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Hundreds Of Aid Trucks Move Into Gaza Ahead Of Hostage Release; Trump To Leave For Israel Ahead Of Planned Hostage Release Monday; Palestinians Returning Home To Rubble In Gaza; Nearly 500,000 People Attend Rally In Hostage Square; Israelis Await Hostage Release Ahead Of Major Gaza Summit In Egypt; Families Notified After Tennessee Explosives Plant Blast Kills 16; Chicago Marathon Begins Amid Immigration Enforcement Concerns; Fifteen Arrested At Protest Outside Illinois ICE Facility; Appeals Court Rules National Guard Troops In Illinois Can Be Federalized But Cannot Be Deployed. Stalemate Continues As Shutdown Enters Its Third Week; Beloved Actress Diane Keaton Dies At 79; Nor'easter Threatens Major Coastal Flooding And Damaging Winds; CNN Reporters Tests Their Chemical Exposure, Find Dire Results; Study: Teens Having Friendship & "Romantic Relationships" With AI; "New Orleans: Souls Of A City" Airs Tonight At 10P (ET/PT). Aired 6-7a ET

Aired October 12, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:40]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: It's Sunday, October 12th. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Victor Blackwell.

Right now, a convoy of aid trucks moving into Gaza towards Gaza City. The thousands of Palestinians returned to what's left of their homes. Later today, President Trump heads to the Mideast to mark the historic ceasefire deal and return of the hostages.

Plus, no survivors. Sixteen people are now declared dead after a massive explosion at a Tennessee explosives plant. And frightening moments when a helicopter seen spinning out of control before crashing onto a popular beach in California.

Happening now, hundreds of aid trucks are moving into Gaza as the ceasefire holds for the third straight day. At the same time, a major diplomatic push is taking shape. President Trump is set to leave for Israel later today.

Now the trucks, carrying food and water and medical supplies fuel as well, they crossed into Gaza as part of the agreement tied to the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas that's in exchange for 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Israel's hostage coordinator told families the last group of hostages is expected to be freed early Monday morning, just before the 72-hour deadline expires.

Inside Gaza, the death toll continues to rise. More bodies have been pulled from the rubble. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are returning home. Many of them are finding just ruins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHADHA AL-NAJJAR, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN (through translator): The scale of destruction is indescribable. Nothing remains in its place. All our bedrooms are destroyed. Only the roof remains intact. It hasn't collapsed so that will shelter us in winter. But it may take 50 years to restore it to what it was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, is live in Tel Aviv. Clarissa, we're finally seeing aid trucks moving into Gaza. They'll need a lot more, obviously. But what are you learning?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, we are learning that an anticipated 600 trucks will now start going into Gaza every day. That is up a significant amount. There were some days where only a few dozen trucks were going into Gaza during the worst of this last two years, so that will be a very welcome boost.

But we have been talking to multiple aid agencies, Victor. And to be clear, the scale of the need, the scale of the humanitarian crisis, playing outside -- playing out inside Gaza is simply astronomical. The U.N. has said it has 170,000 metric tons of aid ready to go in, and they are really hoping that as we approach this crucial 24 hours where the remaining Israeli hostages will be released, where a large number of Palestinian detainees and prisoners will also be released, that they can finally see that big surge in aid that is an integral part of this plan.

The U.N. estimating, Victor, just to give you a sense of the scope and the scale of the devastation inside Gaza, that 92 percent of residential buildings have either been damaged or destroyed in this last two years of ferocious bombardment. And of course, you have a famine as declared by the IPC, playing out in certain parts of northern Gaza.

So, all those aid organizations now very keen to get in food, to get in medical supplies, to get in tents, to get in equipment, pumps to deal with sanitation, get clean water flowing again. And they really feel that they're in a race against the clock now to try to prevent the spread of illness and to start to provide some desperately needed relief for the people of Gaza, Victor.

BLACKWELL: And victims still being discovered in that rubble as people are returning to what was once their home. Let's talk about the release of hostages and President Trump's visit tomorrow. What do you know?

WARD: So, Victor, I mean, it's extraordinary to be here in Israel at this time. You can feel a palpable difference. There is a lightness in the air. There is a sense of jubilation. This is a nation on the edge of its seat, heart and throat, waiting for this final 24 hours to see the return of these hostages.

[06:05:06] This means so much, not just to the families of the hostages, but to the other hostages who have already been released, who have been campaigning tirelessly around the clock to see their fellow hostages come back home. And to all Israelis who have been grieving with these hostage families for the last two years.

Now, we have heard via a memo that was distributed by Gal Hirsch, who is the kind of coordinator here for all hostages, that we can expect to see those releases taking place Monday morning. Now, the anticipation is that this will be done by the time President Trump arrives. So, there's an assumption by many, although we don't have concrete timings yet, Victor, that we might start to see this from as early as 1:00 -- 2:00 in the morning local time.

We know as part of the deal that the hostages were supposed to be released in one batch. But given that there are 20 or an estimated 20 hostages who are still alive, a further 28 who are deceased, and I should say that Gal Hirsch also underscored the possibility that it will take longer to find and locate and transport and return the bodies of all of those 28 deceased.

But we do now believe it's possible that these hostages will be released in smaller groups. And certainly, here in Israel, beyond a public who is desperately awaiting this great news, there is also a huge amount of preparation going on at all the various hospitals, three particularly, that will be integrally involved, that have built up specific infrastructure to meet the physical, but also the psychological needs that these hostages will have as they come home from more than two years in captivity, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Clarissa Ward, with the latest reporting there from Tel Aviv. Clarissa, thank you very much. Now, ahead of President Trump's arrival to the Mideast, his daughter Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, also U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, they've met with families of those remaining Israeli hostages. They also addressed a massive crowd at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, around 500,000 people they are packed into the square for a rally last night.

Of the 48 Israeli hostages remaining, 20 are still believed to be alive. Two of them twin brothers. One former hostage spoke with CNN's Wolf Blitzer this week, and she says she cannot wait to see all those hostages return home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: So will you be there, God willing, when they arrive here in Israel?

AVIVA SIEGEL, FORMER HOSTAGE, MOTHER OF TWO REMAINING HOSTAGES: Sure. I'll be --

BLITZER: You'll be hugging them?

SIEGEL: I'll be hugging them. I'll be hugging their family, the mom, and all the hostages' families. We've become like one big, huge family all together. I know so many of them. And I just want to hug everybody. I want to jump into the air and dance. And I just want the world to understand that the good needs to win. People need to come home and just live, and live a life with their families. They don't deserve to be there, underneath the ground, begging to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. A live look now at hostages -- well, that was Hostages Square. This is obviously in Gaza. Again, the release of -- this is Hostages Square. There's the release of the hostages expected as Clarissa said Monday morning, 72-hour deadline for their release ends at noon.

Joining me now, former Pentagon Middle East negotiator Jasmine el- Gamal. Jasmine, good to have you. The question I'm going to start with is making sure that the release of the hostages is not the end point and the work that goes into that, of course, for all those families who have been waiting for more than two years now, their goal is to get their loved ones back. Those who are alive and deceased. But for the 20-point plan and moving beyond that, there's a lot of work that that will go into that.

JASMINE EL-GAMAL, FORMER PENTAGON MIDDLE EAST ADVISER: That's right. Good morning, Victor. And I just want to clarify that I was a Middle East adviser, not a negotiator. But thank you so much for raising that point. That's a really important point to make, which is that while one chapter is certainly going to close tomorrow with the long awaited and long overdue return of these hostages to their families, there are so many other chapters that still are going to remain open and are going to be very difficult to resolve.

In one sense, this idea of a huge signing ceremony for what President Trump is calling a peace plan is a way almost to put pressure on both parties to commit to those -- to those points that they signed to, to make sure that neither party reneges on their commitment. On the other hand, it is a bit immature and overblown to call it a peace plan. What we have right now is a ceasefire and a return and exchange of hostages and prisoners on both sides.

[06:10:06]

But the hard work, Victor, still remains to be done. We still have to talk about Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. We have to talk about a permanent end to the war. We have to talk about Hamas disarmament, eventually.

And as Clarissa mentioned earlier, it's not just the physical rehabilitation that so many people are going to need. It's the mental and psychological rehabilitation, too. And while in Israel you have all the resources available for that, in Gaza, as you know, there are no hospitals, no universities, no schools, almost nothing left standing. So, all of that work that's going to be required for people to heal is going to be that much harder.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Let's talk about this summit. You posted in response to what's now a growing list of invitees to this summit in Sharm el- Sheikh all this for phase one ceasefire that may not last through the second phase and to that second phase. Israel's defense minister Katz posted on social media just a few hours ago the major challenge for Israel after the phase of returning the hostages will be the destruction of all of Hamas' terror tunnels in Gaza directly by the IDF and through the international mechanism to be established under U.S. leadership and oversight. This is the primary implication of implementing the agreed principle of demilitarization of Gaza and neutralizing Hamas' weaponry.

Just talk through the first steps of the complexities of what will happen next. Of course, we don't want to walk too quickly back by this exclamation point of a moment of the release of the hostages, but getting to that next point that Israel is already looking ahead to, there's a lot of work that has to be done, including by the U.S.

EL-GAMAL: Certainly. And it's not just the Israeli defense minister, but the finance minister Smotrich, and minister Ben-Gvir have all made it clear that to them, this signing of the ceasefire agreement does not mean the end of the war, that they want to continue going. In their words, until Hamas is completely destroyed.

So, what that means exactly, Victor, that's always been a very vague term because you -- on one hand, you have the technical aspects of demilitarization, like I said. And Hamas has said that they will not turn their weapons over to any non-Arab entity.

So, they will be in talks with Arab countries to decide what demilitarized -- demilitarization means, whether it's a freezing of their weapons, whether it's physically turning their weapons over to an Arab body, that still remains to be seen. But they have said they won't turn it over to any non-Arab entity.

So, there are still going to be challenges. There's also a clause in the 20-point plan that says that if Hamas delays or does anything to jeopardize the implementation of the deal, that Israel has the right to go back in, very similar to the language that we saw in the Lebanon ceasefire plan, where we've seen the ceasefire being violated nearly every day since that plan was signed.

So still many, many challenges ahead. And I think it's worth noting, too, Victor, that Israel is not expected to participate in this signing of the summit -- the signing ceremony at the summit tomorrow. So, it just goes to show that this isn't a peace plan yet. It's not something that the parties have entered into very willingly, which means it's going to be a lot of work having the guarantors put their feet to the fire and make sure that that plan is really going to be implemented.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about Israeli domestic politics. There was booing from the crowd yesterday when Steve Witkoff mentioned Prime Minister Netanyahu. Let's play a bit of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: To Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu --

CROWD: Boo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And so, in the days after October 7th, there was a -- there was a demand for an investigation into how intel missed the planning that led into this. And most said, well, let's focus on the war and getting the hostages home. Once the hostages home, what's the likelihood that that will happen now?

EL-GAMAL: That's right. There's a lot -- there's a big reckoning that is going to be happening within Israeli society, between Israeli society and their government. Everyone has been waiting for the hostages to come home.

I'm sure that you've heard, Victor, many people saying -- many Israelis saying it's still October 7th to us. Until the hostages return, it is still -- every day is still October 7th.

[06:15:04]

And so, once the hostages are finally back, you're going to start to see that day after in Israel. And that is going to include a lot of serious questions to Prime Minister Netanyahu as to how this attack on October 7th, two years ago, was allowed to happen and was allowed to go on for so many hours before the IDF finally intervened.

There was testimony from some of the women on that guard tower, the watchtower on the border, many of whom were kidnaped on that day, who said that they had seen Hamas doing exercises and had tried to warn their superiors several times and were dismissed -- and their concerns dismissed. And they chalked it up a bit to sexism, but also to just not being taken seriously, those warnings. And so, those questions are going to start coming out now once the hostages are back, and Prime Minister Netanyahu will certainly have a lot to answer for.

BLACKWELL: Certainly will. And some of those hostage families, in addition to the questions about how this could have happened, accused Israel of espousing policies that prolong the war and kept those hostages --

EL-GAMAL: Absolutely.

BLACKWELL: -- in custody there for much longer than necessary. Jasmine el-Gamal, thank you so much. All right. Next on CNN THIS MORNING, we now know the scope of the devastation from that plant explosion in Tennessee. We have an update on the death toll and what's being done this week to help more families.

We're also looking ahead. Could there be an end in sight for the federal shutdown? Plus, good news for members of the military who are worried about not being paid.

And we have new video showing the moment, look at this, a helicopter crashed in Huntington Beach, California. What we know about the investigation, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:34]

BLACKWELL: Sixteen people were killed with no survivors in that massive blast at a Tennessee explosives plant. Investigators are still carefully going through the scene, since more explosives may be on that property.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS DAVIS, HUMPHREYS COUNTY SHERIFF: We've got communities here, Sheriff Kraft and I, both on -- on both sides have communities that have been truly devastated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let's get more now from CNN's Isabel Rosales.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've learned that all families have now been notified. And the big update here is that the number of those presumed dead has actually gone down from 18 people to 16 after the sheriff's office were able to locate two individuals who were not inside of the building, but the work still continues. The investigative work to figure out the cause of this explosion and also DNA work to try and identify these remains.

The sheriff saying that the families of these workers, understandably, are upset. The sheriff of Humphreys County, Chris Davis, was visibly pushing back his words. He was upset. He revealed that he himself personally knew some of these individuals killed at the explosion.

Meanwhile, another person who was hurting is Janie Brown, who sought comfort at a prayer vigil. She says she knew or worked with some of the victims. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANIE BROWN, KNEW VICTIMS KILLED IN BLAST: It's going to be a sad, sad day in our community for a while. They were people. They were loved by their families and they -- by their communities. They -- they've been all around the communities. Everybody knew them. And it's just a sad, sad day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Sheriff Davis warned that this could take a matter of days, if not weeks, to get to an answer as to the cause of this explosion. And adding to the complexity slowing these investigative efforts down is the fact that this is what the sheriff calls a volatile environment with unexploded ordnance, that they're working to clear so they can make -- continue to make progress in their investigation, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Isabel Rosales reporting for us. Thank you so much. This morning, runners are warming up for the Chicago marathon. And some of them are reportedly concerned about immigration enforcement targeting that event.

At least 15 people were arrested yesterday outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois. That's after police declared an unlawful assembly. Most were accused of resisting or not following police orders. For weeks, protesters have gathered there to push back against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER SCHWEIZER, DEMONSTRATOR IN BROADVIEW: We tried to bring the eucharist to the people that are in the detention center to allow them some of their faith to come into a very terrible situation.

BERTO AGUAYO, POLICY CO-CHAIR, LATINO LEADERSHIP COUNCIL: Our city is under siege. Our communities are being terrorized and torn apart, and every single person who looks brown is scared. Because, you know, despite their claim that they're going after the worst of the worst, they're going after citizens and undocumented people alike.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, now there's another fight. This one is in court. A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that National Guard troops in Illinois can stay under federal control, but they cannot be sent out while this case continues.

[06:25:02]

The order says that guard members don't have to return home unless a court orders them to. Troops in the Chicago area are doing planning and training, not active operations. About 500 guard members, 300 from Illinois and 200 from Texas, are there in place.

Well, fans are mourning the loss of Diane Keaton. She was known for her roles in "Annie Hall" and "The Godfather." What we're learning about her death, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: It's day 12th of the government shutdown. And President Trump says that U.S. troops who were in danger of not getting paid, if the shutdown continued past this Wednesday, will receive their paychecks on October 15th.

[06:30:08]

President Trump posted online that his administration is identified funds to pay the military. The Pentagon says it will redirect research and development money that's available for two years.

Meanwhile Trump's budget director announced that the administration has moved forward with mass firings instead of just furloughing government employees.

CNN's Julia Benbrook explains which departments are affected. JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): It has been a long- stated goal of President Donald Trump's to shrink the size of the federal government. And he has made it very clear that he sees this ongoing government shutdown as a quote, opportunity to do just that.

The official announcement of the RIF, the Reduction in Force notices came in a brief social media post from Trump's Budget Chief Russ Vought, where he simply wrote the RIFs have begun. Hours later while taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office, Trump was pressed on who would be affected in this first round and what agencies should be bracing for an immediate hit. He did not go into many specifics, but he did make it clear that there is a target here, including those who do not align with his agenda.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many layoffs have you authorized for this first round and from which agency?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: And it will Democrat- oriented because we figure, you know, they started this thing so they should be Democrat-oriented. It'll be a lot and we'll announce the numbers over the next couple of days. But it'll be a lot of people, all because of the Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK (on-camera): Now the numbers that we have at this time come from a court filing in a lawsuit brought by federal employee unions looking to stop the layoffs. It revealed that more than 4,000 federal workers across seven different agencies have received layoff notices. It also revealed that other departments are actively looking for areas to make cuts as this government shutdown drags on.

Now, it's important to note that while it is typical to see some government workers furloughed during a shutdown, these mass firings are a break from precedent and a growing number of Republican lawmakers have acknowledged the potential political perils of implementing mass firings at this time.

When it comes to a potential deal on Capitol Hill, there is still no clear solution in sight. We do expect this shutdown to last into next week.

Victor.

BLACKWELL: Julia Benbrook, thank you very much.

Also due to the government shutdown, the Smithsonian says that its museums research centers and the National Zoo will be closed starting today. The Smithsonian says its digital resources will continue to be available online.

Fans are mourning the loss of Oscar winning actress Diane Keaton. She was known for her sharp humor iconic style roles in Book Club, Godfather, Annie Hall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You play very well.

DIAN KEATON, ACTRESS: Oh, yes, so do you. Oh God, what a -- what a dumb thing to say, right? I mean you say, well, then right away. I have to say you play well.

Oh God Annie. Well, oh well. La-dee-da, la-dee-da, la, la. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The cause of her death has not been released. Fans and stars from Jane Fonda to Steve Martin remembering her as one of Hollywood's most original voices. She was 79 years old.

A dog in Arizona was airlifted to safety after falling into a Canyon. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office says its aviation team responded near battleship rock this weekend after they received reports that the dog could not walk. Deputies located the dog, its owner and then lifted them both out by helicopter. The dog was taken to an emergency vet and is expected to recover.

A powerful nor'easter is expected to deliver damaging wind and torrential rain significant coastal flooding as well to the northeast. The system has already caused dangerous floods along the mid-Atlantic coast. It's now bearing down on the New York area.

Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the storm for us.

Is this -- this is going to last a little time?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on-camera): It is, because it is such a massive storm. When you look at it, it's a very elongated shape, which means it runs up and down the entire eastern seaboard.

So take a look at this, again we've got the southern edge of the rain. So, you can still see we've got some showers still across portions of the Carolinas and Virginia. But now we slide off to the north and you've got this huge section here of rain that's starting to slide into portions of the northeast. So eventually making it into Philadelphia, places like Newport, Providence and even into New York as we go later on into the day today.

So, you have two separate spots here where there's the potential for flooding because this is where we expect those heavier bands to really set up as we go through the morning and especially into the afternoon and evening hours today.

Here you can see that, again look at how widespread a lot of this rain really stretches. So you still even have some more rain expected for areas of the Carolinas, even though it's been raining there for a few days now. The bulk of the heavy rain will begin to shift early Monday morning into the Northeast.

[06:35:10]

So if you've got some travel plans early Monday morning, whether by car or by plane, please be prepared for some delays because it's not just the heavy rain, it's also the wind component with a lot of this. It's going to be bringing those wind gusts up around 50 to 60 miles per hour.

BLACKWELL: Tough day or two. Allison Chinchar, thank you.

Well, plastics, they're not just around us, they are in us. CNN tracked exposure to invisible chemicals on three continents using specialized wristbands.

We have the results. You'll have them next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:22]

BLACKWELL: New video shows, watch this, the moment a helicopter crashed into a beach parking lot in California.

This happened in Huntington Beach. Fire officials say, CNN -- tell CNN rather, the aircraft's landing gear was down when a piece broke off yesterday. It caused it to spin out of control.

The two people on board were rescued and three others nearby were injured. All five were taken to the hospital.

A new study has found that plastic, which is in really just about everything, is posing a grave and growing danger to our health. Three CNN reporters across three continents tracked how many toxic chemicals from plastics they were exposed to. What they found is alarming.

CNN's Bill Weir has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURA PADDISON, CNN SENIOR CLIMATE REPORTER: Just cycling to the local grocery store.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is our colleague, Laura, in London.

PADDISON: It's a cold Wednesday morning.

JESSIE YEUNG, CNN SENIOR NEWS DESK REPORTER: It is hot, it's humid.

WEIR (voice-over): This is Jessie in Hong Kong.

YEUNG: It is a very busy Monday morning here in Hong Kong.

WEIR (voice-over): And that's me, Bill, on my New York City commute.

WEIR: Who knows we got a fume exposure, on death (ph) on a daily basis. WEIR (voice-over): Together --

PADDISON: The wristbands finally arrived.

WEIR (voice-over): -- we are guinea pigs on three continents.

YEUNG: Here's the wristband.

WEIR (voice-over): And with the help of these special wristbands and an international team of pollution experts --

YEUNG: I'm heating up some food. I have a gas stove at home which is quite common in Hong Kong.

WEIR (voice-over): -- we'll spend five days measuring our exposure to the dozens of different chemicals --

PADDISON: And just going to put on with makeup for work.

WEIR (voice-over): -- that come from living on a planet made of plastic.

BJORN BEELER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL POLLUTANTS ELIMINATION NETWORK: Studies have shown there's over 16,000 chemicals in plastics --

WEIR: Yes.

BEELER: -- of that, about 25 percent are known to be hazardous chemicals. And the vast majority of other chemicals, there's been not enough scientific data to show if it's safe or not.

WEIR: Thanks to my better half, Kelly, we really try to avoid chemicals. All natural cleaning products, if we can. We filter our water, drink out of glass. We have an air quality monitor here as well.

And for the better part of the last five days, I've either been at home or at the office. I haven't had to get on an airplane. That's rare.

So, this is somewhat of a controlled environment to just see how clean my immediate surroundings are.

PADDISON: Every time I walked into a cafe or a restaurant or down a really busy road, a grocery store, you know, got on the train to go to work. But perhaps the place that I've most thought about it is when it comes to what I'm actually putting on my body.

So, you know, perfume or lotions. Also cleaning products and what I'm using to clean the house.

YEUNG: I became quite aware when I was going through my daily life and, you know, at dinners or just walking around on the street, I'd wonder, like, oh, I wonder what around me is potentially putting chemical pollutants in the air. Whether that's my gas stove or things from a construction site. It made me realize how many construction sites I pass through on a daily basis.

WEIR: What do we pick up?

BEELER: You got a lot of chemical exposure, unfortunately.

WEIR: Really?

BEELER: Everything that we looked for, we found.

WEIR (voice-over): All of our samples included flame retardants and UV stabilizers, an alphabet soup of BPA, BPF, BPS, and around two dozen chemicals on each of our bands.

BEELER: And then the most important one, I would say, that everyone should know is called phthalates.

WEIR: Phthalates.

BEELER: Phthalates.

WEIR: It's spelled with a P-H.

BEELER: It is the worst way to spell it. It's like an alphabetical mess. But phthalates are super important because when we first looked at them, they're everywhere.

WEIR (voice-over): Phthalates are what makes plastic moldable and flexible. They're more regulated in Europe than Asia, and Jessie's levels were a bit higher than Laura's. But it is so common globally, it's long been known as the everywhere chemical.

They are also endocrine disruptors, which hack human hormones and cause problems from cradle to grave, from fertility and child behavior to depression, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

BEELER: Studies have shown about 100 percent of Americans have phthalates in their body. And it's so ubiquitous. It's everywhere. If you look around your room and your house, your clothes are made of plastics. Your furniture is made of plastics. Everything's getting turned into plastics.

But by 2060, like about 35 years from now, we're going to have four times more plastic on the planet than we have today.

WEIR: Wow.

WEIR (voice-over): Bill Weir, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, thank you, Bill.

Up next, teenagers are getting very personal with AI. We'll explain how it's reshaping their relationships or maybe replacing them altogether.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:49:07]

BLACKWELL: Parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, listen up. Young children and teenagers, there may have some relationships that you need to focus on when it comes to their screen time.

New research shows that nearly 20 percent of high school kids say that they or someone they know has had a romantic relationship with artificial intelligence. Forty-two percent of students surveyed say they or someone they know have used AI for companionship. And those numbers are part of a study that the Center for Democracy and Technology conducted called Hand in Hand, Schools Embrace of AI Connected to Increased Risks to Students.

One of the authors of that study is Elizabeth Laird. She joins me now to discuss. She's director of CDT's Equity in Civic Technology Project.

Elizabeth, thank you so much for being with me. Before we get into the consequences potentially of this, what defines a romantic relationship with AI?

[06:50:15]

ELIZABETH LAIRD, DIR., EQUITY IN CIVI TECHNOLOGY, CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY & TECHNOLOGY: Well, that's a good question. Before we get into that, I would like to just start by talking about what the current status of AI usage is. We've been surveying students, parents, and teachers since 2020 about their various uses of data and technology. I think it's really important for the uncles and grandparents that you mentioned in your intro to know that the use of AI in schools is at record levels.

Eighty-five percent of teachers say that they've used AI in at least one way in the past school year, 86 percent of students say they've used it as well, half of whom are doing it for school purposes.

And so, the focus of our research was to understand what is the connection between these record levels of AI use in schools, and is it having unintended consequences? And so to get back to your question, we wanted to know, is it affecting their real-life relationships? I mean we very much did find that, as you mentioned, one in five students say that they or they know has had a romantic relationship with AI.

What I would add, and that was a really important finding of ours, is that the more ways that a school is using AI, the more likely a high school student is to report that. So across all students, it's one in five, but that jumps to 32 percent if their school uses AI in a lot of different ways.

And so the reason I think that's important is because we're seeing this technology really being used in pretty remarkable ways. And I think it's really important to understand what type of impact that's having on students' real-life relationships.

BLACKWELL: And so there might be some parents who want their children to have some familiarity with AI because it's everywhere. It's, quote- unquote, the future.

But what should they be looking for to determine whether it's an unhealthy relationship with AI?

LAIRD: Yes, we asked teachers and we asked students, what type of information or guidance have you gotten from your school and what are the types of topics that it covers? And so fewer than half of teachers and fewer than half of students said that they had received any type of guidance or information on how to use this new technology.

And so if I can call back to what I said, you know, 85 percent of teachers and 86 percent of students are already using it. And so, there's a pretty big difference between the adoption of this technology and the guidance that they're receiving.

And when they are receiving this guidance and information from their school, the good news is that these audiences find it very helpful, which I think speaks to the questions and demands they have for more information to your point about how do we use this well and responsibly, the bad news is that the risks that we're talking about today, including students' potentially unhealthy relationship with this technology, are rarely covered.

So only 11 percent of teachers say that their school has given them any type of guidance or training on how to respond if they suspect that a student's use of this technology, they're potentially using it in ways that could be detrimental to their health and well-being.

BLACKWELL: Yes, this study is so important and at least to me unique, but how much do we know, I mean about the use of AI? CDT is doing it, but I'm sure there are lots of populations that are not really aware of how much interaction young people have with AI. There are some unknowns out there still.

LAIRD: Yes, and I regret to tell you that some of those folks who don't know how children are using AI are parents themselves. So we asked parents and we asked the high school students that we surveyed, do you think that your parent knows how you use AI? And we asked parents, do you think your child -- do you think you know how your child uses AI? And both groups agree the answer is no.

So over two-thirds of students and two-thirds of parents say they don't understand. Not only that, 38 percent of the students we surveyed said that they feel more comfortable talking to AI than they do to their own families. So, I do think it is a really important conversation that parents should be having with their children.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LAIRD: And at the same time, they do not need to bear this burden alone. And they should be engaging with their school and making sure that as they're deploying this technology, they're not just teaching prompt engineering, but how students can navigate the risks and limitations of it.

BLACKWELL: Elizabeth Laird, I learned something today, and I thank you for that.

Thanks for being with me.

LAIRD: Yes, of course. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. New Orleans is known as the birthplace of a lot of musical genres. "CNN's Original Series, NEW ORLEANS, SOUL OF A CITY," looks at second-line parades, at tradition, at the very heart of New Orleans music.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:55:14]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A second line is this rolling block party through the city.

CHEEKY BLAKK, MUSICIAN: The second line is like a walking concert. That's what I would call it, a walking concert. You're in the street partying.

TROMBONE SHORTY, MUSICIAN: The same way people have to have water, food to eat, we have to do a second line. That's how important it is to us.

MICHAEL WHITE, MUSICIAN: I remember the first second line parade I played, the first three beats of the bass drum to start the music. Boom. Boom. Boom.

The music was so exciting. It was like a joyous twilight zone and it seemed like you stepped on an ant pile and thousands of people came from nowhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: "NEW ORLEANS, SOUL OF A CITY," a new episode airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

And there's much more ahead on the next hour of "CNN This Morning Weekend," including Israelis awaiting the release of hostages. World leaders are preparing to join President Trump at a peace summit in Egypt.

We are live in the region, next.

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