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Prominent Russian Military Blogger; Trump To Be Arraigned Tuesday After Surrendering To Authorities; Security Preps Underway For Trump's Historic Arrangement; Pope Francis Presides Over Palm Sunday Mass Following Hospital Release; Storm To Bring Heavy Snow, Blizzard Conditions To Central Plains; Today: Funeral Service For Nine-Year-Old Victim Will Kinney; NCAA Basketball Championship Game Set. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired April 02, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:28]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield

And we begin with breaking news. A prominent Russian military blogger has been killed in an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Here is new video showing the aftermath. Several others were injured in the blast. That's according to Russian state media. The explosion also caused the building's facade to collapse.

CNN's Matthew Chance is in Russia. Matthew, what are you learning?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wow. I mean, you know you can see the pictures there. There's a police cordon all around that cafe in St. Petersburg, where there was an explosion inside, and it has killed, one of the country's most prominent pro war military bloggers.

His name is Vladlen Tatarsky. At least that's what he goes by in his blog. He's got -- his real name is something else called Maxim Fomin, but that's what his blog is called. That's the name under which he writes.

And he is well known in Russia. He's got more than half a million followers on his channel, his Telegram channel and is well known for being very aggressive, very pro war. He once infamously stood in the halls of the Kremlin and, you know, said that we will defeat everyone. We will kill everyone. We will rob everyone. We'll get what we want.

That basically is what he said. He sort of, you know, became very famous or infamous because of that. He's also reported extensively from the front lines.

Important because there's video that's emerged on Russian state television as well of the moments before the explosion took place. Apparently he was attending an event in this -- a pro war event -- in this cafe in St. Petersburg, in which he was the guest speaker.

He was presented with a statuette -- a little a little statue in a box and he took it out and what Russian state media say is that that statue then exploded, killing him and injuring at least 19 other people, according to the local authorities, who are continuing to kind of investigate. Investigate the scene.

We're keeping a close eye on it, Fredricka. But remember if this is some kind of targeted killing and it looks -- it looks like it is, frankly, will be the second time in, you know -- well, you know, since the -- since the conflict that a prominent Russian figure pro war has been taken out with the bomb.

WHITFIELD: So Matthew, we're also getting new video in right now that we want to show and we can also talk while we're showing you gave in great detail here.

Here's the explosion happening. I mean, you can see that the collapse of the awning outside of that cafe -- if we rerack again, you'll see like a flash. Right there of the explosion.

And then we've got other new images of the actual aftermath as well. Right there, the collapse then of that structure.

And it's remarkable that you mentioned while this blogger was at that cafe because he was speaking at an event, of course, now it's a matter of tracing who had hands on that statue before it was handed to him that the suspicion is that award or trophy or statue is indeed what exploded. Sounds like that's what you're reporting.

You know, the I guess -- yes, the sequence of events before he actually received it, who might be responsible for this might be traced that way, obviously.

CHANCE: Yes I mean, already the investigators, the police, the state media that's covering this, of course, are saying that there's a finger of suspicion has pointed towards the woman who presented Tatarsky with this -- with this statue, although that's not been confirmed at this point.

But I'm looking at these pictures so we can see now that big flash the devastation it's caused. It's caused and you know, I've seen video from inside the cafe as well. Don't know whether we've got that, but it was a very crowded event. And so we're seeing these reports that Vladlen Tatarsky has been killed and 19 others injured, but I mean, I don't -- you know, there could well be very more people who succumb to their injuries as a result of that explosion.

It seems to me highly unlikely that that explosion just killed one person where there were so many people in close proximity inside that cafe with an explosion of that force went off, so we're going to keep a close eye on those figures and bring you the details as soon as we can, Fredricka.

[14:04:50] WHITFIELD: Right. And Matthew, you alluded, this is now the second,

you know, explosion as it pertains to like a pro Kremlin supporter since the conflict in Ukraine began, the last circumstance involved a daughter, who was driving her dad's vehicle which exploded, right.

CHANCE: Yes. Darya Dugina, her dad's sort of like very prominent nationalist in the country. She too, was very pro -- you know, outspoken pro war activist as well. And she was killed by a car bomb basically outside of Moscow in August of last year. And so this has similarities to that attack.

WHITFIELD: Yes I remember that that happened during our weekend coverage as well.

All right, Matthew Chance thank you so much in Moscow. We'll check back with you. As the information -- more information becomes more available. Thank you.

All right. We're also watching as parts of the U.S. are bracing for more dangerous severe weather as the death toll from a violent tornado outbreak on Friday is rising. At least 29 people were killed as storms tore through seven states. Dozens more were injured.

At least 35 confirmed tornadoes carved a violent path of destruction on Friday. And today. President Biden issued a major disaster declaration for hard hit Arkansas, where there were multiple reports of tornadoes touching down there.

Just look at these before and after satellite images of Little Rock. A confirmed EF 3 tornado blasted the city with devastated 165 mile per hour winds, flattening neighborhoods.

And now a new threat is emerging. Tornado risks are increasing across central and northeast Texas, and nearly 13 million people are in the path of extreme storms in the region.

CNN has teams covering all the latest storms. Let's begin with Derek Van Dam live in Wynne, Arkansas. Derek, how are people dealing with all this destruction?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, what you're going to see in a few moments, Jessie is how people are dealing with all this destruction because they're trying to find and collect their personal belongings.

But first I want to set the scene for you here because we're in one of the hardest hit neighborhoods of this town of Wynne, Arkansas and you know, coming from a meteorologist who has covered a lot of natural disasters, this is the hardest hit most catastrophic damage that I have ever witnessed.

Now that we have been able to explore this area, we've seen the full scope, the full magnitude of the destruction left behind by this tornado.

We had an opportunity to speak to one of the survivors, a woman who rode out this tornado in her home. Listen to her experience and what she saw with amongst her, her neighbors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSIE WILSON, TORNADO SURVIVOR: When all this went on my family couldn't get in contact with me. the cell towers were down. Everybody was scared. My sister thought I was dead.

What I was saying to everybody, I'm alive, man. Thank God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAN DAM: Jessie Wilson is so fortunate to be alive. I'm going to show you another individual here who is helping with the recovery effort.

This is Zac Siklas (ph). Zach, can you just tell me a little bit about what you're doing?

ZAC SIKLAS, TORNADO SURVIVOR: My kids go to daycare here at Miss Myrtle's New Beginnings.

VAN DAM: This building?

SIKLAS: Yes. This building here. And I am here to help her clean up all of her belongings so she can move to a different location.

VAN DAM: All right. Well, you can see clearly that everybody coming together, pitching together to try and just take whatever personal belongings they can and take them home with them.

I want to end with this because you're looking at basically a scene from any movie, right? You're looking at incredible destruction. But the Free Methodist Church directly over my left hand shoulder, you can see the American flags that have been hoisted here and that is a church steeple.

We talked to the priests and the pastor there who actually had the opportunity to hold a small Palm Sunday service today. And he said, it's not about the building that's about the community who goes to this church that makes it so special, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Derek Van Dam, it looks like people really are pulling together in a very big way as best they can. We'll check back with you, Derek.

Meteorologist Britley Ritz is tracking a new extreme weather pattern right now. And Texas is among the bullseye locations.

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely Fred. We are watching this area highlighted in orange -- Dallas Wichita Falls all included. This is more of a wind and hail threat, especially the hail. But several large tornadoes cannot be ruled out. Hail size, we're talking two inches, if not larger in diameter. Not much to show right now on radar. We've got a stalled boundary that's eventually going to lift north.

As it does ahead of the dry line, that area that depicts how much moisture is in the air. We've got that warm, moist air and that will be fuel for these storms to really start to thrive.

[14:09:44]

RITZ: We notice Sunday, 6:00 in the evening local time, Central Time, they really start to fire up right around Dallas Fort Worth begin to slide into Louisiana, parts of Arkansas back into the southeast by the time we get into Monday morning around 8:00, Central Time places like Birmingham further south, bringing in that threat for stronger to severe storms. That's round one.

Round two comes into play, rolling into Tuesday in areas that have already been hit on Friday and Saturday, areas in orange again Peoria, back into Kansas City, St. Louis down into Little Rock once again.

Again, several long lived strong tornadoes, a possibility again on Tuesday and damaging winds as well as some hail. 72 reports by the way of tornadoes over the last 48 hours, 35 confirmed. We are ahead of schedule in terms of peak season, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That is remarkable, big numbers and peak season usually April.

RITZ: April.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And here we are.

All right. Thank you so much Britley Ritz.

All right. Former President Donald Trump is preparing to fly to New York tomorrow and to be arraigned on Tuesday in a Manhattan courthouse, becoming the first president sitting or former to face criminal charges.

His advisers and allies are already looking ahead to a potential trial and raising questions about whether Trump can get a fair hearing today.

Today, one of Trump's attorneys told CNN they will fight every charge and suggested they will likely file a motion to dismiss the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE TACOPINA, TRUMP ATTORNEY: We will take the indictment. We will dissect it. The team will look at every -- every potential issue that we will be able to challenge them. We will challenge and of course, I very much anticipate a motion to dismiss coming because there's no law that fits this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Kristen Holmes joining us now from West Palm Beach, Florida near Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.

So Kristen what more can you tell us about how Trump's legal team and the former president are preparing? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, if you listen

to Joe Tacopina there, it sounds like they are preparing for battle. You have to remember at this point, they still do not know what those charges are.

So any single decision that they are going to make is going to have to be based on what they actually see on Tuesday when that indictment is unsealed.

So that is the first starting point. And that is a legal point. But as you mentioned a lot of these advisers, allies and even the former president himself are talking about whether or not he can get a fair trial.

The former president has been on social media. He has attacked the judge that he's supposed to be in front of on Tuesday, saying that this judge hates him, of course, alluding to the fact that this would then be unfair.

We've also heard from advisers and allies who expressed concern about the idea of having this potential trial in Manhattan given the political makeup of that borough.

Now today, Joe Tacopina spoke to our Dana Bash and answered some of these questions about what they were going to do when they actually see that indictment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: The former president said that the judge hates him and was handpicked by the DA for this case for that reason. Are you going to ask for a different judge?

TACOPINA: We are going to take the indictment, evaluate all our legal options and pursue everyone most vigorously. This is a case of political persecution.

I have no reason to believe this judge -- I've not been before him on this matter. So I -- we have to let this process play out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And while the legal team will let this process play out, as you heard there, the political team is working overtime. They're sending out fundraising emails, fundraising videos. They are wrapping -- , ramping up all of their outreach to some of his key supporters having them get out there on various media platforms to defend the former president.

The most interesting thing to watch on Tuesday night when former President Trump gives his primetime address following that arraignment will be how he controls the messaging because this will be the first time we hear from the former president after those charges have been made public, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kristen Holmes. That's indeed correct. We shall see how things play out. Appreciate it. We'll check back with you later.

Republican lawmakers continue to rally around Trump in the wake of his unprecedented indictment, even most of his likely rivals for the 2024 presidential nomination are coming out in support of Trump and attacking the Manhattan district attorney for bringing the charges.

CNN's Alayna Treene joining us now. Alayna Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has yet to officially announce that he's running for president but he is defending Trump against these charges. What more can you tell us?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is Fred. I mean, Ron DeSantis is widely seen as Donald Trump's top political rival ahead of 2024, but he's really become one of his most fervent defenders in the wake of the indictment on Thursday, shortly after the indictment was announced.

Ron DeSantis issued a statement on twitter criticizing the case. He also spoke last night to a group of supporters in New York and criticized the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg for what he argued, was altering and maneuvering around campaign finance laws in order to bring these charges against Donald Trump, and also argued that the case itself is a political prosecution.

Here is what you -- here's what he had to say.

[14:14:54]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): This guy is all about politics. He comes in. His whole thing is he doesn't want people to be in jail. He wants to downgrade felonies to misdemeanors. Really, really dangerous stuff.

And then what does he do? He turns around, there's a flimsy indictment against a former president of the United States based on a bunch of things that they're saying business records, which first of all, even if it's true, that's a misdemeanor, and they're trying to do all these legal gymnastics to try to act like it's a felony, when almost every other time he's trying to take the felonies and downgrade them to misdemeanors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now these comments from Ron DeSantis last night Fred, are quite the departure from what Ron DeSantis said roughly two weeks ago when he argued that he doesn't know what goes into hush money payments to cover up an alleged affair and argued that he has more important things to worry about in Florida.

And I think the change in his rhetoric is really noteworthy and shows just the amount of pressure that a lot of these potential 2024 candidates are facing as it relates to Donald Trump in this case.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it'll be interesting to see the dynamic if they continue to support him in this manner. All the way up until he then becomes a competitor as well. We'll see.

Alayna Treene, thank you so much.

TREENE: Thank you.

All right with me now to talk more about Tuesday's indictment, Jonathan Wackrow. He is a CNN law enforcement analyst and a former Secret Service agent. Jonathan, good to see you. So we know the Secret Service has already toured the Manhattan courthouse ahead of this hearing. Walk us through what they will be doing as they prepare to escort Trump to New York for this indictment.

We know there's also been that coordination between NYPD as well.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well good afternoon, Fred. You know the Secret Service they're going to be following the same protective methodologies and protocols that they do every single day with the former president.

And it's really broken down into three parts. The first is understanding the intelligence. What is the threat environment that the former president is going to be entering into? You know, we know that the tumult and the divisiveness of the political environment actually can fuel, you know, increased threats and actually on -- and fuel online rhetoric transcending into violence.

So the Secret Service is very mindful of that. So they're working with their intelligence partners with the NYPD in federal counterparts to understand any type of change in that environment and that actually leads into the actual security planning.

So the security planning is unique here. Typically, you see the Secret Service in a lead role. For Tuesday's event, the NYPD and the New York state court officers are actually taking the lead role, the Secret Service will be focusing primarily on just the physical protection of the former president.

So the NYPD is handling the entire perimeter of the courthouse as well as the city at large while the court officers will be dealing with the internal security of the courthouse. Again, all of this is very highly coordinated with the Secret Service. But it's not being directed or dictated by the Secret Service.

And then we come to Tuesday. We come to the day that the Secret Service will be escorting the former president to lower Manhattan to do his business in front of the court. And for the Secret Service agents they're primarily are going to be responsible for his entry and exit into that courthouse and allowing him to do the business before the court while making sure that the environment is safe to apply probably more additional assets in terms of personnel to make sure that Donald Trump is safe at large.

But you know, in terms of the security coordination, they're really not taking the primary role that we typically see them.

WHITFIELD: So what about in the case if Trump decides after, you know, the arraignment, he goes outside the courthouse. He wants to make a comment. Get into the vehicle. You know, perhaps he wants to engage in some way with the media or whatever crowd might be gathered.

WACKROW: Listen what type of conditions were established between the D.A. and Trump's attorneys in terms of you know the self surrender and then what happens afterwards is really unknown.

What is known, though, is that the Secret Service has been in close coordination with the NYPD for every type of eventuality, including that movement outside now, highly unlikely that would happen, but they are prepared should that occur with additional personnel if you look at what the NYPD has established in terms of their protective structure around lower Manhattan. It is very significant.

It's very comprehensive. It's multilayered, utilizing technology driven by intelligence as well as on Tuesday, you're going to have 35,000 plus uniformed officers throughout the day on duty by the NYPD to ensure that not only the courthouse is safe, but the city at large.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jonathan Wackrow, good to see you. Thanks so much.

WACKROW: Nice to see you. Thanks guys.

[14:19:53]

WHITFIELD: All right. Just one day after being released from the hospital Pope Francis is back to work. How he's marking Palm Sunday next.

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back.

Pope Francis today is presiding over Palm Sunday mass at the Vatican. And it comes just a day after he was released from the hospital after suffering from a bout of bronchitis. The Pope thanked all of those who prayed for him during his illness. The 86-year-old pontiff sat for most of the ceremony. But he did deliver the Angelus prayer as he begins this week's events leading to Easter.

CNN's Delia Gallagher is in Rome for us this morning. Delia, was the Pope in good spirits like he was when you spoke with him yesterday?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Yes I'd say he was in good spirits, Fred. You know, certainly a little bit of tiredness. The voice was a bit lower than we're used to hearing from him.

[14:24:57]

GALLAGHER: But at the same time, you know, it's to be expected, having just been released from the hospital yesterday.

And the main point, Fred is that he was even at the event, considering I don't think anybody on Wednesday would have thought that he would be out of the hospital already and in Saint Peter's Square for Palm Sunday mass.

He rode through the crowds, the Vatican said. Some 60,000 people came to the Square. Waving, giving a thumbs up to the crowd. So you could see his spirit. There is a scene that we've seen many times before. Of course, the Pope going through crowds in St. Peter's Square, but somehow today, given kind of a special meaning, given everything he's gone through in the past few days.

And of course, it's only the beginning because it's the busiest week of the Christian calendar year and the busy week for the Pope. On Thursday, he's going to be at a juvenile jail here in Rome for the traditional washing of the feet for Holy Thursday.

On Friday out at the coliseum for the way of the cross on Saturday and easter vigil and, of course, Easter Sunday mass in St. Peter's Square, so he has quite a lot of events to get through this week, Fred.

WHITFIELD: He sure does, but he certainly seems eager. To do it. All right. Delia Gallagher, thank you so much in Rome.

All right. Now to eastern Ukraine, where military officials say fighting is intensifying, and Russian forces are firing with everything they have around. Around 1,800 civilians remain in an area of Donetsk that is being hardest hit.

CNN's David McKenzie is live for us in Ukraine. So what can you tell us, David about all of this fighting on the eastern front?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly it's been very intense today, and it has been intense over several months, Fred.

And the civilian toll, particularly in those parts of the country, continues to climb through these rocket and artillery attacks. You know, we spent time with a group of American and Canadian surgeons who are trying to help those who, according these kind of attacks, it was a rare look inside their attempts to reconstruct literally the faces of Ukrainians impacted by war.

Some of the images I must say could be disturbing to some viewers. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE: The impact of war is hard to look at.

DRO. RAYMOND CHO, OCULAR PLASTIC SURGEON: The difficulty that that I'm having is that I don't know what anything looks like behind the skin. Here. I can make an opening that looks like there's an eye, but they're never going to look like normal eyelids.

MCKENZIE: And the surgical realities are nothing like civilian life.

How do you compare it to here in Ukraine?

DR. CHO. Well, the level of complexity for these cases is significantly more elaborate and significantly more complex. Think we can get the mouth working better --

MCKENZIE: Face the Future mission director Anthony Bursett (ph) says the blast injuries are often devastating.

ANTHONY BURSETT, MISSION DIRECTOR, FACE THE FUTURE: one of the things that we can do is improve the appearance of the scar.

MCKENZIE: Multilevel bone and soft tissue injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really -- does not get any more complex than this, even in a combat scenario.

MCKENZIE: They brought together highly specialized plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses from the U.S. and Canada to reconstruct and repair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All that bone is missing. But many cannot and if we can do that, then that certainly is a fulfilling opportunity.

MCKENZE: So it's not just the physical change. It's a psychological help. You hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. Absolutely. And it's a psychological help, not just for the patient but also for their family.

MCKENZIE: Roman Belinsky is one of their patients.

What do I think of him? "I'm proud of my son," says his mother, Lecia I'm proud of him. I'm proud of the fact that he didn't run away. He didn't hide.

MCKENZIE: Early in the war. His mechanized infantry brigade faced the brunt of Russia's invasion and their oncoming tanks.

Are you surprised that you survived?

"I do not understand how I survived," he says. I don't even understand how I got through the shelling because it was dark. My eye was hanging out. I was concussed. My whole face was covered in blood. Shrapnel went right through me.

He says many in his brigade were lost. No, we were all like one family, he says. Somewhere you feel your guilt that I didn't also die like they did. Roman lived.

And this will be his third surgery with Dr. John Frodel (ph).

What bothers you the most now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our hope is that at some point, they leave happy. You know that. I don't see them again.

DR. JOHN FRODEL, FACIAL PLASTIC SURGEON: On my end, what I have to appreciate we're making steps. Because they don't fix that.

[14:30:05]

We make them better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where we shine, which is in the operating room. All of the steps and activities that we're doing before getting here is really to get us to this point.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Roman's surgery is one of the first of the say. He says Dr. Frodel and the team have already put him back together and saved his life.

Dr. Frodel is working to move cheek implant just a tiny bit higher on remand. The margins in this kind of surgery are very small, but the differences for the patients can be huge.

DR. PETER ADAMSON, FOUNDER, FACE THE FUTURE: A person's appearance is reflection of their inner spirit, of their inner self to the world. And we must never forget that. But everyone wants to have a facial appearance that others want to look at and would want to get to know you. It's part of the human condition.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE (on camera): Well, Fred, I've been in touch with Dr. Frodel. He says that the surgery went well for Roman and they'll be back in just a matter of weeks to do future surgeries. And that commitment is a long one, because these kind of extremely difficult complex surgeries can mean a long commitment by both the doctor and the patient -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Right, there's a lot of follow up, but I mean, I mean, it is just a very apparent how, how deep the scars are really.

David McKenzie, thank you so much really fabulous piece and fabulous what they are doing.

All right. Record snowfall in this country is burying the town of Mammoth Lakes, California, but some people are kind of happy about that. More than 700 inches have fallen this season alone. We'll take you there, next.

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[14:36:12]

WHITFIELD: All right. Right now, more than three million people are on alert as a new storm threatens the Central Plains with heavy snow and blizzard conditions. Parts of South Dakota could see up to a foot of snow in the coming days as we enter this third week of spring.

And further west in California, Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort is experiencing its snowiest season ever after winter storms damped an unprecedented amount of snow across the region. The resort recorded 695 inches of snow last week. That just is crazy, and that's almost, you know, 60 feet if you do the math.

Joining me right now is Joani Lynch. She has the spokesperson and vice president of marketing for Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort.

Joanie, I imagine you're in your element and so thrilled about all the snow, but wow, I hear you're going to keep the ski season open into -- I mean, through July, that means Fourth of July celebrations, skiing or snowboarding?

JOANI LYNCH, SPOKESPERSON/VP MARKETING, MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN SKI RESORT: Yes. Hi, Fred. Fourth of July and well beyond that, I believe.

WHITFFIELD: Oh, my God.

LYNCH: It's really not unusual for us here at Mammoth to have long seasons. In fact, for the last 50 years, every year but one, we've stayed open for skiing through Memorial Day, very often very common for us to stay open to Fourth of July.

But his year, I don't know, I have money on August that will still be seeing and writing.

WHITFIELD: No.

LYNCH: You've done it two times in our history, and we have more snow than we ever have.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh, I didn't realize that you enjoyed June skiing. And sometimes July skating, but now all the way to August, maybe that's incredible.

Okay. So, now, I imagine a lot of people are surprised just like me. So they're going to start, you know, making plans and booking flights and all that. And are you able to handle what will be, you know, a pretty big I guess, you know, deluge of people in addition to all the snow you've got?

LYNCH: Well, we sure hope so. Mammoth is a very big resort for skiing and snowboarding. We get a lot of skiers from southern California and all around the country.

Later in the season, we also played host to some of the best athletes in the world who come here to train and alpine skiing and snowboarding and free skiing. And if you are thinking about maybe making a trip out to California to go skiing this summer, the two ways to get here are either through Reno, Nevada, or through Los Angeles. It's a beautiful drive of the desert to get to us.

Lots of other activities also in this spring that you can choose. Ski in the morning. Maybe do a little hiking or fishing, but it's going to be a very, very long season for us here after -- you mentioned 695 inches of snow. In fact, this week we broke 700.

WHITFIELD: No. Oh, this is crazy.

Okay. So I know, you know, you all excited just looking at this video right here. I mean, that is just heavenly right there, the skier coming down the mountain. So, I imagine because of all the snow, however, it has meant, you

know, getting around to some of the roads through some of the roads has been very tricky. What about now?

Well, it has been a very challenging season. It started snowing in November. In fact, we were able to open for skiing a little early this year, and the snow just didn't stop. Currently, there are walls of snow in town that are 30, 40 feet high in some places. But there are -- there's pavement underneath, so you could definitely drive and get around. But it is tricky, you know, the how -- we've done a lot -- had a lot of powder days.

But for every powder day, we've done an awful lot of shoveling as well because many of our homes are of snow up to the second floor, third- story windows and decks. And it has created a lot of challenges for us here, but now we're kind of at the sweet part of part of the season. As we get into April, the days are longer and some of the snowpack will begin to recede of it, and we'll be able to get out and enjoy it.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh! That looks so beautiful and enticing. Okay, time to rework the summer plans as of now, after seeing these beautiful pictures.

[14:40:02]

Joani Lynch, I might be seeing you, you know, on the slopes sometime soon.

LYNCH: Love to have you come on out.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much. Enjoy the season, a very elongated season now.

All right. More victims from the horrific school shooting in Nashville are being laid to rest today. What we're learning about nine-year-old Will Kinney and how his life is being honored.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A Nashville community is in mourning today as another young victim is laid to rest following a deadly school massacre. Monday's mass shooting at Covenant school killed three 9-year-old children and three adults.

I want to bring in now, CNN national correspondent Dianne Gallagher, who is live for us there in Nashville.

So, Dianne, I mean, give us a sense of how the community is trying to get through this.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Fred, you can probably see behind me is what it looks like, almost every minute of every day here outside the Covenant School, people from the community coming and putting down balloons, flowers and stuffed animals.

[14:45:12] And it really does make you think about just how young half of these victims were just nine years old.

One of those children, Will Kinney, his funeral will take place in about an hour here in the Nashville area. It is a private funeral, no media allowed. The family, though -- the family friend described Will as a child with an unflappable spirits, saying that he was unfailingly kind, gentle when the situation called for it, quick to laugh and always inclusive of others.

The Covenant Presbyterian Church did hold a worship service with their church congregation family today, but not at their home church. Remember, the Covenant School is located at Covenant Presbyterian. It was a private service that was held off site in an undisclosed location.

And on tomorrow, at 10 13 a.m., the same time that first 911 call came in, a March for Our Lives, which, of course, is the organization that was started by survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida back in 2018 -- well, they're calling for students to walk out of their classrooms and walked to the state capital here in Nashville, to demand gun safety -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, pretty powerful. Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much.

We'll be right back.

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[14:50:58]

WHITFIELD: It just seems to be nonstop. After a dramatic Final Four round last night, the NCAA men's basketball championship game is set. Number five San Diego State stunned number nine Florida Atlantic in the very last second to win right there, 72 to 71 advance to their first title game.

CNN sports anchor Coy Wire is in Houston with more highlights from Saturday's games.

Coy, what a win for San Diego State.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Fredricka. Listen to this. San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher used to walk around campus and hand out free tickets to games. Now he's taking the Aztecs and her first ever national title game. And what a way to get there, Fredricka.

Florida Atlantic was leading by one with nine seconds to go going for the dagger, but they missed the shot. And instead of calling a time out, Coach Dutcher let his players play and it pays off.

Lamont Butler letting go of the ball just before the buzzer and legend -- 70 to 71, pure elation for the Aztecs, rushing to the floor. Some of the students told me they drove 1,500 miles, 20 hours to be there in Houston for this. And at the same time, though, it's hearts and dreams shattered for FAU.

After the game, the Aztecs hero Lamont Butler talked us through that iconic moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAMONT BUTLER, SAN DIEGO STATE GUARD: The plan was just to get downhill. They cut me off a little bit. I looked up. It was two seconds left, so I got to a shot I'm comfortable with, and I hit it. I mean, I'm happy.

BRIAN DUTCHER, SAN DIEGO STATE HEAD COACH: Most guys dream of making one of those plays. And he's made a couple already this year and on his biggest stage as there is in the national semifinals to make that shot was incredible. So I'm going to -- I can't wait to go back and see it on tape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. The Aztecs will face UConn. The Huskies, continuing their run of domination against Miami last night, winning 72-59, advancing to the championship game for the first time since 2014. Star center Adama Sanogo with a game high 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Sanogo grew up in Mali with five older sisters. One younger brother, he speaks four languages and speak life into Huskies nation. Now, just one win away from a fifth national title.

The Huskies and Aztecs looking to see who will be dancing the Texas two-step come Monday night. But in just a little bit from now, we have an epic clash in the women's national title game, Fredricka. The national player of the year, Caitlin Clark in Iowa taking on LSU, and their star Angel Reese, their semifinal games drew 5.5 million and 3.5 million viewers, respectively.

Fredricka, when Caitlan Clark was a kid growing up in Iowa, they didn't have a youth girls league. So our parents put her into play with the boys. They won the state title and, Fredricka, other parents complained saying Caitlin Clark should not be able to play with boys. We'll see if she can lead those Hawkeyes to their first ever national title just a little bit from now.

WHITFIELD: Oh, and a great story of domination.

All right. Coy Wire, thank you so much.

All right. Still ahead, the extreme weather across the country is leveling communities and taking countless lives and threatening millions of people. Where the storms are heading now.

Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERNESTINE SHEPHERD, BODYBUILDER: When people tell me that they're too old to get in shape. I always tell them age is nothing but a number. Looking good.

I am a coach and a trainer. I am 86 years of age.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She came to me at the age of 71. She wanted to be a bodybuilder, and she did it in seven months.

SHEPHERD: Strength training has helped me tremendously. It has helped me to feel good about myself.

DR. JOHN P. DIFICRI, HOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERY: Strength training is the program of gradually introducing resistance to muscle groups in order to stimulate strengthened performance.

[14:55:05]

Most studies would say that we reach our peak muscle mass around age 30 to 40. Then there is a very slow decline until you hit about age 60. Once we hit aged 60, there is a steeper decline of about 1 percent per year.

Strength training can mitigate that. You can get stronger almost no matter how old you are. Step number one is talk to your physician.

SHEPHERD: It takes a while to really see a change, so you have to have the patience and not give up. Keep hanging in there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.