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Retail Sales Stagnated; Pence Considers Testifying; Bus Driver Shortage; Highland park Victim Feels Hopeless. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 17, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:20]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: The latest retail sales figures are out. And there is a lot to these numbers that deserves explaining.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the headline may be a bit misleading. Overall sales seemed to stagnate. But that may not be a bad thing. And while gas prices declined, which is good for consumers, auto purchases declined and other sectors stayed high.

CNN business chief correspondent - chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins me now.

So, break down these numbers for us. What do they mean?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: So, I think it's important to say this looks like another example of a resilient consumer. You had gas sales, gasoline sales fell. Well, of course they fell, because gasoline prices fell so much. And Americans took that savings at the gas station and spent it on other categories.

You saw car sales, auto sales fall a little bit here. But when you strip out autos and gasoline, you had a stronger core rate of inflation -- core rate of retail sales than many people had expected. Year over year, sales up 10.3 percent. So, when you dig into this number a little bit, you're still seeing signs of a resilient consumer.

And it's so interesting, especially that gas price number was really a relief for so many families. An that's kind of a game changer here. When you talk to economists, many of them are saying, these are not recessionary numbers we're seeing. We're seeing a consumer who will change maybe what they're buying, but keep buying it. Online sales had a very strong performance. It was Prime Day, 300 million products purchased on Prime Day. So, people were taking their savings to the gas station and buying things online, essentially.

SCIUTTO: I filled up the car yesterday and it was $3.69 a gallon. You know, it was the first time below $4 in a long time.

Where does the average stand nationally and is it still trending down?

ROMANS: It is, down another penny overnight. Sixty-four or 65 days now of declining gasoline prices. Overall, oil prices are back to where they were before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A big surprise for many oil analysts and economists who say that could keep a lid on gas prices for the foreseeable future here.

You know, you have, I think, 20 states that are at $3.75 or below. And you've got several states in the Midwest and the south that are at $3.50 and below for their national average. So that is something that is keeping a little bit more money in people's pockets and keeping the American consumer, of course the driver of the American economy, a little bit more resilient.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Those gas prices could go up given the direction of geopolitics and this war and as the winter months are approaching too.

ROMANS: Yes. And hurricane season.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

ROMANS: Never count out hurricane season to be a fly in the ointment for oil prices.

GOLODRYGA: Nice to have relief, at least for right now at the pump.

ROMANS: Yes. Right.

GOLODRYGA: Christine Romans, thank you.

Well, the FDA is finally allowing hearing aids, this is a big story, to be sold in stores or online without a prescription or custom fitting.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: It's a rule change that could save some consumers thousands of dollars.

SCIUTTO: The over the counter hearing aids could hit the market as early as October, but they will still need to meet certain FDA standards, as you'd expect.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now from Atlanta.

So, Sanjay, tell us how this will all work and what it means.

GUPTA: Well, first of all, I agree, this is a big deal. I mean, you know, we've been talking about dental and vision and hearing coverage for a long time. Most insurance companies don't cover those things. And when it comes to hearing, there is a lot of undiagnosed and certainly untreated hearing loss out there. And it's worsened over the decades.

We're, you know, surrounded by noise pollution. But if you look even starting at birth, you know, there's a small percentage, 0.3 percent of people at that age who have some level of detectible hearing loss. But by the time you're 75, 50 percent of people have disabling hearing loss. And if you look at the numbers overall, you find that there's about 30 million people who should be using hearing aids and only about 30 percent of them do in that age group.

[09:35:05]

So, that's the real concern.

The thought is, and we'll see how this all sort of plays out, but if you make these available over the counter, you'll have more manufacturers, you'll lower the price, right now it's several thousand dollars for these, again, typically not covered by insurance. Hopefully this will put this more in the hands of people who can really benefit from it.

GOLODRYGA: And, Sanjay, we know that hearing loss can impact other aspects of our health, including the brain and mental. Talk about that.

GUPTA: This is -- I think maybe for some people counterintuitive, but fascinating. When you think about hearing loss, they actually say it is one of the top risk factors for future dementia. And part of the reason is that it can lead to a sense of isolation for people. Also a lot of times when people assume someone is forgetting things, it's not that they're forgetting, it's that they never really heard it in the first place. That can often be confused for dementia. We're talking about mild to moderate hearing loss.

And let me just give you an example of what that sounds like. Normal hearing is 10 to 15 decibels. Moderate hearing loss could be - you need 40 decibels to hear. So, if I start counting one to ten, listen, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, I don't know how well you could hear that, but we -

SCIUTTO: Wow.

GUPTA: Scottie sort of turned down the amplitude to mimic moderate hearing loss.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GUPTA: You've got to lean in. You've got to keep saying, what did you say? It's challenging. And, again, you said it's a big story. I think it's a huge story because it's a problem for tens of millions of people out there.

SCIUTTO: That was such a great way to demonstrate that, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Yes.

SCIUTTO: It certainly made a difference to me. So, I hope folks at home were listening. I'm going to - in fact, I'm going to share that on social media so folks can perhaps try it at home.

Good to have you on. GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: We do have this news just in to CNN, former Vice President Mike Pence says he would consider testifying in front of the January 6th committee if he were asked. This was at the famed politics and eggs breakfast where, in the state of New Hampshire, our Katelyn Polantz is back with us.

Katelyn, of course, New Hampshire notable because that's where many folks who consider presidential runs do go. But tell us about what the former vice president's comments were.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, Mike Pence clearly is keeping the door open to the possibility that he would consider speaking to the January 6th committee on Capitol Hill, speaking this morning publicly.

Here is what he said exactly. Let's listen to him.

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MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: If there was an invitation to participate, I would consider it. But you've heard me mention the Constitution a few times this morning. Now, in the Constitution we have three co-equal branches of government. And any invitation to be directed to me, I would have to reflect on the - the unique role that I was serving as vice president. It would be unprecedented in history for a vice president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill, but as I said, I don't want to prejudge.

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POLANTZ: So, this House Select Committee will have to make a decision whether they want to extend this invitation to him, potentially even subpoena him if it comes to that. But Pence clearly is keeping the door open here. And what we have seen so far from him and his office, or from his office specifically is that he had two top advisers at the end of the Trump presidency, Marc Short and Greg Jacob, who not only were willing to speak to the House Select Committee, they have also spoken it a federal grand jury and doing a criminal probe and they have been quite open, not just about what happened with them, but how much they detested this push that Trump was shepherding through his advisers to try and overturn the result of the election, his electoral loss. They specifically had pushed back very strongly against John Eastman, the election lawyer.

And our understanding was when - what -- that when Marc Short and Greg Jacob stood up and spoke at the public hearing for the January 6th committee, where we saw them previously, the idea was that they were providing enough information, there was no privilege Mike Pence himself was asserting over his conversations that they were providing enough that Pence might not need to ever come and share what he knew.

But, of course, there are conversations that happened only between Mike Pence and Donald Trump, and there are certain things still that Donald Trump is trying to protect as executive privilege that Short, Jacob and others just haven't shared either with the House Select Committee or with January 6th -- the federal probe. It would be quite significant if this moves forward for both of those inquiries.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, notable choice of words there for the former vice president. And as Jim noted, especially the venue in which he gave them.

Katelyn Polantz, we're keeping you busy today. Don't go very far because we may need you back with all the breaking news that we're getting.

[09:40:01]

Thank you so much.

GOLODRYGA: Well, a double punch for some school districts across the country as they're hit with both a teacher and a bus driver shortage. The districts getting hit the hardest, up next.

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SCIUTTO: As more and more students already heading back to school, there are some concerns in districts around the country about how many will actually get there. Right now bus driver shortages are creating serious challenges in St. Louis.

[09:45:01]

More than 3,000 kids will not have bus service when school begins for them on Monday.

GOLODRYGA: And, in Anchorage, Alaska, only about one-third of students will get bus service at a time.

CNN correspondent Alexandra Field is following the latest.

Alexandra, Alaska is just one example there. There's already a nationwide teacher shortage threatening to become a crisis. We've been talking about that for a while. How are school districts across the country juggling this?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, they've had some preparation because these are not new problems, but they are compounding problems, which means that districts are facing, you know, these issues on a greater scale than they have before. And they're having to resort to sort of these band aid approaches. That's what you're seeing in St. Louis where they can't offer enough bus service, so now they're trying to incentivize parents to drive their kids to school, offering $75 gift cards for gas, offering metro cards to older students. This is an issue affecting states across the nation while districts scramble to fix it.

We're hearing from the St. Louis superintendent who says that this is a temporary problem. They are working to correct it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. KELVIN ADAMS, SUPERINTENDENT, SAINT LOUIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS: We anticipate that this shortage will last approximately two weeks. We're working with our local vendor who provides transportation for us to get enough drivers through the certification process for drivers in the next two weeks to accommodate these eight schools and the 3,300 students who are going to be impacted.

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FIELD: This bus driver shortage stems from the fact that you're seeing drivers continue to retire and districts are having trouble replacing those drivers with new drivers. The issues are being reported everywhere from Connecticut to Alaska. Alaska only serving some of their students with bus rides right now, rotating that until they can get a new solution in place. In places like Arizona, they're saying you could have to wait 15 or 20 minutes for a bus while drivers do double runs.

While they try to work on the bus driver shortage, you're seeing something similar in the classrooms. School districts saying that it is not just an issue of retirement. They're having trouble with retention and recruitment. Tens of thousands of teachers needed in districts across the nation. Shortages being felt from Delaware all the way to Nevada.

We're also seeing creative solutions when it comes to how to staff the classroom. Florida looking at using military veterans who aren't certified to teach, but who have non-traditional experience that could be considered valuable in the classroom. Arizona doing things like changing its policy to allow teachers into the classroom even before they have their college degrees.

Now, look, in the short-term, guys, what we could see are solutions like more virtual teachers teaching classes. You could see fewer class offerings, larger class sizes. But, really, this is a call for districts to address the systemic issues that are draining that workforce.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I can't imagine many people would look forward to the return of virtual teaching, right, given the long hangover from the Covid days.

GOLODRYGA: No.

FIELD: All the resistance to virtual learning.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Yes.

Alexandra Field, thanks so much for keeping us updated.

Well, in Texas, a school district near Fort Worth has told its school library to temporarily remove 41 books. The list includes the Bible, as well as a graphic adaptation of "The Diary of Anne Frank." All the books were formally challenged in the past year and will stay off shelves while the district determines if they're appropriate for students. Keep in mind what's on that list, the Bible, "Diary of Anne Frank." Earlier this month, the school district's board of trustees approved a new policy that says all new books selected for its libraries will be subject to 30 days of public review and removed from the shelves until a review is complete.

GOLODRYGA: We'll stay on that story. It is a questionable one.

Up next, the family of an eight-year-old who was paralyzed from the waist down after the Highland Park shooting is speaking out. The physical and emotional struggles that Cooper Roberts is now facing after his life changing injuries. That's up next.

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[09:53:20]

SCIUTTO: This is always a particularly tough story to read about. The family of an eight-year-old boy who was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot during that Highland Park Fourth of July parade shooting says that his road to recovery has been, and I can only imagine, emotional and grueling.

GOLODRYGA: A brave, young boy.

Cooper Roberts' family says after the reality of his injuries has set in, he has started feeling hopeless, sad and angry. They also say that he is in constant pain.

CNN's Adrienne Broaddus is following this for us.

It's so hard to just even read that, to think of a little boy going through all of that, Adrienne.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: What more do we know about Cooper's recovery?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna and Jim, he misses his family. Think about it, summer vacation is coming to an end for most children his age. His family shared Cooper recently asked, what will he do at recess when he returns to school? That is something he's looking forward to, going back to school, seeing his friends and, most importantly, reuniting with his family and his twin brother, Luke. His family says they're only able to see him once a week because of Covid restrictions. And as the both of you mentioned, Cooper is still in a lot of pain. In a statement his family released, they said he is on a constant IV drip of antibiotics. That's to ward off infections. Doctors recently reintroduced solid foods back into Cooper's diet, but his parents say he's only able to take a few bites, unable to eat some of his favorite foods because after those few bites he is full and nauseous.

I want to read something with you that is striking.

[09:55:01] This is a statement from the family. It really paints the picture of what Cooper may be feeling. They say, it is very hard to convince Cooper that he will be happy again. Of course, we are beyond grateful for his survival, and we know others weren't as fortunate, but we want people to know his path/our path will be a very long and hard road. He's an eight-year-old boy who feels hopeless, sad, and angry as the reality of his life is setting in.

That's what this eight-year-old is dealing with following that Highland Park parade shooting. He was there with his family when he was shot, paralyzed, that shooting now leaving him from the waist below.

Jim and Bianna.

SCIUTTO: He wants to know what he's going to do at recess. I can imagine my own sons asking the same thing. That poor little guy and his family.

Adrienne Broaddus, thanks so much.

Still ahead, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a fierce critic of former President Trump, has lost her primary to a candidate with Trump's endorsement. But this morning she says her fight against Trump is far from over.

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