Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Russia's War on Ukraine; African Union Leader Talks Food Security with Putin; Uvalde Incident Commander Had No Radio during Massacre; Tiananmen Square Massacre Anniversary; Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee; Biden Administration Cancels $5.8 Billion in Student Loans; Tropical Storm Alex; Global Climate Crisis. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 04, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome live from our Studio 7 here at the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, Ukraine's resolve: Russia's unprovoked war on Ukraine passes 100 days, leaving utter devastation, lost lives with no end in sight.
The investigation into police failures intensifying in Uvalde. In Texas we're learning of more damning evidence about the police response to the school shooting.
And the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in the U.K. minus the guest of honor.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.
The war in Eastern Ukraine now being described as a grinding slog, with neither side appearing to make any significant gains in recent days. Ukraine concedes Russian troops have made some modest inroads in and around the key city of Sievierodonetsk but were pushed back from nearby towns.
Ukraine said Russia is amassing armored units for a renewed assault on Slovyansk. Britain's defense ministry says it expects Russians will control all of the Luhansk region within two weeks.
The International Red Cross said the scale of destruction defies comprehension. But Ukraine claims its forces have progressed into the southern Kherson region. As the conflict surpassed 100 days, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, remained confident of the outcome.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We have been defending Ukraine for 100 days. Victory shall be ours. Glory to Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now the human toll in Ukraine almost incalculable. Some 12 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced by the fighting, according to President Zelenskyy. And even if the war ended right now, many of those people would not have homes to return to. CNN's Ben Wedeman in Kyiv with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russia's invasion of Ukraine has now hit the 100-day mark. The critical battle is now in the eastern Donbas region.
Ukrainian officials concede that Russian forces now control up to 80 percent of the city of Sievierodonetsk, until now, the easternmost city under Kyiv's control. It's been under intense and steady Russian artillery bombardment for weeks and weeks and weeks.
Now most of the civilians have fled the city but as many as 800 people are still huddled in bomb shelters in the city's chemical complex.
Elsewhere in the Donbas region, Russian forces are amassing for a renewed offensive against the city of Slovyansk, that according to the Ukrainian high command. The first 100 days of this war have shattered Moscow's ambitions.
Friday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed in his words that victory will be ours. Yet victory -- or just an end to this war -- is still nowhere in sight -- I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The Russian president Putin is pushing back against accusation that he is using food as a weapon of war. Ukraine says half of its grain exports are held up because of Russia's blockade of its ports.
But Mr. Putin claims Russia is not stopping Ukraine from exporting its food. Rather he told a state broadcaster, Ukraine minds its ports, not Russia. The Russian president also said Russia can increase its grain production next year to help fill gaps in global supply.
Meanwhile, the African Union leader went directly to Mr. Putin to talk food supply. Chairman Macky Sall met with the Russian president in Sochi on Friday. Mr. Sall said that sanctions against Russia are making an already bad food situation even worse.
Now Ukraine is considered the breadbasket for many countries across the globe. A top U.N. food official said the grain exports, if they don't resume, in his words, "millions will die."
[01:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Steven Fish is a political science professor at the University of California/Berkeley, joins me now to talk about all this.
Professor, good to see you; 100 days into the war, let's take the 30,000-foot view.
What has this war taught us about global geopolitics and basically how the international system is run?
The U.S. often talks about the struggle between democracy and autocracy.
Has this war had any effect on that struggle?
STEVEN FISH, UC BERKELEY: Actually, I think it has. For the better part of the 21st century, democrats, defenders of democracy around the world, have really been on the defensive. It seems autocracy has been advancing.
And it's been advancing on some claims that autocrats and would-be autocrats make, such that, for example, decisions are made more swiftly, and you can make better decisions not constrained by interest groups and public opinion and opposition parties in autocracies.
We now see how disastrous it can be when the top leader is not constrained. There's nobody around Putin to tell him not to take this position. So he made this colossally stupid decision, which was based on ridiculous assumptions that the Ukrainians would greet Russian troops as liberators and nobody would stop them.
Meanwhile in the democracies, the guys under constant pressure from their own electorates like Biden are making masterful decisions and showing the competence of their side.
What's more, corruption in the armed forces, which is a hallmark of autocracy, has undermining Russian fighting forces' capacity. Putin has a really very incompetent military and is being held back by vastly under numbered Ukrainian forces.
(CROSSTALK)
FISH: Democracy is looking much better than it used to.
HOLMES: And morale through the floor on the Russian side.
Sanctions, of course, in place; many Western stores are closed, a lot of Western products most of them gone from the shelves and so on. But many harsher sanctions, on everything from spare parts to military technology, they're yet to fully hit.
How much of the fallout from the war has begun to hit street level, hit pockets, if you like?
And what could happen if it gets worse?
FISH: It has actually begun to hit people's pockets as you mention. But as you also say, the worst is yet to come. Look, we know in the States how hard it is to live under 8 percent inflation. That's what we've got right now.
And, of course, inflation is high all over the world. But in Russia it's running close to 20 percent. That's already affecting people's pocketbooks in a big way. And it's bound to rise. Inflation is going to rise. Russia is teetering on the edge of default.
After default, it's going to be almost impossible for it to gain, to borrow any money on global capital markets. That means no growth, higher unemployment; it means shoddy government services.
And this is going to be -- this is the new normal for Russians. So you know, I do think this is actually going to take a toll on support for Putin and for the war and especially as people grow weary over the months and the sanctions bite even more deeply.
HOLMES: Yes, already a report coming out they're not being able to get spare parts and chips and so on to repair military systems, which is hurting the war effort.
Many believe that an extended stalemate is what is the near future in Ukraine.
What do you think Russia -- do you think they're just wanting to put in place so-called facts on the ground, so that territory gained is territory kept in any future deal?
Ukraine wouldn't agree to that, of course, but...
FISH: Indeed. That is Putin's goal. But those facts on the ground are not facts for the Ukrainians or for the Western alliance or for the rest of the world. They're only facts for Putin.
And the Ukrainians are not going to respect these so-called facts on the ground. The real fact to keep in mind is any territory Russia occupies right now or takes in the future is going to have to be defended in a state of permanent war, because the Ukrainians are not going to concede a square inch of territory. We know that now.
They've made that clear. And after all they've suffered and all their achievements in the field, we couldn't expect them to take any other position. As long as the West stands behind Ukraine -- and so far it has -- the prospects for Putin to establish any facts on the ground that he could turn into territorial acquisition are very small.
HOLMES: Fascinating. Great to have you on and your expertise. Professor Steven Fish, appreciate it. We'll get you back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right, survivors and others affected by the mass shootings in Uvalde in Texas and Buffalo, New York, will have an opportunity to testify before the U.S. House Oversight Committee.
The hearing next week will examine the urgent need for Congress to pass common sense gun legislation, which a majority of Americans do support.
A Texas state senator now saying the incident commander, meanwhile, at the shooting at the Texas elementary school, police chief Pete Arredondo, didn't have a radio on him at the time of the shooting.
[01:10:00]
HOLMES: CNN has reached out to both the Department of Public Safety officials and Chief Arredondo but have not received a response.
A teacher's aide from Robb Elementary is sharing her side of the story after police falsely blamed her for leaving the door open that the shooter used to enter the school. CNN's Omar Jimenez spoke with the attorney representing her and filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was supposed to be an end of the year class party before it became a nightmare.
DON FLANARY, ATTORNEY: She saw everything from the time he wrecked to the time she was taken out of there.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Special Education Aide Emilia Marin was meeting a coworker with food before she sees a car crash. So she prompts the door open to get her phone and call 9-1-1 to report the crash, her lawyer says, before returning to the door.
FLANARY: And she looks over to the funeral home to her right and the two men are yelling, he's got a gun. And she looks and sees him, and he has a weapon that she can't identify but a big weapon flung over him and he hops over the fence and starts running toward her.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): So she kicks the door shut.
JIMENEZ: And does she expect it to lock?
FLANARY: Yes, absolutely. She thought it was going to be locked.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Marin scrambles into a nearby classroom as she begins to hear gunshots.
FLANARY: He's inside now. She hides. The 9-1-1 call drops. They don't call her back. She doesn't attempt to call back because she doesn't want to make any noise. There's some sort of counter that she gets under but it's exposed. She said that she thought that at that point she was going to die and she made a piece of that.
JIMENEZ: So she hears every single gunshot?
FLANARY: Every single gunshot. JIMENEZ (voice-over): But she was one of the lucky ones who survived. Days later though, she hears law enforcement say she had left the door the shooter used open.
JIMENEZ: And she's second guessing herself?
FLANARY: Right. Yes, it even made her second guess her own memories. And she had already spoken to the FBI and the rangers and told them what happened.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The Rangers eventually publicly corrected the record.
As the community grieves, a flurry of unanswered questions lingers, including more about Texas School Police Chief Pete Arredondo, acting as incident commander during the shooting.
STATE SEN. ROLAND GUTIERREZ (D-TX): That I had been told that this person did not have -- this person being the incident commander did not have radio communication and I don't know as to why.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): At question if the 9-1-1 calls were properly relayed to first responders on the scene, CNN has calls out to Arredondo and law enforcement to confirm. All as documents to prepare death certificates were released listing the grim realities of what was at stake, multiple gunshot wounds, gunshot wound to the head and more.
Outside that horrific day, the teaching aide, Emilia Marin, has now filed legal documents to get a deposition from Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the gun used in the shooting, with our attorney saying because, the shooter got the weapons on his 18th birthday, he was likely planning the purchases beforehand.
FLANARY: So his motivations to get that gun was when he was a minor. Are there, you know, gun companies that are marketing to minors?
Is that what they're doing?
And how many mass shootings do we have to have by 18-year-old men?
It's cookie cutter. So what are they doing to change?
JIMENEZ: Now it's worth noting the legal petition does not formally accused the gun manufacturer of wrongdoing. Instead, it's looking to investigate whether Emilia Marin has a basis to file a claim against Daniel Defense -- Omar Jimenez, CNN, Uvalde, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Fears of recession may be lingering over the U.S. economy, but new jobs are hardly in short supply. Still ahead, job creation steams ahead, despite the impacts of high inflation.
And we go to London for the queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations. And we'll also take a look at Her Majesty's lifelong love of horses and why the Epsom Derby is so near to her heart. We'll be right back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:15:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: Welcome back.
Wall Street closed lower on Friday with all three major indices down. The tech-heavy Nasdaq taking the biggest hit, sliding nearly 2.5 percent. The turbulence on Wall Street comes as the U.S. economy keeps churning out new jobs. Employers added 390,000 jobs in May.
That's lower than the previous few months but is still more than twice the monthly average from before the pandemic. The unemployment rate remains at 3.6 percent, which is near record lows. But inflation is near 40-year highs. And President Biden says average Americans are feeling the pain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no denying that high prices, particularly around gasoline and food, are a real problem for people. But there's every reason for the American people to feel confident that we'll meet these challenges.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Mr. Biden also says the U.S. is entering a new phase of stable and steady growth, despite fears of a recession.
Hong Kong police, meanwhile, have closed parts of Victoria Park, hoping to prevent what they called unauthorized assemblies commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing. Saturday marks the 33rd anniversary of the crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy protests back in 1989.
[01:20:00]
HOLMES: Since then, crowds have gathered in Hong Kong on the anniversary to mark the occasion. This year, police have warned people not to gather in the park and pictures show police searching pedestrians on the streets on Friday. They say they will be targeting those they say are inciting others to gather.
At least four people are dead after a train derailed in southern Germany on Friday. Some 13 passengers were hurt, more than a dozen with serious injuries. It happened near a resort town near the Bavarian Alps. An investigation is underway now.
The country's transportation minister says a, quote, "technical fault" might have caused the derailment.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: Well, it's a saying that encompasses the British spirit, "Keep calm and carry on."
And that's exactly what the U.K. is doing amid the queen's Platinum Jubilee, despite Her Majesty's absence. On Friday, hundreds gathered in St. Paul's Cathedral to give their thanks to Britain's longest reigning monarch and her 70 years in service.
The queen was unable to attend due to "discomfort" she felt after Thursday's birthday parade. But her son and heir, Prince Charles, was there to represent her. Prince Harry and Meghan were also at the service in what was their first appearance together at a royal event in two years.
And there are much more Platinum Jubilee festivities to come this weekend. On Saturday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit Cardiff Castle in Wales. Later is the Derby at Epsom Downs. But Buckingham Palace says the queen will be unable to attend that event as well.
The Derby will be followed by the Platinum Party at the Palace concert, featuring an all-star line-up from the worlds of music and dance.
The queen's absence from the Epsom Derby is sure to be felt by horse racing insiders. She's revered for being a passionate owner, breeder and competitor as well as her lifelong contribution to the sport. CNN's Max Foster speaks to former jockeys, who used to ride in Royal Robes (ph) and are set to perform a guard of honor to celebrate Her Majesty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Over at Epsom in England, the coronation fever carries into the famed Derby. Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, with the historic crowning ceremonies behind them, go to the races.
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The queen rode her first horse at the age of 3 and she's been obsessed ever since. As a fan, owner, breeder and ambassador, she's a treasured figurehead for the sport of racing.
She can't hold the excitement in when she has a winner, providing a brief glimpse into the character that wears the crown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): The queen's entry is right up with the leaders.
FOSTER (voice-over): More than half a million people were there to witness the queen's first-ever runner in the Epsom Derby in 1953, just four days after her coronation. Her horse placed second that day, a feat she's yet to surpass. With the exception of the Epsom Derby, she's bred and owned winners of
every major race on British soil, more than 1,000. This won't be her year at Epsom, either, though, as none of her horses made the cut.
Ex-jockey Willie Carson rode some of the queen's most memorable victories.
WILLIE CARSON, JOCKEY: The Derby start, it starts over there at the bottom of the hill and then it rises.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): And continues over the top of the hill.
CARSON: And that is 134 feet rise. That is the same height as Nelson's Column, which is a very tall thing in London. And then it turns and turns for about four furlongs. And then you end up coming of the straight and the racecourse is like that.
It's not flat. It's like that. There's a grading down from the inside rail. It's a very, very tough race course for the thoroughbred. But it's the test, the best test for a horse over 1.5 miles.
FOSTER (voice-over): During her reign, Her Majesty has missed the Derby on just four occasions. Jockeys who ride for her understand her devotion better than most.
CARSON: She can let the shoulders drop and relax and talk about horses. And she knows what she's talking about, too. She might look frail but, my goodness, and I can assure you, she's still as sharp- minded as ever.
JOHN REED, FORMER JOCKEY: Many times, I've watched her up in the box and she's cheering like mad.
[01:25:00]
REED: And she just -- she's got that passion about it and she just love it and you can see that. That's not put on. That's from here.
CARSON: I'll tell you a story I've never told before. There's a famous photograph of myself and the queen.
She said to me, Willie, I've just been inducted into the Hall of Fame for the third year. She says, "The medal is so heavy. The medal is so heavy.
She says, "Have you ever been inducted into the Hall of Fame?"
"No, ma'am, you have got to be old and deaf to get into that."
FOSTER (voice-over): Carson was referring to the ultimate accolade in racing: being inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame, one of the few honors she's received for her achievements as opposed to simply who she is -- Max Foster, CNN, Epsom, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Now for our international viewers "INSIDE AFRICA" is next. For our viewers in North America, the news continues after the break.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: The Biden administration shining a light on the scourge of American gun violence, literally. The White House lighting up on Friday night in recognition of the eighth National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Multiple mass shootings have rocked the nation recently. And earlier this week President Biden pleaded for stricter gun laws, including a ban on assault-style weapons, tougher background checks and a higher minimum age to purchase some weapons.
Now those measures are getting a cool reception from Republican lawmakers, who remain opposed to gun control laws. As Tom Foreman reports, they're doubling down on mental illness as the root cause of gun violence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the wake of mass shootings, there appears to be a blueprint for some Republican leaders. Brush off talk of gun control ...
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): It's never been about guns.
FOREMAN (voice-over): -- call the killers crazy ...
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: We need to make it far easier to confine the violent and mentally deranged into mental institutions.
FOREMAN: -- and insist mental health is what matters.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): We, as a government, need to find a way to target that mental health challenge and do something about it.
FOREMAN: Yet there is little evidence of top Republican lawmakers broadly supporting such efforts.
In a 2017 survey of how much a state's budget goes to mental healthcare, the state that is led the pack went Democratic in the 2020 presidential race, outpacing those that led Republican. In terms of number of adults seeking care, low out of pocket costs and providers per capita, another ranking found not one of those red states in the top 10.
SETH NORRHOLM, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: We certainly know as mental health providers that our healthcare system is flawed and the resources not there.
FOREMAN: Neuroscientist Seth Norrholm suggests it's all a bit of a red herring anyway because he says the vast majority of shooters are not mentally ill.
NORRHOLM: In most cases, what you're seeing is planned out. Somebody who is cruel to animals or a history of violence, that's more a personality trait. That's more who they are.
FOREMAN: What's more, the claims are not evenly applied. A study of more than 200 mass shootings found, in the media, white shooters were framed as good people suffering from extreme life circumstances and were 19 times more likely to be framed as suffering from mental illness, compared to Black shooters.
Still, within days of the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings, the beat on the Right went on.
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Look, Gendron and Ramos were very obviously mentally ill. The people around them knew that.
FOREMAN: And even as Texas faces yet another slaughter, Republican Governor Greg Abbott keeps holding on to that idea.
ABBOTT: Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge, period.
FOREMAN: Certainly, there are Republican leaders who support mental health care. And Governor Abbott's office told CNN he's put a lot of funding and effort into it. Yet when an advocacy group ranked the states in terms of access to mental health care, Texas was dead last -- Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: It seems there is a price to be paid for any Republican going against the party line on guns.
Congressman Chris Jacobs has announced he won't be running for reelection after all, after his gun control stance cost him the support of conservatives. The Buffalo, New York, area representative called for an assault weapons ban and raising the minimum age for gun purchases after the supermarket massacre in Buffalo.
Meanwhile another former Trump advisor is being charged with criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the January 6th committee. Peter Navarro says he was arrested at a Washington area airport on Friday.
He faces two contempt counts, one for not producing documents demanded by the committee and the other for failing to show up for subpoenaed testimony. Navarro claims he was unable to cooperate because former president Donald Trump had a certain executive privilege in the matter.
But the committee argued many of the topics had already been written about in his book.
Coming up here on the program, U.S. President Joe Biden cancels billions in student loan debt but some say more is needed. That's when we come back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:35:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: This week, the Biden administration cancelled $5.8 billion in college student debt for more than half a million borrowers, the largest loan cancellation from the administration to date. But millions of others are anxiously waiting for President Biden to keep his campaign promise. CNN's Adrienne Broaddus has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vinessa Gabriell Russell.
VINESSA GABRIELL RUSSELL, RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATE: It's been such a trials and tribulations.
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vinessa Russell became the first in her family to earn a bachelor's degree but she's also graduating with student loan debt.
RUSSELL: The last time I checked, there was approximately 48,000. They come to find you.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Russell says a debt collector called her while she was working.
[01:40:00]
RUSSELL: They asked for Vinessa. They're like this is the debt collector basically collecting. We were trying to find you, like when are you going to pay your student debt.
BROADDUS (voice-over): At one point, Russell temporarily dropped out of school.
RUSSELL: I did have to leave Columbia and pay a balance that was due in order for me to go back.
BROADDUS (voice-over): But she is not alone. Data shows there is about $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt. Tayvia Ridgeway wants a six-figure salary. But right now, she has nearly a six figure student loan debt.
TAYVIA RIDGEWAY, COLLEGE JUNIOR: I'd be in the range of like 80 to 100k just based on my tuition rates right now.
BROADDUS (voice-over): That's even after Tayvia became a resident adviser to cut down on her room and board cost.
RIDGEWAY: You should get a free education because you can't put a price on knowledge.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to make sure that everybody in this generation gets $10,000 knocked off of their student debt.
BROADDUS (voice-over): On the campaign trail, Joe Biden promised to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for each of the 43 million people with federal student loans. Due to the pandemic, he did pause loan repayments until August 31st.
But it is not clear if and when the White House will move forward with some form of permanent loan forgiveness, despite pressure from fellow Democrats at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: You don't need Congress. All you need is the flick of a pen.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pushing to cancel $50,000 of debt per borrower. Biden has rejected those calls.
BIDEN: I am not considering $50,000 debt reduction.
BROADDUS (voice-over): The White House does say Biden is considering some debt forgiveness for those making up to $125,000. Gabby Bach, like Ridgeway, was a resident adviser. She calls it a broken campaign promise.
GABBY BACH, RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATE: I think this is something that Biden has promised and has something that I feel like he hasn't delivered on yet during the campaign or just knowing like that this was something that a lot of people who voted for him that this was something that they wanted.
RIDGEWAY: I've say it would only help a little bit if anything, I'd want my full tuition covered. But you know, that's not the world we live in.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Russell welcomes any relief.
RUSSELL: It would help me so much. It's like an emotional experience because it's taken me so long and I almost gave up and -- sorry, just thinking about it.
BROADDUS: And 1.5 years into his presidency, Biden has canceled more than $17 billion in student loans. But that is tied to faulty loan practice investigations and institutions that no longer exist -- Adrienne Broaddus, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now this year's Scripps Spelling Bee in the United States came down to the wire, a first-ever sudden death round called a spell-off, so lightning fast, it left spectators in awe. (VIDEO CLIP, SCRIPPS SPELLING BEE)
HOLMES: A 14-year old, Harini Logan, emerged the victor after she and her 12-year-old rival tied in the opening round. The spell-off, never used before, tested how many words they could spell correctly in 90 seconds. Logan nailed 21 of the 26 words she spelled.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARINI LOGAN, 2022 SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE CHAMPION: Once a speller, always a speller. No matter how many bees you do, if it's the school bee or the national level bee, I think once you develop that work ethic, that passion for words, that commitment and that ability to spell, I think you never really lose it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Logan receives a $50,000 cash prize, a commemorative medal and the Scripps trophy.
Now we're tracking a storm system heading toward Florida. It's already having a deadly impact in the Caribbean. We'll get details from the CNN Weather Center ahead when we come back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:45:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: Millions of people in southern Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas under tropical storm warnings. They're bracing for the system in that area to gain strength and become tropical storm Alex in the coming hours. It'll likely make landfall in Florida on Saturday afternoon.
As you can see, it's already slamming Cuba, where one person has been found dead; 50,000 people are without power in Havana. The system expected to bring heavy rain, flooding and possibly tornadoes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
[01:50:00]
HOLMES: Now while tropical storms are hitting coastal communities, rising sea levels and erosion due to the climate crisis are adding to the problem, such as in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir talked to people there, who are enduring the destructive effects.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This home, we have been notified by the County building inspector, is in a state of potential imminent collapse.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: When these houses were built in the '80s, this beach ran hundreds of feet toward the horizon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe it's even high tide yet.
WEIR (voice-over): Now the water is at the doorstep in this part of North Carolina's Outer Banks and the beach is eroding by a dozen feet a year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You expect next here it's going to be 12 to 15 feet back and then the next year and the next year.
WEIR: I see.
WEIR (voice-over): And while most locals understand that barrier islands move over time, few imagine this would happen this fast, especially the new owner of this $275,000 getaway, who never got a chance to sleep here before a mediocre storm took it away.
Or the half-million dollar place that collapsed earlier and spread nail-filled debris along 15 miles of public beaches. At least nine more houses on this stretch are condemned and the sea is taking more than just houses.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is our heritage.
WEIR (voice-over): Look at that. Wow, oh, my goodness, it's right there on the edge.
WEIR (voice-over): As a proud daughter of the Outer Banks, Dawn Taylor (ph) spends her days trying to save the graves.
DAWN TAYLOR, OUTER BANKS RESIDENT: We're missing the remains of our loved ones due to the tide. Up and down the coast, we have multiple cemeteries here that have met their demise due to the rising sea level.
WEIR: And so when you think about the lives, the history, the families that we're talking about, you put it in those terms, the fundamental question of the age of sea level rise is, what is worth saving and who can afford to save it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we watched the water bubble up through those vents.
WEIR: Is that right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Into the house.
WEIR (voice-over): Down the Carolina coast in Charleston, they decided to raise their 450-ton mansion with a system of hydraulic jacks.
Can I ask what something like these costs?
BERNARD MANSHEIM, CHARLESTON RESIDENT: My answer is many hundreds of thousands of dollars.
WEIR: Right. MANSHEIM: It's something hopefully that will last another hundred
years.
WEIR (voice-over): Whether it does may depend on whether Charleston can afford plans for a billion-dollar seawall, which would only protect the most valuable 20 percent of the city.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This house was actually moved to this -- this is a new location.
WEIR (voice-over): Back in the Outer Banks, some are moving their houses as far as they can afford.
WEIR: They moved it from right there to right there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that was as far they could go.
WEIR (voice-over): Meanwhile, NOAA projects at least a foot of sea level rise here mid century with 10 times as many flooding events like this one, which fill driveways with 5 feet of sand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This isn't just happening on the Outer Banks but happening around the world.
WEIR: This is a story for anyone living near the ocean, from the southern Maine to Padre Island.
WEIR (voice-over): But it's not as evident on the mainland because states, counties and towns dredge, pump and truck millions of dollars' worth of sand so tourists and real estate buyers will keep coming.
READE CORBETT, DIRECTOR, COASTAL STUDIES INSTITUTE, EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY: If you start a nourishment program, when's the next nourishment?
[01:55:00]
CORBETT: Five years, seven years down the road?
When you get to that point and you have to think about the economics, it's $25 million, $30 million.
WEIR: So if you play it out it, it comes down to have and have not communities fortifying themselves.
CORBETT: It is challenging when it comes down to the taxpayers. It's not we can't work with the environment. We can and we have for years.
WEIR: You just can't do it the way you used to do it.
CORBETT: We've got to do it differently.
WEIR (voice-over): Bill Weir, CNN, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal is seeking his 14th win at the French Open. He'll face Norwegian Casper Ruud. Nadal advanced to the final after Alexander Vetter retired from their semi-match with an injured foot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (voice-over): The match was delayed after a protester got on the court and tied herself to the net. The message on her shirt apparently referring to the climate crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Thanks for watching, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. I'll be back, though, with more news.
