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Judge Overturns Georgia's Six-Week Abortion Ban; Study Shows 1 Billion Young People at Risk of Hearing Loss; Presale for Taylor Swift Tour Overwhelms Ticketmaster Website. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired November 16, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: We can't forget about Snoopy.

JONATHAN MCDOWELL, ASTROPHYSICIST, HARVARD SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS: And Snoopy and Shaun the Sheep, I believe, from the Europeans.

HILL: There you. Jonathan McDowell, great to have you with us this morning, we really appreciate it. Thanks for making it understandable to the non-astrophysicists over here. I appreciate it. Thanks.

MCDOWELL: Thank you.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: I love it when we have astrophysicists on.

Still ahead, CNN is uncovering a new timeline for those migrant flights to Martha's Vineyard, just how long it was in the works between Texas and officials from Florida. Details coming up.

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[10:35:00]

HILL: This just into CNN. The University of Virginia Athletics Department has canceled Saturday's football game after three players were shot to death on Sunday. It happened on a bus after a field trip from Charlottesville, Washington, D.C. Two other people were wounded, one person remains hospitalized.

SCIUTTO: It's just such a sad story. This was supposed to be the team's final home game this season. The athletics department says no decision has been made about the final game of the season, which is meant to be against Virginia Tech.

This morning, the suspect in a shooting spree appeared in court and was ordered to be held without bond. He's pictured there. He faces several counts of second-degree murder.

Another story we're following, a superior court in Georgia, a judge there has ordered Georgia's law banning abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy ruling that law is unconstitutional.

HILL: Now, the decision makes abortion in the state legal again until at least 20 weeks. That is effective immediately. The state, though, has already filed a notice of appeal.

For a closer look on what happens next, here is CNN's Nick Valencia in Atlanta. So, perhaps not a surprise that there's already a challenge here, what is the timeline?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We can expect this to be drawn out in court just almost immediately after this news broke. Judge Robert McBurney, the superior court judge here in Georgia, issuing his opinion. It was almost immediately after that that the attorney general reached out here in the state of Georgia and they that they're going to file a notice of appeal.

But as of right now, effective immediately, the procedure is now legal up to 20 weeks. And this ruling by Judge McBurney was in responsible to a lawsuit by pro-abortion rights groups that move to ban or move to strike down rather the so-called heartbeat bill, which they said was unconstitutional. It's officially known as the life act and it banned, with some exceptions, abortion when early cardiac activity could be detected, which is as early as six weeks, at a time when many women do not know that they're pregnant.

Judge Robert McBurney here in Georgia is saying that when this law was voted on, passed and enacted, it was unconstitutional because the law of the land protected pre-viability abortion. So, this is part in his ruling, saying, quote, everywhere in America, including Georgia, it was unequivocally unconstitutional for governments, federal, state or local to ban abortions before viability. If the courts have spoken clearly and directly as to what the law is, as to what is and is not constitutional, legislatures and legislators are not at liberty to pass laws contrary to such pronouncements.

So, I mentioned that appeal already being launched. We did reach out to the governor's office here. Georgia Governor Kemp, he campaigned in part on his stance on abortion. And they're not happy with the judge's ruling, saying almost immediately after it that today's ruling places the personal beliefs of a judge over the will of a legislature and the people of Georgia. The state has already filed a notice of appeal and we will continue to fight for the lives of Georgia's unborn children.

But as for now, effective immediately, abortion, the procedure is now allowed and legal again up to 20 weeks in Georgia. Guys?

HILL: Nick, an important update, we appreciate it. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Right. Another big court decision back and forth about a U.S. border policy, a federal judge blocked what's known as Title 42 last night, that is the public health order that allowed during the pandemic U.S. authorities to expel more than 1 million migrants who crossed the U.S. border from Mexico.

HILL: Now, that ruling could restore access to asylum for incoming migrants. Moments ago, though, that same federal judge put a five-week hold on the ruling with, quote, great reluctance. The Biden administration had requested the stay.

Title 42 was imposed by the Trump administration during the pandemic. The Biden administration has been relying on it to manage the increase in the number of migrants at the border.

We are also learning some new details this morning about the planning and the execution of those controversial flight that carried migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard.

SCIUTTO: We now have confirmation of a meeting weeks before those flights. It happened between Texas Emergency Management and Public Safety officials and the delegation of law enforcement personnel from Florida. They would not comment on what was discussed or how that information was used, but Texas officials say they have briefed officials from more than two dozen states. They say, quote, we're not aware of how Florida law enforcement officials would utilize the information gathered from those conversations. Florida law enforcement has not responded to CNN's request for comment, neither has the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.

HILL: Turn up the volume. That is a very important message from a new study, which finds 1 billion teens in young adults are putting their hearing at risk. Dr. Tara Narula is here, next.

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[10:40:00]

SCIUTTO: If it's too loud, turn it down. Wisdom from, as it always comes, the rock band, Weezer, or at least that's what Erica says. A new study suggests 1 billion people are at risk now of hearing loss.

HILL: Wise wisdom also comes from Jim Sciutto, very important, please not that. So, it's because the music, the movies, in those ear buds at concerts, it's all too loud and they're listening for too long. Bottom line, you can permanently damage sensory structures in the ear.

CNN Medical Correspondent Tara Narula joins us with the details.

[10:45:01]

I have to say, I'm very excited for this. My kids are not going to be excited, because tonight at dinner, this is what we're talking about now. I have a little more science when I say turn those headphones down or take them off.

DR. TARA NARULA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You can hand them the British Medical Journal article.

HILL: They'll love that.

NARULA: Yes, I'm sure, nice reading material. So, this was a study that basically looked at 20 countries, they reviewed over 33 studies and put them all together for over 20 years worth of data. And they found that 1 billion individuals ages 12 to 34 are at risk for hearing loss and this is due to unsafe listening, either from personal listening devices, things like phones, MP3 players or entertainment venues, so concerts, clubs, discos, all of that.

And it is a public health issue. We know that 40 million American adults have some form of hearing loss. It has an economic impact, about a trillion dollars a year. It impacts us in other ways, our academics, our income, our cognitive function, our social well-being. So, it's really important to pay attention to hearing. We take it for granted.

SCIUTTO: All right. So, given my kids are spending their entire lives inside earphones of various technological advances, what kind of damage do you get from playing too loud, particularly when you start at a young age?

NARULA: Right. And so it can be like a one-time intense loud sound that can damage or it can be that recurrent chronic exposure. And we don't really know what it does when we're starting so early, right? Does that accelerate the risk for hearing loss when you start young?

But we're talking about both the intensity, the duration, the frequency of exposure, all of that matters. And those inner ear structures, as you mentioned in the lead are very sensitive. We have hair cells that were born with very tiny, very delicate, or born with a certain amount. If you damage them, they are not going to regenerate. You also have nerves and fibers that can get damaged.

And so just to kind of give you a perspective on what types of sounds can be damaging, in general, under 70 decibels is relatively safe. So, our conversation would be 60 decibels. Anything that's sustained over 85 decibels is considered putting you at risk. And when you look at those personal listening devices, those can be up to 105 decibels, and actually entertainment venues up 112. So important turn the volume down, please.

HILL: Turn the volume down and also, I would imagine, that really quickly limit -- just limit the -- how often you're using headphones, earphones.

NARULA: Correct. And if you're in a space where there's loud noises, use earplugs, earmuffs, especially if you have young kids.

HILL: To limit that damage.

NARULA: Exactly.

HILL: I'm (INAUDIBLE) my kids to you with their questions because they'll take it better coming from you. Thank you.

NARULA: Thanks.

HILL: Well, speaking of concerts, little bad blood brewing between Taylor Swift fans and Ticketmaster, after a disastrous start to the presale of her latest tour. So, what went wrong? That's next.

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[10:50:00]

HILL: Have some good economic news this morning that never hurts, retail sales surging 1.3 percent in October. Now, if 1.3 doesn't sound like a surge, you keep in mind that is more than analysts predicted, because consumer spending had been pretty flat in September.

SCIUTTO: It also comes after some measures of inflation came lower than expected this week. There is one big box store, Target is warning the outlook for the holiday shopping season may not be so rosy. Their CEO says profits fell 52 percent in the third quarter, though sales for food and other necessities remain strong. People, they say, aren't spending as much on discretionary items, such as clothes and electronics. Target stock is down more than 14 percent in this morning's trading.

HILL: Taylor Swift fans, known as Swifties, they're not happy. They want some answers after Ticketmaster's website crashed during the presale for her upcoming tour. Outraged fans say the website appeared to crash or freeze during purchases, that's if you were lucky enough to get the code to even make a purchase. Ticketmaster told CNN Business, the site is not down and, quote, people are actively purchasing tickets.

SCIUTTO: Erica is a Swifty, I may be a Swifty. I'll throw that out there. I like her music. I was not on the website last night, though.

CNN Business Correspondent Rahel Solomon, she's been covering the story. So, tell us what the issue was here. And is it part of a bigger problem?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: So, Jim and Erica, this is how it works. So, ticket sales actually go on sale on Friday, but this was a presale event meant for fans, not bots, not resellers, to take advantage of tickets. So, either you entered some sort of lottery, my word, but, essentially, you got some sort of code, if you registered for it, or maybe you were a customer of a certain credit card, and so you have access. You get the code, you'd have access to be able to get these presale tickets.

Well, what ends up happening is there was unprecedented demand, Ticketmaster's word, unprecedented demand for these tickets. And so what some people saw was that they were in line for hours and then couldn't get the ticket because they were sort of kicked off the website or the tickets disappeared or they had to wait for hours to get it.

And so it's just a really unpleasant experience for a lot of people. And so people are still on Twitter outraged, some have said, heartbroken, because either they weren't able to get these tickets or it was just such an awful experience being able to get it.

Now, I should say, Ticketmaster has said, hundreds of thousands of tickets have been sold, and then, again, pointed to that demand.

HILL: Right. It is incredibly frustrating, though, no matter the concert is lately, any time I try to buy tickets, it feels like it is such a challenge to get them.

[10:55:01]

There are lawmakers who are taking notice, specifically calling out Ticketmaster. What are they saying?

SOLOMON: So, AOC, for example, joining the conversation on Twitter, saying that, look, Ticketmaster is a monopoly, daily reminder. Its merger with LiveNation should have never been approved and they need to be reined in. Others have pointed to that very thing, Erica, that the experience of buying tickets on Ticketmaster can be a very unpleasant experience and that reform needs to be taken.

That said, the merger was approved. We'll have to see if this escalates, because, as we know, the Swifties, they are mighty, there's a lot of them, and the criticism is being heard far and wide.

HILL: Any time you get a vocal fan, it's interesting to see too, if they could tackle those fees also for us, that would be great across the board. So, we're going to put it in request with the Swifties.

SCIUTTO: I'm just going to say the fees are -- because you think you're paying X amount and then you get final bill, you're like, wait a second, it just jumped like 20 percent, 30 percent. It's not a small thing. Rahel Solomon, thanks so much.

HILL: And thanks to all of you joining us today. I'm Erica Hill.

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Scuitto.

At This Hour with Kate Bolduan starts right after a quick break.

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