Current Events

Nolan Wells' father says one of the young men calling himself Nolan's "best friend" is no friend at all ... 'cause he doesn't even recognize the kid.

Elmore Wonsley appeared on NewsNation's "Cuomo" Wednesday night, where Chris Cuomo asked whether he knew Tracestin Shepherd, who appeared on "The Officer Tatum Show" and was presented as one of Nolan's best friends.

Elmore says Tracestin wasn't a friend of Nolan's as far as he's concerned, summing it up like this ... "Just because you parked your vehicle in someone's yard doesn't mean that they have to know you."

Ben Crump says his team has hired some of the nation's top audio engineers to review the full Sea Tow call from the day Nolan Wells disappeared ... as the family's fight for answers continues.

Crump provided an update on Nolan's case Thursday at the National Urban League Conference ... announcing his team obtained the audio from officials and will have experts comb through the entire recording. He said they are also consulting oceanic engineering experts to determine whether the tides line up with Nolan's body being found near the same location where he was reportedly left.

Nolan's mother, Christine Wonsley, became emotional while describing the pain of going 27 days without talking to or hugging her son ... begging anyone with information to come forward so the family can finally rest.

Drake Von -- an award-winning gay porn star -- can't seem to stay out of the clink, because he was busted for possessing a toxic substance in Los Angeles ... continuing a string of arrests.

Von, whose real name is Dawson Bacon, was busted Tuesday and booked in the LAPD Van Nuys jail for misdemeanor possession of a substance similar to toluene — a colorless liquid that is highly toxic when inhaled and causes dizziness. Records show Von was released Wednesday on his own recognizance.

The LAPD tells TMZ ... cops received a call for two males using narcotics on the street on Tuesday night and when officers arrived on scene, they took Von into custody, but did not arrest the second person.

George and Amal Clooney were forced to flee their home in France ... due to raging wildfires spreading across Europe.

The couple and their children left their Brignoles property earlier this week ... as fires ravage the nearby landscape.

George wrote a letter to Brignoles mayor Didier Brémond, saying ... "At this point we have no idea whether our beautiful home makes it through this terrible moment".

Lil Wayne and Lil Yachty are officially winners at the racetrack ... their horse scored a massive victory and punched its ticket to the Breeders' Cup.

Listenupshance, owned by celebrity-backed Run Fast Racing, won the $400K Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes Saturday at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

The 4-year-old gelding, ridden by Emisael Jaramillo and trained by Doug O'Neill, stayed near the front before taking the lead and holding off Maximum Bourbon by a nose.

A missing mom was caught on camera jumping into the water and swimming around in the Caribbean water before she vanished on vacation, new video shows.

Surveillance footage picked up Elizabeth "Liz" Waddell swimming off Grand Anse Beach near her Airbnb in Grenada on July 22, while on a trip with her friend.

The clip -- which has the time and date in the bottom corner -- appears to show Liz walking along the shore toward the jetty around 11:45 a.m.

Three cars were completely totaled when a truck collided with a tractor-trailer ... and the insane accident was caught on video.

Another semi was waiting to turn at the intersection of W Avenue and Highway 3 in Iowa on Monday, and you can see the tractor-trailer coming down the road on the dashcam.

As it approaches the intersection, a Dodge Ram comes into frame from the road on the right, barreling towards the stop sign and blowing right through it.

Nolan Wells’ mother, Christine Wells-Wonsley, is making moves in court to get her hands on her late son’s social media accounts, TMZ has learned. 

TMZ obtained court docs filed by Christine on Tuesday, revealing she fired off subpoenas to the companies behind Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Life360, Snapchat and TikTok. During the search, Christine used Life360 to track Nolan's phone and compared the location history between Snapchat and the tracking app, but found that the data didn't match.

The subpoenas request the social media companies turn over all materials and information related to Nolan's account.

More bombshell allegations against JPMorgan Chase executive Lorna Hajdini ... and this time an alleged threesome is involved.

The same banker suing Hajdini for allegedly making him perform "non-consensual" and "humiliating" sex acts filed another lawsuit Monday, claiming his boss once propositioned a threesome with him and another person while "completely naked" and "visibly drunk."

According to the filing, obtained by TMZ, Hajdini assaulted him in September 2024 ... after allegedly threatening to tank his promotion if he didn't have sex with her.

A 16-year-old California lifeguard is being invited to the White House ... President Trump plans to honor the teen who saved a young swimmer from pounding waves in a daring ocean rescue captured on video.

Ryder Williams was on duty at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz County over the weekend when a 10-year-old boy was struggling in some high surf ... he rushed in to help bring the boy back to safety, and it caught Trump's attention.

POTUS said Tuesday he'll invite the lifeguard and his family to D.C. to present him with a "High Civilian Honor."

Trump also said he might even invite the boy who was rescued.

The announcement came after Eric Trump shared the rescue video on X and urged his dad to recognize the teen for being "truly the best of America."

Nolan Wells was drinking while partying with friends on Mississippi's Horn Island before his death, according to a new report.

Citing preliminary information in a document from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, ABC News says witnesses told investigators the 18-year-old was drinking heavily with his buddies on the island on the Fourth of July before going missing.  

The document contains an email giving a physical description of Nolan as Marine patrols scoured the waters to try to locate the teen. On July 6, Nolan's body was found washed up on the northwest shoreline of Horn Island ... near where he was last seen alive.

Evidence apparently shows Nolan Wells was still on Horn Island when his friends' boat left ... TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge of the investigation claim authorities have evidence of Nolan being on the Mississippi barrier island after the boat departed on the Fourth of July ... which would be a huge development.

We're told at least two witnesses who were interviewed by law enforcement say they saw Nolan on the island after the boat headed back to the mainland.

Michelle Hadley spent 88 days in jail for a twisted stalking plot she had nothing to do with ... and now we know how much money was shelled out to her over the massive screw-up.

Here's the deal ... Michelle is the focus of a new Netflix documentary, "A Toxic Love Story," about a 2016 cyberstalking case out of Anaheim ... where she was tossed into the clink after her ex-boyfriend, Ian Diaz, and his fiancée, Angela Connell, framed her for outlandish crimes ... such as trying to arrange for Angela to get raped via a Craigslist ad.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … Michelle settled with Anaheim police for $1.8 million back in 2021 ... after she sued the city for what the doc shows was sloppy, rushed police work -- all because Ian used his influence as a U.S. Marshal at the time.

A food vendor was captured on video running to safety after shots rang out at a Seattle food festival, claiming the lives of three people and leaving four others injured, including a 2-year-old child, according to police.

Cops say the bullets started flying Sunday night at the Bite of Seattle, a 3-day annual food festival held at the Seattle Center just a block away from the famous Space Needle.

In the video posted to X, the vendor kicks things off by giving his pitch to people to come buy his Hawaiian honeycomb treats, but before long, you can hear gunshots in the background followed by terrified people ducking for cover.

A floating restaurant and bar that's become a favorite stop for locals and celebrities alike was engulfed in flames on a New Hampshire lake ... and the dramatic scene was caught on camera.

According to local outlets in Boston, firefighters rushed to Lake Winnipesaukee in Alton after receiving reports that The Dive, a floating restaurant and bar, had caught fire.

Dramatic video from the scene shows thick black smoke billowing into the sky as flames tore through the vessel while firefighters battled the blaze from fire boats on the water.

Nolan Wells' best friend says he didn't understand the initial panic of others searching for him ... because he just assumed he'd passed out on someone's couch.

Warren Hudson laid out the hours after Nolan's disappearance during an interview on "The Officer Tatum Show" ... revealing one of his pals with whom he had returned from Horn Island got an agitated phone call around 12:30 AM on July 5 -- hours after they'd last seen Nolan.

About 30 minutes later, Warren says a group of 10 people or so slammed open the door to the house where they were staying ... clearly freaking out after not having heard from Nolan.