Imagine you are at home at your house with your kids, and all of a sudden, they can't breathe, or somebody is trying to break in the backyard. You grab your phone, you dial 911, and you hear this. You may have difficulty reaching us internally. We're having difficulty receiving 911 calls as well. That was a reality for people in not just one or two, but five states today. I'm Gatti Schwartz, and this Stay tuned now. Man, tonight, we still don't know exactly how many 911 calls were unable to go through, But right now we are being told the outages which disrupted 911 calls in Nevada, in Texas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Hawaii are now restored. All of it sending law enforcement officials scrambling for answers earlier today, as the FCC chairman says a full investigation will be launched. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for a company called Lumen Technologies, which handles cloud services for 911 systems, says the outages in a few of those states was caused by, get this, a single light pole being installed and a line cut by a different company. Now, let's bring in NBC news correspondent, Priscilla Thompson, to give us an update on all these outages, Priscilla.

These four states, and then Hawaii, are very far away from each other. Are they all using the same systems here? How does this happen? Yeah, Gatti. So some of them are. We know that three of those states, Nevada, South Dakota, and Nebraska, were all using Lumen technologies. And that is the company that confirmed that there were outages to customers in those states because a third-party company, they say, had cut a fiber. And so that's what caused that. And as for the outage here in Texas, officials in Del Rio say that it may have been caused by a T-Mobile outage, that it wasn't an issue on any systems on their end. And Lumen technology saying that they don't provide those services here in Texas. Got it? If you do get into a situation like this where you're calling 911 and I don't know, you're going to this, it's not voicemail, but some recording like this and you're terrified, what do you do? Yeah. So a lot of people were still able to get through by texting and officials say, calling on an open line. Officials also sent out alerts and were able to send out alerts to a lot of people's cell phones, warning them, but certainly scary stuff.

But to give you a bit of perspective, officials in Sioux Falls police there say that they were able to receive about 112 calls for service during that two and a half hour outage. And then on a typical day when all of their systems are running at full capacity, they would have received around 114 calls. So it's unclear how much of an impact it had in places like that. But certainly for people who are dealing with an emergency and having trouble getting through to 911, definitely some very scary stuff. Got it. What does this say about the infrastructure? I mean, does it seem like this... I mean, could it have been a cyber attack? I know that they're blaming a light bulb, blaming possibly a T-Mobile outage. But as this going on. There were a lot of people talking online that this looked like a cyber attack or some a hack. Have we completely ruled that out? Yeah. To be clear, we have seen some cyber attacks on 911 centers in recent months and years. But law enforcement officials say that that was not the case here. They don't believe it was a cyber attack or any malicious act here.

And in fact, they said that these things happen more often than people realize, and that almost Almost 100% of the time it is tied to some technical glitch or technology glitch. But at the same time, you have a lot of folks who are speaking up today saying that this could be a national security issue, and it's certainly something that we need to look at in terms of updating our systems because it's a huge problem that something like this was able to happen, even if it is just a technical glitch and not perhaps something more malicious. Gadi? Yes, it seems like technical glitches should not be an issue when you're talking about seconds being the matter of life and death. Priscilla, thanks so much for joining us. Yeah. And as the world waits to see how Israel will counter-attack Iran, the US has slapped new sanctions on the Iranian regime targeting its missile and drone program. Now, these sanctions come as the Middle East has been on edge about Israel's response to Iran's strikes earlier this week. Meanwhile, the Israeli-Iran tensions have refocused attention to Israel's border with Lebanon, where Iran's ally Hezbollah and Israel are also also engaging in cross-border fighting.

Nbc's Matt Bradley sat down with one Hezbollah leader who says that he thinks that Israel is scared and confused. Matt? So this interview with Naim Kassim, the second in command of Hezbollah, it was both rare and extremely timely, because right now, the entire Middle East is waiting to see what Israel does in response to that volley of missiles and drones, about 300 of them, that were fired by the Iranians at Israel on Saturday night. And so this entire region is on tenterhooks. Hezbollah, which this man, Naim Kassim, leads and second in command, could become very much in the crosshairs of whatever Israel does When or if it decides to respond militarily, we asked him exactly what he might expect from an Israeli response and whether or not he and his massive army of foot soldiers was frightened. Here's what he said. What are you expecting Israel's attack to be?. Do you think Israel doesn't have a plan right now? Do you think they're scared? 100 %. They didn't expect to return to Iran.. You can chalk those comments up to bluster or bravado. But at the same time, he was very clear throughout his interview that Hezbollah and their main patrons, Iran, were willing to set aside their escalation, that they were going to try to hue to some subdued engagement, as long as Israel didn't escalate first.

And now, again, we're waiting to hear what Israel does, and that could put Hezbollah and Iran, and really the entire Middle East region in the crosshairs. It could really kill quite a few people because we're talking about several different countries, several different groups supported by the Iranians that will be fighting all against each other. This would be a humanitarian disaster. Bradley, I appreciate your reporting there. A big story to tell you that's happening right now, right here in Southern California, and it is causing this huge uproar after USA canceled a graduation speech by a pro-Palestinian, Baldevictorian. Take a look. We are joined together to Let Her Speak. Let Her Speak. Hundreds of people there took to the streets, took to campus to demand that Muslim American Asna Tabhassam be allowed to speak at commencement in honor. She was given just a few weeks back. Since then, claims started coming out saying that Asna was connected connected to anti-Semitic posts on social media. The university quickly canceled the speech altogether, cite security concerns. But a lot of people, including Asna, are not buying it. Nbc news correspondence, Steve Patterson, joins us now. Steve, so much emotion on the ground there today?

What happened? What are students saying? Here's the brilliant thing about the demonstrations that we saw today. Besides what you just played, which is obviously people saying, Let her speak, while the actual motion of the demonstrations were happening, about 200 to 300 people marching out beyond Tommy Trojan and the iconic campus. They said nothing. They were silent. That is so powerful because they're obviously responding to what they feel happened to Asna, that she was silenced. They do this loop. It's about an hour or so with absolutely no talking. You can see some of the video, a lot of them wearing hoodies. That's what they were instructed to do. They were instructed not to talk to the media, not to say anything to anybody in protest. I think that was a pretty powerful display of how they feel on campus. Got it. It feels like the decision to cancel this speech has just caused this uproar, made almost like a mountain out of something that may or may not have resulted in the similar issue that we're seeing right now. What's the blowback? You have to wonder, Gatti. The university's reasoning has been from the very beginning, safety about concerns over being at the speech and making sure that their student body is safe.

You have to wonder, two your point, whether or not this has caused more harm than good. This will lead to maybe even more demonstrations during the day. The question is maybe, do they feel some remorse about it? Are they willing to maybe take this back because of all the blowback that they're getting, not just here, but really across the country, the answer appears to be no. Just a few moments ago, we got another statement from the university. They said, While the decision was difficult, it was necessary to maintain and prioritize the security of the UFC community during the coming weeks and to allow those attending commencement to focus on the celebration our graduates deserve. Nothing can take precedence over the safety of our community. It sounds like here that they are doubling down, not reversing course. What do we know about the posts that are allegedly at the center of all this? There's a couple of things. There's, first of all, focusing on Asna herself. Apparently, she had... Most of her social media is private. Her Instagram was public. On her Instagram, she had a link to a a pro-Palestinian website. The website doesn't appear to be super inflammatory, but apparently, some of these groups that were on campus found some things that they didn't like.

That is it. She hasn't really led any demonstrations as far as we know. She hasn't really been a part of the pro-Palestinian movement on campus. The second thing, though, is what the university is saying, that there are social media conversations around her being the commencement speaker, and in that, they're worried that the tenor of those conversations is getting violent. The problem, though, or maybe not even violent, just uproarious, right? The verbiage around it is a little too much for the university when they're concerned about safety. The problem is they haven't cited any specific instances. We've asked, our local Affiliate has asked, a number of reporting outlets have asked, Okay, you're saying that people are in danger. Can you point to a specific instance? Can you point to a post? Can you tell us where to find this? To our knowledge, that hasn't been done yet. I think that's where the anger is coming from. You can say, Okay, we're worried about safety. Then tell us what to worry about. What is the specific threat? If there is one, we don't know. Meanwhile, her face and name is out there everywhere. Steve Patterson, thanks so much.

Ukraine is still losing ground against Russia almost every day. Today, Ukrainian rescue crews finish searching for bodies after that missile attack in Chernyiv that killed 18 people and hurt 78 others yesterday. Ukraine's Prime Minister saying they are running out of bullets and artillery and the US's support. These difficulties which we have on the front line are connected only with lack of ammunition. So number one priority is artillery ammunition. We need support for yesterday, not for today or tomorrow for yesterday, and we hope that it will bring us immediately a sub-support from United States, and then we will have a chance to win this work. Okay. And then that brings us to a fight on Capitol Hill, which is like deja vu, House Republicans are arguing with each other once again about aid to Ukraine while threatening to give their latest speaker the boot also again. Speaker Johnson says he has decided to move forward with a vote on a $95 billion foreign aid package that would go towards helping Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, a move that is making some far-right Republicans very mad, including Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Green. Take a listen. The Republican speaker is hinging his entire ability to stay speaker on sending 60 more billion dollars to Ukraine.

I can't think of a worse betrayal ever to happen in United States history. All right, so NBC News. Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles joins us now. Ryan, What is all this infighting between Republicans boiled down to? I just heard her talking about 60 billion. Also, didn't we just see Johnson implying that the former President Trump has his back? What's going on? Yeah, Gatti, I think it's important to keep this in context. When we talk about Republican infighting, when it comes to the issue of Ukraine, there is a very small but very loud minority of the most far-right Republicans who are insistent that Ukraine aid never even come up for a vote. That's the important part of this, right? Never even come up for a vote. Why are they trying to block it from even coming up for a vote? Because it will pass overwhelmingly. They need to raise the stink at this stage of the debate because they know that if it gets to a vote, it will pass, and it will pass with a majority of both Republicans and Democrats. The most prominent Republicans all believe that this is a necessary step. Listen to what the Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McDonald, had to say about it on the Senate floor.

If you think the fall of Afghanistan was bad, the fall of a European capital like Kyiv to Russian troops will be unimaginably worse. And if stalled American assistance makes that outcome possible, there's no question when the blame, where the blame will land on us. And so, Gatti, it's important to keep in mind that this will likely become a reality, especially now that Speaker Johnson believes that this is a necessity, something that he's willing to stake his job on. And any other normal Congress where there is a Republican majority, there is a Democrat minority, the ability of just one or two members to try and threaten the speaker of the House just wouldn't exist because there would be enough of a cushion for that Republican leader to exert his power when it comes to the conference. Mike Johnson just doesn't have that. That's why he has to listen to even just a small group that are upset with one piece of legislation. This time around, he's decided to just go for it, whether or they come for his job or not. Ukraine has made it clear that they need the US's help yesterday. What happens with this aid package?

What are we going to see on day one? This is the timeline, Gadi. We're still waiting on the House to take its first procedural step, which will likely require Democratic help right out of the gate. But the speaker said that he's going to give his member 72 hours to review this legislation before they vote on it. We're looking at a vote, perhaps on Saturday. Once it passes through the House, it will then go to the Senate, and there'll be a process in the Senate as well. It could take several days in the Senate for a number of reasons. First, even one senator can slow down the process there, and there is likely going to be some Republican senators that do that. But we're also going to run into the Passover holiday, the Jewish holiday, of which there are many members who are observant. So it could be a scenario where we're looking perhaps the middle of next week when this legislation passes. If it goes along the route that we expect it to and then signed into law. As you rightly point out, that's probably later than Ukraine would like to have seen that aid, but it will allow them the opportunity to get these desperately needed resources as soon as possible, perhaps as soon as next weekend.

Sounds like it's going to be a very busy weekend this weekend. Ryan Nobles, thanks so much. And don't go anywhere. We are just getting started. Up next, a jury has been seated in the trial against Donald Trump, but it was a roller coaster of a process. Angela Sinindella will be here in a moment to help us break it down. Plus, a Maryland Teenager is under arrest tonight for allegedly planning a school shooting. We've got the details, including a very alarming manifesto. And later this hour, we're going to introduce you to a guy who is connecting people through nature and using the outdoors to create community in Los Angeles. That's all ahead. So stay tuned. I was able to take a step back and really understand that what really is going to fulfill me moving forward in my life is helping people find this attachment and relationship with nature. Hey, welcome back. Jury selection in Donald Trump's trial is moving right along, and we've got the latest developments for you in just a bit. But first, here's some other headlines we're watching tonight. More than a dozen members of the Kennedy family met up in Philadelphia today to formally endorse their pick for President, and it's not one of their own.

Nearly every single grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden. That's right. That's right. The Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for President. And opposed on X independent candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Said he was pleased to see that his siblings and family are politically active, even though they may be divided in their opinions. And a DA's office in Memphis is deciding not to proceed with a murder charge for a 17-year-old in the fatal shooting of a Memphis police officer. Officials say they have obtained information that shows the officer was killed by friendly fire. The 17-year-old is charged with attempted first-degree murder still and assault against a first responder. And a black inmate in Georgia has filed a federal lawsuit accusing a guard of choking him with a chain and making a racist comment. This follows the release of new surveillance video, and the suit says that three other officers, had a duty to intervene and stop the 2022 assault, but instead did nothing. A lawyer for the Guard who no longer works for the department said he had no comment beyond that lawsuit. Trader Joe's is recalling the brand Infinite Herbs Packaged Basal because of a Salmonilla outbreak.

There's been at least a dozen reports of people getting sick, and one person had to be hospitalized. The head of the company is urging people to check out their freezers and throw it out if they find it. And Dickey Betz, a guitarist and member of the Allman Brothers Band, has died. His manager telling Rolling Stone magazine, he died from cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Betz helped define the Southern rock genre of the '60s and '70s. He was 80 years old. And it is day three of Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York, and so far, it seems to have two speeds, either lightning fast or super slow-mo. And today we saw both. The entire 12-person jury has been seated, but this election was not without its twists and turns by this afternoon. The court had actually lost two of the jurors that were seated It on Tuesday, bringing the total down to five. But then after four o'clock in the afternoon, several, seven jurors, in fact, in one alternate were all selected. And next up is picking the five remaining alternates. That comes tomorrow. Joining us now is NBC News legal analyst Angela Sinindella.

Angie, thanks so much for being with us. So we know the jury is seven men, five women. What else do we know about them? So we know their professions. We know that we have attorneys, a banker, a wealth manager, a speech therapist. I mean, like a cosmopolitan view of Manhattan, I mean, there are a lot of professionals here. But beyond that, what I think is most interesting is that we also know there are members of this jury panel who actively dislike Trump and don't think he's necessarily a good person. So here the judge decided that that didn't matter. He was still going to allow these people to be a part of the jury, even if they didn't like his persona. And I think here that shows the judge's commitment to really move this trial along. There was so much concern here that this jury selection process could take weeks and could just stretch on. But he said that that was not enough of a reason to dismiss a juror. So at that point, we have people on this jury who have explicitly said that they don't like Trump, Gatti. So when it comes to those that were dismissed, the two jurors that were dismissed, that were seated, what happened there?

So both for different reasons, one per that juror's request herself and the other per the prosecutor's request. So The first one went to the judge and said that she didn't necessarily feel safe. There was a security risk because she felt that parts of her identity were already leaked. And at that point, the judge admonished the media. But look, at the point at which any juror comes to the judge and says, I feel there is a security concern with me being on the jury, that is automatically a good reason to allow that juror to be excused if she wishes. Now, the second juror, it turned out that after some research, what she said was different from reality and that she had previously been arrested before when in this questionnaire, through the process, she said she had never been arrested. Based on that discrepancy, the judge dismissed her as well. Those two are gone. And look, it's likely that more will be gone. That's why the judge here is looking for a deep pool of six alternates. And one alternate has been chosen. So five alternates remain, Gordie. And Angela, Trump quoted a Fox News host on Truth Social a little while ago saying, quote, they are catching undercover liberal activists lying to the judge in order to get on the Trump jury.

Okay, so we saw the judge come down pretty hard on the former president for muttering, saying something like he wouldn't have his jury intimidated. Then we see this post today. What do you think the judge is going to do here? So I think the judge is wondering what he is going to do because this is such a hard call. First of all, I am sure that had his lawyers vet this before he put it out, because this is a type of tweet here where he is not necessarily even using his own words. He is just quoting someone who many people in this country respect. It's not clear there that it's an absolute violation that it automatically would just go against this gag order. But I also think Trump intentionally is toeing the line now before any real admonishment or punishment comes, because let's say on Tuesday, after this hearing of whether or not he has violated the gag order, the judge decides, well, look, we're going to find you X amount of dollars, and next time you do it, we're going to throw you in jail. So right now, there's not the real threat of what will happen next.

So he and his lawyers are toeing that line where nobody knows God, he does this really violate, does it not? Only the judge will decide. Angela, you had me until you suggested that the former president went to lawyer, said, Is this post okay? And then posted it, But we shall see. We shall We'll see. Angela, thanks so much for joining us. And turning now to a Florida man going up against letting the Satanic Temple send volunteer chaplains into public schools. And that Florida man is Governor Ron DeSantis, saying the Satanic Temple isn't a real religion. Let's all think about this. We're not playing those games in Florida. That is not a religion. That is not qualifying to be able to participate in this. We're going to be using common sense when it comes to this. You don't have to worry about that. Okay, but here's the thing. Technically, the Satanic Temple is classified as a church by the IRS, established 11 years ago to, quote, fight a perceived intrusion of Christian values on American politics. They are looking to take advantage of the law that was just signed by DeSantis that lets religious chaplains come in and help volunteers here at public schools.

So what's going to happen now? Probably a bunch of legal stuff in court. So let's bring an NBC news correspondent, Marissa Para. Marissa, is this going to be a Satanic legal rock in a Florida hard place or what? Potentially, Gatti, I have to first point out this is the most Florida story. This is as Florida as it gets. You have a showdown potentially between the state's governor and the Satanic temple. So if you ask Governor Ron DeSantis, as you just heard, he feels pretty confident that there will not be a showdown because he says the Satanic Temple isn't a religion to begin with. But if you look at the words from the bill's sponsor to begin with, this is a Republican senator. She lives in Fort pierce, and she herself expressed concerns about the possibility of what the Satanic temple could do inside of schools, saying that this is something that could potentially be an issue because of First Amendment religious freedom rights. So it really depends on who you talk to, of course, here. But that would potentially be the next chapter here, body. This being taken to the courts. We already know the Satanic temple says that they will take this to the court for religious discrimination, specifically.

And they say that they're confident the Constitution is on their side, calling DeSantis' words empty grandstanding. They put out this whole statement earlier today saying that basically him signing this bill into law is an invitation for Satanic chaplains in public schools. And for him to claim otherwise is either an unintentional lie or an intentional lie or evidence of his and complete ignorance regarding the limits to his authority. So they say they're going to move forward with training their Satanic chaplains and preparing them to place them into public schools. But it's important to note here, Gadi, at the end of the day, the schools would have the final say on who gets to do so. But I will also point out that, as you mentioned, part of the Satanic Temple's mission, part of this might also be a point to the Christian governor, that if you're going to open the doors for religious figures, for religious chaplains to go into schools, well, it's not going to just be Christians who can take an advantage of that. So we'll see what happens here, Gatti. Marissa, you were just talking about how they are pointing to the Constitution.

Desantis, earlier today, he was pointed to the founding father, saying saying they didn't intend discrimination against religion. I guess the bottom line is, who decides what is a religion in the United States of America? Is it the IRS? Is that the final say? And what legal legal problems are we going to see down the road here? It's a great question. My college philosophy class did not prepare me for this. We didn't cover this in my college philosophy classes. Does a tax exempt status hold up in the Court of Law when it comes to church? I'm not sure. I think we're all going to find out, Gautie. But I will point out that in terms of critiques of this bill being signed into law, we know that there have been a lot of open letters signed by chaplains, signed by not just religious groups, but civil rights groups. The ACLU has been very active and outspoken against this for a while now. Part of what they said in March is they had a lot of concerns saying that they feel like this violates students' religious freedom rights. They say this opens the door to evangelize forcing students and forcing religion on them.

And they also raised concerns about the fact that they feel like there's not enough credentials and training required for these volunteer chaplains. And Gadi, I will point this out as well. Texas passed a law. This was last year, allowing chaplains to go into public schools. This was last year. And since then, now, we have had 14 states, including the state of Florida, who have opened legislation. Florida becoming the very latest to sign this bill into law, potentially not the last that we'll see this year. And of course, a whole lot of questions that come with that. Gatti? Very interesting story from our favorite Florida woman, Marissa Para. Thank you so much. Coming up, the LAPD are looking into whether Kanye West was involved in an alleged battery incident. We've got those details, but first you got to see this. A parent's worst fear is not being able to help their kid in a medical emergency. But luckily for this Pennsylvania mom, taco Bell manager Becky Arbaugh was able to jump into action. In this drive-through video, you can see the mom panic when her baby stops breathing. Becky runs out and is able to successfully perform CPR on the baby.

And after doing compressions, Baby Miles, he finally started breathing again. Becky She actually had a similar experience with her own daughter, so she knew exactly what to do. And while a lot of locals are calling her a hero, Becky claims she just happened to be at the right place at the right time. That's what heroes always say. Talk about being saved by the Bell. We'll be right back. Hey, welcome back. Angelino's No. There is a major shortage of cops on the streets these days, and Lester Holt has more on that in just a second. But first, here are some of the other stories happening out West that we're following right now. Police in Los Angeles say they are looking for Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. They say he might have been involved in an alleged battery and was gone by the time cops arrived. Now, the victim, an unidentified man, told police Ye, punched him in the face a bunch of times. Ye's team says the incident happened after his wife, Bianca Sansori, was allegedly physically assaulted. For the first time in months, the city of Denver did not offer housing after sweeping up a homeless camp this week, but now a new camp has popped up just blocks away.

It is a big blow for the mayor's homeless strategy, which has promised shelter to those affected. And Idaho's largest school district, they are switching to a four-day school schedule. Trustees of the Nampa School district voted in favor of the change earlier this week. The new school schedule will start this fall, and teachers will be able to use the fifth day, a non-student contact day, to plan and prep for classes. A Maryland team has been arrested for allegedly plotting a mass shooting at their high school. The plan's carefully detailed out in a 129-page manifesto, saying things like, It would bring me a lot of joy and satisfaction to kill And I have also considered shooting up my former elementary school because little kids make easier targets. Nbc news correspondent Yamish Al-Sinder has more. Well, it's a striking situation here tonight where 18-year-old Alex Yee is charged with making a threat of mass violence. Now, this all really centers around a 129-page document. Yee says it's a work of fiction, but a number of people said that this is really a memoir, even a menace festo. That's how police describe it in the charging documents here. And there are a number of really disturbing writings here.

He writes about, again, this is supposed to be a work of fiction, but he writes about the fact that he wants to shoot up high school, says at one point that he wants to target an elementary school because it might be easier to target elementary school students. He also writes about committing suicide by cop and shooting students as well as shooting others. Now, we should note that Yee was actually in a psychiatric facility and was being housed there because he had suicidal and homicidal thoughts. It's a really striking situation here. Now, police have been investigating this for more than a month. They executed a search warrant, also searched his Gmail where they found this document. At this point, we're looking at Yee being held in custody. He's awaiting a bond hearing. Now, his father told police that he was not concerned about his son's mental health status. In fact, he said he was aware that his son had been writing what he called a novel, but he said that he actually had never read the document. So that's what the family is saying here. Yee is, again, adamant that this is a work of fiction, while police, of course, are taking this very, very seriously.

The Montgomery County Public Schools have also said that this is an extremely serious charge. So everyone here in this situation are really taking this seriously as this continues to unfold. Gamish, thank you. Back here in LA. All of us are feeling the strain from what is being called a chronic shortage of officers. And NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt spoke with the LAPD's interim chief about how he's addressing that problem. The LAPD has long been considered one of the most understaffed major city police departments in America, making the current staffing crisis all the more troubling for the top brass. Chief, is it fair to say you are severely understaffed? Absolutely. Recruitment, now a critical issue for interim police chief Dominic Choy. Among the three largest cities, Chicago and New York have about twice as many cops per capita, while Los Angeles is far more vast. I think if we had about 12,000, we would be well staffed. And as of last Monday, we are at 8,832. That's the lowest staffing level at the LAPD in more than two decades, and it's having a direct impact on the Department's ability to police. Has the shortage of police officers simply made it harder to respond to certain types of calls?

I think it's made it more difficult to respond to all types of calls. Where we're seeing some Slippage is our non-emergency calls. We've seen that number go from an average response time of about 20 minutes upwards to 40 minutes, up to an hour. Calls like this one, where a group of mass suspects use power tools to cut through the security door and safe at the Ciete Mares restaurant in Boyle Heights, with the suspects taking off. Everybody was on edge. With no arrest made, Tanya Diaz and her family, who've owned this restaurant for decades, say the neighborhood feels less safe. There's not as many cops out in the streets anymore. So we got hit. And then a couple of weeks later, another restaurant got hit. While violent crime trended down in 2023, property crimes were up. A revolving door of repeat offenders taking a toll on morale. I understand the frustration that an officer works so hard to put somebody in jail because of criminal behavior, and then that person is walking out the door before they can finish their reports. That is frustrating. It's demoralizing. Law enforcement agencies nationwide are feeling the crunch with unprecedented declines in police staffing since 2019.

In a recent report, Department of Justice calling it a historic crisis, saying departments are losing officers faster than they can hire new ones, signing labor market competition, officer safety and well-being, and increased tensions between police and the communities they serve. It affects the ability of the agency to even respond to relatively low-level concerns, but there are high quality of life concerns for the communities. To entice new recruits, the LAPD The recently negotiated pay increases. New full-time officers can now make nearly six figures, about the same starting salary for a computer engineer graduating from the University of California system. Not everybody thinks a lot of police officers is a good thing. There are those voices out there that say this money could be used in a more efficient way. What's your response to that? I'm an absolute supporter of alternative response. So there are certain calls that I believe that police I don't need to respond to. To the people that think less cops are okay, I have to disagree. At the end of the day, you have to have a safe community. Lester Holt, NBC News. Lester with such important reporting. Thank you so much, Lester.

Still to come. We are keeping a close eye on that massive volcanic eruption in Indonesia and the concerns over a possible tsunami. We've got those details and some other stories trending around the world, so stay tuned. Hey there. Welcome back. Let's take a quick look around the world. An airport in Indonesia near a volcano that erupted five times has shut down for 24 hours. Officials say it's because of the dangers of spreading ash, falling rocks, and the possibility of a tsunami. Mount Rung's dramatic eruption started yesterday. More than 800 people have been evacuated from that area. And people in Colombia are facing some pretty extreme conditions right now. Reservoirs there are drying up and people are having to ration water. In the capital city, Bogotá, mandatory rations were put into place last week. The El Niño weather cycle is apparently behind this as drought has led to forest fires, pushing reservoirs to their lowest levels in decades. And Dubai, they are still recovering from those heavy floods and record rainfall from this week. People there have lost their homes and they're still waiting through water. Emergency crews are working to clear out some of the flooded roads using fire trucks to pump the water out.

And this has the heaviest rainfall the Gulf state has experienced in the last 75 years. Meanwhile, over in Brazil, there is a growing resistance for a plan to drill in the Amazon rainforest. Indigenous groups and some government agencies have been fighting against this for the past few years. And there's an energy firm there that is planning a so-called Exploration Project that would open Brazil's Northern Coastline to drilling. The company was denied a license, but is now appealing, creating even more backlash. And women in Idaho are struggling to find medication for things like miscarriages or inducing labor, and that's because these meds can also be used in medical abortions. Supreme Court allowed Idaho's criminal abortion ban to take effect back in January, but agreed to hear an appeal later this month. And inBC News, medical reporter Erica Edwards has more. Can you give him a high five? Children were part of Kristen and Lauren Colson's plan from the beginning. We always knew that we would have a family. But it hasn't been easy. In January, the Boise, couple miscarried for a fifth time. We were hoping to see a heartbeat, and on ultrasound, we saw that I had a nonviable pregnancy.

Kristen's doctor wrote her a prescription for misoprostol, a drug that causes the uterus to contract. It's helpful during a miscarriage, which is the spontaneous loss of a pregnancy and can take weeks for the body to complete on its own. Everybody processes grief differently, but for me, I like to have a plan, choosing to use the I can time when this happens. Misoprostol can also be used during a medication abortion, a deliberate termination of a pregnancy. That's why Kristen believes her Walgreens pharmacist refused to give her the drug. I was in shock, confused dealing with this miscarriage. They told me that they didn't feel comfortable filling the Misoprostol prescription at that dosage. Idaho's Defensive Life Act went into effect in 2022 after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. The state's law says that every person who performs or attempts to perform an abortion could be committing a felony punishable by a sentence of imprisonment up to five years. The law isn't clear whether a pharmacist is committing a felony for dispensing the medication. The threat of jail time is a real worry for pharmacists like Matt Murray. Once you see a prescription for misoprostol, you now a little alert goes in the back of your head that says, Well, maybe we need to make sure what this is used for.

Is this frustrating to you? It's frustrating, and it takes time away from other things that we need to do. But ultimately, the fear is that people aren't getting the medical care that they're needing. Pharmacists are understandably scared by these incredibly strict abortion laws that have been enacted, and they are afraid that they might be charged with a felony simply for doing their job. Allison Tanner, Senior Legal Counsel at the National Women's Law Center, says since the Supreme Court decision, they've heard from a number of women who say they were denied access to legally prescribed medications, including misoprostol. Pharmacists were afraid about the new lay of the land under the law. The US Department of Health and Human Services has investigated complaints against some pharmacies, including Walgreens, which HHS says have been resolved. In a statement, Walgreens says it will accommodate team members whose beliefs conflict with selling certain products and make sure another pharmacist can fill the prescription. Kristenristen's doctor was able to transfer her prescription to another Walgreens that filled it. In Boise, I have other options and access to other pharmacies, and that may not be the case for a lot of people that went through what we went through across the state.

Now, before we go, a look at some wild adventures helping us get a little closer to nature. And even in a big city like Los Angeles, oh, my gosh, you don't want to miss doing a cold plunge. And if you are like, no, no, thank you. I don't. Don't worry. We'll do it for you. Stay tuned. Oh, Elsa, you. You, ice queen. Okay. Hey, welcome back. Tonight, in the Future of Everything, we are looking at robots who can do a lot more than just dance. But first, let's turn to Google real quick, where the company today fired 28 employees for protesting the company's billion-dollar contract with the Israeli government. This comes after the arrest of nine workers Tuesday after a sit-in at the company's offices, including one at the Google Cloud CEO's office, where banners read, No more genocide for profit. You've heard of ChatGPT, but what about Metta AI? Meta's Artificial Intelligence Assistant is now rolling rolling out across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger. Like OpenAI's tool, Meta AI can answer questions and generate images, and we can also expect to see some funky AI-generated gifs soon, apparently. You know what we need some Of right now, we need some nature, so let's talk about it.

But it's not easy to connect with nature when you're in a big city like Los Angeles here. That's where this guy, Michael Washington, comes in. We want to introduce you to him. Here is a story of one man who is helping his community find find that oh, so important nature connection. For Michael Washington, the outdoors have always been a way of life, a lifestyle he thought he'd have to abandon when he left Colorado for Los Angeles to pursue a career in music. I didn't understand that you can't have a connection to the outdoors while living in a major city. For 10 years, music was the focus of his life. I loved studying music. I loved the idea of how music and artists brought people together that know each other, and they could all relate to a song. But something was missing. So when the pandemic hit, show stopped, he took inventory of his life. I was able to take a step back and really understand that what really is going to fulfill me moving forward in my life is helping people find this attachment and relationship with nature. So he started Usa, a community built on connection to the outdoors and wellness.

Each month, Michael partners with various practitioners across a spectrum of fields in nature and wellness to create community community. Give us a tail. Yes. I mean, this is incredible. And provide wholesome, healing, connected experiences. This is extreme sport. So we, at this point, do around 20 to 30 events each month. Be it a guided to run an experience with falconry or vegan Cuban cooking. Hi, everyone. Today, I'm making tacos de panito. Each adventure, in essence, a love letter to Los Angeles. This is a really great way to bring people together and get people connected nature. We do these types of trips to really help create that connected blue. I caught up with him in the heart of LA for a breath and body workshop and a cold plunge, but we started with our feet. This is called toga. Toga Actually, it's yoga for your feet. Learning how to ground and center ourselves through our toes. Our feet are basically what connects us to the ground. Then it was a breath workshop in preparation for an ice bath. Sympathetic nervous system is going to create a gasp reflect. You're going to gasp for air and you're going to take a few big breaths.

Then it was time to start slowing everything down. We're going to breathe to the beat of the music. Out, three, two, one. After getting breath together, it was go time, but other people first. I guess how many pointers you seem to have handled it perfectly. Initial thought, you just have to really suppress it. Once you get that feeling, you just have to put it down. Put it down. And you leave it down. And leave it down in the ice. Finally, reluctantly, it was my turn. Let me go see if those people across the street Okay, let's get this done. And on a chilly 52 degree LA morning, I got in 51 degree water. Step in, all the way down, over and under. You can sit All the way down. Oh, Elsa, you. You, Ice Queen. Okay. My Arctic dip only lasted two minutes. It was invigorating. You're better now. I didn't even have coffee this morning. I don't even need coffee this morning. It seems like your background, you bring marketing, you bring a little bit of that music community, that sense of people vibing together for a shared purpose. And I just changed it from music to outdoors.

Still building community around people that I find extremely inspiring. Yeah, your whole body tingles. I feel great. I feel warm. You saw a flowering nature and wellness collective in the heart of LA. A story that gives you the chills. That does it for us tonight. I'm Gatti Schwartz. We'll see you tomorrow, but until then, stay tuned now. Thanks for watching. Stay updated about breaking news breaking news and top stories on the NBC news app or follow us on social media.