CNN10 2025-01-23
CNN 10
Winter Storm Blankets the South; Project in Southern Australia Taking on a Bold Plan to Restore Native Ecosystems; Tourist's Accidental Vacation Video Going Viral. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired January 23, 2025 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello, lovely people. Welcome to Thursday, or as we like to say, Happy Friday Eve. I'm Coy Wire, this is CNN 10, where I tell you the what, letting you decide what to think.
Let's get you your news. We start today with record shattering winter weather that brought the U.S. Gulf Coast to a standstill this week. A major winter storm impacted a large area of the deep south, not used to dealing with ice or snow.
That caused widespread school and work closures and travel disruptions, like people stranded on roads and thousands of canceled flights. Bitter cold temperatures this week are the main cause of the unlikely southern snow storm. Parts of Florida saw more than eight inches of snow, potentially more snow than the state has ever seen since keeping record.
New Orleans, which only sees snow maybe once in a decade, also got hit with eight inches of snow, shattering its previous snow record of 2.7 inches.
The Big Easy has now seen more snow this winter than Chicago, can you believe?
And here are some more head scratchers. This week, there was more snow on the ground in Florida than in Iowa and Nebraska combined. And get this, it was colder in Pensacola, Florida this week than in Anchorage, Alaska. States of emergencies were declared from the Texas Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast of the Carolinas as officials in impacted states urged residents to stay put.
The dangerous winter conditions from both the extreme cold and the winter storm led to at least nine deaths reported nationwide. With the cold sticking around until the end of the week, slippery conditions will likely remain there for some time. Our Maya Blackstone shows us some of the effects of this historic storm, the type of which the South may not see again for decades.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYA BLACKSTONE, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): A once-in-a-generation winter storm brought unprecedented snow to parts of the Gulf Coast of the U.S.
Snow fell Tuesday from southeast Texas through Louisiana and into parts of Mississippi and Alabama, creating whiteout conditions, low temperatures, wind chills, and the first-ever blizzard warning in southern Louisiana and far eastern Texas. More than 2,100 flights were canceled. Airports in Houston and Lafayette, Louisiana shut down.
Other airports remained open, but flights were canceled. Travelers were also told to avoid hazardous conditions on the many schools were closed.
Government offices closed Tuesday throughout the Gulf Coast, and states of emergency are active in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Ten-second trivia. What is the only continent that does not have an active volcano?
Europe, South America, Australia, or Antarctica?
Answer is Australia, which lies far from any tectonic plate boundaries where active volcanoes normally form.
In Australia, an ambitious project is aimed at restoring ecosystems through a process called rewilding. By going back to indigenous practices used before Europeans introduced non-native plants and animals, locals, NGOs, and government officials are working to bring back lost species, restoring food chains, and improving biodiversity.
This edition of CNN's Call to Earth shows us how the project is restoring the balance between humans and nature.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Guuranda is an ancient place now known as the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. New research has recently revealed that its traditional custodians, the Narungga people, have lived on this land for at least 8,000 years, nurturing its fragile wilderness, its soul.
GARRY GOLDSMITH, BUSINESS MANAGER, NARUNGGA NATIONAL ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: Best practice has been here for millennia and I think that's been ignored for way too long.
KINKADE (voice-over): Garry Goldsmith is of Narungga descent and works with the Marna Benggara Project, which aims to protect the health of the region's natural systems.
GOLDSMITH: It was really important to me to be involved about how I could really influence the traditional and cultural knowledge and that's part of our role as traditional owners, as custodians, is to ensure that there is longevity.
KINKADE (voice-over): In collaboration with the WWF Australia, this ambitious plan involves reintroducing some of the native species, gone as a result of habitat loss and the introduction of feral animals during European colonization.
DEREK SANDOW, MARNA BANGGARA PROJECT MANAGER, NORTHERN AND YORKE LANDSCAPE BOARD: Foxes, cats, the loss of habitat, it's just combined together to create a tough world for them and they haven't been able to survive.
Wow, we met your friends today, mate.
KINKADE (voice-over): Many people will know Rambo here as a brush-tailed baton, its common name. The small and bouncy marsupials are ecosystem engineers, promoting plant growth by aerating soil and spreading seeds as they forage for food.
To the Narungga, Rambo is known as a yalgi and while his kind disappeared from this part of South Australia, the species has survived in a pocket of the continent's west, the home of the Narungga people, who call these animals by another name, Woylie.
In 2021, the first group of Woylies were brought from Western Australia to repopulate the York Peninsula.
GOLDSMITH: The Woylie and Yalgi Translocation Project shows that cultural groups are still working together to ensure that each nation is being cared for as if it was your own.
KINKADE (voice-over): It's now up to this team of ecologists to make sure they're thriving in the new environment that was once their own.
SANDOW: We've now got to a stage where the habitat is here for yalgi, we've reduced fox and cat impacts to a level that's low enough for these yalgi to be reintroduced and for them to actually find refuges, find food and to survive themselves with low numbers of foxes and cats.
KINKADE (voice-over): Caring for the new arrivals means yearly check-ups, so just before sunset, the team sets humane traps for the nocturnal marsupial in the hope that early the next morning, data collected from the wild population will prove that the rewilding plan continues to work.
Daybreak and its discoveries fuel more hope. The first yalgi or bettong is a young male born right here.
SANDOW: Which is fantastic for the project, that's what we want to see.
KINKADE (voice-over): The young bettong is tagged and microchipped before his measurements show he's quite healthy in this new home.
SANDOW: So they've got a what we call a prehensile tail, so that means they can actually grab things with their tail and sort of use it as a limb.
KINKADE (voice-over): One by one they are tested and released, joining the now growing population of Yalgi, Woylie, bettong, a trio of names for one unique and vitally important critter back on the Yorke Peninsula, Guuranda, where they belong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Today's story getting a 10 out of 10, is a viral video making a real splash. A vacationer got a surprise when she decided to see the day and take a selfie video of herself taking a plunge. Her grip was no match for that splash though, and her phone went on its own underwater adventure, and could you believe it, she found some fantastic locals stopping by for a cameo in her still recording phone video when she played it back.
Take a look.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch a vacationer's dropped phone go on an exotic underwater odyssey and then go viral. While vacationing in Tulum, Mexico,
Lina Nassiri recorded herself taking a tropical plunge, but ended up dropping her iPhone in the process.
LINA NASSIRI, VACATIONER: I had a phone, like a waterproof case, so my phone was in it. With the water pressure and everything, I just lost it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lifeguard ended up retrieving the still recording phone shortly thereafter.
NASSIRI: It's still filming!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when Nasiri went to view the video, she saw what the phone had seen, a vibrant underwater landscape complete with friendly photobombing fish and everything. Nassiri decided to share the surprising subaquatic video on TikTok and says she was blown away by the response.
NASSIRI: I was not expecting 50 million people to see it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Now it's time for my favorite part of the show, our shoutout today. It's going to a teacher whose students are finally going back to school today after remote learning for weeks due to the fires in California. Mr. Glenn's International Baccalaureate Class at Blair High School in Pasadena, rise up!
Thank you for continuing to watch as you're dealing with so much adversity. My brother and his wife and two daughters have been away from their home for weeks. My heart goes out to all of you dealing with the tragic events in Cali. We hope you are all well and safe.
To all of our friends around the world, we wish you a wonderful day. We'll see you right back here tomorrow to finish this week strong.
END
CNN 10
Winter Storm Blankets the South; Project in Southern Australia Taking on a Bold Plan to Restore Native Ecosystems; Tourist's Accidental Vacation Video Going Viral. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired January 23, 2025 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello, lovely people. Welcome to Thursday, or as we like to say, Happy Friday Eve. I'm Coy Wire, this is CNN 10, where I tell you the what, letting you decide what to think.
Let's get you your news. We start today with record shattering winter weather that brought the U.S. Gulf Coast to a standstill this week. A major winter storm impacted a large area of the deep south, not used to dealing with ice or snow.
That caused widespread school and work closures and travel disruptions, like people stranded on roads and thousands of canceled flights. Bitter cold temperatures this week are the main cause of the unlikely southern snow storm. Parts of Florida saw more than eight inches of snow, potentially more snow than the state has ever seen since keeping record.
New Orleans, which only sees snow maybe once in a decade, also got hit with eight inches of snow, shattering its previous snow record of 2.7 inches.
The Big Easy has now seen more snow this winter than Chicago, can you believe?
And here are some more head scratchers. This week, there was more snow on the ground in Florida than in Iowa and Nebraska combined. And get this, it was colder in Pensacola, Florida this week than in Anchorage, Alaska. States of emergencies were declared from the Texas Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast of the Carolinas as officials in impacted states urged residents to stay put.
The dangerous winter conditions from both the extreme cold and the winter storm led to at least nine deaths reported nationwide. With the cold sticking around until the end of the week, slippery conditions will likely remain there for some time. Our Maya Blackstone shows us some of the effects of this historic storm, the type of which the South may not see again for decades.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYA BLACKSTONE, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): A once-in-a-generation winter storm brought unprecedented snow to parts of the Gulf Coast of the U.S.
Snow fell Tuesday from southeast Texas through Louisiana and into parts of Mississippi and Alabama, creating whiteout conditions, low temperatures, wind chills, and the first-ever blizzard warning in southern Louisiana and far eastern Texas. More than 2,100 flights were canceled. Airports in Houston and Lafayette, Louisiana shut down.
Other airports remained open, but flights were canceled. Travelers were also told to avoid hazardous conditions on the many schools were closed.
Government offices closed Tuesday throughout the Gulf Coast, and states of emergency are active in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Ten-second trivia. What is the only continent that does not have an active volcano?
Europe, South America, Australia, or Antarctica?
Answer is Australia, which lies far from any tectonic plate boundaries where active volcanoes normally form.
In Australia, an ambitious project is aimed at restoring ecosystems through a process called rewilding. By going back to indigenous practices used before Europeans introduced non-native plants and animals, locals, NGOs, and government officials are working to bring back lost species, restoring food chains, and improving biodiversity.
This edition of CNN's Call to Earth shows us how the project is restoring the balance between humans and nature.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Guuranda is an ancient place now known as the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. New research has recently revealed that its traditional custodians, the Narungga people, have lived on this land for at least 8,000 years, nurturing its fragile wilderness, its soul.
GARRY GOLDSMITH, BUSINESS MANAGER, NARUNGGA NATIONAL ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: Best practice has been here for millennia and I think that's been ignored for way too long.
KINKADE (voice-over): Garry Goldsmith is of Narungga descent and works with the Marna Benggara Project, which aims to protect the health of the region's natural systems.
GOLDSMITH: It was really important to me to be involved about how I could really influence the traditional and cultural knowledge and that's part of our role as traditional owners, as custodians, is to ensure that there is longevity.
KINKADE (voice-over): In collaboration with the WWF Australia, this ambitious plan involves reintroducing some of the native species, gone as a result of habitat loss and the introduction of feral animals during European colonization.
DEREK SANDOW, MARNA BANGGARA PROJECT MANAGER, NORTHERN AND YORKE LANDSCAPE BOARD: Foxes, cats, the loss of habitat, it's just combined together to create a tough world for them and they haven't been able to survive.
Wow, we met your friends today, mate.
KINKADE (voice-over): Many people will know Rambo here as a brush-tailed baton, its common name. The small and bouncy marsupials are ecosystem engineers, promoting plant growth by aerating soil and spreading seeds as they forage for food.
To the Narungga, Rambo is known as a yalgi and while his kind disappeared from this part of South Australia, the species has survived in a pocket of the continent's west, the home of the Narungga people, who call these animals by another name, Woylie.
In 2021, the first group of Woylies were brought from Western Australia to repopulate the York Peninsula.
GOLDSMITH: The Woylie and Yalgi Translocation Project shows that cultural groups are still working together to ensure that each nation is being cared for as if it was your own.
KINKADE (voice-over): It's now up to this team of ecologists to make sure they're thriving in the new environment that was once their own.
SANDOW: We've now got to a stage where the habitat is here for yalgi, we've reduced fox and cat impacts to a level that's low enough for these yalgi to be reintroduced and for them to actually find refuges, find food and to survive themselves with low numbers of foxes and cats.
KINKADE (voice-over): Caring for the new arrivals means yearly check-ups, so just before sunset, the team sets humane traps for the nocturnal marsupial in the hope that early the next morning, data collected from the wild population will prove that the rewilding plan continues to work.
Daybreak and its discoveries fuel more hope. The first yalgi or bettong is a young male born right here.
SANDOW: Which is fantastic for the project, that's what we want to see.
KINKADE (voice-over): The young bettong is tagged and microchipped before his measurements show he's quite healthy in this new home.
SANDOW: So they've got a what we call a prehensile tail, so that means they can actually grab things with their tail and sort of use it as a limb.
KINKADE (voice-over): One by one they are tested and released, joining the now growing population of Yalgi, Woylie, bettong, a trio of names for one unique and vitally important critter back on the Yorke Peninsula, Guuranda, where they belong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Today's story getting a 10 out of 10, is a viral video making a real splash. A vacationer got a surprise when she decided to see the day and take a selfie video of herself taking a plunge. Her grip was no match for that splash though, and her phone went on its own underwater adventure, and could you believe it, she found some fantastic locals stopping by for a cameo in her still recording phone video when she played it back.
Take a look.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch a vacationer's dropped phone go on an exotic underwater odyssey and then go viral. While vacationing in Tulum, Mexico,
Lina Nassiri recorded herself taking a tropical plunge, but ended up dropping her iPhone in the process.
LINA NASSIRI, VACATIONER: I had a phone, like a waterproof case, so my phone was in it. With the water pressure and everything, I just lost it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lifeguard ended up retrieving the still recording phone shortly thereafter.
NASSIRI: It's still filming!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when Nasiri went to view the video, she saw what the phone had seen, a vibrant underwater landscape complete with friendly photobombing fish and everything. Nassiri decided to share the surprising subaquatic video on TikTok and says she was blown away by the response.
NASSIRI: I was not expecting 50 million people to see it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Now it's time for my favorite part of the show, our shoutout today. It's going to a teacher whose students are finally going back to school today after remote learning for weeks due to the fires in California. Mr. Glenn's International Baccalaureate Class at Blair High School in Pasadena, rise up!
Thank you for continuing to watch as you're dealing with so much adversity. My brother and his wife and two daughters have been away from their home for weeks. My heart goes out to all of you dealing with the tragic events in Cali. We hope you are all well and safe.
To all of our friends around the world, we wish you a wonderful day. We'll see you right back here tomorrow to finish this week strong.
END