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At Least Seven Dead After Medical Jet Crashes In Philadelphia; Barges, Cranes To Assist With Recovery Efforts In Washington Midair Collision; Students, Skaters Professor Among Crash Victims; Trump Allies Trying To Shore Up Support For RFK Jr. And Tulsi Gabbard; Volunteers Reach Out To Migrants Fearing Deportation; Hamas Releases Four Hostages From Gaza Including An Israeli-American; Trump To Impose Tariffs On Mexico, Canada And China; Trump Signs Executive Orders On School Choice And Funding; FDA Approves First New Type Of Pain Medication In 25 Years. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired February 01, 2025 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:56]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
We begin in Philadelphia where officials say seven people were killed after a medical jet crashed in a neighborhood. One of those people was on the ground and 19 others were on the ground and injured. Officials warn the casualties from the crash could climb, adding it could be days before they know how many people died or were impacted. Debris from the jet fell across a large, dense area in the city, and officials are asking people to be cautious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR CHERELLE PARKER, PHILADELPHIA: Don't touch it. Just call 911 immediately. Our forensics unit, they I mean, just an amazing job, but everything is essential to us addressing this tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: CNN's Danny Freeman is in Philadelphia.
Danny, you were at that press conference. What more was said?
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and just to start with what you just played, Fred, to emphasize how big this debris radius is, the accident took place a couple of blocks behind me, but just in my viewpoint right here, there is one canister it looks like over here to my right, one directly behind me, and then another one just on the other side of this road over here.
That's why Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said exactly what she said. You may see things that might be related to this plane crash in this area of northeast Philadelphia. Please don't touch it and call 911 to let police know because all of this is now part of this large investigation being led by the NTSB of what went so horribly wrong on Friday evening that caused this crash. So let me just illustrate for our viewers what we do know at this
point. This was a medical transport jet that left northeast Philadelphia airport. It's only a couple of miles from where we are right here. It was on its way to Missouri and then ultimately going to Mexico after that.
It had six people, Fred, on board that flight, two pilots, a doctor, a paramedic, and then a pediatric patient, a child and her mother. That patient was actually in Philadelphia at Shriners Children's Hospital to have a procedure done. She was then heading back to Mexico after that procedure had been completed when this plane ultimately crashed.
We've been talking about this, Fred. The plane only in the air for about 40 seconds before it took that really harrowing and terrifying nosedive into the ground behind me here in northeast Philadelphia, and it turned into a major crime scene. We've seen local investigators, state investigators, the FBI and the NTSB as well out here. They've been combing the streets, frankly, to look for a lot of that debris. And they've been calling out to people saying, please, if you see something, please say something.
Fred, I asked the mayor and the officials that were present at that press conference if they had any information that could lead to an answer as to what happened in the air. Take a listen to what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PARKER: The NTSB, the FAA, all of our intergovernmental collaboration, it is all a part of an active investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FREEMAN: So at this point, Fred, as you heard from the mayor, we're waiting on the NTSB to give an update on what they have found so far. The one thing I'll say, Fred, it was sad. So sad to learn that six people on that plane were confirmed to have been killed, another person killed, who was in a car on the ground on Cottman Avenue behind me.
We're all hoping, of course, that those casualties don't go up. 19 people were injured, but the local officials here, they said that you could expect more casualties to be found in the coming days as they sift through this massive crime scene behind me -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Danny Freeman, in Philadelphia, thank you so much.
All right, meantime, in the nation's capital, recovery teams are awaiting the arrival of barges and a crane, which will help lift pieces of debris to allow divers to -- that will complement the efforts of divers who've been trying to get the remaining victims from Wednesday's midair collision.
[15:05:00]
Crews have recovered 41 of the 67 bodies from the collision site. Officials say 28 have now been identified.
CNN's Brian Todd joining us live now from Reagan National Airport.
Brian, what's the latest that you're hearing from officials?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, in addition to the information you just gave on the arrival of the barges and cranes here, a source familiar with the investigation tells CNN that we could see more high level readouts today from investigators of the information on the flight data and voice recorders that were on board those two aircraft. We'll be looking for that.
In addition, we have new scrutiny that we're reporting on today on the status of the air traffic controllers who were on duty the night of the collision.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice over): The role of air traffic controllers, under scrutiny tonight, as an internal preliminary FAA report on Wednesday night's collision says staffing was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic, according to "The New York Times."
While a source tells CNN the control tower was not short staffed, which would have set off a staffing trigger, that night, one controller was doing two jobs, handling both helicopter and plane traffic, a decision made by the airport control tower supervisor, according to an air traffic control source.
Was he spread too thin?
PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: They were probably spread too thin. And the reality is this kind of sharing or, you know, doubling up is not uncommon. But should it happen? The answer is no.
TODD (voice-over): But one former controller says having one controller could actually have been helpful.
MICHAEL MCCORMICK, FORMER FAA AIR TRAFFIC MANAGER: Now you have one controller who's actually talking to and controlling both of the aircraft. Otherwise, if it was a separate controller, then the two controllers would have to constantly coordinate back and forth.
TODD: Did the controller sound overloaded during an exchange Wednesday night with the helicopter pilot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PAT-25, do you have the CRJ in sight. PAT-25, pass behind the CRJ.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PAT-25 has aircraft in sight, request visual separation.
VINCE SUGENT, FORMER AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Now, his voice didn't give me any concern that he was behind or he was rushing or that he was overloaded. TODD: But the revelation adding to concerns about nationwide staffing
shortages in what is already a demanding job. The FAA having trouble closing the shortfall of 3,000 controllers as of last year, and that was before the Trump administration included air traffic controllers in the buyout offer now available to millions of federal workers.
It takes months of training, years to be certified for a job with long shifts, sometimes six-day weeks, starting salary around $60,000 for a job with very high stakes.
BRANDON BRYLEY, FORMER NAVY AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: With a split of a second, you could have the -- from the air traffic controller standpoint, you could lose the picture in a matter of a millisecond.
TODD: Those stresses can have consequences.
GOELZ: Part and partial to the job, it comes higher rates of divorce, higher rates of alcoholism, and even higher rates of suicide. This is a hard job.
TODD: At Reagan National Airport, the control tower is 85 percent staffed, with 24 of 28 positions filled, the air traffic control source tells CNN. Over the past three years there, there were at least two near misses between planes and helicopters. And it is a particularly demanding airport, according to a former Navy controller.
BRYLEY: D.C. is a very complex airspace. There's prohibited areas where, only certain aircraft are supposed to be in, exceptions to rules. There's actually a prohibited airspace just north of the accident. So it complicates the routes a bit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (on-camera): Now that stress on air traffic controllers here at Reagan National Airport could now, of course, be reduced with the decision by the FAA, according to an FAA official, to shut down those low altitude helicopter corridors just east of here. Those corridors that were in use at the time of the accident on Wednesday.
Analyst Peter Goelz says he doesn't think that helicopter corridor is ever going to be reopened -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Really? OK. Brian Todd at Reagan National Airport, thank you so much.
All right, well, as the investigation intensifies, we are learning more about the crash victims. Ed Lavandera looks at the lives lost.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The losses are staggering as the stories of victims lost in the midair collision come to light.
The Livingston family was returning to their home in Virginia. The family of four was in Wichita for the U.S. figure skating championships last weekend. Lindsey Fields, a community college biology teacher from Kansas. Promising youth skaters Angela Yang and Sean Kay and their coach, Alexander Sasha Kirsanov. And Luciano and Franco Aparicio, a father and son from Chile. Skating champion Lorenzo Elano lost four friends in the crash.
LORENZO ELANO, FRIEND: It's just really sad. They all have so much potential.
LAVANDERA: Sadness has reached every corner of the country. Young skaters in California, their coach knew many of the victims, practiced in silence as a tribute to those that died. In Detroit, other skaters mourn their friends.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's difficult to describe that kind of loss.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really brought the skating world to its knees.
LAVANDERA: Victims young and old and in the prime of their lives. Kiah Duggins, a civil rights attorney from Wichita, who dedicated her life to helping others. She gave a TEDx talk in 2017 on helping underrepresented students.
KIAH DUGGINS, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: By reaching out to our communities when we need help.
LAVANDERA: She was returning home to Washington, D.C., after visiting her family in Kansas.
REV. T. LA MONT HOLDER, CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH: She's the very essence of what you would want in a human being, and her life is irreplaceable.
LAVANDERA: Duggins was president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau while in law school, and was a White House intern during the Obama administration.
Two young legal associates, Sara Lee Best and Elizabeth Ann Keyes, also died on American Airlines Flight 5342. And on the Black Hawk helicopter, three more lives lost, including U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ryan O'Hara and Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves.
Sixty-seven lives in all tragically cut short, creating ripples of sorrow for those who knew them well.
MINA ESFANDIARI, COMPETITIVE SKATER: All I could do was call the people that we knew were on that flight, and to hear their voicemail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.
Coming up, President Trump's new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China are expected today. We'll look at how this could impact your grocery bills. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:16:09]
WHITFIELD: Days after Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard faced sharp questioning by skeptical senators on Capitol Hill during confirmation hearings for their cabinet posts, CNN has now learned that Trump allies are making calls to try and shore up support for their troubled confirmations.
CNN's Alayna Treene is joining us now with more on this.
Alayna, what are you learning?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Fred. We have learned, my colleague Kent Mara and I, that President Donald Trump's allies, including Vice President JD Vance, have been calling different lawmakers on Capitol Hill trying to shore up support for both Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as well as Tulsi Gabbard following their tough confirmation hearings this week.
Now, we know that both Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as Tulsi Gabbard, his pick to be his director of National Intelligence, both of whom faced very sharp questioning from Democrats and Republicans alike on Capitol Hill this week.
But according to my conversations with sources familiar with how the president's team is looking at this, they are most concerned now, I'm told, about Gabbard's confirmation chances, and that comes as she was pressed very hard again by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about whether or not she believed that the acts of Edward Snowden were traitorous to the United States.
Now, Edward Snowden is a former National Security Agency contractor who, back in 2013, had revealed the existence of a bulk collection of American phone records by the NSA before fleeing to Russia. Now we know that Gabbard has said previously that she believed Snowden should not face any sort of prosecution back in the United States, but she wasn't very clear when asked directly by lawmakers if she believed that still to be the case, or whether Snowden was a traitor to the United States.
Now, I was also told that Gabbard, since that confirmation hearing, it took place on Thursday, has been meeting behind closed doors with senators, mainly Republican senators, trying to assuage some of their concerns. One White House official told me that they believe that those sessions went well, and that she has been able to kind of ease some of the concerns and anxieties that people have about her confirmation process.
But again, it's going to -- you know, we still have to see whether or not they can get out of confirmation and be voted out of their different committees to the full Senate floor. Now, one thing to keep in mind is that both the President Donald Trump and many of his allies have been making calls for all of his different nominees. I'd remind you as well that one of the most controversial picks that Donald Trump made was for Pete Hegseth, who has now been successfully sworn in as the secretary of Defense.
But before then, Donald Trump and his team had to make calls trying to help get him through that process as well. So all of this, of course, is coming as Donald Trump and his team have been working really hard to move his nominees through this confirmation process as quickly as possible and get his cabinet set. But currently, I would argue that the sharpest and toughest criticism that is facing any of Donald Trump's picks has so far been directed toward both Gabbard as well as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Let us know when you learn even more.
Alayna Treene, thank you so much.
Coming up, three additional hostages were released by Hamas, including a 65-year-old Israeli American. That report from the Middle East, next.
[15:20:00]
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WHITFIELD: While President Trump is making good on his promise to deport undocumented migrants, volunteers across the country are working to make sure those hiding from law enforcement are getting fed.
CNN's Rosa Flores rides along with one of those volunteers in Chicago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What might appear to be a simple case of extreme stockpiling.
SAM, VOLUNTEER: I'm going to drop this off.
FLORES: Is actually the preamble to an emotional day.
Sam, first of all, thank you so much for doing this.
(Voice-over): Sam is not her real name. She asked CNN not to reveal her identity for fear of retaliation.
Could you tell us where we're going?
SAM: To an apartment to drop off groceries for a mother and three children. They only have enough groceries for the day. And then after that, it is bare cabinets, empty fridge.
[15:25:03]
FLORES (voice-over): She volunteers to deliver groceries to undocumented migrant families, many seeking asylum in the Chicago area who have stopped going to work, to school and to the store for fear of deportation. Every delivery costs $80 to $100. Sam says she made up to 15 deliveries since Trump took office.
So some of these families that you visit haven't left their homes since Trump took office?
SAM: Yes.
FLORES: So since Inauguration Day?
SAM: Yes.
FLORES (voice-over): Sam says her nonprofit has received dozens of requests from migrant families since the ICE enforcement blitz started. Chicago police say more than 100 people have been arrested in the metro area. On this day, Sam is meeting a Venezuelan mom of three teens.
So we're pretty close. What's usually your plan?
SAM: So usually I'll notify them on WhatsApp that I'm outside.
FLORES: What touches your heart the most?
SAM: The fact that our society is feeding into this propaganda that it is criminals. And yet what I'm seeing is that it's families.
FLORES (voice-over): Families like hers, she says. Sam's mom is Mexican American. Her dad is indigenous. She says she sees herself in the children of the mothers she serves.
SAM: It is very emotional work. If we're not stepping up, nobody is feeding these families.
FLORES: The Venezuelan mom was waiting outside.
She doesn't want us to use her real name.
(Voice-over): She arrived in the U.S. 17 months ago seeking asylum.
So you've been in your apartment for two weeks? Do you send your children to school?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
FLORES: No. Why don't you send her to school? Because of the fear.
SUPERINTENDENT LARRY SNELLING, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: With this level of fear.
FLORES (voice-over): Chicago's police superintendent acknowledged the fear in immigrant communities could impact public safety.
SNELLING: I'm pretty sure that there are some people who have not stepped up and reported a crime that may have been committed against them out of fear.
SAM: It's heartbreaking. FLORES: Sam says it's not just undocumented moms who are in fear for
their children.
What did you tell your son to say to ICE?
SAM: If he was questioned by ICE, I told him to say, I'm an American citizen. Please call my mom.
FLORES (voice-over): She and her 10-year-old son.
SAM: Will be back in a little bit.
FLORES: Are both U.S. citizens.
SAM: It breaks my heart.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Rosa Flores, thank you so much.
And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:32:04]
WHITFIELD: All right. Now to the Middle East, where three more hostages were released after being held for 15 months by Hamas, including 65-year-old Israeli-American Keith Siegel who was kidnaped from his home in the October 7th attack. All three were taken to the hospital to be checked out, and then reunited with their loved ones.
(VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: After a warning from Israel, today's hostage handover was much less chaotic than in some previous exchanges. Also earlier today, Israel returned almost 200 Palestinian prisoners as part of the ceasefire agreement.
Let's get more now on today's events with Michael Oren. He is a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. He also served in the Knesset and was Israel's deputy minister for diplomacy.
Welcome to you, Ambassador. Good to see you.
MICHAEL OREN, FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Good to see you as always.
WHITFIELD: All right. Did you see this as -- did you see this as encouraging, an encouraging sign that today's handover went a bit more smoothly than previous ones?
OREN: Well, compared to the last handover, where the young Israeli women were almost lynched, almost torn limb to limb, and it was a very, very frightening after everything they've been through, after the horrors of being in captivity for 483 days, to come out and then be sort of basically drawn, quartered by a mob, was horror beyond belief. So, yes, this was a better turnover that it was.
But even today's exchange is greatly tempered by the release of Yarden Bibas. He is the father of two young children, Kfir and Ariel, the husband of Shiri, who remained in captivity. They are slated to be released, but frankly, Fredricka, nobody knows whether they're coming back, you know, walking out of an ambulance or coming out in a box, and it's a source of deep, deep consternation, anxiety and sadness on the part of the people of Israel.
These two young children in particular, I don't know if you remember this earlier in the war, the people who were protesting for hostage release in Israel were flying red balloons because both of these children are red headed.
WHITFIELD: What are your concerns about this phase one of the ceasefire agreement easily transitioning into phase two?
OREN: Not so easy. And it's going to be a major dilemma for the government of Israel and particularly for the prime minister, for Benjamin Netanyahu. I'm sure it's going to be discussed in his meeting with President Trump early coming this week. He'll be the first foreign leader to meet with President Trump. And they're going to discuss phase two.
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Phase two calls for the release of further hostages. 32 were slated to release, 10 have been released. Of the remaining 22, we know that eight are no longer living. So that leaves another 50, 60 hostages in the hands of Hamas. Again, almost half of them are presumed to be no longer alive. Perhaps even more. But the second phase calls for a prolonged ceasefire. And let's be honest what that means. It means that Hamas remains in Gaza right now. There's no replacement for Gaza. Hamas is parading through the streets with its guns and declaring victory.
And so the question is phase two, does that mean we basically go to the status quo ante of October 6th, 2023, and will the inhabitants of southern Israel go back to their homes in such a situation? So it is a major, major confrontation and a dilemma for the government of Israel. Many Israelis, and this is hard to maybe for an American audience to understand, are of the opinion that we should get all the hostages back, let Hamas take over Gaza again, build up our army, build up our munitions, catch our breath. And when the time comes, go in there and finish the job.
WHITFIELD: So do you have any concerns at all that the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu, when Netanyahu visits the United States, will in any way reshape demands that have already been agreed to between Hamas and Israel and thereby also potentially jeopardize the ceasefire deal that has already been agreed to?
OREN: I don't think that's the major concern. I think the major concern would be to what degree does the phase two in Gaza fit into a broader picture of U.S.-Israel understanding, strategic understanding about the Middle East What is the president going to say to the prime minister about the Israeli military presence in southern Syria, for example? What is he going to say about the state of the ceasefire in Lebanon should Hezbollah break that ceasefire?
Will the United States provide Israel with the military and diplomatic backing to respond to that? What about the Saudi-Israel peace plan? Now the Saudis have made it very clear that they're willing to talk peace with Israel. And certainly the president wants that. He wants that South Lawn ceremony, maybe even a Nobel Prize. But the Saudis have a price tag, and that price tag is that the Israeli government has to discuss what they call a pathway to a Palestinian state.
Now, a pathway could be a thing with gravel, doesn't actually have to amount to anything but the Israeli government, which is very, very right-wing, may have a hard time even discussing the pathway. And the biggest issue of all, Fredricka, will be Iran. What is the United States say about an Iranian regime which remains a serious threat to Israel and the Middle East, and it's very, very close to making a nuclear weapon?
So I think the Gaza picture, everyone, I understand in the United States is very much focused on Gaza, but there's a much broader landscape here, strategic and geopolitical and military landscape, which is going to be discussed in the Oval Office.
WHITFIELD: All right. Ambassador Michael Oren, so glad to see you. Thank you so much.
OREN: Thank you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: President Trump's promise tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada will go into effect today, according to the White House. What this means for the prices that you are paying at the grocery store, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:42:59]
WHITFIELD: President Trump's tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China are expected to go into effect today. The move amounts to a 25 percent tax on goods from Mexico and Canada, that would include a lot of produce, lumber, as well as 10 percent on China, including electronics. These new tariffs will essentially mean a tax on goods valued at more than $1 trillion from Mexico, Canada and China.
Trump says the tariffs are aimed at curbing the influx of undocumented migrants and fentanyl across the U.S. borders. Last night, he told reporters there was nothing the countries could do to stop him from imposing these steep tariffs.
CNN's Matt Egan is joining us right now.
Matt, what do we know about how these tariffs may affect American consumers?
MATT EGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, these tariffs would simultaneously hit America's three biggest trading partners. These are import taxes and they do have the potential to make life even more expensive.
Now I do want to stress, there's still a lot we don't know here, right? We don't know the details on the tariffs. We don't know the timing of when exactly they would take effect. There's not -- it's not clear which products could be carved out or have lower rates. We don't really know how companies are going to respond or what the foreign retaliation would look like.
But I just talked to Mary Lovely. She's a trade researcher over at the Peterson Institute, and she told me she's very confident that these tariffs would lift consumer prices. She said it's not going to happen overnight. But that it would be most noticeable at the grocery store. That's because the U.S. imported almost $11 billion of fruit last year alone from Mexico. Far and away the biggest source of foreign fruit into the U.S., everything from avocados and berries to grapes.
Mexico and Canada are number one and number two when it comes to imported vegetables. That's another issue there. Canada is a major source of foreign grains, livestock, meat into the U.S.
[15:45:01]
We know that people, they're very frustrated about the price at the grocery store. And there's the risk that these tariffs could make prices go even higher. Of course, it's not just the grocery store, right? The auto industry could really be hit very hard here because parts often cross the border multiple times before a car ends up at the dealership. That's why analysts say that the typical car bought in the U.S. could go up by $3,000 in price because of these tariffs.
And then there's energy. Canada is the leading source of foreign oil into the U.S. That's why analysts have warned that we could see gas prices go significantly higher in the Great Lakes, the Midwest, and other areas because of these tariffs.
So look, Fredricka, at the end of the day, these tariffs would represent a far bigger use of tariffs than anything that President Trump did during his first term. And there is the risk that this could backfire by making prices go even higher.
WHITFIELD: All right, Matt Egan, thank you so much.
All right. President Trump following through on a campaign promise this week to give parents more options in their child's education. On Wednesday, he signed a new executive order directing several government agencies to develop plans to expand so-called school choice initiatives. Trump is now directing the Department of Education to issue guidance for states to use federal funding formulas to support K through 12 scholarship programs, while also telling the Education secretary to prioritize school choice in discretionary grant programs.
Health and Human Services will now issue guidance so families can use block grant funding to support private and faith-based options. The order also tells the Defense secretary to submit a plan on how military families could use Department of Defense funding to send children to schools of their choice. And the Interior secretary will look at how students attending Bureau of Indian Education schools can use federal funds for their own school choice.
For decades, advocates have been pushing to make it easier for families to spend taxpayer funds on private education. But the country's largest teachers' unions are blasting the order with the American Federation of Teachers even calling it an attack on public schools.
Joining me right now is the president of that union, Randi Weingarten.
Randi, great to see you. So what is it about --
RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: Great to be with you.
WHITFIELD: Thank you. So what is it about this executive order that you find really potentially harmful?
WEINGARTEN: So because you can't rob from Peter to pay Paul. If you want to create other options which have been available for kids forever. I mean, when I was growing up, we had parochial schools. I had friends that went to parochial schools, people had scholarships for parochial schools. If you want to do that, then find other means to do that. Don't take it from the kids who are going to public schools.
And in fact, when this went to the voters in three states this year, two of those three states voting for Donald Trump, they overwhelmingly voted against taking public monies that are needed for the 90 percent of the kids that go to public schools and giving them somewhere else. And in fact, in the voucher programs we have right now, what we've seen is that they divest money from public schools like in Florida and Arizona, and the people that use them are basically people who are already have their kids in private schools. And it basically goes for people who are richer than most of the people in the United States.
So we have a lot of evidence about this already, and it's ultimately the school's choice, not the parents' choice. Now, let me also say we need to make sure that every single public school is a place that parents want their kids to go and that kids really soar, and those are the things that we in the public school space are working on. And we asked the new president to help us, don't make it harder for us to do our jobs, help us.
WHITFIELD: So you're saying federal funding should be -- more federal funding needs to be allocated to these public schools to help improve these public schools.
WEINGARTEN: Correct.
WHITFIELD: And at the same time, you know, there are students who may be attending rural schools or live in places where there are no other options for private school education.
WEINGARTEN: Exactly. Exactly.
WHITFIELD: So make your case on that.
WEINGARTEN: Exactly. So, look, Fred, this is part of why vouchers are routinely voted down in places like Nebraska. And there were five attempts to get vouchers in Texas last year or two years ago.
[15:50:06]
But you see rural schools and urban schools and frankly, suburban schools and parents from all of these places and clergy from all of these places and small businesses from all of these places, basically say we need the funding to make sure that our kids are doing OK. If we had suitable funding, it'd be one thing. But what's happened is that 10 percent of the funding that we get comes from the federal government.
But if you need to, you know, retrofit a rural school to put better ventilation in, and if you want to have career and tech services, if we want to make sure that we have mental health services because of everything that happened with COVID and with disorientation of kids and with smartphones and all of that stuff, you need those services in place. So what's happening is in Arizona and Florida, they're taking the services away from kids. And that's why people don't want these programs right now. What they want is for our public schools to be strengthened.
WHITFIELD: Randi Weingarten, thank you so much. So glad you could be with us to help bring that point of view.
WEINGARTEN: You're welcome.
WHITFIELD: Appreciate it.
Coming up, for the first time in a quarter century, there's a new non- opioid drug to manage your pain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:56:09]
WHITFIELD: All right. For the first time in a quarter century, there's a new option to manage your pain. This week, the FDA approved the new non-opioid medication meant to treat moderate to severe pain.
Joining us right now is one of the principal investigators on trials in Atlanta, which was one of the trial sites, Dr. Jessica McCoun.
Doctor, great to see you. Welcome.
DR. JESSICA MCCOUN, ANESTHESIOLOGIST: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
WHITFIELD: So you feel really encouraged that this is going to be a non-addictive painkiller, one that's been, I guess, you know, for a long time being awaited? MCCOUN: Absolutely. The data suggests on the clinical trials that this
drug it received the FDA indication for moderate to severe pain for treating that for acute pain. And the data suggests that it's both effective in treating pain and it has a very low side effect profile.
WHITFIELD: What makes it work?
MCCOUN: So it works at a pain signal receptor. So opioids work by basically numbing the brain from feeling the sensation of pain. This actually stops the signal from getting to the central nervous system to tell your brain you're hurting.
WHITFIELD: The best usage for this is going to be we say moderate to severe pain. So post-surgical procedures?
MCCOUN: That was how this was studied. These trials were done. Vertex is committed to finding all types of ways to treat pain with this molecule. They've also looked at chronic pain conditions as well. Nothing has been approved for that yet. But they do hope that this mechanism will be effective in those all as well.
WHITFIELD: There seem to be so many advances in medicine, I guess, with shorter time spans. Is it safe to ask or is it fair to ask why did it seem that this took so long to come up with an alternative, a non-opioid pain reliever, painkiller?
MCCOUN: You know, from concept to, you know, approval is a really long time. That's why drugs are expensive when they get FDA approved. It's a lot of time from the lab, from getting it from the lab into phase one trials, phase two and then phase three. Those are the things that we do here at our sites at CenExel Georgia. We're enrolling studies all of the time to be able to help these come to market.
So that process takes a long time. You know, clinical research is done all over. We have 18 centers of excellence through our sites alone. And so the more that people participate in those trials, the faster things like this can happen for new innovation.
WHITFIELD: The idea if you were to take this pain reliever, it's a, you know, one every 12 hours type of thing. Does that say something about, you know, its lasting effects for someone with moderate to severe pain?
MCCOUN: You know, classically opioids are prescribed for this type of pain. And those are taken every four to six hours, sometimes longer, depending on the patient. The recommendation is every 12 after a loading dose of the first dose. But we saw in an open label study that we also conducted here in Atlanta with this drug that patients on average were taking it nine days. Some took it four. Everyone is different. So there's nothing to say that you have to take it for a certain period of time. But the recommended dosing schedule is every 12 hours.
WHITFIELD: OK. You did say post-surgery. Are there particular types of surgery that this would be recommended or generally any surgery where, you know, traditionally an opioid would be prescribed, in this case, this is the better candidate?
MCCOUN: As an anesthesiologist, this is another tool in your toolbox. The trials focused on in the randomized controlled trials abdominoplasty and bunionectomy are largely noticed and accepted modalities for these FDA indication approvals. But the Sassy Study, which was the open label study I referred to, were multi surgeries. So rhinoplasty, orthopedics, they even had some nonsurgical indications about 13 percent of them.
WHITFIELD: All right. While it's FDA approved, still don't know when it's going to be available on the market, prescribed, et cetera.
MCCOUN: Correct. I don't have any information.