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CNN This Morning

Harris and Walz Takes a Bus Tour in Pennsylvania; New Poll Shows Harris Leading for the First Time; Biden Prepares for DNC Opening Speech; Homeowners Insurance Crisis; Chronic School Absenteeism; Harris, Biden To Appear At DNC Monday For Passing-The- Torch Moment. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired August 18, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Our CNN's Carlos Suarez reporting. We'll find out later just how many pythons were captured. Organizers expect it could be somewhere in the neighborhood of 200.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Florida Fish and Wildlife, if you heard that, you can invite Victor for a ride along.

BLACKWELL: I'm down.

WALKER: I'd be happy to see that piece.

BLACKWELL: Next year.

WALKER: The next hour, CNN This Morning starts now.

BLACKWELL: Top of a brand new hour this morning and good morning to you, Minneapolis.

WALKER: It's a nice look out there as the sun will be coming up soon.

Welcome back, everyone. Here is what is happening today. Vice President Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, will set off on their bus tour of Pennsylvania ahead of this week's Democratic National Convention.

Plus, we're getting new details about the moment Harris and Biden will appear on stage together at the DNC for a symbolic passing of the torch.

BLACKWELL: Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is headed to Israel right now as a negotiator to push for a ceasefire with Hamas and a hostage release deal. The message he's expected to deliver and where talk stand right now.

WALKER: The cost of homeowners insurance is surging in parts of the country. Why some companies refuse to cover people in some states and the steps homeowners are taking to make their homes more insurance friendly. BLACKWELL: And new data shows that school districts have done little to bring down the number of absences since the pandemic ended. The steps some are trying to take to get kids back in the classroom, that's coming up.

WALKER: OK, we begin in Chicago this morning where Democrats are gearing up for the start of their national convention. Here's a look at the convention hall where President Biden and Vice President Harris will appear together in a symbolic handoff tomorrow night.

BLACKWELL: So then each night, Democratic Party leaders will speak on the themes for the people, a bold vision for America's future, and a fight for our freedoms. They'll end the week with Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepting the Democratic nomination on Thursday. Now, Harris and Walz are keeping a pretty busy schedule this weekend.

Yesterday, Governor Walz celebrated a homecoming at a campaign rally in Nebraska. That's where he grew up and where he met his wife. He leaned into his heritage and his connection to the state while attacking Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, in Nebraska You got a slogan here, Nebraska, it's not for everyone. Well it sure ain't for Donald Trump, I'll tell you that. Every opportunity he has, he weakens our country to strengthen his own hand. He mocks our laws, he sows chaos and division amongst us. And that's not even counting the time he was president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Governor Walz will join Vice President Harris on the road for a bus tour through parts of Pennsylvania today.

WALKER: And all that campaigning is being backed up by some major ad dollars. Harris campaign says it has reserved $370 million in television and digital advertising through November.

And since July 21, the day President -- the day that President Biden dropped out of the race, the Trump and Harris campaigns have spent more than $241 million in seven key battleground states. Now, a source tells CNN, former President Donald Trump is planning to hold a series of events to counter the Democratic National Convention.

BLACKWELL: And Trump supporters got a look ahead at these so called messaging events last night. CNN's Danny Freeman reports that Trump's message was more personal than policy.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No doubt. This was a packed and raucous rally for former President Donald Trump here in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. But the big question leading into this rally was, could the candidate stay on message? Could he stick to the topics of the economy, immigration and crime? Because allies and advisor of the former president said that that was the primary way that he could start to blunt some of the momentum that Vice President Kamala Harris' had in her campaign over the past few weeks.

Now there were some lines that were specifically on topic, I'll get to that in a moment. But make no mistake, this was generally a normal Trump rally, which included a lot of wandering and meandering lines. The crowd loved a lot of that, but it was, again, far from on message. There were certain points where the former president made fun of Harris's lab. He also called her a lunatic.

And then at one point, he actually referenced a time magazine cover and took a moment to say that he's better looking than Harris. He also spoke at length about debates and also spoke a lot about President Joe Biden, who is no longer his opponent in this race.

Now, there were a few moments where the former president was able to stay on message. He brought up a man who had family in Venezuela who talked about his fear of communism. He also played an attack ad for the crowd that really painted Vice President Harris as a radical liberal. And there was one moment where he actually addressed some of the new economic policies that Vice President Harris released back on Friday. Take a listen to how he addressed these new policies.

[07:05:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yesterday Kamala laid out her so called economic plan. She says she's going to lower the cost of food and housing starting on day one. But day one for Kamala was three and a half years ago. So, why didn't she do it then? So this is day 1,305.

We're at 1,305. So why isn't she doing it now? Why doesn't she get away from her nice little place with her wonderful husband? Go to Washington and do it now. You could do it right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now I should say, on Friday, Vice President Harris said that her economic plan is supposed to cut taxes for the middle class and also reduce costs at the grocery store. But as you heard right there, former President Trump said, well, if that's the case, how come Vice President Harris has not been doing that as part of the Biden-Harris administration? Those were parts where he was on message, but that was a relatively small portion of this about hour and a half rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon.

Victor, Amara.

WALKER: All right, Danny Freeman. Thank you. And as we've been saying, the Democratic National Convention kicks off on Monday, and that is when President Biden will give a forceful appeal for Kamala Harris's candidacy.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Camila DeChalus joins us now. Opening night will be very different than what the party, what the organizers of the convention planned just a month ago. Tell us about this passing of the torch moment.

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. This is certainly not the speech that President Biden anticipated to give even two months ago. But we are told by White House advisors that he really has two main goals when he's going to give his keynote address. One is really emphasize why Vice President Kamala Harris is the best person to replace him on the ticket. And the second is to stress why former President Donald Trump should not be reelected in this upcoming election.

Now, White House advisors also tell us that how he's going to achieve this and part of the strategy is for him to emphasize Harris's record and just who she is as a person. And the second is to highlight how he believes that Trump poses a grave threat to democracy. And just even at this over the weekend, he is at Camp David right now, really preparing and crafting what he wants to say and what his message is really going to be. But we do know, and we're just going to anticipate, that he is going to feel that this is just another opportunity that he can take to really just unite the Democratic Party and just the country.

Just remember, Victor, just a few weeks ago when he gave his Oval Office address, he really talked to the nation about why he dropped out, and part of that is because he really wanted to emphasize that he wants to unite the party, reunite the country, and he sees the Democratic National Convention and its high profile event as another way to do that.

BLACKWELL: He certainly has a message for voters, but we of course know that the delegates and the attendees have a message for him, thanking him for his work in his term as president. Camila DeChalus from Washington, thank you.

Now, Chicago has spent more than a year preparing for the DNC, but there's been a really sharp focus on security over the past few weeks certainly since the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

WALKER: Yes, an intelligence bulletin suggests that officials are concerned of possible retaliatory attacks against Democrats. CNN's Whitney Wild is in Chicago, where the city is preparing for tens of thousands of visitors.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Amara, let me show you one of the key tools that law enforcement is going to be looking to to try to beef up the security. This is this non scalable fence. It goes on for blocks here at the United Center. This is going to be the same at McCormick Place as well. And it doesn't look like much, but this is really one of the crucial elements that law enforcement uses to try to beef up the physical security of this location.

This is again -- this takes, you know, hundreds of people to put up, several days to put up. So this is really one of the most visible tools. And what this is going to do is keep people out of the area who don't have a DNC credential. Again, this is also going to be up at McCormick place. Law enforcement is going to be on high alert. The new intelligence bulletin obtained by CNN listed a concern about retaliatory attacks against Democrats. Because what we know is that this event is coming just a month after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The intelligence bulletin made very clear law enforcement is concerned about the possibility of retaliatory attacks against Democrats. Although they did stress that there is no credible threat at this time.

Meanwhile, law enforcement is going to get support from the air, from the water as well as a major boots on the ground approach. There are going to be thousands of CPD officers as well as more than 500 mutual aid officers coming from surrounding jurisdictions to beep up the security.

Victor, Amara.

BLACKWELL: Whitney Wild, thank you so much.

Joining me now is the chair of the Democratic National Convention, Jaime Harrison, chair of the party. Good to have you with us.

[07:10:06]

So, let's start here. I talked with Camila DeChalus about the message that President Biden will have for the delegates, for the country backing Vice President Harris. What is the message for him tomorrow? What we'll see in this moment of, I guess, thanking President Biden from the party's perspective for his work in this term.

JAIME HARRISON, DNC CHAIRMAN: Well, Victor, you know, I'm from the south, and there's a phrase that we often say. It's about time that we give him his flowers, that we show this president our appreciation for all that he has done. Joe Biden has probably been the most transformational president of my lifetime. I think about all the things that he's been able to do and accomplish just over the short three and a half years as president of the United States, from the American Rescue Plan to the bipartisan infrastructure bill to waiving student loans, transforming the judiciary.

This president has appointed more black women to the federal appeals court than all presidents combined, including appointing the first black woman to the United States Supreme Court. And I can go on and on about all the legislative accomplishments Joe Biden has had more so than anybody probably since LBJ and he's only done that in less than four years.

And so we're going to show him our love. We're going to show him our appreciation and we're going to thank him for his 50 years of selfless service to this great nation of ours.

BLACKWELL: Just shy of a month ago, the thematics, the -- everything down to the graphics, the speakers, the transitional videos were focused on reelecting President Biden. Now there's the shift, of course, to elect Vice President Harris. Is there a different messaging? Is there a different approach now that you've got a different candidate? Or are you selling the same messages, policies, just switch out of person?

HARRISON: No, you know, there's some things that are unique to Vice President Harris, and we want to make sure that the American people understand what her story is, what her values are, the things that she's going to fight for.

Some of them are the same. Some of them are some additional things, and I think people will get an opportunity to see that on full display. In addition, we have another person that we're adding into the mix now with Tim Walz, governor from the great state of Minnesota. And so making sure that the American people, he's introduced properly to the American people and they understand his story and the things that he's been able to do and accomplish in the state of Minnesota.

You know, every kid in that state who goes to public school, gets free lunch and free breakfast in that school. The women, their reproductive rights are protected in the state of Minnesota coming after the gutting of Roe on the federal level. And so, there's so much that he has to share with the American people. And we're really, really excited. This is going to be a convention built around hope and joy looking forward into the future.

BLACKWELL: Well, let me ask you about this focus on hope and joy. They're roughly, I guess, 30 or so, a little more than 30 delegates who are uncommitted to this convention. And I spoke on my Saturday show with a leader of the uncommitted movement and a doctor who has worked in Gaza, treating patient who had been injured in the war between Israel and Hamas, they want a speaking spot at the convention. Should they have five minutes as they've requested to address the delegates?

Vice President Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, will set off on their bus tour of Pennsylvania ahead of this week's Democratic National Convention.

HARRISON: Well, Victor, everybody wants a speaking spot at the convention. I can't tell you how many people I've heard from who represent all types of groups that make up the coalition of the Democratic Party. We're going to have a diverse set of speakers on that stage coming from all parts of the party. And so, I believe that people will be able to see themselves and to hear messages that resonate with them on a personal level.

BLACKWELL: But to the point, should they be allowed to have a speaking spot at the convention.

FREMAN: Well, back to the point, Victor, everybody wants a speaking spot at the convention. This is a convention with over 4,000 delegates that represent again, the diversity of the party, black folks, Latino API, you know, from all --

BLACKWELL: Sure. Mr. Chairman -- I understand all of the demographics, but I'm asking about a specific concern from a specific group --

HARRISON: And I'm addressing -- and I'm addressing. BLACKWELL: Well, you're not because it's a yes or no question. Well, the yes and no question is everybody's going to be represented on that stage at one point in time throughout this four days that we have a convention.

BLACKWELL: OK, so let's talk tone, that's your answer to that question. Let me play something here from the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

[07:15:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don't stoop to their level. No, our motto is when they go low, we go high.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And everybody cheered. Since Harris has won the nomination, the campaign has responded to a Trump interview under the heading, quote, "statement on a 70-year-old criminals," Fox News appearance.

Governor Walz joked about a lie that governor -- that Senator Vance had sex with his couch. This might work for Democrats, but if the argument is it's important how you conduct yourself in politics because children are watching, have the Democrats toss that aside and when they go low, you're going to join them?

HARRISON: Well, Victor, we are going to make sure that people understand what's at stake in this election. You know, you got one party and the contrast. I think even -- if you show the contrast between Joe Biden and Donald Trump --

BLACKWELL: Joe Biden's not in the race. I'm talking about this. I'm talking about the approach to politics and the rhetoric.

HARRISON: Well, and I'm about to -- I'm about to share with you what this contrast is all about.

You got one president -- former president who was willing to risk the life of his former vice president, in terms of what Donald Trump did in January six. And you got another president who so believed in freedom, so believed in democracy and that it was greater than him. That was willing to give out the greatest power on the face of this planet, the presidency of the United States and pass that baton to his vice president, who's very capably carrying that baton, it's selfishness versus selflessness. And that's the contrast. And we're going to -- we're going to paint it in all adjectives in all different words. We're going to let --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

HARRISON: -- the American people know the contrast and the differences between these two parties. BLACKWELL: Former President Trump said last week that he's entitled to personal attacks against Vice President Harris. Is Vice President Harris entitled to personal attacks against the former president as they've called him weird and creepy and all the rest?

HARRISON: Well, if you throw a punch, you got to expect one to get the -- to come back and we're not going to sit on the sidelines and allow this man to demonize and to go after our candidates without pushing back against who he is. This is a guy who's a twice impeached, convicted 34 times felon.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

HARRISON: And so the American, the American people need to understand that we have never seen someone like Donald Trump. Ever trying to get to the White House, and we cannot allow this man who's gone after the fundamental freedoms of the American people to just do it without any pushback, without making sure the American people understand who he is and what he's fighting for.

BLACKWELL: Jaime Harrison, always good to have you on. Thank you so much. Good luck this week.

HARRISON: Thank you, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Join CNN live from Chicago for the special live coverage of the Democratic National Convention from 7 p. m. Eastern tomorrow, right here on CNN.

WALKER: Still to come, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on his way to Israel to push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and a hostage release deal. We'll have details of where those talks stand next.

Also, how California homeowners are struggling as wildfires and the climate crisis are resulting in a rise and increase in home insurance rates.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:23:00]

BLACKWELL: Any moment now, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to land in Israel to try to finalize the hostage release and ceasefire deal. Israeli officials say they are cautiously optimistic about the deal, but Hamas has expressed some reservations.

WALKER: In Gaza, the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen with new evacuation orders from the IDF, displacing even more civilians living only 11 percent of Gaza to be considered a humanitarian zone. That's according to the U.N. Elliott Gotkine is live in London with more.

Elliot, there have been more strikes and more evacuations. What's the latest?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN JOURNALIST: That's right, Amara. So this morning, in the early hours of the morning in Israel, seven members of the same family, that's a mother and her six children, were reportedly killed in a strike in Deir al Balah in the central part of the Gaza Strip. That's according to the al-Aqsa hospital. And that comes just a day after 15 members at least of the same family were killed in a strike in Al Zawada, which is a couple of miles up the road. So -- and that's according to the local civil defense group.

So, these strikes are continuing. The IDF says that certainly in the incident this morning that it killed a number of militants to attack and strike at where rockets were being launch towards Israel, and in Saturdays incidental by not referring specially to where it said that was also targeting rocket launches that have been fired towards Israeli troops.

So, the death toll there continuing to rise at the same time, and one of the reasons why Israel is putting those evacuation orders or additional evacuation orders into place in the central part of the Gaza Strip is because it says the so-called humanitarian areas that were previously designated are being used to fire rockets at Israel and at Israeli forces.

So that's what's happening in terms of the fighting in Gaza. In terms of the humanitarian situation, we now learn that there has been the first case of polio in some 25 years, prompting the U.N. Secretary General to call for a week -- a week's pause in the fighting so they can try and vaccinate more than 600, 000 Children.

[07:25:10]

And against that backdrop, of course, as you say, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on his way to Israel to try to put pressure on the Israelis and in the words of a senior administration official to continue to stress the importance of getting this done. Not just to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and, of course, to try to forestall, as I say, that outbreak of polio and not just to get the 115 or so hostages still being held captive in Israel back -- in Gaza, excuse me, back into Israel, but also to try to forestall a wider escalation, which certainly seemed imminent before these talks resumed in Doha last week with Hezbollah and its patron, Iran, threatening to strike Israel in response to the assassination of a top Hezbollah military commander in Beirut and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political Bureau of Hamas in a guest house in Tehran. For now, those retaliatory strikes seem to be on hold, and there is hope at least that this deal can finally get done.

Amara, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Elliott Gotkine, we'll see if they can make some progress this week. Thanks so much.

Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will be on a bus tour today ahead of the DNC. More on their message to voters. That's coming up after a break.

WALKER: And Carolyn Manno will have some sports news for us. That's next (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]

WALKER: Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, are taking a bus tour through Western Pennsylvania today before the DNC kicks off tomorrow. They will be joined by their spouses, which will mark the first time that all four will be campaigning together.

Now, Donald Trump posted a rally in Pennsylvania last night where he took aim at Harris' newly unveiled economic plans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But here's the problem, the things that she said yesterday don't work. They have never worked. They've never been used many times before in many other countries. They've never worked. They've just never worked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: All right. joining us Now, is Chicago Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet. Lynn, I want to start with this because we just got a new poll in from Washington Post, ABC News, and Ipsos, and it shows that Harris is leading Trump, look at this, 49 percent to 45 percent among registered voters. This is a national poll. It's the first major national poll where we are seeing Harris with the lead outside the margin of error. I mean, this is significant.

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: It is significant. Of course, more significant would be the swing states. The whole point is, though, that the Harris-Walz tickets is coming into their convention here in Chicago with enormous momentum that Former President Trump just does not have right now, and every sign points to having them, at least at this -- having them continue this is as they go beyond the bus tour, they come to Chicago, Tuesday in Milwaukee.

The -- I think the basic point here is, it's that Trump still has not figured out exactly how to go after his new opponent, even though three weeks now, in he has -- he just doesn't have the strategy.

WALKER: It's just remarkable to see this poll with, you know, Harris 49 percent, Trump 45 percent, and also, in this poll, the survey, it finds a huge improvement in the level of satisfaction among registered voters with their choices for president since before Harris became the Democratic nominee.

44 percent are saying they're now satisfied with their options, comparing that to 28 percent who felt that way in early July. I'd imagine that kind of enthusiasm, that sentiment is going to be on display at the Democratic National Convention this week.

SWEET: And from my reporting on what the convention planners are doing, they want to showcase for the world for everyone who's watching. They want to be able to showcase the -- that -- in a sense, the tide is on their side, that the lightning is there.

It's not just going to be atmospherics that we're talking about. There is something that is -- we have to remember, we have all never seen this before, that a candidate created just a few weeks ago has been able to seize the imagination of a Democratic Party that had been coming here more like a funeral than any kind of a joyous event. Joy is one of the buzzwords now of the Harris-Walz campaign.

So, the -- you know, we still have some 80 so days, but from my understanding of what this convention here is about is that the planners had obviously tear up the script from what they were planning when Biden was the nominee and they want to do everything they can to harness that, and by the way, while still paying tribute to President Biden.

WALKER: Yes, let's talk about that. Because we know that President Biden has been spending the weekend preparing for his keynote speech tomorrow night. Preview that speech for us. It's going to be a significant and poignant moment as he passes the torch, as we say.

SWEET: Well, right. So, you know, bear in mind that already in town Sunday night -- by Sunday night, you're going to have Harris and Walz, Bill and Hillary Clinton. So, I think the speech that Biden is going to give is going to be very much one to do everything he can to bolster Harris, because that's part of his legacy, and talk about his accomplishments of what he was able to do in his one term.

[07:35:00]

You know, not quite the speech he thought he would be delivering, not Monday night at the convention, but Thursday. But it is -- think of it as a grand valedictory where you're summing up everything, your life's work in one night, while at the same time knowing that people will also be there to help build up the nominee, who, in a way, you just -- you should take credit for because if Harris was not his vice president, she would not be running for president today and the nation would not be in a position to possibly have its first female president and the first female president of color.

By the way, I think one thing that people have not quite talked about is that Hillary Clinton is talking tomorrow night too, the woman who thought in 2016, she could beat Trump Finally shattered that glass ceiling.

WALKER: It'll be just remarkable to watch all the dynamics play out. What a last few weeks it's been. Lynn Sweet, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, wildfires and climate change are leading some homeowners' insurance companies to leave the state. We'll tell you what state and how some homeowners are trying to make their homes more insurance friendly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:00] BLACKWELL: Wildfires, floods, climate crisis are fueling skyrocketing California home insurance rates and driving home insurance providers out.

WALKER: Yes. So, some homeowners are trying to do their part to help the environment bring down costs and bring back home insurance companies. CNN's Camila Bernal has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a matter of seconds, the flames can take everything.

BILL PICCIANO, HOMEOWNER: The entire hillside exploded in fire. It just went -- it just -- like a flash.

BERNAL (voice-over): For Bill Picciano, it was the Woolsey Fire in 2018.

BERNAL: It was eye opening for you.

PICCIANO: Oh, absolutely.

BERNAL (voice-over): His home was safe. But after evacuating, and some insistence from his daughter, he began making changes.

PICCIANO: I decided to cut them very low, and it is aggressive, but they'll heal.

BERNAL (voice-over): He is hardening his home.

PICCIANO: We did have a tree. This was a type of a false cherry tree.

BERNAL (voice-over): Increasing its resistance to future wildfires.

PICCIANO: I decided to go with a little bit of putty there.

BERNAL (voice-over): These are some of the actions that the State of California hopes will bring back insurance companies that dropped or won't renew policies in the state.

RICARDO LARA, COMMISSIONER, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE: We are living through one of the biggest insurance crises that we've had in our history.

BERNAL (voice-over): Many small insurance companies and some of the major ones limiting or even dropping their customers.

LARA: It is risky to enter into the California market now, given what climate change is doing to our environment.

BERNAL (voice-over): And it's not just California, and it's not just fires, hailstorms, floods, hurricanes, impacting insurance prices and availability all over the country.

LARA: We have to look at how we build, where we build, what materials we're using to build, so that we can engage insurance in a way that we haven't before.

BERNAL (voice-over): In California, Commissioner Ricardo Lara says insurance reforms are expected to be implemented by January 1st and could change the playing field. They include incentives for home hardening, maps that show the hardening work, and the use of technology to identify updated risks to homes.

But at the center of it are the people choosing to get ahead of the fires.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The idea is just to keep everything clear, I think, and have space between the plants.

BERNAL (voice-over): Hoping they don't get dropped.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My insurance company increased the rates quite a bit.

BERNAL (voice-over): Or hoping rates will go down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to lose my house. So, if I have to sacrifice a few flowers, so be it.

BERNAL (voice-over): They believe that if enough people do the work, insurance companies will come back.

PICCIANO: That's when insurance companies are going to like, have to step up, and have to say, look, you people are actually doing something that you can't just ignore.

Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Good for them. Hopefully those insurance companies won't ignore what they're doing. All right. Coming up, a look at the chronic issue of absenteeism in the classroom and what measures schools are implementing to get more students to come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:45:00]

WALKER: Well, years after COVID-19 upended students' lives, a new study reveals that nearly every state still struggles with school attendance issues with millions of kids skipping class every day. Experts say schools need new solutions to help these students stay in school and catch up.

Joining me now is Michael Gottfried. He is the author of "Absent from School: Understanding and Addressing Student Absenteeism" and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. It's a pleasure to have you on, Michael. So, first off, just tell us why are we still seeing these high rates of absenteeism in schools?

MICHAEL GOTTFRIED, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: Yes, that's a great question. So, I think part of the issue is that schools are still trying to figure out how to get kids back into school. Just like if you think about the COVID pandemic, we were in the beginning figuring out how do we work with this? How do we deal with this? And sometimes, as you might remember, it was, we can sit six feet apart. No, now, we can. Now, it's two feet apart. Now, it's 20 percent. And I think schools are still figuring out what works, what can we do at school, and how can we use that to bring kids back into school. So, schools, just like we were five years ago, figuring out what are the programs, what are the things that we can actually do, what's at our fingertips?

WALKER: And so, what are at the schools and the school district's fingertips to keep the children in their classrooms or having them come back every day?

GOTTFRIED: Yes. So, I think about what schools can do is being actionable change. And what I mean by that is what schools have at school itself. What are the students look like? What are the budgets? Who are the school teachers? And thinking about the programs that I could use as a school principal based on what it is that I'm looking at every day at school.

[07:50:00]

So, for example, my research looks at students of color. If I have a lot of students of color at my school, they come to school a lot more when they have teachers of color. If I have a lot of students that need school transportation at school or to come to school, it helps a lot to have the school bus, and that's a big issue because schools are actually cutting school bus from their budget items.

So, things like that, thinking about what are movable factors, what are actionable items at my school that I can actually work with. Not bringing new programs in, but what are items here at the school site that I can work with?

WALKER: I think you also, mentioned free meals, right, has kids staying in school.

GOTTFRIED: Absolutely. My work has looked at what happens when we give free meals to everyone at school? And as you might expect, when everyone gets meals at school, people show up to school. So, as we give meals to different schools in different states, I found that chronic absenteeism, absenteeism levels declined dramatically as a result of that.

WALKER: I mean, is this a conversation that's actively being had right now within schools and school districts to address this problem?

GOTTFRIED: It is. It's a big conversation. It's a big conversation for two reasons. One, kids are missing so much school right now, I would call it a code red level. It's shocking how much school kids are missing. And so, that's problematic just because when you're not at school, you can't learn. You can't meet teachers. You can't meet classmates. So, you're not developing. You're not growing. You're not learning.

But I think the other issue is that the federal government and states are holding schools accountable for absenteeism levels. So, in other words, schools are being penalized as a result of high absenteeism, So, administrators are also concerned, principals are also concerned about absenteeism for the reason that, hey, my school is going to be held accountable. I'm going to be punished if I don't get those attendance levels back up. It's a big conversation across the country right now.

WALKER: Well, good. I'm glad it's being had. I'm just still trying to understand the why behind it. I mean, I'm sure, obviously, a lot of carryover from COVID-19 but, you know, are parents aware that the children are not going to school, are they holding them back saying, you don't need -- you know, you don't have to go, you can study at home? Is there other high anxiety levels or I'm sure it's multifactorial?

GOTTFRIED: It is, and I think you're right on all of those that parents, you know, are working from home more than they were before. So, it's more acceptable. If I'm at home, you can stay home with me. I think you're right. There's a lot of mental health concerns right now.

I think there are also different structural issues in our school communities. So, there are concerns about income, right? So, there's income inequality in our country, and those families that need more income, those kids often go to work instead of going to school.

There's a lot of housing insecurity, and my research shows that when there's mobility, when kids are moving schools throughout the year, they don't come as much. Food insecurity. If I don't have meals, I'm not going to come as often. Transportation issues. And so, these are things that we're thinking about health issues as well. So, these are issues that continue to plague our students as they're trying to get school and their families trying to figure out how to get back to school.

WALKER: Such an important conversation, but there are some simple solutions, although, it may require more funding. Michael Gottfried, thank you for joining us this morning.

BLACKWELL: When you win seven Olympic gold medals, you can pretty much wear what you want, right? Well, Simone Biles pushed that to the limit yesterday. She wore a Packers jacket to a Bears game. Bleacher Report is next.

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WALKER: All right. It is only week two of the NFL preseason, but Chiefs' quarterback Patrick Mahomes is already digging deep into his bag of chips.

BLACKWELL: Carolyn Manno joins us now.

WALKER: I was going to say bag of chips, sorry.

BLACKWELL: I mean, he digs into a bag of chips too, I'm sure. Both.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: He might have had a bag of chips. It's still the preseason. He is delighting us and making it look very, very easy while he's doing it. You guys know, you've watched him. I mean, he's thrown quite a few amazing passes over the course of his career, but this is a little extra, especially in a preseason game against the Detroit Lions. Check this out.

So, he rolls to his right. He realizes that his tight end, Travis Kelce, had run the wrong route. He improvises here. The two-time league MVP throwing it behind his back to pick up a first down and afterwards, he said the play just happened after the mix up.

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PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QUARTERBACK: I knew it was kind of on target. It just was low. But like I said it wasn't like I didn't do it to like look cool. I literally did it as I was like pissed. I was like, why did you run that route like that and then, it just worked out,

TRAVIS KELCE, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TIGHT END: You know, he's got the voice thing, So, he kind of mumbled out the play. I couldn't hear it. I was walking up to the line. I was like trying to decipher what he was saying. And before I knew it, he snapped the ball. And by the time I looked over there, he was already in mid form, like a photo on a sports card throwing the ball to me. So, it was just, I guess, right place at the right time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Those two are going to be fun to watch. After a performance for the ages at the Olympics that we were all watching, Simone Biles in Chicago for the Bears game against the Cincinnati Bengals. The superstar supporting her husband, Chicago safety Jonathan Owens. Not sure if this is an intentional wardrobe choice. That is a Green Bay Packers jacket, which is the pair's biggest rival, but the GOAT can do no wrong.

Chicago's number one overall draft pick, Caleb Williams, making another strong impression in his second preseason game, completed six to 13 passes for 75 yards, and he can run as well, taking care of business by himself. Nice little scramble for the score. The Bears win this one 27 to 3, the final there.

And we'll end with the WNBA, the New York Liberty, the first team to clinch a spot in this year's playoffs after executing on both sides of the floor in a 79-67 win over the defending champs, the Las Vegas Aces.

Fresh off winning gold for Team USA, Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart leading the way for New York. Ionescu putting up 23 points, Stewie adding 18 and Jonquel Jones grabbing 17 points as well for Liberty, who are a franchise best guys. 23 and 4 through 27 games. Not too shabby for them. And now, they are officially in the playoffs. Back to you.

BLACKWELL: All right. Carolyn Manno, thank you.

WALKER: And thank you for being with us this morning.

BLACKWELL: Inside Politics Sunday starts right now.

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