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CNN This Morning

Trump Tests New Lines Of Attacks On Harris At Georgia Rally; Harris To Interview V.P. Finalists As Decision Reaches Final Hours; Trump Attacks Georgia Governor At Atlanta Rally; Harris' Husband Doug Emhoff Acknowledges Affair During First Marriage After Tabloid Report; Trump Urges Harris To Agree To Fox News Debate; Tropical Storm Debby Strengthens As It Approaches Florida; Storm Expected To Hit Florida Monday Morning; Tropical Storm Debby Expected To Reach Hurricane Strength; Deputy Killed In Florida Ambush Identified, Three Suspects Dead; Judge Denies Trump's Attempt To Dismiss Election Subversion Case; Stabbing Deaths Of Three Girls Fuels Protests, Dozens Arrested; IDF Intercepts 30 Projectiles Over Northern Israel, Hezbollah Claims Responsibility; U.S., U.K. Urge Citizens To Leave Lebanon As Soon As Possible. Memorial Unveiled To Mark El Paso Massacre 5 Years Ago; Heat Alerts In Effect For 140 Million+ Across The U.S.; Study: Cancer Rates Increased Among Millennials, Gen Xers; Jesse Owens' Olympic Legacy, As Told By His Grandson. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired August 04, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:43]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Sunday, August 4th. I'm Danny Freeman in for Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Danny, good to be with you again this morning. Good to be with you all. I'm Amara Walker. Here's what we're working on for you this morning.

The final round, Vice President Kamala Harris is closing in on who will be her running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket, who she is meeting with today ahead of Tuesday's reported reveal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, we have to work hard to define her. I don't want to even define her. I just wanted to say who she is. She's a horror show. She'll destroy our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: And former President Donald Trump saying the quiet part out loud, his campaign is still trying to figure out how to define Vice President Kamala Harris and slow the momentum building around her.

WALKER: And states of emergency are in effect in Georgia and Florida this morning ahead of a tropical storm expected to strike on the south east. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the storm that could drop up to 30 inches of rain.

FREEMAN: Plus, a little later a concerning surge in cancer rates for millions of Gen X and Millennials,

WALKER: All right. Former President Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance packed an Atlanta arena Saturday with supporters. Trump renewed his personal attacks on Vice President Harris at the rally, mocking again the pronunciation of her first name, insulting her intelligence and calling her a phony. And it wasn't just Harris who Trump ridiculed. The former president also went after the Georgia governor, Brian Kemp.

FREEMAN: Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris spent her Saturday meeting with her vetting team to go over potential candidates for vice president. Today, she will meet with the finalists in her search for a running mate with sources telling CNN a renewed focus has been placed on Minnesota governor Tim Walz.

Now, she will continue face-to-face interviews with these final contenders, and well likely not announced her final decision before her Tuesday night rally with her running mate in Philadelphia. For more on all this, CNN's Alayna Treene has the latest from Trump's Atlanta rally last night.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, Amara and Danny, former President Donald Trump on a Saturday, leaned in to his attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris and really tried to test drive new lines of those attacks as well. All as he is continuing to try and find the best way to define her.

At one point even he even kind of said the quiet part out loud and said, we have to try to define her. I want you to take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You know, four months ago she was considered grossly incompetent by the fake news. Now they're saying, oh, isn't she wonderful? Isn't she wonderful? No, she's not wonderful.

So, we have to work hard to define her. I don't want to even define her. I just wanted to say who she is. She's a horror show. She'll destroy our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Danny and Amara, I found that really interesting because it matches up with what I've been hearing from Donald Trump's advisors, which is they are trying to still figure out the best way to go after Harris. And of course, they spent their entire campaign thus far focusing on Joe Biden, not Harris. He's really trying to figure out what works with the crowd, what the energy is like in the room. And we saw that on Saturday night.

Now, we also heard him really go after Harris for having entertainers at her own rally here in Atlanta. Also, at the same exact rally just earlier in the week, she had performers like Megan Thee Stallion perform. And Donald Trump said that he didn't like that, that he found it -- quote -- "phony."

Now, we know that line phony is something that he is continuing to try and work into his own speeches and try to paint Harris as someone who is fake. He also attempted to tie Harris to his former opponent, Hillary Clinton. He argued that Clinton had Springsteen -- Bruce Springsteen performed for her back in the lead up to 2016. And he said he never would forget that. He also went on to say, I have a bad trait and that is I only like people who like me.

Now another very notable thing, Danny and Amara, is that he repeatedly went after the Georgia Republican governor Brian Kemp as well as the state's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger. And remember, they both were very key to the 2020 election and ensuring that Georgia's elections weren't rife with fraud, something that they have said repeatedly. Donald Trump called Kemp disloyal multiple times.

[06:05:03]

And I think I should note here that Kemp had not supported Donald Trump in the primary, but later went on to say that he would support him in November. Amara, Danny.

WALKER: Alayna Treene, thank you very much. Now, Vice President Kamala Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, acknowledged in a statement to CNN that he had an affair during his first marriage.

FREEMAN: This comes after a British tabloid published alleged details of this relationship. And CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has the story.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Vice President Kamala Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, acknowledged to CNN that he had an affair during his first marriage after alleged details of that relationship were published in a British tabloid.

In a statement exclusively to CNN, Emhoff said the following -- quote -- "During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side."

Now that tabloid, "The Daily Mail," reported that Emhoff had a relationship with his then young daughter -- daughter's teacher which resulted in the end of his first marriage. Now sources tell CNN the relationship and the circumstances were disclosed to Joe Biden's vetting committee four years ago when Kamala Harris was being considered the running mate.

And we were also told by sources that Emhoff had told Harris about the affair before they got married as well. Now, Emhoff's two children are now adults and the family dynamic has been described as a friendly one. With the ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, also weighing in on Saturday saying -- quote -- "He is a great father to our kids, continues to be a great friend to me and I am really proud of the warm and supportive blended family Doug, Kamala, and I have built together." Doug Emhoff has been on the campaign trail and that is expected to pick up over the next few weeks and months.

WALKER: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very much. Joining me now is political reporter for "Bloomberg," Stephanie Lai. Good morning to you, Stephanie. Thanks so much for being with us.

Let's start with the Trump-Vance rally at the Georgia State University Convocation Center. And Trump's words once again were, we have to work hard to do define her. I mean, he is acknowledging here that they're struggling to craft a message to blunt the VP's momentum. And we're just, what, 90 some days out from the election.

STEPHANIE LAI, POLITICS REPORTER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: I think that's a really good point because in a lot of ways Kamala Harris' entrance into the race was unexpected. You know, for months people have been saying that they wouldn't swap her in because she has low favorability. But the moment she got in the race, it seemed like there was a new breath of life in the Democratic Party.

And so, for the Trump campaign, it's really quintessential for them to be able to blunt that momentum to sort, you know, of paint her in a certain way that will dissuade independent voters or swing state voters. Anyone who might have been on the fence on either Trump or Biden and might now be feeling more that they're leaning towards Harris.

And I think that rally yesterday night really painted that clear because in a lot of ways, in the last couple of weeks, Republicans have been sort of tinkering with different ideas. You know, how do we really get the voters to recognize what Kamala Harris' brand is, right? And so, at first some Republicans had been trying to paint her as a DEI candidate. And many warned that that might not sit well with voters. And so, really right now the goal is to figure out what policies, what sort of attack lines will really resonate with voters.

WALKER: All right. Well, they've got a shortened timeline so they've got to figure that out fast. So of course, Trump veered off message during his speech and instead of, you know, fully focusing on his opponent, he tore into the Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, who was conspicuously absent by the way. And before the rally, he was also going off on Truth Social about Brian Kemp and his wife. Here's just some of the back-and-forth. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Atlanta is like a killing field. And your governor ought to get off his ass and do something about it.

He's a bad guy, he's a disloyal guy, and he's a very average governor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: OK. And Governor Kemp responded with this post on X saying, "My focus is on winning this November and saving our country from Kamala Harris and the Democrats, not engaging in petty personal insults, attacking fellow Republicans, or dwelling on the past. You should do the same, Mr. President, and leave my family out of it."

I'm surprised to hear from Alayna Treene that Kemp is saying he will still vote for Trump this November. But Trump attacking the popular governor of a key battleground state. I mean, that could backfire.

LAI: It was kind of unexpected from this last rally. I'm not going to lie. It seems like, you know, the whole point was to paint Kamala Harris in a certain light and having this five to 10 minute tangent didn't really match with the rest of the rally. But, of course, we do know the former president and his tendencies. And so, this, you know, in some ways it's him rehashing some of his past gripes.

[06:10:00]

A lot of strategists have been saying that this might not play well because a lot of headlines today are really focusing on his past vendetta with the governor instead of, you know, all the things that he said about Kamala Harris. So, it sort of veered away from the campaign message but, you know, it's not out of the ordinary.

WALKER: Yes, and what's not out of the ordinary is to also hear Trump say it's my way or the highway. This time referring to the debate during that rally. He said he will only debate Kamala Harris on Fox News, on September 4th.

I mean, do you see a scenario where there might not be a debate at all and instead Trump using the airtime on Fox to, you know, do his one- on-one -- one-on-one interview, excuse me. And Kamala Harris doing the same thing on ABC News.

LAI: It's very possible. We've already seen President Trump decide not to do debates throughout the primary. And so, he already has a strategy on what to do if there is no such debate, but it is a very different message than what they've been sending before, which is that we do want to ensure that the American public has the ability to see these two candidates side-by-side. But of course, you know, they're saying earlier that they're waiting for Kamala Harris to become the Democratic nominee because there was no guarantee up until she was actually nominated.

And so, the debate over debate continues and we'll see if anything comes from that. But as of now, it seems like we're sort of at an impasse.

WALKER: OK. Now, to the veepstakes lastly. Tuesday, we will see Harris with her running mate at their first rally together in Philadelphia. As we understand it, the vice president is meeting with at least three V.P. contenders today, and that would be the Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, governor of Minnesota Tim Walz. And of course, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona.

Our reporting here on CNN is that there is renewed focus on Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota. What would he bring to the ticket especially when Minnesota is not a swing stage, which has, you know, voted solidly Democratic for over 50 years? LAI: I think you have a good point in that he might not serve the same electoral advantage that, you know, say Josh Shapiro might bring to the ticket. But in a lot of ways, he brings that southern charm that voters feel that the vice president doesn't necessarily have or doesn't appeal to. And so, if they're able to gather to get that brings together, you know, folks from the northeast corridor from California, these coastal areas, as well as, you know, the rest of the country that could bring together a unity ticket that Democrats are looking for.

WALKER: Yes, probably bring some midwestern credibility and charm. Stephanie Lai, good to have you. Thanks so much.

FREEMAN: Tropical storm Debby is strengthening as it approaches Florida, prompting hurricane warnings along the Gulf Coast. Now, the storm could bring more than two feet of rain to areas in its path and mandatory evacuation orders are in place for several counties with voluntary notices issued for other areas. High winds and flooding are expected and rescue teams across the state are bracing for potential emergencies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY JADALLAH, MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE CHIEF: The expectation is that if the storm intensifies it could cause further damage than initially expected. So, we are prepared for anything that we find. That could be anything from flooding where we need to do swift water rescue -- rescues, or evacuations all the way up to perhaps structural collapses as where we need to work there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: And we have CNN's Allison Chinchar here with us. You've been tracking the storm throughout the whole weekend, really, where is it now?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. So, it's just to those -- or just the west of southern Florida. You can see it's sitting right here. It has intensified. That last update that we got at the top of the 5:00 hour now has those sustained winds at 50 miles per hour.

The more concerning thing with this storm, as we last spoke about 24 hours ago, is the forward speed really starting to slow down in about 24 to 48 hours. Some of those outer bands already starting to slide in across Florida. That's going to continue as we go through the day, as they become heavier and more frequent.

We've also got a lot of the tropical storm warnings and even hurricane warnings because it is still expected to become a Category 1 hurricane at landfall early Monday morning around the Big Bend region. But notice too it doesn't diminish that quickly. It's still expected to be a Category 1 hurricane just east of Tallahassee once it moves inland.

Then from there, this is when things start to get a bit tricky. It really starts to slow down and essentially stall for a few days here. That is a problem. That essentially gives this storm a tremendous amount of time to dump a lot of rain.

Two aspects of flooding. You've got the storm surge here. All of these yellow areas including Saint Marks down through Tampa you're talking at least three to five feet. This red area here though, right there along the Big Bend, you're talking six to 10 feet of storm surge. That's above the ground level. That's already going to be a problem.

Now, we're going to add in some rainfall on top of it. Widespread across northern Florida, you're looking at about six to eight inches, maybe as much as 10.

[06:15:05]

But then the moment the storm starts to move farther north and it starts to slow down incredibly slow it has a lot more time to dump a tremendous amount of rain. In some of these areas you're talking in excess of 20 inches of rain. The hurricane center also saying not out of the question to have 30 inches of rain for some of these places over the next seven days.

So, you're talking an incredible amount of rain. Some places this could be historic rainfall. So, they have issued a very rare high risk for excessive rainfall on Tuesday for this area right here of South Carolina and Georgia, that includes Charleston, and Savannah, and this guys after two straight days in a row of moderate risk. So, you're talking king a lot of water, a lot of rainfall for the next five to seven days.

FREEMAN: Well, just a huge footprint to potentially as we as we look forward. Thank you, Allison. Appreciate it.

WALKER: Thank you.

FREEMAN: Former President Trump's lawyers are set to be back in a Washington, D.C., federal courtroom for the first time since that sweeping Supreme Court immunity ruling. We have what's next in the federal election interference case. That's coming up on hold.

WALKER: Plus, overnight Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon exchange a new round of strikes as the Mideast braces for a full-blown conflict in the region. At least those are the concerns. We are live in Beirut with the latest.

FREEMAN: And a little later, another excessive heat warning in Phoenix as heat-related deaths in Arizona's largest county have quadrupled over the last few years. We have what the state's first ever chief heat officer and others are doing to help people keep their cool during triple digits temperatures.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:24]

WALKER: New this morning, a Florida sheriff is identifying the deputy killed in what the sheriff called an ambush Friday night. He was 28- year-old Lake County Master Deputy Bradley Link. A spokesman said the former Army reservist was not even supposed to be at the scene and Eustis, which is about 40 miles north of Orlando.

But once Link heard the disturbance call, he responded to help out fellow deputies. The sheriff's office says the three suspects opened fire from inside a home they had turned into a bunker that they shot Link and two others deputies. The sheriff's office says, all three suspects are dead. They found firearms, ammunition, and anti- government literature inside that home.

And the judge overseeing the federal election interference case against Donald Trump has denied the former president's attempt to have the case dismissed. Trump had claimed Biden unfairly targeted him. The judge disagreed saying there was no evidence of vindictiveness and no merit to the former president's argument that Biden tried to influence prosecutors. Judge Chutkan also set the next pretrial hearing for August 16.

FREEMAN: And dozens of people have been arrested across the U.K. as anti-immigrant protesters clashed with police. The protests are coming after the stabbing deaths of three young girls at a Taylor Swift- themed yoga class earlier in the week. Far-right extremists are accused of spreading the false claim on social media that the suspect was an illegal immigrant to England. U.K. police though say the suspect is in fact a 17-year-old who was born in Wales.

And we move now to the Middle East where overnight Israel says it intercepted 30 projectiles coming from southern Lebanon. No damage or casualties were reported. Hezbollah took responsibility saying it was responding to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Saturday.

WALKER: The rising tensions prompted the U.S. and U.K. embassies to tell their citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible. CNN senior international correspondent is in Beirut for us. Ben, what is the latest especially, you know, where things stand with the tensions?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we've seen overnight was that Hezbollah claimed to have fired tens of Katyusha rockets at an Israeli community on the other side of the border. That was in retaliation for an Israeli strike yesterday that killed a 17-year-old boy, injured several others. One of those injured a man in his 60s, succumbed to his wounds today.

This is not part of the expected retaliation from Hezbollah for the killing by Israel last Tuesday of a senior military commander. It really is standard when civilians are killed on the Lebanese side. It is the normal response of Hezbollah to fire volleys of rockets into Israel.

As far as the exodus of foreign nationals from Lebanon goes, in addition to the U.S. and Britain, France has called on every -- every French national to leave as soon as possible. Sweden is moving its six diplomatic staff from Beirut to Cyprus. Jordan is calling upon its nationals to leave as soon as possible. Ukraine has flown out 30 of its nationals.

Now, we heard from people at the airport this morning in Beirut that there are long lines at passport control. But there is not yet quite a sense of panic. It is difficult at this point to find an available seat on those flights that are leaving Beirut. But beyond that, for those who simply can't leave Lebanon, there's a feeling of resignation that we've been through this many times before since October, where tensions have risen and then things have calmed down a bit.

[06:25:15]

This time certainly tensions are higher than any time since last October, but there's not a run on the stores. People don't yet seem to be hoarding supplies. Yesterday, we heard the Lebanese minister of economy and trade telling people not to hoard at this point. He reassured the population that there are adequate supplies of food.

So, people are simply just waiting to see what happens next there. We know that Hezbollah has said that their response to the killing of that military commander is inevitable. The question is where, when and how. Amara, Danny.

WALKER: Where and when, exactly. Ben Wedeman, thank you very much, live for us there in Beirut. Remembering a grim day in El Paso, how the city honored the lives of 23 people killed in a Walmart shooting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:34]

WALKER: It has been five years since a gunman went to an El Paso Texas Walmart and killed 23 people and injured 22 others. The mass shooting ranks as one of the deadliest in American history.

FREEMAN: To help the healing where there's been just so much heartache a new memorial was unveiled this weekend.

CNN's Gonzalo Alvarado has more on this tribute -- this moving tribute.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GONZALO ALVARADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): El Paso community comes together once again to celebrate the lives of the 23 victims who were killed in the mass shooting exactly five years ago at a Walmart shopping center, which is just a few blocks from where we're at right now.

And the celebration of this commemoration of the victims are going to be held to the different events like vigils, processions and also remember ceremonies like the ones behind me. Here, the city mayor Oscar Leeser, he was also accompanied by representatives from the General Consulate of Mexico in El Paso. Let's remember that among the 23 victims, nine of them were Mexican nationals who lived in Ciudad Juarez, which is another border city with El Paso.

Mayor Leeser, it's already been five years. How is El Paso community coping with this horrific tragedy? You know, five years ago, exactly today took the lives of 23 people and left 22 injured. OSCAR LEESER, MAYOR, EL PASO TEXAS: You know, that's the right word, horrific. And even though it's been five years, it doesn't get any easier. And as a matter of fact, it might get a little harder because we keep remembering what happened to our community, how we were assaulted from somebody that drove 11 hours to create a crime and assault our community.

So, you know, maybe five years, but it feels like it happened this morning. Talking to some of the family members and they told me, says Mayor, it feels like it just happened just now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The government of Mexico through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of course, the consulates of Mexico throughout the United States also reiterates its commitment to protect the rights of the Mexican community abroad, as well as to provide comprehensive consular assistance and protection to Mexicans, regardless of their immigration status.

ALVARADO (on-camera): Has gun violence been decreasing ever since? Did you feel that more needs to be done about it?

LEESER: You know, there still needs to be more. There's no doubt and, you know, just we got a letter from President Biden and Vice President Harris that was hand delivered to us and hand signed by both of them. That was really important.

And in that letter, it says that they will continue to work with Congress to -- to get stricter gun -- gun loss to make sure we protect communities like El Paso.

ALVARADO (on-camera): Also, in this ceremony, an unbuilding of a memorial took place, which we have the opportunity to speak with the local artist, Albert "Tino" Ortega, who shared with us his gratitude and honor of giving back something to his community. And he also shared with us how he's coping with this pain five years later.

ALBERT TINO ORTEGA, MURAL ARTIST: The whole concept of this was also to have a place where people could come in and reflect and just be at peace with their own thoughts. And so, when they reached out to me, you know, I was just really excited and really honored to be a part of this.

ALVARADO (on-camera): At the same time, many landmarks from El Paso are going to be illuminated in orange, which orange has become the national color for gun violence awareness. At the same time, the Democratic Party of Texas have released a statement expressing their support to the El Paso community.

Gonzalo Alvarado, CNN, El Paso.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: Gonzalo, thank you for that reporting.

All right, one of America's hottest cities is working to cut down on the number of heat related illnesses and deaths. We'll tell you how city planners are considering everything from building code changes to 24-hour cooling centers to keep people safe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:50]

FREEMAN: This weekend, more than 100 million Americans are under heat advisories. Phoenix is expected to reach 115 degrees and is under an excessive heat warning through Monday.

WALKER: A hundred and fifteen degrees.

FREEMAN: Too hot.

WALKER: Yes.

FREEMAN: Too hot.

WALKER: Way too hot. Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, saw its hottest June on record, reporting twice as many heat-related deaths than last year.

CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir looks at what it takes to survive in America's hottest city.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The sunniest big city in America is shattering the worst kind of records for relentlessly high temperatures and the body count that follows.

ROBERT MCDADE, CAPTAIN, PHOENIX FIRE DEPT: It's so dangerous when we're in that critical area, they're literally, it's cooking of the brain, and really the organs are starting to shut down.

JOHN PRATO, CAPTAIN, PHOENIX FIRE DEPT: We're trying to get them below that heat stroke range before we even get to the hospital.

WEIR (voice-over): After the heat killed 645 souls in Maricopa County last year, body bags and ice are now standard equipment on every ambulance and fire truck. As Phoenix learns the hard way that it's not just the heat, it's the vulnerability.

MCDADE: As always, the most vulnerable population in our communities are the young and the old. We unfortunately had a fatality on one of our hiking trails with a 10-year-old. We have elderly people that can't compensate as well in their homes if their air conditioning is out. We have a lot of our folks that do landscaping, construction, they're working outside, we need to get to them.

[06:40:18]

And then of course we have our unhoused, our population that's out on the streets trying to seek coverage.

WEIR (on-camera): (INAUDIBLE) brother, you need some water? Add some ice. KATE GALLEGO, MAYOR, PHOENIX: One challenge that's very much on my mind is about 65 percent of the people we've lost recently had an addiction.

WEIR (voice-over): Kate Gallego studied environmental science at Harvard and when she became Phoenix mayor five years ago, she learned quickly how an overheated environment adds life or death urgency to common problems like affordable housing and addiction.

GALLEGO: We lost way too many people who were under the influence of methamphetamines and didn't go inside or didn't cool down when they needed to.

EUGENE LIVAR, ARIZONA CHIEF HEAT OFFICER: These are self-contained solar modified shipping containers that can operate for up to 12 hours without being plugged into any energy resource.

WEIR (voice-over): The crisis spurred both the creation of Arizona's first chief heat officer.

(on-camera): Oh yes, feels nice.

(voice-over): And the conversion of 18 cooltainers (ph) to get people off the scorching streets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you sit up for me please? We got to work on hydration.

WEIR (voice-over): Overnight temps can stay above 90, so Phoenix now has its first 24-hour cooling centers and since neighborhoods with lots of trees can be around 20 degrees cooler than those without, both city and state have laid out policies of shade equity.

(on-camera): Your office is very hot, Jennifer.

JENNIFER VANOS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, ASU'S SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABILITY: This is --

WEIR (on-camera): This is your office.

VANOS: -- this is my office. Yes.

WEIR (voice-over): Informed by science that measures how heat bounces off concrete.

VANOS: We chose to live in the desert. It's hot no matter what, but how can we create microclimates that are cooler than the surrounding environment? And also, how can we reduce the temperature of the surrounding environment?

WEIR (voice-over): Phoenix is among the Arizona cities set to share in the $1.5 billion set aside for urban tree planting in the Inflation Reduction Act. And in a land of low-slung construction, they want more urban canyons and built breezeways.

GALLEGO: When I was first elected, we pushed buildings to not go into the public sidewalk areas. And now we're saying we want to encourage it. We have a goal for 70 percent of our heavily walked areas to have shade cover because it can make a huge difference in how comfortable you are outside.

WEIR (voice-over): But this takes time and the heat won't wait. So, day to day, it's about saving lives. One icy body bag at a time.

MCDADE: Come talk to us. We'll tell you what we've learned. Don't underestimate it. Buy the bigger ice machines. Be prepared. Get ready.

WEIR (voice-over): Bill Weir, CNN, Phoenix.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Well, remarkable report there by our Bill Weir.

A new study has uncovered a dangerous trend. Researchers say Gen Xers and Millennials are at a higher risk for developing cancer than their parents. We will tell you what's driving this trend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:28]

FREEMAN: We have a very important story for you this morning. If you're a Gen X or a Millennial or even a parent of one, you'll want to hear this. A new study says those two groups have a higher risk of developing more than a dozen types of cancers. You see them on your screen right now. Rates of 17 cancers in Millennials and Gen Xers have risen dramatically.

That's according to a new study by researchers at the American Cancer Society. They also found younger generations are likelier to die from five of these cancers.

All right. So, with me to talk about all of this is Dr. Jayne Morgan, a cardiologist and executive director of Health and Community Education at Piedmont Healthcare.

Thank you so much for being with us. Really do appreciate it.

JAYNE MORGAN, CARDIOLOGIST: It's a pleasure.

FREEMAN: I'm sorry to be talking about this story --

MORGAN: Right.

FREEMAN: -- but it's very important.

MORGAN: It is.

FREEMAN: So, let's break this down. Researchers study patients born between 1920 and 1990 and found cancer rates increased with each generation. For instance, uterine cancer has about 169 percent higher incidence rate. If you're born in the '90s, as opposed to if you were born in the '50s. And again, I'm reading this, this is stunning. MORGAN: Right.

FREEMAN: So, tell me, Dr. Morgan, what is explaining this rise in cancer with younger generations?

MORGAN: And we've seen this trend for a while. And one of the concerns that we have is that it's also tracking with our obesity rates as well. And the plethora of processed foods in our society, which really is just a polite way for us to say non-foods.

Foods that are really chemicals and additives and things like that, that earlier generations really didn't consume or having their bodies in large quantities and then just the lack of physical activity as our technology has continued to advance. We've had less and less physical activity. And just good old sunshine. We're not outside. We're not having sunshine. And all of those things with vitamin D being absorbed into the skin. And we think about all the other additives that go into laundry detergent and fragrances.

And we have really a plethora of -- of culprits that we really are taking a closer look at to see why are we having more and more and more cancer rates in younger and younger and younger generation.

FREEMAN: Well, it's tough though about what you're saying is that it's -- it's everything. It's what we're ingesting. It's lifestyle as well. Is there one that stands out or it's really the combination coming together that's causing this.

MORGAN: And you know, what interesting when you look at the study, they divided that into five-year cohorts. And actually, each five-year group of people as they were born shared similar traits.

So, no matter where you're born or where or what you're doing, you sort of in the same environment as all of those people in your cohort, of things that are going on in the world. And each of those cohorts was sharing some of the same cancer traits and cancer trends as well.

[06:50:15]

And since 2014, we actually have seen a decrease in the life expectancy as well of younger and younger people. And for the first time, we may have successive generations that actually have a lower life expectancy than their parents.

FREEMAN: Which is stunning. And so scary too.

MORGAN: It's very scary.

FREEMAN: What can some of these young people do to help prevent or turn the tide on this trend?

MORGAN: You know, as we look at a lot of this, it's very interesting as we look at some of these studies with Ozempic and Wegovy and Mounjaro, which have been very interesting in that, as a cardiologist, we certainly have been very interested to see the cardiac data improvement in cardiac health in these patients. But now we're seeing an improvement in maybe 10 cancers that we see in younger and younger people. What we call OACs, Obesity Associated Cancers. And these cancers tend to decrease in a study that's come out very recently in patients who were taking this over a 15-year period. Patients who have diabetes in comparison to those who took insulin and those who took the GLP-1s, which we call the Ozempic and Wegovy.

FREEMAN: That's fascinating. And you know, it seems like with the Ozempic and Wegovies, we keep learning more and more about these drugs and the benefits they may have, including I understand that there's one study that said it might be linked to helping people stop smoking as well. Can you talk a little bit about that?

MORGAN: That's right. The story just keeps evolving with this, this class of drugs.

FREEMAN: Right.

MORGAN: The semaglutides. And so, what happens is that they impact the reward center in the brain. And so not only does it reduce your cravings for food and calories, it reduces your cravings for a lot of things, including smoking and maybe even other drugs or other types of perverse behavior.

So really, it's very interesting to see where this is going to go. We certainly see a cessation and a -- a -- a -- a slowing down in smoking these reward centers and other things that people do for rewards that may be bad habits. These medications might end up being quite helpful in controlling them.

FREEMAN: Just quickly, are you optimistic that we have some solutions or we can start to beat back this trend?

MORGAN: I think I am optimistic, certainly as it's coming to our attention. The first thing really is to understand it, to know about it, to track it, to get data on it. And then we have to begin to put in interventions and probably that intervention is going to be preventive measures as we move forward, including screening for cancer at younger and younger agents. We've got to start screening earlier.

FREEMAN: Dr. Morgan, thank you so much as always.

MORGAN: You're welcome.

FREEMAN: We appreciate your time.

Amara?

WALKER: Well, we're in the critical final hours as Kamala Harris searches for a running mate. Still to come, the top candidates she is sitting down with today.

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[06:57:52] FREEMAN: As we hit the midway point of the Olympics, it's a good reminder of all of the good that can come from sports. Athletes of different races, religions, and gender identities from every corner of the world setting aside those differences to compete.

WALKER: That's right. It's also a reminder of how far we've come and also how much work we have left to do.

Eighty-eight years ago today, on August 4th, 1936, Jesse Owens, a 22- year-old black man from Alabama, made history at the 1936 Berlin Olympics at the height of Nazi Germany.

Owens' grandson, Stuart Owen Rankin, reflects on that legacy in this week's Difference Makers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STUART OWENS RANKIN, JESSE OWENS' GRANDSON: My grandfather competed in the long jump against a German athlete by the name of Luz Long. Luz was the European long jump record holder, and the two of them came together in the 36 games and a sort of heavyweight battle of long jumpers and on August 4th in 1936, right under the nose of and in the face of Adolf Hitler.

What unfolded was something that no one would have predicted. My grandfather and Luz Long, through their competition, actually became allies, became friends. Yes, eventually my grandfather did win the gold, but Luz got the silver. And I think, just as or more importantly, what came from that was a bond, a brotherhood between two world class athletes on the highest stage of their particular event or sport.

Those Olympics were made particularly famous because those were the Olympics in Berlin, Germany. And of course, Hitler's philosophy and mindset was that his Aryan nation was a superior nation in that all other nations and all other people were inferior. So, my grandfather's accomplishments of four gold medals was quite a thumb in the eye of -- of his philosophy. And I know it added a bit of additional fuel for my grandfather to perform well, but primarily he wanted to perform well for him and the United States of America.

[07:00:03]

When he returned from the games, it didn't it impact his life as we would imagine it would nowadays, because he was returning to 1936 United States of America, which candidly was not a very good place for Black Americans. So, my grandfather's accomplishments, I don't think were fully recognized and appreciated until later in his life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)