lives.

At risk the surprising request from Australia to drop the charges School Bus Inferno a bus just outside of St Louis bursting into flames the driver trapped inside forced to kick out the door to escape the bus then plowing right into a house the fiery eruption leaving residents in shock plus AI builds your home the new technology giving you the.

Power to create the space of your dreams an artificial intelligence program drawing up floor plans becoming your own virtual architect but is it more affordable we're putting it to the test and the octopus Miracle an Oklahoma family bought their son an octopus for a pet the family left completely stunned when suddenly they noticed dozens of.

Baby octopuses swimming around so what's happening under the sea in Oklahoma top story starts right now and good evening tonight is sobering reality check on inflation as consumer prices rise at a faster than expected Pace let's show you what we're talking.

About here the Consumer Price Index is up at 3.5% from a year ago in March that number showing inflation is sticking around further frustrating Americans already strapped for cash and the News sending shock waves to the market here it is right now here's what happened the Dow down more than 400 points the S&P.

500 and the NASDAQ also down and you might be noticing some of these big changes at the grocery store egg prices are up more than 4% though several other food items are down the economic Outlook plays a major role especially in an election year President Biden speaking today after the report was released vowing to handle.

Inflation we're in a situation where we're better situated than we were when we took office where we inflation was skyrocketing and we have a plan to deal with it and as you can expect former president Trump also weigh in on the issue posting quote inflation is back and raging the FED will never be able to credibly lower.

Interest rates so when will inflation subside and what can Americans expect in the coming months we're breaking it all down NBC's Ellison Barber starts us off tonight tonight the Fallout from a worse than expected inflation report sending years Rippling through the markets 3.5 this is 3/10 3/10 hotter than we looked at in the rearview mirror 3.2 the.

News plunging all major indexes at close the Dow Jones still down more than 400 points consumer prices headed in the wrong direction for a third straight month in March Rising 3.5% over last year with gas and housing prices leading the surge hey anything you buy you know it's very high a host of sectors seem to be feeling it.

The price of eggs Rising almost 5% baby formula up nearly 10% and car insurance spiking more than 22% we should just get used to the fact that higher prices are here to stay we always say the cure for high prices is high prices because eventually consumers stop spending well we haven't stopped spending so businesses are used to.

Keeping these prices at these levels and this is probably where they're going to stay for the foreseeable future since the start of the pandemic Americans have seen price averages rise more than 20% overall despite other positive economic signs I'm feeling way more than 3.5% uh I have a lot of friends who used to like you know grab a few beers and watch the.

Football game at their house it's getting way too expensive to do that the Federal Reserve implemented a string of historic interest rate hikes in hopes of tamping down the explosion of inflation which according to the St Louis Fed was at least partially caused by pandemic era stimulus checks at the start of the Year experts believed inflation was.

Finally coming down and interest rate Cuts were on the way the problem is now that the economy has been very strong and basically the decline inflation is stalling now it appears interest rate relief we'll have to wait we were saying that we'll it's going to be a bumpy ride we consistently said that it's unwelcome news for Americans looking to buy a home.

In a market where mortgage rates remain stubbornly high the 30-year fixed mortgage the most popular lending product out there on the housing market well the 30-year fixed is still around 7% and it's keeping the housing market in a deep freeze so we're probably not going to see an aggressive home buying or home selling Market this spring that.

Could come later this summer or into the fall or potentially pushed out all the way into next year one bright spot the report shows that wage growth is outpacing inflation meaning Americans have more money to spend but there still facing the remnants of pandemic era price surges without pandemic era relief checks leaving many still asking when or.

If substantial relief will come post pandemic it just feels like every single company is trying to squeeze as much money out of the consumer as possible a lot of Americans feeling that way Ellison Barber joins us now live in studio so Ellison walk us through the calendar when when will we hear from the FED next so 21 days the fed's next.

Meeting is set for April 30 to May 1st and in terms of what they will do the question always is are they going to cut hike or leave interest rates where they are and what most economists are expecting to happen is for them to keep interest rates steady where they are right now which is a little over 5% and they've been at that number uh since.

July of 2023 but you look back at the last meeting the FED had that was in March and you look through the meetings minutes and they said this in part they wrote the committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2% so 2% inflation that still.

Seems to be the magic number for the fed and some experts and economists they saying best case scenario for any sort of interest rate cut is not going to be until this summer end of the summer others say probably not even going to be considered until the fall yeah if it happens after Memorial Day or Labor day we'll have to wait and find out Ellison.

We thank you for leading us off tonight for more on what today's higher than expected inflation numbers mean for the US economy and and the state of President Biden's campaign in the 2024 election I want to bring in Robert R former Secretary of Labor for the Clinton Administration and he's currently Chancellor's professor of.

Public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Julia Manchester she's a national politics reporter for the hill and a friend to top story Robert I'm going to start with you can I get your reaction to the troubling March Consumer Price Index well it is troubling in the sense that a lot of economists a lot of people.

Expected that inflation would be coming down faster uh now it's ironic because the real underlying problem is not really a problem and that is that the recovery is so hot there are so many new jobs wages are rising the economy is doing so well that you don't get a fall in a drop in prices as much as you would want and expect um but it's still a.

Problem relative to things like mortgages and car loans and a lot of other expenditures that people have Robert talk to me a little bit about consumer Behavior if you will along the lines of what you were just saying there people think things are still too expensive yet they're still buying them they don't seem to be pulling back why.

Do you think that is uh mainly because wages are now Rising faster than prices and so just logically people have a little bit more money than they had before they feel a little bit better than they felt before I mean they they see gas prices and they see other prices in the in the grocery store and they say things are pretty bad but in terms of.

Their own personal economy they are not as bad nearly as bad as they were Julia uh we know how the the the American people feel we see it in all the polls when they talk about the economy um is there a magic number when it comes to inflation where it needs to be I want to put up a graphic on our screen here so our viewers can see it's where inflation.

The rate has been during election years and and you can kind of see where they are and and to be honest and fair we're actually not that far off as we've been in other elections before uh where Democrats have won and we're Republicans have won but we talk about the 2% from the FED is there a number where the bid Administration wants to get around where.

They would feel more comfortable you know I don't have a number off the top of my head however Tom I think it's definitely as low as possible potentially pre-pandemic numbers that would be a perfect world for the Biden Administration however right now um today's news really I think was a temporary political blow to President.

Biden look his campaign has been saying repeatedly look um you know inflation is going down you may not be feeling it yet but it is going down trust us you will start to feel the effects but when Americans see the numbers like today they don't Fe they don't feel any more um you know they don't feel better about that and they're also not feeling that.

In their wallet as well so today's number was a political blow I think Biden wants it to be um you know as low as possible but what you're going to see is you know former president Trump is going to take this go out on the campaign Trail and essentially say look you know during my Administration obviously before covid when you know.

Things were relatively normal when we look uh it from an economic perspective he's going to say inflation was so much lower don't you want that instead of this and Robert explain to our viewers I mean this might be the reality the body Administration has to deal with because the clock may have run out and I just say that because Even If the Fed decides.

To to make another cut down the road it takes time to actually affect the inflation rate undoubtedly Tom there is a lag between the fed's movements of interest rates up or down and what happens in the economy so if the FED waits till let's say July or August or September to reduce interest rates that are now relatively high 5.3% are you.

Know that's the Fed rate which means 7% or more for mortgages and similar High percentages for auto loans if they fed weight to July August or September it's probably not going to be felt until after the election so I want to get both your takes on what President Biden said today because he did say something interesting about the stubborn inflation.

Rate let's play it that before the year is out be a raid Cup this may delay at a month or so I'm not sure that I don't we don't know what the FED is going to do for certain but look we have dramatically reduced it was a little hard to hear that but he essentially was saying that he's confident there's going to be a ray cut.

And then Robert I want to ask you how can the president feel so confident about that isn't he interfering with the fed's business with that comment at least that's what Democrats said when President Trump would put pressure on the FED when he was in office well certainly if President Biden said there has to be a rate cut uh and said the FED.

I am telling you to cut rates that would be an interference but if he's predicting a rate cut it's like different and I think that it's fair to predict that if inflation continues on the path it's on now again compared to where it was last year the year before it is very very low if it continues to moderate if it's a soft Landing as the.

FED likes to say then we are going to see the FED eventually start reducing interest rates Julia political has an exclusive report that you may have seen on what former white house chief of staff Ron Clan said at an event about President Biden's campaign focus on infrastructure versus other economic issues I want to put it on the screen.

For our viewers here he said I think the president is out there too much talking about bridges he does two or three events a week where he's cutting a ribbon on a bridge like I tell you you go to the grocery store and you know eggs and milk are expensive what do you make of that kind of criticism from braon Clan about Biden's focus is the.

White House not focused enough on the economy well there has been criticism that they're not focused enough on the economy and that they're not able to really message on the economy because the economy arguably isn't really in a perfect place for the Biden Administration especially when you see Republicans really trying to go on the.

Offense on the issue of the economy but here's the thing that could be some I don't know maybe you could see it could be described as some political good news or maybe some political cover for former president B for President Biden we're talking about this issue of inflation right now and the economy but we do know that yesterday and we saw last week in.

Florida but you know with Arizona we saw um you know the abortion ruling from the Supreme Court essentially them ruling to uphold this um you know abortion ban and now it seems like it's completely unrelated to the economy and maybe it is in some ways but this provides Democrats with some political cover they're able to say you know use this as their top.

Issue and this is an issue that has in many ways galvanized not only their own bases but also brought in more independent and moderate voters it's an issue that is a very energizing one now the question is how does it compete with the economy we've heard Democrats and I've heard you know in the 2022 midterms I heard this argument a lot look.

Abortion is an economic issue but you know ultimately I think we could be starting to see the Battle of these two messages you know the Republicans really zeroing in on the economy and the Biden Administration the Biden campaign down ballot Democrats talking more about abortion because obviously it's a successful issue for them them but also.

They haven't gotten their footing on the economy Robert last question for you people everywhere are seeing prices increase that's never good for incumbent if you were out there on the hustings and you have been part of and advis multiple Democratic administrations what would your simple advice be for the bid Administration uh I would say certainly.

Compare prices and inflation now to what it was a year or two ago uh show people how many new jobs have been created but also to the extent that any blame should be alleged about where inflation is coming from focus on monopolies corporate monopolies I mean what the Biden Administration has done and people don't know about it but for example stop.

It has stopped the merger between two of the Giant Food companies grocery chains Albertson and Kroger that actually is helping food prices stay lower okay Robert R Julia Manchester always a pleasure to to have you both on the show we thank you for that we do want to turn to that other big political story that Julie was mentioning The Fallout over.

Arizona's abortion ruling the state bringing back a Civil War era abortion law set to ban nearly all access to the procedure that decision having Ripple effects in politics former president Donald Trump criticizing the ruling while Democrats blame Trump's Supreme Court appointees for overturning Row versus Wade Dana Griffin.

Reports tonight former president Trump distancing himself from that bombshell Arizona ruling on abortion did Arizona go too far yeah they did and that'll be straightened out I'm sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back reason the former president criticizing Arizona's Revival of the Civil War era ban adding he won't.

Sign a national ban and controversial Republican Arizona Senate candidate Carrie Lake endorsed the 1864 law two years ago we have a great law on the books we will be a state where we will not be taking the lives of our unborn anymore now saying she opposes it adding Arizona voters.

Will make the decision on the ballot come November when an initiative to protect abortion rights will likely be on the ballot many Arizona voters differing on abortion stances but against the total ban I'm a Christian but I still believe in the women's right to choose I'm not for abortion but I think it's not the place of the state to.

Punish uh women President Biden also addressing the ruling what do you say to the people of Arizona right now who are witnessing a law going place that dates back to the Civil War era elect me I'm in the 20 20th century 21st century not back then they weren't even a state Kathy Herod leads the center for Arizona policy which opposes abortion rights.

Arizona can be the first in the nation to defeat a radical pro-abortion Amendment it simply goes too far for Arizona voters meanwhile groups like Arizona abortion axis are working to protect women's right to choose after the decision came down yesterday we decided that we just need to get out and be in as many places as we can be you.

Just signed that and I see tears in your eyes why cuz I've been in a situation and I'm lucky to be alive and you want to have children and when you find out you can't and you're in danger your health is in danger and I can't imagine the women that are going to be in situations that can't get the care they need.

Dana Griffin there some powerful interviews what are you hearing about November and and how people at least in Arizona say this is going to affect their vote yeah Tom on both sides they are galvanized this is something like we saw when roie Wade was overturned they are turning up and say they are going to.

Fight on both sides either to codify this thee Reproductive Rights for women or to make sure that this law stands as it's written you know as you saw there we saw tears we saw anger today people just extremely passionate I spoke to one woman who says that she wants this state constitution to be amended not to 1864 but to 2024 many saying they want things.

To be more modern and not to set them back to this Civil War erab law and people are really frustrated and they are going to make this a key issue and a reason why this gets them out to the polls come November Tom Dana Griffin reporting for us from Arizona Dana we appreciate that next to the severe storm striking the South violent weather.

Slamming the region heavy destruction and power outages flooding and at least one death has been reported so far today tornadoes ripping through parts of Louisiana Mississippi and Texas with Fierce winds reaching more than 70 mph leaving behind a landscape of debris Kathy park is in the storm Zone tonight big tornado big big tornado tonight.

Severe weather sweeping across the South with tornadoes in Texas in Louisiana tearing through buildings trees and apartments in this one complex officials say roughly 50 people were rescued if that continues to hold true that we have zero major Angel fatalities truly a miracle meanwhile employees at this construction company in Sidell say they.

Were riding out the storm in their office building as the roof blew off and I literally watched a plywood wall touch the floor and come back up and touch the floor again and come back up a dangerous combination of heavy rain and strong winds snap power lines and trees across the state it once was our house was surrounded by shade and now it's very.

Sunny and and I'm assuming no power at this point no power emergency responders rushed to trap residents in West feliciana Parish stuck after large tree limbs dropped onto roads I came down there earlier but you couldn't go any further right here cuz that tree was so big Baton Rouge in the bullseye for tornadoes during the.

Morning commute at times the storm's almost look like hurricanes with wind gust reaching more than 70 mph you can see uh outside it's uh it's not looking good for any of us across uh Southeast Louisiana 13 million people across the Gulf Coast are on high alert for flash floods parts of Kirbyville Texas still underwater so it's not a good day to be.

Out on the road back in Louisiana the cleanup is just beginning with a disaster opening Old Wounds what I feel like back in New Orleans when Katrina hit I remember that like it was yesterday some serious destruction there in Louisiana Kathy we see it there behind you as well talk to us about what the SCS like they're in slight.

L yeah Tom as you can see the weather is clear the storms have moved on out of here and there's another round of severe weather expected to strike portions of the East come tomorrow but here in slide out there is widespread damage one example of that is right behind me this used to be a hair salon it was completely covered in glass um enclosed.

In glass all that shattered the metal framing is all that's left and listen to this Tom we heard from a customer who was hunkered down in the building at the height of the storm she told us she was covered in glass and had to be rushed to the hospital to get all that glass removed fortunately she is doing okay but several injuries being reported at.

This time and of course a huge clean up ahead all right Kathy park there in Slidel Louisiana where we hear the Hammers busy at work now and this dangerous storm system continuing to produce violent weather across the southeast tonight let's get right to NBC News meteorologist Bill Karen's who joins us now in studio bill this is a.

Serious storm yeah this one started early this morning Baton Rouge around the morning rush hour and then a middle of the day in the New Orleans area under the flash flood emergency including the tornado that hit Slidel mobile had some rough weather and now we're watching these storms moving all the way through the Florida Panhandle we still do have a.

Tornado watch up for about another hour or two and the worst of the storms is right over the top of Panama City and they've slowed down and when the storm slow down that means that you get torrential amounts of rainfall and that's what's happening over the City area stay home for about the next half hour hour until these storms are over.

With the roads are quickly going to inundated with water and this includes areas all the way up to I 10 too we're under severe thunderstorm warning in addition to that flash flood warning for the Panama City area and this will continue at least for next hour or two the water will probably be begin receding after the storms are done maybe.

By about 9 or 10 p.m. this evening we still have flash FL watch it up this area is just soaked many rivers are still cresting we still have water then rivers that will crest in the day or two head but we're not done I mean we're still going to pick up another 3 to 5 Ines of rain tonight during the overnight hours in southern Georgia and.

Maybe about 1 to 3 Ines in South Carolina so isolated flash flooding there and then tomorrow tom the storm heads for the Ohio Valley we may even have some isolated tornadoes in Ohio tomorrow and the wind damage is possible from Tampa to Daytona all the way up to Savannah so we're not done with this storm yet but today was by far the most.

Violent day yeah we got to stay on top of it all right Bill we appreciate that still ahead tonight President Biden weighing a request to drop charges against Juliana Sange Australia's plea to end prosecution of the WikiLeaks founder at the center of one of the largest classified document leaks in US history what's behind it all we'll.

Explain plus a school bus engulfed in flames look at that plowing into a home outside of St Louis the startling moments as the fire broke out and a chief Super Fan forced to cough up millions of dollars and his signed Patrick Mahomes memorabilia the series of bank robberies he's on the hook for we'll be right back.

back now with some breaking news about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange President Biden was asked about a request from Australia to drop his prosecution for Espionage and Publishing confidential military materials the president saying the White House is considering it for more on all this I.

Want to get right over to NBC's Matt Bradley who's tracking this for us from London so Matt kind of walk our viewers through why this request first comes from Australia and why President Biden would say that he's he's actually considering this well I mean this comes from Australia because the Sange is an Australian Citizen and even though.

Brought for almost his entire life they are kind of enjoying you know the Australian government the Australian people to advocate for one of their own and when it comes to a crime like this this is not a violent crime and a lot of people throughout the world uh especially outside the United States consider that what Assange did those 18.

Different charges that he's facing as a little more than just journalism itself you know this was something where he was speaking truth to power uh that's how he portrays it that's how his wife who's his strongest Advocate portrays it that's how people throughout the world portray it you know we see marches here in London all the time he's still very.

Very popular and so you know this is something that to free him would be perhaps a boon for the uh for the Biden as popular as he might be in other parts of the world um as you know as you've been reporting on as well there there are folks here in the United States who think what he did was treacherous uh publishing military materials putting.

Them out there on Wikileaks he did it to other countries too it wasn't just the us but he served time right explain to our viewers he's been in prison for a while in London now yeah I mean he served time Tom but time is one thing I mean he served time hiding out from the law in the Ecuadorian Embassy that was a very unusual way to spend a prison.

Sentence and as far as the jails are concerned as far as the legal system are concerned that's not time served he still has to do a number of years but again he faces a maximum of 175 years in jail now for a man who a lot of people consider somebody who didn't kill anybody who didn't hurt anybody uh a guy who exposed what some.

People consider to be very grave Secrets though there have there weren't a huge number of massive Revelations out of what he spilled out of WikiLeaks not like what we saw from Edward stoden later on you know he still is going to get a lot of sympathy and not just from courts in the US from courts here in Britain again last month they actually.

Kind of delayed his extradition to the states so there's a lot of sympathy here even among the legal system a lot of questions about whether or not these charges are are worth uh you know getting him back to the States for this is a question that really goes to the heart of what is journalism what kind of privileges do governments enjoy and does.

Assange represent a threat to any of these governments that he exposed remember he didn't really come up with a lot of big Revelations to justify what he did instead he just simply dumped a ton of information with a lot of names of people that the US government was trying to protect people who you know he's been accused of not going through.

And trying to etch out some of these names and revealing people who's who were supposed to be kept secret people who were working for the US state department and the CIA those names were exposed because of Assange so those are the sorts of crimes that he might end up sort of answering for in do we know I know it's still early in.

The process and obviously the White House has not made a decision but he's been in in a prison in UK for I think since 2019 May for several years now do we know what would happen would he essentially be released on his own recognizance would he be able to live again in London do we do we know anything about the process that's a good.

Question and you know that's something that I think the court would have to come up with he's is being held in prison as he's waiting extradition to the United States so presumably once those charges in the United States go away he'd be facing a lot less legal Jeopardy here in the UK but the fact that he hit.

Out at the Ecuadorian Embassy for all that time and caused such an endless headache for authorities here really for the better part of a decade there's a lot of people who are still angry with him about that and he is not without facing charges here but it sounds as though he has served his time here in the UK but this is a man who surprises a.

Lot of people it's possible he could be facing more charges here once those charges go away in the United States or in other countries you know has made quite a few enemies Tom Matt Bradley for us tonight Matt we thank you next tonight President Biden with a warning about the war in the Middle East saying Iran may be planning an attack on Israel.

Biden vowing to protect Israel's security while demanding Hamas accept the latest ceasefire offer mbc's Peter Alexander has the latest tonight new fears of a possible major escalation of the war in the Middle East with President Biden warning Iran may be planning to hit targets inside Israel soon they're threatening to launch a an.

Attack on Israel as I told prime minister Netanyahu our commitment to Israel's security against these threats from Iran and his proxies is Ironclad Iran eyeing retaliation for strikes last week on a diplomatic building in Syria that killed several Iranian commanders which it blames on Israel Iran a primary backer.

Of both Hamas and Hezbollah two US officials tell NBC news any retaliation inside Israel is expected to focus on Military and intelligence Target targets not civilians and that the Biden Administration is considering options for how to respond also tonight growing tensions over a new Israeli air strike in Gaza Israel saying the attack killed.

Three adult sons of a top Hamas leader who they say were Hamas operatives including a commander Hamas says the strike also killed four of his grandchildren during today's State visit for Japan's primee Minister President Biden demanding Hamas accept the latest ceasefire offer that includes returning the hostages including Americans held by.

Hamas there's are now up to Hamas they need to move on the proposal that's been made we get these hostages home where they belong tonight former hostage of Viva seagull whose husband HH seagull is still being held tells NBC's Andrea Mitchell it's time for results somebody needs to help and I'm begging Biden to be strong.

Enough stronger stronger than Hamas and tonight more evidence of former president Trump grip on House Republicans conservative Republicans today just blocked an effort to extend a controversial spying law that intelligence officials say is critical to protecting Americans from terrorists and other foreign threats it is a blow.

To Republican speaker Mike Johnson after Mr Trump urged lawmakers to kill it Tom okay Peter Alexander at the White House tonight for us Peter thank you for that when we come back an arrest warrant just issued for Rashi rice the chief's receiver facing eight charges in conect connection to a crash in Dallas last month how long he has to turn himself in.

Plus a major change coming to the Summer Olympics the sport that will now pay gold medalist $50,000 if they win that's next we're back now with top stories Newsfeed we begin in Philadelphia where gunshots erupted at a Ramadan celebration attended by more than a thousand people at least three people were wounded including a child who was.

Struck in the hand late this afternoon police say a teenager shot at officers as they responded to the scene that teen and four others were arrested no word yet on a motive okay in Missouri a burning driverless School Bus crashing into a home new video showing flames shooting from the bus after a crash in a St Louis neighborhood authorities say.

The school bus started sparking after the last student was dropped off on Monday causing the driver to lose control that driver kicking open the door and jumping to safety before the bus went up in Flames luckily no one was hurt all right breaking tonight Dallas Police issuing an arrest warrant for Kansas City Chief's wide receiver Rashid.

Rice rice facing eight charges including aggravated assault for that multi-car crash involving rice who was driving a Lamborghini you may remember this video from last week and his friends allegedly racing on a Dallas Highway The Chain Reaction crash sent two people to the hospital rice and his friends you see him here walking away from the scene the.

Driver in the other speeding car was also charged and a chief Super Fan turned serial bank robber also on the wrong side of the law tonight a judge ordering Xavier badar who was known for wearing a wolf costume to the chief games see him here to pay $10.8 million in Damages to a bank teller he allegedly assaulted during a robbery in.

2022 Babar pleaded guilty to a string of bank robberies that's right he was a chief Super Fan but also a bank robber in February he'll be sentenced in July as part of his plea agreement He was ordered to turn over memorabilia including a painting signed by Chief's quarterback Patrick Mahomes we turn next to a historic move.

By the federal government to make our drinking water safer for the first time ever the Environmental Protection Agency announcing Nationwide regulations to limit the presence of what's called Forever chemicals these substances found in nearly half of all tap water across the country known to be linked to severe health conditions like heart disease.

Disas and various forms of cancer this map take a look it shows the most contaminated regions with more than 100 million people at risk for more what this all means I'm joined tonight by Dr John Torres who joins us in studio Dr John so great to have you here in New York so we we look at the map we're going to put it up again for our viewers.

You notice those large areas of concentration the Clusters are in urban areas big cities you see them in New York all along the east coast and then in California as well do we know why we do think we know why and it's because of the population density in that area and the fact where these chemicals are located these are pfas they're called.

Forever chemicals because they can last a thousand plus years in the environment and now we know that when they get into our body which since they're ubiquitous in the environment especially in the tap water they're getting into our bodies they can call Health they can cause health concerns they are being manufactured and now the manufacturers.

Are slowing down but up until now you know where people are located where they've used a lot of these things that have been manufactured the PFS as's have been in them that's where you can see the concentrations do do we know know how is it happening straight from the tap is it people drinking from tap water or is it in other places as well so.

Right now it's come from a variety of different sources it's come from non-stick cookware it's come from fabric that's been used in carpets and couches to make them stain resistant clothes that are water resistant it's a those as well those leak into our food supplies they also leak into the ground and they leak into the ground water and that's.

Why you're seeing them in the tap water the EPA is concerned right now about the tap water because like you mentioned this is the First Federal Regulation up until now it's been state by state and not every state has regulated these and that's a concern so but you you said something here that that kind of confused me a little bit if it's forever.

Chemicals H how do you clean them up or how do you get rid of them so they're doing it in a couple step processes here the first step is to make sure they get it out of the drinking water think of it equivalent to lead you lead is always going to be around but you want to get it out of the areas that we ingest in our bodies we have to have water and you.

Want to make sure that's clean water and they're able to do that they are able there are ways you can get out of the water and what they're saying is for the next three years years they want every state to detect the amount of pfas and then they have two years to treat those pfas and bring them down to the level now there are ways you can check your.

Own water supply you know going through your water systems and seeing what kind of PFS levels they have in there and there are ways you can eliminate it too they're not cheap but there are ways you can do that as well you know drinking water you you think is one of those things that we just are owed you know you pay taxes at least be able to drink.

Water be safe should you be using filters like the brda filters and would those protect you from these forever chemicals so a couple things you can do there's a thing called a CCR consumer confidence report that your water system puts out and some of those will have PFA ass levels in them for the water systems that you use in your house you know.

Where you get out of the tap water you can also get some filters but not all filters will filter out pfas so you want to make sure they are pfas certified and can filter those out you can also get your own water tested if you have well water or your City's not testing it uh it's expensive to do but you want to get a PF pfas certified testing Laboratory.

To do that do those filters help though the BR filters and the other filters you buy at the stores the average filters don't help because they won't get rid of those chemicals because they're very very small they're micros they're not microscopic but they're very small so you want to make sure it's a pfas certified filter that can get rid of.

Them and even some of those filters only get rid of half of them you want to make sure it's one that gets rid of all of them Dr John we thank you for that now at top stories Global watch and a check of what else is happening around the world we start with a deadly explosion at a power plant in Italy helicopter footage shows smoke rising from the.

Underwater blast which happened at a hydroelectric power plant outside of bolognia at least three workers were killed four others still missing employees say they're going to strike on Thursday demanding safer working conditions two major updates on the Paris Summer Olympics tonight World Athletics announcing it will pay track.

And field gold medalist $50,000 making it the first sport to introduce prize money at the games nearly 4,000 athletes already received payments from their home countries and sponsors but the cash prize from a governing body marking a new era of the games which began as an amateur competition and one event in Jeopardy tonight the Olympics president.

Warning the swimming section of the triathlon could be cancelled or postponed if pollution and bacteria levels in the sen River remain at their current levels the city has just over a 100 days which is not a lot to clean up that historic River and a racehorse in Australia finding itself near the wrong kind of track surveillance video shows.

The horse look at this on a train platform in Western Sydney after it escape from a nearby stable you can see the horse even pausing behind the yellow line ahead of the Train's arrival authorities say the racehorse was returned home safely there it is after its handlers came to pick it up okay coming up next would you let AI design.

Your home a new program set to replace Architects with artificial intelligence by building entire floor plans with the click of a button but is it affordable and does it work our reporter puts that Tech to the test that's next welcome back tonight we're looking at a trend when it comes to home insurance tens of thousands of.

California residents are losing their policies after a major insurer told them they would not be renewed the problem is twofold not a lot of options out there less and less competition and this is happening in communities hit hard by natural disasters in States like Florida and California is your state next or David orria has more.

The devastation of wildfires in the western us extending well beyond these charred remains with people now losing the ability to insure their homes California residents are scrambling after 72,000 property insurance policies were dropped by the state's largest home insurer State Farm they pulled out of the state of California and there's.

Nothing we can do other than b Jill Osborne lives in Sona County while home was not destroyed in a fire it's one of thousands deemed high risk she feels blindsided after losing insurance they say like a good neighbor State Farm is here well they're certainly not here for US State Farm saying in part this decision was not.

Made lightly citing inflation catastrophe exposure reinsurance costs and the limitations of working within decades old insurance regulations as reasons for dropping the policies how close that is to the highway but for homeowners insurance is more vital now than ever as the threat of natural disaster grows there were more than.

7,000 wildfires in California in 2023 alone we are all struggling now with these very very severe weather events for which you really can't defend yourself and this isn't just a problem for Californians in Florida insurance premiums have soared as a number of major companies have pulled out of the state did you didn't write it out here.

Did you or did you in the aftermath of August's hurricane Adalia our Gabe Gutierrez spoke to one Florida resident who saw her home insurance rate Double Y I'm still paying it cuz you get nervous not to rates remain high but relief for Florida home owners could be on the way as state Regulators announced last week that eight new insurance companies will.

Enter the market but back in California the newly uninsured are reeling as Wildfire season looms we should not be living in fear during fire SE season every year we need to have confidence in our infrastructure and that is simply what we don't have right now David Nora joins us tonight from Los Angeles so David what are the.

State governments doing the governors of Florida or California to help their residents with this insurance problem yeah Tom so both states have what's called an insurer of Last Resort which is an insurance plan that to varying degrees is backed by the state the problem is that in both California and Florida those plans are pretty old.

And they're struggling to catch up with fast growing demand here in California that's called the fair plan it's actually a private plan but it is created by law by the state and agents are saying that it takes hours to even just get someone there on the phone and if you do get to sign up it's super expensive it usually only covers one.

Thing which in California often means fires and you know it doesn't actually get you that far this situation is backing a lot of homeowners into a corner to the point where they have no choice but to consider actually just selling their homes Tom and then you know I have to ask you the issues with extreme weather and climate change have.

Gotten so dire if you think about this some companies they don't want to even enter the insurance Market Market which is very bizarre in a country that thrives on capitalism you know you have competition in every industry but it seems to be limited now when it comes to home insurance in some states yeah that is a huge part of.

What's driving this and remember to Tom that what's happening in California with the largest home insurer pretty much backing out of the state saying it's not going to sign any new policies non-renewing tens of thousands of policies as you saw that's just the most extreme version of this in a lot of States this just man ests his premiums.

Going way way up for example in Louisiana and other parts of the southeast that are at risk of uh you know increased hurricanes and have increased severity because of climate change this is causing really structural changes to this Market that we're just beginning to understand Tom David Nora from our Los Angeles Bureau we thank you.

For that now to the new wave of home design that is using AI one company using the technology to create your dream home in just seconds they say it lowers the cost when it comes to traditional home construction cnbc's senior real estate correspondent Diana olik shows us how it's done and what it could mean for the entire industry.

Houses today are the product of design work done by Architects oh I like the second one but this artificial intelligence program is looking to disrupt the industry meet Vitruvius it's the brainchild of Jason Ballard CEO of Icon a robotic construction company that brought the first 3D printed Community to Austin.

Texas the big vision of vvus is to go all the way from Human desire all the way through delivery so like construction documents budgets schedules even robotic instructions the program already lets you design a home with detailed floor plans the future Ballard says will include electrical structural plumbing and mechanical in delivered.

Plans all to make the usually pricey process cheaper and faster I'd like a log cabin style vacation ski home Vitruvius asks you questions and learns from your answers incorporating Knowledge from every design it's ever seen I'd like an open floor plan for family events I tried it out with Ballard's help it's got the fireplace in.

Your bedroom as you have asked um and it's a traditional Log Cabin style as you have asked text prompts this looks expensive can you make the home more affordable lead to nearly instant renderings the kitchen's smaller I see everything is smaller everything's a little more big basic Architects aren't going to love you very.

Much I have no doubt that tools like this are going to change the way that we do things Michael browick has been an architect in the DC area for roughly 30 years it certainly is a disruptor and it certainly will arrange and rearrange Staffing and productivity and and how and who does what he said he sees AI taking over some basic areas.

Like restrooms and stairways in offices or hotels but not everything regulation wise one would still need an architect browick says he's also concerned AI will stifle creativity because while it may have ingested millions of designs from the past AI won't have a real architect's eye for the future Tom all right when we come back one Oklahoma.

Family's unexpected pet or pets we should say a 9-year-old becoming the owner of an octopus documenting The Incredible Journey on Tik Tok but just when he thought his pet Terry was near during the end of her life he got not just one surprise but 50 of them we're going to explain the story.

Next finally tonight one Oklahoma family's unlikely choice for a first pet has captured the undivided attention of hundreds of thousands online the Cliffords had planned to get their 9-year-old son just one octopus but in an unexpected twist the family is now managing an entire octopus Nursery Steven Romo.

Explains how to buy an octopus 101 9-year-old Cal Clifford's dream was to have his very own pet octopus they just are so cool because they have eight arms um nine brains lucky for him his parents were into it he was extremely persistent so he had asked for one for you know like every birthday for like seven years and as it turns out so was.

Much of Tik Tock there very hard to take care of the family from Suburban Oklahoma documenting the full process of seapod ownership on social media their videos getting tens of thousands of likes but it was no easy task preparing the tank water alone took over 8 weeks octopus tanks require special equipment to keep them healthy yeah it was a lot.

Of trial and error and and just eventually figuring it out and finally the big day a California 2 spot also known as as a BAC and lovingly named Terrence or Terry for short arrived at her forever home no no she would just swim up like attack the glass and I put my hand in there and she would just like clasp on but after.

Just two months Terrence had been acting strange she laid eggs which experts say is a bitter sweet turn of events when they hatch that is essentially the end of her life the family preparing to say their goodbyes until one night dad noticed something weird then having a hatch in your hand and then seeing it swim across kind of your line of sight.

Is one of the craziest things the Cliffords who have no prior octopus experience and who live nowhere near an ocean finding themselves responsible for Terry and 50 hatchlings taking care of just one is a challenge personally I would not keep an octopus at home for a pet like I keep octopus is at work it takes a lot of work each little octopus.

Getting a puny name like JC or ciance and requiring its own handcrafted container we've just gained a greater appreciation for what an amazing animal it is it's been fun to kind of do it here at home but definitely don't recommend it to anyone so so far half have survived the Cliffords taking it all in.

Stride she right here yeah she's do you want to see her see her back there so our plan is to to find suitable professional homes that can take care of them and we you know are prepared to take care of as many as we can and with that step Romo joins us in studio so Stephen I we heard there from.

The dad at the end of your report so that they're having a little bit of problem because they have now all these baby octopuses and they have nowhere to to put them uh they're looking for parents who want to adopt them but it's hard because they live in Oklahoma yeah exactly there's not an ocean nearby that they can go to a coastal city so they're.

Asking sanctuaries other zoos anybody to come and help them out they're looking for that right now A lot of people are saying just to try to find a way to transport them to the ocean but experts say that's not really recommended because they could have pathogens that would be exposed to their natural habitat so they're really counting on.

Someone stepping up and helping them out I'm sure after this report and all the attention they hopefully will find some people who want to adopt those those precious creatures because they are incredible I do want to ask you is this getting a lot of attention sort of in the marine biology Community because it is a miracle if you will yeah a lot of.

People asking marine biologists on Tik Tok specifically about this so they are commenting on it and giving feedback a lot of people not recommending adopting an octopus because you can see just how difficult it actually is takes a lot all right stepen Romo we appreciate that thank you for that and we thank you for watching top story I'm Tom yamas in New.

York stay right there more news on the way 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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