firefighters. we have about 700 firefighters on this. we have about is a15 aircraft, t of tankers, a lot of personnel around but it's really directed at fighting the fire. >> thank you to you and we wish you all the best, all of the personnel and, of course, the trees and wildlife, hoping for the best. >> thank you very much. >> hello again, everyone. thanks for being with me. i'm fredericka whitfield. a military aircraft crasheder in fort worth, texas. this is video of smoke billowing into the sky after the jet slammed into a residential neighborhood damaging three homes in lake worth. we now know that the two occupants of that military training jet are being treated

at a local hospital after ejecting from the plane before the crash, and at least three other people on the ground suffered injuries and retreated at the scene. we heard from officials who said miraculously that no of the residents of the three homes that were impacted were actually injured. images from the scene of the crash showing parts of the military jet and some of the damage to the structures. >> our office, our communications center received a call at 10:53 this morning in reference to a downed military aircraft between the 4,000 block of tejas and damage at all. our police units responded and initial units report that had one pilot had ejected and was caught in some power lines and another pilot had ejected and was found in the neighborhood nearby. >> cnn's camila burnal is covering this for us. what more do we know?

>> reporter: hey, fred, so let's sort of recap. we know that this was a military training mission. it's unclear exactly what this mission was, but it ended up in a crash, basically in a residential area in someone's back-yard so, of course, this was very surprising for the residents in this area in lake worth, but what we know is that these two pilots were able to use their ejection seats. after that they were also able to use the parachutes. unfortunately, as you just heard there, one of the parachutes essentially got stuck in the power lines. the other pilot we are told was able to land in the neighborhood, so we know according to our affiliate wfaa that up of those pilots is in critical condition. the other one in serious condition, so we're still waiting for authorities to really give us details as to how these two pilots are doing. they are the only ones that are going to be able to tell us exactly what happened and why this happened. we also know that at least three

homes were damaged, but thankfully none of these homes were directly impacted by this jet, so what we're told is that it was a debris and the wings of this jet that really caused the damage to these homes. now, as you mentioned, three people were treated at the scene from the neighborhood, but they were okay, so they were immediately released there in the neighborhood, and we are also being told that the problem now is the power outages, so there's about two to three blocks that are affected by this. they are still cleaning up and trying to figure out exactly what happened piecing everything together, but in the meantime but the residents are being told to have patience in terms of the power outages and to report any sort of debris or anything they find due to this crash because it could be useful to the investigation and they are also telling people to stay away from this area because the debris can also be dangerous. it could be explosive, and so it

is going to take some time before they are able to clean this up and really tell us why this happened in terms of the investigation. fred? >> sure. if anyone comes across any of that debris, they need to call local authorities there because that information will help them piece together exactly what happened, when precipitated it, et cetera. camila, thank you so much. appreciate it. joining me right now on the phone is the public information officer for the fort worth fire department. so glad you could be with us, and so glad that these two pilots ejected to safety even though they are being hospitalized with some injuries. what can you tell us about what you think caused the pilots to eject? >> you know, that's going to be one of those things that comes out in the investigation and the government and their agencies are going to be, you know, on scene for several days looking at that. i think what you guys have said, you know, very lucky that our community didn't suffer any other major injuries or any

other major damage for an incident like this to occur in a residential neighborhood. very lucky on this one. >> yeah. so what can you tell us about the debris field because when you're talking about planes going down often, that means that a debris field can, you know, span miles if not blocks long, so what is the situation there? >> so from my understanding there's a total of probably six houses that are actually affected by the incident. three of them do have that heavy damage. some either debris damage or fire damage and we're just having to have to continue to do that investigation and to do that search to figure out exactly how far out that debris is, so, you know, lake worth is a community that's just outside of the city of fort worth. we provide automatic aid and response to them so, you know, we are very thankful for them being on scene for the

partnership that we've got with them and really all the agencies worked very well today to -- to have the best outcome possible. >> what about eyewitness accounts before the plane went down? >> so, i'm still vetting some of those. i do know that two of my firefighters that were off-duty are reported to have been on scene in just the first few minutes actually assisting with the incident, so, you know, obviously a very proud moment for us and, again, there's going to be a lot of information that comes out in the next several days as we continue to serve of through this and support the government and the community of lakeworth. >> mike, thank you so much for being with us. i know you have a lot that you're tasked with and again we're all grateful and thankful that the injuries are not more extensive. we're wishing the best for the

recovery of the two pilots who ejected to safety. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> the port of entry in del rio, texas is being temporarily closed as the department of homeland security deals with the growing migrant crisis there. dhs says it needs more help and plans to ask the pentagon to assist with transportation as 600 more border agents are sent in to help. more than 3,000 migrants had been moved in the last two days and a short time ago the u.s. border chief gave this update. >> we're working around the clock to expeditiously move migrants out of the heat elements and from underneath this bridge to our processing facilities in order to quickly process and remove individuals from the united states consistent with our laws and our policies. >> right now there are roughly 15,000 migrants staying under a bridge in del rio waiting to be

processed. cnn's rosa flores is in del rio fours, so rosa, what more can you tell us about how people are being processed, what are they facing? >> you know, fred, we're really starting to see the surge of state and federal resources arriving here in del rio to deal with this humanitarian crisis. yesterday we saw many armies and texas state troopers arriving and today chief raul ortiz announced not 400 agents and officers but 600 agents and officers are expected to arrive here in del rio expedite the processing. we've seen some of the buses beyond the border fence that you see behind me loading up the migrants and taking them to various facilities around the rio grande to make sure they are processed and ortiz adding that the number of title 42 flights will be increased. now what that means is that this is the trump-era pandemic health rule that's being applied to

expel these migrants back to haiti. now, one of the big questions that we're all wondering is why the surge of migrants here in del rio, why now. i asked the chief that question, and here's what he had to say. >> there's a couple of things that our intelligence is telling us about the haitian migration flow. when i was a chief here in 2019, we faced a similar influx. it just wasn't to the same magnitude of what we've seen over the last four or five days. haitians and folks from western africa traditionally cross in the del rio sector because they have known individuals previously who have crossed in this area. they say the community across the border is relatively safe and so traditionally it's because of word of mouth. certainly what happened this time is that number doubled and then tripled relatively quickly and so we were -- we had to move resources in here as quickly as we could to manage, that and we're getting to that point where we've got a pretty good handle on the migrant population

that's under the bridge. >> reporter: thousand of migrants are still waiting under this bridge. they are waiting in squaller. take a look at this video. it was obtained by cnn. this is from texas department of public safety. you're able to see some of the conditions, very crowded conditions, people sleeping in the dirt. they have even built huts made out of branches and trees, and, fred, this is what the world has been watching now for days, and now we're seeing the surge of resources both from this state and from the federal government to deal with this crisis, the local mayor saying that he finally has the resources that he needs. fred? >> all right. rosa flores in del rio, texas. thank you. still ahead, what facebook knew and when and why one lawmaker says they should not be launching an instagram app aimed at kids. we'll talk to her next. plus, the covid deaths return to a crushing number. nearly 2,000 deaths a day. a figure we haven't seen since

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try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. more than half of the u.s. is now fully vaccinated against covid-19 yet despite that, deaths are still rising among the unvaccinated. the u.s. is topping a daily average of nearly 2,000 per day. the highest it's been since march. the rate of the spike in new case is that is slowed but so have vaccinations and some states are suffering far greater than others. joining us right now congresswoman kathy castor of florida's 14th district representing the people of tampa. congresswoman, so good to see you. thank you for the chance to be here. covid cases are down slightly. hillsboro county which encompasses tampa but the cdc

says transmission rates remain high, even with 58% of the eligible population vaccinated there, so the florida governor ron desantis has been adamantly opposed to almost any mask or vaccination requirements. what are you doing or what can you do to help your constituents? >> fredericka, it's been a tragic summer here in the state of florida due to covid-19. thousands and thousands of floridians have lost their lives during this covid surge. so god bless all of the families out there and the health care workers who have been struggling to provide care in our overwhelmed hospitals. it's especially tragic because this was preventible, and one of the contributing factors has been governor ron desantis' refusal to follow public health experts. in fact, when the covid delta variant surge took hold, he was disparaging public health

officials. he was -- he took away the ability of our local mayors and officials to institute public health protocols. he stopped providing the public health data like death rates and testing rates and vaccinations on the websites of the state of florida. he's threatened universities and community colleges as kids came back to school not to have vaccination mandates, and when local school board members during the delta surge early in the school year said we want to institute masks on a temporary basis, he bullied them and threatened them with retribution and is still threatening to withhold salaries and monies from the public schools. >> what kind of atmosphere does -- >> this is trajic. >> what kind of atmosphere does that promote in your district? does it make you at all reticent, nervous, concerned about your safety or even that of your neighbors and friends in your district knowing that

masking or getting vaccinated is not being encouraged by the governor. >> you bet it does. people don't feel 100% safe. i have one of my very good friends is a nurse at tampa general hospital. she's worked there for decades. a couple of weeks ago she said it was the first time in her career she didn't want to go to work and when i saw her on friday she said that this was the first time that she's just overwhelmed because people are dying, so many people are dying in hospitals, and it's tragic because this was preventable. we have a safe and effective vaccine, but tragic because more people now have died since that vaccine became widely available in florida than before that time. >> and i know you've got coming from the white house the president mandating all federal employees be vaccinated, but members of congress are not in that group. i mean, they don't have to be vaccinated.

do you think it should be the case with the new white house policy that even members of congress being federal employees, they, too, should be vaccinated >> you bet, and they need to provide a good example to their constituents. sometimes in committee meetings we don't really know who is vaccinated or not. that's unfortunate, but this is very important now that employers should take it into their own hands. people really need to take personal responsibility and go out and get vaccinated and help your family members and friends, but, boy, governor desantis has just been cruel at this point in time what we know what works and disparaging public health experts and threatening retribution on local officials that simply want to keep people healthy and safe is just going way too far. >> let me get your point of view on other matters that involve young people in particular this week. we learned from a report in turning that facebook is keenly

aware of the negative mental health effects its platforms have on people. especially teenagers, and you actually signed a letter with congresswoman laurie trayhan and senator edward markey calling on facebook to cease plans on developing an instagram for kids under 13. why is this a priority for you? >> yeah, fredericka. this is a damning expose in "the wall street journal" for mark zuckerberg, facebook and instagram because it's their own research, their own employees now who have turned into whistle-blowers to say, okay, we actually knew that instagram was causing mental health harm to our kids, especially young girls with anxiety, depression, problems with body image, even there's a correlation now to a higher suicide rates since young people started on ingram and here's the problem.

they continue to say that they want to expand to instagram for kids, to get kids hooked early in life. this reminds me directly of the cigarette and tobacco companies decades ago when they were marketing surreptitiously to children and young people to get them hooked at a young age so here's their -- there's a few things that we need to do. first, instagram and facebook needs to tank any idea of instagram for kids. >> how do you do that? >> yeah. >> as a member of congress how do you impose that point of view, that thought process on private enterprise, on how to run their business. just as you mentioned with tobacco, that was a delicate balance that congress, you know, had to tight rope. how do you do that in this case? how do you tell instagram not to have a separate app for kids

under 13. >> well, we're going to bring a lot of political pressure bipartisan pressure. hard to see the outrage on facebook files, "the wall street journal" was broad, deep and bipartisan, and then we've got to change the law. congress also here has been derelict in its duty in updating the children's online privacy protection act. at the end of july i filed a new bill. the kids privacy act has been endorsed by fairplay, common sense, the american academy of pediatrics, that would prohibit online apps from argumenting our kids, gathering their personal information. it would prohibit any behavioral advertising targeted towards kids. it would empower parents. it would allow them to sue for breaches in privacy and allow the federal trade commission to go after them imposing large fines. >> all right. we'll leave it there for now. congresswoman kathy castor, a pleasure for you to be with us.

thank you so much. come back. >> thank you. still ahead, as deaths due to covid surge in the u.s., a startling new statistic from alabama officials. for the first time in the state's history deaths have surpassed births. ♪ ayy, ayy, ayy ♪ ♪ yeah, we fancy like applebee's on a date night ♪ ♪ got that bourbon street steak with the oreo shake ♪ ♪ get some whipped cream on the top too ♪ ♪ two straws, one check, girl, i got you ♪ ♪ bougie like natty in the styrofoam ♪ ♪ squeak-squeakin' in the truck bed all the way home ♪ ♪ some alabama-jamma, she my dixieland delight ♪ ♪ ayy, that's how we do, ♪ ♪ how we do, fancy like, oh ♪ ♪ acelerar ♪ ♪ no paro de acelerar ♪ ♪ que me va a frenar ♪ ♪ que me va a frenar ♪ ♪ si acele... ♪ ♪ y si acelero no me paran ♪ ♪ el viento pega en mi cara ♪ ♪ si acelero no me paran ♪ ♪ el viento pega en mi cara ♪

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the u.s. experiencing surging numbers of covid cases and a death toll not seen since march of this year. according to johns hopkins university the u.s. is now reporting nearly 2,000 covid deaths a day. that's the highest seven-day average since march 2nd.

alabama announcing that for the first time in its history deaths in 2020 will surpass births. >> we have data going back to the first decade of the 20th century so more than 100 years and it's never -- that's never happened before nor has it ever even been close before. in world war ii or during the flu pandemic of 1918 or world war i, we've never had a time where deaths exceeded births until this past year, and it's certainly -- certainly possible that that could happen this year as well if we continue at the same rate. >> mean whale, in idaho, covid patients are taking up more than 62% of the icu beds. hospitals across the state now preparing to make tough treatment decisions due to an overflow of mostly unvaccinated patients. cnn's dan simon has more on the health crisis. >> we are being absolutely crushed by covid. >> i am scared.

i'm scared for all of us. >> reporter: in idaho hospital workers are beginning to triage the worst of the covid-19 crisis. >> we have to start ranking how things are being done. >> reporter: state officials say hospitals are now allowed to ration treatment in order to meet an overwhelming surge of unvaccinated covid patients. >> we've got the question if my husband, if my wife, if my son, if my doubt her been vaccinated, would this have happened, and the answer, of course, is no. >> the influx is forcing providers to make unimaginable decisions, determining who gets care and who must wait. >> while we are currently able to tread water, it's going to decline simply because a care giver can't get to a patient fast enough. >> reporter: everyone from cancer patients to people on a transplant list could see delays in treatment as resources are diverted to urgent covid cases. >> a new delta variant is spreading twice as fast.

>> reporter: despite a month's long push of public service announcements like these from the state health department. >> protect yourself and others get vaccinated today. >> reporter: barely 40% of the state is vaccinated. nearly 14 points less than the national average, a statistic health care workers blame on misinformation. and in a state where some residents and their children staged a fiery mask protest in march there is no mask mandate. there is a strict mask mandate in washington state and the frustration is spilling over. >> get the damn shot. we need to be safe. >> health care is not an up limited resource. >> reporter: as some arrived in spokane and seattle-area hospitals. >> people are counting on the washington hospitals to be available to them while their own hospitals are overrun. to rely on our state's hospitals as a backup plan is unacceptable. >> the idaho hospital association says some 400 health care work are out today worsening a dire situation. >> i think the only thing that could make things worse is to

act like this is not happening. to get out and get a vaccine today, it's not going help us for weeks, but it would be a start. >> dan i'm op, thank you so much for that. joining me to discuss is dr. henry bernstein, a pediatrician at cohen children's medical center joining us right now. he's also a former voting member of the cdc's vaccine advisory committee. so glad you could be with us. so, doctor, things are really bad right now. in every hospital across the country you would think that that is impetus enough to encourage people to get shots if they haven't and if they are eligible. is this what it's going to take for people to vaccinate themselves in four view? >> i think it will couldn't burst and it's the unvaccinated that are driving this present surge that's resulting in many

hospita hospitalizations, need for intensive care unit and the record number of deaths that we're seeing, close to 2,000 a day. we know that the delta variant, the variable implementation of mitigation factors like masking and then, of course, these unvaccinated individuals are what's driving this. >> and if this doesn't encourage people to get vaccinated, then what would? >> that's a million dollar question that i wish i could answer. i know that there are a lot of people that are -- that are interested in being vaccinated and have been. there are some that are adamantly opposed and then there's a number of people that are quite hesitant, and it's in our -- it's important for us as health care providers to provide information using the vaccine information statement or the emergency use authorization

sheet that comes with each covid vaccine. we need to listen carefully to each and every individual, and that's why happening on the local level can real make a difference and change people's thinking. we do want to respect their concerns, but we also want to discuss the risks as well as the benefits of the vaccine shs and most importantly we want to correct any misperceptions or misinformation that they may have gleaned from websites, friends, neighbors, et cetera, and we can do that through reputable websites like the cdc and the american academy of pediatrics. >> the cdc's advisory committee will meet this week to review the fda's decision to approve booster shots for elderly americans and at-risk patients. were you a member of that voting board up until recently. what's the citeiat being

evaluated? >> well, the acip, the advisory committee of the cdc focuses on the science as the fda does but also focuses on implementation and equity and so there will be quite a robust discussion covering the -- the idea of booster shots and which groups should get those booster shots. it does seem that the data that was presented to the independent advisory committee of the fda, the information that was presented really was not compelling enough in my mind that boosters should be available for everyone. i think ifg risk-based approach and identifying those at highest risk would be the direction to go at the beginning such as those 65 and older, those that have have occupation risks, such

as health care personnel and also frontline workers, and i think there will be robust discussions among the members of the acip in that regard. >> okay. and if it's the collecting of data and science that will determine when and if a third, you know, booster shot should be extended, you know, to everyone. what is your point of view on when the white house gets ahead of that and sets dates perhaps raising expectations for people only to be disappointed when the fda and/or cdc are in disagreement on how to read the science and the data. >> again, you're raising a wonderful point. it was disappointing that a specific date was put into place and raised that the boosters would be available for everyone.

the process has always been that the vpac, the independent committee of the fda and the fda make decisions about authorization or licensure and then it goes to the committee, the advisory committee of the cdc before the final recommendations are made, so sort of circumventing that or jumping ahead and making decisions that boosters would be available for everyone on tomorrow actually only created lots of confusion, but the public should know that the science is driving the decisions in order to make the best decisions necessary so that we can move ahead and around and put this pandemic behind us. >> we all look forward that day, don't we? boy, put this pandemic behind us. right now that's one foot in

front of the other, you know. just go slow and carefully. dr. henry bernstein, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> all right. still ahead. the search intense foig for ga gabby pettino and her fiance on a road trip that ended without her. to run a growing business, is to be on a journey. and along the ride, you'll have many questions. challenges. and a few surprises.

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training jet that crashed into a residential neighborhood was carrying an instructor and student. both of them ejected from the plane, and one of them was caught in some power lines with the parachute. at this hour the instructor is listed in stable condition, and the student is alive and receiving medical treatment at a local hospital. investigators say debris from the crash littered the backyards of three homes. no residents of those homes were injured. all right. the case of myths missing 22-year-old gabby pettino and fiance brian laundrie continue today. laila santiago joins us now. any updates. >> reporter: we've been here all

day to get to the carlton reserve. as you mentioned, 25,000 acres of a wildlife preserve. we have seen a helicopter circling above. we've seen k-9 units and all sorts of different agencies taking part in this search, and when you see atvs coming out you can also take note that they are very muddy and have grass hanging from the bottom so clearly they are not staying on any sort of well-established path to try to find 23-year-old brian laundrie. now the search here began after friday. his family located or reached out rather to police and said that is where they should be searching. you can see behind me right now that the sheriff's office, a big van is actually coming out. first time we've seen this one here, but the family reached out to law enforcement saying tuesday was the last time they saw him and that he said he would be coming here for a hike.

why they didn't notify law enforcement earlier, that still remains a big question, but you have the search here for him and then 2,000 miles away you have the search for 22-year-old gabby pettino where search crews, law enforcement and loved ones are begging anyone with information to help them find her. >> this mystery just gets even more sordid. laila santiago, thank you so much. a book ban in pennsylvania on literature that focuses on social justice, history, american history and race has students and parents fighting back. we'll talk to the author of one of the banned books next.

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all right. students and teachers in pennsylvania are fighting back against a ban on books that focus on the issues of social justice and american history. the ban started last october when the york school district voted on it, but a meeting was held last week to address growing concerns. >> this is a board that after hearing their students' concerns about diversity in the district, hearing my struggle with race, being an indian american and consistently feeling like i didn't belong, after all those

conversations for weeks on end, they still pursued the ban. >> i don't want to learn a white-washed version of history. i want to hear all of it. >> teachers also say they are worried about broader implications. >> i have to now with this resource ban think twice about whether or not i should or could use a james baldwin quote as an opening for my class. >> there are teachers looking over their shoulders wondering if someone's going to be at their door darkening their door, that you said something or you mentioned something or you used something that you were not supposed to. >> the school district says it isn't a ban as much as it is a freeze on the materials outright so that they can be reviewed. but the review process has already been a year long. and some of those materials include books on malala yusefse,

sesame street's town hall. the author of the book about rosa parks is joining me right now. brad, so good to see you. >> good to see you. >> so you wrote the book "i am rosa parks." and it's part of a series of a number of other "i am s." "i am muhammad ali." easy-to-digest words to help teach your audience of children. so what was your reaction when you learned that this was among the books banned? >> you know, all my friends were so angry, but i was heartbroken. i was heartbroken because it means that there are all these students that will never hear the story of rosa parks. and that's exactly why i started writing these books is to kids

can see these amazing members of history. they can learn empathy and compassion and kindness. they can call it a freeze but when kids can't get these books, it's a ban. and these kids can't get story of rosa parks or malala or others, it breaks my heart. >> and what's behind that decision, that ban, in your view? >> personally, i think it's fear. what you're seeing right now and when the ban happened people went on our facebook and twitter page. what they kept hearing from teachers is i'm scared. because race is a hard subject matter, but nothing good comes from not discussing something that's hard. and to me that's what these great leaders always stand for is you have to deal with these issues. if we don't we can't go forward. what you're seeing now is a pushback against that boogeyman of critical race theory where

they are scared of what to do. >> some members of the school district say the material is being prohibited because it hadn't been fully vetted, and that it will be reviewed. do you buy that? >> listen, you have an all-white school board who bans a list that is basically almost every person on there, is it book about someone who's black or by a black author? do the math on that. and when you hit rosa parks, a children's book about rosa parks. the reason i'm talking to you today is that you realize that in all the back and pointing fingers we've lost common sense. it's rosa parks, you messed up if you're banning rosa parks. >> brad, thank you so much. thanks for bringing your passion to the screen and through your books. appreciate it. >> thank you so much. and i encourage everyone go buy not just our books, buy all the books on the list. show that school board is there is no victory and show them that

this ban cannot stand. >> thanks so much, brad. the united states has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and when offenders are released they face challenges that make it very difficult to earn a liveable wage. today's cnn hero is a personal trainer on a mission to help other formerly incarcerated men and women. >> after surviving prison, you come home thinking you're able to start over. you want to be part of society, but there's just so many layers of discrimination, boxes, you have to get through just to get an opportunity. society thinks, oh, you should just go get a job. it's not that easy. once you have a record, nothing is set up for them to win. >> we give formerly incarcerated men and women national certifications in job placements

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you are live in the "cnn newsroom." i'm jim acosta in washington. we begin with the crisis at the border, with cnn learning the department of homeland security will ask the pentagon for help in del rio texas, where nearly 13,000 migrants are gathered under a bridge sleeping in dirt and makeshift camps. this is brand new drone footage just into cnn for the crowds waiting to be processed by u.s. border patrol. the mayor says he feels it could take weeks to process such a massive crowd. there are worries all those people living in such close quarters could trigger a public health emergency. we're in a pandemic, after all.

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