Trump Signs Funding Bill Ending Gov't Shutdown, Demands $1B from Harvard | NTD Evening News (Feb. 3)

Welcome to NTD Evening News. Our top story tonight, President Trump signing a bill to end the four-day partial government shutdown. The House narrowly passed the funding package, giving most federal agencies a full year of funding, but Homeland Security just two more weeks. Jack Bradley with the details. Amid the welfare scandal in Minnesota, House lawmakers are now bringing attention to the problem of Medicaid fraud nationwide. Jason Blair brings us the highlights from a hearing on Capitol Hill. President Trump meeting Colombian President Gustavo Petro at the White House to talk counter-narcotics, and the president escalating his feud with Harvard. Mario Tsu at the White House. In the Middle East, the U.S. military says it shot down an Iranian drone that approached an American ship. At the same time, countries in the Middle East are trying to de-escalate tensions in the region. Jason Perry reports. Ukraine accuses Russia of violating a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with over 500 drones. Arian Pazdar has why President Trump says the attack didn't actually violate the temporary truce the president himself had set up. This is NTD Evening News, live from our global headquarters in New York City, here's Tiffany Meyer. Good evening and thank you for joining us tonight. House lawmakers say that Medicare and Medicaid fraud isn't an issue just in Minnesota, it's common around the country. NTD correspondent Jason Blair has more. What's happening in Minnesota's Medicaid program is critical and worth discussing, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. Medicare and Medicaid fraud is common. It's happening nationwide. The House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee examined Medicaid and Medicare fraud issues across the country. Representative Joyce says that some put fraud loss estimates at $100 billion annually. This is only a conservative estimate because fraud can only be accounted for if it's detected. Joyce gives case examples in New York, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona. Seven defendants across Arizona and Nevada were charged in connection with an alleged $1.1 billion Medicare fraud scheme for medically unnecessary amniotic wound allografts, commonly known as skin substitutes. Some Democrats allege that the Trump administration is misusing the word fraud. Can you walk us through the difference between improper payments and fraud, please? All fraudulent payments are improper, but not all improper payments are fraudulent. And in fact, when we see the data points, if you have over $90 billion of improper payments, about 77% of that is administrative error and not actual intentional fraud. Wow, I'm just sitting here trying to think we're splitting hairs over the word fraud when what's going on with Minnesota, what's going on in Los Angeles. Gosh, that doesn't undermine confidence in the system. Nothing else does. One witness says that managing healthcare data is a huge hurdle. Data is a big issue in healthcare fraud. We have complicated data and poor data criteria in general. It's very inconsistent and hard to understand. One concern brought up is how fast fraudsters can replicate a fraud scheme in certain areas when they see an opportunity. Reporting in Washington, D.C., Jason Blair, NTD News. President Trump today signing a bill to end the four-day partial government shutdown. The House of Representatives narrowly passed the major funding package. NTD's Washington correspondent Jack Bradley has the details. President Trump signs into law a federal funding package to end the partial government shutdown that lasted four days. The bill fully funds five sectors of the federal government for a full year and continues funding for Homeland Security just for two weeks, but it also makes several policy changes. It actually cuts wasteful federal spending while supporting critical programs for the safety, security, and prosperity of the American people. This is good for the country, and America is back. Just prior to Trump's signing, the House approved the package with a vote of 217 to 214, mostly Republicans supporting it, Democrats against. And you might say, well, now that 96% of the government is funded, it's just 4% what's out there, but it's a very important 4%. The bill extends funding to the DHS for only two weeks. That's as Democrats have demanded reforms to ICE. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security need to dramatically change. The bill faced resistance from some Republicans who objected to the absence of the SAVE Act, which would require voter ID in federal elections, but Senate Republican leadership says they're going to push for it very soon. There will be at some point a vote on the SAVE Act. And President Trump is on board. Who would not want voter ID? Only somebody that wants to cheat. Next comes two weeks of negotiations on funding for Homeland Security. That's where President Trump will negotiate with Senate Democrats on policy changes. Democrats want to require ICE to obtain court-ordered judicial warrants to arrest illegal immigrants rather than the executive branch's use of administrative warrants. And they also want to ban ICE agents from wearing masks to protect their identity. But this seems to be an issue Republicans just won't allow. Unlike your local law enforcement in your hometown, ICE agents are being doxed and targeted. And if you unmask them and you put all their identifying information on their uniform, then they will obviously be targeted. They and their families, probably. House Speaker Mike Johnson also says that if funding runs out for the Department of Homeland Security before Congress passes a spending package in two weeks, it won't impact ICE operations. Rather, it would shut down things like FEMA and the TSA. Reporting by Jack Bradley, NTD News. In the Middle East, the U.S. military says it shot down an Iranian drone that approached an American ship in the region. At the same time, multiple countries in the Middle East are making efforts to de-escalate tensions between the U.S. and Iran. And it is Jason Perry who has the details. Several U.S. warships have been positioned in the Middle East for at least a week now amid tensions with Iran. President Trump has suggested taking military action against Iran if it cannot reach a nuclear deal with the United States. In further escalation on Tuesday, Iranian forces sent a military drone toward a U.S. aircraft carrier that was transiting about 500 miles south of Iran. In a statement to NTD, the United States Central Command said a U.S. F-35 fighter jet shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board. No U.S. service members were injured during the incident. The U.S. Central Command said Iran's unnecessary aggression near U.S. forces increases the risk of regional destabilization. However, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson said this about de-escalation efforts amid U.S.-Iran tensions. I can assure you that we are working in tandem with all of our neighbors, working all together in tandem to make sure that we de-escalate and we protect our region and make sure that there are no more escalations in our region. And on the same day, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Riyadh for talks. A diplomatic advisor to the president of the United Arab Emirates also on Tuesday said he would like to see Iran and the U.S. negotiate directly and reach a nuclear deal. Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added this about possible talks between the U.S. and Iran. I think they may come away with some set of understandings, but to think that there's a long-term solution that actually provides stability and peace to this region while the Ayatollah is still in power is something I pray for but find unimaginable. The United States is also speaking with partners in the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he met with U.S. envoy Steve Whitkoff on Monday and spoke about various issues in the Middle East, including Iran. Netanyahu said he clarified his position, saying, quote, Iran has proven time and again that its promises cannot be relied upon. A senior advisor to Iran's supreme leader on the same day said that Iran will never seek a nuclear weapon and, without elaborating, said the U.S. must pay a price for this. Jason Perry, NTD News. Ukraine is accusing Russia of violating a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Kyiv says Moscow fired over 500 drones just hours before the second round of trilateral talks with the U.S. and Ukraine. But Washington says the temporary truce had already ended before today's attacks. NTD's international correspondent Arian Pozdar has more. Scenes of destruction on Tuesday as Ukraine accuses Russia of violating a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. A high-rise building in Kyiv on flames after officials said Russia fired over 500 drones at Ukraine overnight. Kyiv officials say the attack left over 1,000 people without heating in their apartments. This just a few days after Russia confirmed it agreed to a ceasefire on energy infrastructure. President Trump proposed a truce amid frigid temperatures across Kyiv. They keep saying energy ceasefire, but where is the ceasefire? At first they said it will last for a week, then three days, and then here you go. Well, they did hit hard. The U.S., Russia and Ukraine held their first trilateral talks nine days ago. The Russian side then agreed to stop attacks on energy for one week. However, Moscow continued the attacks until Friday and only then publicly announced agreeing to the pause in attacks. It is now unclear when the ceasefire officially started. If the ceasefire was supposed to last for one week after the trilateral meeting nine days ago, then it would have ended already. But if the official start was after Russia's public announcement on Friday, then it was supposed to continue for a few more days. According to President Trump, Russia followed the rules and the timing of the ceasefire. It was Sunday, it was Sunday to Sunday, and it opened up and he hit them hard last night. No, he agreed, he kept his word on that. It was, it's a lot. You know, one week is, we'll take anything because it's really, really cold over there. Trump added that he ultimately wants Russia to stop the attacks and end the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appears to disagree with the timeline, saying the ceasefire only started on Friday, suggesting Russia is making contradicting statements as temperatures in Kyiv kept dropping even further after Sunday. In our opinion, the Russians broke their promise. Either Russia now believes a week has only about four days instead of seven, or they are truly betting only on war and simply waited for the coldest days of this winter. Tuesday's attacks come just one day before the US, Russia and Ukraine are set to hold the second trilateral talks. Zelensky now says this latest development won't have a positive impact on the peace process. And NATO Chief Mark Ritter is in Ukraine on Tuesday, saying Kyiv is ready for peace, but that Russia has to be too. It makes you question whether the Russians are serious, and let's hope they are. And I know the American president is everything, doing everything he can to bring this terrible war to an end with. He added that only the US has the power to end the fighting, but that Russia's latest attack is a bad signal. Ariane Pasdar, NTD News. Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify amid a congressional investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. The decision comes after they initially refused to comply with a House subpoena. The House Oversight Committee is seeking details about the Clintons' relationship to Epstein, disgraced financier was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. The Oversight Committee voted to proceed with criminal contempt of Congress charges last month after the Clintons' refusal to testify. The Clintons have criticized the probe as partisan. House Oversight Chairman James Comer said the former president and former secretary of state will be deposed on February 26th and 27th. Coming up, President Trump increases pressure on Harvard, seeking a billion dollars in damages as part of ongoing federal investigations. The defense in the Charlie Kirk assassination case continues to argue that the entire prosecution team should be disqualified due to a conflict of interest, but the county attorney testified today that the alleged conflict didn't change their approach to the case. Arlene Richards with the details. And on the final day of the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C., speakers focused on how technology is being used to target faith communities. Experts say surveillance, AI, and online propaganda are increasingly enabling religious persecution. Chris Bobb reports when we come back. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. President Trump talking counter-narcotics efforts with Colombian President Gustavo Petro. This comes as the president escalates his feud with Harvard, seeking $1 billion in damages over campus anti-Semitism. NTD's Washington correspondent Mario Tu brings us more from the White House. I mean, he's been very nice over the last month or two. He was certainly critical before that, but somehow after the Venezuelan raid, he became very nice. President Trump meeting with Colombian President Gustavo Petro at the White House today to discuss counter-narcotics efforts and regional security cooperation. This comes after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Petro in October for refusing to stop the flow of cocaine into the U.S. In 2023, Colombia accounted for 67 percent of the world's coca cultivation, and U.S. government and law enforcement estimates consistently report that over 90 percent of the cocaine found in the U.S. comes from Colombia. He and I weren't exactly the best of friends, but I wasn't insulted because I never met him. I didn't know him at all. And we got along very well. And we are. We're working on that. We're working on some other things, too, including sanctions. And we had a very good meeting. I thought he was terrific. Meanwhile, the White House now confirming that U.S.-Iran nuclear talks will happen later this week. This coming as the U.S. military shoots down an unmanned Iranian drone as it approached a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea. It was acting aggressively towards our USS Lincoln, which we know that aircraft carrier is in the region at the direction of President Trump. As for the president, he remains committed to always pursuing diplomacy first. But in order for diplomacy to work, of course, it takes two to tango. They had a chance to do something a while ago, and it didn't work out. And we did midnight hammer. I don't think they want that happening again. But they would like to negotiate. We are negotiating with them right now. Yes. President Trump has repeatedly said he's told Iran it has to do two things to avoid military action as the U.S. builds up its forces in the Gulf, no developing a nuclear weapon, and to stop killing anti-regime protesters. And closer to home, President Trump is escalating his feud with Harvard, announcing that he's seeking $1 billion in damages from the Ivy League University over claims of anti-Semitism on campus. The Trump administration has long accused Harvard of quote, fostering violence, anti-Semitism and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus. This announcement coming after he secured multimillion dollar settlements with Columbia and Brown universities last summer. Banned transgender ideology and critical race theory from our schools. Secured unprecedented settlements with Brown University, Columbia University. To restore fairness and merit, we're working with Harvard right now. They've been very anti-Semitic. Terrible what they've done. The president wants to see a deal struck with Harvard that is appropriate and that ensures they are held responsible for the criminal behavior, the illegal behavior, the harassment and the targeting of Jewish American students on their campus. That took place over the course of the last year, several years. In the same breath, President Trump condemns the New York Times over reporting he calls quote, completely wrong, that claims his administration is dropping a cash ask to settle investigations into the university. Linking the Times with Harvard in a flurry of truth social posts, President Trump says that the university is feeding quote, nonsense to the Times, accusing the Ivy League University of quote, serious and Reporting from the White House, Mario Tsu, NTD News. Have Ivy League schools been prioritizing activism over education? NTD's Sam Wong was out on the National Mall in D.C. to hear from the people. You think our Ivy League schools have been prioritizing activism over quality education? That's a pretty good summary. They spend a lot of time indoctrinating the kids. They come out of there and they really don't know a whole lot about our country. They haven't prioritized the history. It's all about image and not like substance, in my opinion, what the colleges are doing. We've got a bunch of people coming out of school who can't do anything. And that's why our nation's in decline. I think it's very important that we don't turn our universities into indoctrination stations. And Harvard has a huge endowment. My son, when he was in college, he on two or three occasions, he had to write papers telling the professor what they wanted to hear. Over 90 percent of college faculties and Ivy League schools are, you know, a Democrat. They're liberal. They don't even take a stand that there's one man and one woman. You know, it's not scientific. It's not logical. It's not compassionate. It's just creating gender confusion everywhere. And certainly there's no respect for the unborn. What do you think about the relationship between our academia and mainstream media in shaping our public discourse? I mean, it seems like they're all on one side. They kind of slant left. It's kind of embarrassing, to be honest. They're almost in lockstep. Academia is pushed by the mainstream media mostly because they're, I guess, 90 percent liberal. It's one thing if you're liberal. It's another thing if you are trying to organize facts to fit what you want it to be rather than just report facts. Colleges are definitely leaning to the left. I have a lot of friends and their children. Once they got to college and they got out of college, all of a sudden they were totally different people. As a professor, I don't think you should be putting your beliefs out there politically. I think it's just gotten way too far out of hand. In the case against Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk, a Utah County attorney took the witness stand today to defend against allegations of a conflict of interest. Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray defended his office's decision to seek the death penalty against Robinson. The defense argues that the judgment of the prosecution team was compromised because the team member's daughter was present at the event where Kirk was assassinated. They've asked the judge to disqualify the entire prosecution team. Gray said the team relied on their investigation and evidence before deciding to seek the death penalty. The daughter testified in a closed-door session to protect her identity. Her father, Deputy Prosecutor Chad Fernander, also took the stand today. He's been testifying about conversations he had with defense attorneys about his daughter. The hearing is ongoing and will keep you updated on further developments. What role does technology play in modern religious persecution? On the final day of the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C., discussions focused on how digital tools are being used to target faith communities. NTD's Chris Bob has the story. At the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C., speakers highlighted how surveillance systems, artificial intelligence, and online propaganda are being increasingly used to facilitate religious persecution. The persecution of Falun Gong has really spanned the rise of technology in China to persecute people. Primarily, Golden Shield, the Great Firewall, Skynet. These mechanisms for censoring, for surveilling, for correlating with databases of the identification cards and using actual cameras and these types of technologies to identify where people are, pick them up, detain them, which eventually, of course, in Falun Gong's case, leads to torture and so forth. You probably all know, have seen the Shen Yun posters that was started by Falun Gong practitioners to show the true culture of China, show the tyranny of the CCP on the world stage. On Platform X last year, they found that one of these articles going after Shen Yun was the most shared article of Ultima on the X platform. They found that strange. X investigated and found that this was happening because thousands of China-linked fake accounts were the ones sharing this article. The role of social media in fueling religious persecution emerged as a prominent theme of the summit, prompting speakers to call for stronger regulation. What shapes public policy more than lobbyists? The media, including social media. And yet, these kind of transparency measures are not in place for media. We've got some of our main media companies have tens of millions of dollars of deals inside China. They have personal staff with personal business and other ties to communist China. Have to find the answer for how we handle social media, the importance of having free discussion and free discourse on social media, but don't allow it to continue to be a vector for hatred. And often that hatred gets weaponized. Summit co-chair Sam Brownback is scheduled to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. Brownback told me that he plans to warn lawmakers that authoritarian regimes see religious freedom as a direct threat to their hold on power. I'm going to point out that there is an axis of evil that is organized and action-oriented of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and a number of other countries that are diametrically opposed to religious freedom. And yet, they fear religious freedom more than they fear our aircraft carriers or nuclear weapons. Because if there's religious freedom in China, the Chinese Communist Party could lose control. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Chris Bobb, NTD News. Coming up, what's the significance of Project Bolt, a $12 billion stockpile of critical minerals launched by the Trump administration? Brent Sadler from the Heritage Foundation joins us to discuss when we come back. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. President Trump on Monday announced the start of Project Bolt, a plan to deploy nearly $12 billion to create a strategic reserve of rare earth elements. These minerals are essential to modern technology in our daily lives and to the military. The stockpile is meant to counter China's dominance in critical minerals, which makes the supply chain highly vulnerable to disruption. Beijing has frequently leveraged its supply chain dominance against other nations in diplomatic and trade disputes. Joining us now is retired U.S. Navy Captain Brent Sadler. He's a Senior Research Fellow for Naval Warfare and Advanced Technology at the Heritage Foundation, as well as a former Pentagon official. Brent, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you. First, what's your reaction to Project Bolt, and how beneficial could this be to national security? Well, it's good to see. But again, it's much too late to task, and there's a lot of ground to catch up on. The first time that we really became aware, and there was no excuse for ignoring it, was when the Chinese Communist Party used or withheld trade in rare earth minerals with Japan after a tiff over a drunken Chinese fishing boat captain who was arrested by Japanese Coast Guard in 2010. But since we've done far too little and this is a necessary action, much like the strategic oil petroleum reserve, it's not so much to secure enough raw materials for the military, which is really not the customer here, it's industry. And it really is to prevent economic coercion, much like the strategic petroleum reserve does, to prevent an economic crisis by price gouging by cartels like OPEC and controlling the flow of supplier demand of the oil on the open market. And critical minerals and rare earths have been dominating headlines lately. Break down for us what exactly these are. How do they relate to our daily lives and even our military? Well, the critical minerals is one part, but they also require refinement. And so it's not just what you dig up out of the ground, but it's the finished product. And things like gallium that are used in very sensitive electronics and high precise electronics equipment is something in the rare earths that comes to mind. But it also includes things like titanium, as well as even aluminum, which is much more common. But again, if not processed and not available, the impurities required can have an economic impact, let alone an impact to the military. And increasingly, with the first to focus on microelectronics, the critical materials also goes into finished products like precision machinery equipment, which the United States is also reliant on overseas sources. And to your earlier point about Japan, how did communist China position itself to dominate the critical mineral sector, effectively monopolizing the industry? Well, much has been said in the 90s that the Chinese Communist Party, where China was given kind of like the open door to corner this market. And it was by design. I would say it wasn't. The only design on this was an effort by the Chinese Communist Party that saw an easy market to control. And if they had control, they could control the prices of it. And then and of course, then the profit margins. The same time they would drive in a dependency of their potential adversaries in the Western world, notably the United States. And that largely has become the case. Over 90 percent of the refined rare earths are still coming from China, not because it's hard to do, but because it's extremely dirty, produces a lot of caustic and pollutants in the process. And given what you just laid out there, how hard will it be for the US and allies to claw back mineral independence? Well, to do enough to be secure in a crisis of the military, I think we're on the way. We're several years, I think, from that. But we're only going to do it with allies and partners. We're not going to do it just with what we have in the United States. There's only one mind and one place to refine in the United States. The Congress has protected and tried to get restarted at scale, but that's not enough even for the defense industrial base needs. We need to grow things like what's being seen in Western Australia with a co-development project with Japanese technological or processing techniques at refining and also rare earth sourcing in Western Australia, in Perth. So there is opportunities to source the raw material. But again, the key is, where do you actually process and refine it? Too few opportunities are being explored for that. And that's going to take three to five years if you find a new Greenfield site to develop. And expanding on that, when it comes to reducing reliance, we've seen President Trump hold the idea of refining minerals on Pentagon bases and Secretary of State Marco Rubio actually will host the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington on Wednesday tomorrow, which will have delegations from over 50 countries. How hopeful are you that this multi-nation collaboration will be able to move the needle and cutting reliance on Beijing? Well, the key thing is there has to be viable economic projects. There has to be players that want to invest in with the technological know-how. Japan comes to mind because of the investment, the activity in Western Australia that I already mentioned that's still moving. It's about a year in the making already. But if there are partners that show up tomorrow with the money and the willingness to either open up mines and open up new refining sites, then I think it's possible. But again, whatever happens tomorrow, it's going to take three to five years if it's from ground, if it's basically starting fresh, and probably a couple of years before you see an impact in delivery of refined rare earth elements before it gets to the market. Well, Brent Sadler, as always, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you very much. Coming up, NFL security says more than 35 government agencies are supporting this week's Super Bowl events. David Lamb has more on the preparation for the big game. LA28 has announced several stadiums across the U.S. for the 2028 Olympic Soccer Tournament. The final matches will be held at the Rose Bowl in California. Christina Corona reports. And at the upcoming Winter Olympics, American skier Lindsey Vonn says she'll still compete despite a ruptured ACL. Dave Martin joins us to discuss when we return. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. The NFL security chief says that this year's Super Bowl security will be consistent with that of previous games. She says that no ICE agents have been assigned as part of her security team. NTD's David Lamb has more. Officials are expecting about 1.3 million visitors for this Sunday's Super Bowl and related events. The NFL and federal law enforcement officials said on Tuesday that there were no planned ICE operations for the game or the events leading up to it. As within previous years, the Super Bowl has been designated again as a Sierra 1 event. That is the second highest rating for a security assessment rating for a large special event. Security officials gave a safety briefing as communities prepare for the game, which is being held at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, which is about 50 miles southeast of San Francisco. Our responsibility is to support the security planning of the cities that are responsible for these events, and that is what we are doing. Been working with our DHS partners for 18 months. Everybody has got specific roles that they're assigned to. There's no ICE agents assigned as a part of our security team here, but everybody is focused on their mission here. NFL Security Chief Kathy Lanier said more than 35 government agencies are supporting the event to ensure the Super Bowl and the community are safe. This is an exciting moment for our region. Our goal is for fans to remember the game and the overall experience. Law enforcement agencies across this region are ready. Thank you, and let's enjoy the game. The last time the Super Bowl was held at this stadium was 10 years ago on February 7, 2016. David Lam, NTD News, California. The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will take soccer across the country. LA-28 announced seven U.S. stadiums that will host matches, with the finals returning to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. NTD's Christina Corona has the details. LA-28 announced on Tuesday that soccer group stage matches will be held across six additional cities from coast to coast, with teams advancing west toward the finals at the Rose Bowl. The tournament begins in New York at the future home of the New York City Football Club, a soccer stadium set to open in 2027. Other group stage venues will include Columbus Crew Stadium, Nashville SC's Geotis Park, St. Louis City SC's Energizer Park, and the San Jose's Earthquakes PayPal Park. San Diego's Snapdragon Stadium, home to San Diego FC and San Diego Wave FC, will host some of the later group games as teams advance west toward the finals at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The Rose Bowl will host the men's gold medal match on July 28, 2028, and the women's final will follow on July 29. For the first time, the Olympic soccer tournament will feature more women's teams than men's, marking the first female-majority Olympic Games. Officials say preliminary soccer matches could start before the July 14 opening ceremony to allow more recovery time between games. Tickets go on presale on April 2026, beginning with Southern California and Oklahoma City residents. Soccer fans nationwide will get a chance to witness Olympic history from New York to Los Angeles when the LA-28 games kick off in 2028. Christina Corona, NTD News. And for more sports news, we're joined by NTD's Dave Martin. Dave, we've got some NBA and some Super Bowl news, but let's start in the Olympics. As prolific American skier Lindsey Vonn announced, she has a completely ruptured ACL today. What is the plan for her going forward? Well, surprisingly. I mean, she said despite that, she's still going to compete in the Olympics, which, I mean, the opening ceremonies are this Friday, so just a few days away. Now, she crashed last week on Friday in a World Cup downhill event in Switzerland, was airlifted to a hospital right from the mountain there, so it looked pretty bad. Let's actually listen to what she said today about it. You have been doing extensive therapy, been consulting with doctors, been in the gym, and today I went skiing. And considering how my knee feels, it feels stable, I feel strong. My knee is not swollen, and with the help of a knee brace, I am confident that I can compete on Sunday. What I did today on the hill is not necessarily a great test. I still need to do the downhill training run, but I also know what my knee has felt like with previous injuries in the gym and what it's felt like during all the physical tests, and I can say that I feel a lot better right now than I have in the past. I feel a lot better right now than I did in 2019 for the last World Championships, and I still got a medal there with no LCL and three tibial plateau fractures. So like I said, this is not an unknown for me. I've done this before. I wish I wasn't in this position, but this is where I am, and I will do the best I can. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. She also said she has a bone bruise along with that, so somehow, though, I guess she's feeling better than she actually has in previous years, as long as the swelling's down. She said the swelling is down, too, so like she said, her first event is going to be Sunday in the women's downhill event. Lindsey Vonn, she's pretty tough. She's had that comeback. I mean, she had a six-year retirement. She came back a year ago. She's 41 years old right now, so pretty much what she's doing now is pretty amazing. She's got that titanium implant, by the way, in her right knee. It was the left knee that she ruptured the ACL, so. Gosh, well, best of luck to her. Best of luck to her. Shifting gears to the NBA, though, ESPN is reporting that the Memphis Grizzlies are trading two-time All-Star Jaron Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz in a multiplayer trade. Yeah, Jaron Jackson Jr. here, the big name in this trade. He was the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year in 2023. He's a six-foot, 10-inch shot-blocking center, really. He's also a threat from the outside on offense. Now, the Jazz had to give up a couple of recent first-round picks. Walter Clayton Jr., who they took just a few months ago, plus Taylor Hendricks, who was their first-round pick in 2023, plus three future first-round picks in order to get him. Now, Jackson is signed through 2030 at just over $200 million. Now, neither team has confirmed the trade. Neither team is actually in playoff contention right now, either. So, this is definitely a move more for the future, it looks like. We'll definitely see more trade news, I'm sure, in the next 48 hours, because the NBA's trade deadline will be on Thursday. So, Tiff, get ready to talk more trades, all right? Gonna be a lot more J's tomorrow. A lot more J. Jeremy Jackson Jr., yes. To the Jazz. I didn't realize that. All right, well, now that you're warmed up, we'll have some more. More alliteration. Moving to college football news, though. The Executive Director of the Playoff Committee announced there will be no playoff games on New Year's Eve for the upcoming season. Did he give a reason why? Well, this upcoming year, New Year's Eve is on a Thursday night. Now, the NFL has already claimed Thursday night, so they're gonna have a game on. The prepared statement they had, you know, doesn't actually say that that's the actual reason that they're moving off of New Year's Eve this time, but ESPN says that's what they were told. And ESPN is their exclusive TV partner, so I'm sure they have some knowledge on this. And even though these are the playoffs, the NFL is still usually a bigger draw on TV. So, instead of the quarterfinal games on New Year's Eve, they'll have one the day before, that's the Fiesta Bowl, on December 30th, a Wednesday. And then three on New Year's Day, that's a Friday. There'll be the Cotton Bowl, the Peach Bowl, and the Rose Bowl. But in 2027, we will have the college football playoffs back on New Year's Eve. I know it's important to me. I don't know about you, but I think it's very important to you. It's like, it's kind of a tradition now. I'll mark a future calendar. Yeah, a smiley face from me for that. Well, speaking of the NFL, looking there, the big game is just five days away. We've already shown a couple sneak peeks of some of the ads this year. Do we have more? Of course we do. You know, now, unlike yesterday's, we had the polar bear one. This one has a couple of celebrities in it discussing how football verbiage is used to sell food. It's actually kind of clever. I'm sure you'll recognize at least one of the actors here. So let's have, let's take a look. I mean, it's all so obvious. Pancake blocks, hash marks. Oh, I could eat that every morning and twice on Sunday. The whole sports a diner menu. I know, a double P. Hey, check this out. Barry Sanders, right? Played for Detroit for 10 years. What color was his jersey? Blue. Making him a? Blueberry. That one's a bit of a reach. The bar's totally selling food. So that was, of course, Matthew McConaughey and Parker Posey in an ad for Uber Eats and others. You know, those two were both in the movie Dazed and Confused, which came back out in 1993. Did you ever see that movie, Tara? I don't think I have. But first off, were you going to say the polar bear is not famous from yesterday? Well, compared to Matthew McConaughey, at least, I don't think he's that famous. Plus, it was kind of a clever commercial, you know. Did you notice? Pancake blocks, she said. Hash marks, you know. Those are both, you know, football verbiage. So he gets all hungry about that. So I thought it was kind of clever. Are you going to Uber Eats a meal now? I'll get some blueberries so I can be like Barry Sanders, too. No, I'm not going to. It was very clever. And that's all for today's news. For around the clock coverage, visit us at ntd.com slash live or download our NTD app. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Dickie Meyer. Good night.