good morning, everyone. it is saturday, october 22. i m amara walker. i m boris sanchez. you are live in the cnn newsroom. we are grateful you are starting your weekend with us. there is a growing health concern this morning for parents of young children as cases of a common respiratory virus known as rsv are surging across the country. listen to this. 74% of u.s. pediatric hospital beds are currently in use with capacity filling up faster than at any other point in the last two years of the coronavirus pandemic. cases are rising fast. during the first week of october, more than 4,400 rsv infections were detected by pcr tests, more than triple the levels were just two months ago, and some states are already in crisis mode. illinois only has 6% of pediatric icu beds left, and space is running out so fast at the connecticut children s hospital that they have had to treat patients in the hallway and in the play rooms. cnn s brian todd has more. the drive to the emergency r
pelosi s attacker to appear in court as tensions escalate over the brutal beating ranging from questionable to downright dangerous. he is just some semblance of humanity. like to see every republican candidate and elected official say that you condemn this attack. that s really basic. say you condemn the attack. plus, with just a week to go until the midterms, a new poll shows skyrocketing pessimism from voters. the impact and the challenge for the big named surrogates blanketing the campaign trail. and devastated family members who wanted to face the gunman got theirs chance today as he faces the death penalty. they wanted him, many of them, sentenced to life in prison. widow of football coach chris hixon joins me later in the hour. the first to speak today calling her husband a hero and telling the gunman that after today he will cease to exist. but we start with the arraignment for david depape. the man accused of attacking paul pelosi with a hammer set to face a j
boxes of classified documents from mar-a-lago almost two weeks ago, even more republicans have rallied to his side. his vice grip on the party seem to be confirmed this past week. it is the results of one of the highest profile republican races of this entire cycle. on tuesday, congresswoman liz cheney, the vice chair of the january six committee, the republican party s top critic of the twice impeached ex president lost her reelection bid for wyoming s lone seat in the house of representatives. it was a blowout. she has been in office since 2017. during wyoming s last republican primary in 2020, she won handedly. back then, she got more than 70% of the vote. this time around, she did not even crack 30%. even with record turnout. more people cassoday vote for her opponent, harriet hagman then the ones who participated in the entire primary or two years ago in 2020. she knows perfectly well what she lost. her integrity and vowed to uphold democracy would not allow her to have
killers could be stopped. illinois democratic governor joins me exclusively. plus, safe and legal? president biden signs an executive order on abortion rights but says the best options for frustrated americans are. vote, vote, vote, vote. will voters agree with him in november that republicans have overreached ? the governor of new hampshire will be here and unconventional war fair. the justice department says january 6th could have been more deadly. what will the committee reveal in its hearings this week? i ll ask ahead. hello. the state of our union is finding it difficult to relax this summer as we wrap up a holiday, the problems facing our nation sometimes might seem insurmountable. the divide over abortion rights, unease over the economy, an election lie that s getting more entrenched. but i want to start by talking about gun violence. tomorrow will mark one week since the deadly mass shooting at a july 4th parade in highland park, illinois outside chicago. while
as we wrap up a holiday week, the problems facing our nation sometimes might seem insurmountable, the divide over abortion rights, the unease over the economy, an election lie getting more entrenched. we ll talk about all of that, but i want to start today talking about gun violence. tomorrow will mark one week since the deadly mass shooting of the july 4th parade in highland park, illinois, outside of chicago. while shattered families are still grappling with all they lost in that senseless slaughter, cnn is learning more about the warning signs from the alleged shooter that despite illinois s red flag law did not prevent him from buying that semi-automatic rifle police say he used last week. the young man spent time at his father s highland park deli growing up, and police were often called to the home for domestic disturbances between the parents. in 2019 police came to briefly confiscate a collection of knives after the then 18-year-old threatened to, quote, kill everyone