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Heat Wave Grips Western U.S., 40+ Million under Heat Alert; Suspect Charged after Threatening to Crash Stolen Plane; Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant Loses Main Connection to Power Grid; CNN Report Helps Identify War Crimes Suspect; Results of U.K. Conservative Party Vote Expected Monday; Trump Calls Biden "Enemy of the State"; Pennsylvania Races Heat Up; Texas Spending Millions to Bus Migrants Cross-Country; Parents Demand Justice in Mexico for "State-Sponsored Crime"; Study Finds Sharks Are Attracted to City Beaches. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 04, 2022 - 03:00   ET

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

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, a brutal heat wave in the Western U.S. could actually worsen as we approach Labor Day and spread to other parts of the country.

The dire situation for people living in the capital of Mississippi, the challenges as workers try to restore the city's water supply.

And finger-pointing again in Ukraine, as Europe's largest nuclear plant loses its main connection to the power grid because of artillery fire.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: We begin with a blistering and dangerous heat wave and a stranglehold across the Western United States. Millions of people are sweltering this weekend. More than 40 million are under heat alerts as temperatures soar 15 to 20 degrees above normal.

For the fifth day in a row, electric companies in California are asking customers to turn off unnecessary lights and appliances in order to save electricity during the late afternoon and evening hours. CNN's Chris Nguyen reports from Los Angeles.

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CHRIS NGUYEN, CNN NATIONAL CORREPSONDENT (voice-over): Across the west, the scorching heat is showing no signs of cooling off this holiday weekend. MARIE METCALFE, LOS ANGELES RESIDENT: Our AC at home can only do so much when we're in these triple digits.

NGUYEN (voice-over): In Glendale California residents are seeking refuge at the Galleria shopping mall, taking advantage of the free air conditioning.

METCALFE: Getting out to the mall and just getting out of the house to get some sort of cool release is nice.

NGUYEN (voice-over): California is in the midst of its longest heat wave of the year, a major concern especially in large cities like Los Angeles where dark pavement and buildings can easily absorb heat bringing little relief overnight.

NGUYEN: Skid Row is an urban heat island which is why water is crucial especially when temperatures hit triple digits.

SOFIA GUADRON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WATER DROP LA: Free water. Free water.

NGUYEN (voice-over): That's why volunteers with Water Drop LA are checking up on the unhoused and the elderly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want water?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sure.

NGUYEN (voice-over): Handing out cold water to those who need it.

GUARDON: At the core like we're old people and we should care about each other, we should like love each other and we should look out for each other.

NGUYEN (voice-over): The extreme heat wave also testing California's power grid. In Irwindale, Southern California Edison crews are busy moving transformers and extra equipment throughout the region.

DAVID EISENHAUER, SPOKESMAN, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON: We have all hands on deck ready to respond if there are outages so that we can get the power restored as quickly and safely as possible.

NGUYEN (voice-over): Many Californians are bracing for more misery ahead.

CARLA LIZAOLA, LOS ANGELES RESIDENT: It's insane. It's unbearable to even be home.

NGUYEN (voice-over): Chris Nguyen, CNN, Los Angeles.

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BRUNHUBER: Wildfires in Northern California have burned through more than 9,000 acres. In the town of Weed, the Mill fire has consumed more than 4,000 acres and it's only 25 percent contained. The nearby Mountain fire is currently burning almost 5,000 acres, just

5 percent contained. Streets have been littered with the charred remains of cars and cinderblocks where houses stood. Officials say help is on the way, with fire strike teams ready across the state to respond when necessary.

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BRUNHUBER: It ultimately wasn't weather that scrapped the Artemis I launch on Saturday, it was another hydrogen leak. And a new launch date could be weeks away or even longer. CNN's Kristen Fisher looks at what went wrong.

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KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: A second scrub, a second hydrogen leak. But this leak was much bigger than the one NASA encountered on Monday.

Now they need to fix it. They can either fix it on the launch pad or they can roll the entire rocket all the way back to the VAB, the vehicle assembly building. But to do that would take about 3.5 days. It eats up a ton of time.

But regardless of where they make the repairs, as of now, NASA is going to need to roll the rocket back to the VAB regardless, because they are in the middle or about to be in the middle of a safety violation with the range.

The range is run by the Space Force. And so NASA says they're going to try to ask the Space Force for a waiver or an extension. But they just don't know if the Space Force is going to grant it.

So those are the two issues. What that means in terms of when NASA can try again is they're not going to make this launch window, which ends on Tuesday. So that means the next launch attempt for the Artemis moon rocket is going to be the end of September at the earliest but more likely sometime in mid- to late October if not later.

Here is NASA's associate administrator Jim Free, speaking at the press conference just a few hours after the second scrub was announced.

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JIM FREE, ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, NASA: We don't go into these tests lightly, right? We don't just say, hey, we think, we hope this is going to work. The confidence to do another launch attempt today was borne out of the fact that we understood the hydrogen leaks that we had on Monday. Those are different than the leak that we had today.

In terms of scale, one was in the same place. But today, it was a different signature and we understood the engine issue. So we weren't confident coming into today. But as the administrator said, we're not going to launch until we're ready. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FISHER: NASA administrator Bill Nelson was also at that press conference and he pointed out that the cost of two scrubs is less than the cost of one failure.

To be very clear, NASA is very disappointed about this but they're also acutely aware that this could have been much worse. This is not the worst-case scenario. That would have been an explosion on the launch pad or shortly after liftoff.

So while this is a disappointment and a delay, NASA is confident that, at some point, its Artemis moon rocket, more than a decade in the making, is finally going to get off this launch pad. The question is when -- Kristin Fisher, CNN, Kennedy Space Center.

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BRUNHUBER: A dangerous moment in the skies over Tupelo, Mississippi, on Saturday. Tupelo police have arrested an airport worker they say stole a plane and threatened to crash it.

Residents recorded these images, showing a twin engine plane, highlighted there, flying low over homes and farms. The man at the controls reportedly called 9-1-1 and threatened to crash the plane into a local Walmart.

Both the store and the immediate area were evacuated. You can see the erratic and unpredictable flight path, as the pilot kept the plane in the air for hours. Police kept talking with the suspect throughout. Listen to this.

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CHIEF JOHN QUAKA, TUPELO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Negotiators from Tupelo Police Department made contact with the pilot and were able to convince him to not carry out this deed. We have since learned that he landed near the Gravestown Fire Department on Highway 4 West, in between Ashland and Ripley. Soon thereafter, the pilot was taken into custody and is in custody currently.

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BRUNHUBER: The suspect is being held on charges of making terrorist threats and grand larceny. Police say he worked at the airport for 10 years and doesn't appear to be a licensed pilot. It's not clear why the suspect threatened Walmart.

Anger, fear and exhausted resignation are just some of the emotions felt by people in Jackson, Mississippi, this weekend. The city is dealing with a crippling water crisis made worse by historic flooding. But as Nadia Romero reports, good news might be finally on the way for some Jackson residents.

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NADIA ROMERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is day six of the water crisis here in Jackson, Mississippi. But we just received an update from city officials that the water treatment plant has made significant gains overnight into this morning, saying the water pressure is now up, so much so that most people in Jackson should have water pressure.

That's a big change from what happened here just yesterday and what we saw earlier in this week. But the problem still remains that this is an old water treatment plant that has many issues.

And so city officials like the mayor warning that there could be more interruptions, more fluctuations to come, that this isn't a permanent fix to this problem. And even if you do have water pressure in your home, that water is still not potable.

Officials say it is unsafe to drink. The boil water advisory is in effect. That's why the state has set up seven water distribution sites for people in this city to come and pick up free water bottles.

But not everyone has access to transportation or can physically lift those bottles and bring them into their homes. We visited a senior facility, where one resident told us that she was so grateful when the Mississippi Urban League showed up with water bottles for her and her neighbors, take a listen.

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ALMATY REGINAL, JACKSON RESIDENT: It has been frustrating and just drives you nuts.

What's going to happen next?

Don't know how it going to happen, when it going to happen or anything. It's scary. It really is, it's really scary, not knowing how you're going to make it from one day to another.

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ROMERO: That boil water advisory continues and residents still don't know when they will have safe drinking water that they can use in their homes to cook with and to brush their teeth with.

We are now told from city officials that water restoration groups from Georgia and Florida are coming to the state to help. We know that FEMA has visited.

The administrator from FEMA was on the ground just yesterday and says that those federal dollars will help the city of Jackson repair issues in the short-term. But that long-term fix, there's still no timeline for just how long it will take for the water quality to improve.

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BRUNHUBER: Artillery fire hits again near Ukraine's largest nuclear plant. And emergency procedures kick in just as international inspectors do their work inside. We'll have that story ahead.

Plus the U.K.'s Conservative Party has voted for its next leader. The winner will be the country's next prime minister. We'll have a live report from London ahead. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Ukraine's largest nuclear plant has lost its main connection to the power grid again, despite the presence of international inspectors. Ukrainian officials say artillery fire hit a working power line of the Zaporizhzhya power plant Saturday.

After that, Ukraine says one of the two operating nuclear reactors was shut down and emergency procedures were activated but the other reactor is still delivering a limited amount of electricity into the grid through a backup line.

Kyiv and Moscow have blamed each other for shelling at the plant. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, whose inspectors are also at the site, say the backup line can also deliver power into the plant, which is needed to cool the reactors and prevent them from melting down.

The facility temporarily lost connection to the grid last week as well for the first time in its history.

Ukraine says one person was wounded after a Russian rocket strike in the east.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): This was the scene in Kramatorsk Saturday, a day after Russian rockets hit a local market. The attack also destroyed nine vehicles. Ukraine says it's pushing ahead with its offensive in the south, which was announced earlier this week.

Military officials say they've been striking Russian command centers, supply lines and pontoon crossings across the region. There are indications Ukrainian troops have made modest gains on the ground, despite Russian counterattacks. President Zelenskyy says Moscow is trying to turn up the pressure on Europe while attacking Ukraine.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Russia wants to destroy the normal life of every European, in all countries of our continent. It aims to weaken and intimidate all of Europe, every state.

When Russia cannot achieve this by force of arms, it seeks to do this by force through energy weapons. It is trying to hit Europe with poverty and political chaos where it cannot yet use rockets.

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BRUNHUBER: Ukrainian prosecutors have identified a Russian war crime suspect, thanks in part to reporting you saw here on CNN. Back in May, we showed you video of Russian troops gunning down two civilians in the outskirts of Kyiv.

Now prosecutors have announced the name of one suspect, saying CNN reporting played a key role in their investigation. Sara Sidner has the story. But we want to warn you, some of the images in this report are graphic.

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SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ukrainian prosecutors say this is the moment an undeniable war crime was carried out by Russian soldiers. This video clip obtained by CNN has yet to be seen by the public.

It shows Russian soldiers firing at something alongside a business they have just overtaken on the outskirts of Kyiv. Turns out their target is two unsuspecting and unarmed Ukrainian civilians who they shoot in the back.

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SIDNER (voice-over): We first reported on this portion of the video in May, showing the business owner dying where he falls and the guard initially surviving but bleeding to death after making it back to his guard shack.

Both men had just spent the last few minutes speaking calmly with the Russian soldiers who appeared to let them go. But we now see two of the soldiers return and fire on them.

YULIA PLYATS, DAUGHTER OF MURDER VICTIM (through translator): My father's name is Leonid Oleksiyovych Plyats.

SIDNER (voice-over): The guard's daughter, Yulia, told us then she wanted the world to know her father's name and what the Russians did to them.

SIDNER: Yulia, have you seen the video?

PLYATS (through translator): I can't watch it now. I will save it to the cloud and leave it for my grandchildren and children. They should know about this crime and always remember who our neighbors are.

SIDNER: And now, the Bucha prosecutor's office says with the help of CNN's story, it has finally identified one of his executioners. The suspect name, Nikolay Sergeevich Sokovikov. Ukraine has informed Russia that their pretrial investigation has zeroed in on Sokovikov as the perpetrator of the cold-blooded killing.

While prosecutors will not reveal exactly how they identified this particular soldier, we have seen one part of the process being used by Ukrainian officials, facial recognition technology.

It's really fast.

The ministry of digital transformation gets an image, loads it into the program they created and it scrubs social media looking for a match. Once they have a match of a soldier dead or alive, they try to corroborate with friends and family and the soldier's social media sites.

"We have identified 300 cases," he says. The identification of the latest suspect of war crimes was months in the making but it is at least one step toward justice for the families who have had one thing taken from them they can never get back, the life of someone they loved -- Sara Sidner, CNN, New York.

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BRUNHUBER: Russia's defense ministry hasn't responded to CNN's request for comment, either to Sara Sidner's story or our reporting back in May.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union, was laid to rest Saturday. Gorbachev died Tuesday at the age of 91 after a long illness. In the 1980s he played a crucial role in bringing the Cold War to a peaceful end.

Gorbachev was buried in a historic Moscow cemetery next to his wife, Raisa. His funeral was proceeded by a farewell ceremony that was open to the public. And while Vladimir Putin skipped the services, hundreds of Russians didn't. They stood in line for hours to pay their final respects.

The voting is over and the winner will be announced Monday in the race to become the next leader of the U.K.'s Conservative Party, who will automatically become the new British prime minister.

A broad field of contenders was whittled down to just two, foreign secretary Liz Truss and former chancellor Rishi Sunak. On Tuesday, outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson is expected to submit his resignation to Queen Elizabeth, who will appointment the winner of the contest as prime minister.

Scott McLean joins us now live from London.

What are we expecting over the next two days?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This leadership race is actually the culmination of a race that's been taking place for the better part of two months now. But because of the peculiar way the Conservative Party actually chooses its leaders, most of the candidates were eliminated within the first few days.

So when Boris Johnson announced he would be stepping down, it was actually the sitting Conservative Party MPs who voted on a series of ballots to get the field down to just two, foreign secretary Liz Truss and the former chancellor Rishi Sunak, the man whose resignation arguably sparked the beginning of the end of Boris Johnson's time in power.

The criticism is that the MPs don't necessarily represent the wider Conservative Party membership. Similarly, the Conservative Party membership doesn't necessarily reflect the wishes of the wider electorate or even those who are likely to vote Conservative in the next election.

So despite the fact that you had a field of candidates initially that was the most diverse in British history for any political party, the Conservative Party members actually doing the choosing certainly are not.

According to a 2008 study, 97 percent of party members are white, 71 percent male, 61 percent over 55. There are 180,000 members, which means they make up less than 0.5 percent of the electorate.

But before the other major parties get all self-righteous, that same study found that this is largely the same across all of the political parties. All of them are majority male when it comes to memberships.

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MCLEAN: All of them are more than 95 percent white and, generally, most of the members are quite wealthy as well.

So if you believe the polls, Kim, Liz Truss is likely to be named the prime minister tomorrow. She will be officially taking over Tuesday, when she flies with Boris Johnson to Scotland for the queen to ask her formally to form a government.

And after that, she has a laundry list of challenges to take care of -- inflation, cost of living, the rising cost of energy bills. That one the British press is reporting she will have an announcement on very soon.

Of course, she has plenty of other ideas. But that one is likely to be the one that will get the most scrutiny out of the gate.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely.

Boris Johnson, what's next for him?

Are you expecting a comeback?

MCLEAN: Yes, so British politics is peculiar, especially when you compare it to American politics, in that it is not uncommon for former prime ministers to continue on sitting as regular MPs. Theresa May, for instance, is still a sitting MP.

Boris Johnson, it is expected, will continue to sit as an MP, at least until the next election. Johnson was an author, a columnist, a former mayor of London before he actually got into federal politics and became the prime minister.

And plenty of his friends and colleagues who spoke with CNN find it a little hard to believe he wouldn't try for a political comeback if the opportunity to get back in Number 10 Downing Street were to present itself.

Whether he actually could win a general election or even a leadership race within his own party is really quite another question because of all the challenges that are facing the country as he leaves office.

BRUNHUBER: It will be interesting to see. Scott McLean in London, thanks so much.

Just ahead for our viewers here in North America, we'll take a look at the political scene in Pennsylvania, where several high-stakes races are shaping midterm election campaigns in the U.S. For our international viewers, "INSIDE AFRICA" is next.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: He's an enemy of state, you want to know the truth. The enemy of the state is him and the group that control him, which is circling around him, do this, do that, Joe, you're going to do this, Joe, right?

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BRUNHUBER: That was the moment on Saturday when a former U.S. president accused the current president of being an enemy of the state. Donald Trump launched a counterattack in Pennsylvania, hitting back after President Joe Biden slammed Trump and his MAGA allies as an extremist threat.

Trump was in the Keystone State campaigning for candidates for governor and the U.S. Senate. The state is crucial for this year's midterms. But Trump appears to be looking ahead to 2024. For more, here's CNN's Kristen Holmes.

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former president Donald Trump was in Pennsylvania to support two of his handpicked candidates, Doug Mastriano and Mehmet Oz.

It sounded much more like a 2020 stump speech. It went over two hours, focusing mostly on his accomplishments in office, anecdotes, grievances on everything from Hillary Clinton to the FBI. He also responded to the search of his Mar-a-Lago home at length, take a listen.

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TRUMP: The Biden administration invaded the home of their chief political opponent, who is absolutely destroying him and everyone else in the polls, I hate to say it. But our opponents have badly miscalculated. This egregious abuse of the law is going to produce a backlash the likes of which nobody has ever seen before.

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HOLMES: Trump's appearance comes days after we saw President Biden in the state, showing you how critical the state has become in 2022, particularly when you look at the seat belonging to retiring Republican Pat Toomey.

Democrats say they believe it is one of their only opportunities to pick up a seat as they cling on, hoping to keep that majority.

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BRUNHUBER: Joining me from Allentown, Pennsylvania, is Charlie Dent, a CNN political commentator and a former Republican U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania.

Thank you so much for being here. I want to start with what we saw there, Donald Trump's speech, Trump calling Biden an enemy of the state, who looked like the devil, accusing the FBI of trying to destroy the country.

And particularly, sort of in the context of Joe Biden's own speech two days ago in Pennsylvania, after which Republicans criticized Biden for this sort of us versus them rhetoric.

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it seems that the country is hopelessly polarized. President Trump is in Wilkes-Barre tonight as you indicated. He's up there criticizing the FBI.

I have to be honest, any member of Congress, absconded with classified material, I can assure you that a G-man, somebody from the FBI, would have showed up at their homes and demanded that they return that information.

So I'm not so sure that the former president Trump did anyone any good with that speech tonight. Just by showing up in Pennsylvania, he is making the election much more about himself.

And of course, most Republican candidates don't want anything to do with Donald Trump in this general election. They want this to be about Joe Biden and the Democrats. But to the extent Trump inserts himself into this conversation, he's giving the Democrats a major gift right now.

That's what we're witnessing in Pennsylvania. Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano were there. But Mehmet Oz, I don't think, wants to be anywhere near Donald Trump in this fall election. It just doesn't do him any good. He needs to win swing voters, independents and some Democrats.

And it's hard to do that when Trump is really just playing and pandering to the base.

BRUNHUBER: Let's back up a bit and look sort of at the importance of these races in Pennsylvania for Senate and governor.

How important are they as bellwethers that can tell us a lot about the state of national politics, for instance?

DENT: Well, Pennsylvania is really, probably the most certainly the largest swing state in the country. This is a year, too, where Republicans going into the election felt pretty good.

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DENT: But again, former president Trump inserted himself into the primary election in both the Senate and gubernatorial races, endorsing candidates, that I would say the GOP establishment really were not behind.

Certainly in the governor's race case, by endorsing Mastriano, who's been quite an election denier and very extreme on many levels and so many Republicans view that these races are very winnable, especially in the governor's case.

It's not so winnable now because of this candidate, Mastriano. I should note that I have endorsed Josh Shapiro, the Democrat running against him. He's a mainstream individual and a decent and honorable human being.

BRUNHUBER: Interesting; I know a lot of sort of mainstream, middle of the road Republicans have done that as well.

You talk about the importance of Donald Trump maybe acting as an anchor for these candidates. Let's talk about Joe Biden. He's given several speeches in the state. He's expected back there on Monday.

Is he an important factor with his sagging poll numbers?

Could he drag down the Democratic candidates?

DENT: Well, sure, absolutely. In fact, that's what a midterm election is supposed to be about, the president who is in power and his party; in this case, Joe Biden and the Democrats. And you want the election to be a referendum on them, on Joe Biden and the Democrats.

And I think really the key factor in this upcoming midterm election will be Joe Biden's approval rating. Now it has ticked up a little bit recently. It's still not very good. It's better than Donald Trump's ratings.

But, yes, ordinarily, by historic standards, the Democrats should face some real problems in this midterm. But there have been some mitigating factors -- the Dobbs decision on abortion, the January 6th hearings, the search of Donald Trump's home down at Mar-a-Lago and his absconding with classified material.

All these things and to the extent that Donald Trump is out on the stump, again, I don't think that's helping.

Plus, of course, many -- too many extreme candidates in some swing straights, like Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania, others in other states, who have gotten through the primary process and who are just either unelectable or are certainly deficient in so many ways.

So really, so the Democrats should be in a much more defensive position than they are. But I wouldn't bet against history. I still suspect Republicans will win the House but not by the type of majority they were talking about a few months ago.

Obviously, Republicans in the Senate are facing an even bigger challenge, given some of the candidates who have been nominated this cycle.

BRUNHUBER: And we just had on the screen a few moments ago some footage from Joe Biden's speech on Wednesday, in which he was sort of attacking MAGA Republicans and, as I said, a lot of Republicans took that amiss, saying he was painting them all with this brush.

As a moderate Republican yourself, did you sort of take offense to that?

Did you think that was a bad idea?

DENT: Look, I thought Joe Biden's use of the term "semi-fascists" was rather -- was very incendiary. I never liked it when Republicans would try to paint all Democrats as socialists, you know, calling them -- if you want to call those semi-socialists or semi-communists, I thought that was a bit incendiary.

BRUNHUBER: Fascinating races in a crucial state. The country will be watching. Thanks so much for your analysis, Charlie Dent, really appreciate it.

DENT: Thanks, Kim.

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BRUNHUBER: They arrive by the hundreds almost daily, often with only the clothes on their back. We'll tell you how much the state of Texas has spent to bus thousands of migrants to faraway U.S. cities.

And nearly a decade after 43 Mexican students went missing, we'll follow their grieving parents as they travel to Mexico City to demand justice for the crime and the cover-up.

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BRUNHUBER: Since late April, Texas has spent millions of dollars to send thousands of migrants to faraway cities in other states. Many crossed the border after long and dangerous journeys and are willing to accept the free bus rides without knowing what's at the other end. CNN's Polo Sandoval has the latest.

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Texas Division of Emergency Management, the entity tasked with carrying out Texas governor Greg Abbott's migrant bus program, confirming for CNN that, since the start of the program, they have spent roughly $12.7 million in state funds to offer these bus rides to migrant families to cities including Washington, D.C., New York and, most recently, Chicago, Illinois.

Typically these migrants, after they're released from federal custody, it is up to them to pay for their own bus or plane tickets as they continue with their asylum proceedings. However, since April, governor Abbott has been offering these migrants free rides to those who volunteer to accept the offer.

Governor Abbott releasing a statement responding to this reporting, showing the $12.7 million in Texas taxpayer spending, saying that, until President Biden and Congress do their jobs and secure our southern border, Texas will continue utilizing every strategy to address this border crisis and protect Texans.

We should note, not long after that statement was issued, at least two buses from Texas pulled into Chicago, transporting about 95 migrants. And the Texas governor made clear that he's considering other blue cities in terms of potentially sending migrant buses their way as well --Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

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BRUNHUBER: Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Mexico City on Saturday to protest the leadership of president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and the struggling economy. Demonstrators say Obrador isn't doing enough to stop armed criminal groups that have plagued Mexico for decades.

Drug related gang violence in Mexico has impacted millions, leaving over 100,000 people missing and an untold number dead.

An update now on a story we've been following for years, the families of the 43 students who went missing in rural Mexico still don't have any closure, despite the arrest of a former official last month. CNN's David Culver has the story of parents who won't rest until justice is served.

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DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eight years since they've last seen their sons, parents of Mexico's missing 43 students marched through the capital streets, clinging tight to painful memories and demanding justice. A shocking government report released last month concluded their

children were victims of a state-sponsored crime, carried out and covered up in part, the report says, by some of Mexico's most powerful.

[03:45:00]

CULVER (voice-over): The parents' trip to Mexico City started some 200 miles away, a nearly five-hour drive through winding mountainous roads deep into the Mexican state of Guerrero, heavily infiltrated by corruption and cartel violence.

The U.S. government warns its citizens not to travel here.

CULVER: Along this highway that cuts through the state capital, you can see the graffiti of activism, people demanding justice for their friends.

CULVER (voice-over): The 43 attended a teachers' college, Escuela Normal Rural, near the small town of Ayotzinapa.

Here they educate the mostly impoverished, rural, indigenous communities and inspire activism.

These are among the last images recorded of the young men, seen learning farming skills, laughing, smiling, just days before the horrors that unfolded on September 26th, 2014.

While on their way to commemorate a deadly protest from decades earlier, the bus carrying the students was reportedly stopped by police. Rare footage from one of the students only shows the start of the encounter. What happened next is shrouded in mystery and tragedy.

Police reportedly opened fire and 43 of the students, gone. Government officials initially concluded local police detained and handed the students over to members of a local cartel, who then murdered them and incinerated their bodies.

Their parents have never believed that.

"The authorities don't say anything," this father tells me, "that's why we need to continue fighting. We will not back down until we know something."

Over the years, parents search for clues in Guerrero's mountains, held monthly marches in the capital, took over toll plazas in protest, brought their pleas to top government officials.

Four years after the students' disappearance sparked international outcry, president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office and immediately launched a truth commission to investigate.

Another four years passed. And just weeks ago, that very commission unveiled stunning revelations, stating, an order was given to carry out the ambush. It didn't say who gave the order or why but the report links federal, state and local authorities to the disappearance and execution of the students.

CULVER: The very next day, the former attorney general was arrested here in Mexico City; shocking, given he once led the investigation. And just hours after that, a court issued more than 80 arrest warrants against military, police and cartel members.

CULVER (voice-over): Sheltered from the mountain rain, 43 classroom seats hold the missing.

(Speaking Spanish).

CULVER: His son and two nephews.

"If we just let it go, there won't be justice," he tells me. "That is to say the same thing will happen again and again. That's why we're fighting."

And that's why, every month, Don Margarito (ph) and the dozens of other parents, weighed down by unresolved grief, board buses and make the trek eerily similar to the one their sons attempted.

Once on the streets of the capital, emotions surface. This aging generation, exhausted yet relentless, now carrying their children's fight for justice.

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BRUNHUBER: Authorities in Memphis, Tennessee, say they've found the vehicle of interest in the disappearance of Tennessee teacher Eliza Fletcher and they've detained the man who was in it.

They didn't say whether he's connected to the case or will face charges. Police say the 34-year-old Fletcher was forced into an SUV while she was jogging Friday morning. Her uncle spoke on behalf of the family.

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MIKE KEENEY, ELIZA FLETCHER'S UNCLE: Liza has touched the hearts of many people and it shows.

We want to thank the Memphis Police Department, Shelby County Sheriff's Department, TBI, FBI and all of the other law enforcement agencies, who are working tirelessly to find Liza.

The family has met with police and we have shared with them all the information we know. More than anything, we want to see Liza returned home safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Fletcher is white and 5'6" with light brown hair, green eyes. Her family is offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.

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BRUNHUBER: It can be a terrifying sight, spotting a shark while swimming in the ocean. But researchers say the sharks aren't really there looking for you. It turns out sharks actually like the waters near big city beaches. CNN's Lynda Kinkade has the story.

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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every year, millions crowd the white, sandy beaches of Florida's southern coast to sunbathe and take dips in the cool Atlantic.

And just below the surface, a diversity of shark species. Sharks have been around for over 450 million years but have only experienced large urban areas for a few hundred years. Scientists at the University of Miami wanted to find out if sharks are attracted to or repelled by big cities.

DR. NEIL HAMMERSCHLAG, MARINE ECOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: What we were trying to do is track these sharks to see if they would be avoiding areas really close to the city that were polluted, lots of boat traffic, lots of human disturbance. And we really thought they would.

KINKADE (voice-over): Using acoustic technology, researchers monitored the movements of bull sharks, nurse sharks and great hammerhead sharks off the coast of Miami for several years.

HAMMERSCHLAG: Essentially what we did is we placed these transmitters, small little tags on the sharks. They're about the size of a AA battery. And they would emit an ultrasonic sound.

KINKADE (voice-over): The sound included a code that identifies each shark.

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KINKADE (voice-over): They then place listening stations all around the waters of South Florida.

HAMMERSCHLAG: When a shark swims within a few hundred feet of one of those listening stations, it can detect that transmitter. It hears it and it will report that that ID, that shark, swam by that location. So it logs the date and time.

KINKADE (voice-over): They were surprised by the results. Sharks do like big cities.

HAMMERSCHLAG: These sharks were cruising up and down the coastline in areas that there are people that bathe in the ocean. And I think, although this might make you a bit nervous, to me, it just proves the point that sharks really don't want to bite people. In fact, sharks really tolerate people and tend to avoid them.

KINKADE (voice-over): Scientists don't know why for sure but they believe that, as the world's coastlines rapidly urbanize, sharks and other sea life may be adapting to the change.

Also, they may be attracted by people fishing and aquariums and fisheries dumping fish parts into the waters. An uncomfortable finding for many beachgoers but not necessarily a cause for alarm.

HAMMERSCHLAG: Humans are not on the menu when it comes to sharks.

KINKADE (voice-over): Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: A 2,000-year-old mosaic, called a key part of Rome's history, has been returned to Italy after decades in storage in Los Angeles. Depicting the mythical figure of Medusa, it's been cut into 16 pieces.

It was packed in special crates for its return trip home. A lawyer representing an anonymous client contacted the FBI to report the mosaic. They contacted Italian police. It's unclear how the client obtained the mosaic but the FBI says the mosaic belongs to the people of Rome. Once restored, it will be put on public display.

I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment with more CNN NEWSROOM.

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