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New York's Transit Network Suspends Use Of Twitter For Service Alerts; Brittney Griner Holds First Press Conference Since Returning Home; Police Departments Use A.I. To Analyze Bodycam Video. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired April 28, 2023 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:30:00]

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the largest transportation network in North America is giving up on Twitter. New York's MTA says it will no longer post updates on their subway train and bus service on Twitter. The move affects more than 15 million people who rely on the transit service in and around New York and Connecticut.

CNN's Brian Fung has been following this. Brian, why? Why did the MTA decide to do this?

BRIAN FUNG, CNN REPORTER (on camera): Well, John, this all ties back to what the MTA says were multiple and repeated interruptions in its access to Twitter's platform, just twice in the last two weeks alone. And this all likely has to do with some of the changes that Twitter has been making under CEO Elon Musk to the software interfaces that you know agencies like the MTA used to push real-time updates to users. It's the software interfaces that also allow for users to get you know, real-time weather alerts, or for third-party apps to be able to post tweets on Twitter.

Now, Musk sees all of this access as a revenue opportunity. So, in the last few weeks, Musk has changed so that it -- he's erected a paywall for this type of Twitter access with three tiers. And I'll just briefly go over those here in a second.

He has a free tier that lets you read 1500 tweets a month and not post anything. There's a basic tier that costs $100 a month that gives you a little bit more read-and-write access. And then get this. There's a commercial tier in which Twitter charges $42,000 a month or up to $210,000 a month for expanded read-and-write access.

Now we're talking here at the high-end of costs of up to two and a half million dollars a year. Now, obviously, the MTA is not paying for this service. It says that it -- you know doesn't typically make a habit of paying tech platforms to push real-time updates. And it's saying that in this case, in Twitter's case, the reliability of the platform can no longer be guaranteed.

Now, the MTA isn't the only transit agency that's worried about this. You also have other first responders and government officials making similar statements. You know you have the National Weather Service saying it is planning to scale back real-time weather alerts for some of its regional Twitter accounts.

And you also have academic researchers who are saying, look, even if you pay for the higher tier services of Twitter and its API, the company actually makes less information available to you than it used to back when things were free. So overall, things appear to be you know getting less useful both for Twitter's institutional accounts as well for its individual users, John.

BERMAN: Look, and if these resources disappear, it is the consumers who lose. Brian Fung, thanks so much for being with us. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis prepares for a likely presidential bid, he and his Republican allies in the state legislature appear to be making new moves to shield him from Florida's robust public records laws. CNN's Steve Contorno is live in St. Petersburg, Florida for us. Are they trying to do something with Florida's what we call the Sunshine laws?

[11:35:13]

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER (on camera): That's right, Sara. There are a number of bills that are moving to the legislature right now that address this. One of those bills would make it so -- any records related to Governor DeSantis's travel, so his flight details, things like that, or records related to people that he sends on missions on his behalf, those records would no longer be allowed to be reviewed by the public. They would be exempt from the state's public records laws.

There's another portion of that bill that bans the state from having to give up records related to visitors at the governor's mansion as well. We have also seen a bill that it's part of a -- sort of a wide- ranging elections bill, there's a measure in it that would make it so political committees only have to report their activity for fundraising quarterly, instead of every month. And in one of those political committees right now is sitting $85 million that we've seen that has reported president -- or excuse me, Governor DeSantis intends to use for his super PAC to support his presidential campaign.

That's not the only thing that's going on, though. Outside of those legislative actions, we've also seen the governor lately use executive privilege as an excuse to block the records from his office and to keep people from testifying in a number of court cases. Now, executive privilege is something that presidents have been citing going back to George Washington, but we haven't necessarily seen governors use that before. This is a novel approach.

I've talked to experts in the state who said that no Republican governor in the past has ever said they have executive privilege. And it would give DeSantis a wide range to control a number of documents that wouldn't -- he releases just as he's running for president. Now, I talked to Democrats in the state and they said this -- they believe this is all about shielding DeSantis from disclosure as he gets ready to run for office. One Democrat I talked to, Senator Jason Pizzo, said "his path and aspirations are just so blatant, and this is all retroactive cleanup for anything he might have done in the past. This is the governor saying the public doesn't have the right to know." Sara.

SIDNER: Wow, that's quite a statement there. But there are a lot of people that are going to be concerned about being less print -- transparent in this day and age. Thank you so much, Steve Contorno, there live from St. Petersburg. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: WNBA star Brittney Griner, her emotional first press conference, the first press conference since returning from Russia and why she said other than the Olympics, she will never go overseas to play basketball again. Her coach is our guest as the Mercury are about to kick off their new season. That's next.

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[11:42:03]

BOLDUAN: WNBA star Brittney Griner quickly became emotional during her first press conference yesterday since returning from Russia. Griner got choked up in the first question that she was asked. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRITTNEY GRINER, WNBA PLAYER: I'm no stranger to hard times, so -- you cry that you made me cry. Just digging deep, honestly. You know, you're going to be faced with adversities throughout your life. This was a pretty big one but I just kind of relied on my hard work getting through it.

I know this sounds so small, but you know, done in practice you know, and just hard workouts. You find a way to just grind it out. Just put your head down and just keep going. Just keep moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The two-time Olympic gold medalist was detained in Russia for nearly 300 days, you'll remember. And she was sentenced to nine years in prison for drug smuggling charges after Russian authorities found cannabis in her oil -- cannabis oil in her luggage. Griner was finally released in December as part of a prisoner swap with Russia.

Griner's coach, the head coach of the Phoenix Mercury, Vanessa Nygaard joins us now. Coach, thank you so much for taking the time. It is great for everyone. It was great to see her -- to see her there, to see her at the press conference, to see her kind of just speaking and taking questions for the first time since coming back. How has she been since returning and being back at practice?

VANESSA NYGAARD, HEAD COACH, PHOENIX MERCURY: BG has been phenomenal. Such a joy. You got to see it in the press conference. She is an effervescent personality, brings happiness wherever she goes. And she showed up. And I don't think what most people will do. She went right back to work. So, she's just a joy to be around. Really happy person. Obviously, she's been through something that's extremely trying but she's been great.

BOLDUAN: And I have to say. It seems you could see kind of that effervescence and happiness in -- even in her at that press conference yesterday. But it seems impossible to not be a changed person after going through something like this and what she has gone through. How has she changed? How is she different?

NYGAARD: I mean, it's a miracle, right? It's a miracle that she's back. This is an amazing story. It's unbelievable. And, you know, I think anyone who's gone through something like that, that they could not not be changed.

They understand every moment, the appreciation of every day, the go attitude for opportunities, the importance of how every moment in our life can be taken from us. BG had that happened to her and so I think she probably comes into every day with a little bit more perspective than most people.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it's a good point. You know, when she went to Russia when she was first detained, she was one of the -- one of maybe the most dominant athletes in women's -- in women's basketball. I mean, she's just a force. What can people expect when they see her back on the court this season?

[11:45:12]

NYGAARD: Yes. She was arguably the best women's basketball player in the world when she was detained. And you know, it's 10 months of not being able to do that, so that is a strain on your body.

She's -- you know, a larger person too. But she's been working really, really hard. She's made a ton of progress.

Will she be exactly what we saw when she left on that first day? No. But I think that we'll be by the end of this season, seeing that Brittney Griner that everyone expects and I know she expects to be back to that very, very soon.

BOLDUAN: I know. I appreciated just hearing her be candid about her frustration, even to do something that would -- was simple for her simple, for no average human to do but planks. Even hearing her talk about her frustration with that which was so -- which was so real. Also, she was very candid about how other than the Olympics, she will not be playing basketball overseas ever again.

And you know this, but -- and anyone who follows basketball knows this that players do it in order to supplement their income and their contracts. What is the conversation been since BG -- what's the con -- do you want -- do you want other -- you know, other members of the team to take that same stance, like where's the conversation about this? NYGAARD: Well, I want everyone to make their own choice, right? As athletes, they have a limited amount of opportunity to maximize their earning capacity, right? Their bodies won't last forever. So, that's part of the reason they do it. But they also do it because they want to play or they want adventure.

I was a player. I played overseas as well. It was a great cultural experience, not just a basketball experience.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

NYGAARD: So, I think it's each individual player's choice. Obviously, paying attention to the government warnings about places not to travel, I think is important. I think we all learned a little bit about that from this experience. So, making sure that we're paying attention to those things. But I think it's each player's choice. I completely understand why BG wouldn't want to leave.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

NYGAARD: And I'm happy to have her home.

BOLDUAN: Before I let you go, I do -- I do need to ask you because the team is now partnering with Bring Our Families Home, which is a campaign we've covered very much here at CNN, especially the founding members I've covered very closely. This is a campaign formed by families of other Americans who are detained and being held hostage overseas. What are you all going to do to push this cause?

NYGAARD: Well, you know, BG has got a tremendous platform. You know, as female athletes, we usually don't have that much media coverage, but she does. And so, she's going to keep the Bring Our Families Home message at the front of every press conference, every media.

For our home games, we're going to do letter-writing campaigns to send messages to wrongfully detained Americans overseas. We're going to have -- bring in their family members to our games to bring attention to different family members. And we're just going to keep it as a forefront.

Just as last year, we talked about BG's detainment, we'll continue to have that messaging for us to help bring those wrongfully detained Americans back home because every life of an American that's in another country is of equal value and they should all be coming home.

BOLDUAN: Their platform your megaphone on this, Coach, is so important and amazing. Thank you, Coach. Looking forward to seeing you guys back in the court. Thank you so much.

And, John, as we can see right here right next --

NYGAARD: All right. We will --

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much, Coach. Right over there was Neda Sharghi. She's in that picture. She's one of the members of Bring Our Families Home. Her brother, Emad Sharghi, has been detained in Iran for years now. She's -- we've covered his story very closely. And seeing BG lift those voices too is so important.

BERMAN: It's such an important work, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Artificial intelligence helps us do a lot of things but can it help police departments evaluate officers in the field? CNN got a firsthand look at new technology being tested across the country.

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[11:53:24]

SIDNER: We know some of the things A.I. can do like help write essays, create images, and even drive. But can it also help improve policing? That's what departments across the country are trying to figure out. They're using A.I. technology to evaluate officers in the field.

And CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich got to see this technology firsthand. I watched your story. It's really interesting. What can you tell us?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, I learned first off, the bat that just one percent of body camera footage is actually reviewed right now. But with this technology, this artificial intelligence called Truleo, the founder says it can review one hundred percent of body cam footage. Here's how it works.

This artificial intelligence was trained on five million terms. And there are key terms that the artificial intelligence is looking for, as it's scanning these body cam footage, insults, profanity, and non- compliance. But also on the flip side, sort of positive traits professional language, and explanations. And ultimately, what this is hoping to do is catch problematic behavior with officers early on, so we can possibly prevent situations like Tyre Nichols and George Floyd.

So, we traveled to Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania, and spoke to a chief who is using this technology. He talks about the reports he gets every single day about his officers. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: These are the keywords that you put in.

KENNETH TRUVER, POLICE CHIEF, CASTLE SHANNON, PENNSYLVANIA: They are. So, stop resisting custody, arrest, anything to do with a pursuit, I'm looking for high-risk things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop resistance. Just relax.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just relax.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just relax.

TRUVER: Not a whole lot of resistance, but it was giving me exactly what I was looking for.

YURKEVICH: And so, for you, this is a good interaction with one of your officers in a civilian?

TRUVER: It is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:55:06]

YURKEVICH: And so, even though, Keith -- Ken Truver, the chief there found that there was no incident with his police officer and the civilian, it was a good way for him to check to make sure. One of the tools that we're seeing with this artificial intelligence is also looking for good behavior with policing, to then go ahead and say that our department is working under good standards.

Right now, there are only 20 departments are using Truleo. There are there 18,000 police departments in the U.S. We'll see if this takes off, if not.

SIDNER: It is very interesting. And I'm sure the public would like to also know exactly what police --

YURKEVICH: It's a public service.

SIDNER: Absolutely. All right. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much.

BERMAN: Yes --

SIDNER: Over to you way over there, John and Kate.

BOLDUAN: What did we say?

SIDNER: You know what? I'm leaving.

BERMAN: Yes.

SIDNER: I'm out.

BOLDUAN: You and Vanessa Yurkevich are out. Do you have thoughts?

BERMAN: Yes, it's the weekend. Thanks for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. INSIDE POLITICS is up next.

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