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Alec Baldwin Meets With Family Of Cinematographer Killed In Shooting; Fauci: Vaccines For Children Ages 5-11 Could Be Available In Early November; Interview With Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) About Spending Plan; Star Power Hit The Political Stage In Virginia Governor's Race; West Coast Braces For "Bomb Cyclone" And "Atmospheric River" Duo; Decriminalizing Sex Work. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired October 24, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:32]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with new details emerging in the deadly shooting on the set of Alec Baldwin's film "Rust". CNN is now learning about past allegations involving the movie's assistant director David Halls.

Two people who worked closely with Halls tell CNN that he was accused of several safety complaints on two productions back in 2019.

Also today, new photos just in to CNN showing Baldwin meeting with Hutchins' -- Halyna Hutchins' husband and son in New Mexico. In a statement, the actor said his heart was broken for them and he's fully cooperating as police investigate. Halyna Hutchins died there from the gunshot wound there on the set.

CNN correspondent Lucy Kafanov is in Santa Fe, New Mexico. So Lucy, what more are you learning about the safety issues and accusations?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. We remember from the affidavit, the police affidavit, that David Halls was listed as the assistant director who picked up one of the three prop weapons left outside of the structure where the team was filming that fateful Thursday by the head armorer.

He picked up the gun. He walked it into the building. He handed it to Alec Baldwin shouting "cold gun" which should have meant that the weapon or the prop weapon had no live rounds.

Now, we are learning as you point out more details. Sources tell CNN that David Halls was a subject of several complaints over safety as well as his behavior on two productions back in 2019.

They included disregard for safety protocols and pyrotechnics, fire lanes and exits were reportedly illegally blocked, consistently blocked, sources say. There was also, according to some sources, instances of inappropriate sexual behavior. One pyrotechnician who worked with Halls on Hulu's "Into The Dark" series said that he -- pardon me -- neglected to hold safety meetings and consistently failed to announce the presence of a firearm on set to crew. That's standard protocol or should be at least on most movie and television set.

This source tells CNN and I quote, "The only reason the crew was made aware of the weapon's presence was that the assistant prop master demanded Dave acknowledge and announce the situation each day."

This is what the one source told CNN, another one actually -- another crew member told CNN that when Halls did hold the safety meetings he was short, he was dismissive.

This person also told CNN he would tell crew that guns used would be the same as the production always uses and would question why they had to have the safety meetings.

Now CNN did reach out to Halls for comment. No response as of yet, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And Lucy, mourners of this, you know, shooting held a vigil for Halyna Hutchins last night. You were there. What were people saying?

Yes. This was in downtown, Albuquerque. It was, you know, a very sad event. Most of the folks who had gathered at this vigil were part of the film and television industry was organized by a union that represents film and television employees so a lot of folks knew people on the set.

You know, this is as a very close-knit community so the death of one member really affects them all.

We spoke to one woman. She's a production coordinator. She wasn't on this particular set, but she said that she, quote, "knew everyone in the room and she was devastated by this loss'. She also hopes that new safety measures will be taken more seriously. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REBECCA STAIR, LOCATION MANAGER, IATSE LOCAL 480 MEMBER: I just hope all this talking does something. I hope that my talking with you gets amplified and we -- we get the changes that we need for a safe set. I'm sure you know we were about to strike this past Monday for safer conditions. And if the world didn't believe us about what's going on, maybe they believe us now.

KAFANOV: People should be able to go home after performing their job.

STAIR: Yes.

A child should have a mother.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAFANOV: A child should have a mother. That, of course, was a reference to the surviving son of Halyna Hutchins, a young boy who is now left without his mom.

[14:04:53]

KAFANOV: I should say that we spoke to several other people at that vigil, Fred, and one woman was actually hired as a hairdresser on the production of "Rust". She said that she backed out at the last minute over contract negotiations but also concerns about safety.

One of the biggest things for her, she said, was the fact that the crew production people were going to be housed in Albuquerque 50 miles away from Santa Fe where this film was actually being shot, and that adds to long days and potentially safety concerns.

So a lot of worry here, a lot of hope here that things will change for the industry, but also grief over the loss of a shining star in the industry, Halyna Hutchins.

WHITFIELD: Right. But it also underscores, Lucy, still so many unanswered questions. We still don't know, you know, all the details about all the roles played, all the protocols that may have been met or what things may have been dismissed. The investigation is still in its early stages.

Lucy Kafanov, thank you so much for that.

So let's talk more about some of what we do know. Joining us right now Steve Wolf. He is a stunt coordinator and theatrical firearms safety expert. So good to see you, and of course, there are things I want to ask you that relate to things that we don't know, but you can help us. On a movie set, some of the protocols that would be met, some of the things that could be, you know, replaced I guess with, you know, with other concerns. Every movie production is different.

So give us an idea. When it comes down to the handling of a prop such as a gun. Now we're learning that the assistant director may have been the one to hand Alec Baldwin the -- the prop. Is this unusual? Is it usually the armorer which was initially reported or does everyone have, you know, shared roles on a movie set?

STEVE WOLF, STUNT COORDINATOR: There is some overlap, but ultimately it -- it comes down to the prop master or the weapons master to ensure firearms safety. They are the ones who are responsible for getting the guns, getting the ammunition, loading them properly, unloading them properly. Storing them safely.

So, you know, if the buck has to stop somewhere, it's got to be with the prop master or the weapons master on the job.

The AD often functions as a backup layer of safety so the prop master will say, look, here's the gun. You can see there's nothing in it. You can see that this is a blank. You can tell that because if it were live ammo it would look like this. That's a bullet on there. There's no bullet here. We're going to go ahead and put this in here, we're going to close it and now it's hot.

So the weapons master can demonstrate that and then the AD, the assistant director can come back and say let me see that one more time. I just want to make sure everything is clear. Ok. Got it. All right. We're good. Ok. Ok. Everybody, picture is up.

WHITFIELD: And is that going to happen in front of the actor? Does all of that happen that you just demonstrated just seconds, minutes before handing the prop over to the actor?

WOLF: That's supposed to happen right before. And then, you know, if -- if the actor were told that the scene was for them to take this gun, put it against their head and press the trigger, I'm pretty sure the actor themselves would also say, wait, let me see this also, you know, I want to know that there's nothing in there, that nobody is going to get hurt.

When you have a gun in your hand, you're responsible for what happens with that gun. So there's also an onus on the actors on the gun handler, to make sure that the gun is safe.

And there are three ways that they messed this up here. First, they took a gun that was capable of having live ammo introduced into it. Live round, gun, ok -- on a prop gun this wouldn't happen. If I switched this out for the prop gun and try to put this in here, it doesn't fit in there.

So if you have an actual prop gun, not just a gun that's being used as a prop, you wouldn't be able to introduce live ammo into it.

WHITFIELD: And let me stop you right there then. What is a prop gun? Because we're hearing that terminology, you know, interchangeable, a gun that's a real gun but is not going to be used with real bullets and it's on set. That's a plop gun.

But you're making a distinction that a prop gun would not be able to accommodate even that blank. So help us understand what a prop gun is.

WOLF: That's correct. No, it wouldn't be able to accommodate a live round. So you can see the length of this.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

WOLF: Versus the length -- I'll put these side by side so you can see them. The length of them is different, right?

WHITFIELD: Ok.

WOLF: When there's a bullet on the end of it it's longer. So on a period piece from the 1800s, both bullets are going to be loaded into a revolver, and as you can see right through the revolver here -- and I can see you, I don't know if you can see me.

WHITFIELD: I can.

WOLF: But we can see in here. And the cylinder on a real gun, this is called the cylinder and these are the individual chambers. The cylinder is able to accept the full length of the casing and the bullet.

WHITFIELD: Right.

[14:09:54]

WOLF: When you modify a real gun to turn it into a prop gun you weld a small washer inside here that if you tried to put a bullet in stops the bullet so the bullet can't go in all the way.

WHITFIELD: Ok.

WOLF: If the put can't go in all the way the gun can't be closed and the gun can't be fired. So that is what is done to turn a real gun into a prop gun.

WHITFIELD: So is it still possible --

WOLF: Guns can still be deadly -- sorry.

WHITFIELD: Ok. I misunderstood on the bullet versus the blank. So it will accommodate a blank but is it possible that a projectile could come from a blank, so say --

WOLF: Yes, it is.

WHITFIELD: So say this not a gun that accidentally had a live round in it but instead it had a blank, still a projectile, could come out and harm someone?

WOLF: Absolutely. So this is a blank. There's no bullet on the end of it, right? It's just, you know, a casing with a primer on the back. If you put that in here and close it, when you discharge that, lots of hot gas under tremendous amounts of pressure will come out of here.

If there's anything in the barrel, it will be propelled out. If there's anything in the cylinder in front of the blank, it will also be discharged. And what happened in the Brandon Lee case in 1993, there was a bullet lodged in here that they didn't know about. When they stuck the blank behind it, the blank fired the bullet out of the gun.

So -- so that's, you know, area two, right. Don't put -- don't have live ammo on set.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: And then quickly what's number three.

WOLF: And number is don't point guns at people unless you want to see a hole in them. Pretty straightforward. There's so many ways to cheat camera angles that you never have to point a gun at someone and it's never going to be in the story line that you point the gun at the director of photography. So absolutely no excuse for that and I just can't believe that, you know, today, here we are in 2021, that there's anyone who has not heard don't point guns at people unless you want to shoot them.

You know, I'm just the actor, I don't know, you know. I mean, when you get to this car, you can see the fuel gauge you know that there's gas in there or not. It's just as simple to look down here and see either air or ammo.

WHITFIELD: But it is unusual say you're shooting a movie and the actor is pointing the gun at the camera which I understand that's where the cinematographer sometimes could be, right alongside the camera, because that is a shot that is necessary for the movie-making. And in this case it was point -- and we don't know if it was. This is just another hypothetical because there's still so much we don't know about the circumstances of the shooting.

WOLF: That's right.

WHITFIELD: But we see it time and time again, a gun may be pointed right at the camera and right alongside a camera is a cinematographer, a director and any number of cast members so that's possibly pointing at a person, right?

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: That' s not always done, right.

So, one thing you do is you put a 45-degree mirror, the camera points here, the mirror is here. From the camera's point of view it looks like they are looking down the muzzle, but the gun is pointed a full 90 degrees off camera.

The second thing you can do if you don't have a mirror to shoot that with is that you set up your camera, you do what's called a lock-off shot which means the camera is initiated. Everyone walks away and then the gun is brought up. The shot is discharged at camera. The gun is then secured and then the crew walks back in and turns the camera off.

WHITFIELD: I see.

WOLF: So there's lots of ways to accomplish that direct-on shot if that's what you're going for.

We don't know if that's what was happening.

WHITFIELD: Steve Wolf, before I let you go.

WOLF: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Would there be any circumstance -- is it common for a movie set to require to have live rounds?

WOLF: Unless you're actually filming a science show where you're showing what bullets do when they come out of guns or the bullet -- a bullet impact on something, there is no reason to have live ammo on a set.

WHITFIELD: All right. Steve Wolf, this is invaluable information. You taught us so much.

Thank you so much. Great to see you.

WOLF: Fredericka, thank you so much for having me today.

WHITFIELD: Thank you.

All right. Still to come, ready for rollout. Dr. Anthony Fauci updates the timeline on when young children will be able to get their COVID vaccines.

Plus, emotional testimony from Kobe Bryant's widow. What Vanessa Bryant revealed about how she found out her husband and daughter had died.

[14:14:28]

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WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

Tens of millions of young children around the country could have access to COVID vaccines as soon as next week. This morning Dr. Anthony Fauci laid out the expected timeline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: So if all goes well and we get the regulatory approval and the recommendations from the CDC it's entirely possible if not very likely that vaccines will be available for children from 5 to 11 within the first week or two of November.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Nadia Romero with me now with more of this. I mean, that's pretty quick if that's indeed the case. But of course, it still has to go through the approval this week.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. and first things -- first things first is on Tuesday. That's when the FDA vaccine advisers will hear the pitch from Pfizer.

I mean, it wasn't long ago that we were talking about so many parents who were concerned about putting their kids back in school. Remember there was a statistic that came out from the American Academy of Pediatrics that showed a 240 percent increase in COVID cases in kids from July through September, and that was blamed on in-person learning.

Now we're talking of potentially having access to a vaccine for kids 5 through 11 if everything goes through.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMERO (voice over): Just how soon could kids ages 5 to 11 get a COVID-19 vaccine? On the current timeline, it could be as soon as November but first, the FDA and CDC must sign off.

[14:19:59]

ROMERO: Tuesday an FDA advisory committee is scheduled to meet to discuss whether to recommend authorization for the Pfizer vaccine for kids 5 to 11.

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: It's going to protect then. Obviously it's also going to add population immunity to our broader population, will help bring infection numbers down. It is going to be one more important step towards getting to the end of this pandemic.

ROMERO: Kids make up about a quarter of all COVID cases in the U.S. Nationwide data shows COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths all declining. Health experts point to the vaccine.

DR. JENNIFER SHU, PEDIATRICIAN If we add children to that mix, we can get our numbers way higher up and hopefully prevent any more variants from coming.

ROMERO: But Pfizer officials will not only have to convince FDA advisers for emergency use authorization. Ultimately it's up to parents of kids ages 5 to 11 to allow them to get the vaccine.

A recent Keiser Family Foundation survey in September, found about a third of parents in that age range say they would take a wait-and-see approach and another third of parents say they would let their parents get the vaccine right away.

ANDY SLAVITT, FORMER SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER ON COVID 19: Talk to your pediatrician if you have questions, but we know that 6 billion kids have had COVID. Over a million in the last six weeks. They can get it. They can spread it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMERO: So you heard about that timeline, right, as soon as next week. Well, we also heard from a former FDA and Pfizer board member this morning who did an interview who said as soon as those FDA vaccine advisers, if they recommend emergency use authorization, the company will start shipping out doses right away, even before the CDC has their vote, just in case.

So, Fred, they could get things out quickly because they want to get those shipments on the way in case they get that approval from the CDC, it's already out there and available at your pediatrician's office.

WHITFIELD: So is there anything that parents need to know specifically or look out for particularly after this FDA meeting? ROMERO: There was so much talk about myocarditis, right. This

inflammation of the heart that would happen in children connected to the vaccine and so many parents were concerned about it.

So the last study that Pfizer did, about 2,300 participants ages 5 through 11, so the age group we're talking about, they found not a single case of inflammation of the heart, not a single case, so that was something that parents were worried about. Didn't see it.

And remember, Pfizer also decreased their dose by a third and they are using smaller needles so they have worked things out to figure out how to better treat our children.

WHITFIELD: And of course, If parents have any more questions, they need to ask their pediatrician because that's the person they are closest or probably most trust as it pertains to the medical welfare of your kid.

ROMERO: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nadia Romero, good to see you.

ROMERO: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much.

All right. Coming up, down to the wire. Democrats pull out all the stops in a neck and neck gubernatorial race in Virginia. We'll take you there live.

[14:22:39]

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WHITFIELD: Today on CNN, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Democrats' plan is to have an agreement on a framework for Biden's massive social spending package and a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: With 90 percent of the bill agreed to and written, we just have some of the last decisions to be made. It is less than we had -- was projected to begin with, but it's still bigger than anything we have ever done in terms of addressing the needs of America's working families.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Are you saying in the next week the framework will be agreed to, there will be a deal on the social safety net.

PELOSI: Let's call it an agreement.

TAPPER: An agreement. There will be an agreement on that and you will also vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Both of those things will happen in the next week.

PELOSI: That's the plan.

TAPPER: That's the plan.

PELOSI: And right now we're just as you indicated, the two senate -- Leader Schumer and Mr. Manchin, Senator Manchin and the president are having the meeting on some of the particulars that need to be finalized. And I'm optimistic that we can do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Democratic Congressman Adriano Espaillat from New York joins me right now. Congressman, good to see you. Are you equally optimistic? Do you believe that her plan will come to fruition this week?

REP. ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D-NY): I know that folks are working very hard to reach a consensus. But again, I'm troubled that the one issue that I have been concentrating which is bringing relief for immigrants who were there, what we needed them during the pandemic, delivering our food to our doorsteps and making sure they work the farms to bring the food to the table as well as take care of our elderly and frail. That they may not be included in this deal and they will be left behind.

I think it will be a great travesty if that occurs. That the folks that really came through for us in the pandemic are left behind while we try to build back better.

WHITFIELD: So those are some of the disappointments that you anticipate. And as a progressive are you disappointed that President Biden is willing to give up tuition-free community college and cut paid leave from 12 down to four weeks' time?

ESPAILLAT: I am disappointed about that as well, of course. You know, free community college is an important piece for my district, the 13th district that includes Harlem and North Manhattan and the Northwest Bronx, as well as paid leave.

But I tell you nothing could be more egregious that we're really afraid in our homes during the bad months of the pandemic and those folks came knocking on our doors to deliver the food for us.

[14:29:56]

ESPAILLAT: And now we can't included them in the build better deal. I think that's really egregious.

And I hope that they're included. And there's pathways to do that. I know that the parliamentarian has not been cooperative, but there's an additional proposal that's on the table right now. And at the very end the parliamentarian is really just an adviser to the Senate. It's not an elected adviser to the U.S. Senate, someone that could be reversed at any time.

WHITFIELD: And so if some of those things that are near and dear to your heart like immigration reform are not included in the package like you'd like it to be, would you still consider it an achievement if it is voted on, if it is embraced as the best package deal possible for moving forward?

ESPAILLAT: Look, I like a lot of the things in the package. You know, I worked very hard to include a lot of the provisions in that agreement, in that deal. I would like to see immigration, public housing is an important one for me as well, so a dramatic and deep cut to public housing would be also be troubling to me, but, you know, there's a group of us that feel that immigrants have waited for 35 long years, Fredricka, and now is just an opportune moment, perhaps the best moment, to bring them in. We're going to leave them out in the cold once again. That I don't know if I can live with.

WHITFIELD: Today President Biden is meeting with moderate Senator Joe Manchin in Delaware. Manchin has been, you know, vocal about his opposition to much of the climate actions in this bill and he's also expressing concerns about expanding Medicare to include dental and vision. Are you comfortable with one senator possibly nixing some of the most popular aspects of the bill or at least wielding so much power?

ESPAILLAT: I'll tell you. It's much more than just that. I think it's disempowering our president as he gets ready to go to Glasgow and make a good argument for the rest of the planet to come online with these green deal agreements that we want to put in place.

I think it's important that we lead by example, and so if we go to Europe and say that the rest of the world has to be aligned with our principles and our guidance with regards to the environment and we're not agreeing to them ourselves, that's a real bad message to set out there so it's much more than just one person wielding power than the construct of government or of Congress here. It has global implications as well.

WHITFIELD: Congressman Adriano Espaillat, thank you so much for joining us this Sunday.

ESPAILLAT: Thank you. Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it. Always good to see you.

All right, the high-stakes Virginia governor's race is now in the home stretch. Voters will head to the polls in just nine days to cast votes in this closely watched race between Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin. For more on that let's bring in Dan Merica.

So, Dan, what's the message in these final days of this race? Yesterday some pretty big rallies and both sides brought out a pretty good crowd.

DAN MERICA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a big event here today in Charlottesville where behind me Dave Matthews Band performed and Stacey Abrams spoke on McAuliffe's behalf. But what's interesting is the sort of -- the differences between what the final messages are but also the similarities.

I went to a Youngkin event last night and you heard from a lot of voters who said I don't want Virginia to become California, and that's what they expect will happen if Terry McAuliffe is elected and serves a second term as governor. And here at a Dave Matthews Band concert surrounded by McAuliffe supporters, you heard folks worry that if Youngkin is elected, the Commonwealth of Virginia will become more like Texas, more like Georgia, more like states that have had years of Republican control.

And Abrams actually spoke directly to that. She is from Georgia obviously. Take a listen to what she said about the future of the commonwealth if Youngkin wins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY ABRAMS, DEMOCRATIC VOTING RIGHTS ACTIVIST: If you want to figure out what could happen to you in nine days if you don't get out and vote, pick up a newspaper that talks about Georgia. If you want to know what happens in nine days if we don't get out and vote, look at what's happening in Texas. If you want to know what happens to Virginia, if we don't vote, if you don't turn out on November the 2nd, then remember what you felt like in November of 2016.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

MERICA: You know, this is a race obviously to lead the Commonwealth of Virginia, but there are national implications as well. For Democrats it could be validation for the Biden administration and the Biden agenda and for Republicans a chance to prove they are viable in a state that they haven't done well over the last decade and to get up off of the mat after a 2020 loss. That's why you see so much focus on this race and that's why as the polls close on November 2nd, and the polls are so close, a Monmouth University poll showing Youngkin and McAuliffe basically neck and neck.

That is exactly why this is such a critical race. And it's bigger frankly than just the Commonwealth of Virginia. It's a national race at this point that is garnering national attention across the country.

WHITFIELD: Dan Merica, thanks so much. We'll check back with you.

[14:35:02]

All right. Still ahead, heartbreaking testimony from Kobe Bryant's widow about how she learned of his death from social media and details of her desperate calls to try and reach him after the crash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Kobe Bryant's widow Vanessa says she learned about her husband and daughter's death from social media posts. According to emotional court transcripts she said an official confirmation from police didn't come until hours after those online notifications.

[14:40:04]

As part of her deposition on October 12th, she said, quote, "I was holding on to my phone because obviously I was trying to call my husband back and all these notifications started popping up on my phone saying, rest in peace, Kobe, rest in peace, Kobe, rest in peace, Kobe."

The NBA legend and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash in California last year. Vanessa testified as part of a lawsuit she filed against the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, Fire Department and Los Angeles County. She is alleging that employees photographed the crash site including images of her family's bodies and believes those images were shared outside the department including at a bar.

Defense Attorney Lewis Miller asked Bryant if she might be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder through the transcript redacted -- though the transcript, rather, redacted her response. L.A. County has asked the court to compel her to take a psychiatric exam ahead of the trial. The Sheriff's Department has declined to comment on the pending lawsuit. The trial is set to begin in February.

Heavy rains from what's known as an atmospheric river combined with high winds from a bomb cyclone are unleashing flooding and even snow across the Western U.S. The severe weather could also bring mudslides and debris flows to areas affected by wildfires.

Joining me live right now from Riverton, California, CNN's Paul Vercammen.

Paul, the conditions are miserable. What's going on?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are miserable, Fred, and they're going to get worse and you alluded to what the concern were. Now to these fire areas, this is where the Caldor Fire came roaring through here with fury. I'm along California Highway 50 between Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe, you can see the problem. The hills have been stripped of their vegetation in many places.

You see the dead trees, and when rain at a sustained level hits these hillsides for long periods of time, it can cause a slushy, ashy mess. Below me the South Fork of the American River. They are also paying very careful attention to the river levels. Fortunately this is an odd omen, this is an odd thing to happen. We had so little rain up here that the soil is a little dry. That could mitigate some of the flood issues because of that.

And then you see the cars leaving the South Lake Tahoe area. Headlights coming to us, but very few cars are going away from us. Now they have issued a flood warning here. The weather service saying this is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area that is subject to flooding.

But as we look at these pictures live, so far so good, the big concern later on this afternoon, when they say some of the mountain communities in California could get up to 13 inches of rain over sustained period and the winds could kick up to 50 miles per hour.

Reporting from near Riverton, California, Paul Vercammen. Back to you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And Paul, I got a question for you. So I wonder what might all of this mean for California's water supply, if anything?

VERCAMMEN: That's a great question. So if we look down here, what California needs is winter, especially that are wet and rainy and snowy, and we will get, they believe, snow in the mountains east of here. And as one expert put it, Northern California is California's water fountain. It's critical to drinking water and other water, so what they crossed their fingers for is sustained rain, gentle rain that will happen, but they say with this bomb cycle, it's possible California, Northern California, could get 10 percent to 15 percent of its rainfall for the season in this storm.

Of course, they don't know what's coming down the road. They're not sure if there's going to be a series of storms. But this is going to be a big one and it is going to help with that drought situation but, again, fingers crossed that it doesn't cause massive mudslides.

Back to you now, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Right. Fingers crossed indeed. Paul Vercammen, thank you so much.

All right, turning now to Spain where lava continues to pour from the Cumbre Vieja volcano. The eruption started last month on La Palm Island with multiple lava flows forcing more than 6,000 people to evacuate and devastating nearly 2,000 acres of land. Spain's prime minister says the volcano shows no signs of slowing down.

We're back in a moment.

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[14:49:19]

WHITFIELD: All right. Tonight, Lisa Ling is back with an all-new episode of "THIS IS LIFE." This week Lisa investigates the current debate about decriminalizing sex work and uncovers a surprising experiment during the civil war to legalize the world's oldest profession.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA LING, CNN HOST, "THIS IS LIFE": We remember the civil war for tales of bloodshed and struggle, but a little-known fact is that it also ushered in the largest boom in prostitution our nation has ever known.

Drawn to the growing number of soldiers, thousands of sex workers flooded red light districts across America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So there are multitudes of reasons why women are becoming sex workers during this time period.

[14:50:04]

There are women who are losing their husbands to war and now how are they going to support themselves and their children? Some out of pure necessity.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining us now is the host of "THIS IS LIFE WITH LISA LING," Lisa Ling. There she is.

Today, Lisa, prostitution is legal in several counties in Nevada, and as we just saw in the clip, it was also legal in Nashville, Tennessee, during the civil war, and we just heard your guest talking about it really came out of a necessity. So talk to us about these pros and cons uncovered in the efforts to legalize sex work from the 1800s experiment.

LING: Well, Fred, you're right. And when you think back, and you look back in history, it's really fascinating because as you heard in the clip, prostitution before the civil war was never explicitly illegal until after the civil war. And before then it was more of a public nuisance, it was policed using laws regarding vagrancy or public intoxication, but at the outbreak of the civil war women and prostitution swelled to numbers never seen before.

But what happened as a result is venereal diseases like syphilis became a huge problem for the army, particularly for union soldiers who opposed it in the South. In fact two out of five men sick in the hospital were sick with venereal diseases, and it became such a huge problem that the union army enacted the first ever legal framework for prostitution in the U.S.

And you asked, did it work? Well, it required women to register and receive a license to submit to health screenings and even quarantine if they were found to have any diseases, and it was considered a success. It reduced all of those numbers. The number of venereal diseases and soldiers didn't have to spend so much time in quarantine because of all these regulations.

However, when the war ended and the union army left, the system was basically abandoned and eventually by 1910 and the Man Act Prostitution was declared illegal throughout the United States.

WHITFIELD: And then the debate continues, you know. The current debate now has taken a few turns here and there, but what is the argument for making sex work legal today?

LING: So it is an extremely vociferous debate, and right now there are many arguing for decriminalization which includes a number of members of Congress. But even this idea of decriminalization has two distinctive camps.

There's full crim and those in favor of partial -- sorry, full decrim and those in favor of partial decrim which is known as the Nordic Model, and full crim -- decrim, I'm sorry, would remove laws against the selling and buying or managing or pimping of sex work. And the only country that currently applies to right now is New Zealand.

While partial decriminalization, so sorry, it only removes laws against the selling of sex, so the buying and pimping would still continue to remain illegal.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Complicated. But that's why we are going to be tuning in to your hour-long show about it all to break it all down.

Lisa Ling, thank you so much. Good to see you.

LING: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So be sure to tune in to an all-new episode of "THIS IS LIFE WITH LISA LING." It airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. only on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:58:22]

WHITFIELD: A record number of workers have quit their jobs this year. Some experts say burnout during the pandemic is one of the many reasons, but burnout doesn't have to happen if you're staying well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stress is a part of life. Burnout not necessarily so.

I was in journalism. I actually loved it, but the bottom line is I wasn't managing my stress. I was ignoring it. So even in my early 20s I went into burnout and left the field.

You can love what you do, but go into burnout because you're not managing your stress effectively. Stress is where you're very overwhelmed and you're also still believe it or not hopeful that you can change that, where burnout you're more hopeless. You lost interest in the things you used to enjoy. You don't feel like you're valued at work. You're doing too much, or not feeling challenged.

No one is immune to burnout, so the best way is to manage our stress each day. What are your coping mechanisms? What are the things that get you excited in life? I watched Korean dramas to help me express my emotions. I also enjoy taking walks. Being active really helps me. Pets can also be a source of comfort that you need.

Number one thing of course, and it's not just because I'm a therapist is to seek professional help. There's no one right answer except doing what's best for you and prioritizing that.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All right.