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CNN This Morning
Two Associates Charged, Manhunt Continues For Tennessee Murder Suspect; Pope Leo Presides Over Mass To Close "Jubilee Of The Youth"; Search Continues For Man Accused Of Killing Four In Montana; Second Miner Found Dead After Collapse At A Copper Mine In Chile; Jack Smith Under Hatch Act Probe After Trump Allies Raise Claims; Trump Nominees Stay In Limbo, Senate Heads To Recess; Trump Tells Schumer To "Go To Hell" As Funding Battle Continues; Booker To Fellow Democrats: Don't Bend The Knee To Trump; Small Earthquake Shakes New York Metro Area; Cooler Temps Arrive After Weeks Of Brutal U.S. Heat Wave; Witkoff Meets Hostage Families As Outrage Grows Over New Video; Trump Officials Visit Controversial Aid Site In Gaza; Hamas Says It Won't Disarm Unless Palestinian State Established. Parents Race To Beat Price Hikes On Back-To-School Supplies; Flash Flood Warnings In Effect As Southeast Gets Heavy Rain; IL Police Dept. Teams Up With College Students To Solve Cold Cases; CDC: Record Number Of Kindergartners Missed Required Vaccinations; "Billionaire Boys Club" Final Episode Airs Tonight At 10P ET. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired August 03, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:19]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It's Sunday, August 3rd. I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to have you along. Here's what we're working on for you this morning.
There is an update in the search for a man in Tennessee suspected of killing four people. Two people who know him have been arrested. The new details coming from police this morning.
Plus, it's being called Catholic Woodstock. Thousands of young Catholic pilgrims are in Rome for a Jubilee of Youth. Pope Leo's message to the crowd is coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The tariffs are definitely a little scary. We're trying to get ahead of time because we don't know what's going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Back to school season. And aside from supplies and clothes, tariffs are top of mind for parents. Plus, CSI classroom. How one university is teaming up with the local police department to solve cold cases.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And temperatures are 10 to even 15 degrees cooler in some spots. But how long will this nice weather last? We'll take a look, coming up.
BLACKWELL: We're starting with those new details in the murders of four people in Tennessee. Authorities say they've arrested two associates of the suspected killer who is still out there. Twenty- nine-year-old Tanaka Brown and Giovante Thomas are charged with accessory after the fact to first degree murder. But the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is not saying what evidence led to those charges.
This case started to unfold Tuesday when a baby girl was found abandoned in a car seat in someone's front yard. And then hours later, police found her parents, 21-year-old James Wilson, 20-year-old Adrianna Williams, dead along with two other people. CNN's Rafael Romo is tracking the latest details.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, good morning. What officials in Tennessee say they want people to know right now is that the suspect is still at large and could be dangerous. Court records show the suspect has a criminal record that includes a 10-year sentence for a 2013 aggravated robbery, and the concern for officials in Tennessee and the public is that he's still at large.
The vehicle the suspect was believed to be driving, a white 2016 Audi, was found unoccupied in Jackson, Tennessee. That's more than 70 miles away from Tiptonville, where the bodies of the victims were found. The suspect has been identified as 28-year-old Austin Robert Drummond by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
He is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 190 pounds, and has brown hair, blue eyes, and a goatee, according to the TBI. Drummond is accused of killing four relatives of a Tennessee baby who was found abandoned alive in sweltering heat on Tuesday in a car seat in what authorities describe as a random front yard near the Dyer County community of Tigrett, nearly a 40-mile drive southeast of Tiptonville, where the bodies were found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANNY GOODMAN, 29TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERAL: We are dealing with an extremely violent individual. This was what we would think is an isolated incident. It's not anything to where we think the community is in danger because of a person who may be out here randomly targeting people, because we don't think that's the case at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: District Attorney Danny Goodman also said the victims were all from Dyer County, and they suspect the suspect knew all of them. He also confirmed that two of the victims, 21-year-old James Wilson and 20-year-old Adrianna Williams, were the parents of the baby, who was found abandoned in Dyer County. Thirty-eight-year-old Courtney Rose, and Braydon Williams, a teenager, were also killed.
TBI Director David Rausch says it appears the suspect, even after allegedly killing four people, had some compassion for the baby. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID RAUSCH, DIRECTOR, TENNESSEE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: Yes, they brought attention when they dropped the child off, brought attention. There were people nearby and so brought attention to those people to come and get the child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: And finally, Victor, the U.S. Marshals Service and TBI are offering a joint $15,000 reward for any information leading to Drummond's arrest. Now, back to you.
BLACKWELL: All right. Rafael Romo, thank you so much. New this morning, Pope Leo led mass to close the Jubilee of the Youth. More than 1 million young Catholics have flocked to Rome from around the world to celebrate with the Pope. CNN's Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb has more from the mass -- Christopher.
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, more than a million young people here for this mass celebrated by Pope Leo as part of this Jubilee for Youth celebrations. Pope Leo, leading the largest gathering of his pontificate so far. This has been something of a charisma test for the Pope less than 100 days into the new role.
[06:05:04]
But this festival, a Catholic Woodstock style event in Rome, has brought together a range of people from across the world who have 146 countries represented. There have also been attempts here to connect with the younger generations. We've seen priests, influencers and others, so-called digital missionaries, trying to connect with those people outside of the church pews.
There's been a kind of festival atmosphere, huge enthusiasm for Pope Leo as he toured the Tor Vergata Arena here, greeting young people from his popemobile, catching things, waving, blessing. They've been really excited to see Leo. And I caught up with some of the pilgrims, including from the United States and Korea who have been here in Rome for this event.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Korea isn't a country with the main religion of Christianity. So, I wanted to meet a lot of people from around the world who believes in the same religion as me. The religion brings people together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm very thankful to be able to experience this. I know it's -- as a first-generation child of immigrant parents, I know not a lot of people get to experience this. I know a lot of people are immigrants, and I know that it's a really big issue right now. And I know it would help -- I know probably bring people in this religion closer together, knowing that our own Pope has, you know, a perspective that could possibly bring us together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAMB: Well, Victor, Pope Leo's messages have emphasized the importance of peace, of friendship, of community amongst young people. He said that everyone here is in solidarity with children in Gaza and in Ukraine, and he emphasized the importance of serving the poorest in society. The young people here are finding in Pope Leo and the church a reason for hope, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Christopher Lamb, thank you very much. This morning we're learning new details in the search for a man in Montana accused of killing four people at a bar Friday. The family of 44-year-old Michael Paul Brown says that he's a veteran struggling with mental illness. His truck was found Friday near the forest west of Anaconda, and police have closed nearby areas as this hunt continues.
The public is urged to stay alert. They say Brown is considered armed and dangerous.
We've also learned more about two separate deadly mine collapses in South America. In Chile, a second miner was found dead yesterday after Thursday's collapse at one of the world's largest copper mines. Officials are looking into whether an earthquake or mining activity triggered that collapse. Rescuers are still trying to reach three other missing workers. Now in Bolivia, authorities are investigating the collapse of a gold mine that killed five people Friday.
The Office of Special Counsel is investigating former Special Counsel Jack Smith for a possible Hatch Act violation. Smith led the federal cases against President Trump over classified documents and the 2020 election. Trump allies claim that Smith's actions influenced the election. It's not clear what exactly the office is investigating as a violation of the Hatch Act.
Smith no longer works for the government. Violating the Hatch Act is not a crime, but it can carry penalties. Investigation is the latest instance of Trump and his allies seeking retribution.
Dozens of President Donald Trump's nominees will stay in limbo for a little while longer. Senators are headed into recess without reaching a deal on confirming them. Senate leaders John Thune and Chuck Schumer fought over Federal funds. The president not happy about the developments. He posted some strong words about the leading Democrat on Truth Social. Julia Benbrook explains how Democrats forced the long game in the Senate.
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as these conversations have been ongoing, we did get this very intense reaction from President Donald Trump where he told a member of Congress, one of the highest- ranking members in the Senate, to, quote, "go to hell."
Democrats have been slow walking some of his lower-level nominees forcing Majority Leader John Thune to keep the Senate in session through the weekend and potentially even longer into their highly anticipated August recess.
Sources tell CNN's Manu Raju that Schumer had been making some demands for different interests in his party, including to unfreeze funding for an array of programs and also asking Trump to agree to not attempt to push through another rescissions package that would codify some of the Department of Government Efficiency's cuts. We saw that $9 billion in cuts go through earlier this summer that impacted the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Of course, a topic that is still in the news today.
[06:10:07]
But I want to pull up for you in full this Truth Social post from Trump where he said, quote, "Senator Cryin' Chuck Schumer is demanding over $1 billion in order to approve a small number of our highly qualified nominees, who should right now be helping to run our country. The demand is egregious and unprecedented, and would be embarrassing to the Republican Party if it were accepted. Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the radical left lunatics, to go to hell. Do not accept the offer, go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are, and what a great job the Republicans are doing and have done for our country." He ends that with, "have a great recess and Make America Great Again."
This post, coming after Trump had repeatedly said that maybe they need to cancel August recess altogether so that they can stay and get his nominees across the finish line. Of course, Schumer taking these moves, this is a part of the power that the Democrats have in the minority, is to put some hurdles in the way for Republicans when it comes to getting things done.
BLACKWELL: Julia Benbrook, thank you very much. Now, in that context, Democratic Senator Cory Booker is urging his party to fight back harder against President Trump. In an interview with CNN's Manu Raju, Booker said, history will remember some people for not standing up to the president. He argued that Democratic politicians can gain more credibility by showing they're more concerned about people than about the party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): What I want to see more people doing is not doing what some law firms have done, bend the knee to Donald Trump. Not doing what some universities have done, bend the knee to Donald Trump.
You see major corporations who want some merger approval not standing up on principle but bending the knee to Donald Trump. That to me is outrageous. History is going to remember these people for their complicity in what is a guy that's going to severely try to undermine our government, who already incited a riot on our Capitol. This is a moment in history where people are going to ask, where did you stand? Did you bow to an authoritarian leader or did you stand strong and fight?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Now, Booker clashed with fellow Democrats last week when he tried to amend some bipartisan police benefit bills. He accused the members of his party of complying with Trump as he, quote, "violates the constitution." You can watch that full interview later this morning on "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY WITH MANU RAJU" at 8 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
A small earthquake shook parts of the New York metro area last night. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was a magnitude 3.0 and hit in the New Jersey suburb of Hasbrouck Heights. That's about eight miles west of Central Park. One person described it as a brief tremor that caused some slight swaying.
The last few weeks have felt like a sauna for a lot of the U.S. Hot days, humid nights, that's about to change. CNN's Allison Chinchar joins us now with the first cooldowns. Who's going to feel it? And, you know, for some people, it's coming, right as school starts.
CHINCHAR: Yes, it is. And I would just like to say most people blame me for the weather. So, you're welcome for this. Because again, I don't -- I don't very often get to provide something that's kind of relief in a sense.
BLACKWELL: Bring us some good news. Come on.
CHINCHAR: Yes, exactly, exactly. Yes. Honestly, for some, this is perfect timing. You're headed back to school in the dead of summer, but temperatures are actually going to feel a little bit nicer than they usually do. So, let's take a look at the map, again, especially southern cities in particular places where you are known for being incredibly hot this time of year.
Seventy-four degrees is all the high is going to get to today in Atlanta, 78 in Nashville. Again, even some low 80s across portions of the south. A nice little break from the intense heat, especially from the last few weeks that we've been seeing.
And to kind of put it in perspective, because, again, I know 80s can still be hot. It's just not where these places normally would be. Take Raleigh, for example. Yes, they will be in the 80s every single day for the next few days, but their normal high is 90. So, you're talking several degrees below that. Same thing for Charlotte, temperatures even getting down into the 70s in the next couple of days. But their average high would be right around 90 degrees. So again, you're seeing that relief.
Take Washington, D.C., for example, average high 89. Now again, I wouldn't necessarily call it cool in some of these areas, but every single day is going to be below that average as we head into the next couple of days, especially in the latter half of the week.
Chicago is going to finally start to see things ramp back up, but not until the end of the upcoming week. These next few days are going to feel spectacular. The flip side is you are going to have to contend with the poor air quality. We now have that wind shift. That's what's been bringing us these very pleasant temperatures, but it's also bringing down all of that smoke from a lot of the Canadian wildfires to, yes, Chicago but really a large portion of the midwest. [06:15:08]
And now we're starting to see those air quality alerts pop up across portions of the northeast as well. So, a lot of these areas are going to start to, unfortunately, see some of that smoke in the next couple of days.
BLACKWELL: You started off so well.
CHINCHAR: I couldn't give all the good news to you at once.
BLACKWELL: I mean, you just -- then at the end, as my grandmother used to say, give a good pail of milk and kick it over. All right. Thank you so much.
Still to come, we're seeing -- Khalil. We're seeing the first images, and we're going to get to a breaking news story out of Israel. The message U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff delivered to families there.
A new U.S. poll also suggests a majority of American adults will skip getting COVID vaccine this year. How policy changes in the White House are driving down rates.
Plus, President Trump's tariff war is about to start a new chapter with new rates going into effect August 7th. How some families are looking to get ahead of the prices.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:20:54]
BLACKWELL: President Trump's special envoy to the Middle East met with hostage families in Israel this weekend. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says that Steve Witkoff told them a ceasefire deal should be an all or nothing agreement with all 50 hostages in Gaza being returned in one go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROTESTERS: Bring them home. Bring them home. Bring them home now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Protesters had gathered in Tel Aviv after Hamas released videos showing emaciated Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. A warning, these images are disturbing.
This is a still image from the video. It shows one hostage in a fragile state. As ceasefire talks remain stalled, Palestinians in Gaza are facing a mounting hunger crisis.
Joining me now to discuss CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier. Good morning to you. Let's start with these images. Why do you think the Hamas released them now?
KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It's a tactic to put pressure on the Israeli government to make concessions. Because what has happened is the Israeli government and the White House together have decided to go with a more maximum pressure campaign, instead of saying yes to some of Hamas' demanded compromises.
As part of this two-stage deal, the U.S. and Israel are now saying it's got to be done in a one-shot deal where Hamas agrees to completely disarm and all of the living and the dead hostages are turned over. Maximalist positions that have been met on Hamas' side by saying, no, we won't disarm. We won't disarm until there's a Palestinian state.
So that's why Witkoff had to meet with the hostage families to tell them this doesn't mean they've given up on their loved ones.
BLACKWELL: And so, this hardening on both sides, where does this lead? Talks broke down a little more than a week ago, maybe a week and a half now. Where does this go if we consider the pressures that Netanyahu is facing, not only from those families, but in his own government, from the president here in the U.S. what's next?
DOZIER: Well, in cases like this, in the past, when you've got Israel and the U.S. playing the hard line, that's when you've got to have somebody else step in. And in this case, you've got the Qatar and Turkey route together with Egypt. They're continuing to talk to Hamas. Hamas leadership went to Turkey for discussions there trying to get them to reach some sort of compromise.
You've also got another track, Saudi Arabia, in discussions with Britain, the E.U., Canada to recognize a Palestinian state. So, this is basically the carrot for the White House. Saudi Arabia is saying if you want your Nobel Prize, if you want peace in the Middle East, and to expand the Abraham Accords, President Trump, you've got to back a Palestinian state, which the current Israeli government doesn't want.
So, that's the different tracks that are trying to break the deadlock. But the parties are hardening their positions. And for now, that means continued fighting on the ground. And with only maybe 30 trucks reported as having gotten in with aid over the weekend, despite Israel saying it's going to allow more aid in, that spells just more suffering for the Palestinians caught in the middle of this on the ground.
BLACKWELL: So, this meeting that Witkoff had with the hostages -- their families, they report that he said that the U.S. has a plan to end the war and bring all the hostages home. Now, we followed up with his office to find out what's the clarity behind that to get more information. They offered none. How do you interpret that?
[06:25:02]
DOZIER: Well, we've had one hostage family come out and give interviews this morning saying that this doesn't work for them, that the U.S. and Israel turned down the possibility of the two-part deal where at least some of the 20 living hostages that are thought to still remain would be let out, as opposed to all in one go. Basically, Witkoff was trying to tell the hostage families, we haven't given up on you. We're putting maximum pressure on Hamas to get everybody out.
And you had families of -- for instance, some of the people whose photos have been released saying they don't have a lot of confidence in this. At least if they've gone with the other plan, there'd be a 60-day schedule and light at the end of the tunnel for some of the families. So, a lot of frustration and fear from them.
BLACKWELL: The U.K., France, Canada now say that they will recognize a Palestinian state next month if the fighting has not stopped by then. Is that creating any additional pressure on either Israel or the U.S.?
DOZIER: It does send a strong signal, but when you talk to close watchers of the conflict, they say, you know, if you want to hit the Netanyahu government, you've got to hit them with things like economic sanctions.
Europeans do a lot of trade. They're Israel's largest trading partner, but they haven't threatened to touch that yet. And when you look at it from Netanyahu's point of view, he has to have his back against the wall to step away from fighting in Gaza, because right now he's got a minority government.
Two major religious parties left his government over the summer. So, the ultranationalists in his government are the ones holding it together. They want the West Bank and Gaza to be reannexed by Israel. If Netanyahu is perceived as going against their will in any way, he's going to find himself with even less power and likely triggering elections.
BLACKWELL: All right. Kim Dozier, good to see you this Sunday. Thank you.
Still ahead, back to school shopping could cost a little more this year, in part, because of the president's tariffs. We'll show you how some parents are getting ahead of the problem.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:31:58]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump's new tariffs are expected to drive up prices on a lot of stuff we use every day, but as children head back to school, some parents are trying to beat the price hikes on school supplies.
CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The steepest tariff hikes in modern history, taking place just weeks before millions of children across the country go back to school, pushing families to move fast before prices go up. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The tariffs are definitely a little scary. We're trying to get ahead of time because we don't know what's going to happen.
JONES (voice-over): This year, two thirds of American families started shopping for the school year in July, the highest number on record, fearing prices will soon rise due to tariffs, according to a new survey from the National Retail Federation.
KATHERINE CULLEN, VP INDUSTRY & CONSUMER INSIGHTS, NATL. RETAIL FEDERATION: As consumers start to feel that the tariffs might be a little more real, might be coming into effect a little more quickly, they decided to kind of shift their attitude towards buying now with the idea that things may be cheaper at this moment than they will be down the road.
JONES (voice-over): An economist at the Yale Budget Lab estimate that in the short term, prices on electronics, including computers, could rise by 18 percent and clothing, one of the U.S.'s top imports, by 37 percent. Goods from China, India, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam are all affected.
Bracing for even higher prices, Americans are also pulling back on spending, budgeting for about $858 per family on clothes, school supplies and electronics this year, down 2 percent from last year.
JONES: With shoppers spending less, big box stores are fighting for every dollar. Target is advertising 30 percent off of school supplies and promising to not raise prices on 20 of their most popular items.
JONES (voice-over): Another retail giant, Walmart, says 14 of their most popular school supplies cost less than last year. And online, Amazon saw a 175 percent spike in back-to-school sales during July's Prime Day event.
But once their pre-tariff inventory runs out, higher prices will inevitably catch up to the consumer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JONES (on-camera): And Victor, in about two to four weeks, experts say Americans can start to feel the impact of those tariffs, but the full effects won't fully be known until about eight months from now.
And of course, that won't just be back to school items. It's everything from toys to furniture, shoes and even alcohol. Victor.
BLACKWELL: All right, Julia, thank you very much.
Right now, parts of the southeast are getting hit with heavy rain. Flash flood warnings are in effect.
CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is back with us.
It was coming down really hard when I was coming in this morning.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on-camera): Yes.
BLACKWELL: We're seeing the worst.
CHINCHAR (on-camera): Now, as a meteorologist, I timed it a little bit better than you did and made it in between (INAUDIBLE).
BLACKWELL: But you said zero texts.
CHINCHAR (on-camera): This is true, although technically you get in before me. So, you know, there's that.
[06:35:00]
But yes, there is some rain across the southeast. There's also rain across the central U.S. right now. I've got a couple of different areas that we're keeping a close eye on.
Again, you can see some of these scattered showers and thunderstorms across the southeast. And yes, some of those do have warnings, but we also have a very strong line of thunderstorms that's been sliding through across portions of Oklahoma and into Texas and even all the way up into the Dakotas.
Again, you can see here and a lot of lightning with this particular system and some gusty winds up around 40, even 50 miles per hour. But the flooding concern is really more focused across portions of the southeast because these storms just aren't really moving all that much.
So you're dumping a tremendous amount of rain over a very short period or a short space over a prolonged period. You can see that red box right there just to the east of Birmingham. And we had a couple over here by Savannah. Those have since dropped off. But again, it's still raining in several of these areas.
So going through the rest of the day today, the biggest concern for flooding is going to be in the southern tier of the U.S. We've got this section over here across portions of Texas and Oklahoma. And then also down through here, Georgia, Florida, into that tiny sliver of South Carolina, as well as into areas of Alabama.
And when we look at the timeline, yes, I want you to pay attention to the southeast and into the central U.S. But I also want you to take a look out here. See this? See this thing that's starting to spin right there off the coast? That's going to come into play here in a minute.
We do still have some showers and thunderstorms firing up this afternoon and especially lingering into the evening. So if you've got some outdoor plans later today, make sure you do have that umbrella with you and not just today, but also into Monday.
But yes, that thing that was kind of spinning out there, that has a 40 percent chance of becoming our next named tropical system. Right here, that's what they're taking a look at.
Now, here's the key thing with this. It has a very short window of opportunity. It has to develop today or tomorrow, because once we get to the latter portion of the week, it really starts to get into more of an unfavorable environment.
The next name on the list, by the way, Dexter.
BLACKWELL: All right, Allison. Thank you.
Still ahead. This is fascinating. You want to stay with us for this.
Students at a university in Illinois are helping investigators solve real cold cases. This program is groundbreaking.
Stay with us. We'll tell you all about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:41:49]
BLACKWELL: Police departments often ask the public for help with cold cases hoping someone will come forward with new information. But Illinois State Police have now taken it a step further. They're partnering with college students to help solve decades-old cases.
And they say it's working. They teamed up with the criminal justice students from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The students have not only now helped identify two murder victims but in another case, they say they've helped solve a murder.
Joining us now to discuss Major Abigail Keller. She's with the Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigations. We also have with us Professor Trish Oberweis from the Department of Criminal Studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Good morning to both of you and Major let me start with you.
Tell me how you all got linked up.
MAJOR ABIGAIL KELLER, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS, ILLINOIS STATE POLICE DIVISION: Well, I first want to say that Illinois State Police troopers, special agents, CSIs and forensic scientists are doing outstanding work for the people of Illinois. The internship program we're talking about today focuses on crimes that have occurred mostly at East St. Louis and the surrounding areas within Madison and St. Clair counties and I personally have spent a large part of my career serving this area and know that Illinois State Police agents are truly engaged with the people in these communities.
They're helping victims of violent crime and they are solving cases every day. But even with all their efforts cases can go cold and they go cold for many different reasons ranging from officer workload to lack of witnesses or lack of evidence. Over several decades of this you end up with a list of unsolved homicides and these cases need to be addressed because every murder has a victim and every victim has a family member who's hoping for answers.
With personal resources focused on today's incoming cases we had to find a way to examine cold cases without pulling agents from their regular assignments.
So, the Illinois State Police proposed an internship program. We connected with Dr. Oberweis at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and designed a program that tasked the students to organize, review, score and present real-world cases to an audience of investigators, scientists and prosecutors and the concept was supported by both ISP and SIUE leadership. We welcomed our first group of students in early 2022 and so far, we've reviewed 150 cases.
BLACKWELL: So Professor, I imagine you can create as many realistic real-world scenarios as you want but there's nothing that compares to working on a real case.
Talk to me about what this has meant for your students and the actual work they're doing as part of these -- these cold cases.
PROFESSOR TRISH OBERWEIS, DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL STUDIES, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY EDWARDSVILLE: Yes, there's nothing like a hypothetical you know that can really sort of bring this to life for students but even more than -- than working with a real case, the students are actually working in the building within the police building in a wing with teams of investigators and what they're getting is not just real-world problem-solving, critical thinking, sort of applying their academic theories to real cases, but they're also getting mentorship and full immersion in professional life. It's really an outstanding transition for them between the ivory tower and the real world. And it's so exciting for everyone involved.
[06:45:35]
BLACKWELL: Professor, there's something called a murder book. What is that?
OBERWEIS: Each student starts out with a case file that is likely to be incomplete. There are files that are filed, say, with a different department or in a different area.
So, they gather up all of the orphaned pieces. They create a complete documentation of the crime and all of the investigative steps that have been taken already. And then they put it into a uniform format so that each murder investigation is presented identically. And an investigator can grab one of those murder books, which is the presentation. And then they can sort of very quickly come up to speed on what has happened and what investigative steps have already been taken.
BLACKWELL: Yes, Major, this sounds like a win for the state police, obviously for the family that gets answers, and for the students at SIUE. Are other states reaching out to you to replicate this? It seems like this makes sense and probably should have happened a long time ago. Are you hearing from other departments?
KELLER: I hope to hear more from other departments. I know that some have already reached out and they use Dr. Oberweis as a liaison to answer a lot of questions. She has been contacted by some law enforcement agencies and universities out of state. I encourage agencies to look into similar partnerships with universities in their areas. It's obviously been a great opportunity for students and it serves our victims and their families by adding that extra layer of case review that prompts follow-up on these complex investigations.
BLACKWELL: All right, Major Abigail Keller and Professor Trish Oberweis, you all are doing some great work. This just fascinated me today when I heard how this is rolling out.
Thanks so much for your time this morning.
KELLER: Thank you.
OBERWEIS: Thank you very much for having us.
BLACKWELL: Still ahead, a record number of kindergartners missed their required vaccinations last year as the country faces a surge in measles cases.
We dig into this alarming statistic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:52:21]
BLACKWELL: St. Louis, you're showing off this morning. Look at this shot of the sunrise there. You see the Gateway Arch. Beautiful shot, courtesy of KSDK.
Good morning, everybody in St. Louis.
All right, as vaccine rules change this fall, most adults say they're skipping the COVID shot. A new poll by KFF, an independent source for health policy research, shows nearly six in 10 do not plan to get vaccinated, while four in 10 say they will.
Among those planning to get it, many worry it will not be covered by insurance or easily available. The poll also shows that parents are still unclear on whether healthy kids need the vaccine this year. And just as kids head back to school, new CDC data shows that a record number of kindergartners missed at least one required vaccine last school year.
CNN's Meg Tirrell has those numbers for us.
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MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the CDC data show a decrease in all reported vaccines from the previous year. So we're talking about measles, mumps, rubella, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, all lower national coverage numbers than in previous years.
And a lot of that can be attributed to an increase in the number of vaccine exemptions that are given to state-required vaccines for kindergartners. Now up to a record 3.6 percent of kindergartners who had at least one exemption for a state-required vaccine going into last school year. That leaves about 138,000 kids without full coverage for state-required vaccines.
And if you look at this trend over time, you can see that non-medical vaccine exemptions really started rising around 2020 and continued rising through the pandemic, whereas medical exemptions to vaccinations really have remained constant and make up a very small proportion to these vaccine exemptions.
Now homing in on one specific vaccine, MMR, measles, mumps, and rubella, you can see that over the past five years, the U.S. nationally has been below the 95 percent goal set by the federal government to really try to reach herd immunity where vaccination can protect everybody around people. And that's a problem because as these vaccination rates decline, that obviously leaves more people vulnerable to disease. And this is a national look at the statistics.
So really what we see is that there are sort of localized clusters of even lower vaccination rates and that really leaves communities vulnerable to outbreaks, particularly for measles, which is what we saw in West Texas this year, that they had a lower vaccination rate there and we saw this really major measles outbreak. And of course, through 2025, we're at a record number of measles cases for the U.S., surpassing 1,300 already.
That's the highest annual number we've seen in this country since we eliminated measles in the year 2000.
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[06:55:07]
BLACKWELL: Meg, thank you.
So, the final episode of "CNN ORIGINAL SERIES BILLIONAIRE BOYS CLUB," follows conman Joe Hunt's dramatic legal battle as he faced the death penalty for a suspected involvement in two murders.
Here's a look.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest thrust of Dean Carney's testimony was that Joe Hunt in essence made a full confession to him about the murder, and it was pretty graphic and pretty gruesome.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said that he had disfigured the body with a shotgun, that at one point Ron Levin's brain jumped out of his skull and fell on his chest. I recall him laughing when he told me about the brain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dean says Joe and Jim went back to Ron's apartment, tidied it up, and among the precautions Joe took was to leave some documents that would set up the payment of the million and a half dollar check.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: The finale of the "CNN ORIGINAL SERIES BILLIONAIRE BOYS CLUB," airs tonight at 10:00 on CNN.
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