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Israel Set to Reopen Erez Border Crossing And Ashdod Port Into Gaza; U.S. On High Alert For Attack by Iran In Middle East; Interview With Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) About Threat Of Attack By Iran And Humanitarian Aid To Gaza; Gun Fight At Florida Bar Leaves Two Dead, Seven Injured; Clouds Could Threaten Views For Some Eclipse Watchers; Just 2 Days Until Solar Eclipse, 32 Million In Path Of Totality; "Space Shuttle Columbia, The Final Flight" Aires Tomorrow 8PM ET/PT; NCAA Men's Final Four Tonight; Iowa To Face South Carolina In Women's NCAA Championship Sunday. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired April 06, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

WHITFIELD: Your podcast.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The "NEWSROOM" with Jessica Dean starts right now.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And we have breaking news out of northern Gaza tonight where Israel is preparing to reopen the Erez border crossing and agreed to use its Port of Ashdod to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. This as the U.N. humanitarian aid chief calling that situation in Gaza, quote, "a betrayal of humanity."

It is now just hours before the Israel-Hamas war reaches its six-month mark with more than 33,000 people killed. Just this week a deadly Israeli strike killed seven humanitarian aid workers from World Central Kitchen.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Jerusalem.

And Nic, Israel is letting these aid trucks in but it's going to be hard for them to actually get to civilians. Walk us through all of this.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: So what we know about the border crossing is that the Israeli officials are saying they are expecting trucks, aid trucks to be at a crossover at Erez. It's not clear how many trucks, it's not clear what they'll be carrying. In fact, very few details at the moment about that possible aid mission into northern Gaza.

It would be very significant if it does happen. The commitment from the Israeli government to open Erez is a significant commitment. The White House has said that they'll watch very closely. The difficulties that will exist, the roads that link that northern crossing into some of the northern towns there have been heavily damaged in the fighting. Some of them -- some of the road there are completely blown out. The tarmac gone.

So that'll make heavy aid trucks navigating those roads particularly difficult. We were there today. We could hear a lot of heavy machine gunfire in the area of the Erez border crossing, and we could also here the detonation of heavier explosions not too far away. Again, this will present a problem for any humanitarian convoys that are going to move in there typically. In other areas in Gaza, there are organized safe routes, safe times, but often these are problematic.

They divert particularly to the ground military realities. And if it's not safe for the convoy to go into a certain area, then it won't be able to get that. All of these details have been difficult for other convoys coming into the southern part of the Gaza Strip to get in. We know that the humanitarian need in the north is big. It's difficult. The U.N. says that many people there are close to starvation. There are estimated 300,000 people in the north.

But of course, getting aid trucks directly into the north rather than the south where they get to now would be a very big change. But it is -- there are still many hurdles to actually getting these convoys in.

DEAN: Nic Robertson, live for us in Jerusalem tonight. Thanks so much for that reporting.

And also tonight new threats of retaliation from Iran's highest- ranking commander after Israeli warplanes bombed Iran's embassy in Syria this week. The remarks came at the funeral for seven military officers, members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard killed in that strike. And now America is on high alert for a, quote, "significant" attack by Iran in the Middle East that could target Israelis or Americans.

CNN White House correspondent Priscilla Alvarez joining us now live from Washington, D.C.

And Priscilla, U.S. officials say the Biden administration was not involved in the strike and had no notice of it.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And that is also what they've conveyed to Iran and they've also warned Iran that they should not use this airstrike as, quote, "a pretext to attack U.S. personnel and facilities."

As you said there the U.S. and Israeli governments are on high alert for a potential retaliation by Iran for that Israeli airstrike. Now they are also in close contact for what they described as an inevitable attack. Now it's unclear exactly when this would happen or what it would look like. It could happen in multiple different ways. But the expectation from U.S. officials is that it could be as soon as next week.

Now to be clear here, these could be -- Iran could here be targeting U.S. or Israeli assets in the Middle East. So this is specific to that region. Now this has also been a major topic of discussion between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their call earlier this week.

[16:05:07]

And the big concern here for the United States is that there is a direct strike by Iran on Israel, it could spark a broader regional conflict.

Of course, Jess, this is something that the U.S. has been very concerned about. The White House in particular trying to avoid this conflict getting any wider and bring in anymore countries in the region. So that is where the focus is right now, is trying to keep tabs on what is happening, what could happen, positioning to be prepared for that. And also making sure that this remains a contained conflict, not one that would spread more in the region.

DEAN: Yes. That has been a priority for them.

All right, White House correspondent Priscilla Alvarez from Washington, thanks so much for that update.

And for more on this let's turn to our first guest now. Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. He's also a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, great to have you with us on this Saturday afternoon. Thanks for making time. Have you received any briefings on this looming threat from Iran?

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): No, not in the last week or so since we've been out of Washington. Look forward to receiving that when we go back early next week.

DEAN: And the Biden White House as Priscilla just laid out there has worked to avoid this war from spreading in the region. Do you think it's possible to continue down that path or does a wider conflict seem inevitable at this point?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: No, it's not inevitable. I think that the Iranians don't necessarily want a full all-out war at this point. At the same time, you know, I think that at any chance, at any point in this conflict, you can have a conflagration that kind of gets out of control, especially if Hezbollah starts to unleash its 150,000 missiles on Israel, for instance, from the north of Israel. Of course, the Houthis have continued their attacks on shipping and on other interests.

So you have a very volatile situation and that's why it's so important that the Qataris and others who have influence with the different actors put pressure on Hamas and others to, you know, come to the table and have an immediate ceasefire in Israel, in Gaza, so that we can actually deal with the underlying issues.

DEAN: And Israel's military has said the strike that killed the seven food aid workers from the World Central Kitchen was unintentional and, quote, "a grave mistake." We also know that the IDF has fired two of its officers, but some Western leaders and the World Central Kitchen still want an independent investigation at this point. The National Security Council says there's no plans for the U.S. to conduct a separate or independent investigation here.

What's your take on this?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: My take is I think that we have to look at, you know, all the results or the Israeli investigation and determine whether it's credible or not. But most importantly, we have to see, you know, further steps to, A, make sure that they minimize harm to civilians. B, that they let a lot more humanitarian aid come into the Gaza Strip, and then C, as I said before, we need to get an immediate halt in hostilities.

This is crucial so that hostages can be released, humanitarian aid can flow in, and then you create some political space for actual negotiations for a much more longer ceasefire, longer truce, a longer- term solution to actually occur.

I have been helping to lead calls in Congress for this two-state solution. There has to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Otherwise, if you don't have it, you're going to have endless violence, but you can't have those types of negotiations or even a broader regional set of negotiations unless you have this immediate halt to hostilities, not only on the Israeli side, but on the Hamas side, where the Qataris, for instance, have tremendous leverage.

DEAN: And while, you all have been on your recess, there have just been a lot of shifts happening and a lot of movement in the U.S.- Israeli relationship. We now know that more than 30 House Democrats, which includes former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have written President Biden asking him to stop sending arms to Israel until there is an independent probe on that attack we were just talking about, and stronger humanitarian protections for Gazans.

Senator Bernie Sanders is taking a similar stand. We can play what he said to Jake Tapper this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Bottom line is, we are looking at one of the worst humanitarian disasters that we have seen in a very, very long time. We're literally this moment looking at hundreds of thousands of children starving to death because Israel is not allowing the humanitarian trucks into Gaza.

[16:10:06]

To my mind, Israel should not be getting another nickel in military aid until these policies are fundamentally changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And Congressman, just to remind everyone, there was an aid package for Ukraine and Israel and Taiwan that passed out of the Senate. It is stalled in the House, not been put up for a vote. What do you think all of this means for aid to Israel? KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I think that what it means is that for practical

and other matters, Speaker Johnson needs to bring these components to the floor. I think they will be probably split it up as separate bills. And very importantly, which I don't think has been mentioned, there's a $9 billion humanitarian aid component to what the Senate sent to the House that also requires immediate, immediate passage as well.

I think that if you put all four of those components on the floor, whether together or separately, that they will each receive requisite support to pass the House but it needs to happen right away because we haven't gotten into this but, you know, Ukraine is in a desperate situation this point. They're getting outgun to maybe five or nine to one. Every time they fire one artillery shell, five to nine come back their way. And so if we are to have any hope of helping the Ukrainians preserve their position, let alone gain, we've got to pass the Ukraine bill ASAP along with those other component parts.

DEAN: And where do you stand on putting conditions around aid to Israel? There -- you know, some say that you absolutely can't do that for an ally, that they deserve to have that money and use it as they need to. Others like Nancy -- like other Democrats have said that it needs to be conditioned around other factors. What do you think?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: There absolutely are conditions right now as the National Security Memorandum 20, which just got issued by the White House, reiterated. The conditions exist with regard to any arms transfers to Israel or other countries with regard to allowing for humanitarian aid to enter the conflict zone, especially U.S. humanitarian aid. And secondly, that the weaponry that we provide is used in compliance with international law. And so I'm looking forward to that.

What the White House assessment is underway that particular memorandum which is supposed to come out in the next several weeks, that's going to be something that many of us in Congress are looking at very carefully.

DEAN: And before we let you go, tomorrow will mark six months since that horrific, deadly attack by Hamas on Israel that started all of this. We also know that tomorrow Hamas representatives are due in Cairo at the stalled hostage negotiations. What do you think? The CIA director Bill Burns is also going to be there. What do you think the U.S. can do to try and get those hostages home with their families, which include some American citizens still?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I think the U.S. is going to have to put pressure on all sides at this point. I just don't think that Mr. Netanyahu is understanding the level of concern that people have here with regard to bringing an immediate halt to hostilities to bear. I think that the other issue is that the Qataris I think are giving too much room to Hamas in the negotiations so that they can kind of play around, dither, and preserve the opportunity to regroup for another set of attacks.

Remember, Hamas has yet to say that they would actually not perpetrate another October 7th. They've said that they will do it again and again and again so when you have this type of situation, the U.S. must bring as much pressure to bear on the Egyptians and the Qataris to leverage what they have with Hamas to bring them to the table, even at the same time that we're trying to get Mr. Netanyahu and his government to get to a deal ASAP.

DEAN: All right. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thanks so much for taking time. We appreciate it.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you so much.

DEAN: Still ahead this afternoon, a deadly shooting at a Florida night club. What we're learning about the shootout that left two dead and seven others wounded. Plus divers recover a body of a missing worker killed in the Baltimore bridge collapse. What we're learning about the victim. And the countdown to Monday's total solar eclipse is on. But now Mother Nature may have a few unwelcome surprises for us. We're tracking the forecast for you.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[16:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Authorities in Taiwan now say 13 people died in Wednesday's earthquake. Rescue teams in Taiwan are only now reaching some of the 400 people still stranded in remote areas that have been cut off by damaged roads and landslides there. Bad weather has also hampered some of the rescue efforts.

Dozens of buildings in Hualien County are damaged and officials say some will need to be demolished in the coming weeks. Officials say the 7.4 magnitude quake was the strongest to hit Taiwan in a quarter century.

[16:20:06]

And multiple aftershocks are still hitting the New York-New Jersey area after Friday's rare 4.8 magnitude earthquake that was captured in these videos on home security systems. The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded at least 28 aftershocks with the largest clocking in at 3.8 magnitude striking Gladstone, New Jersey, Friday night.

The agency is warning of more aftershocks in the next few days with a 75 percent chance of a magnitude three and above in the coming days. No major injuries or damages have been reported.

A deadly shooting in a Florida bar early this morning. Police in Doral, Florida, say a security guard was killed and seven others wounded after a fight between patrons erupted into gunfire at the Martini Bar. Among the wounded, a police officer and six bystanders.

CNN's Ryan Young is following this story for us.

And Ryan, the gunman is also dead. What more are you learning about this?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You have lots of people shot in this one. Of course no motive so far. From what we're told there was an argument inside that bar. Security guard goes to walk over and say something to try to de-escalate the situation when a man pulled out a weapon and started shooting. That security guard is dead. Police responded very quickly in that area.

When police responded, there was a shootout between that man and two officers. One of the officers was actually shot. Six other people were shot, including four men and two women. This was something that had a lot of people running. This is in an area that's known as very safe. Listen to the police chief talking about what his officer had to do to save his own life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF EDWIN LOPEZ, DORAL, FLORIDA POLICE: During the process, the officer -- two officers discharged their firearms. One of the officers, the one who was struck, with four years of service applied a tourniquet on himself immediately after being struck even after he discharges firearm. That extensive training that our police officers undergo is a testament to why that officer is alive today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes. So troubling, not sure how that crossfire worked and who was hit by what bullets. Of course, that's all going to have to be figured out. Several different agencies involved in this. But when you talk about Doral, which is just outside of Miami, it's in Miami-Dade County, it's one of those areas that is very safe. This is a mall area. People were shocked by this level of violence that happened here.

Of course it happened after 3:00. That's a very popular bar that people were in. So, so far no names have been released and as we tried to figure out exactly what happens next, we've tried to figure out that motive because obviously so many people shot, so many people injured. Two of the people shot, those bystanders, are in critical condition at this point -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Ryan Young with that update for us. Thanks so much.

YOUNG: Absolutely.

DEAN: Divers have recovered the body of a missing person from the wreckage of the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore. He has been identified as 38-year-old construction worker Maynor Yasir Suazo- Sandoval. Six construction workers were killed last week when a large container ship crashed into the bridge. So far three have been recovered.

The NFL's Baltimore Ravens and MLB's Baltimore Orioles donated $10 million to a fund supporting the recovery efforts and also the victims' families. Still ahead, millions of Americans getting ready to watch the total

solar eclipse on Monday, CNN's aerospace analysts, Miles O'Brien will join us to talk about the cool science of all of it and break it down for you.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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DEAN: The countdown to Monday's total solar eclipse is on, but now Mother Nature may have a few unwelcomed surprises hidden in the weather.

CNN's Elisa Raffa takes a closer look at the forecast in the areas right along the eclipse's path.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We're still working at a pretty active setup along the southern plains on the day of the total solar eclipse. There is that latest severe threat that's now a level two out of five, a slice of your risk for damaging winds and large to very large hail. Now it does look like a lot of these storms could fire up after that peak totality. But there's going to be a lot of people traveling from Dallas to Little Rock here in this path where we could find some of those stronger storms.

The showers could start as early as Sunday. If you're doing some traveling will find some snow wrapping around on the backside in the Rockies and the Northern Plains showers making it into places like Cleveland and Indianapolis by Sunday night. Then as we go into Monday, this front starts to stall a little bit and you're looking at the unsettled weather with the clouds and the showers, from Houston up into Arkansas.

There's Atlanta and maybe some showers even in the Ohio Valley. So when you're looking at the clouds, so definitely be most widespread, maybe the thickest, from Texas into Arkansas, we'll find maybe some clearing in the Ohio Valley with the clearest skies up in New England.

Now when you're looking at cloud cover, it's percentage of how much of the sky is covered. So even if you have mostly cloudy skies, you'll still have peaks of the sun from time to time. So you might be able to see some of the crescent coming over, maybe just not all of it. What you'll definitely still get is that darkness. Whether you have clouds or not, if you're in the path of totality, you'll definitely get that.

So we wanted to show you what the clouds could look like where you're at, like if you're in a place like Dallas, you are looking at mostly cloudy skies throughout the stretch of the event. But again, with the peaks of the sun here and there, your peak totality is 140. By 3:00 in Indianapolis when you're hitting your PQ, we'll have a little bit more clearing, maybe a better shot at seeing the corona and the crescent and some of those other cool parts. Now if you're in the path of totality it is 10,000 times darker at 100

percent along that path than it is at 99 percent. Now, that darkness that hits can actually drop temperatures as we block out the energy from the sun.

[16:30:08]

So you can see where we've got temperatures kind of rising as they usually do in the afternoon for a place like Caravel and Rochester. And then as the darkness hits for the eclipse, those temperatures do briefly drop.

Once it's over, they'll come back up. But it's incredible to see the weather services already forecasting for this temperature dip on Monday.

DEAN: All right, Elisa, thank you.

And roughly 32 million Americans live along the route that moon's shadow will take as it goes across the country. Millions more pouring into towns and cities in the path of totality to get a firsthand view of the total solar eclipse.

For more on the science behind it all and what scientists would be able to learn from it, CNN's aerospace analyst, Miles O'Brien, joins us now.

Miles, great to have you with us.

Let's just start with the basics for everyone. What happens during a total solar eclipse?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: We'll, Jessica, we're taking advantage of a coincidence that we don't know of any other planet and moon combination has, which is the moon is 400 times smaller than the sun. And yet the sun is 400 times the distance away. So that cancels each other out.

And so from where we sit on the surface of earth, they appear to be the same diameter. Now, the moon is on a tilted orbit, so this doesn't happen every month, whenever there's a new moon.

But on occasion, relatively frequently, we get this occurrence where the moon passes right in front of the sun eclipsing the sun. And many times this happens over the oceans, so we don't know about it.

In this case, what makes it extraordinary, is it's just going to rip across a huge population center, which is to say North America, from Mexico to the continental United States, exiting Newfoundland.

Probably 30 to 40 million people just living under the so-called path of totality. So it's going to be a big event.

DEAN: Yes, it sounds like it.

And it's also a chance for scientists to learn more about our universe. NASA is going to launch rockets into the path of the eclipse.

What makes this a unique research opportunity? And what do you think they're hoping to learn?

O'BRIEN: Well, we want to know about the sun's corona. Looking at the sun with most instruments -- there are some instruments which create artificial eclipses, but most instruments are unable to view the corona, which is like a million times fainter than the sun itself.

When the moon is eclipsing the sun, you see that outer edge, that crown, the corona. Understanding its properties, what's in it, the chemical composition, that sort of thing just tells us more and more about the most important star we know of, which is to say, our sun.

So NASA will fly some high-altitude aircraft to gather that kind of spectroscopy information, infrared photography. They'll take a look at how the eclipse affects the ionosphere, the upper atmosphere.

When you take away the sun briefly, it gives them an opportunity to test what the sun does to the atmosphere. On the ground, there'll be testing some radars they use to predict so-called space weather to refine their accuracy.

So it does -- it's nature's opportunity and natural experiment which scientists always loved to take advantage of.

DEAN: Yes, what scientist doesn't love nature's experiment. It sounds pretty great.

It's also just an awe-inspiring moment that we, as you mentioned, don't get to see that often.

But in terms of safety, there's the thing, don't look directly at the sun, cover your eyes. Is that true? What do people need to know about -- about how to observe this safely?

O'BRIEN: Well, as we all know, we should never look at the sun directly ever. And unfortunately, during an eclipse, we're kind of tempted, right? We want to see what's going on up there.

So if you are in a situation where it is partial, a partial eclipse, either you're in a place where it's never going to become total or you're waiting for that four minutes or so, when there's a total eclipse, you need to wear some of these eclipse glasses, these mylar glasses, which block out enough of the sun's rays to safety look right at it.

Now, if you're in the path of totality and you get to the point where the moon is completely covered over the sun, I would invite you to take those glasses off so you can see and marvel at the corona. The glasses are so dark that you might miss out.

So be safe about it, but also don't forget to take them off when it's safe to do so because that's the real thrill.

DEAN: Yes, that's the really special part it sounds like. And what will you be doing to watch the eclipse?

O'BRIEN: I made plans to go to Dallas. I will be in the Cotton Bowl with about 30,000 young people. Unfortunately, the weather forecast is not looking fabulous for Dallas as you were just talking about.

[16:35:00]

But I am heartened by the fact that this event is staged by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And who has more control over the weather than them, right?

Maybe, maybe they'll part the clouds and give us -- all we need is four minutes at the right time.

DEAN: Let's just appeal to NOAA and see if they didn't get it done.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

DEAN: Before I let you go, I want to talk about a special that we have here on CNN tomorrow night. it's a CNN original series, "SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA, THE FINAL FLIGHT." It's premiering. And it takes a look at the 20th mission of the Columbia space shuttle that ended in tragedy.

We can show everyone a short preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I walked into the analysis lab to start reviewing film from the launch.

We started the film at the beginning. We're watching this lift off and see the roll maneuvers, beautiful blue sky. We do the normal review. We start pointing out all the things that we normally see.

And we got 81 seconds and then we see this object come off of the external tank area. It moved down and then strikes the vehicle and exploded into a white cloud.

My reaction was, oh (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Now, Miles, you covered that story as it unfolded. What strikes you the most as you look back on those events and that footage now?

O'BRIEN: Well, I had a parallel reaction to it, Jessica. I was at the Kennedy Space Center. We all saw that foam strike. And I wasn't looking at that, the -- the closest most high-speed images.

But when they played the laundry replays not long after the Columbia was safe in orbit. We all saw it and it looked like, you know, you're dropping a bag of flour. And it just it was a big piece of insulating foam from that fuel tank.

We -- I reached out to several sources of mine inside NASA and they all downplayed the concern. And these were high-level people in the shuttle program.

And so I let that story go, unfortunately. It was a story that I probably should have put on TV right away. Maybe that might have prompted NASA to do a little more to try to identify the problem and perhaps come up with a way to save that crew.

So looking back on it, I feel a great deal of sadness. I feel a little bit of shared guilt for the fact that I didn't push that story on the air.

And I'm also reminded of just how much I -- as much as I love the shuttle program, it was an inherently unsafe vehicle. We don't go to space like this anymore where the people are downstream of objects that can harm their vehicle.

Putting them at the top of the of the ride is a good idea. So I think overall, I'm sad about it, but I am heartened that the space program has moved onto something else that is safer for people.

DEAN: Yes, as we go forward.

All right. Miles O'Brien, great to have you. Thanks so much for spending some time with us. We appreciate it. And enjoy the eclipse.

O'BRIEN: I'll do my best, Jessica. Thank you.

DEAN: And be sure to tune in to the brand-new original series, "SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA, "THE FINAL FLIGHT." Parts one and two premier tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only here on CNN.

Still ahead. It's all coming down to the wire in college basketball. The men's Final Four tipping off tonight. We are live in Phoenix ahead of those games.

[16:38:40]

Plus, Caitlin Clark is headed back to the national title game. Iowa narrowly advancing to the women's NCAA tournament championship after the ref made a controversial call with less than four seconds left. We're going to talk about it. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:43:35]

DEAN: It is all coming down to the wire in college basketball. The men's Final Four tipping off tonight. Number-one seed powerhouse Purdue gearing up to face off against it this year is unexpected underdog, 11th- seed North Carolina State. Then one-seed, UConn will square off against four-seed Alabama.

And on the side, we're also watching women's star, Caitlin Clark. Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes headed for the national championship game tomorrow.

CNN's Coy Wire is in Phoenix where the action is about to get underway.

Coy, it is going to be fun.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. This is incredible. You have so many people from across the country here in Arizona to witness this Final Four tonight. The energy is palpable.

And these teams that we're going to see tonight, they have four incredible leaders leading the way. Purdue's Matt Painter and N.C. State's Kevin Keatts, they lead their schools to the Final Four for the first time in more than 40 years. Alabama's Nate Oates for the first time in school history.

I caught up with each of those coaches and asked them how they're helping their players. Man, it's all the perceived pressure ahead of this biggest stage in the game.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED COACH: You've got to have a great balance between having fun and obviously the business like.

UNIDENTIFIED COACH: I mean, have fun with up until the game. Then you've got to be serious.

UNIDENTIFIED COACH: Now we're going to talk a lot about 94 by 52. Yesterday, I wanted everything to be 50-50, business, having fun.

UNIDENTIFIED COACH: Focus on what's going on the court right now.

UNIDENTIFIED COACH: Today, let's have 75 percent business, 25 percent fun.

[16:45:04]

UNIDENTIFIED COACH: Take some of it in and have some fun leading up to it.

UNIDENTIFIED COACH: We've got to try to eliminate the distractions. Just focus on 94 by 52.

UNIDENTIFIED COACH: Tomorrow, it's all business. And so we've -- we've kind of broken it up a little bit and that's what we're trying to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, the other coach leading the way tonight is UConn's Dan Hurley looking to lead the Huskies to become the first repeat champions in college basketball since 2007. Florida Gators did it.

And he has an entirely different set of emotions to deal with. Last year, after winning the title with his son, Andrew, on the team. He told me it was really special.

Well, now Andrew is a senior and his days as coach dad are coming to an end.

I caught up with Dan Hurley and his wife, Andrea, to talk about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN HURLEY, UCONN COACH: It's going to be tough. You miss a lot when the kids are younger. So while it's extra special to get the time we've had the last four years. And it's going to be tough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. You can watch all the games tonight on our sister channels, TNT, TBS, and TruTV. Also streaming on Max.

Tip off starting at 6:00 Eastern -- Jessica?

DEAN: And, Coy, women's basketball having a big moment right now, in large part, to Caitlin Clark and what she's been able to accomplish.

But last night, also, there was this controversial call in that game. Tell us about that.

WIRE: Yes. Yes. Facing UConn in one of the most highly anticipated women's college games we've seen in quite some time. It lived up to the hype.

But, yes, it did not come without some controversy. In the first half, Caitlin Clark was held to just six points. Incredible defense performance by UConn.

Caitlin Clark would come out in the third quarter though and helped lead a surge, nailing two three-pointers to kind of set it off and they would take the lead.

She finished with 21 points. But then, with just seconds to go and down by one, UConn had a chance to take the lead.

But Aliyah Edwards was caught -- was caught with an illegal screen and that would be how it ended.

LeBron James and many others posting how they did not like this call. But Iowa would go ahead and get the win. And they will now get a chance to face South Carolina in the final tomorrow night.

And Dawn Staley's Gamecocks are undefeated this season. They have lost just three games in the past three seasons.

They put a whooping on N.C. State in their final match up to get a chance to go and play it tomorrow night against the fighting Caitlin Clark and Iowa Hawkeyes.

And I think it's safe to say we're going to see viewership records threatened to be broken that again -- Jessica?

DEAN: Yes, it's really exciting stuff.

All right. Coy Wire, for us in Phoenix, thanks so much.

Still ahead. It is known as the Cowboy Capital of the United States. How one Texas town is going all out for the eclipse, here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[16:52:45]

DEAN: Anticipation building this weekend before Mondays coast-to-coast solar eclipse. Bandera, Texas, a place known as the Cowboy Capital of the world, happens to be smack in the middle of the path of totality.

CNN's Rosa Flores is there to check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to Bandera, you guys.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the cowboy capital of the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lots of western bands and good dancing.

FLORES: Bandera, Texas, is in the path of totality for Monday solar eclipse. The town is expected to experience more than four minutes of darkness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rosa, I know you're over there, but I can't see you.

FLORES (on camera): I can't see you.

(voice-over): Eclipse-mania has taken hold of Bandera. Horses and dinosaurs are donning eclipse glasses, even eyewear for a giant cowboy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One monster eclipse party.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are downtown Bandera, Texas. Behind this here is the courthouse.

FLORES: Bandera's population of under 1,000.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody knows everybody.

Hi, Eilene.

FLORES: It is expected to quadruple Monday says the mayor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There were some folks from China in 11th Street last night, all over the place. FLORES: At 11th Street Cowboy Bar, the meet --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Medium rare.

FLORES: -- and greet is about the eclipse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We drove 1,700 miles.

FLORES (on camera): Seventeen hundred miles to see the eclipse?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

FLORES (voice-over): These two friends caravaned from Pennsylvania.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been preparing. I bought a camper. I bought a Jeep. I did everything.

FLORES (on camera): You bought a camper for the eclipse?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

FLORES: I hear that it might storm in Bandera.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it's going to be a beautiful day.

FLORES: Are we doing positive thinking about this? Positive thinking.

It's not just Bandera's cowgirls praying for good weather. Millions are expected to flock to Texas and more than a dozen U.S. states in the celestial path of totality.

Some officials are worried about traffic jams.

(on camera): And who's this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Wooster.

FLORES (voice-over): In Bandera, cowgirls solved that problem

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to jump on Wooster and I'm going to ride by everybody. And I do my little princess wave even.

(LAUGHTER)

FLORES: Eclipse mania expected to add $6 billion to the U.S. economy in one estimate. Texas' slice of the astronomical pie, $1.4 billion.

[16:55:06]

The eclipse merchandise in Bandera --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They sold like that.

FLORES: -- is practically sold out.

(on camera): Well, this is beautiful country, Alec. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, ma'am.

FLORES (voice-over): So our venues like the historic Dixie Dude Ranch.

(on camera): And when did you start getting calls about the eclipse?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our first reservation for the eclipse was in 2017. I think we sold out completely about four years ago.

FLORES (voice-over): What never runs out here are the good people --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Moon Pie.

FLORES (voice-over): Moon Pie?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the eclipse.

FLORES (on camera): Oh, for the eclipse. Thank you.

(voice-over): And the good times.

(on camera): Some of those good times in Bandera happen on a horse.

There are thousands of people who are expected to be here for the big day on Monday. And a lot of people are worried about the weather. They're worried about cloud cover. Not here in Bandera. They're going to have a good time anyway.

Rosa Flores, CNN, Bandera, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Rosa on a horse, no less. Thanks so much for that report.

And be sure to join CNN for special live coverage on the "ECLIPSE ACROSS AMERICA." Coverage starts Monday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. You can also stream it on Max.

We'll be right back.

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