By SEJAL GOVINDARAO and JACQUES BILLEAUD, Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz. — There was no public sign early Thursday of a response to NBC “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s message to her 84-year-old mother’s kidnapper.

This image provided by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, shows a missing person alert for Nancy Guthrie. (Pima County Sheriff’s Department via AP)

In a recorded video posted on social media Wednesday, Guthrie said her family is ready to talk but wants proof that Nancy Guthrie, who authorities believe was taken from her home in Arizona against her will, is still alive. Guthrie said her family has heard media reports about a ransom letter.

“We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated,” Savannah Guthrie said while reading from a prepared statement. “We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen. Please reach out to us.”

She was last seen around 9:45 p.m. Saturday, when she was dropped off at home by family after having dinner with them, the sheriff’s department said. She was reported missing midday Sunday after she didn’t appear at a church.

Law enforcement officers are present outside the home of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” host Savannah Guthrie, near Tucson, Ariz., Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Sejal Govindarao)

The family posted the message after police conducted a search in and around Nancy Guthrie’s home for several hours Wednesday.

Kevin Adger, a spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, said investigators had been at the home earlier in the week for a couple of days and then turned it back over to the family with the understanding they could go back if they needed to.

“This is a follow-up investigation,” he said in reference to officials returning Wednesday.

Adger said the sheriff’s department was not commenting on the video released by the family.

Multiple media organizations reported receiving purported ransom notes Tuesday that they handed over to investigators. The sheriff’s department had said it was taking the notes and other tips seriously but declined to comment further.

The family’s message for Nancy Guthrie

Savannah Guthrie was at times emotional during the recording, with her voice cracking. She smiled and looked into the camera when addressing her mother directly, saying that the family was praying for her and that people were looking for her.

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“Mommy, if you are hearing this, you are a strong woman. You are God’s precious daughter,” she said.

Savannah Guthrie described her mother as a “kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light” and said she was funny, spunky and clever.

“Talk to her and you’ll see,” she said.

Guthrie was flanked by her sister Annie and her brother Camron who both also spoke. Annie called their mother their beacon and said they need her.

“Mamma, If you’re listening, we need you to come home. We miss you,” Annie Guthrie said.

No suspect identified

Authorities on Wednesday offered no detailed update on their search and their next news conference was scheduled for Thursday. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos’ office said detectives still were speaking with anyone who had contact with Nancy Guthrie last weekend but that no suspect or person of interest had been identified.

Nanos suggested there was video from some cameras, though he didn’t elaborate, adding: “That’s all been submitted and we’re doing our best with the companies that own those cameras or built those cameras.”

There were signs of forced entry at the home in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood. Guthrie has limited mobility, and officials do not believe she left on her own. A sheriff’s dispatcher talking to deputies during a search Sunday indicated that she has high blood pressure, a pacemaker and heart issues, according to audio from broadcastify.com.

Jim Mason, longtime commander of a search-and-rescue posse in Maricopa County, isn’t involved in the search for Guthrie but said desert terrain can make looking for missing people difficult. He said it can be hard to peer into areas that are dense with mesquite trees, cholla cactus and other desert brush.

“Some of it is so thick you can’t drive through it,” Mason said.

Supporters around the country

A couple hundred people attended an evening vigil for Nancy Guthrie at a Tucson church where they heard prayers and placed lit candles on an altar. A priest prayed for God to comfort Guthrie and to bring her home to those she loves.

Afterward, Jeremy Thacker had tears in his eyes as he described the heartbreak and helplessness he was experiencing over Guthrie’s disappearance. He worked with Savannah Guthrie at a local news station and they shared losing their fathers at a young age. His own sister was kidnapped when he was young.

Thacker said he knew Nancy Guthrie to be sharp, grounded and earnest.

“We’re all holding our breath,” Thacker said.

For a fourth day Thursday, “Today” opened with Guthrie’s disappearance, playing the family’s video message in its entirety, but Savannah Guthrie was not at the anchor’s desk. NBC Sports said Tuesday that she will not be covering the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics “as she focuses on being with her family during this difficult time.”

The “Today” host grew up in Tucson, graduated from the University of Arizona and previously worked as a reporter and anchor at Tucson television station KVOA. Her parents settled in Tucson in the 1970s when she was a young child. The youngest of three siblings, she credits her mom with holding their family together after her father died of a heart attack at 49, when Savannah was just 16.

Billeaud reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writers Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu, Hallie Golden in Seattle, Michael Hill in Albany, New York, Darlene Superville in Washington and Julie Walker in New York contributed.

Thousands of local job hunters in recent years—in particular, those with low incomes who are not native English speakers—have paid illegal upfront fees to employment agencies, or received only partial refunds for what they paid despite not landing work, according to the city.

People waiting inside Eleny’s Employment Agency in Midtown Manhattan on a recent weekday. The firm is one of three the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection looked into recently as part of a compliance review. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

It’s common for some unemployed New Yorkers to look for work through an employment agency.

But thousands of local job hunters in the last four years—in particular, those with low incomes who are not native English speakers—have paid illegal upfront fees to these agencies, or received only partial refunds for what they paid despite not landing work, according to the city. 

In 2023, as tens of thousands of immigrants and asylum seekers arrived in New York City, City Limits reported on those who’d turned to employment agencies for assistance—and paid fees for jobs that never materialized. “This is the perfect storm for unscrupulous employers and unscrupulous employment agencies,” Hildalyn Colon-Hernandez, deputy director at New Immigrant Community Empowerment, said at the time.

Following City Limits’ reporting, the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), which regulates and licenses employment agencies, undertook a compliance review, examining the practices of companies that had received the most complaints. 

“We sent a broader sort of request for documents to a number of employment agencies,” DCWP’s Deputy General Counsel Melissa Iachan said. “What we found in our review was that it appears that many of the employment agencies are engaging in lots of similar unlawful conduct, and it is going uncomplained about, largely because their deception is such that they even deprive consumers of knowing that they have certain rights.”

As a result, DCWP has litigated against three companies—including two that City Limits reported on in 2023—with the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH), an independent administrative law court that resolves disputes and violations. So far, it’s resulted in the issuance of millions of dollars in civil penalties as well as restitution to compensate affected job seekers, officials said.

“With the sort of boom-boom-boom!—1-2-3—filing three cases in less than a year, we are hoping to put the industry on notice,” Iachan said. 

According to the state’s Employment Agency Law, which the city enforces, companies shouldn’t require a deposit or advance fee from applicants looking for work. If this does occur, and the applicant is ultimately not placed in a job, they can demand a refund within seven days. DCWP also requires employment agencies to provide receipts that include this information in bold, so job seekers are aware of their rights.

The three companies DCWP investigated violated this rule, officials said. They include Golden Rose, an employment firm based in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, which officials say charged people advanced fees or deposits ranging from $50 to $150 and did not always refund them when required. 

Golden Rose—which DCWP said worked with 2,553 customers in a one-year period—went before OATH in October 2025. In December, DCWP sent its post-trial briefing, and has requested civil penalties totaling $883,200 and $426,324 in restitution to compensate affected people. 

A DCWP inspector documents the required postings at Eleny’s Employment Agency in Midtown Manhattan during an inspection last month. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

Golden Rose requested the opportunity to respond to DCWP’s briefing, and is expected to do so in the coming weeks. A lawyer representing the company declined to comment, citing the ongoing proceedings. 

In Midtown Manhattan, another firm, Eleny’s Employment Agency—which, according to DCWP’s civil action petition at OATH, is “the employment agency against whom the Department has received the most complaints in the last five years”—is accused of charging illegal fees ranging from $100 to $200 per applicant, using misleading documents, and failing to provide people with the information they’re entitled to under city rules.

A lawyer representing owner Eleny Asevedo disputed the alleged violations. “Her job placement rate is extremely high, and everyone who doesn’t get placed receives a full refund,” attorney Rebecca Szewczuk said in a statement. “She keeps perfect records, cooperates with inspection after inspection, and works hard to comply with the constantly changing laws of New York City, even when the City’s government can’t be bothered to notify her of the new rules.” 

“Eleny operates her business alone, and she has helped so many to find work,” Szewczuk said, adding that the owner is “saddened that the City is trying to put her, and others like her, out of business for a quick buck.” 

DCWP says the third agency it took before OATH, called CMP, also collected fees in advance and didn’t return them upon demand—which is against the law—and failed to include the required information on receipts given to customers, so people didn’t know they could get their money back.

Officials sought civil penalties of $2,266,500, and $979,610 in restitution—based on DCWP estimates for the number of CMP customers affected from 2022 to 2024, calculated as 6,818 people. In September, OATH sided with DCWP.

“We won,” Iachan said. “We 100 percent were successful, and we were awarded $2 million.”

The lawyer who represented CMP at OATH did not respond to a request for comment. However, the agency—which had two locations, one in Astoria and the other in Kingsbridge Heights—gave up its license and stopped operating in 2024, claiming financial hardship, making collection very challenging for both the city and affected consumers.

Iachan, along with Lindsay DeCicco, DCWP’s counsel who represented the department at OATH, explained that the city has a process to collect those funds: DCWP tries first, then it goes to the New York City Law Department, which contracts with external law firms to collect on money owed to the city.

But “given what we know about that company and the fact that they’ve not been operating, it’s probably not super likely we’re gonna see money at all,” Iachan conceded, disappointed.

A DCWP inspector reviewing Eleny’s Employment Agency’s paperwork during a recent inspection. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

“While not every case results in direct restitution, DCWP seeks to obtain restitution for every complainant, both through individual mediation and through larger-scale enforcement actions, which are an important part of protecting workers and holding employment agencies accountable,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.

In addition, DCWP started sending notice letters to all employment agencies in the city this week as part of a compliance campaign before companies apply to renew their licenses. 

“Before submitting renewal materials, agencies should review their practices and records to ensure full compliance with all applicable requirements,” notes a version of the letter reviewed by City Limits.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Daniel@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post NYC Cracks Down on Employment Agency Violations Following City Limits’ Investigation appeared first on City Limits.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer apologized Thursday to victims of Jeffrey Epstein for appointing Peter Mandelson as the U.K.’s ambassador to Washington despite his ties to the disgraced financier.

FILE – Britain’s Ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, speaks during a reception at the ambassador’s residence on Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP, File)

The prime minister said Mandelson had “portrayed Epstein as someone he barely knew.” In a speech on Thursday, he said “I am sorry … for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointed him.”

Starmer fired Mandelson in September after emails were published showing that he maintained a friendship with Epstein following the late financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor. Epstein died by suicide in a jail cell in 2019, while awaiting trial on U.S. federal charges accusing him of sexually abusing dozens of girls.

Starmer never met Epstein and is not accused of any wrongdoing. But the prime minister is under intense pressure over the appointment after newly released documents revealed new details of Mandelson’s close relationship with Epstein.

“I was lied to,” Starmer said.

“It had been publicly known for some time that Mandelson knew Epstein, but none of us knew the depth and the darkness of that relationship,” he added.

British police are investigating Mandelson over potential misconduct in public office. He is not accused of any sexual offenses.

Documents published last week by the U.S. Department of Justice contain new revelations, including papers suggesting Mandelson shared sensitive government information with Epstein after the 2008 global financial crisis. There are also scores of chatty, jokey messages pointing to a much closer relationship than Mandelson had previously disclosed.

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The newly released files also suggest that in 2003 to 2004, Epstein sent three payments totaling $75,000 to accounts linked to Mandelson or his partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva, now his husband.

Mandelson, 72, has been a major, and contentious, figure in the Labour Party since the 1990s. He twice had to resign from senior posts in previous administrations because of scandals over money or ethics.

He was chosen as ambassador because his trade expertise, network of contents and mastery of the political “dark arts” were considered assets in dealing with President Donald Trump’s administration.

Critics say Mandelson’s ties with Epstein made his appointment too risky and Starmer was, at best, naïve.

“I think the prime minister has shown that his judgement is questionable,” Labour lawmaker Paula Barker said. “I think he has questions to answer. I think he has a very long way to go to rebuild trust and confidence with the public, and trust and confidence within our party.”

It’s incredibly hard to shake first impressions.

Just ask former Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

A few months after the Vikings hired him to lead their front office, Adofo-Mensah had a chance to make his mark. He entered the 2022 NFL Draft with the No. 12 pick in his possession. There was going to be a talented player on the board.

Ultimately, the Vikings traded the No. 12 pick and the No. 46 pick to the Detroit Lions in exchange for the No. 32 pick, the No. 34 pick, and the No. 66 pick.

It was a bold decision by Adofo-Mensah that would come to define his time with the Vikings.

In some ways, Adofo-Mensah being willing to roll the dice in such a manner was was exactly what he was brought in to do. He was an unconventional hire that wouldn’t be afraid to push the boundaries when it came to roster construction.

In other ways, Adofo-Mensah being willing to part with such a valuable asset was anecdotal evidence of his lack of experience. He was a commodities trader on Wall Street in a past life without a strong institutional knowledge of the NFL as a whole.

It couldn’t have gone much worse for the Vikings and they selected safety Lewis Cine with the No. 32 pick, cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. with the No. 34 pick, and linebacker Brian Asamoah with the No. 66 pick. None of those players are still on the roster.

It proved to be impossible for Adofo-Mensah to shake such a monumental misstep. It followed him around like a ghost. He never seemed to escape the perception that he was in over his head.

Though the Vikings experienced some success along the way, they continued to alternate between making the playoffs and missing the playoffs. It finally reached a breaking point last week when ownership decided enough was enough.

In the wake of a disappointing 9-8 campaign that saw the Vikings once again miss the playoffs, the Wilfs shockingly fired Adofo-Mensah, handing the keys over to vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski in the interim.

A number of reports have surfaced since last week shedding light on what Adofo-Mensah was like as a leader. There was a pretty clear a disconnect with how he chose to balance his professional life and his personal life.

That’s not why the Vikings decided to move on from Adofo-Mensah, however, which feels important to note given some of the discourse.

The main reason he’s no longer with the Vikings is because the inexperience that raised some concerns in the very early stages of his tenure resulted in swings and misses from which he couldn’t recover.

Here’s a retrospective on how everything unraveled.

The good

Let’s start off by saying it wasn’t a complete disaster with Adofo-Mensah running the show.

It’s not like the Vikings were the laughing stock of the NFL. They boasted a 43-25 record with Adofo-Mensah at the helm. Only the Philadelphia Eagles, the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Detroit Lions have more wins in that span.

There was a lot that Adofo-Mensah got right. He should get credit for not locking the Vikings into a lengthy contract extension with veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins prior to him rupturing his Achilles tendon, for example, as well as signing superstar receiver Justin Jefferson to a contract extension that keeps him with the Vikings through his prime.

It also shouldn’t be overlooked that Adofo-Mensah was in salary cap hell after taking over for former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman.

After skillfully digging out of the deficit, Adofo-Mensah nailed the initial free agency during which he could actually spend. He hit on edge rusher Jonathan Greenard, an ascending star who has been outstanding since his arrival, edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel, a versatile talent who has developed into a secret weapon on defense, and linebacker Blake Cashman, a native Minnesotan who has become an irreplaceable player on and off the field.

Not long after agreeing to terms with Greenard, Van Ginkel, and Cashman, Adofo-Mensah went out of his way to give a shoutout to Brzezinski.

“I watch him basically be the Vikings frontline member in free agency,” Adofo-Mensah said at the time. “It’s humbling to watch as somebody who can’t necessarily pick up a phone and do those things that he can do.”

That quote hits much differently knowing Adofo-Mensah has ceded his role to Brzezinski.

The bad

Asked after the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft about moving down 20 spots via trade, Adofo-Mensah wholeheartedly defended the decision, explaining that the Vikings stuck to the plan they had in place.

“You have to take it on faith that our calculations are right,” Adofo-Mensah said st the time. “We were comfortable with what we were doing.”

The amount of miscalculations that followed can’t be ignored.

There’s no way to spin how poorly Adofo-Mensah handled arguably the most important part of his job. You don’t even need a full set of fingers to count the number of starters he selected when the Vikings were on the clock. That probably led to his downfall more than anything else.

The failure that was 2022 NFL Draft went much deeper than Cine, Booth, and Asamoah proving to be busts. It also included failed projects like right guard Ed Ingram, cornerback Akayleb Evans, defensive tackle Esezi Otomewo, left tackle Vederian Lowe, and tight end Nick Muse. The only selections still on the roster are receiver Jalen Nailor and running back Ty Chandler.

Never mind that the 2023 NFL Draft went a little better because receiver Jordan Addison made an immediate impact. There were a fair share of misses in the bunch, including cornerback Mekhi Blackmon, defensive tackle Jaquelin Roy, quarterback Jaren Hall, and running back DeWayne McBride. The only selections still on the roster are Addison and safety Jay Ward.

The lack of success in that realm put Adofo-Mensah in a position where he basically had to be perfect in free agency to build a roster that had enough depth to compete. He managed to do that for the most part until his luck eventually ran out. He spent more than $300 million in free agency last year with many of those additions failing to live up to expectations.

As some of his shortcomings started to become too much to deny, Adofo-Mensah was often made out to be a scapegoat in the court of public opinion. If a player ever overperformed, head coach Kevin O’Connell or defense coordinator Brian Flores would garner the praise. If a player ever underperformed, Adofo-Mensah would shoulder the blame.

That double standard was rooted in the fact that Adofo-Mensah struggled mightily in the 2022 NFL Draft and the 2023 NFL Draft. Though the jury is technically still out on the 2024 NFL Draft and 2025 NFL Draft, Adofo-Mensah didn’t earn himself enough good will to see it through.

The ugly

The best decision Adofo-Mensah ever made was signing journeyman quarterback Sam Darnold in free agency. The worst decision Adofo-Mensah ever made was letting Darnold walk out the door.

After trading up to select young quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the No. 10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Vikings collectively decided  last year that they were ready to usher in a new era with him leading the charge. As a result, the Vikings opted against committing to Darnold long term, and he ended up signing a 3-year, $100.5 million with the Seattle Seahawks.

“I always go back to the process and what we thought at the time,” Adofo-Mensah said last month. “I still understand why we did what we did.”

The funniest part in hindsight is that Darnold signing with the Seahawks was more or less an afterthought when it actually happened. The topic of conversation for the Vikings in the aftermath of free agency was whether they had legitimate interest in future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

As he navigated some of those questions about Rodgers at the time, Adofo-Mensah tried to steer the conversation more toward the abstract as far as making sure he surrounded McCarthy with a group that was going to help him succeed.

“That’s our job as a personnel department,” Adofo-Mensah said at the time. “To look at all of the options out there and make sure we’re setting ourselves up for the best case we can.”

That was another area in which Adofo-Mensah fell short as he essentially tied the Vikings to McCarthy without any sort of safety net beneath them.

The only competition for McCarthy in training camp last year was was journeyman quarterback Sam Howell and rookie quarterback Max Brosmer. As it slowly started to become clear that Howell wasn’t a viable backup, Adofo-Mensah hastily signed veteran quarterback Carson Wentz.

“The results maybe didn’t play out the way we wanted them to,” Adofo-Mensah said last month. “We could’ve executed better in certain places.”

The mishandling of that situation proved to be the kiss of death for Adofo-Mensah in the end.

Not only did the Vikings miss the playoffs with McCarthy under center, the the Seahawks are currently preparing to play the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl with Darnold under center.

It might actually be fitting when zooming out and looking at the big picture that Adofo-Mensah was fired last week shortly after returning from the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. He had gone down on behalf of the Vikings to scout prospects.

His track record to this point suggested Adofo-Mensah couldn’t be trusted to do make all the important decisions that needed to be made leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft.

Not during such a pivotal stretch for the Vikings as they look to clean up the mess Adofo-Mensah helped create.

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