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Nov. 11, 2025, 3:14 PM ESTBy David K. Li and Nicole DuarteShortly before Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland died by suicide, the player said goodbye to friends and said he couldn’t bear to do any time behind bars, police recordings revealed on Tuesday.The Cowboys head of security, Cable Johnson, was put through to police in Plano asking for officers in that Dallas suburb to do a welfare check on the 24-year-old.“He sent out some group texts that are concerning, probably mental health,” Johnson told a police dispatcher. “The group text seemed to be saying goodbye and he made some statement about not being able to go to prison or to jail.” It wasn’t clear what Kneeland could have been referencing about possible time behind bars.The dispatcher didn’t ask Cable to elaborate and a Plano police spokesman couldn’t be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday.Johnson said he had already been in touch with top brass at the Plano Police Department, asking for a welfare check to Kneeland’s apartment at 6000 Columbus Ave. “I just was off the phone with (Plano Police) Chief (Ed) Drain so he’s aware, and I sent him the text as well,” Johnson said.Kneeland was found dead in the early morning hours of Thursday last week with a self-inflicted gunshot wound after evading authorities, crashing a car and fleeing on foot, police said.Texas Department of Public Safety troopers attempted to stop his car for a traffic violation near Frisco on Wednesday night, launching the brief pursuit, police said.Kneeland was in his second season with the Cowboys and had scored his first NFL touchdown days earlier, recovering a blocked punt in the end zone against the Arizona Cardinals on “Monday Night Football.”If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, or go to 988lifeline.org, to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.David K. LiSenior Breaking News ReporterNicole DuarteNicole Duarte is an assignment editor in NBC News’ Miami bureau.

- Latest News - November 11, 2025

Shortly before Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland died by suicide, the player said goodbye to friends and said he couldn’t bear to do any time behind bars.

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Nov. 11, 2025, 1:35 PM EST / Updated Nov. 11, 2025, 3:06 PM ESTBy Allan Smith and Raquel Coronell UribeWhen President Donald Trump hosted Republican senators for lunch at the White House on Oct. 21, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, came prepared. Moreno, who was born in Colombia, has become a key voice on policy involving the Latin American nation — and one that’s deeply critical of the current left-wing president, Gustavo Petro. Two days before the lunch, Trump, at odds with Petro for months, posted on social media that Petro was “an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs” in Colombia. Trump said he was stopping all U.S. aid to the country and told reporters he would soon announce new tariffs on Colombia. Moreno wanted to encourage Trump to take a more targeted approach — directly aimed at Petro. To do so, the senator brought along a document titled “The Trump Doctrine For Colombia and the Western Hemisphere.” In addition to five policy ideas, the one-page outline featured large images of Petro and Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, in orange prison jumpsuits. The images appear to be generated by artificial intelligence. NBC News obtained the memo from a person familiar with the episode.Now that document is at the center of an even further strain in diplomatic relationships between Colombia and the U.S. On Sunday, the publication Cambio Colombia first reported on the existence of the document when it discovered that the White House had posted a photo from the Oct. 21 event showing James Blair, a deputy chief of staff, holding Moreno’s memo. Petro posted on X that he was recalling the Colombian ambassador to the U.S. for the second time in a month and demanding to know why he is being portrayed “as if I were a prisoner,” calling the print-out “a brutal disrespect” to his supporters and nation. And on Monday, Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio told journalists in Santa Marta that her government had “sent verbal notes to the United States through our diplomatic representation” to “request clarification regarding” Moreno’s memo.The episode also marks the latest chapter in the use of fake images in politics. The Trump administration has made extensive use of AI-generated images and videos in online political messaging, with the president himself often sharing them on social media. The White House directed NBC News to Moreno’s office for comment. Moreno’s office declined to comment.Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, is a key voice on Republican policy toward Latin America.Daniel Heuer / Bloomberg via Getty Images fileMoreno, who was born in Bogota and immigrated to the U.S. as a child, is among a few lawmakers advocating on Colombia policy to the president. A Treasury Department official told NBC News that both Moreno and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who endorsed Trump’s call to impose new tariffs on the South American nation, have been backchanneling on Colombia to the White House for a while, with their advocacy culminating at the Rose Garden lunch in October. This person, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been heavily involved as well.Tensions between the two nations have risen in recent months with the U.S. building up its military deployment in the Caribbean in an effort to target Venezuela. U.S. forces have killed dozens aboard boats officials say are trafficking drugs into the U.S. as lawmakers in both parties have called for the Trump administration to share evidence to support its claims.Moreno’s memo called for the president to designate more cartels as foreign terrorist organizations; target Petro, his family and associates for further sanctions; and launch an investigation into Petro’s campaign finances, among other measures. The proposal did not include advocacy for new Colombian tariffs or the cutting off of aid to the country. It also did not call for the U.S. to engage in a regime-change effort.Moreno’s document is below. (NBC News added in the watermarks indicating the images are fake.) Three days after the lunch with senators, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against Petro, his family and a government official over allegations of involvement in the global drug trade, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying in a statement that Petro “has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity.” Petro has strongly denied involvement with the drug trade and has said he will fight the sanctions in U.S. courts.Trump has yet to announce new tariffs on Colombia. And CNN reported last week that there has been no interruption yet to U.S. assistance to the country.Petro, a socialist, accused the U.S. of killing a fisherman last month in one of its attacks on a boat the U.S. claimed was involved in drug smuggling. The U.S. revoked Petro’s visa during the United Nations General Assembly in September after the Colombian leader spoke at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York and called for U.S. soldiers to resist Trump.Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro speaks in Bogota on Oct. 24.Ovidio Gonzalez / Colombian Presidency via AFP-Getty ImagesWriting for Time magazine, Petro on Sunday countered Trump’s claims, saying that his government had delivered “record cocaine seizures” and that the U.S. government’s support “was crucial in this fight.”“Whatever the attitudes of the current administration, I will continue to pursue a counter-narcotics and broader security policy that is in the interests of Colombians and Americans alike,” he wrote.Petro himself has called out Moreno as leading the charge against him. After the Trump administration announced the sanctions on him last month, Petro posted on X that Moreno’s “threat has come true.”Separately, Moreno pushed back on claims Petro made that he and Trump sought to overthrow him in a coup.“That’s 100% completely false,” Moreno wrote on social media last month. “The United States wants the people of Colombia to have a free and fair election, as scheduled, without any influence from outside agitators or narco traffickers.”Colombian officials who spoke with NBC News said they believed the country avoided new tariffs because of the advocacy of some Colombians in government and in business who are close to both Moreno and Trump-allied lawmakers in South Florida. Andrés Pastrana, who was the president of Colombia from 1998 through 2002 and aligned with the right, said Moreno and Republican Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Gimenez and Mario Diaz-Balart, all of Florida, have had “big influence” in convincing the Trump administration. He also said the U.S. should not equate all Colombians with Petro and his views, adding that imposing tariffs on the entire country could carry a significant “political risk” and help to “re-elect the left” by giving Petro the ability to tap into nationalistic fervor. Allan SmithAllan Smith is a political reporter for NBC News.Raquel Coronell UribeRaquel Coronell Uribe is a breaking news reporter. Julie Tsirkin and Michelle Acevedo contributed.

- Latest News - November 11, 2025

Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, recalled his ambassador from the U.S. when the image in the document from Sen. Bernie Moreno was spotted a White House photo.

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Nov. 11, 2025, 3:00 PM ESTBy Berkeley Lovelace Jr.As President Donald Trump touts new deals to cut the cost of blockbuster drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, he’s barely mentioned Medicare’s drug price negotiation program — even though the government is expected to announce lower prices before the end of the month.The program, created under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, gave Medicare the authority to negotiate directly with drugmakers on some of the costliest medications. A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) spokesperson said the agency is preparing to release the second round of negotiated prices by Nov. 30 — covering 15 drugs, up from 10 last year, and adding Ozempic and Wegovy to the list. The newly negotiated prices won’t take effect until 2027. Trump announces deal to lower cost of weight loss drug01:59The lack of attention has puzzled health policy experts, who say the program could play an important role in lowering prescription drug costs for millions of older adults in the U.S.About 1-in-5 adults say they’ve not filled a prescription because of cost, according to a poll from the nonpartisan health policy research group KFF.“Certainly, the flurry of announcements and lack of details [on negotiations] make things confusing,” said Dr. Benjamin Rome, a primary care physician and health policy researcher at Harvard Medical School. Trump’s approach to lowering drug prices has leaned heavily on executive orders and voluntary deals with drugmakers, rather than legislation. Last week, he announced agreements with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly — the makers of Wegovy and Zepbound, respectively — to lower prices for some doses in exchange for tariff relief and accelerated Food and Drug Administration review of new drugs. Several experts described the details as murky and questioned whether the agreements would translate into real savings for Americans. Trump has struck similar deals with Pfizer and Astrazenca.Rome said the Medicare negotiation program is seen as the steadier, more reliable path to lowering costs for Americans.Drugmakers can decline to participate — but doing so would likely require pulling their drugs from Medicare entirely, cutting them off from one of the nation’s largest markets. Several companies have challenged the negotiation program in court, but those lawsuits have so far been unsuccessful. “Although it’s great that the Trump administration wants to aggressively negotiate lower prices with pharmaceutical companies, these ad hoc negotiations seem to be more about announcing short-term political victories,” Rome said. “I would be very skeptical of relying solely on voluntary deals with drug manufacturers as a main policy for making medications more affordable to Americans,” Rome added. “By contrast, the IRA absolutely will save money for taxpayers through the negotiation process.”Despite the looming announcement, the White House has said little publicly about the negotiation program or how it fits into Trump’s broader push to lower drug prices.In an emailed statement, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said: “Democrats endlessly touted the Inflation Reduction Act, which ironically under Biden’s watch did little but increase Medicare premiums. The Trump administration is focused on results, and our historic drug pricing deals with global pharmaceutical giants are proof that we will continue to deliver meaningful change for the American people.”Last year, the Biden administration announced agreements to lower prices on 10 prescription drugs under Medicare, with those cuts set to take effect in 2026. The drugs included the blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis, along with several cancer and diabetes treatments. At the time, administration officials projected the negotiations would save Medicare enrollees $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in the first year. Experts say the second round may have an even larger impact than last year’s since some of the drugs on the list — particularly Ozempic and Wegovy — are becoming the most widely used and most expensive in Medicare.The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan government group that provides budget and economic information to Congress, projects that, because of negotiations, the net price of Ozempic and Wegovy will “fall substantially” beginning in 2027 — cutting Medicare’s spending on each patient who uses the drugs by one third. The CBO also expects that those lower prices are likely to put pressure on other GLP-1 drugs, including Mounjaro and Zepbound.Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, said it’s possible the negotiations may have factored into Trump’s deal on Wegovy and Zepbound last week. When asked on a call with reporters whether Trump’s deal was related to the negotiations, senior administration officials insisted it was not. “We’re all eagerly awaiting the announcement of what prices have been negotiated,” Dusetzina said. “It could very well be that this is where the negotiations landed.”Other experts raised questions about how Trump’s deal fits with the negotiations — or whether the two efforts are even aligned at all. Tricia Neuman, executive director of the program on Medicare policy at KFF, said it’s “not clear how the recent White House announcement dovetails with the Inflation Reduction Act when it comes to negotiated prices for GLP-1s.”Rome said Trump’s deals are unlikely to interfere or undermine the negotiation process.“That process is very clearly spelled out by CMS and has been ongoing throughout the year and will repeat for another 20 drugs early next year,” he said. “I don’t think these side deals with Lilly and Novo will change that.” Neuman added that while the voluntary deals may be drawing more attention from the White House, they don’t replace the long term impacts of Medicare negotiations.“The IRA’s Medicare negotiations program is baked into the law, and is up and running, and could ultimately lead to lower prices for far more drugs over time,” she said. Berkeley Lovelace Jr.Berkeley Lovelace Jr. is a health and medical reporter for NBC News. He covers the Food and Drug Administration, with a special focus on Covid vaccines, prescription drug pricing and health care. He previously covered the biotech and pharmaceutical industry with CNBC.

- Latest News - November 11, 2025

As President Donald Trump touts new deals to cut the cost of blockbuster drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, he’s barely mentioned Medicare’s drug price negotiation program.

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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleNov. 11, 2025, 2:04 PM ESTBy Jarrod BarryDorienne Smith recently bought her first home, a newly built townhouse in a development outside Columbus, Ohio. It wasn’t easy.Recent rent hikes pushed her to finally decide to own, kicking off a two-year search. She struggled to find a home in her $400,000 price range that didn’t require a lot of repairs and that was in an area she felt comfortable.At 40 years old, Smith only recently felt stable enough to finally buy a home. It took her getting a new job in human resources — plus taking out a loan against her 401(k) — before she felt she could afford to buy.“It’s harder for people, especially those younger than me, to maintain jobs that are going to get six figures or higher, which is really what you need in order to buy a house these days,” she said.Americans are waiting longer than ever to get into their first home. Many of them are held back by high interest rates, rising home prices and salaries that are barely keeping up with the cost of living. The median age for first-time homebuyers hit 40, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. That’s up from 38 in the prior year, and it’s the highest since the group began keeping records in 1981. First-time buyers also accounted for 21% of all buyers, which the association said is a “historic low.”Home affordability has been a source of pain for years, according to the NBC News Home Buyer Index, which measures the difficulty of buying a home. Policymakers have struggled to find solutions. President Donald Trump recently floated the idea of a 50-year mortgage as one way to bring down monthly payments of homebuyers. But critics have pushed back, arguing that 50-year mortgages, compared to standard 30-year mortgages, would do little to address home prices themselves, while leaving buyers in debt longer and spending more on loan interest.Rising costs of everything from rent and child care make it difficult for would-be buyers to save up for a home, said Jessica Lautz, vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors. Many younger people are also weighed down by expenses such as student loan debt, credit cards and car payments.“We’re continuing to see home prices grow, and with home price growth, we’re also seeing interest rates at a higher level, as well,” she said. “So, the overall housing affordability is difficult for a buyer to come in.”The median home price was more than $415,000 in September, according to the National Association of Realtors, up 2.3% from last year. Data from the group shows that prices for existing homes have jumped more than 33% nationwide since 2020.High mortgage rates have only added to the problem. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage has fluctuated between 6.60% and 6.80% for much of this year, and though it has fallen to around 6.25% in recent weeks, it’s still far higher than most Americans feel they can afford.“Because of interest rates being high, it’s caused a lot of homebuyers, who are your younger homebuyers, not to be able to afford places, just because the prices have been so high,” said Jeff Lichtenstein, a broker and president of Echo Fine Properties in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.Younger Americans are struggling to find the stability and savings necessary to buy homes. Many feel that wages have not kept up with costs of living, as stubborn inflation weighs on consumers. It can take some people years before they can save for the down payment or afford the nearly $2,200 per-month that the National Association of Realtors says is now the typical monthly mortgage payment.At the same time, college grads are carrying more student loan debt than ever, and taking longer to pay it off. The Education Data Initiative found that between 2010 and 2023, the average cost of a four-year degree ballooned 36%, and the average federal student loan debt is now more than $39,000, according to data from the Education Department.While Smith said she was fortunate to graduate with less than $20,000 in loans, she knows others who are struggling under the weight of college debt.“One of my friends has still over $60K in student debt,” she said in an email to NBC News. “I know several others who are carrying equally large amounts of student debt as well.”For most Americans, their house isn’t just a place to live — it’s an investment and an important nest egg. In 2022, the average homeowner had a net worth of about $396,000, 38 times that of a person who did not own a home. If newer buyers can’t get that starter home, Lautz cautioned, that could have knock-on effects for them and their children.“That means lower wealth building for themselves, but also the lower chance of having a generational transfer of wealth for their future generations, too,” she said.Jarrod BarryJarrod Barry is an intern with the NBC News Business Unit.

- Latest News - November 11, 2025

Dorienne Smith recently bought her first home, a newly built townhouse in a development outside Columbus, Ohio.

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