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New Day Sunday

First Military Flight Carrying Infant Formula Headed To U.S.; Biden To Meet With Leaders From Japan, Australia And India; White House Says Intel Shows North Korea Could Still Launch Missile Test During Biden's Trip; Zelenskyy: 1,800-Plus Schools, Universities Destroyed By Russian Army; Russian Forces Destroy Key Bridge In Ukraine's Luhansk Region; Rising Gas Prices Hurting Small Businesses, Vendors; Two Killed After Powerful Tornado Rips Through Michigan Town. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired May 22, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:20]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Buenos dias. Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. I'm Boris Sanchez.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Amara Walker in for Christi Paul.

The first U.S. military plane carrying baby formula from Europe is in the air right now and headed to the U.S. How soon will the supplies get to families?

SANCHEZ: Plus, President Biden on the next leg of his Asia trip, landing in Japan just a short time ago. What's on the agenda as we take you to Tokyo for a live update.

WALKER: And health experts are monitoring new cases of the monkeypox. How contagious is the virus and how concern should people be?

SANCHEZ: Plus, Tiger Woods pulling out of the PGA Championship after an ugly round, one of the ugliest of his career. What does it mean for his future?

WALKER: Hi, everyone, and good morning. It is Sunday, May 22nd. Thank you so much for waking up with us.

And we begin with Operation Fly Formula, the response to a nationwide shortage of infant formula here in the U.S.

SANCHEZ: Now the first military flight carrying an emergency baby formula shipment from overseas is headed to the United States right now. The master sergeant overseeing the shipment told the staff, we are literally saving babies. Meantime, the CEO of a formula manufacturer is apologizing to -- quote -- "every family we've let down." For weeks parents have been scrambling to find formula to feed their babies.

WALKER: CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining us now live from the Ramstein Air Base in Germany where the first flight carrying formula took off early this morning. Of course, everyone wants to hear from you, Elizabeth. What do we need to know how soon will these supplies be available and who will be eligible to receive them?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Amara, what we know now is that that flight has left Ramstein at 5:00 a.m. local time this morning. It is expected to arrive at Indianapolis Airport at 11:30 Eastern time, 11:30 local time in Indianapolis.

On board 1.5 million bottles. Each bottle has eight ounces of infant formula. It's hypoallergenic so you don't have to have an allergy or the baby doesn't have to have allergies to drink that formula. But certainly those babies, those parents have been specially challenged to find replacements for the hypoallergenic formulas that their children have had.

We don't know exactly what the plan is when that milk arrives, exactly how it's being distributed, where it's going. You would hope that they were getting it on their way and out to families as quickly as possible.

And, Amara and Boris, we've learned that this is not the last flight. There will be other flights. The next flight could be as soon as midweek. We don't know where it's leaving from. We don't know how much formula will be on but hopefully that help alleviate this problem at least to some extent.

But I think we should be clear eyed about this that even with these Operation Fly Formula flights parents aren't going to all of the sudden see that things are back to normal. That there's plenty of formula, that they don't need to worry anymore.

That Abbott plant that got shuddered in Michigan it won't be back up and running for a little bit. Abbott says by the first week of June and then it will take six to eight weeks to get it ramp back up again and making formula that will then be put on shelves. We shouldn't expect to see it on shelves for six to eight weeks. Abbott does say that they are doubling the amount that they usually make.

The second largest formula maker in the U.S., Reckitt, which is Mead Johnson, they have been putting up their -- ratcheting up their manufacturing by 35 percent ever since February when the Abbott recall happened. So even with all that parents might now see relief from many, many weeks. Amara, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Elizabeth. It appears it's going to be a lingering problem. And speaking of Abbott the CEO of the formula maker issued an apology in the "Washington Post" in an op-ed. What else is he saying?

COHEN: He did. He apologized. Then it was very clear and it was really quite strong. Let's read it. "We're sorry to every family we've let down since our voluntary recall exacerbated our nation's baby formula shortage. I have high expectations of this company, and we fell short of them. I will not mince words -- this is tragic and heartbreaking, and it is consuming my thoughts and those of my colleagues. Our highest priority is getting babies safe, quality formula they need as fast as possible."

[06:05:02]

Now, you'll notice here -- I'm reading these words where it says that they -- this recall exacerbated the shortage. I think sometimes we forget this shortage happened -- started before the Abbott plant was shut down. That happened in February. The shortage started in sort of -- around November of last year because of supply chain issues. So it was just this perfect storm that led to this shortage, Amara, Boris.

WALKER: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, appreciate it. Thank you so much.

SANCHEZ: Some parents who can't find formula have been forced to bring their kids to the hospital. For instance, the children's hospital at the Medical University of South Carolina says at least four babies have been admitted there recently to treat complications related to this formula shortage.

Joining me now to discuss this concerning trend is Dr. Hillary Bashaw. She's a pediatric gastroenterologist at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Doctor, we're grateful to have your expertise this morning. Thanks for joining us. First, I'm curious, what kind of health issues can come from a baby having a lack of this kind of nutrition?

DR. HILLARY BASHAW, PEDIATRIC GASTROENTEROLOGIST, CHILDREN'S HEALTHCARE OF ATLANTA: For children who have specialty formulas, they can really have difficult tolerating traditional formulas if that's all that the family is able to find. You could see things like vomiting, diarrhea, ultimately dehydration and poor weight gain. And that's what we've seen children have to come to the hospital to rectify.

SANCHEZ: And have you had to deal with that at your hospital? What does that look like?

BASHAW: We have. Since February, as Elizabeth mentioned, this has been going on for a while. We've had a number of medically complex children who have come in so that we can find the right formula for them.

Luckily lately even with the infant formula shortage, we've been able to find community resources so that all babies have something to eat. It might not be something that they were traditionally eating or that is the family's preferred brand but so far we've been able to work with the community for the more recent larger infant formula issues.

SANCHEZ: As Elizabeth described this is likely to be a lingering problem even with these flights coming in it's not something that's going to be solved right away. Does that concern you as a doctor?

BASHAW: You know, it concerns me as a doctor, as an aunt, as a friend to many families who either have young children or are expecting. We've taken for granted for a long time that we have alternate ways to feed children when breast-feeding isn't an option. And I think families who've relied on formula and felt that they knew they could feed their children are extremely concerned and panicked. It's been disheartening and hard to see that some people are taking more than their share of formulas. And I think as long as we can continue to share with each other, work together, use community resources to get the formulas we have to the families that need it, that hopefully we'll get through this together. But it is challenging without an end in sight.

SANCHEZ: Yes. I imagine, as you noted, that some parents are panicking at the very least, highly stressed about what they're going to do. What do you say to them to try to ease their worries?

BASHAW: You know, I just tell families, "Let's take this one day at a time." Most children can tolerate a variety of formulas. So while it might not be ideal to switch brands or switch varieties, for the larger picture, most children can tolerate different things. And again, we all just have to work together to share, to help -- to have family members looking every time they're going to the grocery store to get a little bit here and there so we can all get through.

SANCHEZ: Your hospital put out a warning online against parents trying to make formula at home or watering down formulas that they may have. Why is that dangerous? And what safety measures can parents take to prevent their kid from getting sick with these alternatives?

BASHAW: Certainly. Making formula at home is not safe, it's not a pasteurized product and often it won't be nutritionally complete so children won't have all the vitamins and minerals they won't need if families try to make something at home. The same happens if you try to water down formula and give a little bit less powder to the water that you need.

Infants have issues with kidneys and with urinary secretion. It's not as advanced as our kidneys, as adults are, so they won't be able to handle that extra water and it could cause too much water in their system and that can be a problem.

SANCHEZ: I do want to play some sound for you. I spoke to some parents yesterday of a premature baby who was born three months early and spent more than 100 days in the NICU Here's what they shared with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMILY JAEHNERT, DAUGHTER BORN PREMATURE IN NEED OF SPECIAL FORMULA: I fear that she'll fall off of her growth chart more than she already is, hanging onto it. I fear that she'll, you know, have upset stomach, that it won't sit well with her, that she won't get the nutrition that she needs that this particular formula right now is providing for her.

So if you switch up those essential vitamins, those essential things that are in that formula there's something that isn't necessarily going to help her grow and help her stay healthy, I don't know what that would do to my child and that is terrifying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:10:02] SANCHEZ: The Jaehnerts shared their fear with us. They also shared some frustration about accountability. You noted that this was an issue that you had been tracking as far back as February.

What in your mind needs to happen to make sure that this issue doesn't come up again in the future, whether because of a supply chain problem or a factory having to be shut down? How does this get fixed so that it doesn't happen again?

BASHAW: I think we need to build more redundancy into our system. We need to make sure that we have back up facilities ready to transition to alternate products when needed.

This was obviously an unanticipated and unintended issue. But when one product was removed from the market or one product line it really had great impact because there was such reliance on that product. We really need to have more opportunity to create these formulas in a quick way if needed in the future.

SANCHEZ: Dr. Hillary Bashaw, we appreciate you sharing part of your Sunday morning with us. Thanks for the expertise.

BASHAW: Thank you.

WALKER: All right. Now to the latest from President Joe Biden's first trip to Asia since taking office last year. The president has arrived in Tokyo, Japan, where he is expected unveil his administration's new economic framework for the region.

SANCHEZ: While in Tokyo, Biden will also participate in a meeting with the Quad, an informal alliance among the leaders of Japan, India and Australia. Let's take you to Tokyo now with CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan, you just got out of a closed- door event. Bring us up to speed. What else is on the president's agenda?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's been a busy day. We just left Korea earlier, a few hours ago. The president has just arrived here in Tokyo where he is going to spend the next several days and has a lot of meetings ahead of him.

But we should note that the president, as he was arriving here, he has just commented on North Korea and this concern that we are hearing from U.S. officials about whether or not North Korea could launch a missile test while President Biden is in the region. Obviously, that would be remarkable for them to do so with a sitting U.S. president here on the ground in Asia. And they say they are so concerned. That is something that North Korea could be preparing to do. But President Biden telling us earlier he is not concerned and says that they thought through the contingencies of what would happen if they did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are prepared for anything North Korea does. We've thought through how we would respond to whatever they do. And so I am not concerned, if that's what you're suggesting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: We also asked what his message was to Kim Jong-un. He simply said, hello. Of course, that comes after there has been virtually no contact between the North Koreans and U.S. officials.

The White House says they don't really want to speculate as to why that is. They say it goes in cycles of when the North Koreans are willing to talk and when they aren't. Obviously, they're in the middle of experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak.

But back here in Tokyo focusing on what the president has ahead of him. He's going to be meeting with the Japanese prime minister tomorrow. They'll hold a press conference as well.

He does have that meeting with the Quad summit leaders, including the new the Australian prime minister, who is going to be making one of his very first stops on the world stage here to meet with President Biden and the rest of the Quad leaders. President Biden did tell me he has called to congratulate him.

The other interesting thing will be a meeting that President Biden is going to have with the Indian Prime Minister Modi. That is, of course, a relationship that they have been talking about, trying to put some pressure on India, talking about when it comes to their relationship with Russia amid this invasion of Ukraine, something that the White House has handled obviously delicately.

And they said that they've had these constructive, positive conversations between the two sides. They say they will continue to talk about that, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine when President Biden does sit down with him in a separate bilateral meeting while here on the ground in Tokyo.

SANCHEZ: Plenty on the president's agenda. Kaitlan Collins, we appreciate you walking us through all of that. Thanks so much.

This morning the city of Gaylord, Michigan, is cleaning up after a rare and deadly tornado. We're going to update you on the situation on the ground and show you pictures of the destruction.

Plus, Tiger Woods withdrawing after a rough day at the PGA Championship. Will he compete in future tournaments? NEW DAY continues after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:18:23]

SANCHEZ: We want to update you now on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that nearly 2,000 educational institutions, primary schools, kindergartens, universities have been destroyed by Russian forces since the war began.

WALKER: The Russians have been escalating attacks, officials say, in the Luhansk region of Ukraine. Putin's army has destroyed a key bridge that served as a crucial route for evacuations and humanitarian aid deliveries.

CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is live in Lviv, Ukraine. Suzanne, tell us more about what President Zelenskyy has been saying.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amara, it really is just catastrophic. President Zelenskyy addressing his people, the Ukrainian people in an address, saying that the losses were colossal, in his words, really a sense of trying to destroy the Ukrainian culture here. Close to 2,000 educational institutions destroyed since the beginning of the war by the Russians, universities, primary schools and kindergartens.

We saw it was just Saturday -- rather, Friday overnight when in the Kharkiv region, that is where that cultural center was blown up and targeted by the Russians. The president making the case here that the Russians are not only pursuing killing civilians and seizing territory, but also destroying the very fabric of Ukrainian society, the music, the art, the architecture, the language and these educational institutions.

[06:20:01]

And that he makes the case as a part of an attempt at genocide. The president also very candid about the situation on the east, in the Donbas. Saying that it is extremely difficult now as Russians continue to escalate their attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE (through translator): The armed forces of Ukraine are deterring this offensive. Every day that our defenders take away from these offensive plans of Russia, disrupting them is a concrete contribution to the approach of the main day, the desire day that we are all looking forward to and fighting for. Victory day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: A new information from Ukrainian military in the city of Severodonetsk in the east, saying that overnight that city was attacked on four different fronts, yet the Ukrainians were able to hold back the Russians. It really simply underscores the importance of that region and how tough the Ukrainian and the Russian military are fighting to make some headway.

WALKER: All right. Suzanne Malveaux, appreciate your reporting. Good to see you. Thank you very much.

And since the start of the invasion, satellite images have helped the world see the atrocities committed by Russia. After attacks, it is often too dangerous to get a firsthand look of the destruction.

SANCHEZ: Back here in the United States, one satellite company in San Francisco is playing a key role in capturing those images that reveal what's happening. CNN's Gary Tuchman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A picture from space.

MELISSA HANHAM, STANFORD UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND COOPERATION: This is the port town of Mariupol and the steel plant that's been in the news is located here.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Right here.

(voice-over): This image taken from a satellite about 280 miles over earth. This company called Planet has more than 200 satellites in orbit that resemble this one and this one, displayed in its San Francisco headquarters. The satellites can pinpoint just about any location and show it in great detail, like this satellite image of a cemetery in Mariupol which help lead to a horrifying conclusion by this Stanford University military expert, who is a client of Planet.

(on camera): So how do you know these are new graves?

HANHAM: So up here you can see there is trees, there is tombstones, there is little dots that show each plot for each person. Here now -- this is fresh brown dirt. And they've been using bulldozers that we saw in earlier imagery to slowly dig out these trenches around just the town of Mariupol. There are three mass graves and I would say that they are ready for 5,000 bodies or more.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The images captured here are important because they add to what can be an incomplete picture. Remember when the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant was under attack? This video was incomplete at best, leaving a lot of question. There is no hiding the facts but the satellite image.

HANHAM: And here is a convoy of tanks coming through here and military vehicles. They set up bases here. They dug into the radioactive soil. And they dug trenches in here.

TUCHMAN: And then there's another aspect to this war, the continuing destruction of Ukraine's agriculture sector, something that's very hard to capture when trying to photograph from the ground.

(on camera): Let's zoom it in. And this is a couple of weeks ago, you see a grain silo. Ukraine is a very important agricultural country. And let's see what happens a few days later. What happened here?

HANHAM: So, there is a huge gravity bomb dropped here. You can see a kind of concentric circle of ejecta as it hit the dirt, buried and then exploded out. And the explosion was so percussive that it took out these four silos here as well as the grain storage here. And then all this sort of light yellow that you see spread out is wheat.

ANDREW ZOLLI, CHIEF IMPACT OFFICER, PLANET: The food security crisis is a crisis on a crisis. We're going to feel its effects reverberating all over the world in the next year or two. TUCHMAN (voice-over): Planet's clients include the U.S. government and many other governments, also the media, universities and notably humanitarian organizations.

ZOLLI: I have no doubt that our data can and is used today, around the world in Ukraine and well beyond its borders to help support humanitarian efforts, to reduce suffering, to save lives. There's no question of that.

TUCHMAN: Returning back to the most current images of Mariupol, we asked to zoom in but are told that time it is too sensitive to show on TV.

ZOLLI: We just don't want to accidentally reveal information that would compromise these humanitarian efforts.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Planet says its small satellites like these last about three to five years in orbit and take millions of images every single day. The larger satellites don't take as many daily images but the resolution is superior and they last longer, up to eight years in orbit.

[06:25:04]

The company launches about two to five large satellites a year. The smaller satellites up to 80 are launched annually. This is Gary Tuchman, CNN, in San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Gary, thanks so much for that report. Monkeypox has been reported in two new countries. Up next, a warning from President Biden and scientists work to learn more about the spread. Don't go anywhere. We're back in just minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: You know, small businesses and specialty shops take a major hit when it costs more to fill up the gas tank.

SANCHEZ: That is exactly what CNN's Paul Vercammen found when he visited a farmer's market in Los Angeles yesterday.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara, Boris, the mood upbeat as you expect here at a farmer's market in Los Angeles over the weekend but the talk is inflation led by those skyrocketing gasoline prices.

[06:30:09]

Look at the Los Angeles area, just under $6.10 per gallon of gas. That means that vendors are struggling because the ones that come here to this farmers market are telling us tales of I used to pay oh, about $80 round trip to get here, now I'm paying $200.

And so, the vendors have to pass on the prices to the consumers. Very popular Mommy Helen's bakery, they come from San Bernardino, California to serve their goods here. But because the price of sugar is going up, because the price of peaches are going up, that means prices go up and that's hitting the consumers hard.

And here they've been telling us time and time again, this means such things as entertainment or going to the nail salon no longer possible. In a good way, they'd rather save their money for the bakery or the fresh fruits and vegetables. Back you now, Amara, Boris.

SANCHEZ: And Paul Vercammen, thank you so much.

It's time to get a quick look at some of today's top stories. President Biden commented on the threat of monkeypox as he was departing South Korea earlier. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But it is something that everybody should be concerned about. We're working on at heart to figure out what we do and what vaccine if any, may be available for it. But it is a concern in the sense that if it were to spread, it's consequential.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The World Health Organisation says there are now more than 90 confirmed cases of the disease worldwide including one in Massachusetts.

WALKER: The President also says the CDC is working on whether a vaccine might be available for the virus. Monkeypox can cause a rash on the face and body including inside the mouth, and as you see there, on the hands and feet.

And new images this morning are showing the extent of damage after a powerful tornado touchdown in northern Michigan killing two people. The National Weather Service says a tornado that struck the city of Gaylord was an EF3, with a maximum winds of 150 miles per hour. The twister destroyed homes, shops, and retail stores as it moved through the downtown area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIC CUELLETTE, CITY COUNCILMAN, GAYLORD MICHIGAN: When I got outside to see where it was coming from, and I could see the rotation, so I went back in and told my wife we got to get in the basement. And it wasn't long after that that I was looking out one side of the window and she was looking out once into the other side of the house and the house literally lifted off the foundation and smacked her pretty good in the back and the ceiling came down on me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Wow. Well, still to come this morning, she was a Sunday school teacher and head of a local food pantry. But last Saturday, Pearl Young was killed in a racist mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store. We're going to hear from one of her close friends on how he wants her to be remembered. That's next.

[06:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: 77-year-old Pearl Young is one of the 10 victims killed when a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. The Justice Department is investigating the mass shooting as a hate crime and believes it was racially motivated. Pearl will be laid to rest this week.

Joining me now is Jimmie Smith, a longtime family friend who grew up with Pearl Young in the church. Jimmie, good morning to you. I'm so sorry that we have to speak under these circumstances. We were just saying it's been over a week now since that massacre, and your good friend will be buried. I think you said it will be on Wednesday. How are you doing and how are you processing your loss in this horrific attack?

JIMMIE SMITH, FRIEND OF BUFFALO SHOOTING VICTIM PEARL YOUNG: Well, thank you for allowing me to be on and to speak on the life of Pearl Young, mother Pearl Young. I'm in the fight. I'm in the fight because I feel like, you know, her life was so precious as a person. All 10 of them were Beautiful people. And they were family members.

And she meant so much to her church, the Church of God in Christ -- Good Samaritan Church of God Christ where she taught Sunday school. And she was a pillar in the community. And so, I'm doing OK, but it's really about the victims and the family because the city of Buffalo is really going through something right now.

People are scared to go outside. They don't want to go to the grocery store. So, it's really tough on people right now.

WALKER: Yes. I do want to talk about how the community is coping. But you know, I was just looking at those photos of Pearl Young, and I mean, just her smile says a lot. You know, she looks like a gentle and such a kind soul. How are you going to be remembering her? How would you like for us to remember her?

I know that one of her cousins I read described her to be to have a servant's heart and I know you're saying she's been the pillar of the community.

SMITH: Yes, I want us to remember her by changing or causing a hate crime bill to be passed for black people in America. I want us to remember her by the fact that for over 25 years she had a food pantry in the Central Park Plaza where she was feeding people. She was a servant's heart. She was always in church, always seeing her praising the Lord with a lot of energy and loving people.

[06:40:22]

And she knew the word. She knew everything about the bylaws of the church. So, she was an educated woman. She knew about life and how to live life. And for her to lose her life coming from a prayer breakfast, coming from a prayer breakfast from a young a young man who's carrying out an agenda, who's committing this hate crime against Black people, I want us to remember her life and the other nine by just as being served.

WALKER: Yes. And back to your community. Jimmie, you know, some may not know that Tops was crucial to the community. It was symbolic, right, especially in this predominantly Black neighborhood that fought for many years to get such a supermarket, to have access to fresh food. And now it's been targeted and ravaged by, you know, what authority is calling a hate-filled massacre.

How does your community move forward? What are they feeling right now? What does the future hold?

SMITH: Yes, well, they're trying to really come together. And I wouldn't just to come in the city of Buffalo, I'm actually flying out in the morning to be there to get a part of helping and doing whatever I can. But they're coming together. They're passing out food. They're trying to help the mayor, Byron Brown, they're given out care packages, and they're doing all they can to heal.

Like I said, there's so many people right now -- I mean, kids are even afraid to go to school. Some of them are asking their parents if they can stay home because they feel like they have to, you know, kind of look over their back to -- you know, they're not sure how many other young 18 year olds feel the same way. So, they're trying to heal and they're pulling together.

But Buffalo New York, even though we're a small city, we are a very strong city, strong in faith, strong in prayer. But we are -- we've had enough. Enough is enough, and we're really trying to move forward, but we want to see change.

WALKER: I'm sorry for the fear. Obviously very understandable but tragic, obviously. Jimmie Smith, I appreciate you joining us this morning. Thank you.

SMITH: Thank you.

WALKER: We'll be right back.

[06:45:00]

WALKER: A Maine fisherman may have a solution to minimise the impacts of climate change.

SANCHEZ: It's all part of a contest put on by Elon Musk to help remove carbon emissions from the sky. CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir has that story.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): To avoid cascading disaster, science agrees that it won't be enough just to stop using fossil fuels. Humanity must remove trillions of tonnes of planet cooking pollution already in our seas and sky. And whoever figures out how to do that might just get $100 million from Elon Musk. ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA AND SPACEX: You know sometimes people say, well just plant a bunch of trees. And like that's what's so easy. You need a fertilizer. You're going to water them. Where's the water going to come from? What habitat are you potentially destroying where the trees used to be.

WEIR: With his year-old carbon XPRIZE, the controversial billionaire says he wants to lure out the geniuses who will figure out how to capture and store carbon dioxide on massive scales.

MARTY ODLIN, CEO RUNNING TIDE: It's a Godzilla. It's burning forests down. It's stealing our fish.

WEIR: And among the finalists is a humble fisherman from Maine.

ODLIN: There's this thing out there and it's like ruining everything that we love, right? All the good stuff is getting ruined.

WEIR: Your dream was to have a boat?

ODLIN: Yes, I just wanted a boat. I really just wanted a boat. There just aren't any mackerel. Like, they're all -- they're all -- they swam north, they swam east and they're now probably up in Iceland.

WEIR: With his beloved Gulf of Maine getting warmer and more acidic by the day, Marty Odlin quick chasing mackerel, built a team of geniuses, and went fishing for carbon dioxide with seaweed because kelp grows and gobble CO2 much faster than trees. It needs no land or fertiliser. And when it sinks to the deep ocean, the carbon can be locked away for 1000 years.

But kelp needs sunlight and something to hold on to. So, Marty, who is also an engineer, went to the drawing board, and he settled on floating thousands of high-tech buoys in the North Atlantic, each holding a little kelp forest, while the ring of limestone serves as the antacid for the ocean. Solar power runs a camera and instruments connected to the cloud. And when a crop is cuts, and falls into the deep, Marty gets a carbon credit from a billion-dollar fund set up by Canadian ecommerce giant Shopify.

You have a couple of high-profile investors behind you. Do you think that it'll be enough if government can get its act together?

ODLIN: No.

WEIR: This has to be --

ODLIN: It's just the math. People spend billions of dollars to see if there's an oilfield, right? And what we're trying to do is build the oil industry in reverse.

[06:50:05]

WEIR: He imagines the Portland docks coming back to life to capture carbon the way they once built ships to beat Hitler. ODLIN: It's a race that no one loses as long as someone wins. Like, I don't care. Like, you know, like, as long as somebody wins this race, like cool, right? I don't care who moves the most of it.

WEIR: So, he's thrilled to see competition like Beth Zoeller (PH) among the Silicon Valley startups, betting on big kelp.

So, if you end up being the Henry Ford of carbon to seaweed, this is your Model A I guess.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly, yes. This is -- this is Gen One.

WEIR: She envisions massive seaweed farms anchored closer to shore. But since rope can tangle sea mammals, her team invented a whale-safe scaffolding screwed in place by underwater drones, and fed by upwellers that use wave energy to spin up nutrients and cold water from the deep.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amanda and Beth have two offers on the table for their seaweed-based bacon company.

WEIR: And before her crops are hauled and dumped, another one of her companies will extract the plant protein and turn it into meat alternatives. I'll do that deal.

ODLIN: What are we waiting for? We're waiting for all the fish to go away. I've seen enough go away. Do I have to wait for -- it doesn't have to be completely dead before we get our act together and I -- but you see, I think all this anxiety, all this frustration that people have is just because we haven't been unleashed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Fascinating story there by CNN's Bill Weir.

Well, and tonight's episode of "NOMAD" with Carlton McCoy, Carlton heads to the coastal nation of Ghana. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARLTON MCCOY, CNN HOST: This is beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I love your tats.

MCCOY: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Love, love, love.

MCCOY: I try to get a tattoo every country --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everywhere you go?

MCCOY: Like where I --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Same here.

MCCOY: So, it's from (INAUDIBLE), a very old fully tattooed corpse. That's the goal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MCCOY: And luckily I'm bald, so I got more territory.

I've been invited to a weekly gathering of friends.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That looks good.

MCCOY: That looks incredible. I know this is like -- it seems very basic, but I love fried calamari. I always have.

Young Ghanaians helping to shape the future of their city and country. Each and every one doing their part to build a better Ghana.

I think one thing that I've appreciated about Ghana is the fact that so many like intelligent, talented people like stay here. Like, why do you think that is?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a beautiful place. And I think also family and friends, you know.

MCCOY: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I think we have the strong organic solidarity.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Catch the all-new episode of nomad with Carlton McCoy tonight at 10:00 right here on CNN.

SANCHEZ: Tiger Woods' future in golf is now in doubt. He pulled out of today's final round of the PGA Championship after an ugly day yesterday. You're sports update back after a quick break.

[06:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: So, Tiger Woods has withdrawn from the PGA Championship after playing the worst round he's ever had at that tournament.

WALKER: Yes, Coy Wire has this morning's Bleacher Report. Hi there, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Hi, Amara and Boris. Tiger hadn't withdrawn from the tournament in 26 years as a pro, but he was in a lot of pain at Southern Hills in Tulsa yesterday. He decided he had enough. After power on his way to making the cut on Friday, Tiger limping his way through that third round, shooting the nine over par 79, down the water at times.

And in this next shot, nobody knew where it went. Finally, they ended up finding it jammed up under the turf. Tiger hasn't committed to play in the next major at the U.S. Open next month. But he has said he has plans to play in the British Open in July. Tiger finishing 21 shots behind the leader. But just being out there at all is impressive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RORY MCILROY, 4-TIME MAJOR CHAMPION: If not have been me, you know, I would have been considering pulling out and just going home. But you know, Tiger, he's different and he's proved he's different.

SHAUN NORRIS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: He grinds through everything and he pushes himself even through all the pain in there. It's not easy to see a guy like him have to go through that and struggle like that. But you know, he's swinging it nicely and I think he'll be back once he's gets back to normal health and sought out all the problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right, some shockers at the top of the PGA Championship leaderboard. Chili's Mito Pereira has a three-stroke lead entering today's final round. The top four in the leaderboard, get this, not only looking for their first major, but their first PGA Tour win period.

All right, let's go to Boston. Game three of NBAs Eastern Conference Finals where the Heat were waxing the Celtics, 26-point lead in the first half. Speaking of wax, how slick are the floors in Boston? P.J. Tucker is on a never-ending slipping slide. The Heat lead started to slide as well when their superstar Jimmy Butler leaves the game for good at halftime with a knee injury.

And the Celtics. they take advantage. They bring it within one late in the fourth. But Heat center Bam Adebayo finally waking up this series, 31 points, 10 rebounds. Miami holding off with a 109-103 win. game four is tomorrow night in Boston.

Tonight, 9:00 Eastern on our sister channel TNT, Steph Curry and the Warriors looking like they might take that three-old series lead the way they've been playing against Luka Doncic and the Mavs.

Finally, from the this exists file, the European tramdriver championship. 25 teams,19 nations competing in seven different events testing their skills like the perfectly timed stop, even bowling 47,000 people on hand to watch. Five and a half hours of a live feed on YouTube. This is the tenth annual championship and it's Hannover taking the price.

We humans, we love to compete. We have cheese rolling, we have spouse carrying, we have beer chugging, we have walking, and yes, we have tramdriving championship.

WALKER: What? What? I've never heard of that. Thanks for that, Coy. Coy Wire. The next hour of NEW DAY starts right now.

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