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American Morning
Herman Cain Campaign Dealing with Sexual Harassment Controversy; East Coast Hit by Unseasonal Nor'easter; Occupy Wall Street and the NBA; Chemical Weapons Sites Found in Libya; NATO Mission in Libya Ends; Cain Denies Sex Harassment Claims; Four Million Without Power; "You Just Have To Hold It"; "Occupy Oakland" Protesters Call For General Strike; Pursuing A Passion In A Down Economy; Operation: "Hero Miles"; Heroes Miles Helps Hospitalized Servicemember, Family Members; Tips on Keeping Kids Healthy, Their Teeth in Tiptop Shape; East Coast Stunned By Rare, Deadly October Nor'easter
Aired October 31, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Cain controversy -- GOP candidate for president Herman Cain denying this morning reports that two women accused him of sexual harassment in the 1990s.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: October surprise -- people cleaning up after a freak nor'easter slams the east coast. It may be days before millions get their power back.
COSTELLO: A milestone birthday -- the world's 7 billionth person is born overnight. Boy, it's getting crowded in here.
CHO: And a healthy Halloween?
COSTELLO: Apple, that's no fun.
CHO: Candy is dandy, but all those Halloween treats can haunt parents. How your kids can survive the sugar rush on this AMERICAN MORNING.
COSTELLO: And good morning to you and happy Halloween. It is Monday, October 31st. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Carol Costello.
CHO: Good morning, everybody, I'm Alina Cho. Christine and Ali are off today.
COSTELLO: Up first, the Herman Cain campaign has a controversy on its hands this morning. According to a report by "Politico," the Republican front-runner was accused of sexual harassment by two women in the 1990s while he was head of the National Restaurant Association, a lobbying group.
Cain's camp is denying the report, calling it "untrue and an unfair attack." Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, we spoke to Jonathan Martin of "Politico," one of the reporters who broke the story, and he detailed the accusations that have been made by one of Cain's alleged victims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN MARTIN, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: One of the women at one point was asked by Mr. Cain to come to his hotel room. And she complained, the woman did, to a board member at the organization about that request and she was one of the women who subsequently did leave the organization, got a cash payout.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Let's get the latest on the Cain controversy from CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser. He joins us live from Washington this morning. Paul, Cain has these two big speeches later on today in Washington, D.C. I don't think reporters will be asking him about his nine-nine-nine economic plan.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: No, I think that's a safe bet, Carol. And Cain was confronted yesterday by Martin. "Politico" says they had been questioning Cain or had been looking for answers on this story for about 10 days. So yesterday Cain on the talk shows here in Washington, and Jonathan Martin asked him some questions. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You won't tell me who they are. I'm not going to comment about two people who you won't tell me who they are, OK? I'm not going to comment on that because, you know, I think that is one of those kinds of things that --
MARTIN: Yes or no?
CAIN: Thanks.
MARTIN: Last question. Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: OK, so that was Sunday morning. Let's fast-forward about 12 hours and the story breaking online. And the campaign quickly put out a statement. I reached out to J.D. Gordon, the communications director for the Herman Cain campaign. This is the statement they put out immediately after the story hit, and it goes, "Fearing the message of Herman Cain, who is shaking up the political landscape in Washington, inside the beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain, dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain's tenure as the chief executive officer at National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.
Political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts. Since Washington establishment critics haven't had much luck in attacking Mr. Cain's ideas to fix a bad economy and create jobs, they are trying to attack him any way they can. Sadly, we have seen this before, a prominent conservative targeted by liberals simply because they disagree with his politics."
Carol, that statement is interesting because we talked about inside the beltway, Washington, conservatives being attacked by a liberal media. It seems that is one of the tactics the campaign is taking as they try to push back against these allegations.
COSTELLO: Well, it's difficult to get more information on these allegations because the two women in question, I guess they settled on five-figure settlements, both of them left their jobs, and they're under orders as a requirement of those settlements not to talk about the allegations. But when Jonathan Martin was questioning Herman Cain he said he did not know who these women were, and that kind of defies logic, doesn't it?
STEINHAUSER: It does seem a little odd. Now, we -- I think what's important today is how Herman Cain responds today. Yesterday is one matter. Now today he is aware of this story, his campaign is aware of this story. As you mentioned, he's got two very high-profile events in Washington. First this morning at about 9:00 a.m. eastern a speech at American Enterprise Institute, which is a think tank, and then later at noon, the National Press Club, he's got an event there as well.
And as Jonathan Martin said, he will be there, we from CNN will be there and other members of the national press corps. So how he today responds to these questions is very, very important and could be vital to the success of his campaign, carol.
COSTELLO: Paul Steinhauser reporting for us from Washington, thank you.
STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
CHO: I want to turn to "shocktober" or "snowtober," as some are calling it, the Halloween dig-out, the aftermath of a rare and deadly October nor'easter, the storm dumping wet, slushy, heavy snow from Maryland all the way to Maine. Close to three feet of it in parts of New England, leaving millions without power and forcing so many people to cover up their Halloween costumes with coats. I hate that.
COSTELLO: I know. It kind of kills the whole idea of a costume at all, doesn't it? It was one of those weekends where travelers were in trouble, too. Forth-eight passengers stuck on an Amtrak train for 13 hours when a rockslide blocked the tracks in central Massachusetts. Train passengers were bussed to their destinations, finally, but it didn't happen until late yesterday afternoon.
CHO: But as you said, at least they had a working bathroom. We're hearing stories that make it sound like they were in prison. We're talking about these plane passengers. One said he now knows what it's like to be incarcerated.
Here's what happened. Passengers stranded on a JetBlue flight for seven hours as the winds howled outside. They say it was hard to breathe, the toilets were backed up, no food, no water. Just wait until you hear the cell phone calls from inside. We will play them for you.
COSTELLO: Yes, they're pretty horrific.
Check out this iReport, time-lapse video of the storm from a backyard in oak ridge, New Jersey, autumn turning to winter before your very eyes. The iReporter says he ended up with 16 inches of snow. He set his camera to take a picture every minute for seven hours on Saturday.
CHO: Well, in some areas, people are being told it could be a week or more before they get their power back. Chad Myers is live in York, Pennsylvania, this morning. Chad, good morning. Three- quarters-of-a-million people without power in that state, it is just unbelievable. What's the biggest problem there as you wake up this morning?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The biggest problem, I think, is that people are waking up in very cold houses or they're waking up in hotel rooms right now and they're trying to put their lives back together. A lot of school districts have canceled or delayed the openings of the school.
We are seeing a lot of frost on the windshields, temperatures down to 25 in our satellite truck this morning where we actually did try to turn it on, so that makes the car a little angry when you try to start it this morning. It's going to be a little stiff.
I think, though, we're going to see the fog this morning, and that fog is going to at some point in time make black ice on the bridges and overpasses, and that black ice could have been a problem in Philadelphia as well.
We'll take you back to Saturday morning at 3:00 a.m., Philadelphia. This is actually Bristol Township, not that far from Philly, I-95, 30 cars in a pileup. One car left the roadway and ended up landing on the roadway below. Two people killed in this crash here and we know of many crashes, even here in the York county area, up toward Bethlehem, on up toward Lancaster as well. People simply were going too fast for conditions and then visibility was down to about nothing.
So, for today, some airport delays. Everything's going to be a little bit slow to go. Many of the airplanes will have frost on top. If the frost is thick enough, they will have to de-ice those planes. That may slow you down 10 or 15 minutes for those de-icers to come. We haven't seen any real significant airport delays yet, but I'm thinks as the big planes come in, that could slow you down.
Other than that, it's been a fairly decent morning. Cars are moving. Everybody is little more cranky than they should be on a Monday morning, but they got through it, and now I think now it's just back to the recovery. Let me be very honest -- this snowstorm one month from now without leaves on trees is fairly irrelevant. On a Saturday or a Sunday, fairly irrelevant. Kids just go and play. But because the leaves are on the trees and power lines are down, at one point, 4 million customers were without power. That was the key to the storm, it was so early, not that it was so big.
COSTELLO: Right. It's nice to see people out so early this morning, chad, but they're cranky because they haven't had a shower. Chad Myers, thank you.
MYERS: That, too. And they can't make coffee.
COSTELLO: That's right. We'll check back with you later.
CHO: That would make me really cranky.
More than 4 million people across the northeast are waking up in the dark this morning. It was the perfect storm as far as power outages go -- wet, heavy snow snapping tree limbs that didn't even have a chance to shed their leaves yet, and that made those limbs so much heavier. It's a mess of branches and power lines all over New England, so many spending a second night without either heat or electricity.
Utility crews are slowly making progress. Joining me now is David Graves, spokesperson for the National Grid, a utility company servicing parts of New England, including hard-hit Massachusetts. He joins us live from Rhode Island. Good morning, sir.
DAVID GRAVES, SPOKESPERSON, NATIONAL GRID: Good morning.
CHO: So, more than 600,000 customers impacted in Massachusetts. About half of them are part of the national grid. What's the latest on getting them back online?
GRAVES: Well, we were able to restore service to about 78,000 customers in Massachusetts overnight. Unfortunately we still have about 340,000 customers without service, and that's really across the state from the Berkshires all the way eastward into the suburbs of Boston and up into the north shore.
We have crews that worked overnight to get those customers back up. More crews went out this morning at sunrise, at 6:00 a.m., and they're going to be working through the day. Unfortunately for some customers we're looking at estimated restoration times of Thursday, late Thursday night, and it could be beyond that for some customers where the damage is most severe.
CHO: OK, so, if I'm a customer who's looking at, what, Thursday or maybe longer for my electricity to be restored, I'm pretty angry. And although I realize that it's difficult to get crews out in bad weather, I'm thinking, why weren't you more prepared for this before the storm hit?
GRAVES: Well, we were prepared. We began our planning process back on Thursday of last week to make sure that we had all of our crews available to us and all crews did report on Saturday afternoon. We also reached out to utility crews, outside contractors, and we did have crews coming in on Sunday from Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, and those will be supplemented today. Our initial forecast called for about -- the greatest accumulations out in western Massachusetts of about a foot. They actually had about two feet of snow, as the accumulations were also much higher throughout other parts of our service territory. So the storm was more severe than originally forecasted.
We did have crews available to us. We still have those crews. We're adding to those crews now. What we had were thousands of trees that have come down. We've had in Massachusetts alone 11,000 reports of wires down just in Massachusetts. And we also serve all of the state of Rhode Island but portions of New Hampshire as well.
So, the damage was significant and we're hearing it from every utility in the northeast. Listening to your reports, I think from Pennsylvania up through New York State, Connecticut into New England, every utility was hit very hard.
CHO: David Graves, spokesperson for the National Grid, thanks for joining us this morning. And I do want to ask Reynolds Wolf was the forecast correct? Was the storm worse than expected?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It was pretty much on the mark. The thing that's so unusual about it is just the timing of this. I mean, Chad put it beautifully. This event takes place a month from now, it's really not that big of a deal. It is the timing with the foliage on the trees certainly a tremendous difference-maker.
We have an idea of what happened over the weekend. Obviously, we've been talking about that. Let's talk about what's happening right now. First and foremost, many people along parts of the eastern seaboard waking up with a freeze warning in effect, especially parts of the jersey shore, eastern long island and portions of the Delmarva peninsula with temperatures right at or below freezing in many spots. That's one big story we have going on.
Another thing that's happening this morning much farther to the south in parts of Florida, scattered showers are popping up. In fact, some fairly heavy rainfall, especially in Miami back over to Ft. Myers and Tampa. And because the rain you have in Florida, that's where you're going to have plenty of delays. In fact, let's show you some of those. Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, delays possibly, I'd say under an hour or so. Might see the same in Detroit due to scattered showers, San Francisco, gusty winds might give you a wait or two on the tarmac.
Meanwhile, in the Great Lakes, we are seeing that low pressure and that frontal boundary, bringing rain to parts of Detroit, scattered showers for parts of the central and northern Rockies, maybe snow at the highest elevations. And out west, relatively dry with the exception of Seattle and parts of, I'd say, yes, probably in Portland, might see some rain later on in the day. That's your forecast. Hey, guys, your turn. Back to you in New York.
COSTELLO: Thanks, Reynolds.
Still to come this morning, the world's population hitting an historic milestone, 7 billion and counting.
CHO: And what do millionaire NBA players and the Occupy Wall Street protesters have in common?
COSTELLO: It ain't money.
CHO: Aren't they the 99 percent and the one percent? Well, more than you think is the answer, and we'll explain. It's 15 minutes after the hour.
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CHO: Eighteen minutes after the hour.
Our in-depth look at the Occupy Wall Street movement this week. They're known for fighting against the one percenters, the very wealthy.
So, what do they have in common with the very well-paid, extremely well-off stars of the NBA? More than you think.
Our next guest says that. Dorian Warren is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. He specializes in studying inequality in American politics.
Dorian, it's nice to see you.
So, LeBron James, he makes $16 million a year, he has a $90 million contract with Nike, firmly in the one percent.
DORIAN WARREN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Yes, yes.
CHO: But you actually say he has a lot in common with the Occupy protesters. How so?
WARREN: Well, he and his fellow players are raising grievances with the owners, much like the Occupy Wall Street protesters are, saying around Wall Street banks.
Record profits last year in the NBA, yet the owners are saying they don't have enough money to share with the players. And so, the players are, unlike most American workers, staying strong in their union to say, no, we actually have a voice here and we have bargaining power and we're not going to let you get away with that.
CHO: Well -- and you mentioned the unions. In fact, you say the NBA players have one significant advantage over the other 88 percent of workers in America, and that is, they belong to a union, right?
WARREN: That's right.
CHO: And you say, actually, the disintegration of unions in this country has exacerbated the problem. WARREN: That's right. In 1950s, one in three American workers was a member of a union. Now, it's less than 1 in 10. And so, I think that's related to the rise in inequality over the last few years of the declining unionization. And what's interesting is that the NBA players themselves recognize this.
So when Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, for instance, in February attacked public sector workers, the NBA Players Union stood with those public sector workers and defended union rights of all workers in this country, so --
CHO: What do you say to people who say unions are the problem, then?
WARREN: Well, if they were the problem then -- and there's -- they have much more influence than you would imagine, right? It's 12 percent of the workforce. That's down from, again, 35 percent when we had shared prosperity and we had less inequality and we had more economic growth.
So, you have two snapshots here.
CHO: Sure.
WARREN: When unions were strong, we were stronger as a country and more equal. Unions are weak, we're more unequal, less economic growth, economic collapse.
CHO: You know, I read an article in the "The New York Times" recently that really stuck with me on the Occupy movement, and one line -- and I'll read it to you -- "No matter how instrumental new media have become in spreading protests these days, nothing replaces people taking to the streets."
And, you know, when you see those pictures, and I mean let's keep in mind, this has gone global --
WARREN: Right.
CHO: -- it really is extraordinary and you say this is a significant moment.
WARREN: This is a significant moment. I think we're seeing an emergence of a social movement of people actually making two kinds of claims. The first is that economic inequality and our economic system doesn't work for everybody. And second, that our political system is broken. And there's a link between both of those things.
That the people that are benefiting from the economy get to buy their way in Washington and that most average people, most average Americans don't have a voice in the political system and don't have a future in the economy.
CHO: But let's talk about this because we're now two months into the protests and there are some people who, frankly, have -- still have a hard time understanding what it's all about. They know they're mad at the 99 percent --
WARREN: Yes.
CHO: -- I mean, at the one percent.
WARREN: One percent, right.
CHO: And that they're the 99 percent. But some have argued, critics have argued that they're not good on solutions, and that's part of the problem and maybe is that why they're not even, you know, a bigger presence and more significant in terms of our collective memory?
WARREN: Well, I think it's important to put this in context.
So, we're two months in, but the most successful movement of the 20th Century, the Civil Rights Movement -- Rosa Parks, Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955. Five years later, 1960, student sit-ins, next year, 1961, the freedom rides. We didn't get the Civil Rights Act until 1964 --
CHO: 1964.
WARREN: -- right? And then the Voting Rights Act of '65. I'm not saying it's going to take 10 years for the Occupy Wall Street movement to see legislative success, but when you think about social movements broadly, it takes a while and we're only two months in.
CHO: Yes. All right. And you're right, the Civil Rights Movement, people are still fighting.
WARREN: Yes, right.
CHO: All right. Dorian Warren, we thank you very much. An interesting perspective.
WARREN: Thank you. Thanks very much.
CHO: I encourage people to -- to read this, "The Washington Post" Op-Ed from Sunday. Thank you, Dorian.
WARREN: Thanks very much.
CHO: Carol?
COSTELLO: Still ahead, stories from inside a nightmare JetBlue flight. Passengers stuck on the plane for seven hours after it was diverted in a storm. Food, water, even air running out. Hear cell phone calls from passengers and the pilot pleading with the airport for help!
And trick-or-treaters on parade. Kids will have their fill of candy and chocolate for weeks. What's a parent to do? Elizabeth Cohen has some advice.
It's 22 minutes past the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Twenty-six minutes past the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
It is the final day of what could be a record-setting month on Wall Street. The Dow has climbed 11 percent in October and the S&P 500 is up 14 percent, the best monthly advance in 37 years.
Australia's Qantas Airlines resumed flights today, this after the airline grounded its entire fleet because of a labor dispute with its unions on Saturday. One hundred thousand passengers were affected.
A rough year for Honda. The Japanese auto giant says the net profit for the fiscal first half dropped more than 77 percent. Two big reasons for the plunge -- the company's been dealing with the earthquake that devastated Japan in March, and more recently, the flooding in Thailand.
Bank of America may be back-pedaling. CNN has learned the financial giant may soften its plan to charge customers a $5 fee for using their debit cards to make purchases. The plan was supposed to take effect in January, but because of an angry backlash, Bank of America is looking at offering customers several options to avoid the fee.
Don't forget, for the very latest news about your money, check out the all-new CNNMoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNING will be back after a break.
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CHO: Good morning. It's 30 minutes past the hour. Here are your top stories.
The outgoing prime minister of Libya's National Transitional Council says two sites containing chemical weapons have been discovered in his country. Mahmoud Jabreel says The Hague and the U.S. have been notified. No details about the location of the sites or when they were discovered have been released.
COSTELLO: In just over 10 hours, the NATO mission in Libya officially comes to an end. That follows a unanimous vote by the U.N. Security Council last week to formally end the seven-month-long military campaign. NATO's secretary-general calls it one of the most successful operations in the history of the organization.
CHO: Herman Cain is denying a report that two women filed sexual harassment claims against him back in the 1990s. "Politico" says those complaints came during Cain's tenure as head of the National Restaurant Association and that both women were paid large cash settlements for their silence and then left their jobs.
COSTELLO: Four million people waking up this morning without power after a nasty surprise nor'easter. Authorities say some people could be in the dark for days after heavy snow snapped tree limbs and ripped down power lines up and down the east coast.
CHO: Well, passengers say it was downright degrading. One called it Armageddon. Another said it was like being incarcerated after they were stuck on a plane on the tarmac for seven hours during this weekend's snowstorm.
Our Susan Candiotti has the stories from inside the plane.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alina and Carol, good morning. Blinding snow in a freak October storm created havoc in the northeast, but one of the worst nightmares was for stranded passengers in Hartford, Connecticut.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Twenty three planes were diverted to Hartford, according to JetBlue, which says six of the planes were theirs, stranding passengers on the tarmac for eight and nine hours. No food, water, bathrooms unusable. Passengers did have cell phones and unleashed their fury.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via telephone): They're filled. They're totally filled. No one can go in them anymore. You just have to hold it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hours going in and out, bathrooms are locked. People are quite upset.
CANDIOTTI: A Department of Transportation rule enacted last year called the "Airline Passengers Bill of Rights" was supposed to prevent situations like this.
Among the requirements -- food, water and a clean bathroom within two hours of being stuck and the right to get off a stranded plane after three hours.
In a statement, JetBlue apologized and says power outages at the airport made correcting problems difficult. The changes came after a February 2007 incident. Passengers were stuck on a JetBlue flight at JFK for eight hours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was no power and it was hot. There was no air. They had to open the actual plane doors so we could breathe comfortably.
CANDIOTTI: And now it appears history is repeating itself.
KATE HANNI, FLYERSRIGHTS.ORG: It is absolutely unacceptable that the airlines and the airport did not manage to get these passengers off the plane.
CANDIOTTI: Kate Hanni fought for the bill of rights after being stuck on a plane herself five years ago. She now runs a web site that advocates for passengers and says the airlines needed to cancel flights sooner. HANNI: The flying public has overwhelmingly said they would rather have their flight canceled or be stuck inside an airport than they would like to be stuck inside an airplane.
CANDIOTTI: An airport spokesman did not respond to CNN's call seeking comment. The DOT's new regulation doesn't apply to airports.
HANNI: Hopefully, we can get airports added to the rule, because this is a real -- I knew when I talked to operations last night, I knew that they were scrambling and they knew they had screwed up royally.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: The DOT says its passenger protection rule has virtually eliminated all delays of three hours or more. A spokeswoman says no airline has been fined since the new rule came out, but because of what happened this weekend in Connecticut, the DOT has just opened a new investigation -- Alina and Carol.
COSTELLO: And passengers are probably saying that's a good thing because somebody needs to investigate the situation. For the first time, too, we're hearing audio from inside the cockpit of that flight.
The JetBlue pilot pleading for help, he's pleading with the airport to end this ordeal because he had a sick passenger on his hand and he had another passenger in a wheelchair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED PILOT: Look, you know, 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you need any paramedics or anything like that?
UNIDENTIFIED PILOT: No. We've got the fire truck over here, and I guess they have some medical background here. I'm not sure who all the players are back there in the back end, but it looks like they've got it covered. My priority right now is a tug and a tow bar. Just give me a welding shop. I'll be willing to make one myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: But alas, they didn't even get him that. Of course, that was like a joke, but he tried.
CHO: I just can't imagine being stuck on that plane, but anyway --
COSTELLO: With no bathrooms.
CHO: No bathroom. And you were saying, you know, can't you just walk off the plane? I would have gotten off on the tarmac, too, snow or not.
COSTELLO: Yes, you could escort the people off the plane. Yes, they could slide down the chute, right? Who cares?
CHO: I would have slid down the chute in that situation, anyway.
"Occupy Wall Street" protests in New York City still going strong despite that nor'easter this weekend. These pictures from a CNN I-Reporter show the protesters in Zuccotti Park hold up in tents.
Now, live pictures of Zuccotti Park, which has become the epicenter of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement and you can see it really is an encampment. People really only strengthened their resolve with the bad weather probably, and they're digging in their heels and staying put.
COSTELLO: Pursuing your passion is not always the best career move in a down economy. Take the NBA lockout, for example.
According to reports, more than 400 jobs have been eliminated because of the labor dispute, and it's kind of tough to find a job with such a specialized set of skills.
But in this week's "Smart is the New Rich," Christine Romans introduces us to a man who left the NBA behind to coach kids.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not the NBA, but it's a job, and it turns out, David Brown loves it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a great passion for working with kids. I have a great passion for the sport of basketball.
ROMANS: Brown, a former Division 1 college basketball player, runs Basketball Stars of New York, clinics and camps for kids. He launched the business this spring after leaving a job with the NBA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Freeze! Freeze, freeze, freeze.
ROMANS: Brown says he's fortunate he's still working in basketball, given the league lockout and prospects for 400 more job losses. Career coaches say pursuing a passion in the job market with 9.1 percent unemployment, it's a big gamble.
BRAD KARSH, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, JOBBOUND: I love passion. I think it's great and you never want to take a job that you're going to despise or hate or not be pleased with.
But I think, especially for people coming out of school, there's this almost romantic view of jobs and they're like, I want a job that I'm going to love every day!
And the fact of the matter is, there's probably not many jobs that anybody loves every single day. ROMANS: After graduating from college, Brown coached at the high school level and at two non-Division 1 universities. He loved the work, but the pay was tight.
DAVID BROWN, DIRECTOR AND HEAD COACH, "BASKETBALL STARS OF NEW YORK": I didn't have the chance to really earn a real paycheck that would, you know, sustain a living, so I had to go out for another opportunity and look for, you know, what my mother would call a real job.
ROMANS: Brown got a job with the New Jersey Nets, selling ticket plans for games. He eventually was promoted to the team's marketing division.
BROWN: You don't need to say it 50 times and waste your breath.
ROMANS: But after two years on the job, he felt he ran out of room to grow. He and the team parted ways in the spring, but Brown took what he learned and applied it to a new career, coaching kids.
JONAS PRISING, PRESIDENT, MANPOWER GROUP AMERICAS: It's very important that you take stock of your current situation. You understand what your opportunities are in the areas that you're familiar with. But then stay active and also look at areas where you can transfer your skills, areas in industries where you can see growth.
ROMANS: For now, he's happy to be working with kids again and having the opportunity to grow his business and pursue his passion for coaching.
BROWN: Do what you love. If you do what you love, it's not going to be work. You're going to be successful.
ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Words to live by, I would say.
COSTELLO: Yes, do what you love.
CHO: Up next, want to say thank you to a real-life hero? Why not donate your frequent flyer miles to soldiers wounded in battle and their families?
The amazing program is now expanding. We'll tell you about it and tell you how you can help, next. It's 39 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. With the holidays just around the corner, what can you do to help hospitalized service members and their families get home? How about donating your frequent flyer miles to the "Hero Miles Program"? We're joined by the chairman of Fisher House, Kenneth Fisher, to talk about this. You know, this program has been in place since 2003. Tell us about it. What do you do?
KENNETH FISHER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, FISHER HOUSE FOUNDATION: Well, what we do is we have this program, which is called "Hero Miles." People can donate their unused frequent flyer miles to us.
We have a partnership with the airlines. We, in turn, will buy tickets for family members of those who have been wounded so that we can get them to the bedside of their loved ones.
CHO: And it's for their families and close friends, as well, if they want to go and visit their loved ones in the hospital, right?
FISHER: That's correct.
CHO: I mean, this was clearly born out of a need.
FISHER: Yes. Well, you know, the burdens on these military families are such that the average American really has no concept of and imagine the stress when their loved ones become wounded.
So, bills don't stop coming. Mortgages still need to be paid. The last thing these family members need to worry about is how am I going to afford a plane ticket? How am I going to afford to stay in a hotel for a period of time?
CHO: And in eight years, what kind of impact had you had, 25,000 tickets, right?
FISHER: We just made it to 25,000 tickets.
CHO: Unbelievable and that's worth what, something in the neighborhood of $5 million or more?
FISHER: It's approximately $35 million to $40 million.
CHO: It's $35 million to $40 million, my mistake. Wow, that is incredible. Now you're looking to expand the program, how so?
FISHER: Well, what we're looking to do is to add a hotel component to "Hero Miles," which means that, well, Fisher House provides lodging at no cost as well. What we're looking to do is sometimes there is a waiting list to get into a Fisher House.
CHO: Well, sure the program has gotten big.
FISHER: Yes, it has. Almost 150,000 families in 21 years.
CHO: Wow.
FISHER: But if they can't get into it, there is a waiting list to get in. We -- usually what we do is we put them up in a hotel until a spot opens up in the Fisher House. This would expand the program to allow that motel component. CHO: Well, you know what surprised me is that you would think, or many people might think that you just introduced this idea of adding hotel stays, and boom, you do it and implement it. But it's not that easy. You do have to get government approval, don't you?
FISHER: Well, technically, yes. It has to be legislated because these are gifts, and these are government employees --
CHO: And service members are not allowed to receive gifts.
FISHER: That's correct.
CHO: And so, there needs to be a special provision in the legislation to say, OK, this part of it is OK, too, in addition to the flights?
FISHER: That's correct. So, we say we're a public-private partnership with the government. That's how the lodging program works as well.
CHO: I'm curious to know -- I'm sure you've spoken to many servicemembers and their families over the years. What do they say about what kind of impact this has on them and their lives, to be able to not have to worry about paying for a flight when they're wounded and just back from battle?
FISHER: It's the most humbling experience one could ever imagine. That these family members and servicemen and women, who have given so much to this nation, come and thank us, and it's them that deserve the thanks. They are the ones that are doing what they believe is their duty, and that is to defend this nation.
CHO: And very quickly, for all of those people out there who are thinking to themselves, you know, I've got a lot of miles in my account, maybe I want to donate, how do you do that?
FISHER: Go to our web site, fisherhouse.org. We have a Hero Miles section on the website. That will tell you what you need to do.
CHO: Fantastic. I think I might do that after the show.
Thank you very much, Kenneth Fisher.
FISHER: Thank you.
CHO: It was a pleasure talking to you about this program.
FISHER: Thank you.
CHO: And what a good deed you're doing.
FISHER: Thank you very much.
CHO: Congratulations.
FISHER: Thank you. CHO: And good luck expanding.
Your morning headlines are next. Plus, guess what the Obamas handed out to trick-or-treaters at the White House this Halloween? We'll tell you.
It's 46 minutes after the hour.
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COSTELLO: Forty-seven minutes past the hour. Here are your morning headlines.
Stocks are poised to end October with one of the best monthly performances on record. The S&P 500 up 14 percent this month. It's the best monthly performance in 37 years. But right now, the Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 futures are all down, suggesting a lower open at the bell.
A denial from Herman Cain after a report by "Politico" that says two women filed sexual harassment claims against him in the 1990s when Cain was head of the National Restaurant Association. Both women were reportedly paid cash settlements for their silence before leaving their jobs. Cain's camp calls the story untrue and an unfair attack.
Parts of New England shoveling out from under 33 inches of snow on Halloween after a nasty surprise nor'easter. Four million people waking up without power this morning.
JetBlue reportedly facing millions of dollars in fines after leaving passengers stranded on a plane for seven hours on the tarmac in Hartford, Connecticut. Passengers say it was hard to breathe and the toilets were backed up.
A great white shark attack -- attacks a surfer off the California coast on Saturday. 27-year-old Eric Tarantino was bit in the arm and the neck but managed to swim to shore. He is recovering in the hospital and he is expected to be OK.
Wegmans Supermarket chain recalling 5,000 pounds of Turkish pine nuts. They may be tainted with salmonella. The pine nuts have been linked to 43 cases of salmonella poisoning in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland between July 1st and October 18th.
Seven billion and counting. The U.N. expects the world's population to hit the seven billion mark today. That's a billion more than just 12 years ago.
And the spirit of St. Louis. Thousands of fans lined the parade route in St. Louis on Sunday to honor the World Series champion cardinals. The Cards beat the Texas Rangers to win the 11th World Series title in franchise history.
And that's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING is back after a break.
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CHO: A beautiful morning in Washington. But it is a chilly one. It's mostly cloudy and 37 degrees. Wow.
(LAUGHTER)
And only going up to 56 today.
COSTELLO: But I'm not complaining, because further up the coast, it's pretty nasty.
CHO: You're right. It's worse.
COSTELLO: Yes.
Welcome back. Kids in the nation's capital braved the wet and cold weather this weekend for a real treat courtesy of the president and the first lady. They handed out goody bags to the White House trick or treaters. The bags included a mix of dried fruit, M&Ms with the presidential seal, and baked cookies shaped like the White House.
CHO: Cool.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: It is pretty cool. The lucky kids came from local elementary schools, the Boys and Girls Club, and military families.
CHO: Many of them probably didn't even realize that was the president and the first lady. But, anyway, what a treat for them, definitely.
Trick or treaters all over will hit the ground running this afternoon, if they can, if there's not too much snow. But parents know it could be weeks before their kids go through that entire candy stockpile.
Senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is joining us now from Atlanta with some tips on keeping kids healthy and their teeth in tiptop shape.
Elizabeth, is it even possible? I mean, these kids come back with huge bags of candy. It's going to be like I said weeks --
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: -- before they get through it. So how do they do that?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Some lucky kid might come home with this much, right?
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: That's right. COHEN: Alina, I'll tell you, my philosophy, as a mom, has always been, that first night, I just let them go to town. You know, they have just been out trick or treating. They've been running around. I make sure they go out for a while to get some exercise. And then after that, we portion it out, every other night. But it's a one- night thing. It's exciting. It's just -- you know, I just let them go.
But there is one thing that I always do, is that I make sure they brush their teeth right afterwards. And that's really the key. Halloween really, in some ways, is -- can be a nightmare for your teeth. And there are a couple of things in particular. These gummy kinds of candies -- I'm sure you've seen those. Those can be terrible for your teeth because stuff gets stuck in them. Raisins, well, they've got -- certain things about them are very good for your health, but they also can get stuck in your teeth. And hard candies, when you suck on these, they stay in your mouth for a long time. And it can turn the saliva very acidic, and that can also be bad for your teeth. So you can eat, but just brush right away.
COSTELLO: So the sour patch kids I eat all the time, I should probably stay away from.
(LAUGHTER)
COHEN: Brush your teeth right away.
COSTELLO: As I open a Three Musketeers, by the way, Elizabeth. Oh, my goodness, not setting a good example.
Childhood obesity is such a big problem though in this country. Is there anything that parents can really do to have their kids avoid eating too much of this stuff?
COHEN: Again, you might -- you know, people use different tactics. I know some moms who portion it out, and so they tell them five pieces tonight, and that's it. And they do little baggies with just the right amount that they want them to eat. Other people do what I do, which is say, hey, for one night, it's really not going to matter what a kid does on any one night. But then on the rest of the nights, we're going to be careful. But I think it really is just limiting it and talking about this as a special occasion, as a holiday, and not something we do all the time.
COSTELLO: You know, the bad thing about Elizabeth, she's got all that candy in front of her and she'll ration it out to the staff.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO:You can only have one piece and brush your teeth right after.
COHEN: Right. Exactly.
CHO: But here's the problem.
You know this, Carol.
And you know this, Elizabeth. You put food out in a newsroom, forget it, it's gone like that.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Like a feeding frenzy.
COHEN: It will be gone in minutes. Right.
(LAUGHTER)
Real quick.
COSTELLO: Great, Elizabeth. I'm going to eat this Three Musketeers now.
COHEN: Enjoy.
CHO: OK. All right, top stories are next, including sexual harassment allegations against presidential hopeful, Herman Cain. We have I live report.
COSTELLO: And where do NBA talks go now? We're asking "Sports Illustrated." We'll also ask this reporter about tebowing. Because tebowing was a taunting factor in the Lions-Broncos game.
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