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Trouble On Capitol Hill; U.S. Senate Projections From Georgia; The Potential For Artificial Intelligence In Recycling. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired January 07, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hi. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10, your objective explanation of world events.
Trouble at the U.S. Capitol leads off today`s show. Yesterday, lawmakers from the House of Representatives and the Senate met to formally count the
Electoral College votes from November`s presidential election. While that process was playing out, thousands of people gathered in Washington, D.C.,
to rally in support of U.S. President Donald Trump who addressed the crowd on Wednesday afternoon.
Afterward, demonstrators marched to the Capitol building and some of them began pushing back police. Then, a group of protesters characterized as a
mob by witnesses breached the barrier outside the Capitol and forced their way into the building. It was put on lockdown.
Vice President Mike Pence who was there for the vote count was evacuated, along with House and Senate leaders. Lawmakers were told to shelter in
place. Some parts of the capitol building including the Office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were damaged. Gunshots were fired at one point and
officials said a woman had died though there weren`t a lot of details on that last night.
A little after 2:30 in the afternoon, President Trump sent out a tweet telling people to support law enforcement and stay peaceful. He sent a
similar tweet a little more than half an hour later, but current and former politicians Republicans and Democrats pressured the president to do more to
encourage an end to the situation.
At around 4:15, he spoke in a video disputing the results of the election again but also telling his supporters at the Capitol that law and order
were necessary and that it was time for them to go home in peace.
Law enforcement workers continued clearing out the capital and as the sun went down Wednesday evening, a capitol official said the building had been
secured.
President-elect Joe Biden, along with dozens of American and international politicians, said they were deeply troubled by yesterday`s events and
lawmakers there then got back to work trying to decide how to move forward on the electoral vote count.
OK, that`s one political headline from the United States. The other we`re covering today concerns U.S. Senate results from the state of Georgia. It
looks like Democrats have won both of the Senate races there. On Tuesday night, as results came in, CNN and other media organizations projected that
Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock defeated incumbent Republican Senate candidate Kelly Loeffler.
Yesterday, with 98 percent of the results in from the Peach State, Reverend Warnock had received 50.8 percent of the vote, while Senator Loffler had
received 49.2 percent. So a very thin margin between these two candidates and it was even thinner in Georgia`s other Senate race.
As of yesterday evening, Democratic Senate challenger Jon Ossoff had gotten 50.4 percent of the vote while Republican Senate incumbent David Perdue had
gotten 49.6 percent. But enough of the votes were in for CNN and other media organizations to project that Ossoff had won that race.
Based on results from the November 3rd presidential election, the two Democrats projected victories give their party 50 seats in the 100-member
Senate to match the 50 seats held by Republicans. But analysts say that effectively gives the Democrats control of the Senate because any votes
that split 50-50 will have the tie broken by the vice president and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is a Democrat.
So if these results are all certified, Democrats will control the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House, and that will make it
easier for them to pass the laws they want without having to compromise with a Republican-led Senate.
President-elect Biden has said his first priority will be to decrease the spread and death rate from COVID-19, and that`s a challenge leaders are
facing around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
In 1980, the city of Woodbury New Jersey, became the nation`s first to have what?
Tiny house community, curbside recycling program, nuclear power plant or personal computer store.
1980 was when Woodbury launched the nation`s first mandatory recycling program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Today`s next story has us down in the dumps, or should I say the dumpsters.
The U.S. government estimates that each American throws away a little less than five pounds of garbage every day. This works out to more than 290
million tons nationwide every year, a little less than a quarter of that, around 70 million tons of waste, is recycled and one challenge for American
cities is in scheduling the pickups from recycling bins.
The way to do this efficiently is when the bins are full. But with dozens of these things located around a given area, how do you keep track?
Dumpster cameras can help with this, but the type you`re about to see cost businesses between $10 and $20 per month per dumpster. Are they worth it?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON GATES, CEO, COMPOLOGY: Once somebody puts their used coffee cup or cardboard box in the recycling, they never think about the complexity and
the infrastructure that it takes to remove that material.
RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United States has a recycling problem. Since China stopped buying millions of tons of American
recycling in 2018, the U.S. has struggled to come up with a long-term solution.
The EPA says one of the biggest challenges is contamination. The recycling process can break down if trash gets mixed in with recyclable material.
GATES: If the material is contaminated and we`re not able to reuse it, we have to send that material to landfills.
CRANE: To help combat the problem, Compology installs cameras in its clients` dumpsters and uses artificial intelligence to detect contamination
in real time. If it does, the client gets an alert to remove it.
How do you train an AI system to make sense of a literal pile of trash?
GATES: We use the most advanced machine learning techniques called neural networks. We take pictures three to five times a day. We track the fullness
the type of material going inside it and when that container is serviced.
The more images that we get of the inside of dumpsters, the more accurate we can be.
CRANE: The company`s clients include Nordstrom, Capital One, Starbucks, ADT and McDonald`s.
BRENT BOHN, MCDONALD`S FRANCHISEE: Our restaurant managers receive a notification anytime we have an instance of a violation. So this technology
really helps to educate our people in a very quick way.
CRANE: The cameras also detect how much waste goes in a trash or recycling bin. That helps ensure dump trucks only empty them when full, which in turn
saves clients money on pickups.
BOHN: Our initial blush has seen a reduction in our waste spending.
CRANE: Fewer pickups also mean dump trucks spend less time driving and that results in lower carbon emissions.
BOHN: Across the Las Vegas valley, we`ve been able to reduce our carbon footprint by over 800 truck miles traveled, in that process reducing CO2
emissions by 32 metric tons.
CRANE: Compology says it has 162,000 cameras snapping photos and dumpsters across the country, but it`s still a small dent in the recycling industry`s
problems. Experts agree, better consumer education is critical.
GATES: It`s really important to be able to understand what`s going on inside your dumpster in order to improve your behaviors around recycling
and reducing the amount of waste going to landfills.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: If you`ve ever owned one of these, you`ve probably dropped one of these. And the first question usually asked afterward is, does it still
work?
But we doubt that`s what a Brazilian filmmaker asked when one of them slipped out of his hand while he was flying about two thousand feet above a
beach. The amazing thing is not only did it still work, here`s CNN`s Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Next time you drop your cell phone, think of this guy.
Talk about a dropped call.
But Brazilian documentary maker, Ernesto Galiotto, wanted to use his phone, not lose it, as he shot the beaches of Rio de Janeiro. But when he took one
hand off, the phone took off.
Ernesto got a little annoyed. Here`s how it looked from the phone`s point of view. A blurry spinning, 19 seconds later. The iPhone 6 landed.
Amid the beach grass, the next day, Ernesto used the Find My Phone app and actually found it.
You`d say, thank you, too, if your phone fell out of a plane and still worked with only minor damage to the screen protector and case.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Well, that`s a new definition for a dropped call. But going to look for it was easily the right call because while most smartphones can only
make calls, record video check traffic and look stuff up. That one can fly y`all and it sets a new bar for smartphone durability.
I`m Carl Azuz.
Some of you are watching from the Oklahoma City of Cushing. How do we know? Because Cushing High School subscribed and left a comment at
youtube.com/CNN10.
Thanks for watching, everyone. We`ll see you tomorrow.
END
