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Police: Items Found in Ana Walshe Search Are Being Tested; Police: 6-Year-Old Who Shot Teacher Used His Mom's Gun; Biden Admin to Propose Lower Payments for Student Borrowers; Seattle Public Schools Sue Big Tech, Claim Social Media Hurting Kids; Report: Online Prices Have Dropped Four Months in a Row; Disney Orders Workers to Come to Office 4 Days a Week. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 10, 2023 - 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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[13:31:01]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: More disturbing developments in the search for a Massachusetts mom. Ana Walshe missing for 10 days. And police recovered items that are now being tested.

CNN's Jason Carroll is following all of this.

Jason, what more can you share about where this investigation stands?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Abby, as you know, investigators spent a great deal of time last night at add a trash facility north of Boston.

They spent several hours there, investigators sifting through much of the garbage, tons of garbage at that facility.

Then today, the D.A.'s office put out a statement giving us an update in terms of what investigators have found there, saying they found a number of items which, quote, "are subject to processing and testing to determine if they are of evidentiary value to this investigation."

So that clearly means that investigators now have something in their hands that they're going to be testing. We're going to have to see what those items are and how it's related to the case.

Also, as you may have heard, this investigation taking somewhat of a gruesome turn when more details were released about what investigators have found so far.

Investigators telling CNN that Brian Walshe, in the days after his wife disappeared, conducted some sort of an Internet search where he was searching for how to dispose of a 115-pound body.

And in addition to that, how to dismember a body. Again, very gruesome details we have to tell you about here.

We heard more of them yesterday during Brian Walshe's court proceeding, where investigators, prosecutors laid out what investigators actually found at the home here.

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LYNN BELAND, NORFOLK ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: He's on surveillance at that time purchasing about $450 worth of cleaning supplies. That would include mops, bucket, tops, t-vex, drop cloths as well as various kinds of tape.

Blood WAS found in the basement as well as a knife, which also contained some blood.

During the time frame when he didn't report his wife and gave various statements, that allowed him time to either clean up evidence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Abby, a little more information from what we're getting from the D.A.'s office. They're saying, in terms of searches, we've seen searches out here in the area.

And they say no more of those searches will be conducted at least at this point today. We'll see if there's any more information about that at another point.

As you can imagine, this news extremely devastating for those who care about Ana Walshe.

I spoke to one of her friends, who said they are clearly very highly disturbed about what they've been hearing in the news. And at this point, their attention is on her three children -- Abby?

PHILLIP: Just absolutely horrible.

Jason Carroll, thank you so much.

And now on to that shooting that involves a 6-year-old child and his teacher in Virginia. Today, we are learning more about what happened last week inside that classroom, just before the first grader pulled out his mom's gun and fired it. Police now say that the mother could face charges.

CNN's Brian Todd has more from Newport News.

Brian, this story has really captured everyone's imagination. What is the latest?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly has, Abby. Several important questions that this community wants answers to this afternoon. One of them, of course, is how was that child able to obtain the gun at his home and get it into his backpack to bring to school.

Police say they're still working on that one. Talking to investigators, talking to the family trying to determine that answer.

But another is, whether this mother could be charged definitively for this incident. You know, possibly as an accessory or anything like that.

And the chief, Steve Drew, the police chief, Steve Drew, was asked about that earlier today by CNN's Poppy Harlow. Take a listen.

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I wonder if the mother could face charges here.

[13:34:58]

STEVE DREW, CHIEF, NEWPORT NEWS, VA, POLICE DEPARTMENT: So, I think that that is certainly a possibility. They'll make a decision whether there's charges forthcoming towards the parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: And -- and sorry about that.

We also have some other information regarding the police and what they've told us about this case. Just a quick update for you. That the 6-year-old brought the mother's firearm to school in a backpack.

He was able to get that into his backpack and bring it to school and get it in undetected. There were several rounds of ammunition in the backpack -- I mean, in the gun when it was fired according to police.

The police also say there was no physical struggle or fight before the shooting. The teacher was providing class instruction when the shot was fired.

Police are working with the school to see if there are any past behavioral issues with the child. I asked the police chief yesterday about that question. And he did not answer it at the time.

Investigators also want to speak to children, other kids at the school who witnessed the shooting.

And I can also tell you, there are a few people being hailed as heroes today. One is, of course, the teacher who was shot, Abby Zwerner. The police chief said she made sure everybody got out of the class when the shot was fired.

And there was another school employee who came into the class at the time and restrained the child. The child struck that employee but the employee was able to restrain the child until police got there. That employee also being hailed as a hero this afternoon -- Abby?

PHILLIP: What a horrible story. But a lot of people really perhaps saved some lives there.

Thank you, Brian.

Now turning to Washington. There could be some relief on the way for millions of Americans who are paying off their student loans. There's a new proposal from the Biden administration that would lower federal student loan payments but there's a catch.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is with me now to explain.

Sunlen, the Biden administration has been doing a lot on the student loan repayment issue. What is this new proposal say and who would actually qualify for it?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Abby, it really targets low- and middle-income borrowers, people whose loan repayment plans are tied specifically to how much they make, their income.

And the Department of Education is estimating here that approximately eight million people could be affected if this change goes into fruition. And that potentially mean a lot of people have their monthly plan lowered or potentially wiped out, put on pause for a moment.

Now, parts of this proposal would higher the income threshold for repayment. Right now, it's $24,000. That would be increased to $30,600 per year.

People who are not making that amount would have their loan payments put on pause. For those making above the income threshold, there still could be some savings, too. Undergraduate borrowers would be capped at 5 percent of the income. That's half of the current 10 percent.

Also the Department of Education could potentially stop charging unpaid monthly interest and would shorten the time it takes for some smaller loans to be forgiven. And this would apply potentially to current and future borrowers as well.

Now, it's important to note here, Abby, that this is all just in the planning stage. This is just a proposal for a regulatory change.

If that is adopted, potentially later this year, then these changes could take place.

But senior administration officials told reporters last night, as of now, they have no specific timeline for when these changes could happen.

PHILLIP: And in the meantime, the student debt forgiveness is still on hold. So folks will have to wait a little longer for that relief.

Sunlen Serfaty, thank you.

SERFATY: Thanks.

[13:38:39]

PHILLIP: Seattle's public school system now says that social media is making their mental health crisis worse and making it harder for them to teach kids. Now the school system is suing big tech. We'll have more on this interesting legal battle ahead.

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[13:43:19]

PHILLIP: #seeyouin court. Seattle public schools are now suing the parent companies of Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube because they claim that these platforms are hurting kids' mental health and making it harder for teachers to do their jobs.

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan is joining us now.

Donie, it's very interesting. There's no question it's harder to be a teenager these days because of social media.

But what does the lawsuit actually say about how these companies, according to the Seattle public schools, are claiming that they are responsible for this crisis?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Abby. Yes, this is a fascinating lawsuit. And, you know, it very well may not be successful.

But what I think it does is really put this on a national agenda, have this extremely important conversation. And also, of course, we might learn a lot through the discovery process.

And I want to show you what the lawsuit, part of it says.

It says, "This mental health crisis is no accident. It is the results of the defendants'" -- in this case, the social media platforms -- "deliberate choices and affirmative actions to design and market their social media platforms to attract youth."

And it's not just talking about the content that is on these platforms and the stuff you see there but also just how these platforms are designed.

I mean, you know, I think we all know how addictive in nature Instagram, TikTok, these platforms can be. And you know, even as adults, we don't always necessarily feel great after we find ourselves doom scrolling and seeing how great a time people are having on social media -- Abby?

PHILLIP: Donie, you've been following this issue for a long time. It's not the first time these companies have been accused of making their apps more addictive to young kids in ways that are perhaps detrimental to them.

[13:45:05]

So what's their response?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes, so the companies that responded so far have essentially all said something along the lines of what you would expect, safety is important to us, children's safety in particular.

But look, while we have seen -- I think it's important to point out and some experts and psychologists have pointed out as well is that, you know, we don't really know the effects that all this social media use can have on young people.

Because it is still relatively a new phenomenon, particularly how much our phones are glued to our hands now. So really the effects of this we might not see for some time.

But what we did see from that Facebook whistleblower a year and a half ago, Frances Haugen, was it showed that Facebook was doing its own internal research to see basically how harmful its platform Instagram was to children.

So we might find more of that, learn more about that stuff true in that discovery process -- Abby?

PHILLIP: It will be interesting to see if this moves forward.

Thank you, Donie.

O'SULLIVAN: Thanks.

PHILLIP: And look, we have to talk about this. If you have not talked to your kids about pornography, you probably should and sooner than you think.

There's a new survey that's found that kids on average are seeing porn online for the first time when they are 12 years old. But some are exposed to it when they're even younger, 10 or younger.

CNN's national correspondent, Athena Jones, is joining me now.

Athena, what are these numbers telling us about this phenomenon? Certainly, not a new one, I should say.

ATHEN JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Abby. No, the biggest takeaway is just how common this issue is. You could call it remarkable, eye opening, mind-boggling.

It's going to be mind-boggling for some to learn that 7 percent of teens, nearly three out of four teens ages 13 to 17, have watched porn online.

And, you know, a lot of parents think, OK, there's some teenagers out there, they're accessing porn online, MAYBE watching it, but certainly not my teen.

The COO of the group that did this report, Common Sense, said, look, these numbers tell the story and show that probably is your teen and this is why we need to have a national conversation, parents, teachers, technology companies.

PHILLIP: I mean, kids have found a way to get access to this material even before the Internet. But it's obviously easier now.

So what is the report say about why kids are starting to find or even just come across pornographic material online?

JONES: Well, it's certainly a lot easier. This is not going about to the store and getting someone to buy you a magazine. These kids are walking around, everyone is practically around with a supercomputer in their hands.

So nearly eight in 10, so 79 percent of teenagers say that one of the reasons they're watching porn is to learn how to have sex.

It is notable that just 27 percent believe that these -- this pornography accurately portrays the real -- the way most people have sex.

if you think about this, of the ones who are watching porn intentionally, six in 10 almost, 59 percent say they're watching porn at least once a week.

So that 27 percent number is interesting in the sense that not very many people -- these teens think that these are accurate portrayals of how people get together.

But the ones who watch the most porn, those who watch three or more days out of the last seven days, they have -- 80 percent of those have been exposed to violence, rape, choking, inflicting pain on others.

And those kids are much more likely to think most people would like to be hit during sex and that it's safe and OK to put your hands around someone's throat during sex.

So that's where the problem lies, what kids are learning by watching this material.

PHILLIP: That is the dark side of it all.

Athena Jones, thank you.

[13:48:49]

And we will be right back with more.

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[13:53:32]

PHILLIP: Today, we have another promising sign on the inflation trajectory. A new report shows that online prices actually dropped in December for the fourth consecutive month.

Let's bring in CNN's Matt Egan.

So, Matt, what is this report telling us? Is it just December Christmas sales?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Abby, this is encouraging news. Online prices, they fell more than 1 percent in December from the year before. And these were actual price drops. We're not talking about prices going up at a slower pace. They were actually going down.

And you know what's funny is that during normal times, this wouldn't be noteworthy at all because, as you can see on your chart, pre-COVID online prices were always falling.

But what changed was demand for shopping online soared during COVID, supply couldn't keep up. Prices had nowhere to go but go higher. So we had this unusual situation where online prices were rising.

Now as you mentioned, four months in a row of prices going down. And this is a sign of improving supply chains, online shopping going back toward normal, and cooling inflation across the economy.

PHILLIP: And let's switch gears for a moment. For months, we've seen these corporations pushing for people to get back into the office.

And so now Disney is the latest to take a very aggressive step to get employees back. Lay out what they're saying.

EGAN: Yes, well, Abby, Disney employees who don't like their commute, they cannot be happy about this memo they got yesterday from Disney's CEO Bob Iger.

[13:54:58]

He's just been back in the top job for two months now, and he sent a memo to employees yesterday basically ordering them to come back to the office four days a week.

Now, a lot of workers, they've gotten used to working from home more often. For a lot of people, it just works better with their lives.

But Disney, they're arguing that it's better to have people in the office, particularly when it has to do with creativity.

So, Abby, you've got to wonder if we're going to see more and more bosses make similar moves.

As you can see Iger, he said "It is my belief that working together more in person will benefit the company's creativity, culture and our employees' careers."

And, Abby, you've got to wonder if, as more companies resort to layoffs, you're going to hear from other CEOs trying to lure their workers back into the office.

PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, four days a week is still pretty good but not as good as being able to stay home whenever you want.

Thank you, Matt Egan.

And that does it for me. But don't go anywhere. There's much more news right after this break.

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