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UN Chief: World "Losing Fight Of Its Life" Against Climate Change; 50+ Heat Records Could Be Broken In U.S., Florida's East Coast Under Hurricane Watch; Texas County Put To The Test After Election Workers Quit; Study: Kids' Daily Screen Time Up An Hour+ During Pandemic; Ana Crushes NYC Marathon, Beats Fundraising Goal. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 07, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:57]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: In Ukraine right now, 4.5 million people are facing power outages. And Ukraine's state energy company warns of more rolling blackouts due to Russian attacks on energy facilities.

Kyiv's mayor says the capital must be prepared for the worst. More Russian strikes that could leave the city with no water, no heat, no electricity, as winter nears.

But Ukrainians are getting a battlefield boost. The country's defense minister says new advanced surface-to-air missile defense systems have arrived from Western allies, which can engage Russian cruise missiles.

Meantime, world leaders are sounding the alarm about the rapidly warming planet. The United Nations' annual climate summit just kicked off in Egypt today.

Countries will negotiate how to limit rising global temperatures after years of missed targets and broken promises.

The U.N. secretary-general warned the world is "losing the fight of its life."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: Global temperatures keep rising, and our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible. We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Take a look at what's happening in the U.S. now. Dozens of cities in the east and the south could see record heat today. Florida may get hit by a rare November hurricane before this week is over.

CNN meteorologist, Tom Sater, joins us now.

Tom, first, let's talk about the record heat. Give us the state of play.

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The record heat, gosh, we could be breaking 50 records today. And that's the third day in a row. We're already breaking records, Ana.

But it's not just us. In Europe, they had the warmest October for France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland. They're breaking all-time temperature records, too. More on that in a minute.

Take a look at this. A November hurricane. How rare is it? The last one was almost had 40 years ago. Not just for Florida, for all of the U.S. for hurricanes.

Governor DeSantis just declared a state of emergency for 34 counties in Florida. And that does include Brevard and Broward Counties.

[13:34:59]

Now before Kate -- I mean, there's not that many. You have to go back before they were even named, 1861, that was the Expedition. That was a category one for the Outer Banks. Kaye was a cat two. Yankee was a cat two in 1935. It's extremely rare.

Now right now, Nicole is subtropical. Don't pay too much attention to that. It just means it's a cold core. But over the next 24, 46 hours, it's going to gather tropical characteristics.

To the north is high pressure. As winds circulate clockwise, it will push Nicole toward the Bahamas and continue with the possibility of a category one hurricane Wednesday evening.

Ahead of that, National Hurricane Center issuing those hurricane watches from around Cape Canaveral, southward toward Miami. Then the watches all the way up into southeast Georgia.

As we put this together -- and we're going to get to election weather in a moment. This is going to be interesting.

Again, the track can always change. But around 7:00 p.m., we've got it as a cat one, making landfall maybe just before midnight. Again, the timing will change.

The waters are extremely warm. It's not just breaking temperature records across the northern and southern hemisphere, too. We're seeing these abnormal warm temperatures. That will add to this conducive environment.

We could see three to five-foot storm surge from southeast areas of Georgia down toward West Palm. We're going to watch that. Miami, got another one to two. That will cause flooding there.

Election Day, get the rain gear. There will be scattered showers. There will be squalls. Some of these could produce heavy downpours. Again, mainly that east coast, but it will be sliding across the state. Temperatures are going to be great. By Sunday evening, maybe a break

in Jacksonville and you don't have that heavy rainfall. But then we watch it get organized.

Again, these computer models do change. But it guides us in the forecast. We are looking at a very rare November landfall. Again, this will be maybe around midnight. But the timing will change.

Heavy rainfall in Florida again for tomorrow. It will be scattered. But if you're standing in line, you're going to have to be prepared for that. The winds will be gusting, too. So the flood threat is there.

Now today, more temperature records, over 50. This is the third day in a row we've seen that. Not just 70s. Mid 80s as far north into Delaware.

Already Newark, you're at 79. Can you get higher? Probably. You might hit 80, 81. D.C., 79. Bridgeport, 78.

Here's the problems now. Nice for the east coast. Twin Cities tomorrow, for Election Day, could have the most significant rainfall they've seen all year long.

Temperatures back into the teens in Montana. Windchills 10, 15 below. Heaviest rainfall in California that we've seen since March. Ahead of that, though, Ana, it is going to be blowing wind in parts of Nevada.

But East coast looks good. I mean, you're not going to be in the 70s and 80s, but it will be mild. Into the Midwest, nice. Kansas City, St. Louis, over toward Denver, 70. In the west, we'll have problems.

Overall, Ana, the states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia look pretty good weatherwise for Election Day.

CABRERA: OK. A lot to track. A lot of varied weather.

Thank you so much, Tom Sater.

Of course, that hurricane we'll be keeping a close, close eye on.

Back to our top story. Because it's election eve. Get this -- three months ago, an entire election department in one Texas county called it quits. We'll take you there.

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[13:42:52]

CABRERA: Less than 24 hours until Election Day, and a lot of the focus is on getting voters to show up at the polls. But in one Texas county, the challenge has been getting an election administration team in place.

In August, all three members of the Elections Office in Gillespie County, Texas, quit. They cited threats, harassment, and fears for their safety.

CNN senior national correspondent, Ed Lavandera, joins us live.

Ed, how is this county handling tomorrow's midterms?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Ana, imagine -- we spoke with Democrats and Republicans in Gillespie County. Said, you know, elections have gone off without a hitch for years, as long as anyone can remember.

And then, three months before the midterm election, the entire office quits. It sent everyone scrambling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID TREIBS, ELECTION PRECINCT JUDGE: This is the auction barn most of the time.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Election Day, David Treibs will be here serving the voters of Precinct 13 in Gillespie County, Texas.

LAVANDERA (on camera): And you have an official title?

TREIBS: Yes, sir.

LAVANDERA: What is that title?

TREIBS: I'm an election judge.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Treibs' role as an election precinct judge usually wouldn't raise any eyebrows in this Texas hill country town until you hear this.

LAVANDERA (on camera): So you believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump?

TREIBS: Yes, I do.

LAVANDERA: Why should someone like you serve in this kind of official capacity for an election?

TREIBS: Well, I would think I would probably be a good candidate because I'm going to be really keen, looking for anything that looks wrong. And my objective is integrity -- not that my guys win, but integrity.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The story of how Gillespie County reached this point is a cautionary tale of how the 2020 election-denying conspiracy theories virus keeps spreading.

There is nothing glamorous about the Gillespie County election administrator's office. Inside, the small election team did their work. But by mid-August, all three employees had quit three months before the midterm election. LAVANDERA (on camera): The election trouble here dates back to 2019

when a ballot measure asked voters whether or not fluoride should be used in the city's drinking water. The anti-fluoride activists who lost questioned the integrity of that election.

[13:45:09]

And then the 2020 presidential election came along, pouring gasoline on the flames of election conspiracy theories.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Even though Donald Trump won this country with 79 percent of the vote, some Republicans were convinced something wasn't right.

In August of this year, the elections administrator, Anissa Herrera, was done.

She wrote in her resignation letter that "threats against election officials, dangerous misinformation, poor working conditions, and absurd legislation have completely changed" her job.

LINDSEY BROWN, ACTING ELECTIONS ADMINISTRATOR: I've had to learn a lot of information really quickly.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): With no election team in place, it fell to the county clerk, Lindsey Brown, to serve as the elections administrator.

BROWN: People that have been in elections before -- people that have worked it before have tapped into their knowledge and wisdom.

LAVANDERA (on camera): I understand the Texas Secretary of State's office has sent in election trainers.

BROWN: Yes.

LAVANDERA: They're sending in inspectors. How valuable or how needed have those people been?

BROWN: Very valuable.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Jerry Vaclav is a Gillespie County Democrat who will work as an alternate precinct judge.

He attended those polling location training sessions and says what he heard from the election conspiracy theorists troubles him.

JERRY VACLAV, GILLESPIE COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY: One of the major questions in our training session is, well, what are we supposed to do with the fake I.D.s that the Biden administration is issuing to illegals when they pass -- when they cross the border?

And the Secretary of State just said -- the representative just said that's not happening, and we went on.

LAVANDERA: For now, officials are hoping for the best.

(on camera): Do you feel confident that this election will go off smoothly?

BROWN: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA; And David Treibs told us he isn't the only election denier who will be working in a similar precinct in the county.

And because of that, Democrats say that for the first time in as long as anyone can remember, they will be dispatching poll watchers to various precincts throughout the county -- Ana?

CABRERA: Wow. Thank you for shining a light on this.

Ed Lavandera, reporting in Texas.

A quick programming note now. A CNN exclusive tonight. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sits down with Anderson Cooper for her first interview since the attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi. That's on "A.C. 360" tonight starting at 8:00 Eastern here on CNN.

We'll be right back.

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[13:51:49]

CABRERA: The world locks down and, guess what goes up? A new study shows that during the pandemic, the average daily screen time for kids increased by more than an hour and 20 minutes.

CNN senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joins us with details.

Elizabeth, I guess it's understandable that screen time would go up. But what do we need to know about the impact? How should we make sense of this?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think that we can make sense of this by saying, look, this was in the past, this was something that happened. Hopefully, this will never happen again.

But the numbers really are pretty stunning. If you look before the pandemic, children were spending about two hours and 42 minutes a day on screens.

But during the pandemic, it was four hours and six minutes. As you said, absolutely understandable. But -- and hopefully something that won't happen again -- Ana?

CABRERA: Is screen time necessarily bad?

COHEN: You know what, Ana, it's not necessarily bad. As the mother of four, I get it. Our children watch their fair share of, you know, back in the day, VHS tapes and various other things. I mean, it's just a reality of life of being a parent sometimes. But the trick is, you don't want it to start to replace other

activities. You don't want them to not go out and play. You don't want them to, you know, not read a book. That's the problem is when it starts replacing actual human interaction.

Some of the down sides of screen time, pediatricians will tell you, are things like sleep problems or children can start to get lower grades. They don't have enough outdoor activities. They develop mood problems. There are ramifications to too much screen time.

I know it's a delicate thing to say how much is too much, but I think you can sort of watch your child and sense when they've had too much time in front of a screen when enough is enough.

CABRERA: Yes, and now we are aware and that helps, at least with establishing new habits.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much for your reporting.

COHEN: Thanks.

CABRERA: Before we go, I just want to thank everyone who showed their support either through a donation or a nice message or cheering along the electric New York City Marathon route.

There I am sweating and just grinding it out. It was my first New York City Marathon. And the race was grueling as much as it was exhilarating. Especially in the heat.

I needed every bit of your positive support and vibes, especially during those painful last miles as I practically crawled across the finish line. But we did it.

Most importantly, thanks to you, we beat our fundraising goal for Team Beans supporting pediatric brain cancer research. Thank you, thank you so much.

OK, we have breaking news. Right now, I want to get right to Coy Wire.

What are you filling us in on?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Ana, you buried the lead: Ana Cabrera crushes the New York City Marathon. It was like David Blaine got a hold of your sneakers because there's magic in those feet.

Your time of two hours, 57 minutes and 11 seconds is blazing fast. We're talking a per-mile pace of six minutes and 46 seconds.

No, Ana, did not know.

Ana, you did not know any of this because you would never brag about yourself.

(LAUGHTER)

[13:55:02]

CABRERA: Yes. Go to Coy with breaking news.

WIRE: Hey, sixth place in more than 3,200 in your age group. We're talking the top 1 percent of all 47,000 runners, women and men, in the New York City Marathon.

Let's see how you stacked up to some of the other celebrities who were running. Ashton Kutcher, crushed him. Chelsea Clinton, about an hour and a half less.

And Tiki Barber, three times all-pro running back for the New York Giants. You ran nearly twice as fast as he did. It's incredible.

And you found a way to do it, on top of being supermom, on top of studying for your show. And you did it for a purpose, Team Beans, pediatric brain cancer research.

Ana, your team is proud of you. Congratulations. And thank you for the inspiration.

CABRERA: Aw. That makes me feel so good to know that everybody who participated in our Team Beans fundraising effort was behind me.

Thanks for highlighting that, Coy.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: That does it for us today. The news continues after the break.

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