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Millions Under Threat Of Potential Tornadoes, Flooding; Trump Challenger Haley Speaks At CPAC One Day Before He Does; Prominent Republicans Like DeSantis, McCarthy Skip CPAC; Fatal Brain-Eating Amoeba Case Might Be Linked To Sinus Rinse; New Data: Tips Decline As More Places Ask For Gratuity; SpaceX Capsule Docks At International Space Station. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 03, 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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[13:32:26]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: And now on to the dangerous weather on the move across the country. The storm system has already hit Texas, Louisiana and Alabama with hail and strong winds. And six tornadoes were reported, including one in Shreveport, Louisiana.

CNN's Carlos Suarez is joining us live from Shreveport.

Carlos, update us on the situation there.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Abby, the cleanup effort is well underway here in Shreveport. We're in a neighborhood where that tornado touched down yesterday afternoon. And this is some of the worst damage we've seen the entire day that we've been here.

We are at a laundromat that, as you can see here, not much of it is left standing. The folks have done a pretty good job of moving all of the debris back on to a corner as they figure out what they are going to do next.

The sign of this business, I will draw your attention to it. It fell on these three cars that are parked outside. In one of those cars, we're told, were two kids yesterday.

The man you are about to hear, he was inside of that laundry mat and he was talking to the mother of those two children.

The mother tells him, look, my kids are inside that car, I'd like to go out and get them.

All of this is happening right before that tornado hits. The man tells her, ma'am, it's not safe to do that. Stay inside.

And seconds later, that's when that sign fell. The kids, we're told, are ok. No one was hurt out here.

Now, we caught up with that man earlier this afternoon. He was back out here to take a look at the damage. And he, look, all in all, he is happy everyone out here is OK.

Here's what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LANGSTON, SHREVEPORT RESIDENT: I just had to be here for a reason, I guess, right, to tell her don't go outside. I was scared to death for those kids. Scared to death.

But, hey, it turned out good. Nobody got hurt. They had the EMS come and check the kids if they were OK.

The little girl, I grabbed her and she goes, that was some strong wind. I said that was some crazy wind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: And so after that tornado hit, that man, along with that woman, they were able to get those kids out of the car.

Now, we also talked to the mayor of Shreveport, who told us he's been in contact with the governor, who told him whatever resources this city might need, the state is ready to give them.

However, because this tornado was on the ground for such a short period of time, we believe well under a minute, the sense is they're going to be able to make do with what they have. They're not going to need a whole lot of emergency relief.

The good news, again, Abby, is that, despite this tornado no, one was hurt out here.

PHILLIP: That is always great news that people are safe in the midst of all of that.

[13:35:01]

Carlos Suarez, thank you so much.

Just moments ago, Republican presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, wrapped up her speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, better known as CPAC.

She used that platform to rail against Democrats and the Biden agenda. But she made no mention of her 2024 rival, Donald Trump.

Even though Haley was there, a lot of influential Republicans are skipping CPAC this time, including Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence, and even the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy.

The summit now regularly attracts MAGA all-stars and election deniers, like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, as well as former President Trump.

He will speak tomorrow. As you can see from some of the merchandise on sale there, he is still the big draw at CPAC. Let's discuss all of this with CNN political commentator and

Republican strategist, Alice Stewart.

Alice, good to see you.

So CPAC - I've been to many CPACs. It used to be the marquee event for Republicans, your former boss, Ted Cruz.

But when the biggest names of the upcoming election, in particular someone like, you know, Ron DeSantis, decides to skip it, I mean, is that a sign that it's lost its juice?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It certainly is a sign that many people realize that their time is better served elsewhere.

Look, all of my former bosses that ran for president spoke at CPAC because, over the years, it has been the place to go to get your message out and raise your name I.D. and increase awareness to the grassroots of the Republican Party.

And now what we're seeing is many of those that are potentially running in 2024 have decided, instead of going to CPAC, they're going to the Club for Growth event down in Florida.

Look, CPAC is about awareness. Club for Growth is about money.

And what we're seeing is, while we had Nikki Haley come out today, and she just spoke, others are choosing to go where they can help to raise money.

Here's what I thought was interesting with Nikki Haley's speech. I was watching that as we were getting ready. Look, she is taking her message right to President Biden.

She is not - she has called punching sides to her Republican challenger. She's going right after Biden and what she calls Democratic Socialism. She's saying it's time to make this country proud and strong and not weak and woke.

And really going after some of the important issues that really touched the red meat there at the crowd, talking about how she wants to make our economy strong, our streets safe.

And also secure the election, which that's not a very popular topic with many people in that crowd, who are election deniers. But she made a really good point to make sure it's time to restore confidence in our election process.

PHILLIP: One of the things that she also talked about was this line from her - from her announcement where she said, you know, Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight elections.

My understanding is that the crowd didn't really react all that much. In part, because that's an indictment against her former boss, Trump, who she didn't mention. Do you really think that there is a good reason for Nikki Haley to

address this particular crowd that seems to be veering much farther to the right and to Trump's column than she wants to position herself?

STEWART: That, Abby, is going to be a consistent message from her, from what her team has told me. And it's important because this is a message that the entire Republican Party needs to listen to.

Voters in the midterm election made it quite clear they are tired of election deniers and conspiracy theorists.

And as Mitch McConnell said, we need to focus on candidate quality. And the more we have Trump-like candidates - and I believe former President Trump that might do well in a primary - that is not going to fare well in a general election.

So what she is doing and what I expect to see the other potential GOP 2024 candidates do is focus on, look, as a party, we are united on the policies. We just have a different style in how to go about accomplishing them.

And that's really the GOP message moving forward, is let's get together with the policies that unite us.

But understanding that we need a softer tone and a different tenor in order to appeal not just to the base but to broaden the electorate to a lot of the voters who have left the GOP because they didn't like the style and the personality that Donald Trump brings.

Because it's time to broaden the base and not just really solidify the base.

PHILLIP: All right. Well, we will see how that turns out. Especially tomorrow, Trump's speech. And notably DeSantis is not there.

Trump, as you pointed out, is not even invited to the Club for Growth, you know, conference over the weekend, which says quite a lot about what's happening in the party.

Alice Stewart, thank you very much for all of that.

STEWART: Thanks, Abby.

[13:39:40]

And still to come for us, a person has died from a rare brain-eating amoeba infection. Health officials say it may have come from tap water, but not from drinking it. We will explain how that happened, coming up.

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PHILLIP: All right. In some disturbing health news, a person in Florida has died from a rare brain-eating amoeba infection.

Health authorities say it didn't come from a murky lake or a pond. They think it came from a common practice among people with sinus and allergy problems.

CNN's health reporter, Jacqueline Howard, is here to help us understand what's going on here.

Jacqueline, tell us about this case.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Abby, I can tell you that health officials in Florida suspect that this person died after having an infection from the brain-eating amoeba that was possibly caused by using tap water that was not sterilized in their sinus rinse solution.

[13:45:01]

So you know, when you do sinus rinsing, a lot of people use a neti pot to do that through the nose. And that's what health officials suspect may have caused this infection.

Now the death is still under investigation. They are looking at the circumstances around the infection.

But what we know about the brain-eating amoeba, if you do have an infection, symptoms typically start with headache, nausea, feeling a fever, and vomiting. And that can progress to stiff neck, seizures and hallucinations.

These infections are rare. Let me start by saying that. We see only about a few each year here in the United States.

But they are deadly. Look at these numbers. From 1962 to 2021, only four out of 154 people with known infections survived. That's why officials are on alert around this.

They're letting residents know in Florida, if you do use tap water for sinus rinsing, make sure it's sterilized, boiled for at least a minute or use distilled water.

Because what we know about the brain-eating amoeba is it's typically found in freshwater environments.

And we also know that it causes infections by entering the nose. For instance, if you're swimming in a lake and you get water up your nose, that's another way of these rare infection getting in.

So this is all important information, Abby, as investigators in Florida take a close at this rare case. Rare, but concerning.

PHILLIP: Yes, very concerning. And definitely another sign to really read and follow the instructions -

HOWARD: Yes.

PHILLIP: - on your neti pot.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for that. And if you made any kind of in-person transaction recently, you were

probably asked to leave a tip.

New data from the point-of-sale platform, Toast, shows that more and more places are asking customers to leave gratuity. And that's fine.

But it also shows the tips may be shrinking. And it seems there is tip fatigue among all of us.

With "New York" magazine recently stating, "This might irritate or confuse you, but the reality is that there are new social expectations around what deserves a tip."

CNN business reporter, Nathaniel Meyersohn, is here to walk us through these threads.

I know I feel like I'm asked to tip for every and anything that I do that requires using my credit card.

What are we seeing in terms of why people are no longer pressing that, yes, 20 percent button on the screen?

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Right, Abby. So folks definitely have tipping fatigue. It's being driven by the high cost of meals and inflation, plus, all the different options we now have to tip.

This is based on some new data that shows that tipping is down at sit- down meals, pickup orders and also delivery. So down across the board, clearly a trend here.

Not every state tips the same. Indiana and Delaware are known for giving the highest tips, while California and Washington, where the cost of living is higher, they're the least generous.

PHILLIP: It does seem like some of this has to do with just the fact that so many people are using credit cards or maybe it's Apple Pay. They're using their phones to pay.

Is that the reason that tipping has seemed to become so ubiquitous at every kind of, you know, retail operation that you end up at?

MEYERSOHN: That's exactly right. So more people are paying with their phones and with credit cards. So that means companies can remove those cash tip jars that we're used to in the past.

You look at quick-service restaurants, think of coffee shops, Panera, Star Bucks, those types of places, the number of tips increased 11 percent in 2022 from pre-pandemic levels.

So clearly, a trend here. And it has to do with the removal of cash tip jars.

PHILLIP: Yes, and I do think some people - I know, during the pandemic, a lot of people maybe tipped a lot more knowing people were falling on hard times and wanted to show gratitude. Maybe that we're just coming off of that high a little bit as well.

Nathaniel Meyersohn, thanks for all of that.

[13:49:13]

And still ahead, the first moments of a six-month stay. Four astronauts arrive at the International Space Station. Their mission, ahead.

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PHILLIP: Overnight and overhead. Four astronauts successfully docked at the International Space Station. The orbiting laboratory will be their home for the next six months. Just yesterday, they blasted off in a SpaceX crewed Dragon capsule.

CNN's Kristin Fisher is joining us now.

Kristin, tell us about this mission.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Abby, just watching that video right there, how exciting it must be for astronauts who haven't seen other humans in months to finally get to see new people floating through the hatch.

You can see that's the beginning of the change-of-command ceremony at the International Space Station. It occurred at around 1:00 last - excuse me, this morning after a bit of a delay.

There was an issue with the SpaceX Dragon capsule hooking onto the space station. But they successfully troubleshooted it and got the astronauts onboard.

And so this all took place about 24 hours after that successful nighttime launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crewed Dragon capsule on top.

[13:55:05]

And what you're seeing really a diverse crew, Abby, at the International Space Station. Two NASA astronauts were on board that flight, one Russian cosmonaut and one astronaut from the United Arab Emirates, who will be the first astronaut from that country to conduct a long-duration space flight.

They are going to be up there about six months conducting experiments.

And I think I said, it must be nice for the people that have been up there for several months by now to finally get some fresh blood up there and say hello to some old friends.

PHILLIP: Yes, that's so cool. I mean, what is it about space that just makes you smile? Maybe it's the kid in all of us that wanted to be astronauts when they were younger.

Kristin Fisher, thank you so much. And some congratulations are in order for our very own Kasie Hunt and

her husband, Matt Rivera. The CNN anchor, who has filled in on this show many times, welcomed her second baby.

A little unexpectedly early. Baby Gray was born at home on Wednesday morning just one day before Kasie was scheduled to have a C-section. The labor lasted - get this - 13 minutes.

So fast, paramedics couldn't even make it in time. But they showed up after Gray arrived.

D.C. Fire and EMS tweeted, quote, "Congratulations. And we are proud to have played a role in bringing this beautiful child into the world. It's what we train for."

Mom, Kasie, is doing really great. We are told that Gray's older brother, Lars, is over the moon. And so are we over at CNN.

Welcome to the world, Baby Gray.

And that does it for me. We'll have much more news right ahead on CNN. Stay with us.

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