Nightly News Full Broadcast - April 18

Tonight, the

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12-person jury now selected in Donald Trump's hush money trial after two juries were dismissed, the judge stated that we have our jury after seating the 12 people who will decide the former president's fate, including an investment banker, a retired private wealth manager and a speech. therapist and the two jurors who were fired a nurse and an IT worker why they were excused our team in court also tonight the president of Columbia University asked the NYPD to arrest more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters a day after she testified before Congress about anti-Semitism protests on campus, the widespread 911 blackout in four states.

Millions of people unable to call for emergency help. The cause is now traced back to a single light pole. 18-year-old arrested in Maryland accused of threatening to shoot up schools. The chilling document of 129 pages and more. that led a friend to call the police the nearby situation at Reagan National Airport two planes almost collide on the runway the frantic call will be heard from the tower 15 members of RFK Jr's family sent him a harsh reprimand criticizing his presidential candidacy and endorsing President Biden Here NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, good evening and welcome. Trump's hush money trial appears to be moving toward opening statements tonight more quickly than many imagine, with 12 jurors now selected to hear the case and one of six alternate jurors also chosen late today.

The rapid formation of a jury panel came after the process appeared to suffer a serious setback when two previously selected jurors were dismissed from the case, one because of doubts about their ability to be impartial and the other because of an apparent lack of disclosure of your interactions with the law. The Manhattan jury will meet with Judge M to determine whether Trump illegally falsified business records as part of a scheme to hide money payments to a porn star with whom he allegedly had an affair, allegations he denies. Laura Jared has

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tonight. The

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12-person jury has now been sworn in in former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial after the day began with drama surrounding two dismissed jurors.

The full jury now includes an investment banker. Security engineer. Retired private wealth manager. Speech therapists. physiotherapists. someone in e-commerce and a product development manager is supposed to be in a lot of different places campaigning, but I've been here all day, in a trial that really is a very unfair trial. The whole world is watching this New York scam. Mr. Trump arrives this morning with seven sworn jurors. only to see that number quickly reduced to five after an oncology nurse who had said during questioning that no one was above the law I'm here just to hear the facts tell the judge today that she was worried she couldn't being impartial to Mr.

Trump and concerns that her identity would become public after loved ones discovered she had been a member of the other juror, an older IT consultant who had called the presumptive Republican nominee fascinating and mysterious. in court Tuesday, excused himself today after the prosecutor said he was arrested for tearing down conservatives. political ads decades ago and didn't disclose it in his jury questionnaire, but late today those additional jurors selected to serve, including an investment banker who said he follows Trump's truthful social posts and has seen quotes from his book The Art of the Agreement, but has not revealed it in his questionnaire for the jury.

I didn't read it, the retired private wealth manager who said he does yoga every morning and the speech therapist who said about Mr. Trump: I tend to disagree with a lot of his policies and his decisions as president, but he said that she can be impartial at any given time. The prospective juror even apologized to the former president for her past criticism of him on social media and was fired. Today's events underscore the challenges of seating a jury in deep blue Manhattan, where 85% of people voted for President Biden when the pool of 96 potential jurors was This morning I asked them if they could be impartial in judging the probable Republican candidate.

Almost 50 hands went up saying they couldn't and they were fired. The cat was among them. I couldn't be impartial. It is a historic case and you know that this is going to define many. things, um, but at the same time our job as a jury is to be impartial. Mr. Trump talks about the jury selection process and writes that he was given the second worst jury selection in the country. He is accused of altering his internal business records to conceal a refund payment. to Michael Cohen, who allegedly paid Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election so she couldn't go public with an affair.

Mr. Trump denies any sexual relationship with Daniels and has pleaded not guilty and Laura, the jury is made up of seven men and five women and there was no alternate selected today, that's right, Lester, an alternate selected five more to go, but One of the most notable moments occurred at the end of the day when the prosecution said it would not release the names of the first three witnesses it plans to call. Calling in this trial is something that is routinely done so the defense can prepare, but the prosecution here Lester says that they are very concerned that Mr.

Trump will say something about them on social media and the judge in this case agreed. Lester is fine, Laura, thank you. Now let's move on to a stunning scene at Columbia University in New York today police in riot gear moving to clear a camp of students protesting the war in Gaza dozens arrested Tonia Hilton is she there? Antonio describes the scene for us Lester at this time press They are not allowed on campus, so what you are seeing here are protests that have spread to the public streets. Protests that, as you can see, seem to be far from excessive confrontation in Colombia today.

Police remove protesters from campus citing extraordinary circumstances. President of Columbia University. Manu Shafi asked the NYPD to clear an encampment of pro-Palestinian student protesters that was set up Wednesday morning the same day Shafi testified at the Capitol about anti-Semitism on campus. We must defend freedom of expression because it is essential to our academic mission, but we cannot and should not tolerate the abuse of this privilege to harass, hate, and discriminate in a letter to the university community. Shafik noted that the protests have a storied history in Colombia, where anti-Vietnam protesters took over campus buildings in 1968, but in calling for help from the police, he said the encampment and related unrest pose a clear and present danger to the operation. substantial of the University.

We are risking our academic standing just to show administrators that we do not agree with their decisions. Several protesters today trample on an Israeli Flag some students say they feel unsafe on campus I feel like people are arming anti-Semitism protesters by telling us they plan to continue their protest despite the police presence Do you feel like this administration has taken drastic measures against students and faculty members free speech 100% yes I believe the mayor of New York City tonight said police made more than 100 arrests on a severely divided campus Antonia Hilton NBC News New York the government is investigating why critical 911 centers in several states were taken offline experts say it exposes a critical national security vulnerability here's Tom Castello breaking in this afternoon Honolulu police report a brief 911 outage in the city after more outages Wednesday by the night on the continent.

You may have difficulty communicating with us internally. We are also having difficulty receiving calls to 911. 600 p. m. central time, multiple 911 centers were suddenly cut off in parts of four states South Dakota Nebraska Nevada and Texas multiple call centers issued Emer alerts telling locals to use their cell phones or send text messages to call for help, as far as we know , we have never experienced an outage of this magnitude or duration today phone service provider Lum and Technologies blamed three state outages on a severed fiber line due to an outside company installing a light pole writing we restored all services in approximately 2 hours and a half we are dealing with 911 in last century's technology we are in the 21st century we must ensure our 911 systems are current technology, while an isolated event experts say the disruption underscores an urgent concern 911 what is yes, just the emergency?

US Cyber ​​Security has warned that hackers want to exploit vulnerabilities to disrupt or degrade the 911 service. At risk sensitive data that could impact emergency response capabilities if someone is injured and ransomware attacks on the 911 centers, including Bucks County, Pennsylvania, forced dispatchers to revert to manual systems in 2017, 911 centers and more than a dozen states are now paralyzed amid heightened global tensions and a looming election device here at home, concerned that critical emergency communications could be easily undermined Chris Krebs is the former head of cybersecurity for the federal government, the Homeland, as we say, is no longer a sanctuary, so we really need to build in resilience measures of cybersecurity in every business plan in every operational plan Tom Costello NBC News Washington Maryland teen is under arrest accused of threatening mass violence Yamisha Sor reports on how a friend raised red flags tonight Alex Ye, 18, is arrested after Maryland police say he threatened to shoot up his high school, all detailed in a 129-page memoir that discussed the murder of students.

He shared the document with a friend, but said it was a work of fiction according to charging documents. That friend called Baltimore County police because he believed a school shooting was imminent. I'm worried because now I don't know what to think. I don't know who in this school is going through something that he may not see. You had been attending high school virtually since 2022 and recently spent time in a psychiatric facility. Due to suicidal and homicidal thoughts, according to the police, in the Memoirs he detailed how he did it and who would be his ideal victims.

The document opens by saying that it is a work of fiction, but your friend told the police that the main character in the book reflected you in many ways. They were both Asian and felt intimidated by other students. Authorities detailed other red flags that led to the misdemeanor charge, including medical officials who previously reported that you were concerned about school shootings and explosives in Haring. Authorities say Ye's Instagram chat logs also made reference to wanting to be famous. serial killer, while Ye's only firearm was a BB gun, police said his Internet searches included shooting ranges near me and searches about school shootings, including Sandy Hooked and the father of Parkland Y He told police that he was not concerned about his son's mental health status and that he knew he was writing what he called a novel.

He is currently in custody awaiting a bail hearing. Lester, okay, thank you, let's move on. 2024 presidential campaign, today prominent members of the Kennedy family support President Biden despite Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running against him Gade Gutierrez reports today with his opponent trapped in court President Biden in the attack on Battleground Pennsylvania the 2024 elections about two fundamentally different visions for America Donald Trump's vision is one of anger, hatred, revenge and retribution, the campaign touting the endorsement of 15 members of the Kennedy family, even though one of the his, Robert F Kennedy Jr, is running against him as an independent, the best way forward for America is to re-elect Joe Biden and KLA Harris for four more years, responding to his family's support of his opponent today.

RFK Jr posted on social media We are divided in our opinions, but united in our love for each other, the environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist first ran as a Democrat, now Kennedy's independent campaign is polling over 10% in some key states where Biden is also behind Trump. Democrats are aggressively attacking third-party candidates such as those they see as a threat to there-election of President Biden. People involved told NBC News, though it's unclear which candidate, President Biden or former President Trump, would lose more votes to RFK Jr. Kennedy told this to NBC's Von Hilard in February. I hope to get equal numbers from both.

I think at this point I'm probably getting more from President Trump. A source familiar with Biden's campaign planning says the Kennedy family endorsement was months in the making — notably, they didn't mention RFK Junior. name once in today's event Lester in 60 seconds urgent calls from control tower 2937 stop while two planes on a collision course avoid colliding with each other with little time to spare return now with the terrifying approach at Reagan National Airport near Washington DC two planes almost colliding on runway Emily Aenon now on what went wrong a scary moment today on one of America's busiest runways stop Southwest 2937 stop an air traffic controller frantically telling a Southwest plane to stop we stopped we were cleared to cross the runway after we were Cleared to taxi across a runway at Reagan National in Washington DC when Runway C 4 was free for takeoff, a jet blue airplane was about to take off according to the FAA, but Suddenly they also told us to abort and we are at 15 a.m.

They say the planes arrived. less than 1,000 feet from each other, something went wrong, causing one controller to clear the plane for takeoff and another ground controller to clear Southwest Airlines to cross that same active runway, so it seems to me that's what the FAA calls an operational error. uh, involving an air traffic control issue after a series of near misses, an independent safety review found that overtime last year is at a historically high level for air traffic controllers and challenges, including staff shortages, have caused an erosion of safety margins that must be urgently addressed tonight. FAA reports serious runway incursions trending down 937 stops from latest scare, both airlines say they are working closely with federal investigators to determine what went wrong Emily ietta NBC News and the upcoming pollen seasonWhat It's not your imagination that's causing a spring that makes so many allergy sufferers cry, as many allergy seasons are actually getting worse and Thompson explains why and what you can do about it.

This is where David Gitler loves being outdoors playing sports, but it gets worse for him. Allergies make even school difficult for the 8 year old, his eyes are really bloodshot, he feels so uncomfortable that we have left him at home. Hi, David Trend allergist Alyssa Hirs works at her clinic on Long Island, New York, and she told me that your eyes are itchy and watery, yes, more patients are coming in now with severe allergy symptoms. They come sneezing congested at the University of Michigan. Allison Steiner is installing a pollen counter to track the trend driven by climate change.

Climate change is causing pollen to increase. is increasing both the magnitude of pollen and the length of the pollen season this is an example of a birch pollen grain Steiner says the pollen season is already 20 days longer and concentrations have increased by 21% and storms severe in a changing environment The climate breaks down pollen into smaller pieces that penetrate deep into the body, while large pollen grains are stopped by the upper respiratory system. Smaller particles can reach the lungs and cause more difficulty breathing. This is common ragweed on Columbia pollen grains. Lewis Zisa sees more protein, another sign of trouble for allergy sufferers.

If there is more of that foreign substance, then you will show a stronger response. Proteins make pollen more potent times the carbon dioxide that fuels climate change. Carbon dioxide is changing the chemistry of pollen, yes, exactly to keep pollen out, doctors recommend removing your shoes before entering, washing your hands and face, and cleaning your glasses and sunglasses from your phone. David Gitler uses a medicine tray to cope, as his mother worries his allergies will get worse. Me because I see how much he suffers every year with no relief in sight. Good job. Thompson NBC News New York and that's Nightly News join us tomorrow for our interview with the Foreign Minister of Iran.

Thanks for staying tuned everyone. I'm Lester H, please. take care of yourselves and others thanks for watching, stay up to date with the latest

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