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Four Renaissance Painting Recovered After Italian Heist; Trump Wants To Reduce U.S. Joint Military Exercises With South Korea; U.S. Envoy Jared Kushner Holds Rare Meeting With Hamas Leader; Hawaii Island Lashed By Storm Lala; Nanny Back In Philadelphia After A Month In ICE Custody; Opening Arguments Being In Tupac Murder Trial; Crushable Cement Keeps Planes From Skidding Off Runways; "Stacked: Inside The Enhancement Craze". Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 16, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Gone in three minutes. Art thieves in Italy made off with paintings worth more than $10 million in March. Now Italian officials say they have recovered the paintings by some of the most famous artists in history.

CNN's Stefano Pozzebon joins us with the details on this daring heist.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN ROME CORRESPONDENT: In just three minutes, these thieves stole paintings worth $10 million, but now they've been recovered. Italian police released the new CCTV footage showing the masked men breaking through a window into the Magnani Rocca Foundation in Northern Italy on the night between the 22nd and the 23rd of March.

They got away with three masterpieces from French artists Cezanne, Matisse, and Renoir. Local media says that the paintings have been found in a cardboard box used for a TV set in the basement of one of the alleged thieves.

Magnani Rocca is one of Italy's largest private art collections, and is located in Parma. And the foundation celebrated the recovery, posting on Instagram that beauty has prevailed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: That was Stefano Pozzebon reporting there.

A new hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta.

New tonight President Trump says he's telling the Pentagon to, quote, "substantially reduce" America's joint military exercises with South Korea. Trump says when he asked South Koreas president for help with U.S. efforts to denuclearize Iran, South Korea said no.

Let's go to CNN's Julia Benbrook now. And, Julia, what more are we learning about all of this?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Donald Trump, in a social media post this evening, he announced that the United States would reduce these military exercises with key regional ally South Korea. And he cited one of the reasons for making this decision. He cited his close relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

I want to pull up this post for you now so you can see this in the president's words. He said in part, quote, "Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong-un of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has long ago agreed to participate in joint military exercises with South Korea. These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America," he added, "as usual. But send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile to a country that as long as Donald J. Trump has been president, has been unthreatening and respectful."

This is not the first time this weekend that Trump has posted about North Korea or his relationship with Kim Jong-un. In fact, he posted just yesterday this photo of them both saying that they get along great. You can -- you can see that there.

Now when he made this announcement, he also said that he was considering in this decision his request to South Korea for more help with the conflict in Iran. He said that this was somewhat unrelated, but was also part of the decision. He said that when he asked for more help, that their response was, no, thanks. That's in his words.

Now, some important context here. This is not the first time that Trump has scaled back these joint military operations. He did make a similar move during his first term.

ABEL: And, Julia, we're following another story as well. Sources telling CNN that Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, taking part in rare talks with Hamas' leader in Egypt. What do we know about this meeting?

BENBROOK: So Kushner has been a real central part of these diplomatic efforts when it comes to the Middle East. And this meeting that he had with the Hamas leader, it comes as they're trying to work through some sort of an agreement on a Gaza ceasefire deal that was rejected by Israel. There were no immediate details released from this meeting. But this is a very rare engagement between a top U.S. envoy and the leader of Hamas, showing that there are some efforts to try and figure out a way to get this U.S. backed plan to an enforceable point.

ABEL: All right. Julia Benbrook for us. Julia, thank you.

And we are joined now by former State Department Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller to talk about all this.

Aaron, it was a notable shift in policy last year when the Trump administration directly started negotiating with Hamas, which has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. since, I think, 1997. [19:05:10]

Talk us through the significance of this meeting happening now.

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: Well, Kushner has met with Khalil al-Hayya, who is the recently elected leader of Hamas by one vote before. That was in the context of the president's successful efforts in October 2025 to broker a 20- point plan which freed the hostages, ended the major comprehensive effort by the Israelis to prosecute their war against Hamas and improved somewhat, somewhat, not much, the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

So clearly, Kushner's efforts to meet in Cairo and tomorrow I gather in Jerusalem is an effort to move this forward. But look, Brian, under even the most ideal circumstances, I'm not sure this demilitarization, decommissioning plan is ready for primetime. It took the IRA and the Protestant Parish in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 seven years to disengage. And then there was a political settlement of Northern Ireland before the demilitarization took place.

This is going to be very, very tough, even if the Israelis, which they haven't, and Hamas fully embraced and invested in this.

ABEL: Well, you mentioned there that it's not ready for primetime in your estimation. How much of that is because Israel was the party not in the room today? How do you assess Netanyahu's position on these talks?

MILLER: You know, I mean, October 27th, what's that, 79? Do the math, 80 days before the most consequential election in Benjamin Netanyahu's political life? His margin for flexibility on anything to do with Gaza and-or Hamas is going to be extremely narrow. That said, President Trump had four opportunities in the last several weeks to endorse Netanyahu for his reelection bid and refused to do it, or at least didn't endorse the prime minister.

So I'm thinking here that Trump may be willing to endorse Netanyahu, but there's going to be a price, and perhaps one of the prices he's going to want is greater Israeli flexibility to move this thing forward in Gaza. But even under those circumstances, as I mentioned, it's going to be a very hard and heavy lift.

ABEL: OK. Aaron, do you see a path to move forward on Trump's Gaza peace initiative after Israel rejected it? What does that next step look like?

MILLER: I mean, look, you need -- you at least need three elements which are not in place. I don't want to trivialize this. I mentioned it's not ready for primetime. Number one, you need an international stabilization force to divide Hamas and Israel, and to monitor that border area. You don't have that. You've got six countries and maybe 200 soldiers signed up for this.

Number two, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, 12 very able technocrats who are supposed to create a governing structure and be the repository for the collection of weapons. And that includes, by the way, the dismantling of Hamas's tunnel infrastructure, which even in the 30 percent, 35 percent of Gaza they controlled is estimated to be at least half the length of the New York subway system.

And then finally, you're going to need Palestinian Police if 5,000 are ready to go. The Israelis will let them leave Gaza to Egypt, where the train is supposed to occur, but they have not provided assurances to let them back in. So you'd need -- you'd clearly need much greater Israeli buy in. But the time -- the time factor here, even by the Board of Peace Zone's estimation runs anywhere from 200 to well over a year.

This is going to be a slow, hard fought, hard won process if in fact it gets the traction to get started.

ABEL: All right. Aaron David Miller, appreciate your analysis as always. Thank you, sir.

MILLER: Brian, thanks for having me.

ABEL: Still ahead, tracking the remnants of Hurricane Lala, setting off life-threatening floods across portions of Hawaii's Big Island and Maui. We'll take you there live for a look at the impacts. And later, a murder trial that took nearly 30 years to unfold is finally heading to court. We'll talk to a legal expert about what to expect during opening arguments in the killing of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:14:14]

ABEL: Tonight, dramatic new footage from Hawaii as Tropical Storm Lala lashes into the island, leaving a trail of destruction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's moving again. Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Just incredible. You can see powerful flood waters pushing a truck down a road Saturday night. Emergency officials telling CNN that two paramedics were rescued from the vehicle. And as the National Guard pulled up the flood waters moved the truck further down. More than 200,000 are without power and at least 100 homes have been damaged.

Look at this. Tropical storm warnings are still in effect for many areas, with heavy rain still falling. But Lala is now beginning to exit the islands as the eye starts pulling away from Kauai.

[19:15:00] The National Hurricane Center says Lala's eyewall brushed past the south shore of Hawaii's Big Island. It brought winds of 80 miles per hour and more than 30 inches of torrential rain. Models are indicating Lala will remain a tropical storm as it heads into the open ocean, and most Lala impacts should exit the Hawaiian Islands by Monday, 8:00 a.m. local time.

Let's bring in now Brandon Lee. He's the owner of Napua Restaurant in Hilo, Hawaii.

Brandon, how are you holding up and how's your restaurant doing after this storm?

BRANDON LEE, OWNER, NAPUA RESTAURANT: Yes, I mean, it was a really tough night for many, many of us here in the island. You know, like you said earlier, definitely was home swept off the foundation. All of the rivers and gulches have all overflooded. All the soccer fields are big ponds right now. A lot of trees down. You know, it's really was a tough night for a lot for me and my family.

You know, no power for the last 24 hours. Some places around the island are starting to get power. So it was a night of, you know, playing cards and board games and, you know, all the family members keeping in touch with each other and just making sure that everybody is safe, you know, around the island, different friends. You know, it was really a great, you know, remember -- like a great reminder that, you know, all of us are here on the island together and we work together.

And we're part of this big, big kind of ohana, this big family that we all are part of here on the island when things really get tough.

ABEL: It's good to hear that you are all communicating and staying together. We know you're just one of thousands without power. Have you heard of any idea of when that power is expected to be restored?

LEE: Look, late last night at about 8:00, we got a text message from our utilities and our mayor saying, hey, look, the conditions out here are just too dangerous to have the crews, the utility crews out there trying to get us back power. So they said, hey, everybody, you know, hunker down tight, stay home. And we're not going to have power for the whole night. Some people are saying we may get power in certain areas as late as 5:00 today and even tomorrow.

So, you know, if we get power, I know I have friends running all over the island trying to who's got a generator and extra generator to keep the refrigerators cold. You know, a lot of us, you know, in Hawaii, we are out here in the middle of the Pacific. So when we have disruptions in distribution, you know, our grocery stores feel it. So we all pack our coolers and get ice and get ready.

Because if the boats don't come, you know, our shelves really empty out really quickly here. So we work together and understanding that this would happen and we learn from past storms and we make sure were prepared for current ones. ABEL: Yes. And maybe you answered this next question a little bit

there. But talking with your family, talking with friends and other people around the island, and maybe also among other owners of storefronts and restaurants, what is your highest priority now as this storm starts to ease?

LEE: Yes. I mean, the biggest priority now is making sure everybody's safe. You know, we're all safe and we're all taking care of. You know, one good thing about Hawaii people is, you know, even though we're all struggling and we're having a hard time, we really, really are aware that there is a big group of us that are here visiting. They're away from their homes. They have their kids with them.

They're trying to find food and water, trying to find safe shelter. And, you know, all of us here in Hawaii, we understand that. We get our stuff together and we head down to work at the restaurants or in the hotels or whatever, and really start to take care of the guests that we have here in the island. And it's something that, you know, people just have to understand and be patient with us, that we have problems at home and we're trying to fix it.

I mean, we're literally chainsawing trees off our roofs and pulling the doors back on. And then once we get that all settled, we come to work and we help everybody that's visiting. And that's a big priority for all of us, I think.

ABEL: It sounds like the community is banding together to help everybody out.

Brandon Lee, very much appreciate your time knowing what everybody is going through there. Thank you.

LEE: Yes, thank you very much for being interested in us all the way out here in Hawaii. Thank you. Mahalo.

ABEL: Of course. Take care of yourself. Thank you. Mahalo.

Still ahead, a nanny on her way to a World Cup game suddenly arrested by ICE agents. She's now speaking to CNN after spending nearly a month in detention. Hear her story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:23:44]

ABEL: Gun violence has brought more bloodshed to communities across the country. This weekend, police in Kentucky say one person was killed and four others injured in a mass shooting at a park yesterday evening. The Lexington Police Chief telling local news outlets that two of the victims were children, including one who was just 4 years old. The chief has declined to share any information about a suspect.

In Virginia, a 19-year-old suspect has now been arrested in connection with a shooting at Virginia State University. Five people were wounded in the shooting, including a student, when gunfire erupted on campus in the early hours of Saturday morning. Police say the suspect and four of the victims did not attend the school.

And on Friday in Michigan, about 169 miles northwest of Detroit, five people were killed and a suspect also dead. Four of the victims were found in two separate homes as law enforcement responded to reports of a shooting. The gunman took off, leading authorities on a manhunt. His body was later found in a wooded area, along with another person, who was also dead.

Well, a nanny from Argentina who's been living in Philadelphia is sharing her story after being released from ICE custody. 30-year-old Illiana Lick was detained at Philadelphia International Airport on July 11th while heading to Kansas City to attend an Argentina World Cup match.

[19:25:00]

Lick entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2023 and was awaiting an asylum interview at the time of her detention.

She spoke with CNN's Rafael Romo, who is joining us now.

And, Rafael, what did she tell you? This seems like a difficult case here.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, difficult case to say the least. And it's not over. Not even close, Brian. And after a month in ICE custody, Illiana Noell Lick is back home in Philadelphia, where she has been working as a nanny for two families for the last couple of years and where she lives with her American boyfriend.

Lick told me she's going through a roller coaster of emotions and that trying to go back to normal has been weird because she's thinking all the time about the other people in detention she met while in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As we first reported last week, Lick was detained by ICE at the Philadelphia International Airport on July 11th after she was dropped off by her boyfriend to take a flight to Kansas City, Missouri, where she planned to attend a World Cup game between Argentina, her native country, and Switzerland.

Lick told CNN she was held at a county jail in Pennsylvania and three different detention centers in Louisiana, Texas, and then New Mexico, before being granted bond on August 10th after a full month in custody. She calls her ordeal both traumatic and shocking, not only because she was not expecting to be detained in the first place, but also because she says she and other detainees were at one point held with the general prison population.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ILLIANA NOELL LICK, ARGENTINIAN NANNY: Suddenly they put us with the people who have a little like a lot of mental issues, and it was a nightmare the first two days. It was really, really bad. Like we were not able to sleep. They were like screaming the whole day.

ROMO: You've probably seen what ICE is saying about you. They say that you were in the country with an overstayed visa. To that, what do you say?

LICK: I didn't commit any crime. I was trying to do everything right. Like everything they asked me, I did. And all this legal process. And I told ICE several times, I'm not illegal. I never stayed in this country illegally. And they put in my notice appear that I overstayed without permission, basically, like which is not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: While her asylum case was pending, she was granted a work permit. In a statement sent to CNN before Lick's release, the Department of Homeland Security described the nanny as an illegal alien from Argentina who was detained during a targeted arrest operation at Philadelphia International Airport on July 11th.

In a new statement sent to CNN after her release, DHS says that on August 10th, Lick was granted bond by an immigration judge and was released with a GPS tracking device. She will receive due process. To be clear, work authorization or a pending application do not confer legal status in the United States.

Lick also told me that when she was held at the Cambria County prison in Pennsylvania, she and other ICE detainees had to wear a black and white striped jail uniform while wearing full restraints that included ankle cuffs and shackles. She told me all of this in Spanish because she's more fluent in her native language, adding that she felt she was being treated as a common criminal, Brian, and insisting that she shouldn't have been detained in the first place because she has always complied, she said, with immigration law.

Now back to you.

ABEL: And it's certainly not the first time that we've heard similar stories of people that feel like they were doing what they were being told and still find themselves in ICE detention.

Rafael Romo, appreciate the reporting on this. Thank you.

Still to come, a trial three decades in the making. Opening statements for the man accused of killing iconic rapper Tupac Shakur will soon begin.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:33:43]

ABEL: Tomorrow, opening arguments are set to begin in the high-profile murder trial of Duane Keith Davis, "Keffe D", the man accused of calling the shots in the 1996 murder of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur. Davis has pleaded not guilty. CNN's Nick Watt has more details on why it took nearly 30 years for this trial to take place.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

METRO POLICE: Hey, Keith, Metro Police, come over here.

NICK WATT, CALIFORNIA-BASED SCOTTISH REPORTER FOR CNN (voice over): "Keffe D" was arrested three years ago.

OFFICER: So, what they got you for, man?

DUANE "KEEFE D" DAVIS, SUSPECT: Biggest case in Las Vegas history.

OFFICER: Oh, yes?

WATT (voice over): The shooting, the killing of Tupac Shakur at a stoplight in Vegas late one night after a Mike Tyson fight nearly 30 years ago.

Here's what prosecutors will argue, detailed by a homicide detective just after Duane Davis "Keffe D's" arrest.

LT. JASON JOHANSSON, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: As we all know, Tupac Shakur was an artist who was signed with Death Row Records, and that Death Row Records and its CEO, Marion "Suge" Knight, were closely affiliated with the mob Piru criminal street gangs, and that they had an ongoing feud with the South Side Compton Crips. Duane Davis was the leader and shot caller of the south side, Compton Crips.

WATT (voice over): Members of both gangs were, say, police at the Tyson fight in the MGM grand that night and afterwards in the lobby. Tupac, Knight and others spotted "Keffe D's" nephew, Orlando Anderson, and beat him up.

[19:35:12]

JOHANSSON: Duane Davis began to devise a plan to obtain a firearm and retaliate against "Suge" Knight and Mr. Shakur.

WATT (voice over): Anderson, his uncle "Keffe D" and two other men allegedly got into a white Cadillac and followed Knight and Tupac, who were in a black BMW en route to a club. Unclear exactly who pulled the trigger, some have said it was Anderson. Keffe D is the only man who was in that white Cadillac who is still alive.

He's now 63, he was, they say, the shot caller. And under Nevada law, he can still be charged with murder.

JOHANSSON: Within the first few months of the investigation. Our detectives knew most of the information. I just briefed you on. However, we never had the necessary evidence to bring this case forward.

WATT (voice over): His own words say investigators were Keffe D's undoing.

JOHANSSON: Specifically, Duane Davis' own admissions to his involvement in this homicide investigation that he provided to numerous different media outlets.

WATT (voice over): "Them jumping on my nephew gave us the ultimate green light to do something to their (bleep)." And in the documentary "Murder Rap: Inside the Biggie and Tupac Murders," Keffe D describes the moment he says he handed Anderson, whom he calls Lane, a gun, while riding in that Cadillac.

DAVIS: I gave it to Dre and Dre was like, no, no, no. And Lane was like, popped the dudes.

WATT (voice over): But in July, Keffe D denied being involved in the killing, telling a Las Vegas news station he wasn't even in Nevada when Tupac was shot.

DAVIS: I ain't worried though, I didn't do (bleep). So.

OFFICER: Well, I mean, that's what courts for, right?

WATT on camera: So, it's Keffe D's own words that landed him in court. Here's how that happened. Back in 2008, he struck a deal with law enforcement. He told them about narcotics and gang issues. He was up on some charges at the time. And he also told them that that night that Tupac was shot, he, Keffe D got the gun. He had it in the front seat of the car, passed it into the back seat, and Tupac was shot.

Now, the deal was that those words could not be used against him. That was the quid pro quo. Then in 2019, he wrote the book and he started talking about it to investigators, said, well, the deal is off. If he's talking about it, were going to use those words from 2008 against him. And that is what's happening. The trial is expected to last four to five weeks.

Nick Watt CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: All right, Nick, thank you. Joining us now to discuss this is entertainment attorney and former litigator Lisa Bonner. And Lisa, can you give us a sense of just how unique this trial is, where the defendant is also the prosecution's star witness.

LISA BONNER, ENTERTAINMENT ATTORNEY AND FORMER LITIGATOR: Good evening, Brian. Well, this is certainly unusual, but it's not unprecedented. And I want to make a clarification here that Davis isn't technically the star witness because he does have a Fifth Amendment right not to testify.

However, as we heard in the piece, we have Davis' own words that he has written about, that he's confessed in a police interviews, that he's given time and time again in various interviews and podcasts, that he was involved and placed himself in the Cadillac and handed the gun. So, we have seen before where statement-based cases can result in a conviction, where you have consistent statements and the defense has a tough time poking holes in this.

So basically, was this a confession or was this a book written for entertainment purposes? And that's going to be the question that the jury is forced to answer. ABEL: Okay, so, with that being laid out, what do you expect to see in tomorrow's opening arguments? How do they start creating those breadcrumbs going in each direction there?

BONNER: Well, the prosecution is going to come in, I would imagine, with a very clear timeline, just as we heard in the piece where they're going to talk about the fight at the MGM and the fact that Tupac and his friends jumped on Davis' nephew. We're going to talk about, he's going to talk about how the excuse me, that Davis was running down in the Cadillac with, in Las Vegas Boulevard. And he handed the gun to someone in the back seat. And that he's repeatedly placed himself at the scene of the crime.

Now, on the other hand, the defense is going to say, hey, this was about fame and fortune. We have inconsistencies. We have him recanting his testimony. And so, we have no physical evidence. This is a cold case of 30 years ago, and there's no evidence. There's no one alive, there's no witnesses. So, that they're going to each have a very, set of dueling narratives. And again, this is going to come down for the jury to decide who they believe.

[19:40:09]

ABEL: And hearing you say that there's no evidence. It strikes me as kind of wild, considering where this murder took place, right. You know, on the strip at Las Vegas. The judge, though, Lisa, ruling a book that Davis wrote can be used as evidence. Davis says that book is fictional, but how will that hold up in the court when he's acknowledged his role in the killing, in other media interviews and in a 2009 police interview?

BONNER: Well, that's a great question. As they talked about in the piece that we just heard, the book is the linchpin of the prosecution's case because, again, he wrote a detailed narrative about his involvement, followed up by various interviews on podcasts and news clips and magazines. And so, that was one big part of the prosecution's case.

And then you have the 2009 interview with the police on a recorded statement where he's not selling books, and it's not for fame and fortune. He confessed on a recorded statement with the police. So therein presents a great opportunity for the prosecution to say, hey, you heard it here himself. He's talked about it. He's confessed to the police about it. And we have his own words and who best to testify against about what happened other than the defendant himself.

ABEL: And Lisa, there are 12 jurors and four alternates in this trial. The youngest juror seated as 21, he was born nine years after Tupac was killed, but says he still knows the artist's work. What will be the defenses biggest challenge when this is such a high-profile case, with such a famous and to so many, beloved artist.

BONNER: You just said it right there, Brian, that Tupac is an iconic, beloved artist and jurors are just regular people. We have people who, jurors are starstruck. They are, you know, celebrity. They love the celebrity, and they want accountability for a cold case. So, that's the biggest challenge.

And then you have the defense trying to separate the tragedy of a beloved iconic artist such as Tupac from the defenses narrative and basically trying to say that that was sold for fame and fortune when he only recanted after Davis was arrested.

So again, you have a dueling narrative and it's going to be up to the jury who to believe. Are you going to believe the defendant when he said all this stuff in various venues and in interviews? Or are you going to believe the defense saying that, hey, there's inconsistencies here? He recanted his testimony. Again, this is going to come down to a set of dueling narratives and what we're going to be looking for is consistency and believability and credibility that's going to be the prosecution's biggest hurdle. But also, if they can pull it off, that's going to be the key to the case.

ABEL: All right, and we will see if they pull it off. Lisa Bonner, thank you very much for your expertise and time.

BONNER: Thank you for having me.

ABEL: And be sure to tune in to CNN special coverage of "The Tupac Murder Trial", streaming on CNN. All Access starting at noon tomorrow. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:07]

ABEL: Landing and taking off are the most dangerous parts of a flight, according to pilots and aviation experts. And now a new airport safety system in 70 airports across America is already saving lives. CNN's Pete Muntean gives us a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN BASED AVIATION AND TRANSPORTATION CORRESPONDENT (voice over): From Virginia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just had an alert three on the airfield aircraft accident.

MUNTEAN (voice over): To California.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We literally like "krroh" so we were all like, "whoa."

MUNTEAN (voice over): An airport safety system is saving lives, called Engineered Materials Arresting System, EMAS, is a bed of lightweight, crushable cement placed at the end of runways to stop an airplane that's about to careen off the end.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like to think of it, it's like a runaway truck stop but for airplanes.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Here at its facility in New Jersey, the Federal Aviation Administration has been testing EMAS, which in the last year has stopped a record for planes from running into highways, hills, even homes.

MUNTEAN (on camera): This material is soft enough that a heavy airplane will sink into it, but dense enough that a person can stand on it. I can even jump on it and that's key in an emergency.

MUNTEAN (voice over): The system is installed at 70 airports across the country, including Roanoke, Virginia, where last September, husband and wife Steve Harrison and Deborah Tatar's United Express Flight skidded off the end of the runway. The National Transportation Safety Board said the planes approach was too high, and the first officer twice told the captain to abort the landing.

STEVE HARRISON, PASSENGER: And I thought, you know, this better stop pretty soon. And then I remembered seeing that device at the end of the runway and thinking, like, that's supposed to stop airplanes. And that's when we hit it.

MUNTEAN (voice over): The couple says the plane would have tumbled down an embankment were it not for EMAS.

DEBORAH TATAR, PASSENGER: There were probably other things that should have happened differently before we got to that point. All we know is that that was the last point.

HARRISON: And that's what saved us.

MUNTEAN (voice over): For Tatar, the incident carried a poignant reminder.

[19:50:03]

NEWS HOST: Good evening, there was an air disaster today in Boston.

MUNTEAN (voice over): As a teen, a friend was killed when the flight she was on crashed into a seawall at Boston's Logan International Airport. The airport is about to begin installing more EMAS pads to prevent planes from skidding into Boston Harbor.

The more than $100 million project could delay flights for two and a half months. Worth it, says Taylor and Harrison, whose first grandson was born only weeks after their crash.

TATAR: We would not have seen him born. Theres a very good chance that we would not have survived.

MUNTEAN (on camera): Airport industry advocates say EMAS has proven its worth, but there is a new problem. Some of the earliest versions of these pads are now 20 or 30 years old, meaning they're nearing the end of their useful life, and airports are starting to look at rehabilitation projects. That is an effort one industry executive says will require significant federal money, but also time.

Boston's runway shut down for its new EMAS installation begins in just about two weeks. On august 31st. The airport says the potential for 75 days of flight delays is necessary for what it calls a critical safety upgrade.

Pete Muntean CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: All right. Pete, thank you.

We do have sad news from the world of baseball. Legendary pitcher, Tommy John has passed away. The lefty had 208 wins over 26 seasons with six different teams. While his accolades on the field were many, he is probably best known for the revolutionary elbow surgery that saved his career and is now known as Tommy John Surgery, rescuing the careers of countless athletes. Tommy John was 83 years old.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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ABEL: The world of performance enhancing drugs like testosterone is now a full-fledged industry estimated to be worth billions of dollars. And men of all ages are being influenced by their social media algorithms to try them.

On this week's episode of "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper, CNN's Isobel Yeung reports on what's fueling the popularity of these drugs and in particular, testosterone. Here's a preview.

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RYAN JOHNSON, TRANSFORMATION COACH: Follow me back over here. Come down here as part of the morning routine and we've got some syringes right here. Get a little air bubble out of there and that's good to go. And all you do is you pick a fat area and you go through it.

ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you have any fat areas?

JOHNSON: Oh, yes. So, like right over here is where I'll typically go, like the back fat. And you don't even feel it.

YEUNG: Where do you do all your research?

JOHNSON: It's online, you know, online, YouTube, there's a lot of good creators out there who know their stuff. Reddit is a great place to hear about of course, nerds like to talk on there, but then also real- life experiences.

YEUNG: It's not worrying at all that you, you know, you're taking these drugs, but you don't fully understand them?

JOHNSON: No, no, I mean, these all were created by scientists and stuff like that. You know, they've been out for years.

YEUNG: I guess not everything that scientists make is always good, right?

JOHNSON: For my personal research, it's been good.

YEUNG: Okay.

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ABEL: And here is Isobel Yeung to explain more of what's driving so many young men, even teenagers, to use testosterone and other performance enhancing drugs.

YEUNG: Well, hi, Brian. I mean, Ryan is one of a growing number of influencers or podcasters, or looksmaxxers who are all promoting the use of these performance enhancing drugs. So, things like testosterone and steroids in order to achieve this sort of hyper masculine ideal.

Ryan himself is just 22 years old. And when we went to visit him, he told us that he injects himself multiple times a day. And in fact, when he opened his cupboard drawer, there was a lot more drugs in there than there was food.

You know, Ryan's advice comes contrary to what all the doctors that I've spoken to say, which is that you do not need to be taking these drugs unless there's some kind of medical necessity to do so. And they even warn of many of the very serious complications that could arise from taking some of these drugs.

So, things like psychological complications, sexual complications, even cardiovascular issues. But that hasn't stopped Ryan from giving advice to very young men, including people who are frustrated with the advice that they're getting from their doctors, take a look.

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YEUNG: What's the youngest person that slid into your DMs asking for advice on this stuff?

JOHNSON: Oh, that's a good question. I mean, you definitely get some young people in there, 16, 17, if they're anything under 18, I'm not going to talk to them though, you know, because I'm like, you're way too young.

YEUNG: Can I see some of your DMs?

JOHNSON: Oh yes. I met this guy at the gym the other day.

YEUNG: So, what have you said to him?

JOHNSON: So, he just sent me. He was like, hey, what's some advice? I was like, he's got 250 milligrams of test per milliliter. I was like, do half a mil Monday, half a mil Thursday, all right, that's 250 a week.

YEUNG: But you don't think it's dangerous at all that, you know, you're often guiding these like, young guys through this journey, but you don't have the medical qualifications to do that.

JOHNSON: I mean, I would say what's the difference between doing it yourself and being fine and a medical qualification, though, you know.

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YEUNG: Ryan is very open about the fact that he says he's making tens of thousands of dollars a month off of advising young men on what kinds of performance enhancing drugs to be taking, and very specifics on what measures of performance enhancing drugs to be taking.

And this is part of a growing industry, this enhancement industry that we're looking into in this documentary tonight, which has huge investment behind it and huge momentum right now.

You know, critics would say that this is very dangerous and that it's preying on young men's insecurities. But advocates that we've spoken to would say that this is simply presenting people with an opportunity to live a healthier, longer life -- Brian.

ABEL: Incredible reporting, Isobel Yeung, thank you. And thank you for joining me tonight. I'm Brian Abel, "The Whole Story" starts right now.

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