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3 Killed, 5 Wounded In New Mexico Motorcycle Rally Shootings; New Jersey Bill Aims To Prevent Schools And Libraries From Banning Books; Honoring America's Fallen Heroes This Memorial Day. Aired 7:30- 8a ET
Aired May 29, 2023 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:31:03]
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: A deadly holiday weekend in Chicago. Police say shootings across the city left more than 35 people wounded, many of them innocent bystanders. Of those shot, nine have died from their injuries.
CNN's Adrienne Broaddus is live in Chicago this morning. What more are you hearing from the community this morning, Adrienne?
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, good morning to you.
Right now, we know the number of people who have been killed over the weekend -- at least nine. We do not have their names but we do know that the victims -- some of the shooting victims, I should say -- the youngest 16. More than 35 people were shot this holiday weekend.
And here in the community people are hoping for a safer summer under Brandon Johnson. That is the city's new mayor. Listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON, (D) CHICAGO: It's going to take all of us -- not just the police, not just city government -- to ensure that our communities can live and thrive in peace and safety.
INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT FRED WALLER, CHICAGO POLICE: We want everyone to be safe and enjoy the city, but we will not tolerate any engaging of criminal activity or disorderly conduct. To all residents, please be safe and make safe choices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROADDUS: So this morning, people are waking up with some tough news. More than 35 people have been shot since Friday at 5:00 p.m. That's when the Chicago Police Department starts tracking that data -- up until this morning. More than 35 shot and at least nine people have died. And those shootings, again, occurred between Friday afternoon to Sunday morning -- Erica.
HILL: Adrienne Broaddus, appreciate it. Thank you. RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: At least three people are dead and five
others wounded after gunfire erupted. This happened at a biker rally in the town of Red River, New Mexico. The event draws tens of thousands to the area for Memorial Day weekend.
Well, this man, Jacob David Castillo, has been charged with murder. Police say that confrontation between rival gangs is what's behind the shootings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF TIM JOHNSON, NEW MEXICO STATE POLICE: We're being told it was over somebody taking a picture with a different gang. It's something as stupid as that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: The State Police chief also says that several other suspects are also in custody.
HILL: State Farm stopping home insurance sales in the state of California. Why? Well, the company is citing, in part, rapidly growing catastrophe risks. The insurance giant announcing Friday it will no longer accept new applications for business and personal lines, property, and casualty insurance. A decision -- that decision, rather, went into effect over the weekend. According to the company, though, it does not impact personal auto insurance.
CNN reporter Matt Egan here with us now. So, Matt, walk us through this decision. What does this really mean for folks?
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Rahel and Erica, this is a big deal. State Farm is not some tiny player in California. It's actually the state's biggest home insurer. And now they are retreating in California.
They cited three specific reasons. One, skyrocketing rebuilding costs, which is a particularly big problem because California has a wildfire problem. And these first two issues have made it hard for insurance companies to get reinsurance, which is a way for insurance companies to pass on risks. It's kind of like insurance for insurance companies.
Now, here's what State Farm says in a statement. They said, "It's necessary to take these actions now to improve the company's financial strength."
Now, let's look at the inflation part of this story, which is this shows producer prices for construction materials. And you can see since 2000, inflation was kind of rising steadily and then boom, 2020 hit and it's going straight up. And this is just materials. It doesn't even include labor.
Now, we know California has a wildfire problem but look at this -- 7,000+ wildfires. That's per year. And this -- these fires have consumed more than two million acres, again, per year.
[07:35:03]
If you look at the worst -- the most destructive California wildfires, three of them -- 2018, 2020, 2017 -- three of them have occurred in just the last six years. The Camp Fire in 2018 was not just the state's deadliest wildfire ever, it was also the most expensive. In fact, it was the most expensive natural disaster in the entire world in 2018.
HILL: Wow. So you mentioned, Matt, that State Farm is -- was the largest insurer, I think you said, in the state of California, but it's also not the first one to pull back in that state.
EGAN: That's right. We've seen a number of insurers do just that. AIG has reportedly dropped thousands of some of their home insurance clients in the last year. CHUBB has done the same. And now, State Farm.
Listen, I think for the longest time, wildfires were just kind of a cost of doing business in California. But now, increasingly, home insurers have decided it's just not worth the risk. And the problem for consumers is all of this means less competition and fewer choices. And unfortunately, higher prices.
HILL: Matt Egan with the latest for us. Appreciate it. Thank you.
SOLOMON: Now to new video that shows what happened after a speeding car in Florida plowed into the waters off the beach. Take a look at this. So, witnesses reported this car going about 50 miles an hour, nearly hitting several families and their dogs on the beach, and just missing a child on its way into the water.
The driver, a 26-year-old Orlando woman, has been charged with DUI and also reckless driving. Police say her blood alcohol was nearly twice the legal limit. What a close call.
And as states across the country see more and more books being banned at schools and local libraries, lawmakers in New Jersey are fighting back with legislation to protect against book bans. We will speak to those lawmakers next.
HILL: I'm very much looking forward to that conversation.
Before we got to break, though --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEEN, ROCK BAND: Singing "Bohemian Rhapsody."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Definitely not a poor boy. A source telling CNN discussions are well underway for Universal Music Group to purchase Queen's music catalog to the tune of more than $1 billion. So if that deal goes through it would be the biggest single-artist catalog sale in history.
This more than doubles Bruce Springsteen's $500 million sale in 2021. Justin Bieber, the estate of David Bowie, and Sting have all recently completed sales of their respective music catalogs as well. So this deal expected to close within a month.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:41:51]
SOLOMON: Welcome back.
Book bans are on the rise in school districts across America. In just the last week, the acclaimed poem by Amanda Gorman for President Biden's inauguration -- remember this -- was moved out of the elementary section of a Miami-Dade County public school. That's after a parent complaint and school review.
And in Iowa, the governor just signed a law that will restrict education about gender identity and sexual orientation, and also ban books with certain sexual content from school libraries.
Similar laws restricting certain types of books in libraries have also recently gone into effect in other states.
The free speech organization Pen America reports that there were more book bans during the fall of the 2022 semester than in each of the prior two semesters. The bans were most prevalent in states like Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina.
But in at least one state lawmakers are actually pushing back. New legislation in New Jersey would protect against the banning of books in public libraries and schools and if passed, any library that bans books could see its funding cut.
Joining us now are the two Democratic State Senators who introduced the bill, Andrew Zwicker and Teresa Ruiz. Thank you both for being with us this morning. Good morning.
TERESA RUIZ, (D) NEW JERSEY STATE SENATE: Thank you for having us.
SOLOMON: Senator, I want to start with you. Why did you decide to introduce this bill?
ANDREW ZWICKER, (D) NEW JERSEY STATE SENATE: So, I grew up in a house with books. My mom was a high school English teacher who always talked about the importance of ideas -- of reading books to learn about what's going on in the world around us.
But it was when I talked to a librarian in the district that I represent who talked about how she stood up to the censorship, she stood up to the bullying and the harassment that she received, that I knew it was time for us to do something about this in New Jersey.
This is Memorial Day, right, where people have sacrificed their life for our freedom, and that includes the freedom of expression, the freedom of speech, and the freedom of ideas.
SOLOMON: It has been really interesting to see some of the -- some of the hostility geared toward librarians in the state of New Jersey because of some of these efforts.
Teresa, I want to get to you. What book-banning efforts are we seeing, specifically, in New Jersey, and what do you think is driving it?
RUIZ: So, clearly, at the top of the segment you indicated Texas and Florida, but New Jersey is not immune to this. Right now, you see school board meetings inundated with this kind of concept to get rid of books at a time when we should be focused on the social and emotional wealth of students and whether they can read or not at grade level, right -- primarily.
And so, you see this kind of what I would indicate and describe as just complete hate. If someone doesn't want something read in their household, that's your own private ideology. It should not be let into public spaces.
For me, it's clearly important as a Puerto Rican woman with so many times that we were an annotation in our history books, at a time when people are actually putting us up on shelves, seeing ourselves on different pages and in spaces. To see this rise up again and it's 2023, it's time for us to stop.
SOLOMON: I want -- I want to read for you because it hasn't been without its criticism, without its controversy. One tweet -- one Republican state senator said, quote, "I strongly disagree with the premise that all books, regardless of content, should or must be available in every public school without regard to age appropriateness. A middle school student shouldn't be reading 'Fifty Shades of Grey' or 'Gender Queer.'"
[07:45:00]
Is she wrong?
RUIZ: That's something that the household has to take care of, right? I mean, our libraries are public spaces where people should go in and have freedom of thought and opportunities to explore and find themselves in different spaces. A parent has their independent right to exercise what they believe is appropriate for their own family.
ZWICKER: And let's not forget that in school libraries, librarians are choosing what are the appropriate books that should be in a library. So the premise of the quote is completely wrong when it comes to our schools and our libraries in our schools.
SOLOMON: But what about the concern that in proposing this type of legislation and cutting funding that essentially, you're taking the choice away just in a different way from librarians and local communities to decide what's best for them?
RUIZ: This is a minority that's really pushing this agenda, and so we shouldn't have 10 people outsize what 10,000 and 10 million of people feel in this country and in our state. And I think it's our -- it's our responsibility and our right to be sure that those public spaces are protected. ZWICKER: This is the opposite, right, because this is a small, well- organized group of people. But this is about the freedom to read. This is about the ability for a parent to say hey, I want you to read this book or I don't want you to read this book, all right?
But our job right now is to make sure that these abilities to read and parental choice to happen. If you're concerned about a book in a library I would urge you to talk to your child also about what they're seeing online because it is so much worse online than what we're seeing in a book. Books are --
RUIZ: Or on television.
ZWICKER: Or on television, right?
SOLOMON: I want to -- a recent Washington Post analysis found that books about LGBTQ are quickly becoming the biggest target. And a large percentage of the complaints, as you both point out, are from a very small but hyperactive group of adults. Is that also the case in New Jersey? We've certainly seen that in some of the other parts of the country, but is that also what's happening in New Jersey?
RUIZ: So, clear --
ZWICKER: I was going to say absolutely. And just to be clear, 40 percent of the books that are being challenged right now are LGBTQ themes. Another 40 percent have characters of color. And what's happened is this small group of people are inflaming people and making it more divisive in New Jersey and around the country at a time when we need to be more inclusive.
RUIZ: So we saw it firsthand in Essex County. There was a library that was challenged and the number of people who wanted to eliminate books you could count on your hands. And the community that came out in support of those public freedoms outweighed that minority.
SOLOMON: Do you have enough support to get this through?
ZWICKER: Absolutely.
RUIZ: I believe so.
ZWICKER: Absolutely.
SOLOMON: OK. We'll be watching. Senators, thank you both. Thanks for being with us.
RUIZ: Thank you for having us.
ZWICKER: Thank you.
SOLOMON: Well, a tentative deal on the debt ceiling has been reached and now the battle is on to get lawmakers on board. We will speak to White House communications director Ben LaBolt coming up next.
Plus, you are looking at live pictures of Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This Memorial Day, we are taking time to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:52:00]
HILL: An important reminder on this Memorial Day. The reason for the day, of course, is to honor fallen servicemembers -- those who made the ultimate sacrifice giving their lives for this country.
Joining us now, CNN military analyst and retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who served for 37 years. Always good to see you. And I especially appreciate that we are continuing a tradition that we have with you where you share on this day a very personal way that you honor those who died in service -- not just on this Memorial Day, but I know this is something that you go back to on a number of other days and moments throughout the year.
Walk us through how you are honoring them and why this has become such an important way to do that for you.
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. ARMY EUROPE AND SEVENTH ARMY (via Webex by Cisco): Well, first of all, good morning, Rahel and Erica, and thank you for continuing this tradition.
This started somewhat as a fluke about six years ago on CNN when I first joined you all as a military analyst. And I was mentioning this box that three of us have -- Gen. Dempsey and Gen. Stapparati (PH), and myself. And it started in 2003 as Gen. Dempsey, who is our division commander when we were in Iraq, started making cards at memorial services.
And in this box -- if I were to open it up you would see two -- there is the picture of it -- is 253 cards, which I have from multiple combat tours of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and allies that served under me and made the ultimate sacrifice during our tours in combat.
And on a daily basis I open that box -- I have it here on my desk -- and pick out one or two cards and think about where they would be today. You know, some of these things occurred 10-20 years ago in some cases, in 2003. And these young 20-year-olds who were frozen in time with their pictures would have been now in their 40s or maybe even early 50s in some cases. They would have had a family around them.
And on the top of the box we all imprinted something called "Make it Matter." And we always thought when we got together after these memorial services that it was our duty to live on for those that were sacrificed for their country in defending their country.
And that's just a daily tradition that I have and it's especially pointed on this Memorial Day.
SOLOMON: And it's a beautiful tradition and we're so honored that you would share it with us and our audience and everyone at home. Can you tell us about some of these soldiers there?
HERTLING: Yes. I picked out a couple this morning. And some of -- some of these I don't really know who I picked before in some of our hits but there were four specifically -- two from the 2003-2004 tour that we had in Baghdad, and then two more from my time as a division commander of the First Army Division Task Force Iron in 2007-2008 in Northern Iraq.
[07:55:02]
Jonathan Falaniko, a young private, was killed in action in October of 2003. This is his picture. You see it there on the screen. He was the son of one of our sergeant majors who actually just died a few months ago himself. But Jonathan was a brand-new soldier. He had just arrived from basic training and his -- and his father had to escort him back to Germany where they picked up his mother and then escort the body -- something that no father should be asked to do -- on to Arlington.
Another picture from 2004 was of Second Lt. Lennie Cowherd. And I actually met him when he was a cadet at West Point. He was in one of the history classes of -- with my son -- our oldest -- our youngest son, I'm sorry. Our oldest -- our -- excuse me, our youngest son introduced me to him. I took him to dinner at Gettysburg when they were doing a staff ride. And just a few months after he was commissioned he was killed in action by a sniper's bullet when we were extended in Iraq.
The next one is Staff. Sgt. Carletta Davis who is a -- she was a young mother from Alaska. She had a bunch of children. And one of her soldiers was sick on a day he was supposed to go out on a patrol so she volunteered to take his place. And unfortunately, that patrol was hit by several IEDs, and Staff Sgt. Davis was killed in action.
And then the final one is a very difficult one for me because it's Corporal Luke Runyan who lived in Germany. My wife was in Germany at the time. Most of us had deployed from there. He had a young family back in Grafenwohr and unfortunately, he had just reenlisted to stay in the Army after talking to our sergeant major Roger Blackwood. And he was killed -- again, by a small arms assault against al Qaeda terrorists.
So these are some of the 253 that are in this box. Every one of them has a picture that are frozen in time. They could have been -- we don't know. We don't know where their life would have taken them. But each one of are responsible for us living in freedom and that's the kind of thing we should be thinking about on Memorial Day.
HILL: You showed us how the top of your box -- it says "Make it Matter." You wrote in an opinion piece for CNN a few years ago how we as Americans can do that. How we can make it matter. And you wrote how we can earn it.
So on this Memorial Day, how would you recommend that Americans make it matter? That they show that they've earned it -- earned this freedom that so many fought and ultimately died for. HERTLING: Well, you know, Erica, it's interesting because I realized for the first time this year that I'm decades away from the time I served. These young soldiers are fading into the background.
I work with an organization called the American Battle Monuments Commission, which is celebrating at 26 cemeteries all over the world outside of the United States commemorating Memorial Day today.
And what's interesting is whereas those pictures and those faces fade in history, we can continue to contribute to Memorial Day by saying how do we make this a better country? How we do solve the divisiveness that currently exists in our society and realize that we all sacrifice for our nation's values, which are respect for one another, loyalty to something that's bigger than ourselves? The ability to see other people are coming together and being part of a greater whole.
And I think Memorial Day has turned a little bit away from just remembering those who gave the ultimate sacrifice into a day where we can think as living memories of how do we make it better. How do we make it matter for our fellow citizens?
What you're seeing now is pictures of the various cemeteries overseas. That's Normandy there. You saw a tombstone. That's Margraten in the Netherlands where every single one of those 8,000 graves are adopted by local citizens who celebrate the freedom that American servicemembers gave them in World War II.
You saw a tombstone being replaced -- a cross being replaced by a Star of David. That's part of something called Operation Benjamin. When Jewish soldiers when into the war in World War II they would scratch off their religious preference because if they were captured by the Nazis they were afraid of what would happen. Well, those tombstones are now being replaced with Stars of David by a group that understands that those Jewish soldiers should be respected as well.
So these are all things that are part of our dialogue today. The respect for one another. The bringing our nation forward. So that's what I'd ask everybody to think about on this Memorial Day.
HILL: Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, thank you as always for sharing this tradition with us, for sharing those words with us, and, of course, for your service.
[08:00:00]
