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Millions In Texas Bracing For Triple-Digit Heat; CNN Goes On Mission With Elite Ukrainian Drone Unit; Blinken's High-Stakes China Trip. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired June 17, 2023 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:32]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It is Saturday, June 17th. I'm Amara Walker.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
WALKER: We begin in Texas where millions of people are bracing for triple-digit heat after tornadoes ripped through the area just two days ago. We want to show you what the scene looked like after an EF-3 rated tornado hit the town of Perryton on Thursday. Cleanup efforts are now underway, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott has issued a disaster declaration for communities impacted by the storm.
BLACKWELL: In this video, you can see the damage done when the twister touched down in Perryton. At least three people, including an 11-year- old boy, were killed after that tornado slammed the area.
CNN's Isabel Rosales live in Perryton in this morning for us. Massive damage, we're seeing some of it behind you. And now that the sun's up, people are there behind you. What's happening?
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Victor, Amara, good morning to you. So many of the people that I spoke with here in this community describe it as happening so quickly, the tornado touching down just so fast that they didn't even hear a siren. They didn't get an alert. But once they opened their eyes, this is what they saw, so many homes and businesses here in the downtown in the heart of Perryton just ripped apart.
The fire chief tells us that as many as 200 homes were totally destroyed. I want to give you a bird's-eye view right now to give you a clearer look at the devastation around this downtown area. The National Weather Service saying based on their preliminary data that this was an EF-3 tornado that was on the ground for 11 minutes, peak winds of 140 miles per hour, and the length of this thing, just over six miles.
Now I spoke with a 16-year-old who lives in this neighborhood. His name is Orlando Mendoza, who says that his home was ripped apart. He remembers praying to God for the safety of his family. The one thing, really three, that were untouched in his home are pictures, framed images of the Virgin Mary.
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ORLANDO MENDOZA, TORNADO SURVIVOR: -- reading in our kitchen, and then we saw the wind start get -- getting really bad. And I told my sister- in-law that we might have to go to a shelter, and when I said that, I was going to go get my dog, which was in my room, and when I opened my room, my roof flew off. My dog tried to run out, so I grabbed him and put him against the wall. And I kind of -- we could kind of got against the wall for a little bit waited there, and that we went to the restroom and that's where we stayed for the rest of the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSA: Yes. And the youngest victim of this tornado, 11-year-old Matthew Ramirez, found dead in his neighborhood, which is a trailer mobile home park. Then there's Becky Randall, 60 years old, found in a print shop, and then Cindy Bransgrove, also in her 60's, found in a food bank.
Right now, I can tell you guys that the focus of this community is really to help one another. It's a small community of 8,500 people. From sun up to sunset, they are out here working to get this community in order and to clean up eventually to rebuild, but a big problem, you guys mentioned there at the top, is that devastating heat when -- once the sun comes out, it's really baking here. Temperatures in Texas 10 to 15 degrees above normal right now and expect it to last that way for at least another seven days. Guys.
WALKER: Oh. That's an awful time for the people there. Isabel Rosales, thank you.
Let's talk more about the temperatures and also severe storms that are expected this weekend in some of the same places already devastated by those tornadoes.
Meteorologist Britley Ritz joining us now from the CNN Weather Center with more on what the people there and in the neighboring areas can expect really.
BRITLEY RITZ, CNN ANCHOR: Amara, yes. And Perryton is in that enhanced risk once again today, hence to a slight risk across parts of Texas and back into Colorado, right on through the plains and down into parts of Florida as well. So, just want to reiterate, know your safe spot, get there, an interior room with as many walls as possible or a basement if you have it.
Florida already dealing with rain, nothing severe at the moment but a few stronger storms moving in North Central Florida. Ocala, two inches per hour already coming down in part just north of Orlando and parts of Florida.
Also a few thunderstorms across the plains at the moment weakening, but will regenerate as we get the heat of the day.
[10:05:01] There's that enhanced risk and slight risk for parts of Texas right on up into Oklahoma, southern Kansas and that extends into Sunday as well, where we have the threats of long-lived strong tornadoes. We also have hail two inches in diameter, and, of course, strong damaging winds in excess of 60 miles per hour. Time it out for you. Already dealing with a few storms this morning, those weekend, then redevelop later this evening. 7:00, 8:00 holding on to that threat across the southeast as we roll into Sunday morning, and in through the afternoon hours and overnight hours into Florida again tomorrow.
Many over 40 million under some sort of heat alert excessive heat warnings in place from Brownsville to Houston back into New Orleans. This goes through the day unlikely through the weekend. Or Heat index values as we add in the humidity on already ridiculously hot temperatures. Feeling like we're pushing near 110 degrees. Let's avoid heat stroke, heat exhaustion, drink plenty of water and limit your time outdoors. Victor, Amra.
BLACKWELL: Very difficult weekend. Britley. thank you so much.
What we are seeing in Uganda this morning is horrifying. Officials are counting the dead after one of the deadliest attacks in its history. Police say armed extremist rebels, linked to ISIS, attacked a residential school.
WALKER: At least 41 people have been killed and six students abducted. And the school's dormitories were set on fire. CNN's Larry Madowo is standing by in Kampala, Uganda. Larry, what do we know especially regarding any children who may have been left behind in those dormitories?
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara, Victor, we're learning more about this Friday Night Massacre at this high school in Western Uganda. This is just two kilometers from the border with a Democratic Republic of Congo. Ugandan authorities are blaming the Allied democratic forces. This is an armed group that started here in the mid '90s in Uganda and has spilled over into the eastern DRC.
And what we understand is that they came into this school at night the kids were in the dormitories, two boys' dormitories and two girls' dormitories, and the boys had barricaded themselves inside the dormitories. A short while ago, the Ugandan education minister saying that they threw a petrol bomb inside that boys' dormitory, and the boys were burnt beyond recognition.
The death toll now stands at 41. We know that at least six were abducted from that school and eight are in critical condition at a hospital nearby. This is not the first time that the ADF has carried out attacks here
in the capital of Uganda in Kampala. There were suicide attacks in 2021. And shortly after that, the Ugandan military and the Democratic Republic of Congo military began joint operations in eastern DRC to stamp them out.
But just two days ago, the ADF carried out another attack in the eastern DRC so people thought they were safe because the government had assured them that they were safe, and now they and their leaders -- watch.
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FLORENCE KABUGHO, UGANDAN MP, KASESE DISTRICT: Just last week, the neighbors, our neighbors were attacked, and many people are killed. The security here told us not to fear that because the border is secured. I'm surprised that our students have been killed. Where was the security when these killers came to Uganda? Where was the security?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADOWO: This is the worst school attack in almost 25 years in Uganda. The last one was in 1998, also carried out by the ADF in an area not too far from this happened. And for Ugandan high school students, they're as young as 13. And now parents, family members, relatives having to deal with this tragedy, guys.
BLACKWELL: Awful. And we understand that the number of those dead now at 41 could increase. Larry Madowo, thank you so much.
WALKER: Larry, thank you.
We are following new developments in Russia's war on Ukraine. Ukrainian officials say at least two people have died and more than two dozen injured in the shelling in the city of Kherson.
BLACKWELL: The head of the regional ministry says Russia launched 75 attacks on the area in 24 hours. The shelling comes as Ukraine's counteroffensive has begun. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen got rare access to an elite Ukrainian drone unit, targeting Russian positions. Here's his report.
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FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A 3-D printed stabilizer fin, some plumbing tubing, lots of glue and the bomb is ready. Then it's night vision goggles on, lights off, and full speed ahead to the front line.
We're with an elite drone unit of Ukraine's security service, the SBU, and the patrol police, looking to take out a key Russian anti-tank position with a precision strike.
"We found this target only recently," a team leader says. "It was discovered literally today, and today, it will be destroyed."
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PLEITGEN: So, we're going to the drone launch site right now. It's obviously extremely dangerous and we have to watch out that the Russians don't see us.
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PLEITGEN (voice over): Speed and precision are essential. The drone, a quadcopter on steroids, able to carry a massive payload up to 45 pounds.
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In this case, a mortar shell the Ukrainians say they got form retreating Russian forces elsewhere and are now using to hit Putin's army.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now we finish our preparing.
PLEITGEN: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bomb is ready. And we're ready to go.
PLEITGEN: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready, steady and go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN (voice over): It's big, it's loud, and it's heading straight to the Russian position.
We need to hide. Out here, the hunters quickly become the hunted.
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PLEITGEN: So, for the Russians, the drone crews are also a high value targets. So, obviously, the Russians want nothing more than to kill these guys.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN (voice over): Unfazed by the shelling around us, the pilot flies straight to the target and releases the bomb.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This moment we call, "from Ukraine with love."
PLEITGEN: So you just drop the bomb?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN (voice over): This is what the blast looks like from the drone's camera, pitch black. The strike, fully automated. It's not until daytime that a reconnaissance flight proves they've hit and destroyed the target. Not clear how many Russians were killed and wounded here. "This will allow the defense forces of Ukraine to move forward and continue the offensive," he says. "With minimal losses, we'll inflict maximum losses on the enemy for the victory of Ukraine."
But it's not over. As the UAV flies back, intercepted text messages show the Russians have heard the drone and are targeting.
"Enemy bird spotted," a Russian text. "Understood," another answers. They launch flares to spot the drone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, now you can see.
PLEITGEN: Oh, yes, back there. I see it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
PLEITGEN: Yes. Are they shooting those up to see the drone or why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because they cannot see the drone, but they shoot towards the sound.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN (voice over): Finally, the drone makes it back. They need to get out of here fast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: And we follow you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, let's go home.
PLEITGEN: OK. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, come on, come on, come on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN (voice over): After what they say was a successful mission, the drone warriors leave exactly the way they came.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, in southeastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Fred, thank you.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on his way to China. It is an effort to reset relations with the country following that spy balloon incident earlier this year. So what does success look like for Blinken? We'll discuss.
BLACKWELL: And the man who killed 11 worshippers in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting was found guilty on all 63 charges Friday. The reaction from the community and what is next in this case.
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[10:16:48]
BLACKWELL: President Biden right now is on his way to Philadelphia. He is going to take an aerial tour of the damaged section of Interstate- 95. You'll remember that part of it collapsed last week after a tanker truck hauling gas crashed and burst into flames. The full restoration of the overpass could take months.
WALKER: Following the tour, President Biden will hold his first rally of the 2024 campaign season. CNN's Jasmine Wright joining us now from the White House. Jasmine, good morning. What do we expect to hear from President Biden today?
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, it'll be a mix of official policy and his campaign agenda. We know that when we -- when you cover this beat, and you talk to officials in the building behind me, they said that this is exactly what the President is meant to be doing, going to the I-95 highway collapse, talking about his infrastructure bill, and how he is dedicated into getting this rehabbed and fixed as quickly as possible and then turning to his campaign agenda.
Now we heard from President Biden just a few moments ago as he was leaving Washington to head to Philadelphia where he will be landing in just a few minutes. And he touted how excited really he was for this campaign event, his first official event since announcing his reelection bid just a few months ago. And he talked about just the amount of union endorsements that he is expected -- that he's already had, possibly more, expected to happen.
He talked about how he felt that it was really -- that something of this kind, the amount of endorsement that he's had from the AFL-CIO, AFT, that Teachers' Union hasn't happened before. So we expect to hear him talking about that. But the cornerstone of his speech today will talk about his economic agenda and how he feels that his vision for the US's economy is working trying, as one campaign official told me, to battle test that message on Saturday in front of the union members in Philadelphia. Victor, Amara.
BLACKWELL: Yes. It's fitting that the President's going to Pennsylvania for this first rally of the cycle. He has been to Pennsylvania so many times in this first portion of his administration. So, that's as expected.
Let's talk about Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his way to China. The President was asked about Chinese President Xi Jinping short time ago, what did he say?
WRIGHT: Well, the President said sure, that he had hope that Secretary Lincoln's trip to China, something that he left overnight and is expected to arrive today, would ease tensions very high right now with China and the U.S., ease tensions between those two countries. Of course, the president said really, frankly, that he believed that a consequence of that spy balloon that, of course, we know traversed over the U.S. for seven days a few months ago, the consequence of that was not just that that it was shot down, the president said, but that it caused an embarrassment to China because of the fact that he felt that the leadership didn't know that it was there, what it was doing, and what it collected.
So the President said that he had hoped over the next few months, after this visit from Secretary Blinken, that we know that was rescheduled after that balloon. The president says that he hopes in the next several months that he is able to meet with President China's -- Chinese president Xi over the next few months. But, of course, we will be looking for the next few days to see exactly what happens on Secretary Blinken's trip to China.
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A very, very consequential one. We know just how high tensions are between the U.S. and China. Victor, Amara.
BLACKWELL: Jasmine Wright for us at the White House. Jasmine, thank you.
And as Blinken heads to China for that long delayed trip, U.S. officials have lowered expectations for the visit. But there is hope that Blinken will help stabilize relations with Beijing. Blinken was originally set to travel to Beijing in early February, as Jasmine pointed out, but postponed because of that spy balloon.
Joining me now is Christopher Johnson, President and CEO of China Strategies Group, and a former CIA analyst. Christopher, good to see you.
So let's first start by just setting expectations and goals here from both perspectives. First, from Secretary Blinken, the expectations are so low. We don't know if he's going to meet with President Xi. They just say high-ranking officials. What do they want? How much do you think he can get?
CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON, PRESIDENT & CEO, CHINA STRATEGIES GROUP: Well, probably not a lot. You're right. The expectations are very low, in part because President Xi himself -- I was in China visiting a couple of weeks ago and it was very clear to me that President Xi himself is not a fan of Secretary Blinken's in part because of the response to the balloon episode in February. And the Secretary's canceling of his trip at that time, which was embarrassing for China.
And then followed very shortly after that, within the month of February as well by the campaign led by Secretary Blinken at the Munich Security Conference, to suggest that the Chinese were about to tip over the line in terms of lethal aid to Russia and the Ukraine conflict. And yet that intelligence that supposedly was backing up that judgment kind of fizzled, and neither the Europeans bought it, nor others. And the Chinese sort of felt that this was another effort to embarrass China.
So there -- he's not exactly a welcome guest from that point of view. In terms of what the Chinese are after, my sense is they're after an effort to portray themselves as looking reasonable, basically, to other countries in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, in Europe, to show that they're not being intransigent to the U.S. requests for contact as what the Biden administration has regularly been saying. They're trying to defuse that narrative by hosting like it, but I don't expect that we'll see much in terms of substantive outcomes.
BLACKWELL: Do you expect we'll see anything of the flavor of the incendiary comments that we heard from the Chinese at the conference in Singapore. I mean, again, we still have not seen any communication between the US Secretary of Defense and his Chinese counterpart and some accusations that came out the last time. There was an opportunity for some diplomacy.
JOHNSON: Right. Yes, no, my sense is there'll be some of that. I think the defense relationship is very particular. For one, as you know well, the Chinese defense minister is under US sanctions, which were put on him in an earlier job that he held by the Trump administration for purchasing weapons from Russia from a sanction firm.
So the Chinese point of view is basically there's no way we're going to allow our guy to meet with Secretary Austin until those sanctions are removed. And they made that very clear in the context of the Singapore visit.
Obviously, the military tensions between the two sides, whether it's in the South China Sea, or in the Taiwan Strait, are the most difficult issue in the bilateral relationship. And I think we see that reflected in Secretary Blinken's sort of talking points, if you will, or the agenda items he's hoping to tackle where the administration has been messaging very heavily in the last few days. They want to see some movement on that military-to-military dialogue. So, that will be interesting to see whether the Chinese grant that or not. My sense is they will not, but that's something to watch closely.
BLACKWELL: Now, Christopher, as we're seeing the tensions between the defense officials, the diplomatic officials, President Xi is certainly courting American investment. He's courting American business.
JOHNSON: Yes.
BLACKWELL: Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, they're in a meeting recently as well. Fit the economic piece into this puzzle because China is certainly having some economic struggles, and they want the money coming in.
JOHNSON: Yes.
BLACKWELL: While they are, you know --
JOHNSON: Yes, they do.
BLACKWELL: --giving U.S. -- the administration the Heisman.
JOHNSON: Yes. Correct. And that's been the most interesting dynamic. And, of course, The visit by Bill Gates was not coincidental from China's point of view, nor was Xi Jinping meeting with him and calling him an old American friend.
I'm doubtful that Secretary Blinken is going to be called an American friend. And it will be obviously very embarrassing if a major U.S. business leader meets the President Xi Jinping, and then Secretary Blinken does not get that meeting. My sense is the Chinese probably will let him meet with Xi Jinping. But if he has -- does not, that's very embarrassing.
Indeed, you know, Xi Jinping himself, before he became president, when he was still the understudy before taking power in 2012, on a sort of state visit to the United States, he used this term that the economic relationship, that bilateral economic relationship is the ballast and propeller in U.S.-China relations.
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In other words, it's what undergirds the relationship that despite the security tensions and difference in governing systems tensions that we have, I think we've seen with a combination of China's tilt toward Russia, and three years of zero COVID, the U.S. business community becoming much more skeptical. We see efforts to move supply chains out of China and so on. And that's very worrying for the Chinese leadership at a time, as you say, of economic difficulty for them.
And then, of course, we've also had these crackdowns in China on U.S. firms in the due diligence space, micron technologies, the semiconductor company and so on. So that bilateral economic relationship, which has always been very important in helping keep the relationships running smoothly, is also now under pressure with a lot of tensions.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Again, the expectations have been set so low for this trip. We'll see what, if anything, comes out of it.
Christopher Johnson, appreciate the expertise. Thank you.
WALKER: All right. Still ahead, the death of three-time Olympic medalist Tori Bowie, during childbirth, is putting a spotlight on a tragic reality that disproportionately affects many black women. We will discuss next.
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[10:30:14]
BLACKWELL: Let's take a look at some headlines this morning, starting with a federal jury that convicted the synagogue shooter, Robert Bowers, on all 63 charges for carrying out the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. The 50-year-old shot and killed 11 People at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue. This was in 2018.
The penalty phase begins later this month, and Bowers could face a sentence of death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers, has died. He was 92. He died from pancreatic cancer. He risked his freedom to share classified documents with the New York Times and Washington Post during the Nixon administration. Now the records painted a devastating picture of the war in Vietnam and show that officials knew the conflict was unwinnable.
The government sued the newspapers, but in a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court found in favor of the media.
Also some frightening moments for some passengers at Boston's Logan International Airport, when the wing of a United Flight clipped the tail of a Delta plane. The FAA says it happened Friday night when the United plane was taxiing and tapped the Delta plane in the rear. One passenger onboard the Delta flight said it felt like an earthquake and then noticed the emergency vehicles were outside the plane. Officials say that fortunately, no one was injured in this incident.
WALKER: Three-time Olympic medalist, Tori Bowie, who was just 32 years old when she died in May, was about eight months pregnant and in labor at the time of her death. That is according to an autopsy report released this week, which lists respiratory distress and eclampsia as possible complications.
Now the U.S. sprinter's death, putting a spotlight on a tragic reality for black women. According to the CDC, the number of black women who died during pregnancy or after childbirth is more than twice as high as that of their white counterparts.
Joining us now is Robin Lloyd. She is a certified doula and a lead parent educator for Parents As Teachers. That is a nonprofit organization in St. Louis that provides free doulas to black women with the goal of bringing down this horrible black maternal death rate. Robin, good morning to you. Thank you so much for your time.
I just want to first get your reaction because, you know, I was reading some interviews that Tori Bowie's agent, Kimberly Holland, has been giving two other news outlets that, you know, she says Bowie told her that she didn't want to go to the hospital, that she doesn't trust hospitals. And I know you understand where that distrust comes from. When you hear about how Bowie died, what goes through your mind?
ROBIN LLOYD, CERTIFIED DOULA: Well, one of the main things that goes through my mind when I hear that story is that it's really sad that she had to die, because so many black women are dying, because they don't have the education, they don't have the access, and they don't understand the importance of maternal health.
And that fear of going to the hospital, that fear and that anxiety that so many black women experience during the birthing process is just disheartening that her death could have definitely been prevented if she had had some education and just understood and had some support during the birthing process.
WALKER: Yes, it's really heartbreaking, too, you know, as someone myself who has been through a near-death experience giving birth, and I know you as well, Robin, I mean, you nearly bled to death right? 20 years ago. Can you tell me about that? LLOYD: Absolutely. I also had an experience where I wasn't being heard. I wasn't listened to. And it didn't matter that I was college educated. It didn't matter that I had a husband by my side, it didn't matter that I had access to great health care. It wasn't until my body started telling them that something was wrong before they did something to help me.
And that was one of the reasons that inspired me to become a doula. Because that happened, my youngest daughter is 20 years old, and she's about to be 21. And what was happening then is still happening today. Our outcome is to be getting better and not worse.
WALKER: There is systemic racism that's been embedded, right, for decades for as long as we can remember. And you, as a black woman, now working as a doula, helping other mainly black women.
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Why is that important? And how do you use your role to be a voice for them?
LLOYD: So one of the most important things -- I am so grateful to be in this space to support these black women in their birthing experience. I think one of the most important things that I do as a doula is give them their voice, educate them, make sure that they stand up for themselves. Because when they're standing up for themselves, they're standing up for their babies, they're speaking up for their babies. It's so important knowledge is power, and it's so important that they understand what's happening in that birth space.
Educate them, make sure that they can ask those questions, have that relationship with their care provider, making sure that it's a partnership, and understand that they have informed choices, making sure that they know that they have a support.
One of the things that I learned in my trainings, and then I talk about, is bringing -- BYOS, Bring Your Own Support.
WALKER: Yes.
LLOYD: If you can't have a doula, make sure you have someone in there to support you.
WALKER: It's -- just the story is just so sad but it just underscores, you know, what so many black women go through and the fears that they face as women who want to become mothers. Robin Lloyd, really appreciate you joining us on this very important topic. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Still ahead, some doctors are prescribing weekend getaways at a remote Bay Area cabin. Sounds nice, right? We'll tell you why next.
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[10:40:56] WALKER: Doctors in California are prescribing a weekend getaway at a remote cabin with the goal of getting their patients outside and connected to nature.
BLACKWELL: So this is part of the San Mateo County Park prescription program. Doctors say the cabin can be a therapeutic refuge for their patients struggling with stress, depression, other health issues.
Gloria Cahuich-Gonzalez is Community Program Specialist with San Mateo County Health and she is with us now. Thank you for being with us. This sounds fantastic.
GLORIA CAHUICH-GONZALEZ, COMMUNITY PROGRAM SPECIALIST, SAN MATEO COUNTY HEALTH: It does.
BLACKWELL: Tell me the origin of this, how you got to, you know, doctors got to -- from the diagnosis to, you know what, you need a weekend away?
GONZALEZ: Right. So it began with a National Park Prescription program a few years ago in San Mateo County, got implemented in 2019 and that's what it is, prescribing time outdoors. The providers know that the benefits of being out in nature can help with all the chronic illnesses that a lot of the families in our county clinics have in prescribing nature one hour, twice a week is what the doctor's order. Yes.
WALKER: Yes. I mean, that just sounds fantastic. It's so simple. But I mean, you know, forego the medication if you can, right, and try to first do the outdoors and see how that works. I would imagine demand is -- would be high. How -- does a patient go from, you know, going to the doctor for depression or what have you to getting this prescription in hand?
GONZALEZ: Right, Amara. A lot of the patients come into the county clinics have levels of stress, anxiety, and headaches, chronic diseases. And when the doctor talks to them about the benefits of spending time outdoors, they begin to take it take it out hard and I help to make that clinic to park connection.
This cabin experience is an amazing partnership with our post partners, Peninsula Open Space Trust, that have offered this cabin for overnight experience for those families that don't have the opportunity or sometimes they're not even aware of this experiences. And our doctors believe that this is something that they need. And it will help for not only physical well being, but also their mental health well being. And you're right, it has been a very successful and popular program.
BLACKWELL: Yes. I mean, this is obviously for some families with lower income because people who can afford to just take a week away at a cabin, you tell them to go and do it. Because they can pay for it. Are their success stories where they're seeing the reversal of some of these health concerns because people are not just getting a weekend at a cabin, but getting outside more often. GONZALEZ: Right. Yes. It's very exciting. All the success stories that
we hear from the families who have visited, they -- for many of them, if not most, this is their very first camping overnight experience. And they just love it and they can't wait to go back. They tell us that it was amazing, spending time with your kids away from the cell phones, the electronic gadgets, they take a walk in nature. They have -- they cook together.
Sometimes, they cook a cake. And, like one of our families did, they also, you know, spend time as a family.
[10:45:05]
And that's something that they realize that they don't have, and they miss. And this is a way for them to connect, to play board games, to play Loteria which is our Mexican thing again, and just be taking the views, taking the majestic forest that is around this beautiful cabin.
WALKER: What a fantastic idea. And I'm so glad to hear that so many families are reaping the benefits of just being together and looking at each other eye to eye, putting the electronics away and just connecting, you know. That's great.
Gloria, thank you so much for joining us.
Just ahead the king of beers dethroned. Bud Light officially unseated as America's top selling beer for the first time in more than two decades.
[10:50:18]
WALKER: Today, King Charles celebrated his first official birthday as a reigning monarch and, of course, it was a celebration fit for a king. He and Queen Camilla were joined by the Royal Family for the Annual Trouping the Colour.
BLACKWELL: So this is the first official birthday, he's 74 years old. He enjoyed his first real birthday as monarch in November, but the celebration marks the first trouping for someone other than Queen Elizabeth the Second in seven decades. You see here some of the hundreds of soldiers and the brightly-colored uniforms, the horses, the musicians.
Prince Louis though, you know he always gives them to us.
WALKER: Still a child.
BLACKWELL: Youngest child of William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, who stole the show. The 5-year-old appeared to cheer on the pilots during the flyover of Buckingham Palace.
WALKER: That's the image that I love. I think he's channeling the jet's engines there. Not a real event without his expressions.
So America's top selling beer is no longer American. Mexican lager Modelo is now the top selling beer in the U.S., unseating Bud Light in May, the former titleholder for two decades.
BLACKWELL: Yes, it also highlights how much trouble the company Anheuser-Busch is having after a trans influencer posted a photo with a can of Bud Light. CNN's Chief Business Correspondent, Christine Romans, has more from New York. Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Amara, Mexican lager Modelo now holds the crown as America's top selling beer.
In the month ending June 3rd, Bud Light sales fail 24 percent. Modelo sales grew 12 percent. According to one consulting firm, Modelo's rise to the top was led by strong Cinco de Mayo sales and strong advertising in recent months. Bud Lights fall from the top comes after transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney's Instagram, post showing off a customized Bud Light.
Now can partnership with Mulvaney back in April sent shockwaves on social media among conservatives, resulting in negative headlines and some boycotting the brand all together. In response, Bud Lights' parent company, Anheuser Busch, has told its distributors, it will offer financial assistance to help offset two months of plunging sales.
In a letter to CNN, the company says, "We are united and fully committed to moving forward together." Victor, Amara.
WALKER: Christine Romans, Thank you. Look what you made us do.
BLACKWELL: This is beer, by the way.
WALKER: That he loves beer. I mean, Victor is a big beer fan.
BLACKWELL: I know, right? So this is the thing, in the last show during CTM, you said that sometimes people drink Sprite mixed with beer.
WALKER: Yes.
BLACKWELL: I've never heard of that.
WALKER: So -- OK, Victor doesn't like beer, right? That's for the record.
BLACKWELL: You don't --
WALKER: Occasionally.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Of course.
WALKER: But if you don't like beer, I think this will do the trick for you. So when you go to Europe, Germany, you say I want a Radler. And they'll bring it -- they know exactly what it is. They will mix it with Sprite.
BLACKWELL: OK. So this is the beer, you got to mix it with Sprite here.
WALKER: Don't spill over me. And I want you to taste this and I want you to tell me if you are now going to be a rather --
BLACKWELL: How much Sprite? That's a lot of Sprite.
WALKER: It's -- no, it's like 30 percent to 40 percent.
BLACKWELL: That looks like it. All right.
WALKER: OK. Fine. Fine. Fine.
BLACKWELL: OK. OK.
WALKER: Here, here, here, here. All right. Take this one because I like my beer. OK. Cheers.
BLACKWELL: Cheers.
WALKER: Cheers.
BLACKWELL: Oh, Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.
WALKER: This is Radler.
BLACKWELL: OK. OK. Oh, I'd drink that.
WALKER: You like it, right? I knew you'd like it.
BLACKWELL: That is good. I'd drink that.
WALKER: There you go. That's the recipe. 30 percent Sprite and 70 -- wait, what's the math? 30 percent? 70 percent -- some kind of lager that you like.
BLACKWELL: Yes, we can't say the brand.
WALKER: Don't say -- well, yes, any light beer.
BLACKWELL: OK.
WALKER: Thanks for watching, everyone.
BLACKWELL: Oh, it is important, too. Sorry. There is much more ahead.
WALKER: I'm just going to take over. You drink.
BLACKWELL: In the next hour of CNN Newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield is up next. I think Alex Marquardt is doing it today.
WALKER: Yes, he is.
BLACKWELL: First though, from tractors and trailers to drones --
WALKER: Alex knows what this is. I know Alex enjoys Radler.
BLACKWELL: And AI. I'm going to finish mine.
WALKER: Sorry. Oh, sorry.
BLACKWELL: Technology is rapidly changing the field of farming. Vanessa Yurkevich has today's Innovate.
WALKER: Cheers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The USDA estimates that farming production could cost more than $450 billion this year. Rising costs in fuel and equipment have some farmers turning to drone technology as a way to cut costs while also providing a better option for the land.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're one less footprint, one less track in the dirt. We use drones to spray. We're able to precisely spoon feed our fertilizer. We wouldn't be able to do that with any other technology that's available today. Drones definitely saved us time and money on the farm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH: With almost 900 million acres of farmland in the U.S., agriculture companies like Taranis are now using drones, satellite imagery, and AI to track land conditions.
[10:55:05]
And provide growers with more information about their crops' health.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten days ago, look at the growth. Tech is now at a point where we can take drones and leaf level imagery, combined with artificial intelligence to really understand what's happening on the acre. We're looking for things like weed pressure, disease pressure, nutrient deficiencies. It's game tape for your. We're using the best in tech and science to help farmers and communities raise a better crop and that's good for everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Precision Ag technology is intertwined in everything that we do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
