Law enforcement authorities have a man in custody in Washington related to the Easter evening theft of Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse.
No further information about the man’s identity was available. Law enforcement sources believe the person taken into custody took Noem’s purse.
Both a D.C. Metropolitan Police spokesperson and a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington declined to comment.
As Department of Homeland Security secretary, Noem receives Secret Service protection.
When asked for comment from the U.S. Secret Service agent that was providing protection for Noem, the agency’s spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said, “For the safety of our agents and officers, we are not in a position to confirm or comment at this time. Should criminal charges be filed, the Department of Homeland Security will provide public information in accordance with established procedures.”
Noem’s purse was stolen when a masked man walked into Capital Burger, a restaurant in D.C., on Sunday night. The man passed two plainclothes Secret Service officers who were sitting at the bar on his way to her table, which was upstairs.
He then sat down next to Noem’s table, where she was eating with her family, and put his foot on her purse to drag it towards himself, according to two sources familiar who viewed the surveillance footage. Then, he swiftly picked it up, tucked it under his jacket and walked out, passing the protection agents on his way out.
Noem’s purse contained $3,000 cash, as well as her DHS access badge, her passport, various credit cards, blank checks, a set of keys and her driver’s license.
It’s unclear whether Noem was specifically targeted. Investigators said Monday they are looking into whether the man knew the purse belonged to a Cabinet secretary.
The investigation is being handled by the Metropolitan Police and the U.S. Secret Service.
NBC News asked Noem about the situation on Monday at the White House Easter Egg Roll. She said she couldn’t provide a comment or details.
“I don’t think I can comment on it yet,” she said. “It’s not resolved yet.”
Trump and Zelenskyy speak at Pope Francis’ funeral
01:47
UP NEXT
Faithful line Rome streets to pay tribute to Pope Francis
01:39
Pope Francis laid to rest in historic funeral ceremony
02:34
Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent abuse survivors, dies by suicide
01:39
Judge accused of obstructing arrest of undocumented migrant
02:16
New warning of growing supply chain disruptions amid trade war
02:10
Pope Francis’ moment with 8-year-old shared across the globe
01:29
Inside one U.S. company’s tariff war room amid turmoil over tariffs on imports from China
02:01
Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to federal murder and stalking charges
01:30
250,000 people pay respects to Pope Francis over 3 days
02:47
Car bomb explosion kills top Russian military commander
00:51
New turmoil inside Pentagon surrounding Hegseth
02:08
Judge allows death penalty in case against Bryan Kohberger
00:40
Miami shooting leaves three injured
01:18
More than 90,000 people have paid their respects to Pope Francis
03:13
Nightly News
President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy met on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral as talks to end Russia’s war on Ukraine ramp up. NBC News Correspondent Aaron Gilchrist reports.April 26, 2025
Good News: Mother hears heartbeat from late daughter
Upper Cumberland Regional Airport Director Dean Selby said the airport heard reports of an aircraft going down at approximately 11:50 a.m. Shortly after, the Memphis Air Traffic Control Center called the airport to say it had lost communication and contact with an aircraft.
The plane departed from Alabama and was on its descent into the airport when it crashed, Selby said.
Emergency management and fire and rescue workers, along with volunteers, looked for the crash site and were able to find it after the airport sent a plane up to search from the air, the director said.
Selby described the area where the plane was found as “remote.”
The Federal Aviation Administration, which said it is investigating, arrived on-site a few hours after the crash, Selby said. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation, will arrive Sunday.
Selby said the airport is not releasing any of the victims’ identities until next of kin are notified.
Sparta is about 96 miles southeast of Nashville.
A number of small planes have gone down in recent weeks, each time killing all the passengers on board.
LONDON — A lettercard penned by one of the Titanic’s most well-known survivors from onboard the ship, days before it sank, has sold for $399,000 (300,000 pounds) at auction.
In the note, written to the seller’s great-uncle on April 10, 1912, first-class passenger Archibald Gracie wrote of the ill-fated steamship: “It is a fine ship but I shall await my journeys end before I pass judgment on her.”
The letter was sold to a private collector from the United States on Saturday, according to auction house Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire, England. The hammer price far exceeded the initial estimate price of 60,000 pounds.
The letter is believed to be the sole example in existence from Gracie from onboard the Titanic, which sank off Newfoundland after hitting an iceberg, killing about 1,500 people on its maiden voyage.
Colonel Archibald Gracie’s letterHenry Aldridge & Son LtdColonel Archibald Gracie’s letterHenry Aldridge & Son Ltd
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge described it as an “exceptional museum grade piece.”
Gracie, who jumped from the ship and managed to scramble onto an overturned collapsible boat, was rescued by other passengers onboard a lifeboat and was taken to the R.M.S. Carpathia. He went on to write “The Truth about the Titanic,” an account of his experiences, when he returned to New York City.
Gracie boarded the Titanic in Southampton on April 10, 1912, and was assigned first-class cabin C51. His book is seen as one of the most detailed accounts of the events of the night the ship sank, Aldridge said. Gracie did not fully recover from the hypothermia he suffered, and died of complications from diabetes in late 1912.
The letter was postmarked Queenstown, Ireland, one of two stops the Titanic made before sinking.
Several LGBTQ+ pride events to be held as part of Washington, D.C.’s World Pride celebrations in May and June have been relocated from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The affected events include an International Pride Orchestra concert, a drag story hour and Pride-related art exhibits, including one featuring panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Event organizers say some were moved after the Kennedy Center informed them that it would not move forward with contracts to host them, while others were moved proactively after President Donald Trump abruptly fired several members of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees in February and made himself chairman.
The president wrote in a Truth Social post at the time, “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”
Ryan Bos, executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance, a group that is one of the main organizers of World Pride, described the post as the “writing on the wall” that prompted his group to move the gatherings it planned to host at the Kennedy Center elsewhere.
“The Kennedy Center, as an arts and cultural institution, this is a type of space that has been a safe haven for our communities from the dawn of time,” Bos told NBC News, adding that Trump’s message “goes counter to what pride is about.”
Now, the group’s programming will take place at its World Pride Welcome Center in downtown Washington.
Another event — the International Pride Orchestra’s Pride Celebration concert — will now take place at Strathmore, a concert venue in Bethesda, Maryland.
The orchestra’s leaders were informed via email on Feb. 12, just days after Trump’s announcement, that it would not be performing at the venue.
“We are not in a position at this time to advance a contract,” the email said, according to a press release from the International Pride Orchestra.
That same month, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., and the National Symphony Orchestra were also informed that an event they were planning to host at the Kennedy Center in May would not move forward.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment on this article.
In a statement, Michael Roest, the founding artistic director of the International Pride Orchestra, said orchestra members were “heartbroken” when they realized they would not be able to perform at the Kennedy Center during World Pride.
His statement also thanked Strathmore for opening its doors, saying, “Their willingness to host our Pride Celebration Concert ensures that our message of love, pride, and resilience will be heard on the doorstep of the nation’s capital.”
Capital Pride’s Bos echoed Roest, emphasizing the importance of moving forward with plans for World Pride, especially in Washington, as the nation’s capital celebrates 50 years of hosting annual Pride celebrations.
“World Pride is not canceled,” Bos said. “Every year World Pride is important, but this year there’s a very strong historic moment that we must meet … to ensure our community is not scared back into the closet.”
A growing number of Americans are using buy now, pay later loans to buy groceries, and more people are paying those bills late, according to new Lending Tree data released Friday.
In a survey conducted April 2-3 of 2,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 to 79, around half reported having used buy now, pay later services. Of those consumers, 25% of respondents said they were using BNPL loans to buy groceries, up from 14% in 2024 and 21% in 2023, the firm said.
Meanwhile, 41% of respondents said they made a late payment on a BNPL loan in the past year, up from 34% in the year prior, the survey found.
Lending Tree’s chief consumer finance analyst, Matt Schulz, said that of those respondents who said they paid a BNPL bill late, most said it was by no more than a week or so.
“A lot of people are struggling and looking for ways to extend their budget,” Schulz said. “Inflation is still a problem. Interest rates are still really high. There’s a lot of uncertainty around tariffs and other economic issues, and it’s all going to add up to a lot of people looking for ways to extend their budget however they can.”
“For an awful lot of people, that’s going to mean leaning on buy now, pay later loans, for better or for worse,” he said.
He stopped short of calling the results a recession indicator but said conditions are expected to decline further before they get better.
“I do think it’s going to get worse, at least in the short term,” said Schulz. “I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of reason to expect these numbers to get better in the near term.”
The loans, which allow consumers to split up purchases into several smaller payments, are a popular alternative to credit cards because they often don’t charge interest. But consumers can see high fees if they pay late, and they can run into problems if they stack up multiple loans. In Lending Tree’s survey, 60% of BNPL users said they’ve had multiple loans at once, with nearly a fourth saying they have held three or more at once.
“It’s just really important for people to be cautious when they use these things, because even though they can be a really good interest-free tool to help you kind of make it from one paycheck to the next, there’s also a lot of risk in mismanaging it,” said Schulz. “So people should tread lightly.”
Lending Tree’s findings come after Billboard revealed that about 60% of general admission Coachella attendees funded their concert tickets with buy now, pay later loans, sparking a debate on the state of the economy and how consumers are using debt to keep up their lifestyles. A recent announcement from DoorDash that it would begin accepting BNPL financing from Klarna for food deliveries led to widespread mockery and jokes that Americans were struggling so much that they were now being forced to finance cheeseburgers and burritos.
Over the last few years, consumers have held up relatively well, even in the face of persistent inflation and high interest rates, because the job market was strong and wage growth had kept up with inflation — at least for some workers.
Earlier this year, however, large companies including Walmart and Delta Airlines began warning that the dynamic had begun to shift and they were seeing cracks in demand, which was leading to worse-than-expected sales forecasts.
Under the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Education made regular announcements that it was forgiving student debt for thousands of people under various relief programs and repayment plans.
“You have the administration trying to limit PSLF credits, and clear attacks on the income-based repayment with forgiveness options,” said Malissa Giles, a consumer bankruptcy attorney in Virginia.
The White House did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Here’s what to know about the current status of federal student loan forgiveness opportunities.
Forgiveness chances narrow on repayment plans
The Biden administration’s new student loan repayment plan,Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, isn’t expected to survive under Trump, experts say. A U.S. appeals court already blocked the plan in February after a GOP-led challenge to the program.
SAVE came with two key provisions that lawsuits targeted: It had lower monthly payments than any other federal student loan repayment plan, and it led to quicker debt erasure for those with small balances.
“I personally think you will see SAVE dismantled through the courts or the administration,” Giles said.
But the Education Department under Trump is now arguing that the ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals required it to end the loan forgiveness under repayment plans beyond SAVE. As a result, the Pay As You Earn and Income-Contingent Repayment options no longer wipe debt away after a certain number of years.
There’s some good news: At least one repayment plan still leads to debt erasure, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. That plan is called Income-Based Repayment.
If a borrower enrolled in ICR or PAYE eventually switches to IBR, their previous payments made under the other plans will count toward loan forgiveness under IBR, as long as they meet the IBR’s other requirements, Kantrowitz said. (Some borrowers may opt to take that strategy if they have a lower monthly bill under ICR or PAYE than they would on IBR.)
Public Service Loan Forgiveness remains
Despite Trump’s executive order in March aimed at limiting eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, the program remains intact. Any changes to the program would likely take months or longer to materialize, and may even need congressional approval, experts say.
PSLF, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007, allows many not-for-profit and government employees to have their federal student loans canceled after 10 years of payments.
What’s more, any changes to PSLF can’t be retroactive, consumer advocates say. That means that if you are currently working for or previously worked for an organization that the Trump administration later excludes from the program, you’ll still get credit for that time — at least up until when the changes go into effect.
For now, the language in the president’s executive order was fairly vague. As a result, it remains unclear exactly which organizations will no longer be considered a qualifying employer under PSLF, experts said.
However, in his first few months in office, Trump has targeted immigrants, transgender and nonbinary people and those who work to increase diversity across the private and public sector. Many nonprofits work in these spaces, providing legal support or doing advocacy and education work.
For now, those pursuing PSLF should print out a copy of their payment history on StudentAid.gov or request one from their loan servicer. They should keep a record of the number of qualifying payments they’ve made so far, said Jessica Thompson, senior vice president of The Institute for College Access & Success.
“We urge borrowers to save all documentation of their payments, payment counts, and employer certifications to ensure they have any information that might be useful in the future,” Thompson said.
Other loan cancellation opportunities to consider
Federal student loan borrowers also remain entitled to a number of other student loan forgiveness opportunities.
The Teacher Loan Forgiveness program offers up to $17,500 in loan cancellation to those who’ve worked full time for “complete and consecutive academic years in a low-income school or educational service agency,” among other requirements, according to the Education Department.
(One thing to note: This program can’t be combined with PSLF, and so borrowers should decide which avenue makes the most sense for them.)
In less common circumstances, you may be eligible for a full discharge of your federal student loans under Borrower Defense if your school closed while you were enrolled or if you were misled by your school or didn’t receive a quality education.
Borrowers may qualify for a Total and Permanent Disability discharge if they suffer from a mental or physical disability that is severe and permanent and prevents them from working. Proof of the disability can come from a doctor, the Social Security Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs.
With the federal government rolling back student loan forgiveness measures, experts also recommend that borrowers explore the many state-level relief programs available. The Institute of Student Loan Advisors has a database of student loan forgiveness programs by state.
The Cleveland Browns selected Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders with the 144th pick in the fifth round of the NFL draft on Saturday, a surprising slide down the boards for what was considered by many a first-round lock.
Sanders was a lightning rod of a prospect during draft season. While many projected him as a first-round selection — anywhere as high as No. 3 to the New York Giants or to the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 21 — he went undrafted on the first two nights.
Ultimately, Sanders was selected in the fifth round by Cleveland. Five quarterbacks — Miami’s Cam Ward, Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart, Louisville’s Tyler Shough, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel — went ahead of Sanders.
Minutes after the pick was made, Sanders posted to X, simply saying, “Thank you GOD.”
The Browns shortly after posted a sizzle reel of Sanders with the caption, “Another playmaker in the mix.”
Sanders, the son of NFL Hall-of-Famer and Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders, began his collegiate career at Jackson State in 2021 when his father was the head coach. Both left for Colorado after the 2022 season, and Shedeur Sanders spent his final two years in college with the Buffaloes.
In his senior season, Sanders won Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, completing 74.0% of his passes, with 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also threw 4,134 yards.
Sanders was a key figure in Colorado’s turnaround as a football program. The school won only one game the season before his arrival. In 2024, the Buffaloes won nine games for the first time since 2016.
In the lead up to the draft, Sanders was the target of several scouts and coaches, with his character off the field often being drawn into question.
Purdue University’s train mascot, the Boilermaker Special, was involved in a fatal crash on Thursday afternoon in Tippecanoe County, Indiana.
The vehicle crossed the median traveling north on U.S. 52 after a “possible tire malfunction,” hitting a southbound car, the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
The one individual in the southbound car was pronounced dead at the scene, deputies said. The coroner’s office will release the victim’s identity once their family is notified.
Madison Cook, a 20-year-old Purdue student from Noblesville, was driving the Boilermaker Special at the time of the crash with 22-year-old Taylor Melton from Rockport, deputies said.
Both students were treated at the hospital and released on Thursday, the university said in a statement.
“As part of the investigation, toxicology exams will be conducted for both drivers,” authorities said.
The sheriff’s office said it is looking into any additional mechanical issues that may be related to the crash, with the Indiana State Police Commercial Vehicle Division aiding in the investigation.
The Boilermaker Special VII has served as the official mascot of Purdue since 2011, cared for by the the Purdue Reamer Club.
Claimed to be the world’s fastest, heaviest and loudest mascot, the Boilermaker Special travels across the country to attend all of Purdue’s away football games.
More than 23 years after the Twin Towers collapsed, blanketing lower Manhattan in toxic dust and debris, the number of people diagnosed with 9/11-related illnesses is still growing.
Since 2011, the main resource for people exposed to the fumes has been the World Trade Center Health Program, which covers treatment for cancer, asthma and post-traumatic stress disorder, among other health conditions.
Of the roughly 132,000 people enrolled in the program as of December, 64% have at least one condition linked to 9/11. Cancer is the most common, affecting more than 40,000 members. Some people join the program after an illness has developed, while others join to receive annual screenings that could detect illnesses in the future.
The program’s fate has seesawed over the past 10 weeks as the Trump administration fired and rehired certain staffers, only to terminate them again last month, according to lawyers and advocates for people with 9/11-related exposures. They added that the staffing cuts have made it harder to enroll members or confirm that their treatment is covered by federal funding.
“These cuts are going to potentially delay treatment, delay diagnosis and early detection of their cancers, and it’s going to cost lives,” said Todd Cleckley, a nurse medical specialist at Barasch & McGarry, a law firm representing 9/11 responders and survivors.
“The health program already operated on a very slim staffing margin,” he added. “We’re only beginning to see what those negative impacts will be.”
Sixteen of the program’s staffers were swept up in the Trump administration’s firing of probationary workers in February. The administration reinstated the positions roughly a week later, following outcry from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
Then in late March the Department of Health and Human Services announced it was laying off around 20,000 federal employees. Those layoffs again included 16 staffers at the World Trade Center Health Program, plus the program’s director, according to lawyers and advocates. The director was reinstated on April 5 after more bipartisan opposition, they said, but the staffers were not.
The HHS layoffs were part of a massive restructuring that gutted the agency responsible for the World Trade Center program, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). In addition to the 16 staffers, HHS terminated other institute employees in charge of certifying that patients’ 9/11-related illnesses were eligible for federal funding, lawyers and advocates said.
“They weren’t on the World Trade Center Program payroll, but they did things that are essential to the program running,” said Benjamin Chevat, executive director of 9/11 Health Watch, a nonprofit group that helps ensure people have access to the program’s services.
Lawyers and advocates plan to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to ask lawmakers to reinstate staffers. HHS did not respond to a request for comment.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that his office has reached out to the federal government “about restoring these important resources.”
“New York City is dedicated to providing quality health care to the heroes who responded on 9/11 and the survivors of the most tragic day in America’s history,” Adams said in a statement. “Our partnership with the federal government to deliver these services is vital, providing access to life-saving, time-sensitive treatment for every firefighter, police officer, volunteer, and everyday New Yorkers who remember that day, and remember what it took to rebuild the next morning.”
Before the staffing cuts, 9/11 responders and people who lived, worked or attended school or day care in the disaster area could apply to join the program and typically get accepted within a few weeks. But Chevat said no one has been enrolled since April 1. The program usually enrolls around 200 people per month, on average.
Michael Barasch, a partner at Barasch & McGarry, said he’s still submitting applications on behalf of his clients, but “they’re not hearing from the health program, so we don’t know if or when they will ever get an appointment.”
Members of the program receive annual screenings at certified health clinics, which are largely concentrated in the New York area. There, doctors evaluate people for a host of mental and physical illnesses with known ties to 9/11. If a doctor determines there’s a link, the clinic submits paperwork to federal employees, who must certify that the condition is eligible for funding before patients can be treated at no cost. More than 8,200 cancer diagnoses were certified last year.
New certifications haven’t been issued since the start of April, shortly after HHS announced it was dismantling NIOSH, Chevat said.
The delays could have dire consequences for people who were exposed to toxic dust and debris, lawyers and advocates said. Many cancers — once identified — must be treated right away.
“You’ll never hear me say something inflammatory just to make a headline, but it is a fact: People will die because of these decisions,” Barasch said.
The collapse of the Twin Towers released cancer-causing chemicals such as asbestos, benzene and dioxins that lingered in the air for days to weeks. A 10-year study found an elevated risk of leukemia and prostate and thyroid cancers among rescue and recovery workers who responded to the disaster. Other cancers, such as lung cancer and mesothelioma, may develop decades after exposure to asbestos, so future diagnoses are expected.
Michael O’Connell.Courtesy Michael O’Connell
“We were breathing in glass and asbestos and everything else that you could imagine,” said Michael O’Connell, who assisted with search-and-rescue operations as an early-career firefighter after 9/11. “We slept in it, we ate in it, we bled in it. We didn’t leave it. We were in that zone for almost nine months.”
Roughly six years later, O’Connell was diagnosed with a rare inflammatory disease called sarcoidosis that caused debilitating pain in his joints and skin. He received treatment through the World Trade Center Health Program, which he credits for helping him manage his symptoms. The idea that new members might not be able to enroll or receive treatment is “deeply disturbing,” he said.
If the NIOSH staffers aren’t reinstated, lawyers and advocates said, hospitals may not get reimbursed for chemotherapy or surgeries and eventually may stop offering them to patients. Barasch said he has already received calls from clients worried about whether they can continue to get chemo.
‘“It’s bureaucratic cruelty,” he said. “They’re trying to save money, which is fine, but don’t do it on the backs of the 9/11 community.”
Mariama James, a lower Manhattan resident who was pregnant with her third child during 9/11, said she has been waiting to see if the program will cover a treatment for her sleep apnea. She now expects that process to be delayed.
“How are they going to get a new medication covered if the doctors from NIOSH have been fired?” James said. “I’ll be waiting forever for that medication.”
The World Trade Center Health Program was already vulnerable before the layoffs due to budgetary constraints, Barasch added. In December, Congress opted not to include a long-term funding package for the program in a bipartisan spending deal. Several lawmakers anticipate that the budget shortfall could force the program to close enrollment or scale back treatment for current members starting in October 2028. A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate in February calls for more funding to be made available until the program expires in 2090.
In addition to lobbying for program staffers to be rehired, lawyers and advocates will ask legislators on Tuesday to back the bill.
