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After Escaping from a Mississippi Jail, One Prisoner is Still at Large; Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos Founder, Set to Surrender to Prison Today; After 12 Horses Died, Officials Held an Emergency Summit; Tourist Boat in Lake Maggiore, Italy, Capsizes, Leaving Four People Dead; Capsized Boat Included Two Italian Secret Service Agents; Lowest Level in 6 Months for Consumer Confidence. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired May 30, 2023 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to "CNN News Central." This morning, at least nine people are injured, including a one-year-old child, this after a shooting near a busy boardwalk in Hollywood Beach, Florida. We have new video of the incident. You can clearly see people who have just run for their lives here in this scene here. Police say that they have taken one person into custody, the search is now on for another suspect.
This morning, Russia's defense ministry blaming Ukraine for an alleged drone attack on Moscow. Ukraine says it had no involvement in the incident. The alleged attack left at least two people injured, several buildings also have minor damage.
And it comes as Russia launched an attack on the Ukrainian capital overnight. One woman was killed, more than a dozen others injured. Russia has engaged on relentless attacks, day and night against Kyiv the last several days.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: This morning, a manhunt is underway in Mississippi. Police have captured one escapee and are still looking for a second man after they both broke out of jail yesterday. Joseph Spring, on the left there, is still on the run. Now, here's the thing, four other inmates escaped from the same detention facility just last month.
CNN's Isabel Rosales is following this for us this morning. What happened?
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John. Let me start off with the details about where this Spring -- Joseph Spring could be, and unfortunately, not a lot of details that the sheriff, Tyree Jones, of Hinds County is putting out there. Publicly saying that he doesn't know where Spring is or where he may be headed or if he's even armed. But says that Spring should be considered armed and dangerous.
There's been no reports of any stolen cars in the area. So, the sheriff does believe that Spring is on foot. He was last seen wearing a red jumpsuit. So, how did this all start? It happened on Monday morning, a deputy was patrolling the outer area of the jail, and then found a piece of the fence that was damaged. Also found some items and blood. So, they then did a certified head count and that is where they realized that Michael Lewis and Joseph Spring were missing.
They then found in the recreation room of the jail pod a breach in the ceiling area, and what they think happened here is that these inmates used an air duct that led directly to the outside -- to get out, to get out of the jail facility, then jumping a fence and escaping.
Now, the sheriff here, Tyree Jones, is very frustrated with the situation. Obviously, this is not a good look. This is the second breach in a little over a month. And he's pointing finger at the facility, which is 30 years old. He says that it's had -- it's been plagued with issues since its inception. Saying that it was poorly built and calling situation dire. He's also pointing the finger at poor staffing, and says that despite the fact that they're building a new facility, these issues, they need to be addressed. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF TYREE JONES, HINDS COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI: It's no secret, we've addressed these issues several time. These are maintenance issues which falls without -- with -- that falls out of the scope of the sheriff's office. We need help and we need serious attention being put on the physical plant with some of the maintenance issues of the facility as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: And this missing inmate, Joseph Spring, he's been at the facility since November, on probation and parole, violations related to burglary. He also appears to have some holds on him from different agencies. I mentioned that other breach that happened in April, four inmates escaped. The sheriff said it wasn't in the same manner. Those inmates escape by getting onto the roof, actually camping out there and then making their escape. Later on, two of them were found dead. John.
BERMAN: Yes, I mean, this just happened. You would think this facility would be on an even heightened state of alert. Isabel Rosales, please keep us posted.
Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: So, the Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes, is reporting to prison today. Her sentence begins despite a last stitch (ph) efforts by Holmes herself to remain free while she appeals her conviction. Last year, after a 15-week-long trial, Holmes was sentenced to 11 years behind bars for defrauding investors. She had raised hundreds of millions of dollars for her healthcare start-up based on false claims.
CNN's Rosa Flores is outside the Texas prison where Holmes is going to be reporting to begin her sentence. Rosa, what are you hearing about what is going to happen?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT Well, we have not seen her so far. But according to the court order, she is expected to surrender to the facility that you see behind me before 2:00 p.m. today. Now, take a close look behind me, there is no barbed wire. This is a minimum- security prison. In fact, all this morning, there's been birds chirping. It's been very quiet. We have not seen Holmes yet.
[10:35:00]
Now, Holmes has been delaying her surrender to prison for weeks now. She was expected to surrender April 27th, and a few days before that, her attorneys filed an appeal, asking the judge to allow her to be free on bail while she fought to overturn her conviction. A judge denied that request, and her attorney set a new surrender date, May 30th, that's why we're here.
Now, Holmes telling "The New York Times" that she plans to continue working on new healthcare related inventions from inside this facility. Telling "The Times", "I still dream about being able to contribute in that space." Now, what will life be like for her inside this facility? Well, there's an 82-page inmate handbook that's available to everyone to read. I looked through this handbook, and it talks about what she can expect when she turns herself in.
The first thing is she will have a social and also medical screening. It says that all inmates have to have a job, and that the pay rate for that is between 12 and 40 cents. It alludes to the fact that that's per hour, but it doesn't state that specifically. It does say that, initially, inmates are assigned to the food service area. She will have no internet. She can have an MP3 player, a radio, and a watch. It also said that she will have to wear the inmate I.D. with her name at all times. As for jewelry, she can wear a wedding band and the value of that has to be under $100.
Now, we haven't seen her, Kate. So far, today, we have seen other inmates that are walking around on campus. We can see that a lot of them know that our cameras are here because they will wave or sometimes twirl their hair towards the cameras, but we have not seen Holmes yet. Kate.
BOLDUAN: What a long road it is here ending for Elizabeth Holmes. Rosa, thank you very much.
Rahel.
SOLOMON: OK. Authorities will gather today for an emergency summit at Churchill Downs, the home of the prestigious Kentucky Derby. 12 horses have died at the track since April 27th. The safety officials say that they are deeply concerned about the unusually high number of deaths.
CNN's Nick Watt joins us now. So, Nick, what are they going to be looking for?
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, this was sparked by two more horse deaths during races, Friday and Saturday. Basically, they are going to hold what they are calling an emergency veterinary summit to pour over the data to try to figure out why those horses died, as you mentioned, 12 in about a month.
Churchill Downs has already suspended a trainer who trained two of the horses while this investigation rolls on. Also, they are going to send a track supervisor down to Churchill Downs. Often when horses die, the track for both training and racing comes under suspicion, because often what happens is a horse is badly injured during training or racing and then has to be euthanized and that is a death. That -- those are a lot of the deaths that we see.
Now, overseeing all this is something called, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, which is a brand-new body. In fact, its medication and doping on really only became active about a week ago. And it was formed in the wake of a spate of horse deaths out here in California in 2019.
But listen, this sport, this track Churchill Downs are under scrutiny right now. You might remember Medina Spirit won the derby there in '21 and was then disqualified for failing a dope test. And, you know, you mentioned that the Churchill Downs authorities say that this is, you know, an unusually high number of deaths, they say that they are going to cooperate and do whatever they can to make sure that horse racing is safe.
But, you know, people who oppose horse racing say, it can never be safe. And I was speaking to Patrick Battuello who runs this organization, Horseracing Wrongs. He keeps track of these deaths and he told me this, he said, this is the same rhetoric we've heard ad nauseam at track after track, state after state for years now and yet the killing continues. He says, horse racing guarantees a certain level of killing.
Back to you, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Nick Watt, keep us posted, please. John, as Nick said, a lot of scrutiny on the horse racing mystery in general, but especially because of these horse deaths. So, a lot of people are going to be watching to see what these investigators find.
BERMAN: Yes, it just keeps happening. It just keeps on happening.
So, it looks like a descent into hell. Raging wildfires forcing thousands from their homes. Firefighters facing extreme, almost unimaginable heat. The impact being felt hundreds and hundreds of miles away.
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[10:40:00]
BERMAN: At least 34 NATO peacekeepers were injured in violent clashes in Northern Kosovo. Tensions flared when ethnic Serbs tried to force their way into a town hall but were blocked as police fired teargas. They have been protesting the results of last month's elections which allowed ethnic Albanians to take control of local councils despite a Serbian majority in that region.
Smoke from devastating wildfires in Canada could drift into New York and Boston today. You can see the plumes of smoke having over Nova Scotia.
[10:45:00]
The raging wildfires have burned tens of thousands of acres and forced more than 16,000 to evacuate their homes. And right now, the forecast says, really no chance of rain until at least Saturday.
Malaysian authorities have detained a Chinese cargo ship amid reports that British shipwrecks from World War II are being looted. According to a state-run news agency, the ship was in Malaysia's exclusive economic zone and in an inspection of the vessel found old steel and cannon shells. Two British warships were sunk in the area by Japanese warplanes in December of 1941. The wrecks are classified as war graves under British law.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: From a birthday celebration, Sunday, on an Italian lake turned to a deadly disaster after the boat capsized. Four people on board died. And we are now learning, two of the four victims were active members of Italy's secret service.
CNN's Scott McLean, he has more on this. He's joining us now. Scott, what more are you learning about this accident now?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kate.
This is a strange one. There is still, frankly, a lot of unanswered questions. But what we know, at this point, is that Sunday evening, a houseboat set sail on Lake Maggiore, which is just outside of Milan. It had 24 people on board, two of them were crew members. There were no official weather warnings at the time, and yet this boat which was out there for a birthday party, by the way, managed to capsize in what Italian media are describing or suggesting may have been a random out of the blue waterspout.
So, some of the 20 survivors managed to swim to shore, others were rescued, four bodies have been recovered. And as of this morning, the focus was trying to get that boat out of the bottom of the lake. Adding to the mystery here though, as you mentioned, is that two of the four victims here were active Italian secret service agents, which in Italy does not mean presidential protection, it means that they were intelligence officials, according to Italy.
A third victim was a retired member of Israeli security forces, according to the Israelis, and Israeli media is also reporting that this man wasn't even supposed to be on that boat to begin with. He was actually scheduled to fly out that day but had missed his flight.
The investigation into what happened here is also involving the Italian military police because it may involve state secrets, according to the local prosecutor who also says the captain is under investigation for culpable manslaughter. The official investigation charge, because the boat was overloaded beyond its official capacity. But, again, Kate, lot of questions here, not a lot of answers.
BOLDUAN: There really are. Scott, thank you for laying out for us. We'll continue to follow this one. Appreciate it.
Rahel.
SOLOMON: And Kate, coming up after the break, new data on how Americans are looking and feeling about the economy in some of the gloomiest temperature (ph) checks this year. We'll explain.
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[10:50:00]
SOLOMON: And welcome back. And just into the "CNN Newsroom", new consumer confidence numbers are in and they are among the lowest we've seen in six months. In fact, the lowest we've seen in six months.
CNN Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans here with us now. Christine, good morning. So, walk us through because this tells us, of course, how people feel about present situation but also in the future.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CHIEF CORRESPONDENT AND CNN ANCHOR, EARLY START: And they're feeling less upbeat about right now, and they're feeling a little gloomier about the future. And that's, kind of, in the hallmark of this very weird post-COVID economy. People are still spending money, their finances are fine, so they're OK right now, but they're worried about what's ahead. And I think that's what these numbers really show here.
So, looking forward, they're even a little bit more gloomy about jobs, frankly. They think jobs are going to be harder to get, less abundant in the future. But right now, again, current conditions, less upbeat, looking forward a little more gloomy. So, that's what those numbers are showing here.
SOLOMON: And it's interesting, right? Because we're still seeing unemployment at record lows.
ROMANS: Yes.
SOLOMON: And so -- but people are still concerned about what it might look like a few months from now.
ROMANS: And this has been one of the weirdest recession-watches I've ever seen. Because people will tell you, my finance is actually are fine. But I'm worried about what's going to happen next.
SOLOMON: Right.
ROMANS: And I don't know what's going to happen next. And I think post-COVID, people are just a little uneasy about everything, and that's been reflected in these numbers. SOLOMON: Understandably. Christine, we also have some data about billionaires and how they're well compared to the U.S. treasury these days? Why is it so?
ROMANS: So, I've been watching the U.S. bank account -- our American bank account. And I think it's to $30 billion, that's pretty much, you know, almost running on empty number. As of Friday -- Thursday or Friday, it was $38 billion. And the we took -- the CNN business framing was very, very clever.
Looking at the world's richest people and how much more money they have then, the biggest economy in the world. Bernard Arnault is $193 billion, if you're wondering. Elon Musk has $185 billion, that's roughly $150 billion more than the U.S. Treasury does. Jeff Bezos is worth $144 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg has roughly three times what the U.S. treasury has right now.
Now, as you know, money is coming in and going out all of the time. And the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says, the U.S. can limp along with this low bank account maybe until June 5th before we got to do something, raise the debt ceiling and start to issue some more bonds.
SOLOMON: And they've been using creative accounting measures since January --
ROMANS: Yes.
SOLOMON: -- to even get us here, but that time is quickly running out. And so, they're hoping that lawmakers, and we're all hoping that lawmakers can, kind of, get this done.
ROMANS: An epic six months of moving the money from one account to another and moving the bills around so they could get make it all work.
SOLOMON: Yes. Christine Romans, thank you.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
SOLOMON: Kate.
BOLDUAN: Still ahead for us on "CNN News Central", rough seas quickly turned vacation into a nightmare for people aboard a Carnival cruise ship. Water coming into people's rooms. Debris lining, as you can see, lining the hallways. What the passengers are saying now after living through all of this, that's next.
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[10:55:00]
SOLOMON: Happening this hour, we will get an update from official as they prepare to demolish what's left of an Iowa apartment building that partially caved in on top of residents.
BOLDUAN: A mass shooting near a busy boardwalk in Florida, nine people were injured including a one-year-old child. Who police are now searching for.
BERMAN: A cruise ship has rocked by a huge storm. Tipping it side to side.
[11:00:00]
