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Country Music Star, Naomi Judd Dies At 76; Food, Water, Hope Running Out Inside Besieged Steel Plant In Mariupol; White House Correspondents' Dinner Returns After Pandemic Pause; Nationwide Search Underway For Violent Inmate And Alabama Corrections Officer; NASDAQ Has Worst Month In 14 Years, Fuels Recession Worries; Report: Russia Using Trained Dolphins Near Black Sea Naval Base; Anheuser-Busch To Make Ukraine Beer In U.S. To Help Relief Efforts. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired April 30, 2022 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:26]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday.

We begin with breaking news. Naomi Judd of the Grammy-winning country duo, "The Judds" has died.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

BROWN: Naomi and her daughter Wynonna ruled the country music charts in the 1980s. The Kentucky natives won five Grammy Awards. Naomi was also the mother of actress, Ashley Judd. Her daughters announced her death in a statement writing: "Today, we, sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered, we are navigating profound grief, and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory."

CNNs Chloe Melas is with us now; also, CNN media analyst and former "New York Times" media reporter, Bill Carter.

Bill, "The Judds" were going to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame tomorrow, and they had just announced an arena tour.

BILL CARTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: It is kind of, you know, the irony of that is obvious, but it also strikes the chord of her life in some ways and the whole Judd's career because they're spectacular success. I mean, spectacular success.

It was also accompanied by all kinds of tribulations, which is right out of a country music song. I mean, it really -- all the things they had to go through sounds like the music they sang, and right up to the end of her life, because obviously she had suffered from terrible depression and all kinds of other health ailments, including hepatitis and in her last tour, then they had scheduled a new tour and I don't know the pressure must have been awful on her and it's really a tragedy and it just mirrors really so much of what you know about country music. If you listen to it, it's full of this kind of heartache, and it

really makes you think it's sad, but you have to acknowledge what a tremendous artist, I mean really a tremendous artist.

BROWN: Such as tremendous artist. She gave so much in the art world and that you know, she is a legend, among other artists.

Chloe, you have been watching the reaction coming in from the country music world and beyond. It is clear that her music meant a lot.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: A lot, Pamela. Maren Morris actually just tweeted "Rest in peace, Naomi Judd. Honored to have witnessed "Love Can Build a Bridge" just a few short weeks ago." You know, they did perform, Naomi and Wynonna 19 days ago. Like you said tomorrow, this big moment in their career to be inducted into Country Music's Hall of Fame.

You know, so many songs, at least, you know, the songs of my childhood from, "Grandpa," "Love Can Build a Bridge," "Why Not Me?" "Give a Little Love." And then you know, also just the types of things that they sing about, like Bill was saying, they sing a lot about fidelity. They sing a lot about marriage and relationships and where they come from and how they struggled.

But you know, also Naomi just being this strong female who paved the way along with Wynonna in the world of country music for all of the women now in that arena.

I mean, I don't think that there could be a Taylor Swift, there could be a Maren Morris, there could be any of these women today without people like Naomi, who I put right up there with Dolly Parton.

BROWN: Yes, such a trailblazer, such an important point to make as we mourn her loss.

Thank you so much, Bill and Chloe.

MELAS: Thank you.

BROWN: Turning now to Ukraine as the Russian's siege of Mariupol approaches a breaking point, these are new images of the sprawling steel plant complex that is now the last stand of resistance in the port town.

Russian forces have relentlessly targeted the site since the first days of the invasion, and as you can see, nothing has escaped the bombardment. The images are from the Ukrainian soldiers who are dug in there.

These new satellite images right here show nearly every building is gutted or reduced to rubble, but what is most important is what you don't see.

Underneath it all, hundreds of traumatized women and children wasting away in a basement that is now a bunker. The food, water, and medicine stockpiled before the war are running out and the CEO of the company that owns the plant says hope is running out, too.

[18:05:09]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YURIY RYZHENKOV, STEEL PLANT CEO: They are telling us it is a humanitarian disaster there. The city is being destroyed, basically a beautiful thriving city was turned into a concentration camp by the Russians in less than two months.

You can say it is genocide, which is happening there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And a short time ago, a Ukrainian Commander who is also trapped there says about 20 civilians were evacuated today, but their fate is unknown. Some 100,000 civilians remain trapped in the city and Russia has released video to show it has at least one submarine lurking in the Black Sea launching cruise missile attacks on Ukraine.

The Russian boat is apparently designed to intimidate and follow some Russian advances this week, including strikes on Ukraine's rail lines and supply routes.

Let's begin our coverage now in Ukraine's capital. CNN's Matt Rivers is in Kyiv. So Matt, let's turn our focus here to the south to the humanitarian crisis in Mariupol, what is the latest on evacuations from that steel plant?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, in some respects, the news that we got today from that Commander inside the steel plant complex, about some 20 civilians being evacuated from that area. That is the only little bit of good news that we've had out of the steel plant complex for weeks now.

I mean, I've been looking at what's going on there for a while, I've been talking to the Commanders that are inside that facility. And each day, it's basically been people need to get out, people need to get out, people need to get out and they just can't.

So this is the first time that at least a trickle of people have managed to get out. According to the Commander, this is under a ceasefire. The Red Cross is involved. And the plan is for those 20 people to get to a city called Zaporizhzhia, which is under Ukrainian control. Whether that happened or not, we simply don't know. I mean, we haven't spoken to this Commander for a few hours now. So getting constant updates on the ground can be very difficult, Pamela, just because of the communications or the lack thereof in that area right now.

But this is a little bit of good news, just not at the scale that you know, officials here in Ukraine would certainly want to see. We got a tweet today, we saw a tweet from Ukraine's Parliament official account, saying, quote, "Powerful and deadly epidemics could soon break out in the city due to the lack of centralized water supply and sanitation, the decomposition of thousands of corpses under the rubble and a catastrophic shortage of water and food." That's why they say so many more people need to get out as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, I had a conversation earlier today with a Commander in the Azov regiment, who was injured in Mariupol, he managed to get smuggled out to receive treatment elsewhere, but he wanted to tell the President of Ukraine that once civilians are evacuated to not forget about the soldiers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE KUPARASHVILI, AZOV REGIMENT: It's not only civilians that's the President's responsibility to save. But it is a President's responsibility as well to save your military. No man stays behind. And it is his responsibility to deal as well.

But I mean, and I would say we need a third country, a third country, a third side, need to be involved as a guarantee with the international, non-government organizations or government organizations who will provide guarantee for a safe leave and evacuation for the civilians or military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS: And Pamela, keep in mind though, a lot of the civilians that are inside this plant are actually family members of some of the fighters that are inside that facility as well. So these are not people that are likely going to leave.

And overall, there's a huge amount of distrust in the Russian forces there. The soldiers that basically said that they're not going to surrender to the Russians because they believe that they would be summarily executed if they did that. So they believe the only way to really get this done is using some sort of third party country to guarantee this evacuation, which is something that we've heard about no progress about, at least so far.

BROWN: All right, Matt Rivers, thanks for bringing us the latest there from Kyiv.

And turning now to the southwest of Ukraine where Russian missile strikes have hit the port city of Odessa. It's Ukraine's third biggest city by population and people there fear it's about to become a primary target.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has the latest.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Pam, strikes on Odessa have been intermittent since the war began, targeting often military infrastructure and the one we've just seen no exception hitting the airport. Apparently, its runway, and it is unclear where they originated from.

There have been, of course, images of Russia putting submarines and launching missiles in the Black Sea. We've seen Russian ships off the coast. One key, one hit and destroyed recently, so a lot of Russian activity to try and pressure Odessa. The broad issue many people in that Russian-speaking city of over a

million will be asking themselves is, is this the prelude to some wider assault on that city or just like we've seen over the past weeks, a bit to try and pressure it and keep Ukrainian military officials guessing as to what Russia's goal on that Black Sea coast actually is?

[18:10:10]

PATON WALSH: They did say, a couple of weeks ago that the move towards the Black Sea Coast will be part of a wider bid to control that area, but they have been trying for months and they've failed. They failed to get past the first city, Mykolaiv in multiple bids over the past month.

So that really feeds into the broader question about what is the current southern push we're seeing from Russia actually aimed at? Is it west towards Odessa, like broadly advertised or is that a distraction? Are they coming for here, Kryvyi Rih where I am standing the, economic hub that's the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine? Or are they perhaps headed east to join up with the offensive that Russia has been pushing hard there as well?

You are hearing air raid sirens behind me here in Kryvyi Rih, not uncommon, no explosions tonight, but a broader sense of concern here in this quiet, but well populated central city that something is brewing to their south. We're seeing villages change hands fast, and Ukraine pushing back at times, too, but certainly concerns that Russia's goals are in this direction -- Pam.

BROWN: All right, thanks so much.

And coming up, CNN's exclusive reporting with Sean Hannity's more than 80 text messages to Donald Trump's Chief of Staff reveal about the Capitol attack.

Also ahead tonight, with opinion divided on whether the U.S. is headed for recession, we'll discuss planning for the worst to protect your money.

Meantime, is Russia really using dolphins to protect its Black Sea naval base? We will set the record straight on this. You're not going to miss that segment.

And what a story: A stranger on an airplane gave a woman $100.00 and it changed her life. Now, she is trying to track her down just to say thanks.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:16:59]

BROWN: In D.C. circles, it is simply known as "The Dinner." The White House Correspondents' Dinner is about to begin for the first time since 2019.

CNN's Brian Stelter is on the red carpet for us. Okay, so Brian, we're going to get to the dinner in just a moment. I know you're there talking to folks, but I do want to begin with an exclusive story you are reporting with others, texts that reveal FOX host, Sean Hannity, advised and sought direction from then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows between Election Day and Biden's Inauguration. What did they discuss?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And Pamela, this is so important because as the 1/6 Committee prepares to hold public hearings in primetime in June, we are starting to see some of the evidence that they've compiled, some of the text messages, some of the conversations and these texts to and from Mark Meadows, then the White House Chief of Staff showed just how cozy, how much collusion frankly, there was between the likes of Sean Hannity and the Trump White House.

Here is one of the texts between Hannity and Meadows, December 6, 2020, a full month after the presidential election, after Biden's victory, Hannity is finally starting to admit the truth that Biden won. He says, "If this doesn't end the way we want, you and I are going to do three things together, we're going to direct legal strategies against Biden, we're going to do NC, North Carolina real estate, and other business."

So you see how the right-wing media is so aligned with the Trump White House years ago, and it's only coming out now, thanks to the 1/6 Committee.

There is also, incredibly, Pam, a text message from Maria Bartiromo, giving away the questions she's about to ask then President Trump on November 29, 2020. Let's put that on screen. It is remarkable to see this.

She is saying: "Here's question one, one Q" And then she basically says, here is exactly what I'm going to ask the Then President. She goes on and on describing how she is going to handle it. And she says, "Please make sure he doesn't go off the handle," you know, doesn't go off the rails in the interview.

So this is a really revealing demonstration of how the right-wing media was working with Trump to promote the Big Lie back in 2020. And like I said, it's relevant now. It's going to be part of the case that's built this summer during the 1/6 hearings.

BROWN: All right, so we can pretty much assume that Hannity and his ilk will not be at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, I imagine.

STELTER: That's true.

BROWN: But what is going on there tonight?

STELTER: You're absolutely right about that, but almost everybody else in Washington world is out tonight. I think for official Washington, this is another milestone on the long, I guess, we'd say red carpet back to normal after two years of the pandemic.

Of course, there are dark jokes in the halls of these parties and at these events about how this is going to be a super-spreader event. But obviously, that has a different connotation now than it did in 2020, thanks to vaccines, boosters and other solutions.

We do note, President Biden is set to speak here tonight. He will not attend the entire event though as a COVID precaution. Dr. Anthony Fauci was out at some of the events today, but not attending the dinner for the same reason.

So everybody making different choices on this slow return to normal, but I think tonight matters, Pam, and the reason why it's worth watching on CNN later tonight, it is because this is a really special chance for President Biden to speak about the relationship between the press and the President.

I know these events are over the top. And you know, Washington oozes self-importance as celebrities and others show up at the red carpet, but it is a really unique opportunity for Biden to restore tradition that Trump snugged. Trump never came to this event. Biden will speak about the importance of the press holding the powerful accountable, and that's what tonight should be about -- Pamela.

BROWN: That's absolutely right. It should be about that. It's so funny though, Brian. I've gone to that dinner for several years, like everyone in Washington complains about it. They're like, oh, that dinner, but then everyone ends up going, right?

And like you said, I mean, especially this year, everyone has been sort of cooped up during the pandemic. So it seems like a lot of people are just like ready to let loose there.

Brian Stelter, thanks so much.

STELTER: Let loose. That's right.

BROWN: Let loose. Thanks so much.

Well, John Berman and Brianna Keilar, hosts our special coverage of the White House Correspondents Dinner starting in just a few minutes.

Breaking news, right now just confirmed, a tornado has touched down near Chicago. We do need to tell you that tornado warnings in that area are over. We're going to have the latest, up next.

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[18:24:40]

BROWN: At least 14 tornadoes touched down in Kansas and Nebraska yesterday. Here is the destruction just one left behind in a Wichita suburb. Entire homes torn apart, trees ripped right out of the ground. Families are left to sift through the rubble to find what belongings they have left.

[18:25:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really sad. I hate seeing my family cry because they lost everything. I hate that all these things are like gone.

I keep thinking like, what now? And like, I have nothing, but like, trying to stay positive because last night was really terrible. A lot of tears, so it is just hard to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Meteorologist Gene Norman joins me now live from the CNN Weather Center.

Gene, this line of storms is still moving. Just within the past half hour, there has been a reported tornado near Chicago, what other areas are under threat?

GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Pamela, a lot of places from the Midwest all the way down to the Gulf Coast. We mentioned about this tornado warning just about a half an hour ago. There was a warning for a storm that was just to the west of the Chicago suburbs. The Weather Service has since cancelled that and we don't have any confirmation of any damage, but it was kind of a few scary moments there.

There are still some big storms moving across the Missouri-Illinois border where there is another tornado warning near Perryville, so these storms are going to continue to erupt as we work our way into the late hours of the afternoon and evening.

And you see watches here, tornado watches in red all the way from Wisconsin down to Missouri and then a severe thunderstorm watch from Arkansas down to Texas.

A live look in Chicago. Yes, they've had a thunderstorm. It looks kind of cloudy, and the streets are definitely wet from those storms moving through.

Watch as we track the storms throughout the overnight hours, heavy rains, and storms in Illinois back into Western Kentucky. And again, as we mentioned, all the way down to Northern Louisiana.

Now in addition, we're tracking a new storm system that will affect the Texas panhandle by the time we get to Sunday, that's tomorrow, and then that system will move, believe it or not, unfortunately, into sections of Kansas and Oklahoma.

So places like Andover that got hit hard on the video that we just finished showing you. Well, they can have another round of storms by Monday.

And Pamela, we are just getting late word from the Weather Service survey teams that they rated this as an EF3 intensity tornado, winds of at least 160 miles an hour. BROWN: All right, and I want to ask you about this fire happening,

Gene, in New Mexico. Officials there say the Calf Canyon fire there is still growing. Could any of the storms we're seeing on Sunday -- on Monday impact that?

NORMAN: Unfortunately, no. These storms are just going to be east of there in eastern sections of New Mexico. In fact, as we take a look at the latest information about the containment, the Calf Canyon-Hermit's Peak, they've combined. The containment level has dropped from 37 percent down to 32 percent.

And unfortunately, winds are going to pick up during the day tomorrow. Watch as we see these winds increase to 50 to 60 miles an hour in Northern Arizona, and 40 to 50 miles an hour in Northern New Mexico. The fire danger risk unfortunately, will increase on Sunday.

BROWN: Now, that's not good news, Gene Norman, thank you so much.

A nationwide manhunt is underway right now after a Sheriff's Deputy in Alabama disappeared along with the violent murder suspect under her charge. Officials say longtime Corrections Officer Vicky White told other deputies she was driving and inmate Casey White for a mental health evaluation, but they pair never made it.

And it turns out no mental health evaluation was even scheduled. CNN's Nadia Romero is following the story for us.

Nadia, these two have been missing since 9:30 yesterday morning. What's the latest on the search?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, they're still trying to figure out how they were able to escape and put together all those pieces. At last check with the Sheriff's Office, they were looking for all the surveillance video because they found the car that they used in a shopping mall parking lot.

So they're still trying to put together this investigation along with the F.B.I. who has now stepped in.

So let's start with the escaped inmate. That's Casey Cole White, you can see him there, 38 years old, two very distinctive looks, one with a shaved head, no beard, but a more recent photo of him with hair and facial hair.

Now, you can also see that he is six feet nine inches tall, so he would be pretty hard to hide amongst the crowds. That may be a clue if you think you've seen him out somewhere.

Now we've told that he has a long list of convictions from back in 2019. Take a look, including robbery, attempted murder. He was already serving 75 years in prison because of those convictions.

Now, he was last seen on Friday with Corrections Officer Vicky White, and as you mentioned, she is a veteran in that department and that is why the Sheriff says that everyone is so surprised that she is even involved in something like this, whether she's an accomplice or a hostage because she's been with the department for so long, for some 16 years. She is the Assistant Director of Corrections, and that she should have known the policy was to have two sworn officers escort an inmate at all times. That didn't happen.

Of course, there is the issue of why she said she was taking him to a mental health evaluation when the Sheriff says there was no hearing schedule at all. A lot more questions than answers right now.

And we know that this escape has made such an impact on the Ridgeway family. I want to talk about them because they are people who are being impacted by this escape.

[18:30:15]

This is 59-year-old Connie Ridgeway. She was murdered in her apartment in Alabama back in 2015. You can see her there with her two boys, her two sons, Austin and Cameron. And they say that their mother would want to find Casey White and to bring him back so that he could face charges because prosecutors said he admitted to killing her back in 2020. That's why he was at the Lauderdale detention center because he was awaiting trial, that trial have been pushed back, delayed because of COVID-19. Listen to Austin Williams talk about what his mother would want in this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN WILLIAMS, SON OF MURDER VICTIM: She would want him to be brought in just soon as possible with nobody getting hurt. And she kind of be wondering how in the world did this happen too, like how in a world someone with this kind of rap sheet is wanted for capital murder, how could they get out this easily.

ROMERO: And you heard that rap sheet of his that we talked about. That's why the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office says do not approach him if you think you've seen the escaped inmate that he should be considered armed and dangerous. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Nadia Romero, thanks for bringing us the latest on that investigation and the search going on.

Well, you're at the CNN NEWSROOM. Fears of a recession are growing by your anxiety doesn't have to, Catherine Rampell here to walk us through how to protect your money.

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[18:36:13]

BROWN: The U.S. economy slowed down in the first three months of 2022 after last year's rapid growth. The quarterly GDP dipped 1.4 percent fueling new concerns about a recession. And there are some more troubling signs, a key inflation measure has hit a 40-year high. All of this as the Fed could raise interest rates another half percentage point next week.

CNN Economics and Political commentator Catherine Rampell joins me now. She is also an opinion columnist for The Washington Post. Hi, Catherine. So help us sort of make sense of what we're seeing go on. I mean, the stock market took a tumble yesterday and then Nasdaq marked its worst month since 2008. Are we on the brink of a recession?

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS COMMENTATOR: I don't think a recession is inevitable at this point, but it's certainly the case that the risks of a downturn have risen in the past few months. And that's because we've gotten very unlucky in a number of ways. We've had -- besides the fact that inflation was already high through most of last year, there had been a hope, of course, that supply chain knots would unwind themselves and things would normalize, that red hot demand that we've seen could be met by providers ramping up production, building more cars and appliances and everything else consumers wanted. That has been -- that has not actually happened.

And then beyond that, we've kind of been hit by one unwelcome surprise after another, a war whose primary, of course, tragic consequence is the loss of life, but has also affected food prices, energy prices around the world. You have these lockdowns in China that have disrupted supply chains further.

So all of those things together plus the Fed needing to ramp up interest rates to get inflation down combined to raise the risk of a recession.

BROWN: Yes. And people hear that and think, all right, I want to be better safe than sorry, what can I do to protect my money? What is your advice?

RAMPELL: There's not a lot you can do in an inflationary bear market, unfortunately. There are some inflation protected savings bonds that the Treasury issues and those have become much more popular recently. Housing prices may cool down at some point because mortgage rates are going up. But generally speaking, housing is somewhat more shielded from inflationary problems.

So there are some -- so if you already own your house, you're probably okay, your savings, your assets are probably more or less okay, those savings bonds will help us potentially as well, but there's just not a lot people can do. You just have to sort of hope that policymakers are doing the best that they can and that if we do have a recession, that it will be a mild one.

BROWN: If we do, and again, if, if we do fall into a recession, how long would it last?

RAMPELL: Oh, if I knew the answer to that I would be a very rich woman.

BROWN: Get out your crystal ball here, Catherine, come on. Aren't you supposed to be predicting the future? (Inaudible) ...

RAMPELL: No. No. Well, there's this old line about predictions are always difficult to make, especially about the future. So if you look at the forecasts that economists are making, there was a survey done by The Wall Street Journal earlier this month that found that Wall Street economists were predicting a chance of a recession of about one in three over the next year or so, I believe.

And most of those economists seem to think it will be a relatively mild recession. But there are some outliers who are much more pessimistic. Deutsche Bank, for example, came out this week and they're predicting a more severe recession, which they say will be more necessary to get inflation under control. But we just don't know. We don't know how bad it could be.

[18:40:01]

We don't know how long it would last. We're sort of in an uncharted territory right now because we've had this once in a century pandemic on top of all of these other supply shocks. And we're all just kind of muddling through and hoping that the economy finds its footing.

BROWN: Really quick, I want to turn to Russia where the Kremlin is cutting off natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria because they weren't willing to pay in rubles. How is this going to affect the average American?

RAMPELL: I don't know that it will affect the average American all that much. It'll be much more painful for Europeans, if their energy supplies are cut off. Potentially, there could be some knock on effects in broader energy markets around the world, which could have some effect on Americans. But we are not as reliant on Russia for our energy needs.

It is a global market and so what -- if there's some supply taken off line essentially in Europe, that could drive up prices higher, but the more immediate victims of that financially in any event, would be Poland and Bulgaria and potentially other European countries that that are also being threatened with this sort of blackmail by Russia?

BROWN: All right. Thank you so much, Catherine Rampell. We do appreciate it.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, a new report suggesting the Russians are defending their naval base in the Black Sea with, get this, dolphins. The editor of U.S. Naval Institute News is here to explain this. We're going to be right back.

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[18:46:01]

BROWN: In the Black Sea this weekend where Russia has a giant naval base, there is something in the water, not just ships and submarines, but also dolphins. According to the U.S. Naval Institute News, the Russian military is using trained dolphins to keep watch in the water and underwater near that naval base. It's a critical and strategic location because look at all the other countries that have ports in the Black Sea, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Georgia.

Sam LaGrone, the editor of the U.S. Naval Institute News joins me now. All right. So Sam, we're going to put up that satellite picture back up. Tell us what we are looking at. Here it is. What do you see that tells you there is a dolphin project in place?

SAM LAGRONE, EDITOR OF U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE NEWS: So you see the entrance to the harbor, there's a seawall kind of on the north side. So you see those two squares, kind of surrounded by those yellow or orange floats. Those are pretty unmistakably dolphin pens. Those are the same time that the Soviets and the Russians and the Ukrainians when they briefly had the Russians dolphins have used for years and years. And if you know what you're looking for, it doesn't look like anything else.

BROWN: So walk us through how does the Russian navy or any navy use trained dolphins? What can they do that machines or humans can't?

LAGRONE: Well, dolphins have evolved in to be a pretty amazing sonar device in their brain. So human beings have not been able to mechanically or electronically detect things as well as dolphins can, using their gifts that they've evolved over time. They also are -- they're great swimmers, they can swim four or five times faster than a person can. And so that means that they can find things in the water and tell people about him quickly, more quickly than a human swimmer could.

BROWN: Right. So if you could just expand on that, like what exactly they're being trained to do, what are they doing for the Russians?

LAGRONE: So dolphins, in general, have two main jobs in navies around the world. One of them is to find ocean mines or sea mines that are difficult to detect using that special sonar that they have. The other is to find special operations swimmers or frogman. And so if you think about Sevastopol, where the Russian Navy has their warships set up right now, it could be a potentially really easy target for a determined swimmer to come in and put underwater mine on that.

But what a dolphin can do is it can be trained to look for swimmers. And because of its wide range of sensory tools, it could find it pretty easily and pretty quickly and then tell a human helper on land that, hey, there's something over here that you should probably check out.

BROWN: How long the military has been training dolphins like why don't we hear much about them?

LAGRONE: Well, the U.S. started it first in the late '50s into the '60s and that program wasn't declassified until the '90s. I think in part because -- I think the militaries are pretty sensitive about it. It has all of the ethical considerations of keeping an animal in an aquarium or like in an amusement park. It's also -- the jobs that they do are relatively basic.

I think there was this film in the '70s where a dolphin tried to assassinate the president and that's not really what they are used for. They're used for much more basic, less salacious tasks such as finding swimmers in a harbor or finding ocean mines in places where it's particularly difficult like on -- in the surf close to the shore.

[18:50:05] BROWN: That would make me really sad if they were used to assassinate

people, because I just don't see dolphins being used in that way. I've always had such a fond view of dolphins. So tell us are there other sea animals that work with the military?

LAGRONE: Sure, the U.S. uses sea lions for the same reasons that they use dolphins. Their senses are a lot more heightened in the water than a person's. So sea lions have really, really big eyes and they're really good at finding things underneath the water. The Russians also use or have been suspected to use larger whales like belugas closer to the Arctic, where a dolphin probably wouldn't be able to survive as well in the cold. Beluga whales have a lot more insulation in terms of blubber and there was one found a few years back in Norway that was suspected to be part of a Russian Navy Marine mammal program.

BROWN: This is so fascinating. I'm really just -- this might be one of my favorite segments I've done in a while. Sam LaGrone, thank you.

LAGRONE: Thanks.

BROWN: Helping provide humanitarian relief to those affected by Russia's war in Ukraine could be an easy ordering -- as easy rather as ordering a beer. Anheuser-Busch is working to brew a Ukrainian beer to sell in the United States. The pale golden lager will be brewed in New Jersey and starting next month it will be sold in different cities here in the U.S. with sales going to help those impacted by the crisis.

Well, this weekend Stanley Tucci is back to taking viewers around Italy with new episodes, new food and new discoveries. His first stop the season, Venice.

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STANLEY TUCCI, STANLEY TUCCI: SEARCHING FOR ITALY HOST (voice over): So cuttlefish risotto is a three-stage process one of them very messy.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just very gently because you don't want to break the sack, see.

TUCCI (on camera): Where's the sack?

If you try it at home, be prepared to repaint afterwards.

(Inaudible), I broke it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great.

TUCCI: Anyway, if they if there were people who knew what they were doing here, it would work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, exactly. Squeeze a now.

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TUCCI (voice over): As well as the cuttles (ph) we bought fish heads tails and other bits to make a stock that we'll use in the rice.

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TUCCI (off camera): Aren't those pieces too big though?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But they would break.

TUCCI (on camera): Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to break down the fiber.

TUCCI: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Become super, super tender.

TUCCI: Okay. White wine?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead. That's good. Now we can put a little bit of the prasada pomodoro (ph), not too much, because remember it's all about the black ink. And we put the stock.

TUCCI (on camera): Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can cover until they become nice and tender.

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BROWN: Well, the new season of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy premieres tomorrow at 9 pm right here on CNN.

Up next, a refugee's mission to find Tracy, after a gift of 100 bucks two decades ago, changed her life.

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AYDA ZUGAY, YUGOSLAVIAN REFUGEE IN 1999: It might not seem like a lot to some. But to us, it was an inordinate amount of money that helped us survive that entire summer.

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BROWN: Have you ever benefited from the kindness of a stranger or that you ever been that stranger offering to help someone in need? Well, more than 20 years ago, Ayda Zugay was a 12-year-old fleeing the former Yugoslavia. On May 31, 1999 she and her sister were on a flight from Amsterdan to -- Amsterdam, rather, to Minneapolis when they befriended they were befriended by some very kind Americans.

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ZUGAY: They ended up giving us an envelope and told us not to read it or open it until we left a plane. On the outside of the envelope was an amazing message of welcome.

I treasure this because as time goes by, I've experienced that in most cases welcomes like this are very uncommon.

I opened the envelope and inside of the envelope was $100 bill. It might not seem like a lot to some, but to us, it was an inordinate amount of money.

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BROWN: And she says that $100 helped them survive until they were placed with a host family. Now, she is trying to find Tracy the woman who wrote that message on an envelope from a Holiday Inn in Paris.

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