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Number Missing In Deadly Texas Floods Drops From 97 To Three In Kerr County; 50 Million-Plus People Brace For Unusually High Temps This Week; Americans Weigh In On President's Performance; At Least 38 Dead After Tour Boat Capsizes In Vietnam; 10th Victim Dies In Massachusetts Assisted Living Facility Fire; Harvard, Trump Administration Face Off In Court Amid Funding Battle; Palestinian Health Officials: 78 Killed In Gaza While Seeking Aid; WNBA Players Send Message With Shirts During All-Star Game Warmups; UK Researchers: Eight Healthy Babies Born From Three People's DNA. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired July 20, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:41]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with new developments in Texas. Officials in Kerr County have revised the number of people missing from that catastrophic flooding earlier this month from 97 now down to just three. The city of Kerrville said many of those who were initially reported missing are now accounted for and verified as safe.

The historic flooding event killed at least 135 people statewide over the 4th of July weekend, including 37 children.

CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones has more details for us. Julia, good to see you.

So what is the latest on the recovery operations for the three who remain missing?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred. That drop to just three people, such a dramatic drop, and it differs from the 97 that officials had reported earlier this week. And more than 160 initially.

You know, local leaders are saying that it's thanks to those tireless days of follow ups, phone calls, cross-checking names and coordination across multiple agencies that the dozens of people initially thought to be missing were verified as safe.

We have a statement from the city of Kerrville saying that it was through extensive follow up work among state and local agencies, many individuals who were initially reported as missing have been verified as safe and removed from the list.

Now, it's important to note that those that were listed as missing weren't campers or local residents. According to County Judge Rob Kelly, they were mostly tourists in the area for the Fourth of July holiday, which made it especially difficult for officials to track who was actually lost.

Now the focus is on those three people that remain missing in Kerr County. The recovery teams, more than a thousand of first responders and thousands of volunteers, which, you know, we spoke to in the weeks that we were there, they're still combing through 60 miles of Guadalupe River and so much flood debris.

In the last county meeting, the sheriff there said that that search could still last months. The Kerrville city manager called that response "extraordinary". He said, "We are profoundly grateful to the more than a thousand local, state and federal authorities who have worked tirelessly in the wake of the devastating flood that struck our community. Thanks to their extraordinary efforts, the number of individuals previously listed as missing has dropped from 160 to 3."

Now, as you mentioned, you know, so many people lost their lives here. 135 people statewide, and the majority of those were in Kerr County, 107 and those 37 children.

And there are so many questions, Fred, about preparedness levels, how the county and the state have responded, and how it caught so many people off guard.

Now, looking forward, as that community continues to grieve the loss and organize, they have a meeting on Tuesday, a Kerr County meeting for the residents and the families affected by that disaster.

And at a state level, we're also seeing Governor Greg Abbott calling a special legislative session where the agenda will be strengthening flood warning systems, improving emergency communications in those flood-prone areas, including where Camp Mystic was, allocating relief funding for the -- all of Texas Hill country and fast-tracking policies to better prepare for and recover from natural disasters, which is their next challenge here.

And we'll be looking for what changes will be made to ensure that those communities aren't left so vulnerable, Fred, in the future.

WHITFIELD: Yes. It's been an incredible undertaking and it continues.

All right. Julia Vargas Jones, thanks so much.

All right. Meantime, heavy rains triggered flash floods across parts of Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., prompting dozens of water rescues on Saturday. A flash flood emergency was declared over D.C. and parts of Maryland as officials urged residents there to stay off the roads.

[14:04:45]

WHITFIELD: That's the highest level of flood alert, and it affected more than 220,000 people in the area. Cars in Washington were left stranded with entire streets submerged, as you see there.

All right. In Maryland, firefighters pulled a couple from their vehicle after being trapped in rising water.

Meantime, summer temperatures are expected to reach scorching levels in the Midwest and Southeast this week.

CNN's Allison Chinchar has the latest forecast, Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOTGIST: Right. More than 50 million people are under some type of extreme heat alert, not just today, but really going out over the next few days. That's because when you look at the forecast for today, you've got some areas of orange maybe right there along the southeastern Atlantic coast, some areas of the central U.S.

But as we fast forward into the week, you're going to start to notice that orange area really starts to expand and grow in terms of the population that it's going to impact, especially across areas of the northeast, the mid-Atlantic, and even into the Midwest.

Now it's going to begin today across portions of the southeast. So take, for example. Tallahassee. The normal high this time of year, about 92. So yes, it's hot, but we're talking temperatures up around 95 to 97 over the next several days.

So a few degrees above normal. Charlotte for example, their normal high is 91 this time of year. They're going to be looking at 98 for the high today and still very warm even into Monday.

But it's not just those areas. Take Dallas for example. Now average for today pretty much not too far off from their high of 96. But by the time we get to the end of the week, we could be looking at triple digits for both Thursday and Friday.

This is interesting because believe it or not, Dallas has actually not hit triple digit temperatures so far this year. Cities that have, ones that are way farther north, including New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, they have all hit triple digits, but not Dallas. However, as I mentioned, that is likely going to change by the end of the week.

And they're not the only one that's seeing those temperatures well above average. Look at Saint Louis, the normal this time of year high of 90 degrees. We're going to be well above that, reaching almost ten degrees warmer by the time we get to the latter half of the week.

And the northeast also, looking at those incredibly warm temperatures again, they've already had a very warm start to the summer in June. Now we're going to be seeing those temperatures creeping back up again.

The average high in New York City, about 85. We are going to spend the latter half of the upcoming week well above that. A little bit for today, we take a little bit of a dip and then those temperatures jump right back up to finish out the rest of the week.

WHITFIELD: All right. Allison Chinchar, thanks so much. All right. Today marks a half a year since President Trump took office

for his second term. This morning in a Truth Social post, Trump celebrated his accomplishments, saying in these six-months, he totally revived a major country.

And at this point, polls show Americans remain deeply divided on the president and his policies. A new CNN poll this week found Trump's approval rating at 42 percent, with 58 percent disapproving of the job that he's doing as president.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is joining us now from the White House. Great to see you, Kevin.

So walk us through where the president stands at this six-month mark and where he goes from here.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. Good to see you, too, Fredricka.

Certainly, President Trump is eager to celebrate this milestone. And he has had. Quite an eventful half-a-year in office. He's notched some clear wins in Congress, at the Supreme Court, on the world stage.

But the polls do show the public starting to sour on some of the president's top priorities. And of course, he's also contending with that matter related to Jeffrey Epstein -- dissatisfaction among his own supporters at how his administration is handling that.

Now, this morning, the president wrote on social media, "Wow, time flies. Today is the six-month anniversary of my second term, and importantly, it's being hailed as one of the most consequential periods of any president. In other words, we got a lot of good and great things done, including ending numerous wars of countries not related to us other than through trade and/or in certain cases, friendship." And the president concludes, "happy anniversary".

So clearly the president, eager to make the most of today. Now, in a separate post, he also referenced that Epstein matter, saying that polls show support among his own supporters is actually up since that controversy started brewing.

Now, in CNN's poll that was just released last week, we found that 88 percent of Republicans support the job that the president is doing. But overall, only 42 percent say they approve of how the president is handling his job. That's largely unchanged from the spring.

But when you look at all of the areas that have been central to the president's agenda over the last six months, you do see a majority of Americans disapprove of how he's handling it whether its taxes -- and, of course, he passed that major tax bill -- only 44 percent approve.

Immigration, we've seen President Trump pursue that hardline immigration agenda. 42 percent approve. The economy, 40 percent. And foreign affairs 40 percent.

[14:09:49] LIPTAK: Of course, the six-month mark is a moment to look back, but it's also a moment to look forward. And the president certainly has a lot going on.

Just this week we expect him to sign into law that bill that claws back funding for certain public broadcasters and for foreign aid.

Just tomorrow there will be a court hearing in Boston on the administrations attempts to strip Harvard of its federal funding.

We expect the president to continue sending those tariff letters as he works to secure trade deals with American trading partners ahead of that August 1st deadline.

And then at the end of the week, he'll visit his golf courses in Scotland. He'll also meet the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and do what the White House calls refine that trade deal that the two men agreed to in the spring.

So certainly plenty on the presidents plate as we hit this six-month mark. And as we look ahead to the next 42 months that remain in his presidency.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and starting with a very busy upcoming week.

All right. Kevin Liptak, thanks so much.

All right. Still ahead, an urgent manhunt is underway in Los Angeles for the suspect who shot the driver who rammed his car into a crowd of people outside a nightclub. That driver, now in police custody.

Plus, just hours from now, Harvard and the Trump administration head to court in their $2 billion battle over federal funding.

And, quote, "pay us what you owe us" -- the WNBA all-stars major statement to the owners of the league.

[14:11:21]

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WHITFIELD: All right. We're getting a new look at the chaotic scene that immediately unfolded moments after a vehicle plowed into a crowd of people in east Hollywood early Saturday.

This was the scene when first responders arrived. Debris, blood, injured people sprawled out on the ground. And you also hear a lot of yelling and confusion.

But cell phone video from the moments right after the impact of the vehicle on the crowd shows bystanders yanking the driver, who is identified as Fernando Ramirez, out of the vehicle. And then he appears to be assaulted.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Whoa.

Hey. Be careful. He's going to reverse. Yes. No. Chill, chill, chill. He's going to reverse. He's going to reverse.

Are you guys ok? Where's your friend? Is everyone ok?

Oh my god, look, he's going to reverse. Hey, get (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out the way. Get out the way, bro. He's -- he's coming back. Hey, get him, get him, get him.

Hey, hey. Bro, get that (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

Oh my God, bro.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: At least 30 people were injured in that incident. The 29- year-old driver was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon according to the LAPD. Police are still looking for the suspected gunman, who was also involved here.

All right.

A search is underway in Vietnam after a tour boat flipped over in Ha Long Bay, a popular spot for visitors. The boat had more than 50 people on board, including families and young children. At least 38 are dead and 10 have been rescued so far, according to local media.

And the survivors include a ten-year-old boy who was found in an air pocket inside the boat. One person who was on board pleaded with rescuers to keep looking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANG THUY LINH, CAPSIZED BOAT SURVIVOR (through translator): I have lost contact with my son, my husband and my friend's whole family.

What I am asking now is for everyone to speed up the rescue mission to save all of them.

Please don't let anyone behind on that boat. there is so little air left. There's a small chance of surviving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Heavy rain has reportedly been hampering the search and recovery. All right. And then we want to update you on that devastating fire

that broke out last weekend at an assisted living facility in Massachusetts.

66-year-old Brenda Cropper is now the 10th resident to die after a fire erupted one week ago at the Gabriel House. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

CNN affiliate WCVB reports on how authorities responded to the awful tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move. Move.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER, WCVB: Taking an ax to the windows and kicking in the doors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Fall River police first to get to the burning Gabriel House Sunday night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Ripping open doors to smoke filled rooms, crawling inside without hesitation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurry up. We're about to go in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Officers unwilling to wait a moment longer to search for anyone inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just stay here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Carefully holding shaking hands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on to me and the railing, ok.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Guiding those who can't walk on their own. In moments of chaos providing calm and comfort.

[14:19:45]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok. You lay down like a toboggan. Be like -- be like the old days. The candy (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: The smoke so heavy and so dark, choking the officers who keep going back inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cover your mouth if you can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cover your mouth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody get out. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Moving room by room searching for the nearly 70 residents inside, working alongside firefighters, carrying people down ladders, letting them know they're not alone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got you, sir.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That was incredible.

All right. Still ahead in Gaza the search for life saving aid turned deadly yet again. Palestinian health officials say that more than 70 people were shot and killed by Israeli troops, as starvation claims even more lives.

[14:20:33]

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WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

Tomorrow, the ongoing legal fight between Harvard University and the Trump administration is set to heat up. Both sides are heading to court as the nation's oldest university tries to restore billions of dollars in federal grants.

School leaders say the money was frozen after it refused to comply with a White House demand to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

I want to bring in now CNN's Gloria Pazmino. She's been covering all of this for us.

So Gloria, why is tomorrow so notable for Harvard and the administration?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, tomorrow is going to be the first time where lawyers from the Department of Justice and Harvard are going to be squaring off in court over whether the move to freeze many of Harvard's grants and funding is actually constitutional.

Now, I've been speaking with faculty members as well as experts who are involved in the lawsuit, and they tell me that this is not just about restoring the funding.

They say that academic freedom, the research and work that universities like Harvard do, is also at stake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAZMINO: It's the next major step in the Trump administration's fight against Harvard University.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we're going to probably settle with Harvard. They want to settle very badly. PAZMINO: Oral arguments are expected Monday. Federal district court

Judge Allison Burroughs will hear from Harvard's legal team and lawyers for the Department of Justice. The beginning of a critical battle to restore more than $2 billion in federal funding after the White House froze the funds last spring.

TRUMP: We spend more money on higher education than any other country and yet they're turning our students into communists and terrorists. We can't let this happen.

PAZMINO: Monday's hearing could mark a turning point in the administration's ongoing attacks on higher education institutions.

ANUNIMA BHARGAVA, CRIMSON COURAGE, COORDINATOR OF HARVARD ALUMNI AMICUS BRIEF: What we're seeing here is, basically an attack on Harvard. The goal is to narrow our ability to think, to teach, to voice, to learn in a way that is open, that promotes free inquiry and discussion.

TRUMP: Pause or funding freeze.

PAZMINO: Days after taking office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order increasing enforcement efforts against anti-Semitism on school campuses.

The administration also targeted dozens of colleges and universities. It threatened to cut Harvard's critical research and funding grants unless it met a strict list of demands, including ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs, hiring new faculty and making sweeping changes to international student programs.

Harvard responded with force, suing to restore its funding and accusing the administration of using unlawful tactics, saying the cuts and demands quote, "cut at the core of Harvard's constitutionally- protected academic freedom."

Funding cuts are already being felt.

BHARGAVA: We're seeing those research projects about Alzheimer's disease, about what is it that we -- how do we do surgeries in a way that are actually going to save people's lives?

Those research projects, those efforts that have been going on for years, if not decades, are being stopped in their tracks.

PAZMINO: Harvard faculty says the future of scientific research is on the line.

RYAN ENOS, PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: The big picture question is whether we will be rewarding research to where it's based on scientific merit, or whether a university follows the political ideology of the president and his administration.

PAZMINO: In a statement, the White House said the administration's goal is to prevent anti-Semitism and DEI on Harvard's campus, adding, quote, "We are confident that Harvard will eventually come around and support the president's vision and through good faith conversations and negotiations, a good deal is more than possible."

as the fight between the administration and Harvard continues, some faculty members and experts see the administrations focus on anti- Semitism as an excuse.

BHARGAVA: This is a battle about power. I think that this is really about this administration trying to take down cathedrals of power around the country that are not their own.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAZMINO: Now Harvard has asked the judge in this case for an expedited decision by September. That is when Harvard would have to submit paperwork to close out the grants if it's not receiving the funding that it needs, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Gloria Pazmino in New York. Thanks so much.

All right. Still ahead, CNN's Jeremy Diamond meets a former hostage who was held for nearly 500 days by Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: The thought of dying crossed your mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day. Every day.

But for me, I didn't accept that because I knew that people are waiting for me. My kid is waiting for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:29:51]

WHITFIELD: We'll hear more on how he got through his darkest hours.

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[14:34:22]

WHITFIELD: All right. New today. At least 78 people were killed and some 150 more injured by Israeli gunfire while they were looking for aid in different parts of Gaza. That's according to the Palestinian health ministry.

A doctor at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City said it was, quote, "in a catastrophic state," end quote, because of the number of injuries and starving civilians it was facing.

CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Starvation in the Gaza Strip is becoming almost as deadly as the war itself. In June, this woman said her four-year-old daughter, Razan (ph), was

weak from hunger.

[14:35:04]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My daughter suffers from malnutrition and malnutrition has also caused her to suffer from a mobility disability. Her health was very good before the war, but after the war, her condition began to deteriorate due to malnutrition. There is nothing to strengthen her and there is no milk available in the hospitals or pharmacies. And there are no vitamins in the hospital.

NADEAU: On Sunday, Razan died, her mother said.

Searching for food has also become a dangerous quest. Over the weekend, over 100 people seeking aid were killed by Israeli gunfire, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Nearly 80 were killed Sunday and more than 30 were killed early Saturday, including children near a U.S. Israeli run Gaza humanitarian foundation aid distribution point, the health ministry said regarding Saturday's incident.

The Israeli military said they had fired warning shots at people who had approached them, not far from where the food aid site was located. It also said it was aware of reports regarding casualties, and the incident is under review.

But for those fighting hunger, especially those whose children are dying from it, the fight for survival is often a calculated risk.

Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Barbie.

All right. It was a pretty difficult to watch, a gaunt looking Or Levy being released by Hamas, along with other hostages after more than a year in captivity. Levy would soon be reunited with his young son, but he would also learn that his wife had been killed during the October 7th attacks.

Or Levy spoke with CNN's Jeremy Diamond about all of that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Five months ago these images of Or Levy shocked the world. His emaciated body a testament to the 491 days he was held hostage by Hamas.

OR LEVY, FORMER HAMAS HOSTAGE: And I must say it's after three weeks of a lot of food that got into like that we got.

DIAMOND: Meaning had you been released three weeks earlier, you would have looked a lot worse.

LEVY: For sure.

DIAMOND: That's hard to imagine.

LEVY: It's hard to understand how difficult it is to live one pita a day for 491 days. It's something that no human should live like that. And for the people that are still there. I know those days were even worse than what I've been through. And it's scary.

DIAMOND: Just as difficult as the physical toll was the emotional burden of captivity being ripped away from his then two- year-old son Almog.

LEVY: When his birthday came and I was there, it was my worst day of my life.

DIAMOND: What did you do on that day?

LEVY: So I sing to him and crying most of the day, thinking and telling stories about him, about what went through, promising that I would do whatever it takes to go back and doing his next birthday together.

DIAMOND: That wish came true two weeks ago, a birthday that came five months after Or was reunited with his family and with Almog.

LEVY: I remember seeing him, hugging him, hearing his voice. Crazy.

DIAMOND: But he says that day was also the hardest of his life. It was the day he learned that his wife, Einav, had been killed on October 7th.

LEVY: I met this woman from the army, and I asked her about my wife. I told her that I think I know, but I'm not 100 percent certain that I want to know. And then she told me.

DIAMOND: Or and Einav were huddling inside this bomb shelter when Hamas militants began throwing grenades and opening fire.

LEVY: And the last picture that I remember seeing is the Hamas terrorist shooting inside the bomb shelter.

DIAMOND: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American Israeli later executed by Hamas in captivity, was also kidnapped from that shelter. They would spend three defining days together in Gaza's tunnels.

LEVY: He said to me, he who has a why can bear anyhow. And for me, when I was in captivity, I understood that I have a why, and this can help me survive any harm.

[14:40:03]

DIAMOND: When he got back from Gaza, he got the mantra tattooed on his arm.

DIAMOND: What or who was your why? LEVY: Almog. Every rough day that you know you're about to crack, I was touch here, right where I did my tattoo. And talking to Almog and saying to him, yeah, you're my why, and I will go back for you.

And I remember on rough days, I would like to do like this, feeling stronger -- feeling stronger and not wanting to die.

DIAMOND: The thought of dying crossed your mind every day?

LEVY: Every day. But for me, I didn't accept that because I knew that people are waiting for me. My kid is waiting for me. And I don't want him to grow up without mom and dad.

DIAMOND: Or is home. But he must now answer his son's questions alone.

LEVY: Just the other day asked me why I didn't take him to this far place I was in.

DIAMOND: That's how you describe it to him. You were in a far away place?

LEVY: Yes. So he asked about his mom, about what happened to her, about who caused it.

DIAMOND: What do you tell him about her? And how do you carry on her memory?

LEVY: So first of all, I explained to him every time that his mom did want to go, that his mom loved him from the bottom of her heart. I'm showing him pictures of her every day, of us three telling the story behind this photo. This is something that I promised to myself, even when it's hard to get him to know her because it's harder for him.

DIAMOND: But Or's ordeal won't be over until all the hostages are home.

LEVY: The fact that people are still there haunts me in the night for sure. I think that nothing is worth more than getting those people home. I know that we need to push on to get a deal that gets everyone home and finished everything.

DIAMOND: Jeremy Diamond, CNN. Giv'atayim, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:19]

WHITFIELD: All right. The stars of the WNBA put on a show for the fans at the all-star game last night in Indianapolis. You're seeing why the WNBA television ratings are up 23 percent in the last year, collectively, because all those stars. Ticket sales are up to 26 percent. Of the WNBA on such a roll, the plan is to expand the league to 18 teams by 2030. So why is the average salary for WNBA player $66,000 a year? Well,

that's what players want to know. And that's why they said so ahead of the game by wearing black T-shirts that read "Pay us what you owe us". The WNBA Players Union is in the middle of negotiations with the league on a new collective bargaining agreement, and if a new agreement is not reached by October, some players have talked about a possible walkout.

I'm joined now by CNNs sports analyst Christine Brennan. Christine, she's also the author of the new book "On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women's Sports".

Congratulations on your book, Christine, and great to see you.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Great to see you, too, Fred. Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right. So how far apart are the league and the union on this whole pay issue right now?

BRENNAN: Well, there's -- certainly, too far apart for the players liking at this point. We've heard that they are not entirely happy with how things are going, but it's early in the negotiations, that's for sure. And, you know, they couldn't be paying the players any less, right?

I mean, the salary, as you said, I mean, perfect example. Caitlin Clark last year is the number one pick in the WNBA, Fredericka, was making $76,000. The top pick in the NBA draft last year, $57 million.

(CROSSTALK)

BRENNAN: And frankly, I might have put -- yeah, and I might have put that on a T-shirt. I mean, that's an eye-popper, as I do, you know, talk about this book on tour. I tell people they just can't believe it, right? The difference, the decimal points that need to be moved are incredible.

But this is the -- this is the greatest moment ever for the WNBA. This is the time. This is the moment for the players to get as much as they can and seize this moment with Caitlin Clark and others, and we'll see how that goes over the next few months.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. And even with the WNBA experiencing a jump in popularity, viewership, attendance in recent years, and you write about a lot of that in your book, according to Sportico, the 13 WNBA franchises increased in value by an average of 180 percent and are collectively worth three and a half billion dollars.

So why isn't that growth translating into more money more immediately for these players?

BRENNAN: Well, it will. I mean, I think the growth can be -- obviously, I've looked at this incredible phenomenon about Caitlin Clark. You know, she is the economic driver for the league. So many other players deserve to be over the years and never got the attention she's gotten obviously as an entertainer and her amazing shots, you know?

And the problem for the league and the owners can use this as against the players potentially, Fredericka, is that when Caitlin Clark missed five games earlier in the season. When she disappeared for those five games, so did more than half of the TV audience disappeared. So, it's -- obviously, it's much more than just Caitlin Clark in terms of the great play, but those players never got the attention they deserved from the male dominated mainstream sports media. Now they are.

So, as I said again, this is the process they're going to get, those salaries are going to go up. There is no doubt the players will be making more money in the next, you know, next year, moving forward. The TV deal is four times as great next year, over 2 -- basically 200 million per year. Now coming in with TV money.

So, these are good days for the WNBA. Are they great days yet? No. And that's the difference because it is coming. But the league was losing a lot of money. And the NBA owns 60 -- basically 60 percent of the league, the owners and the league itself.

So, this is complicated. I think it's a visceral reaction a lot of us have. Why aren't you paying them more? Look at how popular they are. They're going to get there. But it's no way is it going to get anywhere near the NBA number any time soon. And I think that's just the reality of our sports world, where a league was so ignored and unfortunately so as I and others fought for it, now at least there's going to start to see some of the fruits of this incredible success.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. Well, they better hurry up because it's taking too long at this point. I'm sure a lot of the players would argue with that one for sure.

All right, Christine Brennan, thank you so much.

BRENNAN: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, healthy babies born with DNA from three different people. How the groundbreaking IVF trial works and why doctors are doing it.

And tonight, in a new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER", some of music's biggest names show Bill Weir the ways star power can help combat the climate crisis. That's tonight at 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's cool. That's a little crayfish.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The tunes we love come from both person and place. And without this place, without the sun and soil, waves and wonder of Oahu's north shore, Jack wouldn't be jack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think growing up here, there's this really slow rhythm that you don't realize you're taking in, which is the sound of waves hitting the shore. And usually that's about 12 seconds, 14 seconds apart.

WEIR: But while plenty of places have an ocean rhythm, Jack was also raised on aloha, the humble respect for nature and neighbor passed down from the very first Hawaiian.

(SINGING)

WEIR: Right around the time Flake started drawing, bigger crowds, that Hawaiian sense of responsibility would gnaw at his soul.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going back to those early shows, when you have these sort of awakenings, you know, it's like everything's great, and it's like, wow, what a night. And then you walk out on the stage after everybody's gone and you just see a sea of plastic water bottles.

And all of a sudden, you're at an amphitheater and you look out back and you realize, whoa, there's multiple trucks here, there's multiple buses. This is a footprint, you know, an environmental footprint that's kind of bigger than I realized. It's, all of a sudden, it gets here and it's a little wake-up call of, okay, how can we do better? What can we do?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[14:58:25]

WHITFIELD: All right. Scientists in the U.K. are celebrating a groundbreaking medical milestone. Eight healthy babies born with DNA from three different people, utilizing a groundbreaking new technique of IVF. The method was developed to help parents avoid passing rare genetic diseases to their children.

CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: This is a groundbreaking IVF technique. It's still experimental, but to explain how it works, I'll start with some basic biology. So, most of our DNA is found in the nucleus of our cells, but a tiny bit also lies within the mitochondria, and mutations there can cause a wide range of diseases in children that can be seriously debilitating or even deadly.

So, to avoid harmful mitochondrial DNA with mutations from being passed down from the mother to the baby, here's what the researchers did. They first took a mother's egg that was fertilized with the father's sperm in a lab. Then the researchers extracted the nucleus from that fertilized egg, and they left behind the mitochondrial DNA with harmful mutations.

The extracted nucleus was then inserted into a fertilized donor egg that had healthy mitochondrial DNA. The final fertilized egg was then implanted back into the mother. The researchers used this technique in embryos from 22 patients resulting in eight babies that appear to be free of mitochondrial diseases. And one woman in this study is still pregnant.