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California Residents Speak Out On Redistricting Push; NYT Op- Ed: Former CDC Leaders Raise Alarm On Public Health; FDA Approves Updated COVID-19 Vaccine, But Only For Some. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired September 01, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Perhaps one of the most recognizable faces onboard is Greta Thunberg. The Swedish activist, you may remember, did try delivering aid to Gaza by sea previously but was stopped by the Israeli military.
Here's what she had to say ahead of the latest journey.
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GRETA THUNBERG, ACTIVIST: The question here today is not why we are sailing. This story is not at all about the mission that we are about to embark. The story here is about Palestine. The story here is how people are being deliberately deprived of the very basic means to survive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: The flotilla launch comes as the Palestinian Health Ministry said another seven people died of malnutrition, bringing the total deaths from malnutrition to 339 people as of Sunday.
Still to come, lawmakers across the U.S. look to redraw congressional lines to give them an advantage in the midterms. We'll hear what California voters think about the partisan power struggle.
Plus, storms in Texas trigger flash flood warnings for many of the state's largest cities. We have those details ahead.
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[05:35:52]
President Trump wants Americans to show I.D. at voting stations. Trump said he will be signing an executive order making identification a requirement to vote. States have varying requirements for voters with 36 states already having laws in place requiring or requesting certain forms of I.D. Trump says he also plans to take action against mail-in voting with only some exceptions.
And Missouri is the latest Republican state to announce efforts to redraw its congressional maps for the midterm elections. That session begins this week as California nears a local vote on whether to approve new maps that would benefit Democrats.
CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has more.
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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): In California's race to counter Texas, San Diego County is the big prize.
JONES: Where are we?
GARVIN WALSH, BOARD MEMBER, SAN DIEGO COUNTY REPUBLICANS: We're in Escondido, which you might call it the capital of North County San Diego. And this is Friday night. It's a regular routine during the summer. The town will be filled with antique cars, and it brings out people who wish they had one.
JONES (voiceover): This southern slice of the state stands to be most affected if voters approve an extraordinary mid-decade drive to redraw district lines that could add up to five Democratic seats in Congress.
WALSH: Yeah, for sure.
JONES (voiceover): Local Republicans like Garvin Walsh call it a power grab.
WALSH: It's not question of fairness towards Republicans. It's a question of, you know, principle and playing by the rules, and they're not doing that.
JONES (voiceover): Earlier in August, the initiative passed the California legislature -- a tit-for-tat redistricting push to offset expected Republican gains in Texas.
Republican assembly member Carl DeMaio is vowing to take the fight to the polls.
CARL DEMAIO, (R) CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY: A lot of what our campaign will be focusing on is getting the truth to voters and making sure that they understand that these lines were drawn by the politicians. These lines are not about fairness.
JONES (voiceover): California's 48th district is a Republican stronghold stretching from just east of Orange County all the way down to the Mexican border. The newly proposed lines would take out some of the reddest parts of San Diego County and add in liberal-leaning Palm Springs voters, which could give Democrats an edge in the midterms.
JONES: Much like in Texas, support for redistricting here in California is split along partisan lines. These people here are fully in favor of Governor Gavin Newsom's efforts to redistrict California. They're saying they don't care this is a political move; it's along the lines of their belief system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I voted for the independent districting, but we have to fight fire with fire.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is simply to counteract what's going on and try to make that Trump does now wield control over Congress.
JONES (voiceover): At the forefront of this fight is Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar. Twice he's run in this part of the state and lost. The last time was in 2020 against longtime Republican Congressman Darrell Issa. But Campa-Najjar is hoping the new borders will help push him across the finish line in 2026.
AMMAR CAMPA-NAJJAR, (D) CALIFORNIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Turn out on November 4 for the ballot measure.
We have to win this ballot initiative. Once we get into office, we could raise the bar and hopefully apply for a national independent commission like we have here. But if we're the only ones doing it, we're at a disadvantage.
JONES (voiceover): Back on the main drag, these cars are parked right at the current district's border. New maps would fold all of these blocks into the new 48th.
WALSH: They're making it more difficult, but I don't think we're going to give up.
JONES: If the ballot measure is approved, dozens of districts will be affected from the border with Oregon all the way down to the border with Mexico.
But the biggest hurdle for Democrats and for Governor Gavin Newsom would be to convince people to go vote on November 4. Historically, special elections have very low turnout, so they will have to convince Californians that this is a worthwhile fight for them to get in.
[05:40:00]
Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.
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ABEL: Several major cities in Texas experienced flash flooding Sunday after heavy rainfall there. Parts of Houston receiving up to seven inches of rain within a very short window. This caused parts of the highways to become flooding, leaving drivers stranded. You see some of this here. The flooding on the highways resulted in water rescues having to be carried out as cars stalled once they became submerged in water.
But the flooding wasn't limited to the roads. Some people had water rush through their homes too.
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JORGE MORALES, HOUSTON RESIDENT: It happened real quick and in three or four minutes all the water started going in. So my daughter -- she started -- she started screaming "Hey, dad, look at the water." And she got scared. She started yelling. She started crying because we don't know what's going to happen.
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ABEL: Dallas and San Antonio also experienced road closures and flash flooding.
An amusement park crowd works together to save a child on a monorail track. See that rescue just ahead.
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[05:45:37]
ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. Here are some stories we are watching today.
Congress is set to resume work this week after August recess. Lawmakers have already announced new meetings and will dive back into the issues at the top of discussion across America -- mainly the Epstein files, potential sanctions on Russia for the war in Ukraine, and federal funding to avoid a government shutdown.
A powerful earthquake hit Afghanistan Sunday killing at least 800 people and injuring more than 2,000 others. That's according to an Afghan government spokesperson. The 6.0-magnitude quake hit the country's mountainous eastern region near the Pakistan border.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is hosting the final day of a major security summit in Tianjin, China. During the summit Russian President Vladimir Putin sat down for talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two leaders discussed their country's growing ties.
Nine former leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are raising concerns about public health in the United States. In The New York Times they write that health Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s impact on the CDC and public health is "unacceptable and it should alarm every American regardless of political leanings." They say that he has severely weakened programs designed to protect Americans from cancer, heart attacks, strokes, lead poisoning, injury, violence, and more.
It comes after the newly sworn-in CDC director, Dr. Susan Monarez, was ousted last week. That was followed by several high-level agency officials resigning.
Dr. Tom Frieden is one of the authors of that op-ed, but before it came out, he spoke to CNN's Manu Raju about all of this.
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DR. TOM FRIEDEN, FORMER DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: What we're seeing is unprecedented. There has never been a firing of a CDC director. Public health is under assault. And as Dr. Houry says, it's no longer possible to have any confidence in what's coming out of HHS or CDC.
Look, this isn't about Democratic or Republican; this is about fact versus fiction. This is about protecting our health versus endangering our health. To have the health secretary not talking to people who have spent their lives studying vaccines and listening to what they're saying is really problematic, and it's one of the reasons we're already seeing damage.
Well, this is, I'm afraid, just the start. But what it means is that for kids, for pregnant women, for healthy young adults who have a benefit from COVID vaccination -- if they want to get a vaccine it's going to be much harder. Pharmacies may have a hard time stocking it or giving it. Doctors may be reluctant. Insurers may not pay for it.
This is in six months Secretary Kennedy has undermined 60 years of progress preventing vaccine-preventable diseases in this country.
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ABEL: Democratic Congressman Wesley Bell also slammed Kennedy's agenda on CNN Sunday.
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REP. WESLEY BELL (D-MO): We know what scientists are saying, we know what the health -- the health experts are saying, and it's not what is coming out of Secretary Kennedy's policies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Updated COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. will be available in the coming days but only high-risk groups will be able to get the shot right away.
CNN's Jacqueline Howard has the details on this.
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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Here's what we know about the updated COVID-19 vaccines this year.
The FDA has approved the vaccines for a limited group of people -- adults, ages 65 and older, and younger people who are at an increased risk of severe COVID-19. That could be due to an underlying health condition, for instance. But for healthy people who don't fall into either of those groups you may have to get a doctor's prescription to receive the shot, and it's not clear whether your insurance may cover it.
So far, the vast majority of COVID vaccinations -- they've happened at pharmacies, but due to state-level regulations some pharmacies may not offer the vaccines anymore.
At CVS/pharmacy, for instance, the company says it is offering COVID shots at most of its locations, but in 16 states you won't be able to just walk in to get the vaccination. That's because of those states' policies. In all but three of those states CVC pharmacies can administer a COVID vaccination if you have prescription.
[05:45:13] The three states where that isn't an option are Massachusetts, Nevada, and New Mexico. And these states could change at any time. This does appear to be an evolving situation.
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ABEL: Jacqueline Howard, thank you.
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FATHER DENNIS ZEHREN, PASTOR, ANNUNCIATION CATHOLIC CHURCH: And therefore, Holy Father, as we celebrate --
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ABEL: Father Dennis Zehren addressed his Minneapolis congregation for the first mass since the shooting that killed two children and injured 18 others. It was held in the school's auditorium.
Pope Leo is pleading for an end to what he called the "pandemic of arms" following his Sunday angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square. This was his first public comment on gun control since becoming head of the Catholic Church. Take a listen.
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POPE LEO XIV: We include in our prayers the countless children killed and injured every day around the world. Let us plead God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world.
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ABEL: CNN's Leigh Waldman has more on how the community is coping with this tragedy.
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LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The first masses at Annunciation Catholic Church were somber, filled with grief and emotion. Father Dennis Zehren sharing with -- the message with the congregation telling them to sit low in their faith. Sit low with Jesus to work through the grief and emotion that they're feeling.
These were the first masses held since that devastating shooting took the lives of two young children -- 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10- year-old Harper. Eighteen others were hurt. That includes 15 children.
Now the masses held on Saturday and on Sunday were at the school's auditorium. This is feet away from where those shots came through the stained glass window less than a week ago. The father telling his congregation to lean on their community, to lean on their faith, and to find the rocks in their community during this difficult time.
ZEHREN: All of you -- all of our neighbors, all of our community -- police, first responders -- they've been our rock underneath us, and they will continue to be a rock for us. There's so many people who will be continuing to hold up our hands in prayer for the children, the families. They will continue to be that rock underneath us. Harper and Fletcher will always be that rock underneath us.
WALDMAN: We did learn that the parish offices will reopen on Tuesday. That's less than a week after this shooting took place. There's still no word on when kids will be going back to the school that's associated with the Annunciation Catholic Church.
We're hearing from the Archdiocese of St. Paul in Minneapolis that a rosary will be held on Friday, September 5, to pray for healing and to pray for an end to violence against children.
In New York, Leigh Waldman, CNN.
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ABEL: Authorities in northeast Colorado say one person was killed and three others injured when two small planes collided mid-air. Both pilots were attempting to land Sunday morning at the Fort Morgan Municipal Airport. According to a dispatch recording, emergency responders reported seeing black smoke and active flames.
The FAA and the NTSB are investigating the incident.
A startling sight at a Pennsylvania amusement park had guests rushing into action. If you look closely at this video here you can actually see the child in this video walking high up there on that monorail track at Hersheypark on Saturday shocking the crowd gathered below, as you can imagine.
A bystander climbed onto the roof of a concession stand, then onto the tracks to rescue that child. He passed the child down to another man who safely returned that boy to his family. The rescuer later credited his dad instincts for kicking in. Grateful for him there.
The battle between two football rivals lives up to expectations. How a field goal in the final minutes decided the Notre Dame-Miami game. Those highlights just ahead.
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[05:58:53]
ABEL: College football fans were treated to a nailbiter on Sunday as 10th-ranked Miami hosted number five Notre Dame. Despite making it to the championship game last season, Notre Dame struggled to stop Miami's offense. Check out that catch. Miami touchdown on an amazing one-handed catch.
The Hurricanes surged to a 21-7 lead, but the Fighting Irish -- they clawed their way back scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 24. With just over a minute left the Hurricanes took the lead with a 47-yard field goal, and Notre Dame unable to match it. Miami victorious.
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz is moving on to the U.S. Open quarterfinals. Alcaraz swept three straight sets against France's Arthur Rinderknech. The 22-year-old even managed to pull of a daring behind-the-back trick shot that certainly all the crowd (PH). With this win, Alcaraz will face 20th seed Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday.
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And Serbia's Novak Djokovic also secured a spot in Tuesday's quarterfinal after a dominant victory over Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff. The 38-year-old fired off 12 aces throughout the match. Djokovic will face American Taylor Fritz next as he chases a record 25th major title.
And this Labor Day, Powerball will offer its fifth-largest prize ever if somebody wins the jackpot. Today's Powerball jackpot drawing worth an estimated $1.1 billion. So if somebody wins and selects that cash option, they will receive $498 million. Lottery officials say the average American's chance of winning the Powerball jackpot is roughly one in 292 million.
Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.
