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Russia Announces Agreement To Allow International Nuclear Inspectors Into Zaporizhzhia Power Plant In Ukraine; Somali Police Say At Least 15 People Killed When Gunmen Affiliated With Al-Shabaab Stormed Hotel In Somali's Capital; New York City Providing Housing And Education To Immigrants Sent From Texas; Vanessa Bryant Testifies In Court Regarding Effect Of Possibility Of Photos Of Husband Kobe's And Daughter Gianna's Bodies Being Leaked; Droughts Affecting U.S. Southwest; School Districts Across U.S. Facing Shortage Of Bus Drivers. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired August 20, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:10]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin the hour with the intensifying standoff at Europe's largest nuclear plant. Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of endangering Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia facility. After months of occupation, Russia now says it has agreed to let international nuclear inspectors into the plant. New video shows Russian military trucks inside the facility amid ongoing fighting outside. Russia claims that Ukraine has been repeatedly shelling the area around the plant, but satellite images seen by CNN don't support those claims.

CNN's Sam Kiley is in Zaporizhzhia. So Sam, how volatile is this situation?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's extremely volatile in that it is an ongoing battle front. We know for a fact that the Russians have got gun emplacements and rocket emplacements close to that nuclear facility. We also know they've got military vehicles inside, which is no great surprise because they captured it back in March, on March the fourth. And they have been, because we've seen the evidence with our own eyes, firing rockets outside of that facility.

On top of that, we've got their claim that the Ukrainians are shelling back. That has been undermined not only by our own analysis of satellite imagery, but I've spoken in the last few hours to people who have been live and one who has been working in that plant or close to that plant who, and this is something we hear repeatedly from witnesses, insist that the Russians are actually simply firing mortars to make it look as though the Ukrainians are involved in some kind of threat to their own nuclear power station.

But all of this is set against a backdrop of very serious combat along a long front and very keep concerns in the international community that the international community could be affected by some kind of nuclear disaster if there were a military engagement in or around that nuclear facility, but also because the Russians allegedly have plans to take electricity out of the grid, in other words disconnect that nuclear power station from the Ukrainian grid and plug it into their own grid.

Now, if they do that, there have been suggestions that that could be almost more dangerous because it could affect the cooling systems for the reactors that are still online at the moment. They are at full capacity six reactors. I think it's about two who are currently online. But that, nonetheless, could be very, very dangerous indeed.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sam Kiley in Zaporizhzhia, thank you so much, and continue to be safe.

With us now is Jeffrey Lewis. He is the director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. So good to see you. So if nuclear inspectors are allowed into this facility, what will they most likely immediately be looking for?

JEFFREY LEWIS, DIRECTOR, EAST ASIA NONPROLIFERATION PROGRAM, MIDDLEBURY INSTITUTE: Well, I think they're going to want to just generally take stock of the overall status of the plant. That's going to be how well the staff are doing, whether they're exhausted, whether they're able to change shifts. They're going to make sure the radiation monitoring equipment is in place.

They're going to want to make sure there's enough electricity going to the plant, just really generally trying to get a sense, I think, of where things stand with the plant, because right now, they haven't been able to visit in a very long time. And there are so many worrying things we're hearing. And I think they just want to get that squared away.

WHITFIELD: So what does it potentially tell us about the condition or stressors within that plant when you see video of what appear to be Russian trucks driving inside?

LEWIS: I think this is incredibly reckless behavior by the Russians. Once you've got military forces stationed at a plant, it's just not possible to imagine that life is going on there normally. The IAEA, when they talk about what you need for a safe nuclear plant, they have seven pillars. I won't go through them all, but they're pretty normal things, like your staff needs to be able to get in and out.

You need to be able to provide logistical support. You need to have reliable power. The radiation monitoring equipment needs to work. And all of that is going to be compromised if you have military forces running around, and potentially either engaging in combat because they're being targeted, or because they're going out and doing things. So there's a reason nuclear power plants don't normally have military bases stationed there.

WHITFIELD: What would be your concerns about whether Russian troops could actually hide anything from these inspectors inside the plant? Is that possible?

[14:05:00]

LEWIS: Well, I don't think that the Russians are hiding things there in the sense that they have something they're up to that's sneaky. I think that they've put forces there because they know that makes it very hard for the Ukrainians to attack those forces because they're in danger of hitting the nuclear power plant, which, by the way, is probably a war crime. So what I think that inspectors are going to be able to do is not so much check on what the military is doing, but just really see how the staff is doing and how the physical integrity of the facility is holding up.

WHITFIELD: So the nuclear watchdog group is describing the situation as volatile. From everything that you have seen in terms of how this war has been playing out for the last six months, what are your most grave concerns?

LEWIS: So there are really a bunch of things that could go wrong at a nuclear power plant if you don't maintain it and take care of it. So from my perspective, the most important thing is that the staff be able to do their jobs and they be able to rotate in and out on shifts, because you can't just sort of abandon a nuclear power plant, and that there is a steady supply of power, because the real threat is, if you lose power or otherwise the physical integrity of the reactor or the spent fuel is compromised, that's when you're putting yourself in a position where you could get an accident similar to what happened at the Fukushima reactor in Japan.

WHITFIELD: As I'm listening to you, it's hard to envision how people are able to go about their business of working in the plant in the middle of a military invasion, in the middle of an occupation of Russian forces that have decimated towns and villages all the way around it. So I guess I'm just so surprised to even hear you say there should be shift changes, that there are even employees who are working, coming and going, doing their business at a plant under these kinds of circumstances.

LEWIS: I have the utmost respect for these people. This is an incredibly difficult thing that they're doing.

WHITFIELD: Sure.

LEWIS: And I think if our country were occupied, I would not want to go to work the next day. But the reality is, is that they have a duty and a responsibility, because you can't simply abandon a nuclear power plant. It does not run itself. You can't just turn it off. And I think that there's real heroism on their part, getting up every day, going in, and trying to make sure it's safe.

And that's really where then I think we turn and we look at the Russian occupying forces, and we say, these people are behaving in this heroic way, meeting their obligations. You need to step up and do the same thing.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I think probably a lot of people didn't even think of this scenario of what's taking place inside the plant, that people would continue to do their jobs until you so aptly described it for us. So thank you so much for joining us today, Jeffrey Lewis, and giving us a clear picture of all that's at stake. Thank you.

LEWIS: It was a pleasure.

WHITFIELD: All right, Somali police say at least 15 people were killed when gunmen stormed an upscale hotel in Somali's capital Friday night. Officials say large explosions rocked the hotel followed by a gun battle. They warned that the death toll is likely to rise because casualties are still coming into the hospital. CNN's Larry Madowo is following this for us from Nairobi. So Larry, what are you learning?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're learning that the death toll is really increasing. Somali national outlets are reporting higher death numbers because this siege of the Hayat hotel in Mogadishu has now gone on for more than 25 hours, and there is still no confirmation that it is over. We understand that these gunmen affiliated to Al- Shabaab stormed their way through the Hayat Hotel by detonating two or three large explosions outside the hotel, and then they made their way into the building and started shooting indiscriminately at staff and guests there.

Some people have been rescued, but there are people who remain unaccounted for, and there are family members, loved ones gathered outside the hotel trying to get word to their loved ones. Police have confirmed the number of 15 dead to CNN, but we expect that that number could rise because at least one hospital that is receiving the wounded has received some bodies, has received some in critical condition. So when this situation is over, we could see much higher numbers.

We have received a tweet from the U.S. embassy there condemning this attack. "The United States strongly condemns the Al-Shabaab hotel attack in Mogadishu," this tweet says. "We extend condolence to the families of loved ones killed, with a full recovery to the injured, and pledge continued support for Somalia, to hold murderers accountable, and build when others destroy."

The U.S. recently redeployed troops back in Somalia in May, President Biden made that decision after President Trump withdrew troops from Somalia in 2020 at the end of the year.

[14:10:01]

It's not the same number that were there, it's about 500 or so that are back in Somalia. The U.S. has also been carrying out air strikes against Al-Shabaab, and as recently as last week one air strike killed 13. In recent weeks we've seen several air strikes targeting this terrorist group that has been described by one sitting U.S. official as Al-Qaeda's largest global affiliate. They have been fighting the Somali government for more than a decade.

They are trying to establish a very strict form of shariah law in Somalia. They've carried out attacks almost daily in Somali, many parts of the country. They were driven out of the capital of Mogadishu about a decade ago, but they control large parts of central and southern Somalia. They've also carried out attacks here in Kenya against the university, against a hotel, against a mall. And in 2020 they carried out an attack at a U.S. base in northern Kenya and killed three U.S. servicemen, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes, a string of so many attacks and terrorizing a lot of people along the coastal areas as well. Larry Madowo, thank you so much.

Still ahead, officials in New York City announce plans to address the influx of asylum seekers arriving from Texas. Details on that, straight ahead.

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[14:15:17]

WHITFIELD: Officials in New York City announcing plans to address the influx of asylum seekers arriving from Texas. They expect at least 1,000 children will enter the city's school system this year. They're among the thousands sent there by bus from the lone star state at the direction of Governor Greg Abbott. But this week the governor doubled down on his decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT, (R) TEXAS: Before we begin busing illegal immigrants up to New York, it was just Texas and Arizona that bore the brunt of all of the chaos and all the problems that come with it. Now the rest of America is understanding exactly what is going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Jean Casarez is following this for us from New York City. So Jean, how is New York responding?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They've got a plan in place. And it also involves -- New York City schools have lost quite a few students in the last several years, so they're wanting to put these children at the schools that are not up to capacity at this point. But the program is called Open Arms, and it begins when the bus arrives at the port authority bus terminal, and that is right here in New York City. They are greeted when they get off the bus.

And right there at the bus terminal, there's different stations that they go to after getting off. First of all, it's clothes. Whatever clothes they may need, they can just take and get. School supplies, as much as they may want or what may be needed. And then toiletries.

Next things is housing. And there is a bidding process going on in New York City right now, because they are asking the hotels to take these migrants as they come into New York City, to house them so they can live at the hotels. They also do have some shelters. And they're striving to have the students to be able to live with their families as close to the schools as possible. And one other thing, medical. There is free medical for whatever they may want. The city of New York is providing that. I want you to listen to David Banks. He is the chancellor for the New

York City School of Education.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BANKS, CHANCELLOR, NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: They deserve to be welcomed into our schools with open arms. Already our incredible public school staff are stepping up, working tirelessly to ensure a smooth transition for these new students with minimal disruption in their education. Supporting our newest New Yorkers is not just the job of our public schools. We are working in tight coordination with community-based organizations across the city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Now, the school staff needs help, so they are going through, we understand, resumes like crazy right now, because they need counselors. They're also working with the government of the Dominican Republic to bring in educators from that country that can speak Spanish. They are short on bilingual teachers. So they are trying to manifest as many as they can to help these migrant families as they come in, specifically the students.

We do have a full screen, I want to show you that before I leave you because this is important, to look at the numbers right here. There are 6,000 migrants that have come to New York City since May, 600 of them in the last three weeks. And there are 1,000 children, kindergarten through eighth grade, that will be going into New York City schools at this point, Fredricka, because, remember, we're just August 20th right now. School doesn't start until September, and you have a whole fall term, and the buses will be continuing to come.

WHITFIELD: They will, indeed, that's what the Texas governor said. Jean Casarez, thank you so much.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, Vanessa Bryant, widow of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, breaks down on the witness stand in the lawsuit against Los Angeles County over sheriff's deputies sharing graphic photos of the helicopter crash that killed her husband and teenage daughter. What she said, after this.

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WHITFIELD: All right, emotional moments in a Los Angeles courtroom as Vanessa Bryant, the widow of former NBA star Kobe Bryant, took the witness stand on Friday. She's part of a lawsuit against L.A. County over photos taken of the gruesome aftermath of a helicopter crash that killed her husband and 13-year-old daughter Gianna. CNN's Natasha Chen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We heard tearful testimony from Vanessa Bryant on Friday as she told heartbreaking stories of new panic attacks she's never had before but that she started experiencing after she found out through a "L.A. Times" article about a month after the crash that L.A. County sheriff's deputies and county firefighters had taken and shared close-up images of her loved ones' remains from the crash site.

She talked about the moment she found out about that, how she was with family and had to run out of the house so that her daughters would not see her fall apart. She said that she felt in that moment like running and screaming and jumping into the ocean, but, quote, "I can't escape my body. I can't escape what I feel."

She also talked about disturbing messages she would get from strangers online, one of them was even shown to us in the courtroom, a direct message on Instagram from someone using helicopter and flame emojis and threatening to leak the images of Kobe's body.

Vanessa Bryant is a co-plaintiff in this case. She's been sitting next to Chris Chester who also lost his wife and daughter in the same crash.

[14:25:04]

Both of them have described this fear and anxiety that these photos could someday surface, and that it's a feeling on top of the grief they already felt from losing family members.

The county and defense has emphasized that neither of them have ever seen any of these photos surface on the Internet. Sheriff Alex Villanueva was on the stand later in the afternoon, and he stated that his highest priority was to stop these photos from getting out, in other words to not let the horses out of the barn. And so he asked the deputies to delete the photos in question instead of waiting for a formal, proper investigation to go through.

Now, the plaintiffs' attorneys asked him, does he know for a fact they were all deleted? He said, I believe that they were deleted. When further pushed on that he said, quote, well, God knows, and that's about it. Back to you.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Natasha Chen, thanks so much.

I'm joined by CNN legal analyst Areva Martin. Areva, so good to see you. So we just heard there, an emotional day on the witness stand. How far could that go in persuading the jury in this case?

AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think, Fred, Vanessa Bryant's testimony was very compelling, and it's going to be really significant as these jurors have to deliberate on determining if the sheriff's department, if the defendants in this case should be held accountable. I think some of the responses from the sheriff himself were completely inadequate, him saying he didn't know for certain that all of the photographs had been deleted. Evidence coming out in this trial that there was no forensic examination of the cellphones where these officers actually had pictures.

And then this mystery person, Fred, this person who had photographs air dropped to him, but no one's been able to identify this person. He hasn't surfaced in this litigation. He hasn't surfaced in this trial. I think all of these are very damning facts for the defendant in this case.

WHITFIELD: So the defense also pressed Bryant on whether her goal was for the photos to never be seen. L.A. County claims its actions accomplished that. Bryant herself has never seen the photos in question. So how critical could that prove to be in the defense's case?

MARTIN: I think some jurors may be concerned, Fred, that Bryant and the other plaintiff in this case have never seen these photos. But I don't think that's going to be the fact that is going to be the most resonant with these jurors. I think the fact that the sheriff's department by their own admission has negligently handled these photographs.

There's been so much finger-pointing, so much inconsistency in the testimony, so much uncertainty about these photographs. And again, the sheriff himself could not testify with 100 percent degree of certainty that these photographs had all been deleted. I think that's going to be far more significant to these jurors as they deliberate.

WHITFIELD: And one has to wonder what this case will do to the image of the public servants who were at the centerpiece of this in L.A. County, of this case.

MARTIN: Fred, I think there is some sympathy for the first responders. Everyone is recognizing that what they had to witness was incredibly gruesome and horrific. But some of the testimony about how they talked about the crime scene -- I'm sorry, the accident scene, comments like "gumbo" and "grinded-up meat" and how they described what they witnessed, and then just the negligence in the way that these photos were handled, I think is a taint on the Los Angeles sheriff's department and doesn't bode well for first responders.

WHITFIELD: This lawsuit alleges that Los Angeles County invaded the plaintiffs' privacy and inflicted emotional stress by not properly containing the spread of the photos. And we've heard from several first responders' testimony about how they showed the graphic images to others, whether they were at bars, playing videogames, even during a cocktail hour of an awards ceremony. So do you believe that prosecutors have already proven their case? You used the word "insensitivity" earlier, but when it comes down to the jurors having to make a decision, do they have everything in order to assess a decision?

MARTIN: I would be surprised, Fred, if there is not a determination in this case, if there's not a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs. Again, the inconsistencies in the testimony from the various officers, the finger-pointing, the inability of the sheriff to say with 100 percent certainty that the photos have all been deleted I think is going to work to the benefit of the plaintiffs.

And then when you talk about emotional distress, clearly Vanessa Bryant and other plaintiffs grieving the loss of their spouses and their children. But that grief turned to horror when you think about these photographs being spread to individuals outside of these law enforcement agencies, individuals that had no interest in these photos other than as spectators.

[14:30:10]

I think when you think about the tragedy, you think about who we're talking about, Kobe Bryant, one of the most celebrated athletes in this country, and then his daughter. I just think that it's going to be overwhelming for these jurors to find anything other than a verdict for the plaintiffs.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to leave it there for now. Areva Martin, good to see you, thank you so much.

MARTIN: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Still ahead, extreme drought conditions and high temperatures across the U.S. are forcing American farmers and ranchers to kill their own crops and sell their livestock.

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WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. And nearly 10 million people across the southwest are under flood watches as prolific rainfall and widespread flash flooding are expected.

[14:35:02]

The much-needed rain will help some with the region's water crisis, though not in areas with the biggest need, like California and Nevada. Heavy rainfall is expected to move into northern Texas tomorrow where more than 60 percent of the state is experiencing the highest category for drought conditions.

That extreme weather forcing a search and rescue mission at Zion National Park in Utah today. Park officials say a flash flood swept several hikers off their feet yesterday. And one person is still missing. Rangers found one injured visitor who is being treated at a local hospital. The hiker's condition is not known at this time. Parts of the park will remain closed while officials continue their search.

And big rains across the southwest, unfortunately, will do little to help the water emergency facing states that rely on the Colorado River. CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir reports from Lake Mead.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Whiskey is for drinking. Water is for fighting. That supposed Mark Twain quote has been a western slogan since the first settlers. But now the worst drought in 1,200 years has water managers in seven states, 30 tribal nations, and Mexico fighting over every precious drop.

CAMILE TOUTON, COMMISSIONER, BUREAU OF RECLAMATION: But to date the states collectively have not identified and adopted specific actions of sufficient magnitude that would stabilize the system.

WEIR: That was the commissioner in charge of dams and reservoirs, admitting that upper and lower basin states have failed to agree on ways to cut their water use by up to 25 percent.

PAT MULROY, FORMER COMMISSIONER, SOUTHERN NEVADA WATER AUTHORITY: I think ultimately the states are going to realize they're playing Russian roulette, and they're going to have to come to their senses.

WEIR: For almost 30 years, Pat Mulroy was in charge of southern Nevada's water, and led an aggressive conservation campaign to tear up lawns, reuse wastewater, and scold water wasters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't water in the middle of the day, ma'am. You'll be fined if you don't change your watering clock.

WEIR: All measures she would like to see happen downstream.

MULROY: I think they're kind of kicking the can down the road past the election, if you want me to be very frank about it. I don't think anybody wants to make great public announcements about measures they may have to take prior to the election.

WEIR: Rather than force new action, the feds will let the states keep talking, while the next round of automatic cuts will lower water deliver by seven percent to Mexico, eight percent to Nevada, and 21 percent to Arizona.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can hear this crunching. It's just starting to dry up.

WEIR: Here, alfalfa farmers are already being paid to let their fields go fallow. While some are switching to crops like guayule, a rubber plant that grows in the desert.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crop switching, looking at lower water use crops like guayule, is one of the solutions we need to look at in a drier future to allow communities to sustain themselves.

WEIR: Thanks to some creative water accounting, California will not face mandatory cuts next year, but their governor is already warning of a future with a lot more people and a lot less water.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM, (D) CALIFORNIA: Science and the data leads us to now understand that we will lose 10 percent of our water supply by 2040. If all things are equal, we will lose an additional 10 percent of our supply by 2040.

MULROY: We have the very real possibility this coming year, if we have another lousy winter, all things being equal, that we will drive this lake down to elevation 1,000. That is 100 feet above dead pool, and you're at the bottom of the martini glass. So it doesn't take much to tip that over and get to the point where nothing can go downstream. And if you don't take it seriously now, if you think that you're going to avoid this, do a rain dance, go pray, do whatever, that we have a great winter, you're insane.

WEIR: On the same day of this new report, President Biden also signed new legislation, the most ambitious climate legislation in American history, which includes, thanks to western senators, $4 billion for drought relief. It will likely go to farmers, paying them not to grow cotton, or alfalfa in the desert for the coming years, maybe homeowners, paying them to tear up their lawns or shrink the footprint of their swimming pools. The big ideas, desalinization plants or reviving the salt in sea, or even piping water from the eastern U.S., these have been bandied about for decades, but these take time and money. And in the meantime, all anybody can do is conserve every precious drop.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Bill Weir, thanks so much for that.

So nearly three-quarters of U.S. farmers say this year's drought is hurting their harvest and impacting their incomes. And that will lead to higher prices for things like fruits, nuts, and vegetables.

[14:40:00]

In the southwest, there is also real concern about water supply as critical reservoirs hit dangerously low levels.

I want to bring in now David Anderson for more on how this impacts farmers and ranchers and you and me, quite frankly. He is a professor and economist for livestock and food product marketing at Texas A&M University. Professor, so good to see you.

DR. DAVID ANDERSON, PROFESSOR, ECONOMIST FOR LIVESTOCK AND FOOD PRODUCT MARKETING, TEXAS A&M: You too. Thanks for having me on.

WHITFIELD: Wonderful. So you sound really upbeat, but really, how dire is the situation?

ANDERSON: Well, drought I think always seems to be the worst thing because it's always so widespread and it has really devastating effects on farmers and ranchers, because we really rely on rainfall. Even if you're irrigating crops, sooner or later that water had to come from rainfall. We certainly are in a pretty severe drought in Texas and much of the west. It's leading ranchers to sell off their herds, to send more cows to packing plants. And eventually that means less beef production and higher prices.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So yes, ranchers, farmers are being hurt in a very big way. So what does this mean for the average American consumer? What do they need to be bracing themselves for?

ANDERSON: Well, I think if we think about beef for a second, every cow that's sent to market this year, it won't be around to have a calf next year. So when that calf would have been full grown, it's not going to be around to produce beef. And so it really means some tighter supplies and higher pressure on prices, really for all consumers, for all kinds of -- really beef, but that affects all other meats as well.

WHITFIELD: And then we're also seeing critical natural resources like Lake Mead, Lake Powell rapidly plummeting. Even Utah's great Salt Lake dropped to its lowest level for the second time in less than a year. So what are the implications for this kind of stress on all of these water sources?

ANDERSON: It's a lot of stress for, particularly in my area, farmers and ranchers, my area of work. Certainly, with tighter water supplies, it really comes down to producing the food that we all consume. And we've certainly been blessed in the U.S. to have a large, vibrant agriculture that produces an abundance for all of us. And so really, it gets to producing affordable, abundant food supplies for all of us, and much of that is done with irrigation, and particularly in the west. And so it certainly affects our ability to produce, and it affects prices.

WHITFIELD: And you're hearing from farmers and ranchers. What are you hearing from everybody else?

ANDERSON: Well, I get a lot of phone calls on that side about the drought, but also folks like yourself in the media who want to really make that connection to consumers about where our food come from, really have a better understanding of how we produce, and the prices that we pay for it. And so I think there's a lot of concern. It's not a concern that we're going to run out or have shortages. But it certainly means tighter supplies and higher prices for us in the future.

WHITFIELD: And then in a lot of these smaller towns, what are your concerns for people, there are so many different occupations, vocations that are relying on water supply. What were your concerns for them, or what are they conveying to you?

ANDERSON: We certainly get tighter supplies, and we get communities that can certainly be hard hit as they try to stretch their water supplies as the drought deepens and gets worse. We also have communities that can be more dependent on agriculture as part of their economy.

And so as that segment of our economy is hit by drought, reduced production, there's less business activity. There's less jobs in that. And so it can have a real economic effect on really the overall economy of a community beyond water supplies that may last for a while yet to come, but certainly as this drought goes on, we're going to feel it in a lot more areas.

WHITFIELD: What are the ways in which you think on a federal level more can be done to unify states, people, on water conservation efforts?

ANDERSON: Well, on the agriculture side of things, we do have some efforts in terms of crop insurance, farm program support, disaster support for farmers and ranchers that are particularly hard hit by drought. We've long had kind of a farm program safety net to help farmers in difficult -- and ranchers in difficult times like this. And so, you know, continuing those efforts is pretty important for farmers and ranchers all over the country, particularly where drought is hard hit.

[14:45:08]

Some of these other things like how we divide up river supplies, that's beyond my bailiwick, thank goodness, as a livestock economist. They get pretty complex.

WHITFIELD: We've learned a lot from you today, professor. Dr. David Anderson, thank you so much.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And this quick programming note. Don't miss CNN's exclusive interviews with music legend Billy Joel and iconic film director Francis Ford Coppola on "Extraordinary with Fareed Zakaria," that's tonight starting at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

Still to come, help wanted. School districts across the country forced to get creative as they face a major school bus driver shortage. How they're making up for the thousands of unfilled jobs.

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[14:50:39]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. As students start heading back to the classroom, many will find there are too few teachers to greet them. The country has more than 280,000 fewer teachers since before the pandemic. And it's not just teachers who stopped showing up for school. CNN's Nadia Romero reports there's also a shortage of bus drivers.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, we know this is a problem happening all across the country. But it's happening here in the Atlanta area as more. We're here at one of the bus depots for Fulton County schools, and you can see that there are plenty of buses behind me but just not enough drivers. The school district says they're short about 200 drivers to start the school year.

And take a look at the numbers. Just Saturday morning there was a recruiting fair happening in two separate places trying to lure in more people to be bus drivers. They're offering more than $20 an hour, paid training, and a six-hour work day amongst other benefits and incentives. and paid training. I want you to hear from one Georgia school bus driver as she explains why it's been so difficult driving right now with all the staffing shortages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUANITA JACKSON, FORSYTH COUNTY BUS DRIVER: We just work harder and longer and double back and try our best to get them all home as safely and as fast as we can. It's an important job, and people don't realize we really do need you. We need them out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: And we're seeing school bus driver shortages in St. Louis as well. The public school district is having such a hard time not having enough school bus drivers that they had to cancel about 35 routes to start their school year. That starts on Monday. The superintendent says they're offering weekly metro passes and gas cards to parents and teachers to try to help with the delay from not having enough bus drivers. But the district there says they expect to have things resolved in the next two weeks. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Nadia Romero, thanks so much.

And here is today's "Human Factor."

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JOHN POWERS, SCULPTOR: I'm a sculptor. I was working on a table saw, and the piece of wood I was cutting kicked back and dragged my hand through the saw. When I went into surgery, they reattached the thumb. They worked really hard to save it. They kept me in the hospital for six days hoping it would take, and it didn't.

I had built this tiny little casket, and I had built the tombstone, or the thumb-stone. And then I asked a group of friends to be pallbearers for it. And we played the Rolling Stones "Under My Thumb." We eulogized the thumb.

When I put this on, I immediately began to deconstruct it and to think about how it could be better. Talking to the prosthesis people, there are a number of different people attacking this problem in interesting ways now. This is a great tool. It could be a greater tool. I began to imagine, oh, it would be wonderful to have a silver finger to go to parties in. It wouldn't do anything. It would just be lovely to look at.

So I began contacting sculptors. What I want them to do is to do whatever they want to do, to see what other people would come up with. I would love if the games I'm playing with artists helped inform the games I'm playing with prosthetists. My hope is that I can begin making those things for myself and that they might turn out to be useful to others.

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[14:58:28]

WHITFIELD: Less than one week after a near tragic accident at the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, 12- year-old Easton "Tank" Oliverson is on his way to recovery, now out of the ICU. And there was a touching tribute as his team took to the field in their first game of the tournament. Here is CNN's Coy Wire. COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Fred, doctors have

upgraded Easton now to fair condition. It's nothing short of a miracle when you consider it was just Monday morning that he fell out of his bunk bed at the Little League World Series, hit his head, needing an emergency surgery which saved his life.

The most encouraging sign yet, this Instagram post showing Easton standing up and walking. His nickname is Tank. And as Tank took those monumental steps at the hospital Friday, his Snow Canyon team stepped onto the field for the first time, teammates writing his name on their cleats, putting his glove and hat in the outfield before the game, making sure he knew they're thinking of him.

And how about the opponents from Tennessee, wearing Utah hats to show support. And a special moment came midgame.

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WIRE: The crowd giving a standing ovation as Easton's fill-in stepped to the plate. It's his 10-year-old brother Brogan.

Ultimately Utah lost 11 to two. Still, Fred, they'll forever be known as the first team from Utah to ever make it to Williamsport in the Little League World Series' 75-year history. Nobody can take that from them. And they get to play again for Easton on Sunday.

WHITFIELD: Yes, still a lot of uplift.