Savannah Guthrie gives 1st interview since Nancy Guthrie’s abduction: ‘We are in agony’
Savannah Guthrie and mother Nancy Guthrie on Thursday, June 15, 2023 — (Photo by: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie is speaking out in her first interview nearly two months after her mother, Nancy Guthrie, was kidnapped from her Tucson, Arizona, home.
Authorities say Nancy Guthrie, 84, was abducted from her house in the early hours of Feb. 1. They have released surveillance images from outside Nancy Guthrie’s house, but the person who took her remains unidentified.
In an emotional interview with her friend and former co-host Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie said, “We are in agony.”
“It is unbearable,” she said. “And to think of what she went through.”
Savannah Guthrie said thoughts of the terror her mother experienced wakes her up each night.
“I wake up every night in the middle of the night. Every night,” she said through tears. “And in the darkness, I imagine her terror. And it is unthinkable. But those thoughts demand to be thought. And I will not hide my face. That she needs to come home now.”
“Someone needs to do the right thing,” she stressed.
The full interview with Savannah Guthrie will be released on Thursday and Friday, Kotb said.
Kotb has been filling in for Savannah Guthrie on “Today” since the abduction.
Anyone with information is urged to call 911, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
ABC News’ Matt Claiborne contributed to this report.
American religious & Civil Rights leader and politician Reverend Jesse Jackson points as he speaks from a lectern at the headquarters of Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity), Chicago, Illinois, July 17, 1981. (Photo by Antonio Dickey/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Former President Barack Obama reflected on the late Rev. Jesse Jackson’s “legacy of hope” on Friday, telling thousands who gathered to celebrate the late civil rights leader’s life in Chicago that “we are living in a time when it can be hard to hope.”
“I’d always be grateful for that legacy of hope,” Obama said.
“We are living in a time when it can be hard to hope. Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions, another setback to the idea of the rule of law, an offense to common decency. Every day you wake up to things you just didn’t think you think were possible,” Obama said.
“Each day, we’re told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other, and that some Americans count more than others, and that some don’t even count at all,” Obama added.
“Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength; we see science and expertise denigrated while ignorance and dishonesty and cruelty and corruption are reaping untold rewards every single day, we see that and it’s hard to hope,” Obama said.
Obama joined former Presidents Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, and former Vice President Kamala Harris, in delivering remarks at the House of Hope on Friday afternoon in Chicago to honor the legacy of the pioneering civil rights leader, politician and minister, who died on Feb. 17 at the age of 86. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former First Lady Jill Biden also attended the service, along with governors of the states of Illinois, Maryland, California and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Throughout his speech Obama characterized Jackson as a “messenger” of God, who repeatedly said, “send me,” as he faced and fought injustices thorough his life – from the Jim Crow South, to the modern civil rights movement.
“But this man Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, inspires us to take a harder path, his voice calls on each of us to be heralds of change,” Obama said. “How fortunate we were that Jesse Jackson answered that call, what a great debt we owe to him. May God bless, Rev. Jackson. May he rest in eternal peace.”
Friday’s public “Celebration of Life” service will be followed by a private service on Saturday morning in Chicago. The services come after thousands paid their respects to Jackson as he lay in honor at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago last week. He was also honored in his birth state of South Carolina on Monday, where he laid in state at the state house in Columbia.
“Jesse Jackson, Sr. marched beside Martin Luther King, Jr. for civil rights for all people. He traveled the world fighting economic and gender inequity. Until his last days, he fought for better healthcare, education, and peace in Chicago, Illinois, the United States, and beyond,” the Jackson family said in a statement on Wednesday. “I hope everyone who joins us to honor his legacy will also continue to champion these causes. That would be the best possible tribute and celebration they could offer.”
“Jesse Jackson, Sr. changed the United States — and the world,” the Jackson family said. “We are deeply honored to know there are people from every walk of life who want to join us to pay their respects.”
During his speech Obama reflected on Jackson’s historic campaigns for president in 1984 and 1988 and the rainbow coalition that he formed, forging the path forward for the Democratic Party. “He paved the road for so many others to follow,” Obama said. “And it was because of that path that he had laid, because of his courage, his audacity, that two decades later, a young black senator from Chicago, South Side would even be taken seriously as a candidate for the presidential nomination,” Obama added.
Harris also credited Jackson with forming the “rainbow coalition,” which became a defining force for the Democratic Party.
“Jackson reminded us that the many fights for freedom are interconnected,” she said.
“As he once said, when a barrier falls for one of the locked out, it opens the doors for all, and that is what he told me, and what he taught me, and how he inspired me,” she added.
Meanwhile, former President Bill Clinton, who awarded Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000, said the late reverand made him a “better president.”
“We did not always agree, but I’ll tell you one thing, he made me a better president, because he was always pushing on things, and he knew that change came from the outside in, and sometimes from the inside out,” Clinton said. “so he knew how to keep pushing and nagging and wearing you up.”
Jackson died after experiencing health issues over the past several years, including a battle with Parkinson’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurological disorder.
During his remarks on Friday, Biden called for Jackson’s memory to inspire Americans. “Let us be what Jesse called us to be, a margin of hope. Sometimes it’s the margin [that can] change people’s lives, to change community lives; lift up this country and light the path to being the nation Jesse always believed we can be,” he said.
Several of Jackson’s children also honored their father’s legacy during the service, reflecting on his 1984 and 1988 presidential runs and how he dedicated his career to advancing economic justice and building political power for Black Americans.
Jackson’s son Yusef Jackson, who is also President of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition — the civil rights organization that Jackson founded in the 90s, said on Friday that his father’s legacy will continue in the work.
“This type of work does not pass by blood. It passes by spirit,” he said. “Thus it is in his name that we have committed ourselves, that the rainbow coalition will continue.”
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin, Tierra Cunningham and Jeana Fermi contributed to this report.
Booking photo of Renee Lambert, 34, who was arrested, May 2, 2026, in Fort Myers, Florida, after she allegedly ran onto a football field and assaulted a child during a Pop Warner football game, according to police. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)
(FORT MYERS, Fla.) — A Florida mother was arrested after police alleged she charged onto a football field over the weekend and repeatedly kicked a 13-year-old player during a youth football game brawl.
The woman, 34-year-old Renee Lambert, was arrested on Saturday on charges of child abuse without great bodily harm and resisting an officer without violence, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident unfolded on Saturday afternoon at Brooks Park in Fort Myers during a Southwest Florida Panthers Youth Football game, according to the sheriff’s office and the league’s president.
During the game, an on-field fight broke out between players, authorities said. As coaches attempted to break up the fight, bystander video captured Lambert — who had been cheering on her son’s team, the Falcons — rushing onto the field. The footage appeared to show her kicking the child on the opposing team while he was on the ground, officials said.
“Witnesses stated that after an incident on the field with the youth players fighting, some parents came onto the field to intervene,” according to a probable cause statement released by the sheriff’s office. “A witness reported seeing the adult female kick a juvenile male multiple times.”
At least two on-duty sheriff’s deputies were at the park patrolling when the altercation occurred, according to the probable cause statement.
The sheriff’s department released body-camera video of deputies detaining Lambert near a concession stand after witnesses pointed her out.
Lambert allegedly became “confrontational” while speaking with deputies, according to the statement.
“Lambert refused to listen and was getting agitated, prompting deputies to give her lawful orders to comply with being handcuffed, at which time, Lambert pushed and pulled away from deputies, refusing to give her hands as they attempted to handcuff her,” the statement alleges.
She was eventually detained and placed in a patrol car, according to the statement.
Child welfare officials were notified because Lambert’s children were present during the incident.
Deputies located the player whom Lambert allegedly kicked, and the alleged victim’s mother signed a document expressing a “desire to prosecute,” according to the statement.
The victim told deputies that he was kicked in the leg, but no visible injuries were detected, according to the sheriff’s office.
ABC News has not been able to reach Lambert for comment.
In the body-camera video, Lambert complained that the player struck her first with his helmet.
“I’m the one who got hit,” Lambert is heard telling a deputy in the body camera footage and asking why the deputies were “mad” at her.
“I’m mad at an adult for attacking a kid,” one of the deputies is heard replying to Lambert in the footage.
The sheriff’s office said they have found no evidence to support Lambert’s claim that she was struck during the altercation.
Lambert complained of head pain following her arrest and she was taken to a hospital to be examined before she was booked at the Lee County Jail, according to the probable cause statement.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told ABC affiliate station WZVN in Naples that “it’s sad” such violence occurred at a youth football game.
“We need to have law and order. We need to protect everyone,” Marceno said. “As sheriff, I’m not going to tolerate it.”
Jose Davila, president of Southwest Florida Panthers Youth Football, released a statement to WZVN, saying, “We have zero tolerance for this type of behavior.”
“One moment does not define the character, values, or integrity of the programs involved,” Davila said. “We want to be very clear, one bad apple does not define who the Fort Myers Falcons are.”
Tiger Woods is shown in the back of a patrol car during his arrest in Juniper, Florida, on March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office)
(MARTIN COUNTY, Fla.) — Body camera footage has been released showing Tiger Woods’ arrest for driving under the influence following his rollover crash in Florida last week.
The footage from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office shows the legendary golfer undergoing a field sobriety test, being placed into handcuffs and then driven from the scene in the back of the patrol vehicle following Friday’s crash.
One of the first deputies to arrive at the scene is seen talking to a man who says he pulled up after the incident and that no one is in the vehicle, which is seen on its side.
“Who’s involved?” the deputy asks.
“It’s Tiger Woods,” the man says.
“Oh, s—, all right,” the deputy says.
When a deputy responds to conduct a field sobriety test as part of a DUI investigation, Woods tells her he was “looking down at my phone, about ready to change the radio station,” when the crash occurred.
He tells the deputy that he had no alcohol to drink that day and takes “a few” medications, several of which are redacted in the video. He says he does not take any illegal substances.
He is seen hiccuping throughout the field sobriety test, at the end of which he is placed in handcuffs, with the deputy telling him she believes his “normal faculties are impaired” due to an “unknown substance.”
“I’m being arrested?” Woods asks.
“Yes, sir,” the deputy responds, saying he is being arrested for DUI.
Woods was charged with driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test following last Friday’s accident in Jupiter Island, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said. No one was injured, officials said.
He was released on bail later Friday.
Woods waived his right to an arraignment and entered a not guilty plea earlier this week, according to court documents.
The accident unfolded when Woods tried to pass a truck in front of him, authorities said. Woods clipped the back of the truck’s trailer, causing the golfer’s SUV to tip on its side, authorities said.
Woods told deputies he was looking down at his phone and changing the radio station and didn’t realize the truck in front of him had slowed down, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Two hydrocodone pills were found in Woods’ pants pocket, the probable cause affidavit said. Hydrocodone is a prescription medication intended to treat severe, chronic pain and common side effects include dizziness and drowsiness.
The golfer had “bloodshot and glassy” eyes and “extremely dilated” pupils, the probable cause affidavit said. Woods’ movement was “lethargic,” but he was also “extremely alert and talkative,” the document said.
A breathalyzer showed no alcohol in his system, but Woods refused to take a urine test, which is used to detect drugs or medication, authorities said.
Woods broke his silence about the crash on Tuesday, saying in a statement, “I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today. I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health.”
“This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery,” he said.
On Wednesday, a Marin County judge granted Woods permission to travel out of the U.S. to begin “comprehensive inpatient treatment,” court records show.
Woods won’t participate in the Masters, which begins April 9, tournament officials said.
The PGA Tour said in a statement, “Our focus is on his health and well‑being. Tiger continues to have our full support as he takes this important step.”
