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Virginia Supreme Court Strikes Down Democrats' Redistricting Plan; Canvas Hack Locks Out Students During Critical Finals Week; 3 Dead After Indonesia Volcano Erupts, Search Underway For Stranded Hikers. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 08, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, PHYSICIAN: -- as we come face-to-face with these patients.

[13:30:02]

You know, the other thing you have to remember, this is a cruise ship, that's actually a small cruise ship going to Antarctica. So this cruise ship is designed for keeping in warmth. It is not designed for good ventilation.

And so you do have an increased risk in those types of settings, those confined settings. Airplanes, by the way, have very good ventilation. So those are entirely different kinds of modes of travel with respect to that kind of risk.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, very important points. Dr. Celine Gounder, we really appreciate your expertise here. Thank you.

And schools across the country are extending deadlines and rescheduling finals after a cyberattack. We'll explain what happened and why school officials are so worried.

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[13:35:17]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're following another major blow to Democrats in their nationwide midterm battle with Republicans. Today, Virginia Supreme Court striking down their congressional redistricting plan.

KEILAR: Yes, this measure was narrowly approved by voters last month, and it would have helped Democrats pick up as many as four House seats in November, but all of that has now been nullified. CNN's Arlette Saenz is following this for us. All right, Arlette, quite a saga here. How did the court decide?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Virginia State Supreme Court decided to block this Democratic drawn map from moving forward. They are arguing that the creation of the referendum that voters considered back in late April, that it was created, the way that it was created violated the state's constitution.

The state's constitution requires that the General Assembly votes twice on any proposed constitutional amendment that they're sending to voters with a general election intervening those votes. Republicans argued that the first vote on a referendum that was taken in mid- October was taking place while there was already a general election underway, and the Supreme Court sided with that argument.

Now, the state's Democratic governor, Abigail Spanberger, released a statement saying, more than 3 million Virginians cast their ballots in Virginia redistricting referendum, and the majority of Virginia voters voted to push back against a President who is entitled to more Republican seats in Congress.

She went on to say, my focus as governor will be on ensuring that all voters have the information necessary to make their voices heard this November in the midterm elections because in those elections, we the voters will have the final say.

Now, House Minority Leader Ken Jeffries went a bit further than Spanberger, and he said that they are trying to look at all options to potentially overturn the state's Supreme Court ruling, but it's unclear what those options might actually be and if they're able to do that.

SANCHEZ: And Arlette, given the Supreme Court, the national Supreme Court decision last week, this is only the latest problem that Democrats are facing with this.

SAENZ: Yes, this is just the latest setback for Democrats in this nationwide redistricting war. Democrats had hoped that these additional four seats that they were hoping to gain in Virginia would essentially bring this battle to a draw, but now with these maps blocked, Republicans are going to have, as of now, about an eight-seat advantage in this redistricting fight, and there's still more states that could move ahead with redistricting after that Supreme Court ruling last week. Think about Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina.

So this is going to make, one, the redistricting fight much more difficult, but also a difficult road for Democrats as they're trying to reclaim the majority in the U.S. House in November. They still believe that the politics of this moment are working in Democrats' favors, but every single seat will matter, and a decision like this from the state's Supreme Court will complicate those chances.

SANCHEZ: Arlette Saenz, thank you so much for the reporting.

[13:38:09]

Still to come, where are Agents Mulder and Scully when you need them? The Pentagon releasing what it says are never-before-seen files on UFOs. We're going to break down the latest revelations coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Millions of college students are facing chaos on campus after a massive cyberattack hit a popular education platform during many schools' final exams. More than 8,000 online institutions use the online class management system known as Canvas. They reported getting a ransom message after signing on, demanding its parent company pay or else data from 275 million users would be leaked. Students were blocked from accessing their notes, even quizzes, and this isn't the site's first attack.

With us now for some perspective is retired FBI supervisory special agent Richard Kolko. Richard, thank you so much for being with us. What do we know about this hacking group, Shiny Hunters, that claims to be behind this? What are their motives?

RICHARD KOLKO, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Money and information, and they're successful at both. Shiny Hunters have been around basically since 2019, it looks like. They operate overseas, kind of out of the reach of U.S. law enforcement in most cases. And unfortunately, they've been very successful in getting a lot of information and a lot of money across the planet. They don't just target the U.S. If you go look at their list of attacks that they've made throughout the world, it's global and they know what they're doing.

SANCHEZ: So Canvas has more than 30 million global users, more than 8,000 institutions use it. What does this mean for those users' privacy?

KOLKO: Well, the privacy, they got some information. It looks like they got names, e-mails. The important thing they have is the direct messages. They have private messages of the people. And Shiny Hunters has threatened to release that information. You know, as far as identity fraud, it's not enough to really go, but it's a big deal where now they can use A.I. to target these people with phishing attacks.

When you think about it, if I send you a DM, I might tell you my dog's name is Rex, OK? You've got my e-mail. Two years later now, you can have a very targeted phishing scam e-mail. How's your dog Rex? How was the school you went to? I'm going to think that's legit. Click on that link. Malware's on my computer. Boom, I'm a victim.

SANCHEZ: That was sort of leading to my next question, which is how has A.I. made these sort of cyberattacks easier? Because that's obviously a phishing scam, but just the act of being able to hack it seems like it's much more accessible than it used to be.

[13:45:01]

KOLKO: Well, in the old days being not too long ago, you would have to get a large group of hackers into a room and they would be looking for vulnerabilities in networks. Now they've got A.I. where they can launch different programs to look for those vulnerabilities in networks. So one or two people can hit send and they can look at something like Canvas and Instructure here and find those 500 computers out of the tens of millions that don't have the proper security on them and they get that access to the system and then it just goes downhill from there. SANCHEZ: Forgive me, Richard. Now as an adult, I see the issue with this. I see the risk. But when I was a young student myself, if somebody told me that, you know, the platform got hacked, you don't have access to your quizzes, I might've gone out and celebrated. What is the real risk that these students face with this?

KOLKO: Well, the risk is that they could be victims not only today but later. One of the things, we've all been data breached. We've all gotten that letter saying we're offering you credit monitoring and a lot of us ignore it. Bad idea, you need to follow up on that because they have this information on these students now and a couple of years from now, they may use some of that information to attack them. You think about it, all the hackers and attackers, they've got a lot of information on older people.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KOLKO: This is a whole new client list for them, younger people. They may not have everything but they've got the building blocks to attack them later in life.

SANCHEZ: Yes, so aside from obviously what you mentioned, the credit monitoring after something like this happens, what can we do to protect ourselves from being hit by something like this?

KOLKO: It's the same thing that we've said for years but they're all inconvenient but you got to do it. You got to change your passwords. You have to have that two-factor authentication. You got to download those security updates that show up on your computer. You got to do that credit monitoring and none of us like to do it but I think we think that the government or law enforcement's going to save us and keep us safe from all these hackers.

They're not, you have personal responsibility. Even though it's inconvenient, you got to do it and the last thing is, don't click on those links unless you really know who they're from.

SANCHEZ: Wow, it's eye-opening to hear a former FBI agent say they're not going to protect you the way you think they are.

KOLKO: Well, we all get those data breach notes. We see how awful it is, we read about it and those are the only ones we read about. You have to understand, there's a lot of these ransomware attacks that occur but the companies, it's a lot of hospitals, schools, governments, they don't broadcast it. They don't say it. They don't want people to know that this has happened to them so we don't hear about a lot of them.

SANCHEZ: Richard Kolko, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate the expertise.

KOLKO: You bet. Glad to be here.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

KEILAR: Brianna? Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour, a former sheriff's deputy has been convicted of reckless homicide in the 2020 killing of a black man in Ohio. Casey Goodson Jr. was 23 years old when he was shot five times in the back and once in his side as he was taking sandwiches to his grandmother's house. The former deputy, who is white, argued Goodson turned towards him with a gun but no witnesses say Goodson was holding the gun that he was licensed to carry. No cameras were recording.

Also, the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk is expected to appear in court virtually later today. A judge is set to decide whether or not cameras will be allowed to stay in court for the high-profile case. The suspect's lawyers are also asking for the hearing to be delayed, saying they need more time to examine DNA evidence.

And President Trump says he hopes to have the Qatari jet-turned-Air Force One ready in time for the nation's 250th birthday on July 4th. The $400 million Boeing 747 was gifted by Qatar but needs extensive security and communications upgrades. Once unveiled, the plane will also mark a departure from the Kennedy-era Air Force One the country is accustomed to. Trump's jet will feature a red, white, and dark blue color scheme.

Hours from now, an urgent search and rescue mission will resume as authorities in Indonesia try to find multiple hikers stranded after a volcanic eruption. This has already killed at least three people. CNN's Will Ripley walks us through some of the dramatic footage from hikers fleeing a huge cloud of hot ash.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: These extraordinary videos show the moment the hikers suddenly realize the volcano behind them is erupting. And you can see people running down the slopes of Indonesia's Mount Dukono, one of the country's most active volcanoes. You also see that massive 33,000-foot column of ash more than six miles high in the sky. Authorities say hikers were near the crater when the volcano erupted Friday morning local time.

Teams are still working on the mountain after multiple casualties were reported. Some survivors, authorities say, have already been evacuated. Others stayed behind to help rescuers search the dangerous terrain. The recovery operation is complicated by the fact that there are continued eruptions and volcanic ash and falling rock near the summit. Among the hikers were foreign tourists, including Singaporeans, the Indonesian authorities say, and one local mountain guide filmed the eruption and says he felt deep tremors just moments before the blast.

He also told CNN he saw rocks and gravel sliding down the volcano and immediately ordered his clients to run. The guide says other hikers appeared to be dangerously close to the crater, some even filming videos near the rim right before the eruption. Authorities say Mount Dukono has been showing heightened activity for weeks. Authorities say warnings about the climbing ban have been widely posted online and on signs near trail entrances, but local rescuers suspect some hikers may have entered through unmonitored access routes because the volcano does not have an official registration checkpoint. [13:50:21]

Indonesia's search and rescue agency says crews were first alerted after an emergency signal was detected from a Garmin device near the volcano. Authorities are now investigating possible negligence by tour operators or individuals who entered the restricted zone anyway. A dramatic rescue image released by Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency shows crews carrying injured hikers through thick forest on stretchers. Mount Dukono sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the most volcanically active regions on Earth.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

KEILAR: All right, thanks to Will for that report.

A new search is renewing hope for answers 30 years after the disappearance of Kristin Smart. We have some new information about what investigators have learned, next.

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[13:55:59]

SANCHEZ: Investigators just gave an update in the case of Kristin Smart. She's the Cal Poly student who vanished after a party back in 1996 and her body was never found. Now, 30 years later, investigators served a search warrant this week at the home of a man linked and convicted to Smart's murder in 2022.

CNN's Josh Campbell is following the latest. Josh, what more did we learn from investigators?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, there was a significant development that we just heard from the sheriff who has been investigating this case that, as you mentioned, has been going on now for three decades since she first disappeared back in 1996. What the sheriff says is that they're now searching the home of the man -- the mother of the man who was convicted of her murder.

The woman's name is Susan Flores, who lives at that home. And what the sheriff says is that they're using this technology that can use radar to scan property in order to look for possible remnants of human remains. The sheriff's saying that they have had a positive development thus far. Take a listen to what he just said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you saying that they are getting results that they assign -- based on their science belief, are consistent with human remains present?

SHERIFF IAN PARKINSON, SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY: Correct. We believe that based on what we're looking at evidence-wise, scientific evidence, that a human remains were there at one time were still there. So we can't call it Kristin, but, you know, we think there's evidence to support human remains there at one time. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: And this is part of this new, renewed effort in order to try to identify what actually happened to her body. Again, she was last seen in 1996. The last person that saw her alive was a man named Paul Flores. As I mentioned, he was eventually convicted of her murder. But authorities at the time, they had to work a long time in order to actually bring that case because they did not yet have her body.

What they did is actually go and investigate where the home of the father was of Paul Flores. Investigators there looked under the ground and they were able to determine that at one point there was something that resembled a possible grave. They also said that the soil had tested consistently with human decomposition in that area, but the body was gone.

The sheriff says that they think the body was moved, which appears to be why they are now centering in there on the home of Susan Flores. It's important to note that we have reached out to her for comments. We have not heard back. There's been no accusation of wrongdoing by her at this point.

But a significant development in here with the renewal. The sheriff is not going so far as to say what caused them to go back to that house and to start investigating. They're saying that new information from an eyewitness was part of that, guys.

SANCHEZ: You mentioned, Josh, that Susan Flores didn't want to comment or didn't respond to comment when we reached out to her, but is she cooperating with authorities?

CAMPBELL: The sheriff basically mincing no words in saying that she has not been cooperative. In fact, the sheriff says whenever they have tried to approach her and question her, that she was essentially ridiculing investigators rather than being cooperative.

The sheriff's saying that actually goes for the rest of the family as well. The Flores family, they've tried to gather as much information as they can. It seems that they're apparently being stonewalled. Again, the sheriff saying that they don't have any information right now that will allow them to detain her. She is free to go.

One interesting thing, though, is while they're at her house, she's not allowed back in. The sheriff saying that this is what they call a kickout warrant. That when we come in and search a property, you have to leave, you have to stay gone for as long as it takes for us to gather the information that we need. The next step, the sheriff says, is if they get probable cause, that they believe that there could be evidence of the remains of Kristin Smart on that property, they'll then get another warrant and essentially start digging up the place.

SANCHEZ: Wow. And, Josh, a lot of this has to do with advancements in forensic science that have led to renewed interest and renewed effort on this case, right? Talk to us about that.

CAMPBELL: That's right. You know, when you talk about scientific technology from three decades ago, it's obviously come light years from there as far as being able to look at evidence that may have existed at the time, just using different technology, this advanced equipment, in order to essentially look at the same evidence that you might have. The same goes as, you know, most people who follow these criminal cases know with the advancements in DNA where you might have had a cold case from many, many years ago. Authorities can use that same evidence under the current microscopes that have been created. It seems that appears to be a play here, the sophisticated sonar technology being used to scan that property as speak.

[14:00:32]

SANCHEZ: Well, Josh Campbell, thank you so much for an update on that case.

A new hour of CNN News Central starts right now.