Lester Holt's Final Day As ‘NBC Nightly News' Anchor Set For May 30; Tom Llamas To Debut on June 2
His successor, Tom Llamas, will debut the following Monday, June 2.
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Holt announced in February that he would be stepping down from his role after 10 years. He will remain with the network as full-time anchor of Dateline NBC.
Llamas, who returned to the network in 2021, also will hold the title of managing editor, as Holt did. Llamas also will continue to anchor Top Story, NBC News Now's signature nighttime show that runs from 7-8 p.m. ET.
In announcing his departure from NBC Nightly News, Holt wrote to staffers in February, 'It has truly been the honor of a lifetime to work with each of you every day, keeping journalism as our true north and our viewers at the center of everything we do.'
World News Tonight with David Muir remains at the top of the ratings. In naming Llamas to the role, NBC News noted that he helped introduce the network 'to a new generation of viewers' on NBC News Now, which has a younger audience than the traditional network. He will be the youngest anchor at any of a network evening news broadcast.
CBS switched anchors on CBS Evening News earlier this year, with John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois succeeding Norah O'Donnell. The show also has taken a different approach to the traditional, headline-driven broadcast, placing more of an emphasis on correspondent storytelling. But the ratings have been down vs. a year ago.
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Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Trump's attack on in-state tuition for Dreamers is bad law — and worse policy
Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Other surveys — by the Advertisement Among the targets of the administration's hostility, none elicits more sympathy from the public than the so‑called Dreamers — young people brought here unlawfully as children, who have grown up as Americans in everything but paperwork. (According to Gallup, Advertisement In lawsuits filed this spring against Texas, Minnesota, and Kentucky, the Justice Department maintains that offering in‑state tuition to students without legal immigration status — even if they were brought here as small children and essentially grew up American — violates federal law. In reality, it is the administration's assault that distorts federal law. It is also a brazen power grab that tramples states' rights, to say nothing of basic decency. Beginning in 2001, Democratic and Republican legislatures decided that if young people grow up in a state, are educated in its schools, and want to pursue higher education within its borders, it makes no sense to penalize them financially merely because of their immigration status. If there are good reasons to give a break on tuition to local students who want to go to a local college, what difference does it make whether they have a passport, a green card, or neither? Yet on April 28, President Trump Advertisement But that isn't true. Federal law does not say that undocumented immigrants must be excluded from any in-state tuition benefit. It Accordingly, the states that offer reduced tuition to undocumented immigrants condition the offer on criteria other than residency. States that offer in‑state tuition to undocumented students are acting not just humanely but rationally. Such policies reflect the common-sense principle that justifies giving a tuition break to any local student: It is in every state's interest to help its homegrown young people be as successful and well educated as possible. Lower tuition makes higher education more affordable, which in turn boosts the number of local families that can send their kids to college, which in turn expands the state's population of educated adults. A more educated population strengthens the state's economy, since college graduates are more likely to be employed and to earn higher incomes. For states like Massachusetts, which suffers from high outmigration, a particularly strong argument for the in-state tuition break is that graduates of public institutions are more likely to Advertisement None of these arguments has any logical connection to immigration or citizenship. They apply with equal force to those born abroad and to those born locally. And it is irrelevant whether those born abroad were brought to America by parents who had immigration visas or by parents who didn't. Dreamers aren't freeloaders. Like their families, they pay taxes — property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, and even the payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare benefits, for which they are ineligible. (In 2022, according to the latest estimate from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants Aside from the Trumpian hard core, most Americans sympathize with the plight of undocumented immigrants who grew up in this country and have known no other home. That explains why (as Gallup reports) 85 percent of them would like Congress to make it possible for them to acquire citizenship. It also explains why in-state tuition for Dreamers has bipartisan support: The states that have enacted such policies include Oklahoma, Kentucky, California, and New York. Advertisement The Trump administration's lawsuits deserve to be dismissed on their legal merits, but they also deserve to be reviled as one more example of MAGA malevolence, which is grounded in nothing except a desire to hurt immigrants — Few Americans have any desire to punish young people who have done nothing wrong. The cruelty at the heart of Trump's immigration policy may thrill his base, but it repels a far larger America unwilling to abandon its values. Jeff Jacoby can be reached at


Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
How Meghan Markle's US Popularity Compares to Royals
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Markle was liked by 57 percent and disliked by 30 percent, giving her a net approval rating of plus 27. This compared to Prince Harry at +40, Princess Kate at +49, Prince William at +54 and King Charles III at -13. The couple's rift with the monarchy had not yet fully exploded into the public domain and they had only recently signed their Netflix deal that September. There had, though, been public backlash after Markle called for the "change we all need and deserve" on behalf of former first lady Michelle Obama's "When All Women Vote" initiative in the run-up to the presidential election that toppled President Donald Trump that month. In January 2020, YouGov asked Americans whether they supported or opposed Harry and Meghan stepping back from the monarchy. Exactly half supported the move, 7 percent opposed it and 43 percent answered "don't know." On March 5, 2021, as teasers from Oprah's interview began to drop, YouGov asked whether people were mostly sympathetic to the royals or the Sussexes. At that point, 29 percent backed the Sussexes and 13 percent backed Queen Elizabeth II and the royals, while most said either "both," "neither," "don't know" or "not applicable." Meghan Markle at The Paley Center for Media fall gala at the Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons hotel, in Beverly Hills, California, on December 4, 2024. Meghan Markle at The Paley Center for Media fall gala at the Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons hotel, in Beverly Hills, California, on December 4, 2024. Leon Bennett/FilmMagic Meghan's Popularity After Oprah On March 8, 2021, YouGov conducted a snap poll immediately after its broadcast that showed 68 percent of Americans had sympathy for Harry and Meghan compared to 27 percent who had either not very much or none. This compared to 28 percent who had sympathy for the royals and 68 percent who had either not very much or none. In other words, Americans initially appeared to take Harry and Meghan's side in the immediate aftermath of the interview. By, May 2022, however, YouGov ran further polling that showed a slump in Meghan's net favorability ratings. Meghan was liked by 45 percent of Americans and disliked by 36 percent, giving her a net approval rating of +9. A drop of 18 points compared to November 2020 may seem sharp, but she remained in positive numbers and the slump was significantly less severe than in Britain, where she dropped deep into negative territory. Meanwhile, Harry dropped to plus 18, a 22-point slide, Kate slipped to plus 36, William to plus 31 and Charles crept up to minus 7. Queen Camilla was at minus 13. Meghan's Popularity Around Spare and Netflix Redfield & Wilton conducted further polling on behalf of Newsweek on December 5, 2022, days out from the release of the couple's Harry & Meghan biopic and three months after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. At that time, 43 percent of Americans liked Meghan and she was disliked by 20 percent, meaning a net approval rating of plus 23. Harry was at plus 38, Kate plus 43 and William plus 40, while Charles was at plus 12 and Camilla minus 2. However, the couple crashed in the aftermath of Prince Harry's memoir Spare and Netflix in the eyes of the U.S. public. Further polling by Redfield & Wilton for Newsweek on January 16 showed Meghan dropped 36 points, after she was liked by 26 percent of Americans and disliked by 39 percent, giving her a net approval rating of -13. Harry dropped 45 points to minus 7, while Kate slipped to plus 26, William to plus 21, Charles to plus 8 and Camilla to minus 8. Meghan's Popularity in 2025 YouGov's most recent polling of Americans came in April, when 41 percent liked Meghan and 26 percent disliked her, giving a net rating of plus 15. Meanwhile, Harry was at plus 35, Kate was at plus 43, William was at plus 53, Charles was at plus 21 and Camilla was at minus seven. In summary, Meghan has consistently polled behind William, Kate and Harry and in front of Camilla. She has mostly polled ahead of King Charles except in the most recent poll, in which he did unusually well. While she may not command figures as strong as her brother-in-law and sister-in-law, she has substantially bounced back from her lowest point in the aftermath of Spare. She has not, though, regained the high ratings she enjoyed before Oprah, in November 2020. Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page. Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@ We'd love to hear from you.

3 hours ago
Memory cafes at the National Comedy Center ignite laughter and connection for dementia patients
JAMESTOWN, N.Y. -- Side by side on a sofa inside the National Comedy Center, Gail and Mario Cirasunda chuckled at a clip from the 1980s sitcom 'Family Ties' that was playing on a TV screen. The show's oldest daughter, Mallory, was introducing her unconventional artist boyfriend Nick to her bewildered television family. 'I think our daughter brought him home once. Maybe two of our daughters!' Gail said with a laugh over coffee and donuts later. 'Five daughters, two sons,' her husband Mario, 85, chimed in. 'Sometimes I'd wonder,' he smiled, shaking his head at the memories of the couple's own family antics over their 59-year marriage. Moments like this are what brought the Cirasundas to the comedy museum in western New York and the memory cafe taking place inside. The monthly events invite people with Alzheimer's, dementia, or other memory loss, and their caregivers, to spend time at the interactive museum. For visitors like Mario, who has dementia, and his wife, the scenes and artifacts from funny shows and comedians have a way of triggering shared laughs and connection, and, as comedy center staff have found, memories. Gail, 78, treasures the moments when Mario — who still vividly recalls his childhood route to school and the names of old friends — also recollects experiences from their shared life. A 1965 blind date after Mario got out of the Navy led to seven children, 24 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, careers and moves. However, memories made over a lifetime together have become increasingly elusive over the past several years, since about the time Mario started to get lost driving and forget whether he likes a particular food. At a recent memory cafe, the Cirasundas, from suburban Buffalo, and others spent the morning walking through the museum that was inspired by 'I Love Lucy' star Lucille Ball in her hometown of Jamestown. Gail kept a guiding hand on her husband's elbow as they smiled through Johnny Carson bits from 'The Tonight Show' in the center's late night studio, browsed standup comic George Carlin's personal notes and comedian Bob Hope artifacts, and laughed out loud at a display of classic comedy props like the banana peel and pie in the face. During a break in the museum's restaurant, the 'Family Ties' video evoked scenes from real life. 'The moments are precious because he might not remember it,' Gail explained, 'but when you're there talking about it, you're remembering. Five minutes later, it's gone — but you had that moment.' The Alzheimer's Association estimates 7.2 million Americans over the age of 65 are living with Alzheimer's dementia, and an even higher number of people care for an impacted friend or family member. Memory cafes have emerged around the world in recent years as a way to connect and support individuals and caregivers, and provide information and resources. Many of the more than 600 cafes regularly running in the U.S. — often meeting in libraries and community centers — bring in speakers and engage participants with physical activity, music and art, all of which are good for the brain, experts say. The National Comedy Center held its first one earlier this year. It seemed a natural fit after staff heard from patrons about the museum's impact on their loved ones. Spokesman Gary Hahn sees the center as a kind of time machine, with exhibits memorializing comedy from Vaudeville to viral memes that can transport visitors back, no matter their age. Even before the formal memory cafes began, a visitor told the center's staff that his wife with dementia seldom spoke — but would become more verbal while walking through the museum and laughing alongside him. 'There was a stimulation of the part of the brain, whether it's because of the nostalgia or the comedy, that had an impact on her,' said Journey Gunderson, the center's executive director. Shelia Kennison, an author and psychology professor at Oklahoma State University, said humor positively affects physiology in many ways. 'It takes most of your brain to process what's being said or being shown to you and then to find the humor, and then once that happens, it sets off this cascade of brain activity and physiological changes that affects the whole body," said Kennison, who studies how humor is involved in cognition, memory and overall wellbeing. "So it really is a whole brain workout and a whole body workout when you get that really funny joke that makes you laugh and slap your knee and rock back and forth.' Laughter has always been important to Gail and Mario Cirasunda, whose children often gave their father Peter Sellers' 'Pink Panther' movies as gifts so they could see him laugh. 'Keep a sense of humor in your marriage,' Gail's boss told her before she got married. Even through the challenges, she said, she's followed the advice.