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Senator Menendez Indicted On Bribery Charges; UAW Expands Strikes At GM, Stellantis, But Reports Progress In Talks With Ford; Tropical Storm Ophelia Makes Landfall In North Carolina. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 23, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:24]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Saturday morning to you. Welcome to CNN this morning. It is Saturday, September 23rd. I'm Victor Blackwell.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Victor, it is good to be with you. I'm Omar Jimenez, in for Amara Walker. Thanks for spending part of your morning with us.

BLACKWELL: So, I don't know if I've seen one, two men anchor a network broadcast, cable network even at least in the last 35 years. And then, two brothers anchoring the show, it is good to have you this morning.

JIMENEZ: Come on, come on. This is history right now.

BLACKWELL: Yes, making history.

JIMENEZ: Make sure you are watching. It's history.

BLACKWELL: All right. Good to have you, Omar. Let's have a good show.

JIMENEZ: Let's do it.

BLACKWELL: Here's what we're watching for you this morning. Thousands of homes are without power as Tropical Storm Ophelia lashes the East Coast with strong winds and heavy rain. We've got to look at the cities in the storm's path and the impacts we'll see throughout the day.

JIMENEZ: Plus, the country is quickly hurtling toward a shutdown as talks among Republicans in the House have broken down over a deal to fund the government. How federal agencies are preparing and the talks happening today to try to keep a shutdown from happening.

BLACKWELL: The UAW is turning up the heat, escalating its strikes against automakers as it works to hammer out a deal with the companies. How consumers will soon feel the effects of these expanding strikes.

JIMENEZ: And a common antibiotic use to treat respiratory illnesses is in short supply for a second year, causing concern for doctors and parents. Why we're seeing the shortage and what's being done to fix it.

BLACKWELL: I was talking about this storm this morning. Parts of the East Coast are waking up under a hurricane watch. Tropical Storm Ophelia is nearing landfall in North Carolina. It's almost at hurricane strength with winds close to 70 miles per hour. Ophelia is expected to bring life-threatening storm surge and flash flooding, and damaging winds.

JIMENEZ: I mean, we're already, as you mentioned, Victor, seeing coastal flooding and power outages. 50,000 people in North Carolina and Virginia are in the dark this morning. The majority of those being in North Carolina and today even more are expected to lose power as Ophelia moves on shore.

Dominion Energy has said that its crews prepared to work all day to restore power. The impacts of the storm are expected to stretch all the way up to DC and Maryland. The governor in Maryland has declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm.

BLACKWELL: All right. So let's get right to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Tell us about Ophelia. Where is it right now?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right. So it's very close to making landfall, Victor and Omar. I mean, we are likely going to have that landfall here within the next hour.

Sustained winds right now, 70 miles per hour. Keep in mind hurricane is 75, so we're only five miles per hour off from what would be considered hurricane strength. That forward movement has slowed just a little bit to the north northwest at just about nine miles per hour. But you can see all of those outer bands, they're stretching pretty far north. It's raining right now in New Jersey and Philadelphia are -- in Philadelphia as well, and those are some of those far northern bands of Ophelia.

But here's a look at the core of the storm again. That eye wall is getting ever so close to land right there. So we're going to be seeing that landfall here very quickly. But some heavier bands starting to push into Jacksonville, North Carolina as well as Kingston, even Raleigh has had some off and on rain bands throughout the day today.

Keep in mind too, the potential for some strong to severe thunderstorms as possible, tornadoes, even some damaging winds and large hail. That storm will serve to veer back towards the northeast as we go over the next 24 to 48 hours. It will also weaken so that by the time we start to see those main impacts across Delaware, New Jersey and even Maryland, it will be a little bit of a weaker system than it is right now.

But it's still going to take all of that heavy rain with it. So even though the system itself will be weaker, especially in terms of winds, you're still going to have the potential for flooding extends all the way up into states like New Jersey, New York and even Pennsylvania. It's just going to be the focus of two days.

So the moderate risk for flooding today is mainly focused over North Carolina and Virginia, but the flooding potential does still extend even as far north as Massachusetts, gentlemen, tomorrow.

BLACKWELL: Allison Chinchar watching the storm for us, thanks so much.

And now to this chaos on Capitol Hill. We are one week away from the government shutting down if Congress does not do its job and pass a funding bill.

JIMENEZ: And it's a big deal. The initial plan would like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy strike first. Get the votes to pass a bill then send it to the Senate for changes before heading back to the House for a final round of votes and negotiations. There's a lot to go here.

But now with infighting in the House, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is ready to step in and take over.

[06:00:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MAJORITY LEADER: Leader McConnell and I are talking and we have a great deal of agreement on many parts of this. It's never easy to get a big bill, a CR bill done. But I am very, very optimistic that McConnell and I can find a way and get a large number of votes, both Democratic and Republican in the Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Jasmine Wright is joining us now from the White House. So, what is the administration doing to prepare for a shutdown?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN REPORTER: Yes. Well, the White House is directing federal agencies basically to get ready for a potential shutdown. Now, that comes as we saw a lot of House Republicans leave Washington DC with no clear path forward. So the White House is doing what they call mandatory but standard guidance, issuing it to federal agencies, basically telling them to come up with their plans and procedures if there were a shutdown.

Now, that is mandatory to happen, that guidance being sent out about seven days before the deadline. We know that deadline that the government will no longer be able to fund itself is September 30th.

Now, it's important because every agency has different plans and procedures. Things like what is -- what employees would be furloughed, what employees would be deemed essential and does have to work through a shutdown. Now, of course, at risk if the government would shut down would be essential things that are very key to this Biden administration, like pay for military and military families, food aid programs, travel, processing those essential things. And so the White House yesterday was up here at the podium, talking to Republicans saying that they should not risk those issues not being paid for. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Republicans shutdown does not have to happen. They can do their job and keep these vital programs continuing, keeping the government open. Our message is this should not be happening. We should not be putting American families' lives in turmoil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: Now, as we were hearing that from the White House on the House Republican side in Congress, they were talking about passing and really preparing to get four bills passed in the House. They would send to the Senate.

Now, the White House has described those extreme, but those are long term funding bills that will touch things like defense and other areas that need to be covered. But the problem is, is that those will be dead on arrival in the Senate. Take a listen to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy talk about his plan just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I think we've made some progress to those who have been holding up passing the rule to get onto these bills. The other members working and they will be able to move forward on Tuesday to pass these bills.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: So even though we have that plan from Kevin McCarthy, although we don't know exactly it's going to work, and obviously Schumer has his plan working on the other side. What will happen on this Saturday morning is the fact that even though there are plans underway, you're still no closer to avoiding a potential shutdown. That comes to the House side, Senate side and, of course, the White House side. Omar, Victor?

JIMENEZ: There's a lot to figure out, Jasmine. And her common fashion looks like it's going to come down to the wire. So we will see. Thank you.

I'm joined now by CNN political commentator and political anchor at Spectrum News, Errol Louis. Errol, good to see you.

I want to start with McCarthy. He's facing an uphill battle when it comes to getting anything done here based on the dynamics in the Republican Party in the House side. Last night, our Abby Phillip talked to Congressman Matt Gaetz. This is what he said when he was asked what would happen if Speaker McCarthy put a continuing resolution to the floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): If Speaker McCarthy embraces a clean continuing resolution to continue the spending policies of Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, that would most likely trigger a motion to vacate.

(END VIDEO CLIP) JIMENEZ: And that seems so representative of the dynamic here. Are McCarthy's hands tied here. Is there anything he can do?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Omar. The short answer is no. There's not much he can do. When Speaker McCarthy agreed as a condition of becoming speaker to have this really unworkable situation where any one member, for any reason, could introduce a motion to have him removed as speaker.

What he did was empower all of the Matt Gaetz is in the House, all of the extremists, all of those who are not interested necessarily in governing but interested in their own political ambition. Matt Gaetz is rumored to be trying to become the next governor of Florida. He's just basically opened the door to them doing exactly what they're doing.

They get on network television, they get to raise money, they get to posture. And in this case, they get to threaten to shutdown the government which almost everybody in Washington, I'm sure you're hearing the same thing, Omar. Everybody down there is expecting that the government is going to be shutdown for no particular reason.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, we were wondering how some of those concessions that were made around Speaker McCarthy's confirmation, the marathon confirmation. We were wondering how some of those concessions would play out in policy. And I think we're seeing some of that now.

That said, McCarthy, he's not giving up yet. He's trying to pass a series of year long funding bills that he hopes to take to the floor on Tuesday. Does that feel more like an attempt to maintain control over the situation or more something that can actually work in time to avoid a shutdown?

[06:10:12]

LOUIS: Well, it's a form of capitulation. I mean, what Gaetz is talking about, what this radical faction is talking about, is the idea of not passing one big bill, what they call this continuing resolution, but to take them one at a time. Over on the Senate side, we've already heard from Senator Schumer, the majority on the Senate side, they've said they don't want to do that. They don't intend to do that.

And so, for this not particularly important procedural dispute, what we're going to have is, these individual bills, they may or may not pass, there'll be a lot of discussion along the way. But if McCarthy wants to regain control, he's got to stop these folks from controlling the process.

And so, he can put this off for a little bit of time. But in the end, he's going to have to face down against that faction, and see if they're going to allow him to govern. One clue as to what's likely to happen, Omar, is that they sent everybody home for the weekend. So, even as the clock is ticking, even as they need to be negotiating, he sent everyone home and it's really kind of a quiet acknowledgment that he doesn't have the votes, he doesn't have control. And I think we should expect more chaos in the days to come.

JIMENEZ: Well, it sets us up for a potentially chaotic week, leading up to another financial deadline here.

Now, it's partly because of this dynamic. We've got parallel efforts on the House side, and on the Senate side now starting touched on a little bit. Senate Leader Schumer and McConnell, they're working together to get a funding bill passed in the Senate to put pressure on the House, of course. But even if they get a bill approved in the Senate, what are the chances it can actually get through the House? Are we running into some of the same issues here?

LOUIS: Oh, yes. No, exactly the same issues. I mean, this is the situation that we're in. Everyone who watched, if anyone was paying attention during that chaotic series of votes to make McCarthy the Speaker of the House, we basically are in the same position. And I think we're going to see a lot of junk thrown into the process in the sense that to pick up votes one at a time, two at a time, to get members of this radical faction to come along.

McCarthy is going to offer all kinds of things that have nothing to do with running the government. And, you know, a lot of that will happen behind closed doors and a lot of it will be posturing. And a lot of us will be waiting behind microphones, you know, sort of hoping that they'll come from behind closed doors and tell us what's going to happen to our government in our country. It's really about the worst possible way you can govern in a situation like this.

JIMENEZ: Well -- and, you know, we saw something similar, leading him to the debt ceiling negotiations. And, of course, here we are in this situation as well. Is this a dynamic that we just now have to get used to based on the power structure in the Republican side on the House side of things right now?

LOUIS: Well, I mean, that's the real question. I mean, you know, this is going to be the first maybe not the last test of whether or not this really dubious arrangement is going to actually let the government function. Because, you know, here again, we're not talking about any new policy initiatives, we're not talking about anything controversial. We're just talking about keeping the lights on, making sure the courts are functioning, making sure, you know, the FDA is doing drug approvals, and that the scientists at the National Weather Service are providing the forecasts that we need. I mean, that that's how bad this is.

JIMENEZ: Yes, yes. Well, Errol Louis, we will see what happens in a likely drama-filled week in Washington. But for now, thank you for being with us.

BLACKWELL: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is headed to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas today. Thousands of migrants crossed into the US near Eagle Pass in the past few days. And the city's mayor says they feel abandoned and they are pleading for help.

Now, Texas governor, Republican Greg Abbott, says he's sending additional buses to Eagle Pass and to El Paso to assist those border communities. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more on the challenges at the southern border.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Omar and Victor, the White House concludes the week with more than 8,000 daily encounters on the US- Mexico border each day this week. That is a market increase from late May when there were about 3,500 daily encounters. Those are numbers that held for much of the summer. But this latest surge is causing strain on federal resources and feeling concerned within the administration.

Now, Homeland Security officials are monitoring the situation. They can't quite say what exactly led to the surge but they do cite economic conditions in Latin America as well as the climate crisis as drivers of migration.

Now, the administration took steps this week to try to alleviate some of the burden along the US-Mexico border and in communities, including for example sending 800 new active duty military personnel to serve in a supporting role. That is something that they have done before. As well as adding capacity to border facilities.

[06:15:10]

Those facilities are ill-equipped to care for people long term, but this is to build out capacity so that they can at least accommodate those who are arriving to process them through. And the officials also said that they are continuing to conduct deportation flights. But all of this really underscored and the images underscored the immense humanitarian, political and logistical challenge for the administration as they face unprecedented mass migration across the western hemisphere.

Now, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will be visiting the border today where he will be joining the president of Honduras. The two will be in the Rio Grande Valley, another area of the border that has been seeing an increase in border crossings. And they're expected to talk about cooperating, to try to stem the flow of irregular migration and how the two can work together along with partners to address what is an immense challenge across the western hemisphere. Omar, Victor?

BLACKWELL: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much. Still to come, New Jersey senator, I should say, Bob Menendez, and his wife are accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for the senator's power and influence. And now he's refusing calls to resign after the indictment.

JIMENEZ: Plus, five students are still in critical condition after a deadly bus crash in New York. The latest on the investigation into the tragic incident that killed two band camp teachers. And an alarming trend, more kids are now ending up in the hospital with COVID-19. All that and more next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:50] BLACKWELL: New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez is resisting calls for his resignation after being charged with several corruption- related offenses by the Justice Department. Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for the senator's influence. This is the second time in the last decade Menendez is facing corruption charges.

JIMENEZ: And prosecutors say the bribes included gold bars, cash, home mortgage payments and a luxury vehicle. Menendez denied the accusations and responded to calls for his resignation saying he is "not going anywhere." CNN's Kara Scannell has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMIAN WILLIAMS, US ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Some of the cash was stuffed in the senator's jacket pockets

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Indicted again, New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez facing corruption-related charges for the second time in 10 years. Prosecutors announcing a three count federal indictment against the Democratic senator and his wife over their dealings with three New Jersey associates and businessmen starting in at least 2018.

WILLIAMS: The senator and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes, in exchange for Senator Menendez, using his power and influence to protect and to enrich those businessmen.

SCANNELL (voice-over): The alleged bribes include more than $550,000 in cash hidden in the senator's home and safe deposit box, a Mercedes Benz convertible and gold bars worth tens of thousands of dollars among other things. The indictment also alleges the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair "provided sensitive US government information and took other steps that secretly aided the government of Egypt."

WILLIAMS: Behind the scenes, Senator Menendez was doing those things for certain people, the people who were bribing him and his wife.

SCANNELL (voice-over): The senator issued a defiant statement in response to the US attorney's latest allegations. "I have been falsely accused before because they refuse to back down to the powers that be and the people of New Jersey were able to see through the smoke and mirrors, and recognize I was innocent."

Menendez has long maintained his innocence in this latest probe into his dealings telling CNN back in April.

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ): this inquiry will end up I believe in absolutely nothing.

SCANNELL (voice-over): The senator faced similar corruption charges in 2015. He fought off conspiracy, bribery and other fraud charges related to political favors.

MENENDEZ: To those who were digging my political grave so that they could jump into my seat, I know who you are and I won't forget you.

SCANNELL (voice-over): That case ended in a mistrial, a partial acquittal and all charges against the senator being dropped. In this latest case, Menendez remains defiant saying he won't be "distracted by baseless accusations."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on-camera): A lawyer for the Senator's wife said that she denies any wrongdoing. All five defendants are due in court Wednesday to face these charges but the US Attorney's Office says this investigation is still ongoing. That comes amid growing calls by New Jersey lawmakers for the senator to resign. Victor, Omar?

BLACKWELL: Kara Scannell for us, thank you so much. Joining me now is CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson. Joey Good morning to you.

And let's start here with the bar. And proving bribery and corruption is a lot harder than it was a decade ago. There's got to be this quid pro quo and the employment of official acts. So, when you look at this case and the indictment that has now been filed, how hard will it be to prove based on what we know thus far about the case?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. Victor, good morning to you. What you stated is exactly right. That's predicated upon a Supreme Court case, which spoke to the issue of formulating that nexus that is that connection, right, between the official action, of course, and what you did in exchange. And so, an answer to your question, that's going to be the challenge.

If you look at the indictment itself, it certainly looks to be very compelling. It speaks to the issue of power. It speaks to the influence of -- it speaks to the issue of influence and corruption. The issue for me is whether you can establish the requisite causal link between the senator's actions and activities. And what if anything, he was is being offered for -- to do that.

[06:25:02]

Senators, I think, the defense will be engaged in constituent services. They meet with constituents. They take up causes that they believe to be necessary and appropriate. They further their interest of constituents whether that be because you sit on a Foreign Relations Committee, as Mr. Senator Menendez does, whether it is because you're in pairing or getting involved in an investigation that you believe is unworthy.

And so, yes, the core of your question, I think that prosecutors are going to say, no matter what you have in the indictment that we see there about gold bars or money, or cash, or jackets, you know, in the indictment the money is sitting upon, did you do and did you engage in that official action as a result of that? If not, then of course, the prosecution becomes problematic. If so, then we're in a far different universe,

BLACKWELL: How much -- How explicit must the connection be? Because people sit at home looking at this graphic, the pictures on the screen wonder why else would business associates or friends, or those people working on behalf of the Egyptian government, give gold bars or a Mercedes, or pay the mortgage or 500,000, cash? If indeed they did that, except for something in return. Does it have to be written? How explicit must it be?

JACKSON: Well, it has to be more explicit than innuendo. Certainly, on the face of it, you can make the suggestion that what are you doing with gold bars, what are you doing with cash, right? What are you doing with Mercedes? What are you doing with mortgage payments being made on your behalf?

However, to the extent that clients or in this particular situation constituents might feel that the senator has engaged and gone above and beyond then perhaps within the realm of the universe of him accepting gifts or something else in exchange for doing the tremendous job that he was doing. The nexus has to be one of not just, wow, this looks pretty bad, right?

And an indictment, which is an accusation, it may look that way, but in a court of law, you have to establish, if you're the prosecutor, that the senator did this for that, that the senator engaged and use his official office in exchange because he knew, because he anticipated, because the (inaudible) quid pro quo was because you're giving me gold bars.

You're paying a mortgage, you're getting a Mercedes, you're giving me money, and so was there that link? Was he acting in the capacity of his job and did he do what corruptly? What do you have engaged in these activities anyway?

Victor, the lines are often blurred. A senator has fundraisers and engages in other activities, as do congressmen and women, because they're around people who want their influence, who want them to use the influence in an advantageous way. Is that predicated upon the being fraudulent or is it predicated upon me doing my job effectively, and being rewarded in kind? And those are going to be the issues, I think, that'll be displayed in court.

BLACKWELL: So let's talk about that. I want to pull that thread a bit more. And what we heard from the US Attorney Damian Williams there in the Southern District of New York, announcing this indictment, was that the senator, on his website, outlines, highlights what he can do on behalf of a constituent and what he cannot do on behalf of a constituent. Is there some legal relevance to any talked about it really high up in the news conference yesterday, of outlining those and the senator's awareness of what he can and cannot do?

JACKSON: Victor, I think the senator certainly put that on the website is perhaps, you know, many other senators in congress people do, to give the indication that when you come to my office, we cannot make exchanges and I can't use my influence to engage in an inappropriate way on your behalf to corruptly influence anyone. And so, I think that's their state of mind.

Gone are the days apparently, Victor, where the indictments just gave a, you know, bare bones narrative with respect to what a defendant is accused of doing. In this indictment, you've got pictures, you've got gold bars, you've got money, you've got that what you reference is that the website -- it served, you have text message exchanges.

And so, the realities are, is that I think they're doing that that as prosecutors to establish a narrative. Certainly that narrative publicly looks troubling. The issue was whether or not it would comport with the law as it relates to bribery, as it relates to honest services fraud. We owe a fiduciary duty, you do have your congressman senator to represent your constituents accurately and appropriately without exchange for anything. Whether it could and they can establish extortion, those are other issues.

So certainly the indictment really sings in terms of potential corruption. The issue was whether there was and whether there's an appropriate nexus and connection between what the senator was doing and what he was receiving as a result of what he was doing, and were they just merely gifts in exchange for a job well done.

[06:30:02]

That will play out in the courtroom.

BLACKWELL: All right, we're just beginning here. Joey Jackson, thanks so much.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CO-ANCHOR, NEW DAY WEEKEND: Coming up next for us, United Autoworkers Union is expanding its strike. And now, the president of the United States is expected to join some of them on the picket line. The details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: This just in to CNN. The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Ophelia made landfall just minutes ago near the town of Emerald Isle in North Carolina. Now, Ophelia is battering parts of the east with heavy win and rain that's expected to impact cities along the east coast throughout the day today. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking that and will have more on Ophelia's path and impacts at the top of the hour.

[06:35:00]

BLACKWELL: At least, five students are in critical condition this morning after a bus crashed in Orange County in New York on Thursday. Two people were killed in the crash. Gina Panettieri(ph); the ban's director and Beatrice Ferrari(ph); a retired teacher helping to chaperone the trip. And the bus was headed to an event for a high school band camp.

According to a state police spokesman, 22 students have been discharged from the hospital. Investigators say a blown front tire may have caused that crash. JIMENEZ: The White House has introduced a new office of gun violence

prevention to be led by Vice President Kamala Harris. President Biden says it's part of his administration's efforts to combat gun violence nationwide. He says the office will help put his signature gun legislation into action after it passed last year, and find more ways to curb gun violence.

BLACKWELL: If you're feeling lucky today, the Powerball Jackpot has now reached $750 million after no one won in the previous drawing. This makes it the third largest jackpot of the year. Man, three- quarters of a billion just comes at number three this year. Lump sum payout is $350 million.

All right, the strike by the United Autoworkers against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the company that manufactures cars under Chrysler, Jeep, the brands there, it's entered now its ninth day.

JIMENEZ: And as negotiations with Ford show signs of progress, the strike is spreading to more facilities across the country, but only to more GM and Stellantis-owned locations. Here is more from CNN's correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: So, today you now have over 18,000 UAW members on the picket line after President Fain of the UAW announced that he would be targeting 38 more facilities at GM and Stellantis across 20 states, sending an additional 5,600 members out to the picket lines.

And this is because President Fain said that GM and Stellantis needed a strong push to come with a better offer. However, if you notice, Ford was not noted in those additional targeted strikes. President Fain saying that real progress was made with Ford. And here are some details. According to the union, Ford's latest offer reinstated cost of living adjustments, which was something that many of these workers gave up in 2009. They're now offering more profit-sharing, and temporary workers can now become full-time workers in 90 days.

And there's additional job security, which essentially means that if a Ford employee is laid off, they will receive two years of income and benefits, but notably missing from the announcement on Friday was where things stood with wages. We know that the union has been asking for a 40 percent wage increase over four years.

The last public offer from the three companies was around 20 percent. Ford and the UAW saying that while they have come to terms with some of these other demands, there's still a big gap on the wage issue. And these new targeted strikes will certainly have an economic impact. This is going to impact dealerships, because dealerships will not be able to get parts from specifically GM and Stellantis.

And this will then trickle down to the consumer who is looking to bring their car in for a repair, potentially those parts will not be available. We have some recent economic reporting from Anderson economic group that says just in the first eight days of this strike with just the three plants, we have seen a $1.6 billion economic impact, with these new 38 facilities that are now being targeted by the union, that number, Omar and Victor, is expected to grow.

BLACKWELL: Vanessa Yurkevich reporting for us. Thank you so much. So, this is the first day of Fall. Happy Fall to you. Cold and flu season is now coming on. And the U.S. will face another shortage of a drug commonly used to treat strep throat and ear aches and sinus infections in kids. So what can parents do? We'll take a look next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

JIMENEZ: COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise nationwide, especially among children. Nearly 1,200 kids were hospitalized during the week-ending in September 9th. That's according to new data from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Now, it marks a five-fold increase over the past three months. Among younger patients, kids under the age of 5 were most at risk.

Now, despite the uptick, numbers are still below previous peaks during the pandemic. Meanwhile, parents across the U.S. are facing another health risk for their kids for the second year in a row, a common antibiotic is in short supply.

BLACKWELL: Amoxicillin is used to treat everything from chest and sinus infections to strep throat. CNN's medical correspondent Meg Tirrell explains what parents can expect if their children need that drug.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, to put it into perspective, Amoxicillin is the most prescribed antibiotic in the United States. In 2021, there were almost 43 million prescriptions of Amoxicillin written. Now, that includes both the liquid form, which is the one that's in shortage and tablet forms of this drug. And this shortage started back in October of 2022 as we were going into that Fall and Winter season faced with flu, RSV and COVID.

Now, of course, those are all viruses, ones that we are planning to have to anticipate this season as well. But what often can happen is, you get secondary bacterial infections, then that needs to be treated with antibiotics. Now, there are four makers of Amoxicillin listed on the drug shortages website from the FDA.

[06:45:00]

Only one of those drug companies gives a reason for the shortage, and that is increased demand. But as we reached out to these companies, one of them pointed out that Amoxicillin, like many other antibiotics, is a very inexpensive old medicine. It's a generic drug, it costs about $10 per bottle. Now, if you compare that with newer medicines, one like Keytruda for example, that's a very powerful newer cancer drug.

That drug costs more than $10,000 a dose. And so drug shortages experts I've talked with have pointed out drugs like Keytruda will really never go into shortage unless something very bad happens, because there's such an incentive for the makers of these medicines to ensure that there is continuous supply. Those incentives -- those financial incentives just aren't there for older generic medicines.

And so, what this often leads to is parents will have to go to multiple pharmacies if their kids are sick to try to find Amoxicillin. The American Academy of Pediatrics put out some guidance last season for what to do if you encounter a shortage. One is really just watchful waiting. But that of course requires certain circumstances where that's appropriate, more contact with your doctor, so that's more labor intensive.

You could also get the oral formulations they say, the tablets and crush those up or put them in liquid and -- or apple sauce. Then there are, of course, other antibiotics that can be swapped in. But you know, doctors really try not to do that if they don't have to, because you don't want to promote antibiotic resistance. So this has been a problem that's been going on for a while.

Unfortunately, it's not unique to just this one drug. There are more than 300 drugs on the FDA's shortages list right now. The highest number that we've seen in almost a decade. So this affects antibiotics, chemotherapy drugs, all kinds of medicines that are crucial to people's health. It's something the U.S. is paying attention to, but it's certainly not something we're seeing getting solved immediately.

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JIMENEZ: Meg Tirrell, thank you so much. Still ahead, for the first time in nearly 20 years, Colorado is the talk of college football. But can Coach Prime lead the Buffalos to victory against tenth-ranked Oregon? Big test. We'll talk about it.

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[06:50:00]

JIMENEZ: Ronald Acuna Jr. making history last night, becoming just the fifth player ever to join the 40-40 club.

BLACKWELL: Andy Scholes is here now -- all-time great season.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Certainly is, guys. And you know, not only is Acuna the fifth player to go 40-40, he is the first to ever have 40 homeruns and 60 stolen bases, and he's likely going to get to 70. Acuna, now, he was all pumped up when he hit a homerun in the first inning last night, number 40.

Braves' superstar joining Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano, Barry Bonds and Jose Canseco are the only players ever to go 40-40. That was also Acuna's 160th homerun. He's the first player ever to have 160 dingers and steal 160 bases at the age of 25 years old. Braves beat the Nationals in that one by a final of 9-6. Now, Aaron Judge also having himself a night last night. He hit not one, not two, but three homeruns against the Diamondbacks.

Judge, the first Yankees' player ever to hit three homeruns in a game twice in one season. Reigning MVP with 35 homeruns now in just a 100 games this season. He's been out a lot due to injury. But remember, last year at this time, Judge was in the spotlight as he was chasing Roger Maris' American League homerun record, which he did break, getting 6-2 homeruns. Yankees beat the D-backs now at 7-1.

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(CROWD CHEERING)

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SCHOLES: And Minnesota Twins meanwhile clinching the AL Central Division for the third time in five years last night. And as you can see there, they had the traditional champagne party in the clubhouse. Always fun. The Brewers also clinched a playoff spot last night, they were up 16-1 on the Marlins. So they brought in first baseman Rowdy Tellez to pitch the final inning, and the 270 pounder is throwing heat, he's throwing in the high 50s, low 60s.

He got the strike-out there. His teammates were pumped as well too, pretty awesome. Brewers can clinch the NL Central with a win today. And we got a big day of college football on tap. There are six games between ranked teams to enjoy later on today. The biggest between sixth-ranked Ohio state, they're going to play ninth-ranked Notre Dame, that game in South Bend, that one 7:30 Eastern.

But the game may be the most watched today, Deion Sanders and 19th- ranked Colorado playing a 10th-ranked Oregon, that one is at 3:30 Eastern, Coach Prime's Buffaloes actually huge underdogs today. The Ducks favored by 21 points. Victor, if Prime can somehow find a way to pull this one off, he may truly be the greatest coach in college football.

BLACKWELL: But the schedule is going to get tougher after that, right?

SCHOLES: Certainly is. Now --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

SCHOLES: Into that PAC-12 schedule, you know, they've got Oregon, USC, so it's going to get hard. But, it's hard to doubt Coach Prime --

BLACKWELL: Right --

SCHOLES: What he's done so far.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it can happen.

SCHOLES: Yes --

BLACKWELL: Andy Scholes, thank you.

SCHOLES: Right.

BLACKWELL: Well, tonight, a special event at 8:00 p.m., I and 11 of my colleagues spotlight the inspiring stories of change makers that have made a lasting impact. Now these are folks who don't usually make headlines, but they certainly make a difference. Here is a look.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go, here we go, go on. Let's go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was about how people came to help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Join us for Champions for Change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel a source of inspiration and pride just coming together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want you guys to truly forget the word, "can't".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As CNN journalist spotlight the change makers who inspire them.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She teaches you to break through that fear to get to where you need to be.

[06:55:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It turns out that one human being can do a lot.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: She's opening a door for people that are desperate for freedom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These aren't throw-away animals. These are precious beings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See how these community champions use creativity, heart and grit to lift society up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the music starts, something happens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I surround myself with positive people. They help me be that inspiration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE", a special event tonight at 8:00 on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: This is more than your average fixer up a story. In rural Iowa, an old school converted to a home now is on the market. Here is the story. In 2006, a couple bought the school and dove into a six- year renovation project.

JIMENEZ: But now they're ready to give it up. They put the house on the market and it could be yours for a cool $1.75 million. What's inside, you ask? A ballroom, a guest bedroom suite fit for royalty, and a game room that's basically a playground for adults.