we begin with a blistering and dangerous heat wave and a stranglehold across the western united states. millions of people are sweltering this weekend. more than 40 million are under heat alerts as temperatures soar 15 to 20 degrees above normal. for the fifth day in a wroe, electric companies in california are asking customers to turn off unnecessary lights and appliances in order to save electricity during the late afternoon and evening hours. cnn s chris winn reports from los angeles. reporter: across the west, the scorching heat is showing no signs of cooling off this holiday weekend. our ac at home can only do so much when we re in these triple digits. reporter: in glendale, california, residents are seeking refuge at the galleria shopping mall, taking advantage of the free air conditioning. getting out to the mall and just getting out of the house to get some sort of cool release is nice. reporter: california is in the midst of its longest heat wave of the yea
cnn speaks with asylum seekers in and out of the country. live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom, with kim brunhuber. we begin with scenes of utter devastation in northern california, where wildfires have burned through more than 9,000 acres. the mill fire has left hundreds of houses ablaze in the small town of weed. firefighters say they re making progress, but the fire is still only 25% contained and the nearby mountain fire is 5% contained. streets are littered with charred remains of cars and cinder blocks where houses once stood. officials say help is on the way, with fire strike teams ready across the state to respond when necessary. now, those wildfires are being fueled by a blistering and dangerous heat wave that continues its stranglehold across the western united states this weekend. more than 40 million people are under heat alerts as temperatures soar 15 to 20 degrees above normal for the fifth day in a row electric companies in california are telling cu
residents in jackson, mississippi, are fed up and frustrated with the on going water crisis. we have more on the latest efforts to get relief to those residents in desperate need. and it could be the end of an era for serena williams after the tennis legend gets knocked out of the u.s. open. we re going to have the highlights from last night s exhilarating game and a look back at her incredible career. we re to grateful to be with you. welcome to your weekend, your labor day, holiday weekend. it s saturday, september 3rd. great to be with you, amara. how is it going? great to be with you. it will be a lovely five hours together or so. i m getting comfortable. i have my cookies to keep me going. and my coffee. so i m ready. all the things that matter, right? for sure. as boris was mentioning, in a matter of hours, nasa will try again to launch its uncrewed artemis i rocket on a journey around the moon. preparations are under way right now at the kennedy space cen
watching nasa s historic artemis i mission preparing for a second launch attempt to the moon. these are live pictures coming straight from kennedy space center in cape canaveral, florida, where crews are working on a liquid hydrogen leak that delayed fueling the massive rocket. the two-hour launch window still expected to open up this afternoon at 2:17 p.m. currently weather conditions are 60% favorable. the mission will mark the united states return to the moon for the first time in nearly 50 years. and aims to land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon without within the next few years. and it will eventually send the first astronaut to mars. and while nasa said there s no guarantee that the launch will happen today, engineers appear optimistic that this rocket is ready to fly. let s go now to cnn s space and defense correspondent kristin fisher live this morning from the kennedy space center. hi there, kristin. any good news to update us with? rep
anyone else. and i believe that we had what you would think would be the best case scenario. it was the best case scenario, because nobody was injured. cnn s peteman team and nadia romero joins us now live, thank you both for joining me. pete, first to you, what more have we learned? there were quite a few details in that press conference. reporter: the tupelo mayor said something so interesting, that cory wayne patterson, the person piloting the plane, apparently changed his mind. he wanted to hurt people on the ground after he stole this beechcraft commuter plane. it seats six or eight people. he wanted to crash it into the local walmart. there are two there in tupelo. police negotiates were able to get in touch with him via phone. he initially called 911. nego negotiators were able to get in touch with him and were able to get a pilot to talk to patterson on the phone. at one point they tried to steer the plane back to the tupelo regional airport and get cory wayne pat