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Police Beef Up Security for July 4th Festivities; Kevin Durant to Sign with Golden State Warriors; Foul-Smelling Muck Chases Away Florida Tourists; Chicago Violence: 2 Killed, At Least 21 Wounded Over Weekend; World Leaders Pay Tribute to Human Rights Champion. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 4, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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


DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- around the world so it's what police don't know that they're try up against, essentially.

[14:30:06] So they're taking extra steps, extra precautions, they're layering the security. Not just here in New York City. I mean, you've got 3 million people that will come to this area, or are expected to come to this area. But you've also got these parades and celebrations going on all over the country. So, police today out in full force.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): After a series of deadly attacks overseas, U.S. counterterror officials heightening security measures at so- called soft targets across the country, including the July 4 fireworks displays tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a pretty tight security plan for the Fourth of July.

FEYERICK: In the nation's capital, much of the dramatic increase in security will be hidden.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do have technology that folks will not see.

FEYERICK: The biggest fireworks show in America, along New York City's East River, with an estimated three million spectators, has the police and the Big Apple on high alert.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will see a very significantly enhanced police presence in the city.

FEYERICK: Out on the water, officials patrolling harbors around Manhattan and conducting security dives along the Macy's fireworks barges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are very, very vigilant. We'll have exceptional NYPD presence to keep everyone safe.

FEYERICK: The New York City mayor deploying 500-plus, highly trained, highly armed officers ready to prevent terror. The first Fourth of July the critical response team will be out in full force. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sends a powerful message to anyone who might

try and disrupt that we are ready to prevent that.

FEYERICK: Tensions already high.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sounded like a cannon.

FEYERICK: After small explosion in Central Park Sunday left a tourist's foot mangled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His foot is all but detached. His friends claim he was walking on the rocks and stepped on something.

FEYERICK: That something appeared to be an experiment with fireworks or a homemade explosive set off after a young tourist accidentally stepped on it, according to the NYPD.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe this could have as some sort of experiment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Now the NYPD and the FBI's joined terrorism task forth investigated. It does not appear this was terror related. The NYPD bomb squad saying that it didn't appear that this device was there intending to do harm. Still, it did significant damage to a young man who underwent surgery at a hospital just a couple blocks from here. Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: That could have been any one of us walking through Central Park. How is he doing, do we know?

FEYERICK: We don't know his status. We are told by a grandmother that his leg had to be amputated below the knee. He was jumping off a rock, Brooke. And he stepped on to a plastic bag and it's this bag that had this explosive in it. It was that kind of chemical but the reaction was powerful and people who describe it sounded like it just shattered Central Park.

He does go to the University of Miami, that's lives in Virginia, we're told, he was here visiting with two friends. The University of Miami that says, "We will provide Connor Golden (ph), his family with complete support through his recovery and rehabilitation." And that their thoughts are with him following this horrific tragedy.

So they were just here enjoying the city like everyone else and that's what police are guarding against. That's why you see so many of them out in force right now and there will be more later on, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Poor thing. Never should have happened.

Deb Feyerick, thank you so much.

Coming up next here, big news in the world of basketball. Kevin Durant saying he will sign with the Golden State Warriors. His announcement sending shock waves through the NBA. We'll discuss that and talk about how many pennies, nickels and dimes he will be paid for two years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:37:11] BALDWIN: Let's get to it. This is the sports story that people are talking about today.

After weeks and weeks of speculation, basketball's biggest free agent has finally made a game-time decision. Kevin Durant announcing just a bit ago he will, indeed, sign with the Golden State Warriors, inking a reported $54.3 million two-year deal, 54.3. That effectively makes him the highest-paid player on the team.

He had a feeling that some would call foul writing on the players tribune, this, he wrote, quote, "It really pains me to know that I will disappoint so many people with this choice but I believe I am doing what I feel is the right thing at this point in my life and my playing career. I will miss Oklahoma City and the role I have had in building this remarkable team."

Christine Brennan joining us on this Independence Day, our sports analyst and a sports columnist for "USA Today".

I'm trying hard not to get hung up on the $54.3 million deal. First up, though, do you think he made the right call?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: I do, Brooke, I absolutely do.

What we're looking at here is, of course, free agency. And this is something that has been fought hard for by players and players' unions across all sports, all professional sports for decades. And so, this is the culmination of that. This is a man playing out his time in a city, his contract was up, he's a free agent, he can make that choice.

He looks at a lot of different teams. He did interviews in the Hamptons, teams came in and tried to woo him very much like a job situation, a job offer, candidate for the job and Kevin Durant made the choice that's right for him. It makes Golden State the best team in basketball in the regular season record, winning 73 games last year, the record, and then losing to Cleveland in the finals game seven. Golden State is just loaded, great team becomes even better and I think it increases interest in the league.

And again, Kevin Durant, it's his right to do exactly what he just did.

BALDWIN: Do you think he took the easy way out, as some may say, by going to the Golden State Warriors?

BRENNAN: Well, I don't know if it's the easy way out. We saw this happen four or five years ago with LeBron James.

BALDWIN: Right.

BRENNAN: He made the choice to leave Ohio to go down to Miami and to pick his team and teammates and win a couple championships which is what he did. Finals four years, two times NBA champion down there then comes back to Cleveland and wins the title for his hometown this year.

So, this is -- we've seen this before. In many ways, this is Groundhog Day. We are watching this play out again and again. The best players in the league making decisions they feel are the best for them.

Easy way out? I don't know how you could say that, because he gets to play with the guys he wants to play with and most important for Kevin Durant, 29 years old, he wants to win an NBA title.

BALDWIN: Sure, of course, he does.

BRENNAN: And this is his best shot to do it. I think that makes sense, don't you think?

[14:40:01] BALDWIN: On the sense note, though even Steph Curry, two- time MVP Steph Curry has a $12.1 million contract. We're talking $54.3 million. That's a lot of money.

BRENNAN: It is.

But listen, believe me, it is -- oh, listen, I'm sure there are people listening to this conversation right now and watching us who are going "you've got to be kidding me."

BALDWIN: Yes, yes.

BRENNAN: But I think they've probably been saying that now, Brooke, the salaries we see in Major League Baseball, in the NFL and the NBA. They're entertainers.

I think to put this in context, they're entertainers. We wouldn't give a second thought to a movie star making this kind of money. That's where sports has taken us in the 21st century. We are in the entertainment world than we are the sports world.

So, the idea you can shoot baskets in the gym playing high school ball as a girl or a boy and someday this is where it ends up, in some ways, you could make a case this is the American dream come true and it's about entertainment, much more than just sports and how much the value of shooting the basketball is because clearly we've gone into the stratosphere on that one.

BALDWIN: Total stratosphere. It's extraordinary to listen to, he approached it like a business man.

Christine Brennan, thank you very much. Happy Fourth of July to you my friend. Thanks.

BRENNAN: You too. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, what is in the water? This toxic mass invading some of Florida's most popular summer getaways. It's holiday weekend. We'll tell you what's being done to stop this stuff.

And we'll, of course, get you back to our breaking news. Saudi Arabia hit with multiple suicide bomb attacks in the past 24 hours. This is video just in from one of the scenes here. We will have the very latest for you straight ahead on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Thick, foul-smelling algae continues to clog several Florida waterways on this Fourth of July holiday. This toxic muck is spoiling beaches and hitting the state's tourism industry right in the middle of its critical summer peak.

[14:45:03] CNN's national correspondent Polo Sandoval joins me now from Stuart, Florida, with more on this algae issue.

Polo, how bad is it?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's slowly getting better, Brooke. Let me tell you, there are so many different layers to this story, one of which is kind of a blame game, if you will. If you talk to these people in this community, many will blame agricultural runoff for the pollution that seems to be feeding the algae, but you hear from others who seem to think it's simply urban runoff. So, that is up for debate.

But what many people agree about is the economic impact that this algae is leaving behind. Look around me, Brooke, a beach is practically empty. Only a couple people back there on a day that should be packed. Clearly, this is affecting this community's bottom line.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRINA LANGSTIDD, OWNER, SIMPLE PLEASURES: It's devastating. It's heartbreaking.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Trina Langstidd's store in Stuart, Florida, is typically packed with shoppers. This holiday weekend, though, business is very slow.

LANGSTIDD: We're down at least 50 percent over the week, 50 percent to 70 percent.

SANDOVAL: A drop she blames on the gross green smelly goo that blankets much of her beloved treasure coast.

LANGSTIDD: It smells like the ocean. Not like our ocean right now.

SANDOVAL: Langstidd is furious about the blue-green algae tainting some of the state's once inviting waters.

DR. VINCENT ENCOMIA, RESEARCH SCIENTIST, FLORIDA OCENAOGRAPHIC SOCIETY: It's a broad class of what we call cyanobacteria.

SANDOVAL: Dr. Vincent Encomia says the putrid (ph) algae bloom came from Lake Okeechobee, about 35 miles inland. Engineers released large amounts of water so nearby towns wouldn't flood but with the water came the algae. ENCOMIA: It's running off nutrients so the nutrients are coming with

the fresh water so that combination plus warm temperatures is going to create the conditions to cause these kinds of conditions.

SANDOVAL: Florida's Department of Environmental Protection is sampling the blooms. Most results indicate low to extremely low levels of toxins are present in the water. Last week results showed elevated toxin levels here and levels lightly above low risk.

But the images from above look awful and on the ground, the smell is chasing people away from the coast, like this one where double red flags warn Rose Rosario and her granddaughters to stay on dry land.

ROSE ROSARIO, RESIDENT: This beach is usually packed, you can't even find a space, a parking space whenever we've come at whatever time of day or afternoon. And it's -- there's nobody here.

SANDOVAL: The algae can cause rashes, respiratory problems and if ingested can cause liver and kidney damage. And there's big concerns from marine life.

ENCOMIA: There will be low in oxygen to almost no oxygen, and that will be a severe impact on any wildlife that might make it through here.

SANDOVAL: And it's already keeping people away from the small businesses in this quaint coastal town.

(on camera) : Summer is not over yet. Do you still have hope that there will be some relief?

LANGSTIDD: I always have hope. I hope that I can go to the beach tomorrow and it's going to be beautiful and clear. Of course, you never give up hope.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): For Langstidd and her fellow shop owners, keeping another toxic algae bloom from happening isn't business. It's personal.

LANGSTIDD: This is all about Florida -- the people, the wildlife, the land and the water.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And back out live to Stuart, Florida, the only flags right now flying warning swimmers to stay out of the water. Officials here have slowly been opening up beaches and, Brooke, while I have spoken to life guards who have been speaking to people who are showing up here, only a couple of people who've actually been showing up. They say that the only thing they can do is actually warn folks if there is still some of that green algae in the water but still some folks are choosing to go in.

BALDWIN: I will take your word on the smell. That is empty beach behind you there. Polo, thank you very much in Stuart, Florida.

SANDOVAL: Yes.

BALDWIN: Let's take you to Chicago and talk about this weekend so far. Two people have been killed and at least 21 wounded in shootings. And while the numbers are down from last year, when 10 people were killed and more than 50 injured during the independence weekend, 2016 is on pace to become one of the deadliest years on record there.

CNN national correspondent Ryan Young is in Chicago.

And, Ryan, this is one of those summer holiday weekend police pay very close attention to.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They pay a lot of attention to it. In fact, they've added 5,000 more law enforcement officers to the streets to make sure they calm the violence down. There was a raid on Friday where they arrested some 80 repeat offenders hoping to stop some of the tide of violence here.

But, Brooke, I want to show you something. Behind us is a memorial set up on the south side. You look here, all these bricks represent people who have died here in Chicago. And you have to look here and see some of the ages here.

This is one of the youngest here, Tyshawn Lee, I remember when he died last year, just nine years old. But as we've standing here, you look here, 15, 15, 13, this strikes people, the fact that so many young people are dying here.

And despite the size of this, just imagine they're over 500 short can keeping up with these breaks. I'm telling you, community leaders are getting out there. They're trying to make a difference and they're looking for help and change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAEP)

LIZ DOZIER, FORMER CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: Demetrius Peebles (p) was one of my students. His mom -- he was his mom's only son, only child.

[14:50:02] He was shot in the head. Each one of these kids in here, that was somebody's son, that was somebody's daughter. They meant something to someone.

And so often times, we are just desensitized in numbers, and we forget that these are human beings.

JESSE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: We have to fight to keep this place open just as a symbol of our pain and the degradation we're facing. Again, I don't know why -- what's the threshold to get the national government to come in here and look at an urban crisis? Would it manifest itself differently? In Baltimore, in Memphis?

I repeat again there is no plan, no remedy for urban reconstruction and it is as if something is wrong with us. There's nothing wrong with us. There's something wrong with the system that it did not include us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: Brooke, murders are up this year as well. In terms of the first six months, there's already been a hundred more than the first six months of last year. Another nine-year-old name right here. You've got to understand the impact here for these families and this community.

People are tired of it and they're asking for help. So far this Fourth of July, better than last year, people hoping that change can sustain throughout the summer. Just sad.

BALDWIN: Too many kids. Too many kids on those bricks.

Ryan Young, thank you for shining a light on that in Chicago for us. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, we'll take you back to our breaking story. Saudi Arabia hit with multiple suicide attacks within just the past 24 hours. Might they be connected? We'll take you there and explain coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:06] BALDWIN: On ABC's "Shark Tank", Kevin O'Leary uses his expertise to help other entrepreneurs pursue their dreams. But his own path to success wasn't so easy.

Here's CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta with this week's "Turning Points."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kevin O'Leary is known for his ferocity on ABC's "Shark Tank".

KEVIN O'LEARY, SHARK TANK: You don't have any creativity, Barbara.

GUPTA: But before he became the successful business leader known as Mr. Wonderful, Kevin struggled to keep up in school.

O'LEARY: I was dyslexic and very much so. It was very challenging for me. I couldn't read in early ages. And it gets you pushed back. I was really wondering if I ever was going to make it. I was failing. There was a lot of panic in my own family.

GUPTA: His mother pushed for Kevin to receive special accommodations. That's when a teacher came with a theory, one that would help Kevin overcome his learning disability.

O'LEARY: Their thesis went like this. This is not a fault. You have a super power.

And when you're that young, you buy into that. It gives you the confidence you need and that's what occurred to me. She gave me the confidence. I think of those days --

GUPTA: Kevin went on to earn an MBA and co-found a software company which made him a multimillionaire. Now, he's the one inspiring confidence in others.

O'LEARY: And I meet lots of dyslexic people today and I give them encouragement because it is a super power.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: And now, I want to honor a man, an outpouring of condolences from leaders around the world on the passing of Nobel laureate and renown holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. He passed away Saturday after battling a long illness. And in his 87 years, he fought tirelessly for human rights and peace all over the world.

Many viewed him as an emblem to remember the six million Jews who died in the holocaust.

And as our Richard Roth explains, Wiesel's life's work touched people in nearly every corner of the globe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He would become the most famous survivor of the Holocaust. But at the age of 15, Elie Wiesel had no fears when his family was rounded up and hungry by the Nazis.

ELIE WIESEL, NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE: To the last minute, I wasn't worried. We had no idea that Auschwitz existed.

ROTH: That changed when he was transported by cattle car with hundreds of others.

WIESEL: I knew something was terrible. It was something terrifying that was in store for us.

[07:50:04] ROTH: Arrival at Auschwitz, the extermination camp, an older inmate advises them, tell the Germans you're 18 years old. A candidate for work. It would save his life, or what would pass as life in the death camps.

Trapped in a nightmare, Wiesel sustained himself by keeping his father alive. Father and son were later taken to Buchenwald camp. Wiesel's father Shlomo just weeks before the U.S. Army arrived.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All along the united advance, the gates swing open from German concentration camps.

ROTH: This picture was taken after liberation. Wiesel is in the second level of the bunk next to the beam. He would later say he didn't recognize himself. Wiesel lamented there was no grave of his father to visit when he

toured Buchenwald in 2009 with German Chancellor Merkel and President Obama.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What can I tell him? That the world has learned? I am not so sure.

ROTH: Wiesel started asking questions after the war, becoming a journalist. It took years before he talked about the horrors he experienced in his book called "Night" an eventual bestseller.

In 1985, as he received the Congressional gold medal, he implored President Reagan unsuccessfully not to visit a German cemetery filled with members of the SS.

He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. The humanitarian would later speak out against other atrocities. On Saddam Hussein.

WIESEL: It is not a method of war. It is a method of intervention.

ROTH: Darfur, Sudan.

WIESEL: It is a scandal that we didn't stop the bloodshed.

ROTH: And on the Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

WIESEL: I will tell you frankly, this man is a disgrace.

ROTH: He was named a messenger of peace by United Nations, the organization founded as a result of World War II. He would ask the U.N. Security Council --

WIESEL: Why am I involved in tragic event that occur to people I have never met on the other side of oceans and continents? It is because I belong to a traumatized generation haunted by the world's indifference.

ROTH: The Elie Wiesel Foundation was set up to fight indifference and intolerance. In 2008, Wiesel and his foundation learned they were among the victims of financial schemer Bernard Madoff.

Wiesel always said he was a writer and a teacher. He said he never spoke for all the Holocaust victims but serves to remind nations to not let it happen again.