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Freak Snowstorm Slams Northeast; Worcester, Massachusetts, Cancels Halloween After Storm; Wall Street's Halloween Treat; Allegations Surfaced against Cain; HIV Test Recommended for Ages 16- 18; Putting a Price Tag on Wall Street Protest; Perry Tries to Pump up Campaign
Aired October 31, 2011 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux.
Want to get you up to speed for this Monday, October 31st. Happy Halloween.
Unsubstantiated personal attacks, that is what Herman Cain's campaign calls a report accusing him of inappropriate behavior back in the '90s. Now, we expect to hear from Cain at the National Press Club. That is happening the next hour.
The report by Politico says that two women complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain when he was head of the National Restaurant Association.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not going to comment about two people who you won't tell me who they are, OK? That's like negotiating -- I'm not going to comment on that because, you know, I think that that is one of those kinds of things that until --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was the last question. Thanks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes or no? Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a nice day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: There you have it.
Crews are scrambling to get the power back on in the Northeast. More than two million people were still in the dark this morning. That's after this freak snowstorm over the weekend. Authorities in Massachusetts say it could be Thursday before everybody has got their power back on.
And JetBlue Airlines apologizing to passengers who were stuck on a plane for eight hours during that snowstorm. The flight from Fort Lauderdale to Newark had to be diverted to Connecticut, and passengers, they were stranded, sitting on the runway, little food, no running water. Some were dealing with some pretty serious medical conditions as well, and the pilot was clearly fed up with the situation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, we can't seem to get any help from our own company. I apologize for this. But is there any way you can get a tug and a tow bar out here to us and get us towed somewhere to a gate or something? I don't care. Take us anywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: That's how a lot of folks felt.
Well, Occupy Wall Street demonstrators, they braved the weekend snowstorm. They hunkered down in the tents in that park in New York. But protesters in other cities had some run-ins with police.
In Austin, ,Texas, police arrested 38 people for allegedly violating city rules. The rules ban food tables outside City Hall between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
In Portland, Oregon, authorities arrested more than a dozen Occupy protesters for refusing to leave a park after it closed.
The NATO mission in Libya, officially ending today, 11 days after rebels captured and killed Moammar Gadhafi. Now, the secretary- general of NATO says that Libyans have liberated their country and that this is their victory. The campaign started in March with a mandate to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to protect civilians.
Well, an Afghan official today blamed the Haqqani network for a weekend suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan. Nine Americans died in that attack, including four U.S. troops. The U.S. considers the Haqqani network a terrorist organization. It is based in Pakistan, and U.S. officials say it has ties to Pakistan's intelligence service. Pakistan denies supporting that group.
Well, there's a big announcement today from NASA. The agency is opening up its facilities at Kennedy Space Center to private firms now. Boeing plans to build a commercial space capsule there. This move, hopefully to bring jobs to an area very hard-hit when the space shuttle program ended.
All right, if things seem a little crowded today, don't be surprised. The United Nations estimates that as of today, there's 7 billion people on the planet.
So, just 12 years ago, the world population was at 6 million. So, just to put this into perspective, it took 130 years for the population to go from 1 billion to 2 billion.
Here's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. Today's question is all about the allegations against Herman Cain.
Our Carol Costello, she is joining us for more from New York.
Carol, what do we know?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Suzanne.
The Cain train may be stopped in its tracks by -- what else? Sex.
According to Politico, two women accused Cain of sexual harassment back in the '90s, back when Cain led the charge for the National Restaurant Association. Some conservative Republicans are already crying "lamestream" media.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANN COULTER, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's outrageous the way liberals treat a black conservative. This it is another high-tech lynching. Even the allegations here --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the words of Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court justice.
COULTER: That's right. There's nothing liberals fear more than a black conservative. Ask Allen West, ask Michael Steele, and ask Clarence Thomas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Politico asked Herman Cain instead, "Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?" Reporter Jonathan Martin asked Cain that question four times, and Cain never said no.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAIN: Well, you know, when you get to one of the people at the top, you know they are going to dig up all kinds of stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Politico also reports the two accusers received cash settlements and left their jobs after complaining about Cain. Still, Politico is not revealing the accusers' names, and the two women allegedly can't talk about what happened because that's part of the cash settlement.
So, the "Talk Back" question today: Is the right right? Are the Cain allegations high-tech lynching or fair game?
Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments later this hour.
MALVEAUX: Those are some racially-charged allegations there, Carol. I imagine a lot of people are going to weigh in on this one. We've heard it before, so we'll see.
COSTELLO: We'll see.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks, Carol.
More now on that freak October snowstorm that socked the East Coast. We are talking record snowfall, hundreds of travelers stranded, and at least five people were killed.
Our own Chad Myers, he's weathering the storm in York, Pennsylvania.
Chad, I know -- I guess there's still, what, a couple million people who don't have power now?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. And again tonight, temperatures will be between 25 and 30. And that's going to be cold enough that houses without power will get down to 50 degrees inside.
And that's why our hotel was jammed last night, all the other hotels around the area are jammed. The problem was not the snow.
You know what? This storm, if it happens again, just like this, 15 days from now or 20 days from now, it would be no big deal. But on the ridgeline over there, every single tree is still it completely covered with leaves. The leaves acted like a catcher's mitt.
It caught -- the trees, they're just so heavy and moisture-laden, and these branches were breaking down through the power lines, because most of the power lines are above ground here and all the up the Northeast as well. Power came down, the lines came down, and now there's what's called a triage going on.
Even though we know millions of people are without power, not everybody is going to get it back today or tomorrow or maybe even the next day. If a power company can put one line up and get 200 houses back to power, they're going to put that line up first.
Now, if you're the only house that gets power with one line, you are on the bottom of the priority. They prioritize the whole thing. They try to get as many people back up as possible.
They've got about -- if I'm working out some numbers, they've got about 30 percent of the people put up last night. Today is a great day. Sunshine is out, there's no wind. All the buckets will be going.
These crews are going 16 on, 8 off, 16 on, 8 off. They're working as hard as they can. There's literally nothing you can do when there's this many power lines on the ground. Some of them are still charged. You have to be careful.
Also, two more things we've been warned about. Please don't run the generators in the garage. The carbon monoxide could kill you. Many times, more people die after the storm than during the storm.
And don't use your oven to just leave it on all day to warm your house. Carbon monoxide is also coming out of that natural gas oven. You're just going to want to go somewhere, find a neighbor, find a friend, find a relative that has heat and has power, rather than do those things that could jeopardize your family -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Chad, I understand that officials in Worcester, Massachusetts, are now asking folks to postpone trick-or-treating until Thursday? Is that right? And what about where you are? Is Halloween still going on there?
MYERS: Well, this was the first place to get the snow, and this was the first place to get the sun back. That's why we came here. We knew that this would be the first place during our TV show on Saturday, that it would be snowing.
So, as the sun came out yesterday, we recovered very quickly in Pennsylvania. Maryland, West Virginia recovered very quickly.
The sun is now out in those northern states, into Vermont and New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts, Connecticut, and parts of upstate New York. And so now today will be a much better day.
Some officials may rethink -- they don't want people trudging out there in the cold. They certainly don't want children walking around along with power lines down or with trees down. So I think that's a really good idea.
Does it really matter if you get your candy on Monday or Thursday? As long as you get candy.
MALVEAUX: That's a good point, Chad.
Thanks for weather that storm for us throughout the weekend, and today as well. Thanks, Chad. Happy Halloween.
Here's a rundown of some of the stories ahead.
First, a freak October monster storm, as you saw, ruins Halloween for kids in Worcester, Massachusetts, how local businesses could suffer without those trick-or-treaters.
Then, after a rocky start, October is shaping up as one of the best months for stocks on record.
And as Herman Cain's popularity continues to soar, some accusations.
And this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it's trademarkable (ph), someone is going to trademark it. And why not me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's something that belongs to the people, and it's unnecessary to trademark it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: The Occupy movement, how a trademark battle now starting to brew.
Also, the walking dead marching in Georgia. Happy Halloween.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Now for stories our iReporters are sending in from the nor'easter.
I want you to check out the time lapse as the snow started to hit the region over the weekend. An iReporter in Oak Ridge, New Jersey, took one photo every minute for eight hours outside his house on Saturday, so you can see how fast the storm rolled in just by looking at how the trees are weighted down. Really cool stuff.
And this is what neighborhoods looked like in Putnam County, New York. Wow.
An iReporter sent us pictures of these giant trees knocked down by the heavy snow. Roofs completely covered, and roads iced over.
And in Denville, New Jersey, an iReporter sent us this video of a tree knocked down by the storm. It's over the road, but people were able to drive under it. It's a dangerous move with all those downed power lines.
Well, it is a tough tradeoff if you're a kid, right? In Massachusetts, you've got a snow day, but you could be losing out on a lot of candy today. Yes, that's because the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, well, it's canceled Halloween after that monster storm dumped more than two feet of snow in some parts of the state. That happened last night.
I'm joined on the phone by Michael O'Brien. He's the city manager of Worcester.
Michael, first of all, thanks for joining us.
I guess it was really quite a doozy here. A lot of trick-or- treaters, they're all dressed up, got no place to go tonight. Are you guys postponing this, going to do it a little bit later in the week?
MICHAEL O'BRIEN, WORCESTER CITY MANAGER: That's right, Suzanne, we are postponing it.
We, here in Worcester, are certainly a hearty bunch, battle- hardened and seasoned to snowstorms, and we're kicking this one in the pants, as expected. But public safety always is our priority.
So we're pushing it off until Thursday night for our children and our parents to get out there trick-or-treating. We don't want them competing with snow piles, brush that's down, as well as power outages. Right? The streets are dark, porches aren't lit. And so all of that leads to concerns as to their safety, and it certainly doesn't take a holiday. So these few extra days are going to be critical for us.
MALVEAUX: How much snow did you guys actually get out there?
O'BRIEN: We got about 12 inches of heavy, wet snow. And as your reporter mentioned, those trees were full of leaves, and those leaves caught that heavy snow. And we had quite a bit of tree damage, branches down and all. And that's compromised utilities, and so we've got a major power outage, about 26,000 customers out, about half of our city out, without power.
MALVEAUX: How long will that take before they can actually start getting their power back?
O'BRIEN: Well, we're working very closely with National Grid, who is our power supply here, along with our city team. And we're looking at restoration likely through Thursday in some isolated pockets. But the vast majority of our city, back up by tomorrow, and then we'll continue to work through Thursday on those areas that will be somewhat isolated to get everybody back up and running.
MALVEAUX: Do you feel like you had enough time to prepare before this thing hit?
O'BRIEN: Oh, certainly. The city was working as early as last Tuesday planning, preparing, working on communication systems, and ensuring that we had all the resources at my fingertips to be able to deploy, to be able to meet and deal with this.
We're used to snow here in Worcester. We're almost the snowbelt of the commonwealth. We always get dumped on. We've got experienced personnel, been through it before. It's just the timing of the year that made it tricky.
MALVEAUX: Well, Michael O'Brien, I know what it's like there. I've covered a lot of snowstorms in your region. And you are a hearty bunch. So we wish you all the best.
And all those kids, you know, just wait a couple of days, the snow will clear, it will be a lot safer. And get your candy as well.
Thank you, Michael. Appreciate it.
O'BRIEN: Thank you so much.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MALVEAUX: Wall Street is on track for one of the biggest months on record. So is this October rally in for a Halloween surprise? We're going to go live to the New York Stock Exchange.
And for those whose Halloween is going to go on, planned tonight, can you guess how many calories an average trick-or-treater is going to collect? That answer, plus how long it's going to take to walk it off.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: All right. So, did you guess correctly how many calories will an average trick-or-treater collect tonight? The answer, between 3,500 and 7,000.
That's right, 7,000 calories. The study by the University of Alabama Birmingham also calculated how long it's going to take for a 100-pound child to actually burn off those 7,000 calories.
All right. So, they would have to walk almost 44 hours, or play full-court basketball for 14 hours. That's a lot of calories.
You better get moving, yes, because I think you're going to get a lot of calories tonight.
Wall Street also getting a Halloween treat. Stocks set to close at one of the best months on record. Is it going to last?
I want to check in with Karina Huber at the New York Stock Exchange.
So, it's been a good October, right, Karina? What do we expect in the following months?
KARINA HUBER, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, let's just start by talking about how great a month it has been, because had you invested in an index fund at the begin being of October, one that tracks the S&P 500, the Nasdaq, or the Dow, you would see gains between 12 percent and 14 percent. So that is it a very nice return for the month of October, and particularly heartening to see after we had such a dismal August and September, when the markets were really weighed down by that credit downgrade in the U.S. and the Europe sovereign debt problem.
As far as going forward, what does this mean? Well, of course we'd like to have a crystal ball in moments like this. But we've spoken to some of those geeks, those guys who really track stocks over the past 100 years.
Now, they say this year is looking like a normal year, and that means that November and December, we should see gains. Traditionally, it's a period which is very good for Wall Street. So we expect to see nice gains again, and hopefully we'll end in positive territory for the year. That's because we're seeing a better growth in the U.S. than expected, and corporate earnings have come in also stronger than expected -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: What do we think this means for the months ahead?
HUBER: Right. So for the months ahead, that is what we are expecting, a bit more gains on the markets. But, of course, you have got to keep in mind, we still have some worries about European sovereigns debt. They came out with their plan last week. Initially, the markets rallied on the back of that, but now investors are really looking closer at the details and are wondering whether this really will be the fix-all. But if it is a normal year, as some of those geeks, as I mentioned, expect, then we could see some nice gains for November and December -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Now, the sell-off for today, what is holding the stocks back?
HUBER: Well, what's happening right now is we've seen that Japan has intervened in their currency markets, and that is pushing the dollar sharply higher today. That is weighing on the commodity- related shares.
And as I mentioned, still some concerns also about European sovereign debt problem, so that this plan will be effective. And then, also, at the same time, we saw nice gains last week. So it is quite normal that investors would take some of their profits this week.
So we are seeing that the major indices are down by more than one percent right now. But again, keep in mind, we had a very great month.
MALVEAUX: OK. We'll take it. Thank you, Karina.
White House hopeful Herman Cain is facing a friendly audience, but there are some ugly headlines, allegations, as well as his response, up ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown of some of the stories ahead.
Up next, a report about Herman Cain's past has him facing a lot of questions today.
Then, testing teenagers for HIV. We're going to show you the nation's most affected areas and how pediatricians now are looking to increase awareness.
And later, trademarking Occupy Wall Street.
And Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain goes to Washington to talk about policy, but there's also talk about allegations of sexual suggestive behavior against him.
I want you to listen to this exchange between Cain and the reporter from Politico who broke the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not going to comment about two people who you won't tell me who they are, OK? That's like negotiating -- I'm not going to comment on that because, you know, I think that that is one of those kinds of things that until --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was the last question. Thanks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes or no? Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a nice day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: I want to go to Joe Johns, who's joining us from Washington.
So, Joe, first of all, tell us the backstory behind these allegations, what this is about.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is something that's been going on for some time.
These are allegations stemming from the 1990s, frankly, when Herman Cain was working at the National Restaurant Association, Suzanne. At least two allegations have surfaced from women, as we understand it, claiming that he made some type of sexual, suggestive or unwanted advances, conversation, that type of thing, reported just very recently now by Politico.
The latest, of course, is that he's beginning to respond to those allegations. He is expected to appear at the National Press Club in just a little while. He's also told Fox News Network that he did not harass anyone. However, he is aware that something that he calls a false harassment claim was made against him while he worked it at the National Restaurant Association. Now he says he was unaware of any legal settlement apparently that was entered as a result of all of that. However, the indication are -- is from the "Politico" reporting that there was some type of settlement.
So we await more from him at the press club here in Washington, D.C. We've gotten denials also from campaign staffers, some have been sweeping, some less so.
CNN's Brian Todd actually caught up with Herman Cain and asked him if he engaged in any unwanted sexual advances toward people at the NRA. He didn't answer that, but he did say no when asked if he engaged in any innuendo, Suzanne. So the story continues, sort of a moving target, but you get the gist.
MALVEAUX: Sure. And Joe, earlier today I understand when he was at the Washington think tank, he did say that -- I guess he was going to address the arrows or --
JOHNS: Right. Right.
MALVEAUX: And the pings he's getting?
JOHNS: Exactly. He said he was going to take the arrows at the press club. And that obviously was a suggestion that he was expecting to get questions from people in the room at that luncheon, the newsmaker luncheon, about this issue which has become, you know, of very high interest here in Washington, D.C., because he's doing so well right now in the polls in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
MALVEAUX: And how did this campaign explain this? I understand they put out a statement as well and it sounded like they were making it sound as if people who objected to his policy and some of the initiatives that's been brought forward have made no inroads so they're going after him personally. What kind of --
JOHNS: Right. Yes.
MALVEAUX: -- or angle are they taking?
JOHNS: Well, that's the gist of it. I think you got it exactly right, that he's been doing so well in the polls, has been one of the messages they put out, that they weren't able to do anything about that so they result to -- unnamed people result to this kind of tactic to try to discredit him.
Nonetheless, the facts are still on the table. We want to hear more about the allegations in chief and hopefully we'll hear more about that at the press club -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. We'll get back to you as soon as you have anything else that the -- Cain is responding or his campaign has to say.
Right now Cain tops ties Mitt Romney in several polls. So how will the allegations going to affect his campaign?
I want to bring in our senior political analyst David Gergen who's joining us from Harvard University.
So, David, you know, you've dealt with Democrats, Republicans, many administrations and people have to deal with allegations and tough times all the time. Cain is a guy who sells himself as he tells it like it is. We've seen a lot of sidestepping so far.
So how do we think this is going to play out and what does he need to do?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it depends on how he handles it. We've seen this movie before, haven't we, Suzanne? Many, many times.
MALVEAUX: Absolutely.
GERGEN: And what we know is that when these allegations arise you can evade, but you can't hide. And you eventually have to come forward and the sooner to better to put the facts on the table. The central question right now is this. Were there women at the National Restaurant Association who took paid settlements to leave and drop any accusations against Herman Cain? He was head of that association. He has to know because when that kind of issue arises for a man, of course, it's a dagger aimed at his heart. And so he would know whether, in fact, there was a settlement with any of these women.
And the "Politico" has reported from a source that at least one of these settlements was in five figures. That's over $10,000. That's a fair amount of money to pay someone to leave. You know, so right now the question is, did -- was there a settlement or was there not? And once you know whether there's settlements or not, then you can go to the other questions, well, what was behind this -- what was behind this settlement? What were behind the accusations? What was the truth to that?
MALVEAUX: Right.
GERGEN: He's always going to deny, I think, that he sexually harassed anybody. But settlements, if there were settlements in five figures, people are going to draw their own conclusions about how seriously --
MALVEAUX: Right.
GERGEN: -- the people at the National Restaurant Association took the charges.
MALVEAUX: David, just looking at how he's responded so far, what do you think -- how do you think he's doing here? I mean, is he -- is he doing I guess the timetable that makes sense in terms of the response here? Is he getting himself into more trouble?
GERGEN: Well, I think he's getting himself into more trouble. The -- look, I -- in defense of Herman Cain, he is a candidate who has excited an awful lot of people. He has been someone who just brought some snap and crackle to this -- to this race. He has some ideas that stir people.
But when at an issue like this comes up, you have to be very straightforward. And so far he's been evasive. Rather than dealing with the charges, he's attacking the messengers. And we've learned just -- as we've watched this movie so many times, you can do that for a day or two. But eventually you're going to have to sort of deal with it.
I hope at the press club he deals with it. I think you know -- in fairness, he needs to -- you know, if he -- if there are no settlements, he ought to be able to move on with his campaign with no more questions asked. If he can't, then there are going to be further questions they'd ask. But he ought to deal with it today. Right now at the press club.
MALVEAUX: All right. David, I understand we're getting some new sound in. He spoke to FOX News regarding this whole matter so I want to just play that for our viewers. And take a quick listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My wife publicly in an exclusive interview that we are currently planning and anticipating, but you won't see my family out on the campaign trail on a day-to-day basis. And that's because it was a conscious decision because my adult daughter with her kids, she has a life, my son, he has children, they have a life.
And my wife represents that calm and tranquility that I look forward to getting to see when I get home. She will be -- she will be introduced in terms of some limited exposure, but it's not her style for her to be with me on every campaign stop because, number one, it's grueling and I want her to continue to be the nucleus for that calm and tranquility that you want from your family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: I want to bring you back in, David Gergen.
David, I didn't hear anything really addressing the allegations here in any kind of direct way, did you?
GERGEN: No, not at all. And it goes to another issue, I think, that's quite secondary, and that is whether his wife or children accompany him on the campaign trail. He's chosen for them to maintain more of their privacy, and one has to respect that. You know, not everybody likes to go through what often can be described as a freak show running for the presidency. So I respect that, but it does not deal with -- as you say, Suzanne, the central issue today, and that is, were there settlements with women who had come forward to the National Restaurant Association accusing him of inappropriate behavior? Were there settlements or not?
MALVEAUX: Right. Right.
GERGEN: Let's just find the answer to that first.
MALVEAUX: OK. David Gergen, thank you so much. Obviously it could be --
GERGEN: Thank you, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: A make or break moment for Herman Cain and the campaign today and how he deals with this issue, this controversy, whether or not he actually answers some questions from journalists within the hour or so.
So did you know that of the million people who now have HIV/AIDS in the United States, 55,000 are teenagers, young adults? But now pediatricians are now changing the rules on who should get tested regularly. I'm going to tell you what that means for your teenager.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Should your teenager get tested for HIV? It all depends on where you live. There are new guidelines out from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to explain.
And Elizabeth, tell us what this group is now recommending.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, this group is concerned that we're missing too many teenager who are HIV positive. And a teenager who's HIV positive might not know it because they might have just been infected and they just haven't gotten sick yet.
So the current standard is, if a child says, if a teenager says that they're sexually active, test them. Now what they're saying is, Doctor, if you practice in an area where there's a lot of HIV, test those kids once a year, whether they're sexually active or not. Because we want to make sure that we're catching kids.
MALVEAUX: Test in anyway because they do not know --
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: Test them anyhow, if you live in an area of the country where there's a lot of HIV kids.
MALVEAUX: And break it down for us. How do we know which areas have a high number of those who are infected?
COHEN: Right. Now hopefully pediatricians know when they have a lot of HIV in their community. We're sort of relying on them to know this.
So let's take a look at some places that have very high HIV rates. For example, Washington, D.C., has a -- has a relatively high HIV rates -- rate and so do states like Florida, New York, and Louisiana.
Now, Suzanne, it doesn't mean that all kids in New York or Louisiana need to get HIV testing, but there are pockets of high rates of HIV in those states.
MALVEAUX: It's good to know. And why are they changing their recommendations now?
COHEN: Well, the way they did it before, again, was if a kid said, hey, I'm having sex, they would test them. They know that kids aren't owning up to having sex. They don't want to rely on them to say it. And they figured, well, we should just test them if there's a lot of HIV in the community because perhaps they are -- perhaps they're having sex and if they are having sex with an adult, there's a relatively high chance that they're contracting HIV.
MALVEAUX: All right. Good information. Thanks, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Thanks.
MALVEAUX: Well, the campout on Wall Street just got a lot tougher. Want to take you "In Depth," a look at how protesters are coping with this weekend's monster storm.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: So the winter blast that slammed the northeast is testing the nerve of "Occupy Wall Street" protesters. They haven't abandoned their camps yet, but we want to check out some live pictures. This from Zuccotti Park in Manhattan.
Last week the city removed propane tanks and generators from the park so those folks down there protesting without power or heat.
So it's only a matter of time before somebody tried to slap a trademark on the "Occupy Wall Street" movement.
Our Poppy Harlow, she's going "In Depth" to take a look at the unique way that demonstrators are branding themselves. And also the guy who's trying to get the rights to their battle cry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You know what those are? They're trademark applications for this movement, "Occupy Wall Street." And this guy over here, you see him? He's one of the folks trying to trademark it.
ROBERT MARESCA, APPLIED FOR TRADEMARK ON "OCCUPY WALL STREET": I made these T-shirts just a few on the first day and then I made about 20 on the second day and then I realized that it's not very healthy to smell the fumes so I decided that I should get in touch with a silk screener.
HARLOW: Why trademark it?
MARESCA: Well, because when you start to go into a large order, you have to make a large investment and there's the chance of being sued, the potential did not go through my head that it was something of a -- a potential business thing.
HARLOW (voice-over): Amazon is full of merchandise with that slogan and an eBay search for "Occupy Wall Street" brings up nearly 5,000 results.
And then there's Ray Agrazone (ph), a self-titled entre-protester we found online. He's made a few hundred bucks so far selling T- shirts at the occupystore.com.
MARESCA: If it's trademarkable, someone is going to trademark it. And why not me?
HARLOW: But can anyone actually trademark "Occupy Wall Street"? It's not a brand name. At least not yet.
RICHARD ROTH, TRADEMARK ATTORNEY: One would argue on one hand that it's just common words, it's in the public domain, it's just descriptive. But it does have a little ring to it that may very well pass muster with the trademark office. HARLOW (on camera): If you get this trademark, are you going to keep it, or are you going to give it to "Occupy Wall Street"?
MARESCA: I will give it to whatever legal structure that they organize and they can do what they feel is best for it.
HARLOW: Down at Zuccotti Park, there's pretty overwhelming sentiment against owning the "Occupy Wall Street" trademark.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do think it's something that belongs to the people and it's unnecessary to trademark it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a bit hypocritical, and you know, it kind of -- counteracts why we're here.
HARLOW: What attracted you to this movement?
MARESCA: Separate money from politics. Clean up time. Clean up time.
HARLOW (voice-over): But Robert Maresca insists he doesn't want to profit from it and promises to funnel the money back to the movement. Just how he plans to do that is another question.
(On camera): How do you think you could get the money that you might make off of this if you get the trademark? How do you get it back to "Occupy Wall Street," if that's your goal? How does that work?
MARESCA: Well, I don't -- I'm not going to say that I had this big giant business plan in my head. All I knew is that -- is that I was getting sick off the smell of fumes.
HARLOW: You said that you would sell the trademark if you get it to "Occupy Wall Street," if that's possible, for $1.
MARESCA: For $1, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cool. Sold.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Sold. All right, Poppy Harlow joins us.
All right, I mean, you know, the irony is not lost on us here. A people's movement suddenly becomes a hot commodity? What do people think about this, that somebody could -- could somebody get potentially sued for using this if the trademark goes through?
HARLOW: Sure. I mean, just going by the law, they could, right, if "Occupy Wall Street" is they marked by one entity, then anyone else that used it on that merchandise that it's trademarked for it could get sued. But I think we're a long way from that.
I mean Robert Maresca is a former union steel worker. He really didn't know anything about trademarking. But he was down there, Suzanne, making those shirts, supporting the movement and he thought I'd better trademark it.
He told me he didn't want it to get into someone else's hands, arguably someone that would profit from it. Now the question is, if he wins this trademark, it's going to be a few months before we know, and he's going to have to battle some other people that may apply for it, too.
How is he going to get the money back to the movement? That's the big question. And as you heard, he doesn't have a plan for that yet but he does want to support the movement.
Something interesting that we found out, though, is that just last week the movement, "Occupy Wall Street," applied for their own trademark on the same day that a California-based investment group also applied for that trademark. So this is going to be a big question, who is going to get that trademark, in general, or is it just going to be deemed public domain and therefore no one can own the trademark to "Occupy Wall Street" but it's fascinating, this was bound to happen, right?
Growing popularity, someone's going to want to own the name. It's not just that. It's also trademark applications in for "I am the 99 percent," "We are the 99 percent," "Occupy D.C. 2012." There's a trademark application in for that so this is getting pretty big, pretty quickly.
MALVEAUX: Potentially it's a lot of money caught up in this as well.
HARLOW: Yes.
MALVEAUX: Right, Poppy? All right, thank you.
HARLOW: Absolutely.
MALVEAUX: OK. Today's "Talk Back" question, are the new allegations against Herman Cain fair game? Mike says, "High-tech lynching describes it well." More of your responses up ahead.
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MALVEAUX: You've been sounding off on our "Talk Back" question. Carol Costello is here with your responses.
Hey, Carol. It is a doozy.
COSTELLO: It is a doozy to "Talk Back" question today, Suzanne.
Are the Cain allegations high-tech lynching or fair game?
This from Adam, "In today's world sex is a non-issue. Stop trying to make it one. Now if he ripped a bunch of people off and ran a company into the ground, then tell me about that."
This from Terri, "Seriously? After the millions of taxpayer dollars going after Clinton, it's the height of hypocrisy for the conservative right to make such ludicrous accusation accusations. If they want to be the party of value, maybe they'd be better served to find a candidate who actually has some."
This from Lynn, "It is indeed election time. Few of us are totally without some fault or claimed fault in our background. Just get it out in the open so we can all decide if it's worth trashing or we can all move on. Honesty all around would be refreshing."
And this from Richard, "Who are his accusers? For all anybody knows, this could have been some kind of extortion scheme. But Cain needs to speak up for himself.
Keep the conversation going, Facebook.com/carolCNN. I'll be back with another "Talk Back" in about 15, 20 minutes.
MALVEAUX: Carol, still a lot of unanswered but so far, Cain denying these allegations so we'll see how this goes, how this plays out. Thanks, carol.
COSTELLO: Sure.
MALVEAUX: Rick Perry trying to get back on top. We're checking the latest strategy in our "Political Ticker" update..
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MALVEAUX: Back to politics. One candidate who has gone -- great guns trying to get his mojo back.
Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser is here with the very latest.
Paul, tell us about him.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: That candidate, Texas Governor Rick Perry. You know, Suzanne, remember when he jumped into the race for the White House back in mid-August?
MALVEAUX: Yes.
STEINHAUSER: He quickly zoomed right up to the top of the polls there but yes, it's been definite decline for him. So he's trying to kind of get some energy back in his campaign. Up with his second ad in Iowa. Now I'm talking about a paid ad on cable and broadcast. It's the second week in a row.
And this ad, just like the one last week for Rick Perry, touts the record he has had in Texas creating jobs. Of course jobs, the number one economic issue in -- economy of course the top issue on Americans' minds right now.
We're just over two months away from the start of the voting in Iowa. The caucuses there kick off the primary caucus calendar. So Rick Perry trying -- as you said -- to get his mojo back and raise those poll numbers -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Another problem, his performance in the debates, his campaign kind of hinted that he was going to start skipping some of them. Not the case anymore, right?
STEINHAUSER: Not the case. An update from last week. Remember when the campaign said well, maybe they won't be going to all those debates anymore? Of course his poor performances in a lot of those debates were one of the reasons for his declines in the polls. But now the Perry campaign and the candidate himself saying that yes, he will go to all four debates that are scheduled in November.
Go to the calendar quickly. And we'll go through them. The first one on November 9th, a CNBC debate in Michigan on the economy. Then you've got a debate, -- CNN debate in -- sorry, a South Carolina debate on the 12th, a CBS debate. A CNN debate on the 22nd of November. This is a foreign policy and national security debate. And another CNN debate on November 30th in Arizona. Of course Arizona becoming a power player in primary politics, they're moving up the date of their contest -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. We'll be marking our calendars, Paul. Thanks.
STEINHAUER: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: For the latest political news, you know where to go, CNNPolitics.com.