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Hawaiian Islands Under Hurricane Warning as Tropical Storm Lala Gains Strength; Large Earthquakes Cause Devastation on Indonesian Island; Man in New York Arrested and Charged with Multiple Hate Crimes after Disrupting Service at Synagogue in Manhattan; President Trump Draws Controversy for Dismissing Concerns U.S. Servicemembers Spending Too Much Time Deployed at Sea on USS Abraham Lincoln Due to Iran War; Family of Luigi Mangione Absent from Court as He Pleads Guilty to Federal Stalking Charges in Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson; Democratic Party Announces New Presidential Primary Schedule for 2028; New York Knicks Star Jalen Brunson Discusses Foundation He Co-Founded with His Mother; New Material Preventing Airplanes from Overshooting Runways. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired August 15, 2026 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:00:32]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking news. Hawaii's Big Island under a hurricane warning this hour as a strengthening tropical storm takes aim at the island chain. Heavy rain, damaging winds, and dangerous surf are expected in the hours to come.
Plus, quote, "not nearly long enough." President Trump outright dismisses growing concerns over the length of deployment of sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
And, later, star power. New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and his mom, Sandra, sit down with CNN, opening up about his basketball journey and how they're working to change the game for the next generation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.
WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
We begin with breaking news, a third powerful earthquake has rocked Indonesia, this one with a 5.7 magnitude. It hit just hours after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake quake struck off the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia, and another 6.9 magnitude quake rattled a northern region of the country.
New video shows some of the devastation from the first and strongest quake, a building turned into rubble. At least 47 people were killed. CNN's Gage Goulding has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just minutes before the sun rose over Flores Island Saturday morning, a major earthquake shook the northern Indonesian island. Registering 7.7 magnitude, the quake crumbled buildings and sent local residents screaming, running for higher ground, many of them still sleeping.
NONA, VILLAGER IN INDONESIA (through translator): The quake was massive. The shock was so strong. We were resting at home with family. There were 13 of us inside the house and we all ran to save ourselves.
GOULDING: From a ship docked at the port, you can see a building collapsing. In town, the walls of a local hospital were damaged, and tourists climbing to a peak in Komodo National Park on Padar Island. You can see them swaying as the earth is shaking beneath them.
Now rescue crews are facing the dangerous and daunting task of digging out those trapped in the rubble.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Basarnas special group is also prepared to deploy an advanced team using Indonesian air force facilities to carry out necessary measures on the ground and rescue lives affected by the disaster.
GOULDING: Their work is no easy task, grinding through steel and moving concrete debris. But there's another threat -- aftershocks. In the hours after the quake, more than 37 aftershocks were recorded, some as strong as 6.2 magnitude, all while the 48 hour timeframe, known as the golden window to get to victims, is slowly ticking by.
Gage Goulding, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Gage.
All right, turning now to Hawaii, where they are bracing for what could be the state's first hurricane landfall in decades. Tropical storm Lala is strengthening as it approaches the Big Island where it's expected to bring dangerous surf and torrential rainfall of up to two feet. And you can see in this video right here the massive waves already churning. Storm alerts are in effect for several islands, including Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu. Meteorologist Melissa Nord brings us the latest updates on the storm's path.
MELISSA NORD, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We are watching Lala's movements hour by hour as it gets closer to that landfall later on today. And if it does, indeed, the center of it pass over the Big Island, the southern tip of it, it will be the first time ever to see a hurricane landfall on the Big Island of Hawaii, and more than three decades since we've seen any hurricane landfall across the state of Hawaii.
And as we get closer to landfall, the winds increase, and also the rainfall amounts are really picking up as well, especially across the elevation driven topography where we can see on the windward side of some of these islands, really the moisture getting squeezed out. So you can see Lala very close to the southern tip of the Big Island later this evening. And then for Sunday, passing south of the other islands, but still dropping some pretty good rainfall amounts, over six inches, half a foot in those islands. Elevation plays a role in those rains as well. The eastern side of the Big Island easily 10 to 20 inches of rainfall. That will lead to life threatening flash flooding, and also that could lead to mudslides as well.
[14:05:6]
So we're watching that and watching the winds in some of these highest elevations. We can see some of the wind speeds. The max wind gusts be up to 30 percent higher than those right along the ocean, right along the oceanfront.
So here in the red dot, that will be close to where landfall is, where the hurricane force winds will stay contained. But you can see the yellow circle on the map. That's the wind-field of all the tropical storm force gusts of at least 39 miles per hour or higher. Sunday throughout the day, easily getting to tropical storm force gusts along the other islands.
WHITFIELD: All right, Melissa Nord, thanks so much.
All right, joining me right now from Honolulu on the island of Oahu is NOAA meteorologist Ian Morrison. Ian, great to see you. I mean, what are your concerns about Lala's impact, particularly on the Big Island, which is really so diverse with a variety of beaches, you've got lush rainforests, two active volcanoes, plus farmlands.
IAN MORRISON, NOAA METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Good morning. Yes, the Big Island is quite diverse, especially with the, the terrain is, goes from sea level all the way up to 14,000 feet on our two volcanoes on that island. But for impacts, we're looking at the kind of the triple threat of the wind, the rain, and the coastal inundation from the large waves of Lala.
WHITFIELD: And what are you most concerned about, you know, with the complications of the, and the variety of the terrain there?
MORRISON: Well, the terrain really will enhance the winds, both in the winds and the rainfall. We're going to see on, I mean, Lala right now is at a 65 mile per hour intensity. But as those winds interact with that kind of extensive terrain, you're going to see accelerations upwards of 80 to 90 miles per hour, as well as the rainfall. We're seeing some large amounts of rain right now on the northeast side of the island, especially a little bit upper slopes from the coastline where we're seeing anywhere from six inches in areas and upwards of 13 inches at the highest points.
WHITFIELD: We're all so familiar with the reporting of the Atlantic hurricane weather pattern and its impact, particularly along, you know, the east coast and the gulf coast of the United States. But what do people need to know about how it is different or similar when we're talking about the Pacific storm system?
MORRISON: Right. Well, um, for our area around Hawaii, the central Pacific, I'd say its pretty comparable to the storms you'll see in the Atlantic. But this usually will have much less in, in our area, maybe a few storms per year will pass through the central Pacific. But this year, being a very strong El Nino year, our sea surface temperatures are much warmer than average. So anywhere from three to five degrees warmer than average. And our vertical wind shear is also lessened during an El Nino time. So those two critical factors are what we're expecting a much larger numbers as of the storms for the season.
WHITFIELD: What kind of preparations would be underway? Oftentimes during the Atlantic hurricane season you see sandbags, you see you know, um, would you know, or hurricane shutters going up on windows. What would the preparations be looking like there?
MORRISON: Yes, it's all the same thing here in Hawaii, preparing your home for both the wind threat and the rain threat, as well as any coastal inundation threats as well. So it's very similar to the Atlantic and preparations in those sense.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ian Morrison, thank you so much. We'll be watching. Appreciate it, and check back with you when we can.
MORRISON: All right. Great.
WHITFIELD: All the best.
All right, New York police say a man has been arrested and charged with multiple hate crimes after disrupting a service and injuring a woman at a synagogue in Manhattan Friday. CNNs Rafael Romo is following this story for us. Rafael, what have you learned?
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Well, the good news is that this morning, the congregation was able to go back to the temple. But a central synagogue in Manhattan was holding shabbat services Friday night when suddenly chaos broke out after, according to authorities, a man entered the building and started yelling and assaulting congregants and security staff.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: A clip from the synagogue's livestream obtained by CNN affiliate WCBS shows how congregants scrambled as shouts of panic erupted while a security guard is seen trying to restrain the suspect as he barreled down the aisle. Police say the suspect also damaged synagogue property and spat and headbutted a member of the synagogue's security team as he was being escorted out of the building.
[14:10:07]
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch identified the suspect as 46-year-old Larry Montes from the Bronx. She also said the suspect has now been charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime, hate crime, and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime, among other charges. "I have spoken with the rabbi of the synagogue, and I'm relieved that
no one was seriously injured," Commissioner Tisch said on a post -- in a post on X. She added that "Those who were hurt were evaluated at the scene and are doing well. There are no known additional threats at this time, and additional NYPD resources have been deployed the synagogue. The investigation is ongoing."
Once the situation was under control and the suspect was led away by security, congregants described moments of fear and panic to CNN affiliate WCBS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN ROAN, INCIDENT WITNESS: He was screaming and yelling. I heard a loud pop, and the first thing I heard -- we thought it was a gun.
ARLYNN GREENBAUM, INCIDENT WITNESS: When I saw he was unarmed, I mean, he was just ranting and raving and yelling, and he looked like a maniac. But I wanted to go undercover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a post on X that "This despicable act has no place in our city, and our administration will do everything in our power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe." The motive behind Friday's attack remains unclear, but data shows antisemitic assaults have been rising in the United States. According to a May report by the Anti-Defamation League, there are, -- there were nearly 6,300 incidents of antisemitic assaults, harassment, and vandalism in 2025, an average of 17 incidents per day. But vandalism and harassment declined substantially from the previous year, resulting in a 33 percent decline in all types of incidents recorded by the ADF.
Central Synagogue Rabbi Andrew Kaplan Mandel opened the service this morning by saying the congregation is grateful to be safe and won't, quote, "allow anyone to rob us of our intention on shabbat." Like I said at the beginning, the good news is that they were able to be back and everybody is OK.
WHITFIELD: That is good news. All right, Rafael Romo, thank you so much.
ROMO: Of course.
WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, President Trump threatening to declare the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory as another vessel comes under attack.
Plus, the president dismissing reports about deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln where sailors have not stepped foot on dry land in more than 200 days.
And, quote, "I almost died." A terrifying look into the explosion of performance enhancing drugs among teens and the devastating addiction one boy survived. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So how many times are you injecting yourself, like in a week?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daily. I'd say for that big cycle, probably around like 12 times per day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Per day, you were injecting yourself about 12 times? Oh, my god.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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WHITFIELD: Happening right now, new escalation in the Strait of Hormuz after President Trump said he plans to declare it a U.S. territory after Iran is defeated. Just a short time ago, the UAE saying a vessel was attacked in the strait as Iran warned the key waterway, quote, "cannot be seized with a tweet."
Meantime, there is more fallout after President Trump dismissed the extended deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln amid reports of terrible conditions on the vessel. CNNs Julia Benbrook is live for us in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, near President Trump's Bedminster estate. Julia, first, what's the latest on the strait?
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Strait of Hormuz, it remains a key area of focus during this now nearly six-month long conflict. While Iran in recent weeks has laid out a list of demands it wants the United States to fulfill in order to fully reopen the critical waterway, President Donald Trump remains adamant. He has insisted that the United States is already in full control of that strait.
Now, I was at that event yesterday where he made these remarks about making the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory after the United States is finished defeating Iran. That last part there a direct quote. I want you to take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: And after we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated. Pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Essentially, that's what -- we have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BENBROOK: We do know that some within the president's inner circle have been looking for ways to end this conflict. Recent CNN reporting found that the chairman of the joint chiefs, General Caine, had privately made clear to other top officials that the United States should be looking for some sort of an offramp here. Those recent comments from Trump himself, though, appear to indicate that the rhetoric, at least, is still escalating. And in recent days, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, he told reporters that the U.S. military can maintain a naval presence in the Middle East indefinitely to enforce its blockade there.
[14:20:11]
And he has said that they're prepared to do that as long as needed.
WHITFIELD: OK. And, Julia, you know, what more can you share on the state, the condition of the USS Lincoln today?
BENBROOK: The USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed, has been assisting with operations there in the Middle East for nearly nine months now. And a crew member who spoke with CNN made it clear that the morale is very low at this point and that there's often a strain on some of the necessary amenities. Family members have also been voicing concerns about their loved ones that are on board that ship. Trump was asked specifically about this yesterday, and he seemed to dismiss some of those concerns, as he said that the lengthy deployment was really not long enough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has the deployment gone on too long?
DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: No, no, no. Not nearly long enough. Thank you everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BENBROOK: And after he made those remarks there, he abruptly turned and went to go aboard Air Force One.
Now, he did also say that the Lincoln would be leaving the region sometime soon and that it would be replaced with a very similar ship. Several Democratic lawmakers have been voicing concerns, trying to bring awareness to some of those family members and their stories, just asking for more answers about the current conditions.
WHITFIELD: All right, Julia Benbrook, thank you so much.
All right, coming up, quote, "I shot Mr. Thompson and he died." Luigi Mangione bombshell admission in the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. Why his family, Mangione's family, has been absent and largely silent.
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WHITFIELD: All right, new details in the case against Luigi Mangione. His attorneys are now seeking to get second degree murder and weapons charges dismissed in his state case. They filed the motion after Mangione's appearance in federal court yesterday, where he pled guilty to stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione addressed the court, saying, quote, "I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died. I knew what I was doing was illegal."
The Manhattan district attorney's office says it intends to fight the defense motion to dismiss the state charges on double jeopardy grounds. Mangione' federal sentencing is set for December 18th.
And noticeably absent at all of Mangione's hearing so far, his family. We get more on that from CNN's Danny Freeman.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty in open court to stalking and killing healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Thompson's family sat nearby in anguish listening to their loved one's killer.
JAMIE MCDONALD, U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: We all stand in awe of their love for their family and for their friend and their unwavering commitment to seeing justice done in this case.
FREEMAN: In contrast, Mangione's family once again did not show up to support the 28-year-old now convicted killer.
MCDONALD: There can be no celebrity in assassination.
FREEMAN: Since the moment Mangione was identified as the suspect in this case, his family has largely kept quiet and out of the spotlight, never attending any court hearings. The only public statement released by the family coming hours after his arrest in December 2024. Quote, "Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi's arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson, and we ask people to pray for all involved."
Experts say it's very unusual for no relatives to show up in court even when a defendant's been accused of heinous crimes.
STACY SCHNEIDER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: As defense attorneys, we actually contact the family and ask them to show up to all the court hearings because having a family sitting behind a defendant in the first row humanizes them in front of the jury, but also in front of the judge who's making all these pretrial motions about this person.
FREEMAN: Mangione's family is well off and from Baltimore. According to "The Baltimore Sun," his grandfather built a real estate empire that included nursing home facilities around Maryland and two country clubs. The Mangione family also runs a foundation that has nearly $4.5 million in assets and were longtime benefactors of Loyola University Maryland. And weeks before the shooting, Mangione's mother called in a missing person report for her son. And she told authorities she'd called him repeatedly, but the voicemail was full.
During his first court appearance in Pennsylvania, Mangione told a judge he had been in contact with his family, quote, "until recently." Now, any chance at being spared life in prison may depend on his family speaking out at sentencing.
SCHNEIDER: Families usually do speak up. They talk about the goodness in somebody, what kind of person they'd been in the community before they committed the crime, what kind of backstory they have, what kind of trauma they've had in their lives. And if they don't speak up then, then all we know about Luigi Mangione is basically what we've seen in the news and what we've read in his so-called manifesto.
FREEMAN: Now, one other thing that that defense attorney points out is that if Mangione's family does speak out at sentencing, they might be able to potentially shed some light on that back injury that Mangione's attorney spent so much time focusing on back on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Thompson family called the plea and important step toward justice, and the U.S. attorney noted that, of course, Thompson's family will have an opportunity to be heard at sentencing as well.
[14:30:04]
Danny Freeman, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, Danny, thanks so much.
Still ahead, the new technology rolling out at some airports to prevent disasters on the runways and potentially save lives.
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[14:34:58]
WHITFIELD: A dramatic shakeup for Democrats as they look to take back the White House. Just moments ago, the Democratic National Convention officially approved its 2028 primary election calendar during their meeting in Texas. It's the party's first change to the primary schedule in decades, and it means Iowa and New Hampshire will no longer be the first states to vote for candidates. Instead, South Carolina will get the first contest on January 22nd, followed by Nevada on February 1st and then New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan, and Virginia will round out the early states voting through February.
CNN's senior political analyst, "Bloomberg" opinion columnist Ron Brownstein is with us now. Great to see you, Ron. So, I mean, what is the potential impact here, especially since South Carolina has served as a key test for candidates support among black voters, particularly South Carolina was pivotal in revitalizing President Biden's campaign in 2020. Are there any potential candidates this may help or hurt?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: This is probably the most important thing that will happen in 2026 to shape the 2028 Democratic presidential race. You know, it was 1972 when Democrats shifted control for picking the nominees from party bosses at the quadrennial convention to voters and caucuses and primaries. And as you note, from all the way from then until 2020, every time the kickoff was Iowa and New Hampshire, two preponderantly white, heavily rural states that grew increasingly unrepresentative of the Democratic coalition.
They changed the calendar in 24, but it didn't really matter because Biden didn't have a competitive race. This will be the first time that we will have a competitive Democratic race since 1972 that was not fundamentally shaped by those two states. And to give you an idea of how important those two states have been, only one person ever has won the Democratic nomination over that long span without finishing at least first or second.
So now you have a much more racially diverse calendar with South Carolina and Nevada leading off. And you also have a calendar, Fred, that I think is very -- is considered by people in both kind of wings of the party to be very well balanced between left and center. South Carolina is a state that has favored centrists. So is Virginia, the last state in this early sequence. Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico are considered more favorable to candidates on the left. And that leaves Michigan, where we saw again last week that left and center are almost evenly balanced as the Stevens-El-Sayed battle for the nomination showed. So you got a very competitive calendar that I think at a time when the DNC has gotten a lot of flak on a lot of issues, is getting really good marks across the party.
WHITFIELD: All right, that's long term. Now, in the short term, you've got the midterm elections, now just 81 days away. But right now there are still some internal struggles with Democrats about identity and the push within the party. DSA, or Democratic Socialists of America, is a real force this election season. Do moderates really feel threatened? At the same time, others are saying that they feel like there's a real invigoration taking place right now. So which is it?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I think there's both. I mean, look, there's both an ideological struggle going on in the party, but there's also a generational transition that is going on in the party that transcends ideology. I mean, I think after the very dispiriting conclusion for Democrats of the Biden presidency, the desire for a younger generation of leaders is overwhelming.
And then you have this ideological tussle. I mean, this is -- I've been covering national politics since the 1980s, and this is by far the most consequential Democratic, number of Democratic primaries that I've seen in the time I've been writing about politics. So far, for the most part, the left's gains have come predominantly still in places that are safely blue, like those three New York districts where the Mamdani candidates won, or in Denver. What makes Michigan and Abdul El-Sayed so important is that it's one of the few genuinely swing states or districts where the left candidate, and he is not a DSA, not a socialist, but is in that kind of Bernie Sanders progressive wing, it's one of the few places where they were given the ball. And the left has been saying for years, if you nominate us, we can win these places. It's going to be, I think, very revealing and very important for how much momentum or not the left goes into the 28 presidential primaries with to see not only whether he wins, but how he compares to the more centrist nominee the Democrats chose for governor, Jocelyn Benson.
WHITFIELD: Yes. All right, really revealing, very good words to apply here. All right, Ron Brownstein, thank you so much.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, he just brought a championship back to New York. But Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson says his biggest play is actually happening off the court. What he told CNN about the legacy that he's building next.
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[14:44:41]
WHITFIELD: It has been a whirlwind summer for Knicks star Jalen Brunson, who went from hoisting an NBA championship trophy straight to the operating table. Who knew that he played and scored big in that championship game with an injured left wrist?
[14:45:00]
The Finals MVP just opened up about all of it with our Omar Jimenez, who joins us right now. I mean, he's had quite the ride, as have you. I feel like you have now embraced --
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not quite to that level.
WHITFIELD: -- an official Knicks reporter. How did this come about?
(LAUGHTER)
JIMENEZ: Not quite to winning a championship level, though I can still dream. This is great, but would I rather have a Larry O'Brien Trophy? Of course.
No, this came about where, you know, I've been covering the Knicks over the course of their Finals run from New York City, covering a lot of the fan excitement, the city excitement, the historic nature of it, too.
But obviously the captain, through all of it, has been Jalen Brunson. And, you know, he was someone who, if you looked at him when he was first drafted, despite having won two national championships at Villanova, he was someone who was widely overlooked. You know, second round pick. Thought to do well. You're still an NBA player, but not quite expected to be this superstar. And that was also the basis of his foundation, the second round foundation, playing off of the fact he was drafted in the second round, trying to make sure that kids out in the world are not overlooked in the same way he felt he was overlooked in sports.
So we talked about all of that.
WHITFIELD: Parallels, yes.
JIMENEZ: But then also from a basketball perspective, there was a big change in the eastern conference in terms of LeBron James and Philadelphia. So that is where we started the conversation.
WHITFIELD: And then there's that.
JIMENEZ: Yes.
WHITFIELD: OK, let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JIMENEZ: Jalen, what does that mean to you, "overlooked"?
JALEN BRUNSON, KNICKS GUARD, NBA FINALS MVP: It means a lot because it's, you can go down so many different roads with that with that term. Obviously for me, I feel like I was overlooked in sport, but there are a lot of kids and people who are overlooked just in life. And so, to be able to kind of use my platform to have a, a sense of, you know, pride when feeling overlooked, you know, when you have the mentality of being able to persevere through a lot of things and persevere through others' opinions and come out on top, no matter what people think about you, I think it's a true blessing.
JIMENEZ: What is it that you're trying to build with this foundation?
SANDRA BRUNSON, JALEN'S MOM: Well, we're trying to build a level of consistency with youth that feel overlooked. Consistency meaning having the advantages of any child deserving of goals and dreams at a young age, trying to provide equity and access to them and their families. "Overlooked" is a term that I think many people can associate with. But when it comes to children, it's as if everyone needs to start on the same playing field. And we're just happy to be able to help and to provide whatever resources we can to young people throughout the New York City area, Illinois, Chicagoland, in Dallas. We're just trying to just help wherever, whatever cities have welcomed Jalen and impacted him in his life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: And this was, obviously he co-founded this foundation with his mom. He said it was his parents' idea over the course of this.
WHITFIELD: I love that.
JIMENEZ: And then, by the way, I did ask him about LeBron going to Philadelphia, and he kept the focus on the team. He said, when we get -- when we get to the season, when the time comes, we'll focus on it as a team. But it doesn't sound like he's worried about it.
WHITFIELD: OK, well, you had to ask. And you know what? We're going to hear more of it later on because you, here in Atlanta, you're also going to be anchoring later on after this show in the Newsroom. So we'll be watching.
JIMENEZ: You'll hear much more of our conversation.
WHITFIELD: We're going to hear so much more with you and Jalen and mom, Sandra. I like that.
JIMENEZ: Of course, the mom is the MVP, always. You've known that for a long.
WHITFIELD: All the time, always. All right, Omar, good to see you. Thanks so much.
All right, straight ahead. Landing and taking off usually the most dangerous parts of flight. That's according to pilots and aviation experts. Well, now, a new airport safety system installed at 70 airports across the country, already saving lives. CNNs Pete Muntean reports on how hast year alone it stopped four planes from overshooting the runway.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From Virginia --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just had an alert three on the airfield, aircraft accident.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): -- to California --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We literally like, and so we were all like, whoa.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): An airport safety system is saving lives. Called Engineered Materials Arresting System, EMAS, is a bed of lightweight, crushable cement placed at the end of runways to stop an airplane that's about to careen off the end.
NICK SUBBOTIN, FAA AIRPORT RESEARCH SPECIALIST: I like to think of it, it's like a runaway truck stop but for airplanes.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Here at its facility in New Jersey, the Federal Aviation Administration has been testing EMAS, which in the last year has stopped a record four planes from running into highways, hills, even homes.
MUNTEAN: This material is soft enough that a heavy airplane will sink into it, but dense enough that a person can stand on it. I can even jump on it. And that's key in an emergency.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The system is installed at 70 airports across the country, including Roanoke, Virginia, where last September husband and wife Steve Harrison and Debra Tatar's United Express flight skidded off the end of the runway.
[14:50:04]
The National Transportation Safety Board said the plane's approach was too high, and the first officer twice told the captain to abort the landing.
STEVE HARRISON, PASSENGER: And I thought, you know, this better stop pretty soon. And then I remembered seeing that device at the end of the runway and thinking like, that's supposed to stop airplanes, and that's when we hit it.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The couple says the plane would have tumbled down an embankment were it not for EMAS.
DEBORAH TATAR, PASSENGER: There were probably other things that should have happened differently before we got to that point. All we know is that that was the last point.
HARRISON: And that's what saved us.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): For Tatar, the incident carried a poignant reminder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening. There was an air disaster today in Boston.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): As a teen, a friend was killed when the flight she was on crashed into a seawall at Boston's Logan International Airport. The airport is about to begin installing more EMAS pads to prevent planes from skidding into Boston Harbor. The more than $100 million project could delay flights for two-and-a-half months. Worth it, says Tatar and Harrison, whose first grandson was born only weeks after their crash.
TATAR: We would not have seen him born.
HARRISON: Yes, yes.
TATAR: There's a very good chance that we would not have survived.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, Pete Muntean, thank you so much for that.
All right, coming up, all new next hour. A former Cambridge professor found dead just days after resigning amid plagiarism accusations. The questions now being raised about the days leading up to his death.
Also, a border wall through one of America's national parks. The Trump administration wants to build it through big bend in Texas, raising new questions about border security, public lands, and what could be lost forever.
Plus, some Republicans worrying that the war in Iran, rising gas prices and President Trump's renovation projects in D.C. could hurt the party in the midterms. The struggle some face to support the current administration while still trying to win in November.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:56:43] WHITFIELD: Body-hacking, which is trying to change how your body or brain work by using food or even tech, it's become a billion-dollar obsession. But the obsession or hype around performance enhancing drugs has officially reached a younger generation. And now some teens are turning to things like testosterone in shocking numbers. CNN's Isobel Yeung sat down with one of them to find out why. Here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No matter how large I got, I always saw myself as tiny.
ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. No matter what angle, you know?
YEUNG: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. You name it. And you just keep going and going and going. You look in the mirror and you just don't realize how far you're in it and how far you're pushing yourself until it's kind of too late.
YEUNG: When you started taking these drugs, I mean, how quickly did you start to see physical changes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My first cycle, I gained 40 pounds and five weeks.
YEUNG: Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 162 pounds to 203 pounds.
YEUNG: Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
YEUNG: That's crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
YEUNG: So how many times were you injecting yourself, like in a week?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daily. I'd say for that big cycle, probably around like 12 times per day.
YEUNG: Per day you were injecting yourself about 12 times? Oh my God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
YEUNG: Were you addicted?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was for sure.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Wow. He's lucky to be alive, right? That obsession eventually caused him to have a heart attack at just 20 years old. But he's here to tell the story. Thankfully, he made a full recovery. He walked away from those drugs for good, and now he's sharing his story with CNNs Isobel Yeung to warn other young men about the real dangers of abusing performance enhancing drugs.
And you can catch the whole story with that full eye-opening report, "Stacked, Inside the Enhancement Craze." That's tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m., right here on CNN.
All right, more than one-third of women released from prison every year ends up back behind bars within five years. CNN hero Susan Burton was caught in this cycle of incarceration. But when she finally got help, she decided to pay it forward. She established a new way of life, a nonprofit that helps women rebuild their lives after prison. We're highlighting how far Susan's mission has come as we celebrate 20 years of CNN Heroes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN BURTON, CNN HERO: I was in a revolving door of incarceration. I would walk out the gates, and I would end up going back to prison over and over again. Finally, I found help, and that led me to a different path.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: For almost three decades, Susan Burton and her nonprofit have helped women rebuild their lives after prison.
BURTON: At a new way of life, we provide a house. We treat people with dignity, respect, and we shower them with resources. And that makes a difference. We have a 94 percent success rate.
COOPER: After she was honored as a CNN Hero in 2010, Susan expanded her organization from five homes in California to 12. She also wrote her autobiography --
