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Math And Reading Test Scores Plunged In U.S. Amid Pandemic; Crime Up More than 40 Percent From Last Year On New York City Transit System; U.S. And Kyiv Dispute Russians Claimed That Ukraine Plans To Use a Dirty Bomb; Team Pleads Guilty To Murder For Michigan School Shooting That Killed 4. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired October 24, 2022 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: I'm sorry the volume is not -- I wasn't able to hear the question. I really apologize for that. The only thing I would add is that we know how to help kids catch up. It's high intensity ordering. We can do this physically. We can do this virtually. The challenge is around teacher shortages. We can work with college students.
We can work with retirees We can work with folks in other professions who want to help out. We can do this after school. We can do this on Saturdays. I know students will be mad when I say this, but we don't need the summers off for a while now. We can use this summer to help students catch up.
And again, our goal, our finish line has to be returning back to school next fall in 2023, closing this gap as much as we can. And I've seen studies that show that the bottom 10 percent of students fell behind a four times faster rate than the top 10 percent of students. We cannot have these divides getting in larger. It's too much at stake for us.
I apologize, we should probably end this because I can't hear your question, but just, you know, districts and schools should work on a child by child basis with their families, come up with a plan and execute that plan to help kids catch up.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: Well, it is a crisis. I'm sorry we're having some communications issues, but just to give our voters a sense of the disconnect and the increase in disparity across racial and socioeconomic lines, black and Hispanic students were well behind -- they were well before the pandemic and they've dropped even further.
To give you one example in Detroit, nearly 1 in 2 school children live in poverty. Only 6 percent of 4th graders they were proficient in math in 2019, this year that fell to 3 percent. That is unacceptable in the richest country in the world. Arne, we're going to have you back when we fix the sound and we'll talk about this in more detail. Thank you so much for joining us though.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Crime on New York's transit system is up more than 40 percent from last year. Next why Mayor Eric Adams says part of the problem is the perception of crime.
[15:35:00]
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GOLODRYGA: In New York, police continue to search for a man who pushed a commuter from a subway platform onto the train tracks. You can see in surveillance video that the suspect looks around before then running up to the victim and shoving him over.
BLACKWELL: Now that man was hurt, but he was not hit by a train. Now this is the latest incident as New York officials are trying to crack down on transit crime. Mayor Eric Adams argues that part of the problem is perception of crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D) NEW YORK: We have an average of less than six crimes a day on the subway system, with 3.5 million riders. But if you write your story based on a narrative that you are going to look at the worst of those six crimes and put it on the front pages of your paper every day, people are going to start to feel what David Patterson just stated. So, I have to deal with those six crimes a day, felony crimes, and the perception of fear.
CHRIS WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: You're saying that the crime problem in this city is more perception than reality.
ADAMS: No, It's a combination of both.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller is with us now. John, do you think the mayor has a point here about perception? Is that valid?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, the mayor has statistically and incredibly accurate point about perception versus reality but try to tell a crime victim that that's perception. And when you see a video like the one, we just saw, that has a very powerful effect on people.
So, if you look at subway crime right now -- you know, the mayor said 3.5 million riders, that's up to 3.8 million today. Your chances of being the victim of one of those serious crimes is about 1 in 600,000. Your chances of being hit by a car is about 1 in 4,000.
And so, technically it's safer on the subway than it is on the street, but what we're seeing is these particularly jarring crimes. The man pushed on the tracks or back in last January, Michelle Go, a financial services person who was shoved in front of a train and killed, or the analyst who was on the train and an individual walked up and shot him who didn't know him.
So, we're seeing these crimes connected to people with mental health issues who are acting out in the system and that's getting a lot of attention.
GOLODRYGA: This is the world's oldest, it's largest train station and subway station with so many stops and so many cars and statistically it is I would say safe given just the numbers and given how big the system is. That having been said, even though murders are low, larceny is high, and larceny has gone up, and that is theft and that is a scary statistic and thought to bear for commuters.
MILLER: So, robbery is up 37 percent. Felony assault up 17. The larcenies are always the big number because that's that person who's dipping into your bag while you're looking the other way and taking your wallet or take waiting for you to fall asleep and walking away with your phone.
[15:40:00]
That's the real driver of the numbers, but the violent crimes are the ones that get that flash point of attention, and let's be frank, there's politics to it.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
MILLER: There's a governor's race where a Republican candidate is running solely on the crime issue who needs to be focusing on this all the time. You see a Democratic incumbent governor who came out yesterday and said, here's money for more mental health beds. Here's money for 1,200 more cops, not real bodies, but overtime to put 1,200 more in the system. So, that's all coming in to this discussion and part of why it's getting more attention.
GOLODRYGA: Yes, and Hochul is still expected to win. But that race is closer than people expected.
MILLER: Yes, very close.
GOLODRYGA: John Miller, thank you. Great to have you.
BLACKWELL: Thank you, John.
Both the U.S. and Kyiv are denying the Russian claim that Ukraine is planning to use a so-called dirty bomb on its s own territory and then blame it on Russia. We're live in Ukraine next.
[15:45:00]
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BLACKWELL: U.S. and Ukrainian officials are disputing Russia's claim that Ukraine plans to use a so-called dirty bomb on their own people, and they add that Russia could be using this as a false flag operation, an excuse to escalate the war.
GOLODRYGA: Now they've used these false flag operations before. Just moments ago, the U.S. warned Russia that it would face, quote, fierce consequences if it unleashed a radioactive device. CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now from Kyiv. So, Nic, what can you tell us about these new developments?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, there's a concerted effort coming from the United States, the U.K. and France to steer Russia away from any escalation. They're saying that Russia's allegations are transparently false allegations and saying that the world will see if Russia tries to use these act accusations, these false accusations as a pretext for escalation.
There's a great deal of concern about why Russia is saying this right now. We know that they're losing on the battlefield. We know that they have been targeting Ukraine's electricity supplies recently. But this seems to be a new narrative that's sustaining traction in Russia. They're not backing down.
They're saying that the NATO leaders who are hearing this from the Ukrainians are mistaken or misunderstood. And over the past four days we have had a remarkable amount of military diplomacy. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaking with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, three days ago. Then just yesterday Lloyd Austin speaking with Shoigu again.
Ben Wallace, the British Defense Secretary doing the same. The French defense secretary, the Turkish defense secretary all doing the same . Ad then today General Mark Milley speaking with his Russian counterpart as well, and the British military chief of staff also speaking with that same Russian counterpart.
It is absolutely out with the context to of this war so far that Russia's military top brass have had so many conversations. It's impossible to know what it means. It certainly shows the determination of Ukraine's Western partners to make sure Russia understands not to escalate at the moment.
But the real concern here is in Ukraine that Russia has cried wolf before, and when Russia has cried wolf as President Zelenskyy has said, when Russia says Ukraine is going to do this, President Zelenskyy says, that generally means that Russia has already prepared for such an act.
BLACKWELL: Yes, the warning from the U.S. and from Western leaders has been to watch out for these false flags from the very start of the invasion, even preinvasion. Nic Robertson for us there in Kyiv, thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Well, he killed four people at a Michigan high school last year. Now the 16-year-old shooter has pleaded guilty to murder and faces life in prison without parole. A live report from the courthouse up next.
[15:50:00]
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BLACKWELL: The Michigan teen who killed four classmates, wounded seven others last year at his high school pleaded guilty to murder today. Ethan Crumbley had 24 charges against him. The 16-year-old initially
pleaded not guilty as his lawyers prepared an insanity defense. Jean Casarez is in Michigan with more on today's hearing. So, Jean, take us inside what we learned today and happens next.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First of all, I talked to people inside the courtroom and there was a lot of surprise there because they had given notice in January, that they were intending to have him plead insanity.
Now if you going to trial, juries of peers and he would be found not guilty of insanity. It doesn't mean that he walks out front the door. He would go to a hospital that is supervised. That is a mental hospital.
Now pleading guilty, he will go to the department of corrections, the general prison system. But in that courtroom, it was packed. Victims' families, they were just in those seats, in those pews. There were law enforcement on both sides and in the back of the courtroom.
When he walked out, he was completely shackled. They actually undid one of his handcuffs so he could plea, so he could swear. Because he had to affirm what he was telling was the truth.
And the judge really wanted to assess that this was a tree and voluntary plea because it is extensive. And the judge went question by question. He said yes. You could tell he was processing the thought and then answered the question. At one point, the prosecution started asking him very directed questions. I want you to listen to a little bit of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it true that the firearm that you use in November the 30th was purchased on November the 26th, 2021 by your father James Crumbley?
ETHAN CRUMBLEY, SHOOTER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it true on November the 30, 2021 when you obtain the firearm, it was not kept in a locked container or a safe?
[15:55:00]
CRUMBLEY: Yes, it was not locked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: The next thing will be a Miller hearing. That is what it's called after a legendary U.S. Supreme Court case from 2012. That hearing will be in February and the U.S. supreme court has ruled it's unconstitutional alone to allow a juvenile to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole if there are no other possibilities. That's what this hearing will be about.
BLACKWELL: Jean Casarez watching all of it for us. Thank you, jean. GOLODRYGA: Well, yet another messy protest over the climate crisis.
This is at a Madam Tussauds Museum in London where two anti-fossil fuel protesters smeared chocolate cake on the wax figures of King Charles.
BLACKWELL: Now that chocolate cake didn't do anything to anybody. Just yesterday, climate protesters threw mashed potatoes on a Claude Monet's Grain Stacks. The painting there in Germany. Now, there's glass covering it, so it's safe. They're making a point and I get it.
GOLODRYGA: I don't get that. Like why do it that way?
BLACKWELL: I guess that's all you had is chocolate cake.
GOLODRYGA: I guess.
BLACKWELL: "THE LEAD" starts after a quick break.
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