[Music]
What's up, sunshine? Time to rise up and
fuel our minds. I'm Coy Wire with your
10 minutes of news for Monday, September
22nd. Hope you had an awesome weekend
and that you're all geared up for the
first official day of fall today, the
autominal equinox. Bust out the long
sleeves, the pumpkin spice. I started
decorating for Halloween yesterday. Hit
me up at Koiwire on the socials if you
have any recommendations for a good
Halloween costume for your boy this
year. Without further ado, let's get you
your news. We begin in Eastern Europe
where the NATO nations have decided to
flex their military muscles following
repeated Russian violations of Alliance
airspace. British fighter jets patrolled
the skies over Poland this weekend after
more than a dozen Russian drones crossed
into the country earlier this month. and
NATO forces also intercepted three
Russian fighter jets that crossed into
Estonian airspace, a violation the
country has called quote unprecedentedly
brazen unquote. These moves are all part
of NATO's Operation Eastern Sentry,
which is bolstering the alliance's
military presence along its eastern
flank with Russia to deter further
provocations. Meanwhile, NATO member
state Lithuania is trying to bolster its
own drone forces to deter Russian
threats. That plan includes some very
young future defenders of the country
and a new facility that is just a short
drive from the Russian border. Our
Sebastian Shukla explains. A new school
in Lithuania is taking an unusual
approach to boost the country's defense.
Just 20 km or 12 mi from Russia's
Kiningrad enclave, in a school at the
Baltic Nation's Defense Ministry is
teaching children as young as 10 how to
assemble and operate drones.
>> We are not preparing children for war as
many people see and think. We are
preparing children for a better, happier
life, assuring ourselves.
This is just one of nine centers set to
open across Lithuania, teaching students
and adults how to operate FPV,
firsterson drones. Kids practice virtual
flights on computers and fly small
drones in training rooms.
>> Is all about building the military
defensive capabilities and you know that
Lithuania is actually taking very
seriously living in the you know uh in
the in in a neighborhood with Russian
Bell Russia. After two Russian drones
crashed in Lithuania after crossing from
Bellarus this summer, the country asked
the NATO alliance to strengthen air
defenses. And last Friday, NATO
announced plans to bolster Europe's
eastern flank after a series of Russian
drones entered, this time from Polish
airspace. With more drone schools on the
way, Lithuania is already preparing for
the next generation of defense. Now to a
big story making headlines in the world
of women's sports. The WNBA is breaking
records with soaring attendance and a
nearly 200% surge in franchise values.
But as stars like Caitlyn Clark and
Nfisa Kier shine, players say their
share of revenue falls short of other
pro sports. Our Boris Sanchez takes a
closer look at their shot for fair pay.
In the past year, the WNBA's 13
franchises have seen record-breaking
growth, increasing in value by over
180%. According to Sportico, you can
chart the league's growing popularity,
not only in financial gain, but in name
recognition, too. Stars like Caitlyn
Clark and Angel Reese becoming household
names, as well as a spike in celebrity
endorsements and attendance. In 2024,
Kalin Clark's team, the Indiana Fever,
averaged more than 17,000 fans a game.
That's more than six NBA teams and three
MLB teams in the same span. The uptick
in popularity corresponds with a $2.2
billion TV rights deal the WNBA signed
for 2026 that covers the next 11 years,
which ESPN reports will increase the
league's annual revenue by about $200
million a season. Yet, WNBA players say
they're not being paid what they're
owed. Right now, they get less than 10%
of the league's total revenue, a
strikingly slim margin when compared to
other pro sports leagues in which
athletes typically split revenues about
5050. That's almost 40% greater than
WNBA players and why some of the league
stars say they're do a higher percentage
of revenue, though they're not looking
for dollar for-dollar parody. Keep in
mind, despite historic gains, since it
was founded in 1996, the league has
always operated at a loss, annually
losing tens of millions of dollars, even
with large cash boosts coming from the
NBA, which is the majority stakeholder.
But as the league is poised to keep
growing, adding two more teams next
season, expanding to 18 total by 2030,
the question remains, what will the
league do with the new revenue? Are we
headed for a lockout or can the owners
and players agree to new terms that
align with what they feel they're owed?
Pop quiz hot shot. Which US state is
home to the most corn farms? Nebraska,
Kansas, Iowa, or Maine?
[Music]
If you said Iowa, I owe you a
congratulations. Iowa produced about
2.63 billion bushels of corn in 2024.
Most of it was used to produce animal
feed and fuel. A family farm in Maine
has just been voted the best corn maze
in the US. Trugi family orchards tops
the list in USA Today's 10 best readers
choice awards for their fourth year in a
row. Amazing. From morning till dusk,
families meander their way through
60,000 corn plants standing 10 feet
tall. Don't try to tell secrets in there
too many years. The whale of a tail
design pays tribute to Maine's fishing
industry and the Trugi family offered
free emission to anyone working in
commercial fishing. Their farm also
placed second this year for best pumpkin
patch. Meta has introduced a new set of
smart glasses in partnership with Rayban
which put the power of AI right in front
of your eye. The model named display
pushes users to ditch the smartphone and
interact more with their surroundings.
Our Clair Duffy was one of the first
people to try them out. Listen.
>> Ah. Whoa.
>> It's crazy.
>> These are the new Meta Rayban display
glasses. the next generation of AI
powered wearables. Meta is making a bet
that with these glasses, users won't
need to spend so much time looking down
at their phone. Unlike previous
versions, which you could only interact
with via voice and audio, these feature
a tiny display inside the lens, and they
come with what's called a neural
wristband, so you can navigate simply
with hand and finger gestures. So, what
I'm seeing right now on this little
display, it looks like, you know, the
homepage of Spotify for whatever song
that you're currently listening to. So,
you've got the play button, the forward
and backward button. You can shuffle.
Um, yeah. And then when I do the volume,
I see the little volume button open up.
>> Cool. They're a bit bulkier than
previous versions of the Meta Ray-B
bands. They still look and feel more or
less like regular glasses, just slightly
thicker and heavier. People around you
won't be able to see what you're seeing
on the glasses display. That's by
design, so your messages or photos
remain private. It's probably going to
take some getting used to for most
people to interact with the world around
you while seeing a little display in
front of your eye, but I was surprised
by how high quality the display was.
You're going to have to take my word for
it on this one because you can only see
it if you're wearing them. And I liked
that you can turn the display on and
off. So, if you're doing focused work or
walking around outside, you won't be
distracted. And I did find the neural
wristband gestures intuitive to learn.
You can capture and view photos and
videos. There's live captioning,
navigation, video calling. You can ask
AI about your surroundings and also view
and respond to messages. All of which I
tried in a mostly successful brief demo.
You may remember when Google tried to do
this back in 2013 with Google Glass, but
that product flopped because it was
expensive, unfashionable, and had
limited functionality.
This is another way for Meta to get its
AI technology to be a bigger part of our
daily lives. And it'll test how ready
the world is for more advanced
wearables.
[Applause]
Today's story getting a 10 out of 10. A
family fishing trip turning up a
fantastic fossilized find. The Coleman
family loves hunting fossils. It's
tradition that they've passed down
through generations. But during one
family outing, 13-year-old Tala spotted
something seriously strange.
>> I was the one that pointed it out cuz I
was like, "That rock looks a little
weird." And um me and my dad went and
checked it out cuz we thought it was
just mud. And we got up closer to it. We
were like, "That's that's not mud.
That's something." Tala's hunch was
correct. A local scientist identified
the discovery as an incredibly rare
intact fossil of a brand new species and
genus of leatherback sea turtle.
>> It is such an absolutely extraordinarily
rare occurrence to get an intact fossil
leatherback shell like this. It is
beyond one in a million.
>> The bombshell discovery weighs more than
a ton and dates back to 32 million years
ago. It was found on Creek Indian
ancestral land. So members of a local
tribe were able to name the find in
their native language.
>> So it is a combination of the words wea
and loa which means water and turtle.
>> If there's one thing this story taught
us, it's that you never know what you
might find when you get out there and
explore. This epic find is on display at
a local science museum. And the Coleman
family, well, they're already on the
hunt for their next big dig. All right,
superstars. Thanks to everyone who's
been subscribing and commenting on our
CNN 10 YouTube channel for your shoutout
requests. This first one goes to Mr.
Mack at Homewood Flossmore High School
in Flossmore, Illinois. Thank you for
the t-shirt and the kind letter and
thank you for making us part of your
day. And from our CNN10 Instagram
followers, Mr. Allen at Classical
Academy Middle School in San Diego,
California, rise up. Make it an awesome
day, everyone. I'll see you right back
here tomorrow. I'm Cy Wire and we are
CNN 10.