Nightly News Full Broadcast - Feb. 21

tonight the largest hospital in Alabama pausing IVF treatments after a controversial Court ruling on Frozen embryos the University of Alabama at Birmingham hospital suspending IVF treatments after the state Supreme Court ruled that Frozen embryos are children the hospital saying they fear criminal charges or lawsuits also tonight the brother of President Biden testifying in the house gop's impeachment inquiry what he told them as prosecutors say a former FBI informant admitted the lies he spread

about the bidens came from Russia just in the US Sailor on an American warship charged with spying what we've learned the passengers on an American Airlines flight restraining a man with duct tape after they say he tried to open an emergency exit in midair the mudslide shutting down part of the Pacific Coast Highway after days of rain also multi-million doll homes teetering on the edge the first trial under your way in the deadly shooting on the set of rust the movie's armorer in court Rising c

oncerns about measles in the US six cases at just one school how is it spreading and the time of their lives two clock maker Brothers looking for a new home for their cuckoo collection this is NBC Nightly News with Lester Hol good evening and welcome there is new Fallout from that major Alabama Supreme Court ruling which found Frozen embryos created through invitro fertilization are children and fall out of the state's wrongful death of a minor act and now tonight an Alabama Fertility Center has

decided to push pause on its IVF treatments leaving patients in limbo as it weighs The Wider impact of the Court's decision in a statement the University of Alabama birmingham's Health System citing the potential that patients and Physicians could be prosecuted Criminal the Court's decision has left many questioning the legal risk of storing unused embryos senior legal correspondent Laura Jared has details questions confusion and mounting frustration tonight in Alabama as the state's largest ho

spital swiftly halts all IVF procedures just days after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled Frozen embryos must be treated as children meaning people can be sued for destroying them the University of Alabama at Birmingham saying today it's saddened that it must stop all IVF as it evaluates the potential that our patients and Physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care my rage knows no bounds Abby crane a patient at UAB with frozen embryos she

hopes to use soon first saw the news on Instagram but has heard nothing from the hospital I just want to be a mom and it's while to me that the state that I've called home has more say over that than I do right now the court decision leaving doctors in a legal bind given that Frozen embryos with genetic abnormalities are routinely discarded before implantation as part of fertility treatments so that patients avoid miscarriages or other complications I anticipate hearing from my doctor soon but

I have no clue what that's going to look like I have no clue if it means that I need to move to another state in order to have children I mean it could be anything the decision reaching far beyond Alabama tonight Nikki Haley telling NBC news as Ali Vitali she agrees with the court I mean embryos to me are babies but back in Birmingham uncertainty Megan Cole's surrogate is scheduled for implantation with a frozen embryo this Friday my husband and I want a child desperately for now she can only wa

it to hear if her Fertility clinic will go forward with the procedure I just hate not knowing and that's kind of what this opinion has caused it's caused a lot of people to be in limbo um which is unfair Laura do you get the sense other clinics and hospitals may follow suit here and halt IVF treatments well Lester we called around to several clinics today to try to find out what's the plan what's the path forward and no one seemed to have a clear answer even though this decision came out last we

ek they still seem very much trying to evaluate their next steps Lester all right Laura thank you in Washington president President Biden's brother James Biden was questioned by the Republican controlled house oversight committee today on whether the president was involved in his brother's business deals Ryan Noble is at the capital what did James Biden have to say today well Lester James Biden told the house committee's investigating President Joe Biden that his brother did not have any direct

or indirect involvement in any of his work this despite Republican claims that James Biden was using his connections to his brother to drum up business now those same House Republicans today are brushing off concerns around the indictment of former FBI informant Alexander smof who claimed that Biden was involved in a bribery scheme involving his son's businesses the special councel David Weiss has accused smof of lying to the FBI and also being involved with a Russian intelligence official now t

hat indictment enough for Democrats say to say that it is time for the impeachment inquiry to come to an end Republicans though are rejecting that push Lester Ryan Nobles thank you just in tonight a US serviceman accused of spying according to documents a Navy sailor assigned to a US warship based in Japan is charged with Espionage and communicating defense information to a foreign citizen chief petty officer fire controlman Bryce Pini was charged last May and was expected to face Court Marshal

today in Southern California the rains have stopped and for now states of emergency remain in some places and Coast erosion is heightening the threat to homes Liz CZ is there for us tonight tonight California still on high alert following the latest wave of severe weather in Malibu this morning a massive mudslide shutting down the Pacific Coast Highway during the rush hour commute Rancho palis veres now declaring a state of emergency the Relentless rain saturating the soil accelerating the alrea

dy moving land causing damage to homes streets and water Ms this land out here has moved up to 7 ft in the past 15 months 3 to 4T in just the last 3 months and this right here this is the impact these massive cracks in the Earth this popular Scenic Trail getting washed away along the coast massive homes teetering on the cliffs and then I looked up and I was like wow that all came tumbling down according to the USGS with sea levels Rising Southern California could lose up to 2/3 of its beaches by

2100 where we GE Mike FS says there's no Bluff in California spared from this intensifying weather what do these storms do to our coasts they cause a lot of erosion it literally is like a hammer chipping away it kind of is the the waves are powerful and don't mess with the ocean cities already making drastic changes in San Diego plans are underway to move the delmare train tracks now considered too close to the coast and near Santa Barbara where a collapsing Cliff recently forced residents to e

vacuate their homes at this Prime Seaside location several buildings are being rebuilt further from the shore would you buy a home here on the coast probably not not necessarily um just because I don't know where it's going to be 100 years from now an unknown future with our changing climate LZ CZ NBC News Los Angeles the first trial and the deadly shooting on the set of rust getting underway today the movie's armorer faces up to 3 years in prison if prosecutors prove she was responsible for the

lethal round in Alec Baldwin's prop gun here's Chloe Mass jury selection has started in the criminal trial of Russ film armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed Gutierrez Reed who was responsible for the film's weapons is on trial for involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence for allegedly handing off a bag of cocaine to a friend after the shooting you can't believe Alex bwin was holding the gun it's been over two years since the deadly shooting when actor Alec Balwin fired a prop gun loaded wi

th live ammunition killing cinematographer Helena Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza well I didn't pull the trigger someone is responsible for what happened and I can't say who that is but I know it's not me Alec Balwin will stand trial this summer after a grand jury indicted him on one count of involuntary manslaughter he is pleaded not guilty so here's the box that I got them out of Gutierrez Reeds attorney telling NBC News she is ready for her day in court and looks forward to the full

truth finally coming out out she is not guilty of the crimes charged against her evidence presented at trial could include video exclusively obtained by NBC News in November step back to your original Mark as well as text messages prosecutors say show Gutierrez Reed was using alcohol and drugs after work including the night before the fatal shooting if convicted Gutierrez Reed faces 3 years in prison All Eyes now on whether Reed herself will take the stand in her own defense tonight her attorne

ys are not commenting but we expect the trial to take about two weeks Lester all right Chloe thank you a scared today aboard an American Airlines flight passengers on a flight from Albuquerque to Chicago restrained a man after he apparently tried to open an emergency exit passengers recording it all on their phones the passengers held the man down until the plane returned to Albuquerque he was arrested when the plane landed now to the race for 2024 in an issue Democrats hope drives voters to the

polls abortion rights and now some Republicans after suffering losses on abortion since the fall of roie Wade are taking a softer stance here's Stephanie gos West Point grad and purple heart recipient Sam Brown will most likely be the Republican candidate for Senate in swing state Nevada the Democrats are already attacking but extremists like Sam Brown have fought to strip away women's rights in an interview with NBC news's Natasha kki Brown clarifying where stands on abortion I would not suppo

rt a federal abortion ban in Nevada abortion is legal up to 24 weeks I'm not here to try and change anything about uh our existing law his position shaped he says by his wife's experience I just felt like I was all by myself processing this major event all by myself in 2008 at age 24 former Army Lieutenant Amy Brown got an abortion a decision she now regrets that she says left her shattered soon after she met Sam he's helped me process it with compassion and with empathy the former Army Captain

suffered severe burns from an IED in Afghanistan Amy was his dietitian helping him recover while at the same time she says he was helping her women should always feel loved supported um part of that support is is is is knowing that there are other options Beyond uh abortion Brown like most Republicans supports the overturning of roie Wade which has become a major political Challenge and is largely to blame for the party's lackluster midterm results now abortion is front and center again in this

election we need to make sure that we're caring for women during pregnancy and after pregnancy Republicans in some places changing the message Stephanie GS NBC news in 60 seconds the measles outbreak at a Florida Elementary School how the district is trying to stop the spread and what parents need to [Music] know we're back now with growing concern in Florida about a measles outbreak that has made at least six Elementary School students sick Sam Brock reports on how the district is trying to sto

p the spread thank you for being here staff thank you so much class is in session at manate Bay Elementary in South Florida after a cluster of measles cases here six in less than a week has fanned concern for some parents right now I'm not sending my 10-year-old to school so I'm keeping her at home we stepped up the hand washing and this and that and uh we're just doing our best to cope Broward County Superintendent Dr Peter Lata today at a monthly school board meeting the health department is c

urrently at the school until 6:00 p.m. today offering vaccine opportuni Lata says the district is taking action to safeguard families we're doing deep cleaning we're cleaning our buses we've replaced all the air filters we've done everything we can physically to make the difference Nationwide the new year has swept in more than two dozen cases of measles Lata says 97% of manate Bay Elementary students have received at least one shot of the vaccine but pediatrician Dr Jack ores explains that Brow

ard county is at higher risk for cases because of all the international Travelers plus vaccine exemptions for religious or health reasons are rising are you surprised to see measles reemerging in 2024 I'm very surprised to see it reemerging because it's something that's completely preventable and it's only those people who refuse to immunize that are really bringing us back to the United States while families at Manatee Bay doing whatever they can to protect themselves we're trying to keep calm

right just so not to add to any potential hysteria Sam Brock NBC News Broward County Florida and up next the troubled Osprey military aircraft after a series of deadly crashes why families of the Fallen are concerned about putting it back in the air too soon our investigation is next back now with our NBC News investigation the US military is weighing the future of the Osprey Aircraft after another deadly crash last year but one marine family who lost a son aboard an osprey worries they are not

safe to fly here's Courtney QB tonight defense officials are zeroing in on the cause of the most recent deadly Osprey crash adding to the likelihood that the aircraft could be back in the air within weeks but Wayland and Michelle Strickland the parents of Lance corporal Evan Strickland worry this is too soon he was just 13 years old when he saw his first Osprey he was hooked that was his first time ever seeing like an osprey up close um he was in he was fascinated by it he was yeah he was just o

ver the moon about him almost like like a Transformer the Osprey can take off as a helicopter but then turn into an airplane getting troops to the battlefield quickly I got a picture of him where he was sitting in the cockpit that was actually just in front of the position where he was when he passed Evan joined the military working on Osprey Cruise in June 2022 he was on an osprey over California when investigators say it experienced what's called A Hard clutch engagement when the clutch releas

es and suddenly re-engages so at that point they lost control like and it the and the aircraft fell just like a rock yeah I say just a rock no one survived the crash it was Evan's first Osprey flight as a crew chief he was 19 years old after the crash the military said they were 99% sure they had fix the problem there have been no clutch failures since January 2023 but they still can't say for sure why it happened in the first place you can't fix something if you don't know truly what's causing

it and so that's the worry and the concern we just want it fixed evans's casket was escorted by a marine honor guard that included one of his best friends Corporal Spencer CER I had received a a text um saying there had been a mishap in Australia just 14 months after he was there at Evans Funeral CER was killed when the Osprey he was in also crashed in Australia I'm like no no no you know your heart just sinks and I remember shaken kind of showing you the phone like no this can't be and it happe

ned again in November in Japan eight more American Service members killed in another Osprey crash the investigation in that crash focusing on an added concern the prop rotor gearbox that connects the engines to the rotors in the last 2 years four crashes have taken the lives of 20 service members and Military data shows the number of serious Aviation incidents known as Class A mishaps are on the rise for the Osprey in the last two years there were 11 incidents compared to just two in the previou

s two years I don't know anyone that doesn't know somebody that's passed away in an osprey crash this former military aviation mechanic worked on the Osprey for decades he fears repercussions for speaking out we protected his identity including using another voice in place of his they need to be doing more to prevent this stuff and to be more transparent would you go up in an osprey today no he says they also felt pressure to get the aircraft back in the air quickly you're trying to reach these

benchmarks that are really hard to get to so there's a lot of perceived pressure that ends up turning this into actual pressure in December the Pentagon took the rare step of grounding its entire fleet of Ospreys but NBC News has learned there are still Ospreys flying in jibuti and okanawa for operational necessity does the Pentagon think it's safe to put Ospreys back up in the air before you determine what caused the crash I think um we'll leave it to the services to determine when it's best fo

r those Ospreys uh to be relieved of that standown order but right now they're still not flying at this time the Pentagon sent us a statement saying in part the safety of our air Crews is of utmost importance and we recognize the critical role the v22 plays in our nation's defense and are dedicated to safeguarding the well-being of our Personnel meanwhile Wayland and Michelle Strickland say they'll keep demanding answers because that's what Evan would have wanted our son if he knew this was goin

g to happen and it would lead to some kind of change to protect his brothers and keep them safe he'd do it again we reached out to the Osprey manufacturer Bel Textron and they gave us this statement quote our thoughts are with those who were lost in these incidents along with their families friends and loved ones we are steadfast in our commitment to safety and are fully supporting the investigation Lester all right Courtney cuby tonight thank you coming up how time is ticking away for a most un

usual collection that's next finally two brothers were a oneof a kind collection that just maybe could be yours if you had the space and the time here's Molly Hunter arriving in cucko land hello hello wow Cuckoo Land is an immersive experience the cacophony of chicking ringing and as promised hundreds and hundreds of [Music] cuckoo it's over oh there it is more than 700 cuckoo clocks it's believed to be the biggest collection in the world and belongs to British Brothers ma 69 years old the exper

t clock repairman I've been doing it nearly 50 years and we're learning every day and Roman 71 the frontman of sorts we eat sleep and live cucko clocks the brothers unmarried with no children started as clock makers at age 15 then came the first purchase we bought that many years ago and we paid 70 for it and then it's spiral and now as time flies the pair want to pass their collection to the Next Generation so your ideal candidate is younger yes has the money and the knowledge I would love it t

o go to a family and it could continue in that family most importantly someone who wouldn't break it up what we're looking for is somewhere for the collection to go where it can be looked after for all time if this is you the clock is ticket Molly Hunter NBC News nutsford England I think that sound means our time is up that's Nightly News for this Wednesday thank you for watching everyone I'm Lester Holt please take care of yourself and each other good night thanks for watching stay updated abou

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