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Police Say, California Serial Killings Suspect Caught While on a Mission to Kill; Biden to Focus on Abortion Rights in Speech Three Speech Before Election; Top U.S. Official Says, Russia Burning Through High Tech Weapons in Ukraine. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired October 16, 2022 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the Newsroom, on the hunt and now in cuffs. A police surveillance team capturing the man they say is connected to a series of six killings in Stockton, California, while they say he was on a mission to kill again.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't have the tanks they need. They don't have the equipments they need to --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A CNN exclusive, Russia rapidly running through its advanced weapons stockpile, as western sanctions eat away at their supply chain.

And how the new NFL concussion protocols are reshaping the way kids play the game.

You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

Hello, everyone, thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, new this morning, an accused serial killer now behind bars. Police in Stockton, California, have arrested a suspect for the killings for six men in crimes that spanned over a year-and-a-half and terrorize the city. The police chief says 43-year-old Wesley Brownlee was out hunting for a new victim when they made the arrest.

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CHIEF STANLEY MCFADDEN, STOCKTON POLICE: As officers made contact with him, he was wearing dark clothing with a mask around his neck. He was also armed with a firearm when he was taken into custody. We are sure we stopped another killing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Camilla Bernal joining me live from Stockton with the latest. Camilla, how did the police narrow their search and find now a suspect?

CAMILLA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred, good morning. So, they're saying two things. The first being the tips, the community's help, and the second being old fashioned police work. What authorities are saying is that, thanks to all of those tips, they were able to zero in on one possible suspect and they started following him, watching his every move, trying to figure out if there were patterns.

And, in fact there were, he was going out late at night or early in the morning. According to police, he would go to dark places, parks, he would look around, stop and then be on the move again.

And so on Saturday, yesterday, at around two in the morning, they were following him. And they believe that, according to the chief of police, he was hunting, he was on a mission to kill. And that's why instead they decided to arrest him. Now, everybody is thanking the community here in Stockton for this arrest. Here is how the San Joaquin district attorney is describing it.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This crime was solved because we're Stocktonians, because you don't come to our house and bring this kind reign of terror and not mobilize 350,000 people, 780,000 in this whole entire county, mobilized and captured this individual, who reign of terror is no longer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And, look, we've been covering this story for weeks. Authorities had been asking the public to help, to try to look at this video, to try to identify this possible suspect. And as you heard from the chief, when they arrested him, he was wearing all black, had a mask around his neck, had a gun on him. According to authorities, he does have a criminal record but we have to wait until Tuesday, when he shows up in court to figure out exactly what the charges are going to be against him.

And it is also really important to point out that the chief said they do not know what the motive behind all of this was. So, there's still the question as to why this man was doing this. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Camilla Bernal, I thank you so much for that.

I want to bring in now Juliette Kayyem for more perspective on all of this. She's a CNN National Security Analyst and former Assistant Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. So good to see you, Juliette.

So, police say this suspect, Brownlee, was out hunting when they arrested him. Tell us more about how you interpret that in terms of how long they may have been watching him before they felt like this was the moment to arrest him.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, in an odd way, this is sort of the ideal moment to arrest him, because he would have made plans. He had the mask on, he had a gun.

[11:05:00]

So, you can sort of follow his tracks and relate them, or at least in a future trial, sort of relate them to other instances of this kind of killing.

I want to be clear here, this is a really odd serial killing. It's like what we call a silent attacker. There's just no motive, there's no other crime, no rape or assault, no targeting for robbery, or even for that matter do we know for sure that these are racial attacks, although most of the men are Hispanic. The community is also highly Hispanic, so we don't know what that's relating to. The only thing these victims have in common is that they were all men.

And this is a very hard case to crack when someone is not leaving hints, when they're not, in some ways, as we've seen with serial killers teasing authorities. So, they went out to the public, rightfully so, knowing that someone in the public would know who he was.

WHITFIELD: So you say this was an odd serial killing, but I wonder just as one of the last points you just made about a commonality happening early in the morning or late at night when the person was isolated. I mean, might that also be part of the -- I guess the profile of the killing in that it was an issue or sometimes it's an issue of opportunity here if it doesn't seem really clear about what the motivation is.

KAYYEM: Right. So, I'll tell you this, and it's hard for people to -- success was actually what probably what was animating him. Because if you look at -- we look at dates. So, if you look at a serial killer, we're report thing as 18 months but the last five killings happened in the last three months. So, success begins to breed the sort of pacing.

That is also when law enforcement authorities realize that they have a serial killer. This is not obvious 18 months ago. These might just be random killings. So, killers, like others, get cocky, so to speak. They then make mistakes or they follow routines that then can be exposed by law enforcement. So, we don't know what the motive is. But I just know, looking at the pacing, he was -- he was animated by his success.

WHITFIELD: So, talk to me about the tool that was used to help lead to apprehending a suspect. I mean, the surveillance tape that went out, I mean, we saw it last week, and what was telling of that person in the tape was the gait, the walk.

And now we know that police did get a lot of tips and that helped them here. Talk to us about how important it was for, I guess, police to be calculated about what they're revealing out there and how it kind of, you know, led to tipsters noticing something unusual. KAYYEM: Yes. This is an important-- it's a change in law enforcement, I think a healthy one. Some of it has to do with cameras and cameras on our iPhone, people having more information. And if people are willing to come forward that law enforcement ensures that they're listening.

What's important here is this is essentially a crowd sourcing that the law enforcement capacity was limited. You have a suspect. He has a particular feature. In this case, it was a gait that is going to trigger other friends, family, the community, to maybe narrow down the list.

And it's very important in these cases because there's a certain number of killings themselves. But as we know from Stockton, at least what we are hearing from officials, and all the reporting in the last couple of weeks, this was a community that was completely impacted.

And people who live in D.C. will remember this phenomenon with the sniper, that it wasn't just the shootings themselves, it was that your whole way of life had changed, yes.

WHITFIELD: So, there were six victims. You talked about the commonality, all men. But there was a surviving victim, who is a 46- year-old black woman, who told police that her attacker said nothing at all during the offense, but I wonder what she was able to convey that might have been instrumental in helping to surveil this person or at least lead to an arrest.

KAYYEM: Thank you for clarifying that. I meant the fatalities were all men. Yes, there was another victim early on, an African-American woman, who survived. So, this the silent aspect of it that is just odd for serial killers, that they're not leaving any trails or hints. She would have identified his race. The suspect is African-American.

She might have been able to identify the race of the victim so that, as law enforcement is getting tips across the whole area, they're at least able to narrow down by race, height and particularly, the build. Him not having said anything is -- still leaves the physicalness of what he looks like and his race, of course, to be shared.

[11:10:02]

WHITFIELD: All right. Juliette Kayyem, good to see you, thanks so much.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, the U.S. says Russia is running out of high-tech equipment, weapons, and missiles it's using in Ukraine. And western sanctions are actually hurting its ability to replenish supplies. A CNN exclusive straight ahead

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WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. First on CNN, President Biden plans to put the spotlight on abortion rights in a pitch to voters this week. On Tuesday, the president speaks at a Democratic National Committee event just three weeks before the midterm election. He's hoping the abortion issue will galvanize voters before they head to the polls.

CNN's Jasmine Wright joining us now from Wilmington, Delaware, where the president is spending the weekend. Jasmine, what more do we know about the president's strategy for these final weeks before the election?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the president definitely is keeping busy next week, Fred, with a major focus of this week on the midterm elections, trying to get the vote out for Democrats.

[11:15:06]

But, of course, keeping busy means that he will have to confront those major issues of the economy and inflation, two things on voter's minds heading into November.

So, on, Thursday, we will see him at a fundraising event for Senate Candidate John Fetterman in Pennsylvania. And the White House announced today that on November 1st, the president will head to Florida for a finance event for Gubernatorial Candidate Charlie Crist.

Now, on Tuesday is that big key mark speech on abortion. It will be his fourth or fifth speech on abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the summer time. And, of course, as you said, he hopes that shining a spotlight on abortion will galvanize Democratic voters to come to the ballot for Democrats. Will he try to push things in their way?

But that focus on abortion doesn't stand exactly straight when it comes to what voters are concerned about. In a recent CNN poll, it found that the economy remains a central focus or voters with 90 percent of registered voters saying it was extremely or very important, as you can see on the screen here, to their vote. Now, 72 percent said abortion was as important.

So, the president has been wrapping up a week, and on the West Coast, spent the last week really trying to spin the economy and those latest inflation numbers in a positive way, saying it's not just the U.S., it's a global issue, and that the U.S. economy is strong. But, of course, that doesn't necessarily jive with what Americans are feeling in their pockets.

And one last thing here, Fred, I'll say is that the president said that he would have an announcement on gas prices or talk about at least how to lower the prices at the pump this coming week. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Jasmine Wright, traveling with the president, good job as you are working what sounded like a NASCAR race happening behind you there. All right, thanks so much, Jasmine.

All right, the economy and inflation will also be a major focus or voters in the upcoming election, and the prices surging for most consumer goods. More Americans are turning to food pantries to feed their families.

Here's CNN's Nadia Romero.

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NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Hundreds of families lined up for help, some of them, four hours before this drive-thru food pantry started at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in a suburb of Atlanta over the weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have absolutely no idea how many people are suffering in silence, having no clue as to how they're going to feed and take care of their families.

ROMERO: Every Saturday since January 2020, back then, just 30 cars per week, but now, up to 3,000 cars a week.

The pandemic and rising inflation providing a one-two punch on people's wallets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is the pandemic and everything is going up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Double and triple. I paid 85 cents a dozen for eggs. And now they're $3. It's crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really ridiculous. You go to the supermarket and things get expensive.

ROMERO: food prices more than alarming, especially for families living paycheck to paycheck. Last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing just how much staple goods will cost you this year compared to 2021. Bread jumped 16 percent, milk up 17 percent, flour, 23 percent more expensive, and egg prices with the most dramatic increase, up nearly 40 percent. Inflation a big talking point on the campaign trail as we near the midterm elections.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How to budget in a way that doesn't create runaway inflation.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): The out of control inflation.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Inflation is a global problem.

ROMERO: Off the campaign trail and back to the food line. Priscilla Ward and her sister, Brenda Billings (ph), getting the surprise of a lifetime. The sisters are the 1 millionth family who came through the drive-thru pantry at this church since January 2020.

Ward and her sister will take home healthy produce, small appliances and a $1,000 cash prize for helping the church hit this mark. Ward says she has several growing grandchildren she helps feed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they walk in the door, grandma, I'm hungry. So, I said, well, let me see what grandma might get. They always say, grandma, you always have something.

ROMERO: For her sister, it's been a rough last few years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had cancer twice, colon cancer, breast cancer. I'm a cancer survivor. And right now, God brought me through a whole lot.

ROMERO: Tears and cheers as these two special recipients and others in line get the help they need from this church and partners, like World Vision.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My grandmother taught me a principle that when it's family, it's not charity.

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ROMERO (voice over): And we know that inflation is top of mind for a lot of families and it's spilling over into the campaign trail.

[11:20:02]

And some Republicans want to make this clear that inflation is squarely to blame, the fault of President Biden and Democrats, whereas Democrats in the trail will tell you that it's because of supply chain issues and corporate greed. No matter the cause, we know that this will be a big issue that will continue to play out and we'll see what happens in November, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. These are dinner plate and breakfast plate issues, and they resonate. Thanks so much, Nadia.

All right, coming up, a CNN exclusive, a top U.S. official says western sanctions are making it harder for Russia to replenish the high tech weapons it's using to attack Ukraine.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Even as Russia continues its strikes across Ukraine, a senior U.S. official is telling CNN the Kremlin is struggling to maintain its arsenal of high tech weapons and missiles. The deputy secretary of the treasury told CNN's Kevin Liptak in exclusive interview that Russian fighters in Ukraine are running low on military supplies.

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WALLY ADEYEMO, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: They have to make critical choices about what they can do on the battlefield, because they don't have the tanks they need, they don't have the equipment they need to have helicopters, they don't have the semiconductors they need to launch precision missiles into Ukraine.

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WHITFIELD: CNN's Kevin Liptak joining me now. So, why hasn't Russia been able to supply its war machine? KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, essentially, Fredricka, they aren't able to get the parts they need for the munitions that they're burning through at quite a quick pace. And, of course, we've heard a lot about how the U.S. is trying to arm Ukraine, but we are getting a new window into a parallel effort that the U.S. is taking to disarm Russia.

And some of the figures that we've learned are quite eye opening. According to a U.S. intelligence analysis, Russia has lost more than 6,000 pieces of equipment since the start of the war. They haven't been able to replace many of them. Even as early as May, they were running low on parts to repair diesel engines, helicopters and aircraft they weren't able to fix because they couldn't get the components.

Even two factories were forced to go idle that were creating some of these microelectronics because they weren't able to get some of the foreign equipment. And the fact Russia is so desperate for some of these parts to put into their weapons, that they're dismantling things, like dishwashers and microwaves.

Of course, what is behind all of these are these really tough export restrictions that the U.S. and other nations put into place at the beginning of this war that have made it impossible for Russia to acquire some of the parts that it needs to make these weapons. And I did sit down with the deputy treasury secretary, Wally Adeyemo on Friday to talk through some of this effort. Listen to more of what he had to say.

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ADEYEMO: Russia is running out of troops. They're running out of ammunition. They're running out of tanks and other materials. And what we're trying to do, using sanctions and export controls, is make it harder for them to reinforce their troops and to get the things they need to fight the war in Ukraine in order to put the Ukrainians in a better position to win on the battlefield and to make sure that Russia's invasion ends as quickly as possible.

When you think about sanctions, there are two things we're trying to do. One is to reduce Russia's revenue so that they have to make the choice between propping up their economy and funding their war in Ukraine. And the second thing we're trying to do is going after Russia's military industrialized complex supply chain.

China can't provide Russia with what China doesn't have. And China doesn't produce the most advanced semiconductors. Those are produced by our allies and partners. So, while Russia is searching for these things, the reason they're using their intelligence services and front companies to try to get them is because the countries they would naturally turn to don't have them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, because Russia can't obtain some of these high tech weapons, they are turning to places, like Iran and North Korea, for less advanced weapons. U.S. officials say this is a cat and mouse game to try and tamp down where Russia can acquire new weaponry. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Kevin Liptak, extraordinary reporting, thank you so much. And, of course, we'll talk about all of this with the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine right after this.

[11:30:00]

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WHITFIELD: All right, back to our CNN Exclusive, a senior U.S. official saying the Kremlin is struggling to maintain it's arsenal of high tech weapons and missiles. Joining me right now, Ambassador William Taylor, Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and the Vice- President for Russia and Europe at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

So good to see you ambassador, so wow, what is your reaction to hear from our Kevin Liptak's reporting that Russia is so desperate it's actually dismantling dishwashers and microwaves for supplies?

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Fredricka, this is what's been going on now for a couple of months, and it's very effective. So we've got -- that Secretary Austin, secretary of Defense, we know the kind of work that he's doing in supplying the Ukrainians, and we have the Treasury Department and we know the kind of work they're doing of applying these sanctions.

Well what's really going on behind the scenes that-- that Kevin just described, is this export ban on components, on electronic components and that's being run by the secretary of Commerce. Secretary of Commerce is a key part -- is a key partner and she's doing a great job of shutting down the Russian economy and its dependence on these -- on these components, electronic components that they-- that the Russians can only get from outside the country.

WHITFIELD: And this is a consequence of the western imposed sanctions, right?

TAYLOR: The -- the sanctions are there and a component of those sanctions is this export ban, where we're not supplying the Russians with these, kind of, microchips that they require for precision guided munitions. We've seen (Inaudible) over the last week where the Russians have just been blasting the Ukrainians, civilian targets, not military targets.

They've just been blasting power plants and apartment buildings, just ludicrous. I mean, just war crimes, I mean, just -- just cruel and they've been using precision guided munitions and they're running out of them. Why are they running out? They can't resupply. Why can't they resupply? Because the secretary of Commerce is cutting them off.

WHITFIELD: So Russia has been relying on some of its allies, China being one, Iran being another. Is that sustainable to help keep Russia in this position as it continues to, you know, invade Ukraine?

TAYLOR: No, you're exactly right and the interesting question is on China. [11:35:09]

TAYLOR: China has not provided weapons and the Russians have asked them and -- and the Chinese have said, no. The Chinese have not helped the Russians evade these sanctions that we were just talking about, or evade these export controls. The Chinese have not been helpful. The Iranians, it's interesting, the Russians are going to Iran and North Korea for weapons.

They can't go to the international market. They can't even go to the Chinese that -- that produce a lot of these things. So-- so to answer your question, it's not sustainable. They don't have the ability to maintain the stocks and keep firing indiscriminately at the Ukrainians.

WHITFIELD: So that's all about weaponry, then there's the manpower issue. I mean, Putin has had to constrict soldiers for his army. He's faced protests over the war at home and even, you know, some decent from his circle of allies, and now reportedly people, men, are being abducted in Russia in order to be, you know, put into the military and, you know, to fight in Ukraine. So, is this a sign of a shifting strategy for Russia or is it more of the same? Just, you know, trying to do what it has been doing without any, kind of, adaptations?

TAYLOR: This is a sign of desperation. If the Russians have to go to -- to prisoners or if the Russians have to go to abductees, you know, forcing people into the military. These soldiers are not going to fight. These soldiers are not going to effective on the battlefield. They don't have the equipment, so the -- as you point out, the man, material and morale, the Russians are hurting on men. We've talked about the material and morale is sky high on the Ukrainian side and is in the dumps on the Russian side.

WHITFIELD: Wow, the Biden Administration said this week it is giving another $725 million in military aid. At what point does the U.S. and its allies, you know, kind of run out of the ability of the resources to continue to supply Ukraine which is in the billions now?

TAYLOR: And the answer is no time soon, what President Biden has said, what Secretary Austin has said, what the administration has said over and over is we will be there for as long as it takes. The United States and its allies is an enormous economy compared to the Russian economy. There's no doubt that we can supply the Ukrainians with what they need and it's coming strong. It's coming with -- with heavy equipment. It's coming steadily and that's going to continue. There's no sign that the administration is slacking off on its support for Ukraine. Indeed the Ukrainians are now, as you know, as you've been reporting on a counter offensive that is pushing Russians back towards where they came from.

WHITFIELD: Ambassador William Taylor, I thank you so much. I always enjoy having you on.

TAYLOR: Thank you Fredricka. WHITFIELD: All right, in Iran, at least four prisoners have

reportedly died and another 61 injured at the country's notoriously brutal Evin Prison in northern Tehran. State media said the prisoners died of smoke inhalation and the fire was deliberately started in a warehouse full of prison clothing. Activist groups said gunshots were heard and Iranian special forces were seen heading to the area. The prison is known for housing political prisoners. Still ahead, how NFL concussion protocols are reshaping the way kids are playing the game and why some say the new rules don't go far enough to protect players.

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WHITFIELD: The NFL updated it's concussion protocol after recent head injuries in the league and now the safety spotlight is on high school football teams. As CNN's Mandy Gaither explains changing the way kids practice could be a huge step in keeping them safe on the field.

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MANDY GAITHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the most popular sport with high school boys, nearly 1.5 million play football but concerns continue to grow over head injuries.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A lot of head impacts are occurring during practice, not just the games.

GAITHER: That's why a new study published in the Medical Journal Pediatrics suggests changing the way high schooler's practice may help. The researchers from Indiana University studied three Midwest teams in the 2021 season using mouth sensors to gauge the impact different plays and drills have on an athletes head.

GUPTA: Numbers kind of astounded me, so 74 players a season they looked at, 7,300 head impacts. So it's close to 100 impacts per player on average.

GAITHER: In just under 86 hours studied, there were 310 head impacts with air drills or drills without contact, compared to more than 3,300 head impacts in 115 hours of Thud drills where players train at high speeds and restrict impact to above the waist.

GUPTA: That's a lot of head impacts on these -- these high school football players and it's not just concussions. It is the sub- concussive or just head impacts of any sort. They accumulate over time.

GAITHER: Because of that cumulative effect, researchers say minimizing head impacts during drills and practice may help reduce head injuries overall.

GUPTA: We know more than ever that some of these chronic changes, some of these most concerning changes in the brain can start early. GAITHER: For health minute, I'm Mandy Gaither.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining us now Chris Nowinski. He's back.

[11:45:05]

WHITFIELD: He's a former professional wrestler with the WWE and now the CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to supporting athletes effected by concussions and promoting safer athletics. Chris, glad you could be back with us. So your response to the idea of limited contact drills during practice to help reduce head injuries for these kids playing football.

CHRIS NOWINSKI, FORMER PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER WITH WWE: I'm so glad we're talking about this because, you know, back in 2009 I went to the NFL Players Association and said look, 70 percent ahead of that screen practice let's change it and they did and now they barely hit at the NFL level. But it hasn't trickled down which is a real missed opportunity.

This study you're highlighting is so important because places like the Ivy League which I've been an advisor to, have cut out tackling in practice but this study tells us what we've replaced it with. THUD is actually just as dangerous or perhaps more dangerous and so we really have to retrain high school football coaches how to teach football so we don't give football this disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE.

WHITFIELD: When do you think that's going to happen?

NOWINSKI: You know, it's really been a struggle to try to get, you know, we can really talking about retraining a workforce that right now, most of all -- most -- for the most part does not buy into the idea that repetitive hits to the head, 500 hit's a season on a -- on a kid is causing this brain disease, CTE.

But now, that -- that science is done, we know that football causes CTE. So now we have to address, we have children playing a game that is causing some of them to have a brain disease and, you know, the most -- I mean, rather than just saying we can't play at all. We need to give football coaches a chance to adjust and really pushing this really hard over the next few years so that we don't have to deal with these problems down the road.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So -- so while the NFL, you know, updated its concussion protocols following the injury, you know, to the Dolphins quarter back Tua Tagolvailoa and you were quoted in Newsweek -- Newsweek rather, saying while it makes sense on paper to put the final call in the hands of the physician. The public needs to know that the protocol remains a risky one and it should not be used as a model for children. So further explain that.

NOWINSKI: Yes, and it's important to have that conversation now because the NFL is being held up as this model of how we should handle concussions, but the reality is that youth leagues and high school programs you don't have a physician on the sideline.

You don't have this complex profile and -- and information on each player, and so the idea of putting a player back in after testing them is really, should only be at the professional, maybe the college level. If you have enough of a reason to pull a child or a teenager off the field because you suspect a concussion, you should just assume they have one and they should not be going back into the game.

And so this, sort of, liberal putting players back in makes sense at the pro level because NFL players are worried about losing their job or being considered concussion prone. So they don't have one, they never want to be held out. But everyone needs to hear for your kid, err on the side of caution. They have their entire lives ahead of them. They're not paid, let's be safer.

WHITFIELD: Yes and -- and when we all watched, you know, what Tua experience on the field. You know, I feel like I'm hearing from you that, that kind of experience is not going to be so foreign to a high school, you know, aged player. I mean, that-- that can happen as well. So what are you hoping will be learned in terms of all those around you.

I remember when we talked, you talked about everyone failing Tua at that moment. So now bring it to the high school level, they don't have, you know, a protocol in place largely because of player's union but now at the high school level, who are the people who need to be, you know, on the team of the kid? You know, to -- to help recognize something's going on and that kid shouldn't play, again, right now or let them sit out. Who's on that team?

NOWINSKI: Yes, so, yes, the -- the -- the, I mean, about half of schools have access to an athletic trainer who plays a really important role in being the medical advocate for that child. About 70 percent of kids are covered by one, but the -- the added layer that we have to talk about with concussions with teenagers is, you know, Tua is sticking to the story that it was a back injury that caused him to fall over and to shake his head in the classic shaping out the cobweb portion.

Of course, I don't believe that but he-- at least he might have some inkling as to what happened to him in realized he had a concussion. Teenagers are not necessarily old enough to understand what's happening inside their brain and they might not connect the dots if they took a big hit yesterday and the next day they're having trouble comprehending in school. They're having headaches. They couldn't sleep last night and they may not tell the athletic trainer that they might have a concussion.

High school football players have already died (inaudible) from brain injuries and one in New Jersey, just a couple weeks ago. I mean, this is -- this is actually a life and death issue. You know, it actually happened to a kid in my high school when I was young.

[11:50:10]

NOWINSKI: This -- no -- no he -- he wasn't telling anyone how much his head hurt during the week but he, not band practice, because he couldn't play his trumpet because it hurt too much.

WHITFIELD: Oh yeah.

NOWINSKI: But these stories are everywhere, so we have to be so much more vigilant about lowering the risk profile for kids, teaching them what concussions look like. We have a program called Team Up Against Concussion where we teach teammates to look out for each other because we realize that kids can't make that important judgment to themselves. I have a concussion. I need to think about long-term health.

WHITFIELD: Right.

NOWINSKI: That's asking a lot of a teenager.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh, that's all so important and -- and so vital and critical because, you know, just as you talked about the pressures of a professional player. They're like, oh my salary, I want to stay on the team but for a kid it's kind of, well everybody else is playing and they don't want to, you know, reveal, you know, that they're not feeling well because there is a stigma with perhaps a weakness, or you're not suited for the game.

And so like you said, they may not say anything but it takes everybody around those kids just like the professional players to recognize something's up and help them out and preserve them. Right? It's all about preservation for the future. All right, Chris Nowinski, so good to see you. Thank you so much.

NOWINSKI: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

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[11:55:09]

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WHITFIELD: All right, tonight on a new episode of Stanley Tucci Searching for Italy, Stanley explores the rugged terrain and unique delicacies of Sardinia, the wild west of Italy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STANLEY TUCCI, ACTOR AND CNN HOST OF SEARCHING FOR ITALY: I'm not going near the bees. We have a long shoot ahead. Multiple stings, hey big guy.

UNKNOWN: (UNTRANSLATED)

TUCCI: All spring the bees in these hives work industriously to collect pollen from the diverse wildflowers that flourish here.

UNKNOWN: (UNTRANSLATED)

TUCCI: The result is 1,000 flower honey. UNKNOWN: (UNTRANSLATED)

TUCCI: Oh my gosh, beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh, can't wait to see that. Don't miss an all new episode of Stanley Tucci, Searching for Italy tonight at nine, right here on CNN. The Biden Administration recently put out a new policy detailing the United States strategy for one of the hottest pieces of real estate on the planet, the Arctic. The policy did not generate many headlines but one U.S. Senator is now issuing an urgent warning. CNN's Boris Sanchez sat down with Senator Angus King, who says the U.S. has fallen behind on securing the region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGUS KING, SENATOR OF MAINE: This new ocean is a -- is appearing on our maps and it has all kinds of different implications, and we've been slow to pick up on it frankly.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Maine Senator Angus King says climate change is unlocking a new crossroads and potential center of conflict, the Arctic where irreversible trends are leading toward a global rush. With world powers seeking untapped energy supplies, oil and natural gas, minerals, fishing, recreation and highly coveted shipping routes.

KING: And if you think about the Mediterranean Sea, they're (inaudible) 1,000 years of war to determine the relationships of those countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The question is, can we open the Arctic and avoid the conflict.

SANCHEZ: By some estimates, 75 percent of Arctic ice is disappeared in the last quarter century. In fact, some scientists believe we could see summers without any ice blocking the North Pole within the next dozen years. All that extra space means more shipping lanes and faster shipping times. We could see some shipping routes reduced by up to 15 days, that's a huge economic advantage. Keep in mind though, Russia owns more than half of the coastline in the Arctic and according to this graphic by the American Security Project, they've been steadily building it up militarily for years with dozens of new bases and old retrofitted Soviet ones as well.

KING: If there was a conflict with Russia, it's one of the ways that Russia would come at us. I believe, unfortunately, we need to have some response to that, not in a conflict situation but just in a defensive situation.

SANCHEZ: CNN got a first hand look at Russia's northern most outpost in 2021 and though the Kremlin insisted it's intentions for the region were peaceful at the time, that was before the invasion of Ukraine. There's been speculation that Vladimir Putin might resort to using a nuclear weapon to reassert dominance.

KING: And one of the possibilities is exploding it over the Arctic Ocean as a demonstration.

ANTONY BLINKEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: The Arctic is crucial to America's foreign policy and national security.

SANCHEZ: While King applauds the Biden Administration's new national strategy for the region, the co-chair of the Arctic Caucus says more will need to be done.

KING: Russia has like, 40 icebreakers, we have one.

SANCHEZ: As other nations, not even geographically close to the Arctic, like China and India lay out their ambitions. Senator King wants a stronger naval presence there, more robust military infrastructure and a commitment to international treaties like the UN Law of the Sea. Steps, he believes that could deter a possible war.