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Trump touts cheaper but smaller Thanksgiving meal

admin - Latest News - November 7, 2025
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President Trump says the economy is in a “golden age,” pointing to Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal bundle, which is roughly 25% less expensive this year than it was last year — but also contains fewer items. NBC News’ Monica Alba asked him about the greater economic concerns that Americans are experiencing right now.



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Nov. 7, 2025, 5:26 PM EST / Updated Nov. 7, 2025, 5:42 PM ESTBy Tim Stelloh, Rachel White, Justin Smith and Marissa MaierIt was almost the perfect crime.But in the end, a pair of mundane events on Kentucky’s Bluegrass Parkway — a flat tire and a phone call — played an outsize role in solving the disappearance and presumed death of Crystal Rogers more than a decade ago.That, at least, is how the prosecutor who tried three men convicted this year in connection with Rogers’ death views the resolution of a case that was based on a mountain of circumstantial evidence. Authorities never found Rogers’ body. Nor did they identify a crime scene or a murder weapon.“If they had not gotten a flat tire, we probably wouldn’t have solved this case,” said Shane Young, the commonwealth’s attorney for the state’s 9th Judicial Circuit. “That phone call was the one hiccup in the plan because that phone call was not supposed to be made.”For more on the case, tune in to “The Trouble in Bardstown” on “Dateline” at at 9 ET/8 CT tonight.DATELINE FRIDAY SNEAK PEEK: The Trouble in Bardstown01:48In an exclusive interview with “Dateline,” the veteran prosecutor reflected on the yearslong effort to bring justice to Rogers’ family and to other unsolved homicide victims in Bardstown, the scenic small town in the heart of Kentucky’s bourbon region where Rogers lived. Among the other victims is Rogers’ father, Tommy Ballard, who was gunned down roughly a year and a half after his daughter vanished on July 3, 2015.Tommy Ballard.DatelineAt the time, Ballard, 54, was leading an effort to investigate his daughter’s disappearance.Rogers’ boyfriend, Brooks Houck, 44, was convicted of murder in Rogers’ killing and sentenced to life in prison in September. His attorneys are appealing the verdict.Two men whom prosecutors identified as accomplices, Steve Lawson and his son, Joey Lawson, were convicted of conspiracy and tampering with physical evidence. Steve Lawson, 55, was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Joey Lawson, 34, was sentenced to 25 years to life. They’re also appealing their convictions.In court, attorneys for the men said they were victims of police coercion — one of the lawyers described the interrogation tactics to “Dateline” as “the Bardstown inquisition” — and said there was no physical evidence linking them to the murder.A relationship on the rocks?Young was tasked with taking over the case as a special prosecutor in 2022. At trial, Young argued the couple’s relationship was deteriorating. The killing, he said, was motivated by Houck’s fear of losing custody of the couple’s 2-year-old son. Rogers was likely killed at the Houck family farm, prosecutors have said.That theory was partly backed up by a cousin of Rogers’ who testified that when she saw Rogers on July 3, Rogers said she and Houck were going on a surprise date that night.In interviews with police, Houck said he’d last seen Rogers that evening, after they’d gone to the farm for several hours with their toddler and walked around in the fields. Back at home, he said he fell asleep before Rogers did, according to a video of the interview.Crystal Rogers.DatelineThe next morning, Houck said that when he awoke, Rogers was gone — something he said she’d done before when she needed space, according to the video.Jon Snow, the former Nelson County Sheriff’s detective who questioned Houck, pressed him for details during a follow-up interview. It was raining on July 3, Snow pointed out, but Houck said he’d spent hours outside with their toddler.“Four and a half hours is a long time to be outside in the rain, in the mud, with a 2 1/2 year old,” Snow said. “Does that make sense?”“I understand what you’re saying,” Houck responded.Problems on the parkwayAccording to prosecutors, the Lawsons were responsible for getting rid of Rogers’ car — a maroon Chevrolet Impala that was found, with a flat tire, on July 5 on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway.“I think the plan was to make it look like she left,” Young told “Dateline.” “Whether they were gonna drive the car into a lake or a river or whatever, I don’t think the car was ever supposed to be found again.”Crystal Rogers and Brooks Houck.DatelineBut then, according to the prosecution, Joey Lawson got a flat tire while driving the Impala. So he dialed his father, who then called Houck, Young said. (Joey Lawson has denied driving the car or playing a role in Rogers’ disappearance.)The call was made around midnight and lasted just 13 seconds, according to Snow. In the follow-up interview with the detective, Houck said that he didn’t recall what the conversation was about, but that it had been made by Steve Lawson, who worked for him.So Houck dialed Steve Lawson on the spot, a video of the interview shows.Steve Lawson during a police interview.Dateline“Can you remember what you asked me or what you were after?” Houck said.“Sure, I can,” Steve Lawson responded. “I called and asked you for them numbers for the house.”Steve Lawson initially denied having been on the parkway, though he later admitted it to a grand jury. Under questioning from investigators, he said that the phone call from his son was actually a request to pick him up on the parkway, a video of the interview shows.An FBI analysis of Steve Lawson’s phone confirmed that he’d been on the parkway, near the spot where Rogers’ Impala was found on the night of her disappearance. At trial, Joey Lawson’s attorneys disputed the analysis and said the phone actually showed Steve Lawson not on the parkway, but on a road parallel to it.Joey Lawson.DatelineThe same FBI analysis showed that Joey Lawson had repeatedly called his father before Steve Lawson finally answered and made the 13-second call to Houck, according to Steve Keary, an FBI agent who investigated the case.Steve Lawson told authorities that when he arrived at the parkway, he found Rogers’ Impala, got in and scooted the seat forward, a video of the interview shows. His son was taller than Rogers, he said, and Steve Lawson said he was worried his son had gotten caught up in something bad. Moving the seat, he told investigators, was his way of covering that up.Steve Lawson also told authorities that before Rogers’ disappearance, Houck had described the couple’s relationship as troubled and said he wanted her “gone.”“To me, ‘gone’ means gone,” a video of the interview shows him saying.Making the case in courtEven though investigators had only gathered circumstantial evidence, Young told “Dateline” that he believed they’d gathered enough to prove their case.Shane Young.DatelineIn Houck’s trial, the jury returned a guilty verdict in only a few hours.It’s unclear if two people identified by prosecutors at trial as unindicted co-conspirators will face charges, he said.One of those alleged co-conspirators is Houck’s brother, former Bardstown police officer Nick Houck. The department’s former police, Chief Rick McCubbin, told “Dateline” that he fired Nick Houck because McCubbin believed he hadn’t fully cooperated with the investigation into Rogers’ disappearance.Nick Houck has denied playing a role in the disappearance and has never been charged with a crime. His attorney did not respond to a detailed list of questions from “Dateline.”Prosecutors say they have identified a possible link between Nick Houck and the killing of Rogers’ father, Tommy Ballard, who was fatally shot while on a hunting trip with Rogers’ 11-year-old son on Nov. 19, 2016. In a court hearing and in his interview with “Dateline,” Young said that Nick Houck sold a gun to an undercover officer that investigators believe has the same or a similar caliber as the weapon used to kill Ballard.Officer Jason Ellis.FBIHe sold the firearm using the name Nick Ballard, Young told “Dateline.” Houck has not been charged with a crime in Tommy Ballard’s death.Young is also investigating the killing of Bardstown police officer Jason Ellis, who was fatally shot on May 25, 2013, while clearing tree branches from an exit ramp on the Bluegrass Parkway — branches that investigators believe were placed intentionally. McCubbin said there was evidence the shooter had been lying in wait at the top of a nearby rock wall.Asked if he expects charges in either case, Young said: “Don’t know. We’re working on them.”Tim StellohTim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.Rachel WhiteJustin SmithJustin Smith is the sheriff of Larimer County, Colorado, a graduate of the FBI National Academy and a member of the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections.Marissa MaierMarissa Maier is a producer for “Dateline.”
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Nov. 2, 2025, 5:00 AM ESTBy Caroline Radnofsky and Griffin EcksteinTwo years ago, Derek and DeAnna Huffman were desperate to leave Humble, a suburb of Houston. Their three daughters, they believed, were being brainwashed by public school and mainstream media to support LGBTQ rights. American culture in general no longer offered white people the same opportunities as other races, they said.The couple yearned to live in a place that shared their “Christian values” and where they “weren’t going to be discriminated against” as white, politically-conservative Christians.So in March, the Huffmans became the first family to move to a community planned for fellow English-speakers some 30 miles west of Moscow, a project they had been following online run by long-term American expat and former Kremlin-sponsored RT host Tim Kirby. The family is among a small but growing number of Americans who have moved to Russia because the United States, in their opinion, has become too “woke.”The Russian government has welcomed these culture war refugees. In 2024, President Vladimir Putin issued an executive order offering temporary residence to people wanting to move to the country because they rejected “destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes” of their home countries.Around 1,500 of these “ideological immigrants,” as they’ve been dubbed by the Russian media, including 127 Americans, have applied for temporary residence in Russia, according to the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs.”President Putin is an amazing leader and he’s done great things for Russia,” Derek Huffman, 45, said in a video on his family’s YouTube channel on March 9. “It’s nothing like you see on the news.” The social media platform X “is the only place where you get real information” about America’s own problems, Derek says. The family initially found a community of Russians and westerners on social media who encouraged their move, with donations from some of their 15,000 YouTube subscribers providing financial support after their arrival in Russia. But when Derek Huffman voluntarily joined the Russian army in May, the family became a lightning rod for broader online scrutiny.Derek Huffman said he joined the Russian army to expedite the family’s applications for Russian citizenship, as well as to show support for their new homeland.“Above and beyond the citizenship, the money, a big part of it for me is about the respect and earning our place here in Russia,” he said on the Huffmans’ YouTube channel on May 26.But in a follow-up video posted in June, which was subsequently deleted, DeAnna Huffman, 42, told viewers that her husband had been “thrown to the wolves.” NBC News viewed a re-upload of the video.The couple had hoped Derek Huffman would put previous welding experience to use in the repair battalion and “actually be utilized for his skills,” she said in the video. Instead, she said, he was sent to the front line and struggled to understand his training, which was in Russian.Pro-Ukrainian commentators, keen to publicize hardship for pro-Russian figures, said on social media that Derek Huffman had been killed. A post on X claiming to have access to drone footage of his death has more than 2 million views. NBC News did not find video to substantiate the claim, and DeAnna Huffman denied the reports.Derek reappeared in several videos on the family’s YouTube channel uploaded on October 25, celebrating his daughter’s birthday and signing forms to receive his Russian passport.In one filmed in the family’s neighborhood, he said he was back “on vacation” after being deployed for six months, and praised his wife for keeping the family going while he was gone.“I’m happy that I’m still alive and doing what I can to survive, and be of service to Russia. I’m so thankful to all the Russian people who have reached out and helped my family while I’ve been gone,” he said.Another family, the Hares, also moved from Abilene, Texas, to Russia to shield their three sons from what they say are harmful elements of American culture.“It was the promise of a country that would not promote the LGBT agenda. We liked the fact that LGBT is basically outlawed here in official ways,” Leo Hare, 62, told NBC News via a video call from the family’s new home in Ivanovo, Russia.Russia has strict laws against the “promotion of nontraditional sexual relationships,” which have in practice banned public displays of LGBTQ identity, including wearing or posting the rainbow flag on social media.The Hares sightseeing after arriving in Moscow in December 2023.”We’re living really comfortably now … We have great friends,” Chantelle Hare said. SuppliedHis wife Chantelle Hare, 53, says in a video on the family’s own YouTube channel that when they lived the U.S., she and her husband preferred to get their news from Alex Jones and Mike Adams, who are far-right commentators and conspiracy theorists. They felt particularly disillusioned with American politics after the 2020 election, and don’t believe Donald Trump’s return to power will change the country enough to convince them to return.“When we left, it was final. We don’t plan to come back. There will not be anything to come back to,” Chantelle Hare said.The Hares have endured their share of hardship trying to build a new life in Russia.They say their initial plan to rent an apartment in Moscow fell through just as they boarded the plane from Texas, and the family spent a bitterly cold winter caring for chickens, horses and rabbits on a farm 70 miles south of Moscow in exchange for free board. At one point, they even had to bring the goats and their newborns inside their cabin to keep the animals from dying.Leo Hare thought their troubles were over when their landlord’s son offered a generous interest rate for investing their $50,000 nest egg in what he described as a car import business. But they only saw one payment before he stopped sending them money and refused to return their money, Leo Hare said.The couple went to the police and the local court to file complaints about their lost money and with their concerns that they had been swindled, but say they have received no help from law enforcement officials. NBC News contacted Domodedovo police for comment but did not receive a reply.The Hares’ sons, 17, 15, and 12, have had difficulty adapting to life in Russia, and the two older boys want to return to America, according to their father. They feel isolated and are disappointed that school is not an option since Russia requires students to pass a language test to study in public schools.Leo and Chantelle, who ran a carpet cleaning business and a mobile snack business back in the U.S., are now working as English tutors. They have found an apartment in Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow, and “are living really comfortably now.” They are currently homeschooling their children. Leo Hare said it probably “would have been a dealbreaker” if they knew about the school restrictions.The Hares have not met the Huffmans. Leo Hare says he never considered joining the army because of his age and safety concerns, and says that Derek Huffman “assumed a little too much” about life in the Russian military.”We assumed a lot, too,” he admitted. “But we do have a faith in Christ and He is leading us, even though we’ve made mistakes.” Caroline RadnofskyCaroline Radnofsky is a supervising reporter for NBC News’ Social Newsgathering team based in London.Griffin EcksteinGriffin Eckstein is an New-York based intern for NBC News’ Social Newsgathering team.
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