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Supreme Court Preserves Abortion Drug Access for Now; ICRC Unable to Deliver Sudan Aid; U.S. Air National Guardsman Due for Detention Hearing; Ohio Governor Wants Norfolk Southern to Pay for Long-term Health Issues. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired April 22, 2023 - 03:00   ET

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

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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world, I'm Laila Harrak.

The U.S. Supreme Court delivers a win for abortion rights supporters and protects access to a widely used abortion pill.

And fighting mars the latest ceasefire in Sudan as countries weigh options to evacuate their citizens.

And it's Earth Day. We will look at one man's quest to tackle what he calls the Godzilla of climate change, manmade carbon gases.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Laila Harrak.

HARRAK: In a striking victory for the Biden administration and abortion rights supporters across the United States, the Supreme Court has moved to protect access to a commonly used drug for abortion and miscarriage -- well, at least for now. CNN's Emily Schmidt has details on what the court ruling means.

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EMILY SCHMIDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All Friday, all eyes were on the U.S. Supreme Court, each minute a minute closer to a decision about an abortion drug which has been safely used for more than two decades.

The decision when it came was to protect access to a widely used abortion drug, a move that has major consequences.

STEVE VLADECK, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCHOOL OF LAW: The headline for right now is that mifepristone access tomorrow is going to be the same as it was yesterday but that's not going to change anytime soon.

SCHMIDT (voice-over): This is the first big abortion related decision from the court since it overturned Roe v. Wade last summer. At issue, an April ruling by a Texas judge, which blocks the FDA approval of mifepristone, often the first part of a two-drug regimen to end early pregnancy.

The court's decision is a momentary win for the Biden administration, which had issued court filings, saying the lower courts were countermanding the FDA's scientific judgment.

SEN. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-WI): So on all fronts, including reversing this Texas judge, we have to work to regain the rights and freedoms that have been lost.

SCHMIDT (voice-over): A federal appeals court has already scheduled oral arguments for mid May. There's a chance the case could ultimately come back to the Supreme Court. But for now, doctors, in states where abortion is legal, can prescribe mifepristone to their patients -- in Washington, I'm Emily Schmidt reporting.

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HARRAK: Joining me now to talk about this, Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, an OB-GYN at the Women's Care of Beverly Hills.

Doctor, thank you so much for your time. The court seems to have bought itself some time.

As a medical professional, are you surprised by how the court went and what larger questions does this decision raise for you as a medical doctor?

DR. SUZANNE GILBERG-LENZ, OB-GYN, WOMEN'S CARE OF BEVERLY HILLS: Well, I mean, nothing would surprise me at this point to be perfectly honest. I'm relieved but I think, like everybody else is saying, I'm tentatively relieved because this is far from over.

How we feel is the way we felt yesterday and the way we felt six months ago and that is that we really have entered into a period of serious decline when it comes to what we are able to provide and the safety that we're able to assure our patients that they can have for this extremely important and needed medical procedure.

And it's a medical procedure and a medical decision.

HARRAK: What does access to the abortion pill look like right now and what impact have these events had on the availability of the medication?

GILBERG-LENZ: Well, that's a great question, because, when this first started coming down -- I'm here in California, where we have wide support and actually governor support for the procedure and for accessibility.

But having said that, if a federal ban was to put be put into place, I would actually be unable to secure the medication. And at this time, this medicine is so strictly regulated in a way that is so obviously political.

This is not a medication that I can write a prescription for and have a patient fill it at the pharmacy. So I, as the provider, have to stock this in the office. And as soon as it started happening a couple weeks ago, I went to our office administrator to make sure that we had enough supplies available for the foreseeable future.

It's very -- it's been very, very disconcerting and very concerning.

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GILBERG-LENZ: Because, of course, my job and my life's purpose has been to take care of women and to keep them safe.

And when I can't even have tools that are FDA approved and legal in the state that I practice, to keep my patients safe, I really -- I don't even know what to say. I'm baffled after 26 years in medicine, you know.

HARRAK: Now, Doctor, as you alluded to there, briefly, this has become such a politically fraught issue.

What impact is this having on you, on your colleagues and how you practice and, most importantly, the women and the girls that you see?

GILBERG-LENZ: It's really had a very, very negative impact. And I have to say it's not newly impacting us. Any of us who provide abortions have been dealing with threats to our lives and our livelihoods for the entire time that I've been in practice.

I think the issue here is that people, the public has become more aware of what is really going on. So for a lot of people who lived in large cities where they had access to care, they really weren't aware of how difficult it has been in this country.

For the entire time that I've been in practice, I remember in medical school learning that 85 percent of counties in the United States at the time in the '90s did not have abortion services available.

So actually, this is not news to those of us providing care.

What's happened is that I've seen terrible things happening in Los Angeles, where people have access, people not understanding what is available to them, people making poor decisions, people not getting care on time, people being afraid to ask for help, even in a state where it remains legal.

There's been a lot of confusion. And I have dealt with things this year that I have never seen in my career, complications that never needed to happen. You know, threats to people's lives and health. It's very, very serious.

So this isn't a place where people actually still have access, it's so my colleagues in other states and places like Texas, Alabama, et cetera, they are suffering and patients are suffering. And women are being harmed. The obfuscation of the safety issue with

this particular lawsuit is insanity. The safety data is there. It is -- the FDA doesn't approve medications, especially medications like this, that are fraught politically without a lot of safety data.

The safety data is there and this is an incredibly safe medication and, in fact, pregnancy itself is far less safe than having a medical abortion. So the lawsuit is really frivolous when it comes to science and medicine. It's disgusting.

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HARRAK: Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, thank you very much.

Now we turn our attention to Sudan, where civilians have reported more fighting between the armed forces and a paramilitary group despite a 72 hour cease-fire. The U.N. says one staff member from its migration agency died in a clash on Friday and that, overall, more than 400 people have been killed since the fighting began last week.

Earlier, Sudan's paramilitary forces announced they were ready to partially reopen airports nationwide and they said this would allow other countries to safely evacuate their citizens.

But the U.S. is making preparations to get diplomatic personnel out of Sudan but says private citizens should not expect an evacuation.

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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: When it comes to Sudan, this is a warning, a level four warning that we provided to them many months ago, basically telling Americans who were there to leave if they could and also not to travel, Americans not to travel to Sudan.

So we've been very clear on that. Again, it's not our standard procedure.

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HARRAK: CNN's Larry Madowo joins us now with more.

Larry, the humanitarian crisis in Sudan is deepening.

What more can you tell us?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Laila, even though this is supposed to be part of that 72 hour ceasefire starting yesterday, because of the Eid holiday, there's still reports of gunfire and shelling. And people are hearing explosions. Sometimes seeing fighter jets overhead.

So the night was quieter than any of the last seven nights we've seen but it's not completely solid (ph). The guns haven't fallen silent entirely in Sudan. Some of the worst fighting has been around the capital, Khartoum. And people are still fleeing the capital. Whenever there's been a lull

in the fighting, people are trying to make it to other parts of the country, other states that they feel will be safer. A few of them have crossed over into, say, Egypt.

And I see, for instance, a tweet a short while ago, saying I'm looking for a bus to Egypt for 10 people. The U.N. Human rights -- the U.N. Refugee Commission for Human Rights says at least 10,000 to 20,000 people have crossed over into Chad.

So you see people who are fleeing the country and especially fleeing the capital, where the fighting has centered around residential areas, around the general command headquarters, around the presidential palace, around the airport. Here's one doctor considering leaving with his family.

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DR. MAKRAM WALEED, KHARTOUM RESIDENT: Me and my family, like we're busted (INAUDIBLE) and we're considering right now, like the leaving the -- leaving Khartoum. But the risk of our leaving our house, leaving everything, like our belongings, it's just way too hard to like process.

Like even the streets, like even the journey, if it takes to have, like, like small sisters, young sisters, so it's really a risk like leaving the house right now. So we're trying to find like a good opportunity for us to try and leave.

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MADOWO: It's an impossible situation to so many families considering taking that risky journey outside of the relative safety of their homes and risk getting shot at, risk getting bombed on their way to flee the capital.

But both sides now say they have agreed to the ceasefire for 72 hours, to celebrate Eid. That's what the U.N. and the African Union and the intergovernmental authority on development agreed on, as part of the first step toward a longer ceasefire and the return to dialogue.

And that's why you see, for instance, Laila, the RSF saying they're open to partially reopening the airport so that any nations that want to evacuate the citizens can do so.

And we've heard statements from South Korea, from Japan, from Sweden, from Spain, all saying that they are information waiting to take out the citizens when it's safe.

HARRAK: Larry Madowo reporting, Larry, thank you so much for that update.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HARRAK: And let's discuss this further now with Sharath Srinivasan. He is the co-director of the Centre of Governance and Human Rights at the University of Cambridge.

So good to have you with us.

Are you stunned by the scale of the fighting and how quickly violence has spiraled out of control in the span of just a week?

SHARATH SRINIVASAN, CO-DIRECTOR, CENTRE OF GOVERNANCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS: I wouldn't say I'm stunned. And I think that's because, while this ignited very rapidly, there's a much longer fuse in a sense.

And this has been building for some time. It relates to the way that the somewhat desperate, somewhat wrongheaded attempts to try to get Sudan's transition to democracy back on track after a coup in 2021 has really unraveled finally.

And so there's a -- there's a long leadup time and, indeed, some of the things that we're seeing suggest that there's been a lot more planning and prediction by actors that this would somehow unravel.

HARRAK: And we neglected to mention that you are the author of "When Peace Kills Politics: International Intervention and Unending Wars in the Sudans."

I mean, this is a topic in a country that you have studied extensively.

Why does this conflict matter so much not just regionally but internationally?

SRINIVASAN: It's -- first thing has to be said, it matters tremendously to Sudanese. And you mentioned, your reporter mentioned the reprieve for Eid and, you know, even Mubarak told the Sudanese because, first and foremost, this is their horror. This is their terrifying situation.

And I also think we have to caveat any of the international dimensions by saying, look, first and foremost, you have to understand this from the ground and the actors on the ground.

Having said that, why it matters is because, in this context of Sudan, the region and the regional, is also, in a sense, the international. And I'll give one example here. If you take General Haftar in Libya, quite an important force and power in that region, close association with the Rapid Support Forces, one of the armed groups in Sudan that some fighting with the Sudanese armed forces.

Haftar himself has connections to the United Arab Emirates. The RSF has connections to the United Arab Emirates, also to some other influences wider, including from Russia. And the UAE is themselves in some kind of competition with Egypt, which is suddenly supporting the Sudan armed forces.

Now this is all prior to the conflict. This is not to say that they are actively supporting the conflicts right now in any material way. But that's the context within these two actors, these two state military and security actors, are also related to regional international dynamics.

We have Saudi Arabia, Israel, Eritrea in the region, all connected in some senses to this conflict. So each of these countries has interest themselves. I mean, specific aspects of Sudan; gold production security interests that that they have themselves.

But also Sudan is geopolitically and geostrategically important. It's part of the Horn of Africa, a restive area, North Africa, the Arab world. And in the context of Indian Ocean competition between a range of actors, Sudan plays a pivotal role in the way different actors seek to have influence and seek to expand this sphere of influence and control.

So these actors on the ground are also aware of all of those dynamics at the same time.

HARRAK: Very intricate situation that you outlined there. I mean, unfortunately, there are no signs right now that things will get any better. I mean, ceasefires are announced and then broken as soon as they're announced.

These two warring generals, they're showing shocking little regard for Sudanese citizens suffering.

So who has diplomatic leverage at this stage?

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HARRAK: Egypt, the U.S., Arab Gulf countries?

Or are the Sudanese people on their own?

SRINIVASAN: Well, it's very hard to see where the leverage is, where the -- such offramps are that can be encouraged at the moment. And that's the tragic situation.

What I don't think I can say is that the offramp that is not an offramp, that perhaps we should stick stop and think about right now, is that the transition and the logic of the transition that has been held onto, notwithstanding the fact that these two armed security actors at the time of the revolution that deposed president al Bashir in 2019, the popular revolution, it was also a palace coup.

Both of these actors held onto power and gripped the state from that point onwards. Whenever there's been a transition toward civilian led government, they have acted to reassert their power. The coup in 2021 was exactly because of that.

This unraveling has occurred again because of a transition plan, a roadmap, a framework that was leading toward a civilian led government and the unification of two armed forces into one.

And it's in those moments that they recognize their grip on power is being lost and they fight back. So if we come back with another formula around dialogue, let's restore the transition, let's do a process and a roadmap, the likelihood is that we're repeating these cycles that actually feed into the logics that allow these actors to hold their control of the state.

Something entirely different is needed. It's not clear where the leverage is but I think perhaps we need to think about the revolutionary promise of the Sudanese and the street and what they have sought throughout this last four years and how that needs to be more front and center, rather than appeasing or trying to subdue the actors that then themselves just reinforce their power.

HARRAK: Sharath Srinivasan, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: Ukraine gets another boost from Western allies as Kyiv prepares for its expected counteroffensive. Still ahead, tank units hone their battle skills on U.S. hardware.

And flooding fears in the Upper Midwest, as record winter snows plus spring melt equal rising rivers.

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HARRAK: Ukraine's armored units are getting a shot in the arm from the West ahead of Kyiv's expected counteroffensive. The U.S. says it will start training Ukrainians on its Abrams tanks next month.

The training will be held in Germany before 31 of those tanks arrive in Ukraine by the end of the summer. Kyiv's allies also plan to set up a maintenance center for the Leopard tanks in Poland, which could be up and running by the end of May.

Western countries have been donating the German made tanks to Ukraine. The decisions were announced at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany, where the top U.S. general made this assessment of the war.

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GEN. MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS: As we stand here today, the Ukrainian military continues to perform very well. Intense fighting in and around Bakhmut continues and has for several months.

Russia is expending significant manpower for very little gain. Russia is intensifying indiscriminate shelling in (INAUDIBLE) and other cities and urban areas. And Russia continues to pay severely for its war of choice. Unlike Ukrainian forces, who are highly motivated to fight for their

country, to fight for their freedom, their democracy and their way of life, the Russian lack in leadership. They lack will, the morale is poor and the discipline is eroding.

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HARRAK: For more, Barbie Nadeau joins us now from Rome.

Barbie, the U.S. will begin training Ukrainian forces on Abrams tanks next month. Tell us about that.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's an interesting program. It's going to be about a 10 week training period, about 250 Ukrainian military people will be trained on these in Germany.

And it's going to be as you said a big boost to the Ukrainian military forces there on the ground as they initiate their counter -- counterattack.

HARRAK: And the International Atomic Energy Agency chief, he's sounding the alarm.

NADEAU: Yes, that's right. You know, there's been increased and continuing shelling in the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant. And now they had the IAEA has had a continual presence there, this whole last period of time since January.

But they're really concerned about the constant detonations and constant shelling, so they're sounding the alarm that it's still not a secure place as under Russian control. It's a very, very dangerous situation and they're very worried about it, Laila.

HARRAK: And in another development, what more can you tell us about the Russian jet that accidentally dropped a bomb on the Russian city of Belgorod?

NADEAU: Yes, you know, there are a lot of defense experts calling this -- whether it's an accident or an emergency release of this bomb, they're saying, if it was an emergency release, the pilot, a trained pilot, certainly would have done everything he or she could to make sure that it didn't drop on a populated area.

And this was hit, a town, the city center of a town of about 400,000 people after 20 meter crater. So it seems more of an accident than an emergency release, which is the way the Russian military is trying to spin it at this point.

HARRAK: Barbie Nadeau reporting, thank you very much.

A 21 year old U.S. Air National Guardsman is due in court next Thursday after he was accused of posting classified documents on the internet.

Jack Teixeira's detention hearing was originally set for earlier this week but was postponed at the last minute. Teixeira is accused under the Espionage Act but has not yet entered a plea.

It's alleged he used his top secret clearance as an I.T. specialist to post sensitive intelligence documents --

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HARRAK: -- in a chat room on the video gaming site, Discord. Some documents dealt with Russia's war on Ukraine.

Months after the toxic train derailment in Ohio, homeowners trying to sell are finding that their homes are worth far less now than before the crash. A report after the break.

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HARRAK: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and all around the world, I'm Laila Harrak. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Now more than two months since the train derailment that spewed toxic smoke across East Palestine, Ohio --

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HARRAK: -- the state's governor is pushing to make sure the railway company pays for the long term impacts of the train crash.

Mike DeWine says officials are still conducting air, water and soil testing and working to improve the quality of life in the community. And he wants Norfolk Southern company to compensate residents for potential health issues.

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GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): There needs to be a fund set up fairly quickly so that people in the community, who are concerned about where they're going to be in five years or 10 years or 15 years, if they have cancer or something occurs because result of this crash, they need to be assured.

And so he did not disagree with that. In fact, he agreed with that. And so I expect there to be a fund set up.

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HARRAK: Well, the governor also says the railway should pay homeowners selling their homes the difference between what houses were valued before the train wreck and what they are worth now. CNN's Jason Carroll spoke to some of the residents.

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JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Throughout East Palestine, Ohio, there are signs of trouble for homeowners looking to leave.

MELISSA HENRY, HOMEOWNER: It's been a process and it's been a nightmare. We were the guinea pigs for my realtor because she wasn't even sure what was going to happen.

CARROLL (voice-over): Melissa Henry's home that she remodeled sits about a mile from where the Norfolk Southern train derailed in February, leading to a release of toxic chemicals from the overturned cars. She was thinking of moving before the accident but after it happened and her family started experiencing symptoms, she wanted out.

HENRY: Me and my youngest son have had bloody noses. I couldn't tell you how many times. And we've never had bloody noses.

CARROLL (voice-over): She put her home on the market weeks after the derailment for $150,000.

HENRY: The first offer I had on my house was 50,000 -- almost 50,000 below what I asked for. That was like a stab to the gut.

CARROLL (voice-over): The low balls continued. Last week, Henry finally accepted an offer 25,000 below asking, which she says leaves the family very little.

(on camera): Do you feel like in some way you should be compensated?

HENRY: Absolutely. I think everybody in this town who wants to move Norfolk should pay for them to move. There should -- we shouldn't be forced to stay somewhere we don't feel comfortable, we don't feel safe.

HARRY HOFMEISTER, REAL ESTATE AGENT: As far as right now, yes, the bloom is off the road a little bit but we will see. We just don't know.

CARROLL (voice-over): Harry Hofmeister has been selling real estate in the area for about 40 years and says sellers may have to accept less money or wait longer for homes to sell. He says it's too soon to tell just how much of a hit home prices have taken in East Palestine given Norfolk Southern's derailment and other factors such as a struggling economy and rising interest rates.

HOFMEISTER: I think they need to make things right, how you possibly determine what kind of loss is attributed to that or not at somebody else's department.

CARROLL (voice-over): Since the derailment, Norfolk Southern CEO has repeatedly been pressed on the issue.

SEN. ED MARKEY (D-MA): Will you commit to ensuring that these families, these innocent families, do not lose their life savings in their homes and small businesses?

The right thing to do is to say, yes, we will.

ALAN SHAW, NORFOLK SOUTHERN CEO: Senator, I'm committed to doing what's right for the community.

CARROLL (voice-over): This week, when we asked for more specifics, the rail company spokesman referred us to this previous statement, "We also know residents are worried about their home values, we understand these concerns.

"We are committed to working with the community to provide tailored protection for home sellers if their property loses value due to the impact of the derailment."

What this tailored commitment might entail, though, remains unclear.

DIANNA ELZER, OWNER, DOGS ON THE RUN: I would say that I believe Norfolk Southern is doing what they can at the moment.

CARROLL (voice-over): Dianna Elzer owns a popular hot dog stand in town and lives less than a mile from the derailment. She's an example of a divide here between those who want to leave and be compensated and people like her who want to stay.

ELZER: Why are you yelling at people that are still here trying to make sure the town doesn't die in the meantime?

Because if all our small businesses go away, the town will die.

CARROLL (voice-over): Caught in the middle of it all, people like Vanessa Kastanek and her 3-year-old son.

VANESSA KASTANEK, EAST PALESTINE RESIDENT: I do kind of want to get out of town, you know, just for his sake, just in case, just to be safe.

CARROLL (voice-over): Kastanek says she has little resources and fewer places to turn for help.

KASTANEK: You know, I can't just pick up and leave like most people can. And -- so, you know, I kind of -- I am kind of just, you know, a little stuck.

CARROLL: So again, what's unclear here is how some folks are going to be compensated for their losses, even after all of this time.

Meanwhile, here in East Palestine, there are some slogans around town that read, "East Palestine get ready for the greatest comeback in American history."

Some here still not giving up -- Jason Carroll, CNN, East Palestine, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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HARRAK: One person has died after a tanker truck flipped and caught fire on a bridge in Groton, Connecticut. That's according to CNN affiliate WFSB. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK (voice-over): Take a look now at this video, showing the flames and billowing smoke that shut down the bridge Friday. Connecticut state police said all northbound lanes of the bridge have reopened but some southbound lanes remain closed.

And concern is growing that the Upper Midwest could see major flooding next week as several rivers continue to rise. The National Weather Service says right now, 10 river gauges are measuring at major flood stage and another 43 are at moderate flood stage.

And in parts of Illinois, the Mississippi River is rising and already moving into people's homes and businesses, flooding garages and exterior stairwells. According to the National Weather Service, the river levels are at a moderate flood stage there and could reach major flood stage next week.

They were used in the worst massacre in modern U.S. history. We will tell you about the fate of some of the guns used in the Las Vegas shooting of 2017.

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HARRAK: A man accused in the shooting that left a 6 year old injured has waived his right to fight extradition. Robert Singletary appeared in court in Florida Friday, a day after he was apprehended. It's unclear when he'll be returned to North Carolina.

He's accused of shooting a 6 year old girl and her parents after a basketball rolled into his yard. The girl and her mother had only minor injuries but her father was hospitalized in serious condition.

Well, most of the 49 guns belonging to the shooter in the 2017 Las Vegas massacre have now been destroyed. An anonymous donor gave more than $60,000 to cover the value of the weapons in his arsenal on the condition they be demolished; 13 have been retained by the FBI.

Stephen Paddock killed 61 people attending a country music festival when he opened fire from his room at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. Paddock shot himself before police could reach him.

The liquidation of his estate generated more than $1 million and that money will be distributed to survivors of the victims who died.

It's been 30 years since Stephen Lawrence, a young Black man, was stabbed to death on the streets of London by a group of white teens. His death prompted a moment of national reckoning about racism in the U.K. and in London's police force. But today, the issue remains as heated as ever. CNN's Katie Polglase reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATIE POLGLASE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirty years after the killing of Stephen Lawrence, the pain still endures for his father.

NEVILLE LAWRENCE, FATHER OF STEPHEN LAWRENCE: Thirty years of my life gone. You know, my life been turned upside down by somebody I don't know.

POLGLASE: Lawrence was killed in a racist attack by a group of white teenagers at a London bus stop in 1993. But it took nearly two decades for two of his attackers to be convicted and sentenced. The institutional racism blamed for the delayed justice remains unaddressed.

First documented in an official report commissioned after Lawrence's death in 1999 and then again this year in the Casey Review, saying the police have a culture of denial.

MARK ROWLEY, LONDON POLICE COMMISSIONER: We fully accept the findings of the Casey Review.

POLGLASE: The Met commissioner admitted there was still racism in the force but stopped short of calling it institutional.

ROWLEY: Institutional, it's not a term I use myself.

POLGLASE: This racism takes on many forms, including the lack of police accountability for the deaths of Black men and people of color.

MARCIA RIGG, SEAN RIGG'S SISTER: These are the four officers that are there.

POLGLASE: Fifteen years ago, Marcia Rigg lost her brother, Sean, after he was pinned down in a police arrest while experiencing a mental health crisis.

He died of cardiac arrest after he was restrained in a prone position for approximately eight minutes, according to the findings of an inquest jury.

RIGG: So that's the restraint. You see it's four officers, face down in grass, with excessive force to his neck. He could not breathe.

POLGLASE: Five police officers were cleared of gross misconduct, despite the findings of an inquest jury, who said police had used an unnecessary level of restraint, which more than minimally contributed to Rigg's death.

The statistics showing racism in British policing are alarming. A recent report by the Charity Inquest found that Black people are seven times more likely to die by police restraint than their white counterparts.

Rigg was restrained in a similar way as George Floyd, whose death, at the hands of U.S. officers, sparked a global protest movement against police brutality in 2020.

RIGG: I was horrified. It was so traumatic because it was -- because it reminded me of Sean.

POLGLASE: Raju Bhatt is a leading criminal lawyer, who has brought cases against the Met police for decades.

RAJU BHATT, FOUNDING PARTNER, BHATT MURPHY SOLICITORS: So whether we are talking about racism, whether we're talking about misogyny, whether we're

talking about homophobia or any other ills, we're talking about a lack of will and ability to address wrongdoing.

[03:45:00]

POLGLASE: The Casey Review found the Met does not represent the city it serves. Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities make up just a fraction of the force compared to nearly half of Londoners.

Over the years, the anger has spilled onto the streets, sparking riots over the police killing of Mark Duggan in North London in 2011. A jury later ruled this killing lawful. The lack of change has caused some families to despair.

Do you have hope they will change in the future?

LAWRENCE: I don't think I'll ever see that. I'm 81 years old now. All right?

So it's 30 years ago since this happened.

POLGLASE (voice-over): Bereaved families have found one main source of comfort: each other.

RIGG: Mr. Lawrence, you look exceptionally well.

LAWRENCE: Thank you.

RIGG: You really do. And smart and dapper.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Careful now, careful.

LAWRENCE: Well, I know the hell -- the kind of hell that they are going through.

POLGLASE: Lawrence's father says he can't live in the U.K. anymore. The memories are just too painful. But when he does return he meets with other families going through the same ordeal.

LAWRENCE: But when I'm here, I think about it all the time. This is a place where I thought I'll be happy. I'm not happy here.

RIGG: Every time you, you know, you hear about another death, it's like you relive it again, so it just doesn't go away.

POLGLASE: Yet their only hope for justice is to keep the cases alive -- Katie Polglase, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: The Met has yet to respond to CNN regarding Sean Rigg and Stephen Lawrence's cases and the accusation that the force is institutionally racist.

And to mark the anniversary the Met released a statement apologizing to the Lawrence family, stating that significant progress has been made in the last 30 years but admitting there are still cultural and systemic failings.

And staying in Britain, that country's deputy prime minister and justice secretary has resigned following a report he bullied staff members. The report found Dominic Raab was intimidating and persistently aggressive. The allegations came from eight formal complaints about his behavior.

But he is not going quietly, saying the report was flawed. He says it sets a dangerous precedent, which will paralyze the ability of ministers to deliver for the British people.

Next on CNN NEWSROOM, it's Earth Day and we'll tell you why one scientist likens the problem of carbon to Godzilla. Do stay with us.

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HARRAK: Happy Earth Day 2023. U.S. President Joe Biden marked the occasion by signing an executive order, creating the new Office of Environmental Justice. The order also directs federal agencies to work more closely with communities impacted by pollution and to tackle the impacts of pollution on people's health.

And for this year's Earth Day, we at CNN are turning our attention to how we can possibly reverse some of the damage done to our planet. And CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir crosses the globe to interact with innovative players in the trillion dollar race to remove carbon from the sea and sky.

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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: While he was studying robotic engineering at Dartmouth and Earth Systems at Columbia, he realized a man-made monster was destroying his beloved Gulf of Maine, warming it up at a rate now faster than 95 percent of the rest of the world. MARTY ODLIN, RUNNING TIDE FOUNDER AND CEO: It's a Godzilla. There's this thing out there and it's like ruining everything that we love, right?

All the good stuff is getting ruined. All the stuff that's free and fun.

It's burning forest down. It's stealing our fish. It's devastating our crops. It's hurting our farmers. Get mad and go kill that thing, right?

WEIR: And right there on a docking main, Marty's metaphor is a light bulb moment for me. A whole new way to think about a giant problem that began when people figured out how to move lots and lots of carbon, that stuff of ancient life.

From the slow cycle locked and rock and under oceans into the fast cycle, in the sea water and the sky and we've moved so much carbon. That monster now weighs a trillion tons, give or take, more than every living thing on Earth.

So not only do we have to stop making the monster bigger, we have to catch it, chop it up and bury the pieces back into these slow cycle. It was something called carbon removal.

ODLIN: Removal is chopping Godzilla down. We got this 400-foot-tall lizard and we're just chopping that thing down, that's what removal is.

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HARRAK: And tune in to see Bill Weir's full report "How to Unscrew the Planet," airing on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER" on Sunday night in the U.S. Monday morning in Asia.

Now the nuns at a Dutch convents are toasting their good fortune as they try to sell off a bumper crop of wine. They hope to move 64,000 bottles of what they call a beautiful white and a fresh rose. That's twice as much as they normally produce. The sisters credit unusually sunny and warm weather last summer.

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HARRAK: You can pick up a six-bottle case for just $95. Proceeds will pay for maintenance of the convent.

Not a bad deal.

An American style lager that for years has been marketed as "the champagne of beers" is getting a chilly reception by a group of French wine producers.

On Monday, Belgian authorities destroyed a shipment of more than 2,300 cans of the American brew Miller High Life. A French trade group that guards the official use of the word "champagne" said the slogan on the label runs afoul of E.U. protections. The shipments, intercepted in Antwerp at the beginning of February,

was headed for Germany and, much like those cans, fans of Miller High Life are probably crushed.

I'm Laila Harrak, do stay with us. Kim Brunhuber picks up our coverage as CNN NEWSROOM continues after a quick break. And we'll see you tomorrow.