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More Fallout from KFile Report on Mark Robinson; IDF Kills Top Hezbollah Commander in Beirut; North Korean Defections Spike under Kim Jong-un; 2024 Campaign Highlights; "Doomsday Glacier" Collapse May Be Unstoppable; Minnesota Power Plant Trading Coal for Renewable Energy; Sports Highlights. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired September 21, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all you watching us here in the states, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump gets set to rally in North Carolina today but the candidate he's backing for governor is embroiled in scandal.
Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns here in Georgia, focusing on one of the Democrats' strongest issues, reproductive rights.
And Trump allies approve a controversial election rule in Georgia, despite bipartisan warnings. How it could inject chaos into a state likely to play a key role in deciding the next president.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: In the hours ahead, Donald Trump is set to hold a campaign rally in North Carolina amid a scandal involving one of his allies. Sources say Mark Robinson, the state's Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for governor, hasn't been invited to the event.
Robinson is facing backlash after a CNN KFile investigation found his years-old offensive posts on the message board of a pornographic website.
The Harris campaign and Democrats in the Tarheel State are seizing the controversy, working to link Robinson and Trump with billboards like these. Robinson was already trailing his challenger by 10 points as of early September.
And the scandal could impact North Carolina's presidential vote. Republicans fear the scandal will help Harris make a play for a state that hasn't gone for Democrats since Barack Obama in 2008. So far, Republicans are standing by the lieutenant governor but that
leaves Democrats free to use the scandal as political ammunition against both Robinson and Trump. CNN's Dianne Gallagher has more.
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DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fallout from CNN's bombshell report about Mark Robinson spilling over into a second day.
LT. GOV. MARK ROBINSON (R), NORTH CAROLINA GOV. CANDIDATE: I'm running for governor.
GALLAGHER: The GOP nominee for North Carolina's governor moving forward with his campaign after the deadline passed for him to withdraw as absentee ballots are sent out to voters Friday.
The fresh swirl of controversy follows a KFILE investigation that found Robinson made a series of inflammatory comments on a pornographic websites message board, more than a decade ago, referring to himself as a Black Nazi and expressing support for reinstating slavery, among other salacious, lewd and gratuitous statements.
ROBINSON: Thank you so much.
GALLAGHER: Robinson categorically denying the allegations.
ROBINSON: This is not us. These are not our words and this is not anything that is characteristic of me.
GALLAGHER: The controversy extending beyond the Tar Heel State's race for governor, with Robinson having received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly praised the conservative firebrand.
TRUMP: This is Martin Luther King on steroids, OK?
GALLAGHER: The campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris highlighting the ties between Trump and Robinson in a new ad Friday.
ROBINSON: We can pass bills saying, you can't have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason. Abortion in this country is about killing a child because you weren't responsible enough to keep your skirt down.
TRUMP: I've been with him a lot. I've gotten to know him and he's outstanding.
GALLAGHER: The former president is set to hold a rally in the state on Saturday. Sources tell CNN that Robinson has not been invited to the event, despite being a regular presence at Trump's events in the state, including two last month. Some Trump allies are dismissing the potential impact on the former president's campaign.
REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): We're going to be fine in North Carolina. This issue is going to come and go. GALLAGHER: But the reality of what's happened in our country remains
and that's why Donald Trump's going to win the state of North Carolina. As Democrats in North Carolina seek to turn Robinson's controversy into a challenge for other Republicans.
GOV. ROY COOPER (D-NC): I think that when people go to the polls, they need to think about these candidates who had supported and encouraged somebody like Mark Robinson and continue to do so.
GALLAGHER: Now Democrats across the state of North Carolina taking advantage of this. Nearly every statewide candidate down through the ballot has posted a photograph the Republican opponent has taken with Robinson or touted an endorsement, even just kind comments about the lieutenant governor.
There was a fundraiser that was scheduled for Mark Robinson, featuring the chair of the Republican Governors Association, Tennessee governor Bill Lee.
Well, a source familiar tells CNN that that is no longer taking place.
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And governor Bill Lee is not coming to North Carolina -- Dianne Gallagher, CNN -- back to you.
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BRUNHUBER: Lily Knoepp is a senior regional reporter for Blue Ridge Public Radio out of North Carolina and she joins me now from Atlanta.
Thanks so much for being here with us. So you're normally based in North Carolina. The state, as you well know, hasn't been very kind to Democratic president candidates. As we heard, there, Democrats are hopeful and even some Republicans are fearful that this scandal could make all the difference.
How big a factor do you think it could be at the top of the ticket?
LILY KNOEPP, SENIOR REGIONAL REPORTER, BLUE RIDGE PUBLIC RADIO: Yes. I mean the top of the ticket is really what drives elections, is what we've all come to understand.
And so, for former president Trump, not having someone that he feel that he wants to be associated with potentially at the top of the ticket is a really big deal. In 2020, former president Trump only won North Carolina by just over 1 percent. So this is a really big issue in North Carolina.
BRUNHUBER: So Democrats, as we heard, are trying to tie Trump to Robinson. Trump will be there in North Carolina today.
Are you expecting him to address the scandal head-on and, more importantly, will it matter? Is it already too late?
KNOEPP: Yes. I mean Robinson is still going to be on the ticket, so that ship has already sailed.
It'll be really interesting to see if this makes Republicans less excited to turn out to the ballot box.
But on the opposite end of the spectrum, this could really drive Democrats, who don't want to see Robinson in office, to come out to the polls. In that sense, I think it's really important. I'm not sure how president Trump will react, former president Trump. But I don't want to make any predictions.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, hard to, hard to guess at the best of times.
But listen, let's, let's go to Robinson because you've covered him for some time.
Were there any whispers of issues like these before now?
KNOEPP: Yes.
I mean, he really came out of nowhere in 2018 with this speech around gun rights at a Greensboro city council meeting. And was a really attractive candidate in 2020. I covered him at some Back the Blue rallies in Western North Carolina and kind of just has been able to be so charismatic, I think, for the Republican Party during 2020.
At a time when I think it was exciting for them to hear from the first Black lieutenant governor and (INAUDIBLE).
BRUNHUBER: So he identifies as an evangelical Christian.
Do you think that these allegations will hurt him, especially with that group?
KNOEPP: Yes.
I've covered him at Faith and Freedom Coalition rallies recently this year. And he really came out. This was at a church in Western North Carolina. And talks about his evangelical beliefs.
And a lot of the things that are reflected in these posts and these allegations are very much not aligned with the morality of the evangelical movement.
I think it's really important to say that the comments that he's made about -- or the allegations made about being potentially a Black Nazi but also just kind of being pro-slavery, I think across the world, everyone has come together and said that that's not OK. And I think I'm really interested to see how that lands with evangelical voters.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. And Donald Trump calling him Martin Luther King on steroids certainly raised a lot of eyebrows. So if we broaden this out a little bit even, before the scandal,
Democrats had poured millions into the state in advertising, sensing that, despite their poor history there, that it might actually be winnable.
Did you get a sense of a changing political landscape after Biden dropped out?
KNOEPP: Yes, absolutely. I would say there's been just a lot more excitement in the state or from Democrats at the local level. We just had the governor, Tim Walz, in Asheville and there was a lot of excitement around that.
And it just feels like the candidates are in North Carolina every week now. This is a really important state for them to win. It's 16 electoral votes. And I think it feels very much like it's an option for Democrats.
BRUNHUBER: Yes.
And one of our analysts was saying that, if Harris were to win North Carolina, the chances of winning the election will be like something like 96 percent. So clearly vital for Democrats and for Republicans as well.
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We'll have to leave it there. Lily Knoepp, thank you so much for being here with us. Really appreciate it.
KNOEPP: Thank you.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, Harris campaigned Friday in the battleground state of Wisconsin. She painted Trump as a, quote, "unserious man," while hitting him on a number of policy issues, including his economic plan.
While in the Badger State, the Democratic nominee highlighted some plans of her own. Here she is.
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KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, right now on the affordable housing issue, look, we have a shortage of housing in America. And it's contributing to driving up prices.
So with my plan, we are going to cut red tape and work with the private sector to build 3 million new homes by the end of my first term.
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BRUNHUBER: Earlier Friday, Harris railed against Trump's position on reproductive rights while campaigning here in Georgia. Republican abortion restrictions have reportedly contributed to several deaths in the state.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has the story.
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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris delivering an impassioned address here in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday, on an issue that has been top of mind for her campaign because it's also been top of mind for voters.
And that is on reproductive rights. The vice president taking a detour to come do the battleground state before heading to Wisconsin, a trip that sources tell me was planned immediately at the direction of the vice president after a media report that revealed that two deaths were linked to the state's abortion restrictions.
Now the remarks by the vice president were met with a somber audience. There was an emotional heaviness to the room as she spoke about the risks of the state abortion restrictions with signs behind her that called them the Trump abortion bans, a phrase that she coined back in Arizona.
Now the vice president going on to say that this election is a fight for, quote, "freedom." She also talked about Republicans being hypocrites. Take a listen.
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KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: One in three women in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban. This includes Georgia and every state in the south except Virginia.
Think about that. When you compound that with what has been longstanding neglect of women in communities with a lack of the adequate resources they need for healthcare, prenatal, during their pregnancy, postpartum. Think about that.
And these hypocrites want to start talking about this isn't the best interest of women and children?
Well, where you been?
Where you been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America?
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ALVAREZ: Now at one point during her address, she also said that they, the audience should say the name of one of the women who was mentioned in this media report, dying from a treatable infection.
It was a moment to address the situation at large and that being what the vice president, her campaign has discussed as the threat against reproductive rights. This is an issue that the vice president and her team are consistently
talking about, running ads in battleground states. And, of course, one that she will continue to be hammering over the course of the next few weeks, hoping that it mobilizes voters to the polls -- Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Still ahead, the aftermath of a deadly Israeli strike in Beirut and fears are growing it won't be the last as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalates. We'll have the latest from the region next.
Plus North Korea reportedly executing dozens of officials in the wake of devastating floods. Clearly a sign of the Kim regime turning deadly for the country's elite. All that and more when we come back, please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The death toll is rising in the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut. The Lebanese health minister says the strike killed at least 31 people, including women and children. Nearly 70 people were wounded.
Hezbollah says 16 of its members were killed, including high-level commanders like Ibrahim Aqil, head of the militant group's elite forces. Israel says it also killed, quote, "about 10 other commanders" it accuses of planning to raid and occupy Israeli communities.
The strike hit a residential building in a densely populated neighborhood on Friday afternoon, collapsing the building and shaking others nearby. Israel's military says Aqil was hiding underground below the building, using civilians as human shields.
All right. I want to go live now to London and CNN's Jomana Karadsheh.
So Jomana, Hezbollah has warned they will retaliate. Take us through what they're saying.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have to start with this update that we've gotten in the past hour from the Lebanese health ministry.
That strike in southern Beirut suburbs in Dahiyeh on that residential building that killed Ibrahim Aqil, the top Hezbollah commander and 15 other members of Hezbollah, including a senior commander, also killed and injured many civilians as had been feared.
This is one of the most densely populated areas of Lebanon. And fears have been that civilians will be among the casualties. And this is what we are hearing. The health minister saying that at least seven women are among those killed. Three children, aged 4, 6 and 10 as well.
And this is not over. They are continuing to dig through the rubble. They have pulled, they say, body parts, unidentifiable body parts. There are still people, including children, who are unaccounted for. So this is not over.
This is not only a severe blow to Hezbollah, this is absolutely devastating for Lebanon and for the Lebanese people as well, a country that has gone through so much over the past few years. And now there is this real fear and apprehension in the country. People are very concerned about where this is all headed.
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What is going to come next?
For the past year almost, they have been involved in this mid level intensity conflict that has been mostly confined to the border area. But now we are seeing this move to a whole new phase, a very dangerous one, that has moved this conflict clearly to the Lebanese capital.
The question is, as you mentioned, what is Hezbollah going to do?
Those who know the group say that it has been backed into a corner. Severe blow after severe blow with these attacks over the past few days in Beirut. And it is going to have to respond. And it's going to have to respond forcefully.
But at the same time, Hezbollah has been very cautious. It has not wanted to escalate this into a wider conflict. So it would have to be a calibrated response. We will have to wait and see what that looks like, what it's going to do.
And of course, there's questions about its capabilities at this point. You know, if you look at what has happened over the past few days, this has had a considerable impact likely on the group.
So how fast it is going to respond, what form that response is going to take, also a question.
And a major question in all of this, Kim, is what is Israel doing here?
Is this trying to send warnings to Hezbollah, using this military pressure to achieve a goal that the Israelis have stated again this week, saying that this is one of their main goals right now and that is to restore security to its northern region, to return the 60,000 to 70,000 people who have been displaced from that area over the past year.
And how is it going to do that?
Is this the prelude to a more -- to a major offensive? This is all yet to be seen. But no matter what way you look at this, Kim, we are entering a very, very dangerous phase right now. And the next few hours and days, very critical.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely.
All right. Jomana Karadsheh in London. Thanks so much.
The U.S. soldier who ran across the border into North Korea last year is free after being sentenced to one year in confinement and a dishonorable discharge.
Private Travis King was given credit for good behavior and time served. King pleaded guilty in a court martial to charges of desertion, assault and disobeying a superior officer. As part of a plea deal, nine other charges were dismissed.
Army officials say, in July of 2023, King willfully crossed into North Korea after being released from a detention facility in South Korea. He was being held there following a bar fight.
North Korea is suspected of executing a number of officials held responsible for devastating flood damage this year, South Korea's intelligence agency says, leader Kim Jong-un is looking for someone to blame and lower-level officials are paying the price. CNN's Will Ripley reports.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): North Korea is facing its worst flooding crisis in decades, overwhelming destruction and unknown number of dead, a catastrophe caused by heavy rains and human failure, lack of planning and preparation, plenty of blame to go around.
Kim Jong-un's absolute power means he can't be criticized. He's going on a rampage, punishing local officials, removing some from their posts perhaps going even further.
South Korea's spy agency says it's closely monitoring signs North Korea may have executed multiple officials over the flooding.
One report put the number as high as 30, citing an unnamed South Korean official. Any numbers are nearly impossible to verify, given North Korea's extreme isolation and rejection of all outside aid.
Did you ever witness a public execution in North Korea?
CHOONG-KWON PARK, ELITE NORTH KOREAN DEFECTOR: When I was in middle school, I saw a soldier getting publicly executed. I went out of curiosity. I couldn't eat for several days after that.
RIPLEY: That traumatic experience, one reason Choong-Kwon Park says he ran away from North Korea 15 years ago despite his elite upbringing. Today, he's a South Korean lawmaker what do you guys? PARK: It doesn't make sense why these public executions are still happening in North Korea. But you know, Kim Jong-un killed his own uncle.
RIPLEY: That executions sent chills through the North Korean elite, made up of top party officials, diplomats and senior officers. Kim's uncle, Jang Song-thaek was the second most its powerful man in North Korea. South Korea is unification ministry says only around 50 elite North Koreans fled under Kim's father. That number has almost tripled under Kim Jong-un, coinciding with his crackdown on corrupt officials.
PARK: The reason for the elite defection is that North Korea, there's fewer benefits for the elite now.
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Secondly, it's no secret that North Korea has a lot of problems. And thirdly, there's no hope among the young people.
RIPLEY: Late last year, a high ranking North Korean diplomat defected from Cuba. South Korea's foreign ministry says, North Korea has been closing consulates, embassies and offices around the world.
The number of elite defections is rising even as overall defections are down dramatically since the pandemic, the result of massively increased North Korean border security, not just to keep people out but to keep them in -- Will Ripley, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: All right, still to come, some election officials and poll workers are crying foul over controversial new rules pushed by Trump allies for counting ballots here in the state in Georgia.
That story and more coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Donald Trump is set to hold a rally in North Carolina in the coming hours amid an ongoing scandal involving the state's Republican candidate for governor. Mark Robinson, who was endorsed by Trump, hasn't been asked to attend the event later today.
He is facing backlash over offensive posts left on a pornographic website before he was lieutenant governor.
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris blasted Trump over his position on reproductive rights on Friday. Her campaign stop in Atlanta was added after media reports linked the death of two Georgia women to Republican abortion restrictions.
Her running mate, Tim Walz, and Republican vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, will campaign in Pennsylvania later today.
Harris also campaigned in another battleground state on Friday. In Wisconsin, she warned that a second Trump presidency could have serious consequences.
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She also said she believes the presidential election will be close. Wisconsin senator Tammy Baldwin spoke to CNN about what she thinks Harris has to do to win the crucial state. Here she is.
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SEN. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-WI): You got to show up in red parts of the state, purple parts of the state and blue parts of the state. And she has to continue to make the contrast between what she's running on, what she is about and what Donald Trump is pushing.
On our fundamental freedoms, we have such a stark contrast and she needs to continue to come to these swing states, these battleground states like Wisconsin, and make the case and make the clear contrast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: As we mentioned, Harris was also campaigning here in Georgia, another key battleground state. The state's election board, which is controlled by Donald Trump's allies, has approved a controversial new rule despite bipartisan objections.
It requires ballots cast on Election Day to be hand-counted to ensure the number matches the tally from voting machines. We have more now from CNN's Sara Murray.
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TRUMP: Three people are all pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory. They're fighting.
SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Those three Republicans on the Georgia state election board who Donald Trump praised at a campaign rally last month charging ahead with a controversial new rule about hand counting ballots.
JANELLE KING (R), GEORGIA STATE ELECTION BOARD MEMBER: So this leaves us in a very difficult position. Do we maintain the status quo because it's easier or do we make a few adjustments so that we can be better?
MURRAY: But it's not better for many bipartisan election officials across the state who begged the board to pause on new rules ahead of November.
MILTON KIDD, ELECTIONS DIRECTOR FOR DOUGLAS COUNTY, GEORGIA: The idea that you're not going to listen to the individuals that are charged with conducting elections is absurd to me.
MURRAY: State officials from Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to Attorney General Chris Carr issued sharp warnings, saying several of the dozen rules the board is considering may run afoul of the law.
BRAD RAFFENSPERGER (R-GA), STATE SECRETARY: We're too close to the election. In fact, we're really just three weeks before we start early voting. And it's just too late in the cycle.
MURRAY: The new rule doesn't help determine a winner. Rather, it requires a hand count of the number of ballots at polling places on Election Day and then comparing the number of ballots cast with the number recorded by voting machines. Critics say it's a recipe for chaos.
KRISTIN NABERS, GEORGIA STATE DIRECTOR, ALL VOTING IS LOCAL: If I were to hand this stack of paper to three random people in this room, especially at the end of a long voting day and ask them to arrive at the same total number, do we think that's feasible?
People doing a hand count are going to make mistakes, which can then be exploited to spread lies.
MURRAY (voice-over): Raffensperger says the change could delay reporting results on Election Day.
RAFFENSPERGER: You start breaking up the ballot boxes after you close the precinct, you won't be getting those Election Day votes until maybe 1:00, 2:00 or 4:00 in the morning. And we just don't believe that's healthy for, you know, the republic and we don't think it's healthy for people of Georgia.
MURRAY: The three Trump-backed Republicans passed the rule anyway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The motion passes three to two.
MURRAY: Even steamrolling the independent chairman of the five member board.
JOHN FERVIER, CHAIRMAN, GEORGIA STATE ELECTION BOARD: If this board votes to implement this rule, I think that we put ourselves in legal jeopardy.
MURRAY: And this new rule is almost certainly going to face legal challenges.
And to that end, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger put out a statement after the meeting, saying, "Attorney General Chris Carr has stated that these rules would not withstand a legal challenge.
"And I have worked every day to strengthen Georgia's election law to ensure our elections remain safe, secure and free."
So just a question at this point of where these legal challenges are going to come from -- Sara Murray, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Well, former lieutenant governor of Georgia Geoff Duncan was one of the Republicans who spoke at the Democratic National Convention. He weighed in on the new election board rules in his state.
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GEOFF DUNCAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Today, they injected the ultimate asterisk mark into our November election.
They are able to change laws to follow conspiracy theories instead of reality. And it's unfortunate.
I once again call on Republican leadership from every corner of this state, county, city, state, legislative, even the governor's office, to call on this as loud as absolute possible that this is a horrendous idea. And it usurps democracy in its ultimate format.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The earliest date the new rule could take effect is October 14th, just 22 days before the November election.
Well, here's just another indication of just how tight this race has become.
Donald Trump and his Republican allies are trying to change an election law in Nebraska, hoping it'll save him potentially one electoral seat. Now the state awards electoral votes by congressional district, unlike most states, which are winner take all.
The former president won all five of Nebraska's electoral votes in 2016 but lost the Omaha area district to Joe Biden in 2020. Trump phoned into a meeting with some of Nebraska's Republican lawmakers and the Republican governor, Jim Pillen, this week, describing the law as unfair according to one official.
Governor Pillen has said that he would convene a special session before the November election to try to change the law.
[05:35:00]
But only if there's enough support for the vote.
The Arizona supreme court ruled on Friday that nearly 100,000 people who may not have fully met the state's proof of citizenship test can still vote. The court was asked whether they should get a federal only or a full ballot and the answer was full.
Arizona uses separate ballots because it requires all voters to prove citizenship for state and local races. The same documentation isn't a federal requirement, so they'd be able to vote in the presidential election regardless.
The decision is a victory for Arizona's Democratic secretary of state.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. Secret Service says it breached its own protocol during the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. The former president's ear was grazed by a bullet while he was speaking at a rally in Butler in July.
A new report says there were serious communication failures between the Secret Service and local law enforcement at the site. Because of that, Trump's security detail didn't get a warning about the would-be assassin, even after he was spotted by local officers.
The acting Secret Service chief now says those responsible will face disciplinary action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD ROWE, ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. SECRET SERVICE: While some members of the advanced team were very diligent, there was complacency on the part of others that led to a breach of security protocols.
These employees will be held accountable and this agency has among the most robust stable of penalties in the entirety of the federal government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: On Friday, House lawmakers unanimously adopted a bill bolstering Secret Service protection for major presidential and vice presidential candidates. The legislation is now headed to the Senate.
It's been just over two weeks since four people were killed in a mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. The final funeral was held on Friday for 14-year-old Christian Angulo, one of two students killed in the mass shooting.
The parents of Mason Schermerhorn, the other student victim, were also in attendance at Friday's funeral mass. A friend of the family spoke to CNN shortly after the service on what it meant to lose Christian.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARMANDO MARTINEZ, CHRISTIAN ARGULO'S FRIEND: He always put that smile on somebody's face when they're down. All the words that the bishop said in the service was completely true. I mean, he was just blessed with that grace of God that made everybody just enlightened whenever he was around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Authorities have charged 14-year-old student Colt Gray with murder in the killings. His father has also been charged with second degree murder for furnishing his son with a weapon used in the shooting.
For decades, coal-powered energy plants have belched smoke into the skies over the U.S. Well, in Minnesota, one of the worst polluters will soon be pumping out clean power. And advocates hope this is just the beginning. We'll have details next. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: It's nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier and that may be no exaggeration. Scientists using ice-breaking ships and underwater robots have found the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is melting faster than previously thought.
It may be on an irreversible path to collapse. Its ice loss is set to speed up this century and melting of the ice sheet, which is the size of Florida, could lead to 10 feet or about three meters of sea level rise with devastating effects for humanity.
Last hour I spoke with Robert Larter of the British Antarctic Survey to find out more.
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BRUNHUBER: I understand you sent this sort of torpedo shaped robot to get a look at what you've just been talking about, that most vulnerable part of the glazier, its underbelly.
So how did you go about doing it?
ROBERT LARTER, MARINE GEOPHYSICIST, BRITISH ANTARCTIC SURVEY: OK. So there's a range of different devices that have been used. The one I think you're talking about is one that was designed to be put down a bore hole, drilled through the floating extension of the glacier.
So these glaciers, they continue out into the sea and they have a large floating extension. And the world underneath the floating extension, the cavity under there, these are some of the most inaccessible places on the planet.
So what has been done is people have designed robotic submersibles that can go into this space because it's -- clearly, it's a space that's very dangerous.
You don't want to send crude submersibles into that. So the latest technology in these instruments was used to enable it to go down a borehole less than only about a foot across with a conducting fiberoptic cable.
So that the scientists could communicate with it and get data back from it and really find out what was happening, right where -- at the point where the glacier goes afloat.
BRUNHUBER: All right, so let's talk about what is happening. You've published your results and I guess there's good news and bad news. So the good news, as I understand it, there were fears that, if this were to collapse, it would sort of start a chain reaction of ice cliffs collapsing that would basically pile a catastrophe upon catastrophe.
It sounds as though that isn't likely.
Did I explain that right?
LARTER: Yes.
That's what the latest published research says, that there was some work, results of one of the studies was published just a few weeks ago, saying exactly that.
But to the best, the best they can, that it can be modeled at the moment, they don't expect a runaway collapse to be initiated if we get to the condition where we have very tall ice cliffs.
The principle here is that, if this is something all engineers know, if you pile any material high enough in a vertical face, you get to a point at which it fails and cracks and collapses. And the ice is just -- in that respect, ice is -- behaves in an analogous way to concrete.
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BRUNHUBER: Robert Larter went on to say that, whatever could be done to slow the collapse of the glacier and its doomsday potential would certainly be beneficial.
All right, we have new images just coming into CNN.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): This was the scene in Wajima, Japan. The flooding you see has led officials to issue the highest level of emergency rain warning for Ishikawa prefecture on Honshu Island.
According to Japans state broadcaster, 11 rivers in Ishikawa have flooded and mudslides alerts have also been issued throughout the island. Four workers are missing as well. Japan's chief cabinet secretary told reporters that the government is working closely with local municipalities on evacuation support.
Heavy rain is expected to fall across large parts of Japan over the next 24 hours.
Well, it's a move that could change how the U.S. approaches clean energy projects.
[05:45:03]
A coal-fired power plant in Minnesota will soon shut down but then reopen using solar and wind energy.
Experts say the plan to repurpose the plant's existing infrastructure could supercharge the push for renewable energy. CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir has that story.
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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Behold a fire breathing dinosaur named Sherco.
For decades, it has been devouring mountains of coal in Minnesota and belching out gigatons of planet cooking gases, making this power plant the state's biggest climate polluter. But in a vivid example of energy transition, Sherco's owners are changing its diet, swapping out coal for renewables, until the last fire goes out in 2030.
And after that, 125,000 homes will be powered by sun, wind and iron batteries with four days backup.
WEIR: Is Xcel decarbonizing as a strategy?
RYAN LONG, PRESIDENT, XCEL ENERGY MINNESOTA: Yes, so we are decarbonizing as a strategy. We have had a goal to get to 100 percent carbon free energy by 2050 for a number of years now.
Two years ago, the Minnesota legislature passed a law that said they want to get to 100 percent carbon free energy by 2040. So that's now our target and we're on track to meet that.
WEIR: That pile of coal weighs around 1.7 million tons and in about six years, it'll be all gone. The smokestacks will be obsolete. But this fossil of a different age will remain a valuable part of the community, pushing out clean energy from wind farms and solar fields all around the state.
But this is also a model for the rest of the country. A study out of Cal Berkeley found that the U.S. could double its power capacity by building new energy next to old infrastructure.
PETE WYCKOFF, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF ENERGY RESOURCES, MINNESOTA COMMERCE DEPT.: Minnesota, for economic reasons, was already moving to phase out coal.
But what the Inflation Reduction Act did, through its tax credits, is give extra incentives for when you phase out a plant, a fossil fuel plant, to build something new right there.
WEIR: And use the bones in the connection.
WYCKOFF: Use -- you use the -- the site is actually being used.
WEIR: Yes.
WYCKOFF: But the more important thing is you're using an existing way to connect to the electric grid.
WEIR (voice-over): Minnesota recently completed a transmission upgrade but the lines are already strained by all the new supply and demand. So like a fast pass at Disneyland, this method allows clean energy projects to skip the years long wait for grid connection while making the shift a lot less jarring for local communities.
WEIR: What does that mean for workers?
Can the same people who are now working in coal come over and work in sunlight?
LONG: Well, some of them can. So we've got about 240 workers at the plant. And what we have told them is, if you want a job with Xcel Energy after that plant retires, you'll have a job with Xcel Energy.
WEIR: Would this have happened without the Tim Walz administration and their targets?
Would it have happened without the Inflation Reduction Act that Joe Biden --
LONG: Yes. So the Walz administration has been really great to work with and the IRA benefits have been really significant for our customers. That helps us move through this transition while bringing customer bills down compared to what they otherwise would be.
We're extracting about $300 million of IRA benefits for our customers with this project alone.
WEIR (voice-over): He says their customers will eventually reap billions in tax incentives as Xcel winds down dozens of fossil fuel plants, all part of a quiet industrial revolution, steadily spreading nationwide -- Bill Weir, CNN, Becker, Minnesota.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, he is definitely not taking his foot off the gas. New feats for baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani, who just made history. We'll have more after the break. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. stock markets were mixed on Friday but ended higher for the week after surging on Thursday, thanks to the Fed's hefty half-point rate cut. The markets reached new records on Thursday with tech stocks strong. And the Dow and S&P 500 closed at record highs again Friday.
Now the Fed's interest rate cut on Wednesday was its first since the COVID pandemic. Gains carried over into Friday's trading in Asia.
All right, in sports, Shohei Ohtani's historic moment might have come on the road but the Dodgers superstar delivered an incredible encore for the fans back in L.A. on Friday. Andy Scholz joins me now.
So Andy, are we witnessing I mean, one of the best seasons, perhaps in baseball history?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORT CORRESPONDENT: No doubt, Kim. We should really appreciate what we are seeing because this may never happen again.
Ohtani became the first player to get to 50-50 Thursday in Miami. Last night he was back at Dodger Stadium, where he got a huge ovation from the crowd before his first at-bat. But then in the fifth inning, Ohtani going yard yet again, the two-run shot was number 52 on the season.
Then in the seventh inning after a single, Ohtani would steal second base with ease. Now he's created the 52-52 club. The Dodgers will go on to win this one 6-4.
As CNN's Natasha Chen, she was at the game last night, got the chance to speak with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and asked him how many more home runs and steals does he think Ohtani has in him in the final nine days of the season?
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DAVE ROBERTS, DODGERS MANAGER: I don't know if I'm going to give him an off day before the postseason because I do think that, if I do give him an off day, I think there's going to be a lot of visiting fans very disappointed, very upset with me.
But I'm going to have those conversations. But I think, you know, where is he at now, 52, 51, something like that?
I think 60-60 is sort of on the radar a little bit. We'll see.
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Isn't that crazy just to talk about it, to say it out loud?
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ROBERTS: It's bananas. I sound like an idiot even saying it.
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SCHOLES: It is incredible.
Now the Phillies meanwhile crossing the Mets 12-2 to punch their ticket to the postseason for the third year in a row. Just the third time in Phillies history they've made three consecutive post-seasons.
Now no champagne showers though, just a simple toast. Their goal is getting back to the World Series and winning it this time after falling short back in 2022.
[05:55:00]
Now the Braves lost so the Mets, they remain two games up on Atlanta for that final NFL wildcard spot. All right. Probably some of the Team U.S.'s biggest stars from the
Paris Olympics are taking their show on the road. Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles and Frederick Richard headlining the Gold over America tour.
You've got 30 shows in 30 cities from coast to coast over the next 1.5 months. Our Coy Wire got the chance to talk to Biles and Chiles about what they're most excited about.
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SIMONE BILES, U.S. GYMNAST: Such an honor and such a blessing that they come out to support us. But it really is inspiring the next generation and that's why we do what we do.
We have a love and a passion and we want to share that with everyone because we do such a beautiful sport.
So why not share it with everyone?
JORDAN CHILES, U.S. GYMNAST: I think it's really just us having fun and really bringing our personalities out. There are a bunch of different personalities on this tour. and I think honestly, especially having the boys now, we get into different atmospheres.
And you know, the girls got the prettiness and then the guys who have the ability to bring in that strongness as well. And it's really cool. It's really fun. I enjoy it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Both them so impressive. They always put on a show, whether it's at the Olympics or in arenas across the country.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, something to see for sure. All right. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it.
San Antonio Spurs legend Tony Parker is proving ball is life even in retirement. The former NBA all-star wraps up his three-day tour of the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of his initiative to promote sports development across Africa.
The NBA all-star and four time NBA champion is building on his experience, developing a basketball program through team ownership and youth academies in his native France.
All right, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is next. For the rest of the world, it's "AFRICAN VOICES: CHANGEMAKERS."
