meritocracy approve of this decisiony ap. a few d just a few days ago, cbs newss ran a poll asking americans about this very issue. ver70% responded that colleges should not be allowed to use race in college admissions. a new york times poll recentlyam found 60% of democrats also oppose race as a factor in admissions. americans across the country have rejected affirmative action at the ballot box, too, evenat the b in blue state calia in the 2020 election. democratic leaders in the state put affirmative action on the ballot. the pre action oo affirmative an activists, the governor, both supp senators, even the golden state warriors, pushed voters to support the initiativthey oe they outspent opponents of oppon affirmative action by 19 to 1. and in the end, nearly 60% of californians voted to kill affirmative action. . it didn t work. no matter how hard the democratic party matte trieo matter how much money spen wpin, the american people have rejected the view that we should b
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
the white house. joe, what will we hear from the president tomorrow in this big labor day appearance? he s really kicking off the start to the mid-term cycle. reporter: you know one thing that is very clear and that is the president, jim, is definitely interested in getting out there and showing his stuff, as it were. he s going not only to wisconsin. he s also going to pittsburgh. and later in the week he s going to columbus, ohio. that, of course, is going to be essentially a groundbreaking for a microprocessor plant that he s been promoting. labor day, around labor day, is the time of year where campaigns really start bearing down. it s also a time, very important to say people start looking more closely at the candidates. of course joe biden s name is not on any ballots. just the fact he s getting out to the three major battleground states does tell you that the biden people are thinking carefully about the president and his posture. you know it was just a few weeks ago
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