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American Morning
Herman Cain Accuser May Talk; Wall Street Firm Missing $600 Million; G-20 Summit Begins Tomorrow; Conrad Murray: "I Will Not Testify"; Judge: Julian Assange Can be Extradited; Pilot Pulls Off Miracle in Poland; Cheney Said "We're Going to Die"; Could the Occupy Movement Take a Cue from Bank of America Crusader?; Bank of America Drops $5 Debit Card Fee; Occupy San Francisco; Reagan Statue Unveiled; Lawyer: Cain Accuser May Talk; FBI Investigating MF Global's Missing Money
Aired November 02, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: One of Herman Cain's accusers may talk. A sexual harassment scandal threatening to sink a surging campaign this morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The feds now looking for $600 million after John Corzine's MF Global goes bust. A man who once on the short list for the treasury secretary right in the middle of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Including a president?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Including a president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice talking about a poison scare at the White House. The 24 hours that could have drastically changed history.
COSTELLO: Proof that one person can make a difference. The woman who at an online revolt against Bank of America. She will join us live on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: All right, good morning, everyone. It's Wednesday, November 2nd. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
COSTELLO: Yes, happy Wednesday. Ali Velshi is on assignment. Actually he's going to join us from France in just a few minutes. He's covering the G-2 Summit and it will be an interesting time.
ROMANS: We are going to find out whether G-20 can save the world. But up first, the growing Herman Cain sexual harassment scandal, just the new poll taken before the story broke shows that he's pulling away as the GOP frontrunner. One of his accusers is thinking about going public. Brian Todd is live for us in Washington. Brian, in the crisis management and damage control, this one is a real tough one for Cain, isn't it?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is, Christine. We are about to possibly see the other shoe drop in a big, big way in this case. One of Herman Cain's alleged accusers maybe about to come public and give her side of the story.
According to her attorney, she is very upset, has been upset since the story broke on Sunday night and into Monday of what Mr. Cain has been saying about this case and his denial of these accusations.
His lawyer says his client has been very, very upset about this and may come public. Here is an exchange that the lawyer, Joel Benneth, had with CNN's Anderson Cooper "360" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does she believe Mr. Cain is not telling the truth?
JOEL BENNETH (via telephone): Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you elaborate?
BENNETH: First of all, it's difficult. There were two women who filed complaints at this time. It's unclear which one he is speaking about all the time. To the extent that he's made statements he never sexually harassed anyone and there was no validity to these complaints. That certainly not true with respect to my client's complaints.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Now at the time, Mr. Cain and these women were employees of the National Restaurant Association. The key question is now, is that group going to release this woman from her confidentiality agreement? So that she can speak publicly and give her side of the case.
The attorney, Joel Benneth, says he plans to contact the National Restaurant Association, has not done so, yet. Here is what that group says, quote, "We have seen media reports saying that Attorney Joel Bennett is publicly making requests on behalf of a former National Restaurant Association employee.
Mr. Bennett has not been in contact with the association. If we are contacted by Mr. Benneth, we will respond as appropriate. So that is kind of the next linchpin in the story, waiting to see if the NRA, the National Restaurant Association will release this woman from the confidentiality agreement. If and when that happens, maybe in the next a couple of days or so we will see. This story is going to blow up even further -- Christine. ROMANS: And then Brain, Herman Cain also kind of adding in another layer to this controversy, a controversial layer. What did he say?
TODD: He certainly did. He was asked about the question of race and whether that played into it. This is an exchange that he had with Fox News. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think that race, being a strong, black conservative has anything to do with the fact that you have been so charged? If so, do you have any evidence to support that?
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe the answer is yes, but we do not have any evidence to support it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: So, that factor is now injected into this whole story. What we are told now is that Herman Cain has certainly not been hurt by this in the wallet. His campaign raised more than $400,000 on Monday alone.
The single best day of fundraising since the campaign began. Monday is when the story blew up in earnest in the media. There was an e-mail solicitation sent that supported Herman Cain. And as a result, more than $400,000 raised on Monday -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Brian Todd, we'll keep watching it as it continues to develop. Thanks, Brian.
COSTELLO: Also this morning, a big name on Wall Street is at the center of what appears to be a growing financial scandal. It involved the sudden and severe collapse of John Corzine's Wall Street firm, MF Global.
Hundreds of millions of dollars belonging to investors are said to be missing and now federal investigators are on the case. Susan Candiotti joins us live with more on this. So poof, investors' money gone.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're trying to figure out exactly what happened and now it's growing beyond the SEC's investigation.
CNN is learning the FBI is now investigating what happened to at least $6 million of customer money. The question is, did MF Global, which filed for bankruptcy Monday, use its customer's money to help prop up the beleaguered company?
If they did, it's a serious charge. There are rules requiring firms to keep customer funds separate from customer money. MF Global is a company that former New Jersey governor, John Corzine, took over last year.
And Corzine, no stranger to managing money, was also the former CEO of Goldman Sachs. He quickly made some big bets on some rather risky assets. We're talking more than $6 billion invested in the debts of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland.
European nations with troubled economies and when Europe started to teeter, people started to worry about those bets and it created a crisis of confidence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT PELTZ, RMS MCGLADREY: At the end of the day, they took a very risky position. It was very large and because of the size, became risky and put pressure on the capital of firm ultimately resulting in a lack of confidence by investors and other parties and essentially creating a run on the bank.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: Corzine was close to finding a buyer for MF Global over the weekend. But when the potential buyer learned about the missing money, it walked away from the deal.
At yesterday's bankruptcy hearing here in New York, MF Global's attorney argued that all the money has been accounted for. But federal officials say they're trying to get to the bottom of what really happened in the days before MF Global filed for Chapter 11.
So FBI is not talking about this and also no comment on the growing investigation from MF Global or from John Corzine.
ROMANS: And this is this cardinal rule that if a company -- if somebody like MF Global is trading for their own book, trading their own risky bets that they never co-mingle that customer money.
That's why they are looking for the $600 million. It's definitely a stunning fall from grace for John Corzine. I mean, it used to be the Goldman Sachs was the gold standard and now I mean, this is big.
COSTELLO: And it turns out, they make risky of moves as anyone, right and maybe allegedly with investor money.
CANDIOTTI: Getting to the bottom of it is what they have to do now.
ROMANS: All right, so we are one day away from the start of the G-20 summit in Cannes. The stakes could not be higher. The European debt crisis topping the agenda. Greece's prime minister sending a chill to the global markets yesterday announcing he won't accept a bail out deal without first putting it to a vote by the Greek people.
And before 20 of the world's most powerful leaders even get started tomorrow, protesters are taking to the streets. Ali Velshi joining us live this morning from Cannes.
Ali, wow. The Greek prime minister throwing into question all of that work by Merkel, Sarkozy, all these other European leader who had tried to at least get Europe on a path to healing. Are we back at square one?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
ROMANS: Wow.
VELSHI: We might be behind square one. The Greek prime minister has put into question the entire global recovery. Greece has the world's recovery in its hands quite possibly. You know, I've covered -- you covered these events before as well, Christine.
Typically, the day before is a lot of technical meetings and a lot of social stuff going on. This is full out assault on the Greek prime minister now to get him to change his mind.
Less than 24 hours ago, he changed the game entirely after agreeing to this very thorough, very robust, European deal. The Greek prime minister says he's going to put it to the Greek people for a referendum.
Now we have seen from those protests in the streets over the last year that the Greek people are not likely to embrace a system, which increases their taxes, increases their retirement age, cuts their benefits, cause them to pay taxes because very few people in Greece actually pay personal taxes.
There's such a system of bribery that goes on. Bottom line is, they don't want to give up these entitlements. If this is put to the Greek people in a vote that could happen in December or January, it's entirely possible that Greece will not subject itself to the cuts necessary to get this deal done.
That puts the entire euro zone in jeopardy and the euro zone is what we are depending on right now to keep the entire world from slipping into another recession. So this is very, very serious.
This has gone from a somewhat technical G-20 meeting where they're going to talk about things like bank capitalization and recovery around the world and how much money banks have to keep on reserve. It has changed course entirely.
Angela Merkel, Sarkozy, the heads of the E.U. and President Obama and Secretary Geithner are going to be here and everybody is going to be putting all their weight on Greece to say do not do this. You have the world's economy in your hands right now -- Christine.
ROMANS: Many people this morning are saying that there must be internal politics at play for Greece. The prime minister had to show his people he wasn't going to take what Europe gives. That they would at least this vote and maybe not enough people would turn out. Why did he do this? We know the G-20 is going to pressure him hard?
VELSHI: He's playing with fire. Sure. It's playing with fire because you are right. Let's say it's one of things. A vote to say we have given you your voice, the Greek people because this affects you.
What if it goes the wrong way? What if this thing gets defeated? Greece could get kicked out of the euro zone or this could collapse banks across Europe. You could have another Lehman Brother situation where bank don't lend to bank.
And this is not 2008 where central banks and governments are not in a hurry to bail out normal banks. Why did he do it? We have heard everything. We've heard opposition member of the Greek parliament saying he's suffering from mental stress and pressure.
We've had other saying, this is politics. He gets a chance to say I wanted to give it to the Greek people for a vote, but everybody else pressured me not to. It's unclear why he did it. Clearly, he's very unpopular right now.
Any government that imposes those kinds of stresses on its own people is going to be unpopular. Probably, you're right, Christine. Probably there's a lot of internal Greek politics at play right now.
But I have to tell you, I don't think the world ever had to care about what happens in Greek politics as we are now. In the last 24 hours, I have learned names of political parties and members of parliament and all sorts of peculiarities about Greek politics that I never thought I'd need to learn.
ROMANS: Ali, it's so true. I mean, we are such a small world now where, you know, internal wranglings in Greece affect our interest rates and whether there's another recession in the U.S.
VELSHI: And remember one thing, Christine. Remember one thing, back in 2008 when people we're saying why do I care about these fat cats? Let them fail. Let the banks fail. You saw what ended up happening, right?
People couldn't get car loans. They couldn't get student loans and they couldn't get home loans because credit wasn't flowing at this international macro global level. As a result, it wasn't flowing down.
I tell you, this is exactly the same thing. If Greece defaults, if Greece doesn't do this and credit starts flowing between banks at the highest levels, it will once again affect your about to get a mortgage, your ability to get a loan, your ability to get a student loan or buy a car. This stuff all trickles down. We are all interconnected now.
ROMANS: Yes, a dangerous moment for the world. We'll see if the G-20 can solve it. Ali Velshi in Cannes. Thanks, Ali.
COSTELLO: Also new this morning, moments ago, a verdict passed down in the extradition appeal of Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange. A London judge ruled that Assange can be extradited to Sweden. He is wanted for questioning for two sexual misconduct allegations from last year. In the meantime, Assange announced this week that Wikileaks is dealing with financial problems and it's struggling to stay afloat.
The jury has now seen and heard all the evidence in the Michael Jackson death trial. The defendant, Conrad Murray told the judge he will not testify. Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death. The prosecution and defense will deliver closing arguments tomorrow and then, as you know, the jury gets the case.
ROMANS: The world hasn't witnessed a landing like this since the miracle on the Hudson. A Boeing 767 carrying 220 passengers and 11 crew members from Newark, New Jersey forced to make an emergency landing on its belly.
Yesterday worst off Poland, look at that. The landing gear malfunctioned, but the pilot pulled it off safely. There's not a single injury. Captain Sully Sullenberger appearing last night on Erin Burnett "OUT FRONT" says the landing presented a different challenged that he faced over the Hudson in 2009.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPTAIN CHESLEY "SULLY" SULLENBERGER, U.S. AIRWAYS FLIGHT 1549 CAPTAIN: These things always remind me of that day. I'll never forget it. I was grateful this was a great outcome. This required great piloting skill, too.
This is not like a normal landing. Without the landing gear underneath you as you approach in order to land, your eyes in the cockpit will be much lower, much closer to the runway. It's going to be a different picture looking out the window. You have to account for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Look at that, just to see it land with the no landing gear. At 8:40 Eastern, we're going to be joined live by Captain Sully Sullenberger here in AMERICAN MORNING. He's going to talk about the memories that were stirred up when he lashed the miracle landing in Warsaw.
COSTELLO: I can't wait to talk to him. It will be fascinating. The pilot that landed the plane in Poland, he also flew gliders. And that's one of the reasons he was able to -
ROMANS: Wow.
COSTELLO: -- gently land that plane even on a hard surface, so -
ROMANS: Cool stuff.
COSTELLO: Just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, for 24 hours, they didn't know whether the president was going to live or die. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice opening up about a White House poison scare right after 9/11.
ROMANS: A modern day David taking down a banking Goliath. Her online activism forced Bank of America to give its customers a break. She became the face and the voice of a really fed up American banking public. She's going to join us live, next.
It's almost 16 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back.
Former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, revealing a scary story from inside the White House. Details that very rarely ever leave its walls.
In a "Nightline" interview, she talked about a time right after September 11th when the president and most of his circle thought they were poisoned and they were going to die. She was with the president when Vice President Cheney bluntly delivered the news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: We were in Shanghai actually when the Vice President came on the screen and said that the White House protectors have detected Botulinum toxin and we were all - those of us exposed were going to die.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said that?
RICE: Yes, he said that. And I remember everybody just sort of freezing and the president saying, "What was that? What was that, Dick?"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Including the president?
RICE: Including the president.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Rice said tests took 24 hours to come back negative. So they didn't know for a full day whether the president was going to drop dead.
Secretary Rice is Piers Morgan's guest tonight at 9:00 P.M. Eastern, talking about her new memoir, President Obama, the fall of Gadhafi and the 2012 elections. That's at Piers' tonight at 9:00 P.M. Eastern. Can't wait for that.
COSTELLO: Now's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. This morning's question, could the Occupy Wall Street movement take a queue from Bank of America crusader Molly Katchpole? Or should we say Protester One, Molly - Molly Katchpole.
Katchpole is the young woman who targeted Bank of America online, gathered 300,000 signatures and shamed Bank of America into eliminating its $5 debit card fee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOLLY KATCHPOLE, ONLINE ACTIVIST: I'm 22 years old. I work two part-time jobs. And I don't have $60 a year to give to Bank of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: She did not. This woman had a plan. She cut up her debit cards, switched banks and organized an online petition telling Bank of America to reverse the bank's decision to charge its customers that $5 a month fee to use their debit cards.
And today, she's given the victory sign. By strategizing, Katchpole evoked changed in less than a month from one of the largest banks in the nation. Maybe Occupy Wall Street should take a cue from Katchpole. Yes, they're protesting, but they have no single mission statement. No one way to protest, unless, of course, you count camping out. It's like catnip for those who criticize Occupy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nobody knows what that caller did. (INAUDIBLE) when you don't know what the caller did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So the "Talk Back" question for you this morning, could the Occupy movement take a cue from Bank of America crusader Molly Katchpole? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning, Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I'll read your comments later this hour.
ROMANS: I'm just a cynic. I'm wondering where the new fees are going to come creeping in and will I be able to detect them. Anyway, I'll try to find them and let you know.
Coming up, could it be another (INAUDIBLE) for Apple? Oh, no. We'll tell you what the complaints are this time about the new iPhone 4S.
It's 21 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Right now, U.S. markets are poised to open slightly higher after a steep sell-off yesterday. The Dow yesterday down 2.5 percent. The NASDAQ and S&P 50 were both down nearly three percent. And it's all because of Greece. A huge sell-off, because Greece said it plans to hold a popular vote on the European bailout package that was agreed upon last week.
Now, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou heads to the G-20 Summit today for emergency talks with other European leaders who want him to scrap this referendum and simply accept the deal that they have agreed upon. Without this bailout, the Greek economy could collapse. Greece could be kicked out of the EU. It would incredibly unstabilizing for Europe, for banks, the European economy and for the U.S. economy.
We're also going to find out this afternoon whether the Federal Reserve is taking any bold steps to boost the U.S. economy. The policymakers are going to wrap up a two-day meeting and less important is whether or not they're adjusting interest rates. More important is what the Fed chief says at a briefing afterwards. What will he say about Europe? What will he say at 2:15 Eastern about new moves to prop up the U.S. economy and get jobs created?
The U.S. auto industry meantime is improving. Sales were up last month. The increases were not as much as analysts had hoped. Chrysler was a big winner posting a 27 percent gain, its best since October of 2007. Ford sales were up six percent. GM was up two percent.
Homeowners who feel lenders played fast and loose with their foreclosures, they may be in for a payday. Under a new federal program, about four million homeowners can have their cases reviewed for errors. Their foreclosures reviewed for errors. And if the review finds the errors caused financial injury, homeowners could get compensation.
And the gripes are getting a little louder over the new iPhone 4S' battery life. The problem people are complaining the batteries seem to drain even when they're not using the device. So far, Apple has not publicly acknowledged the concerns. The theory is that the location-based services on the phone may cut the battery life.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back with the young woman who took on Bank of America over those debit card fees. And guess what? The little guy won. She's live in our studio after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back.
Top stories this morning:
A Herman Cain accuser may want to talk. Her attorney telling CNN she wants to share her side of the story about a sexual harassment claim, that she is bound by a confidential agreement. "The New York Times" says one of the accusers was paid a year's salary in that settlement.
The FBI and federal prosecutors are joining the investigation to the failure of a financial firm led by former New Jersey Governor John Corzine. Sources say MF Global is unable to account for $600 million in customer's money. MF Global filed bankruptcy Monday.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange losses his high court appeals to block extradition. He's wanted for question for two sexual misconduct allegations in Sweden. Meantime, he announced this week that WikiLeaks is dealing with financial problems and struggling to stay afloat -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Bank of America throwing in the towel, scrapping its plan to charge customers a $5 monthly fee for debit card purchasers. The about-face comes as customers coast to coast petitioned the bank and threatened to close their accounts.
Twenty-two-year-old Molly Katchpole has been the face of that consumer revolt. Her online petition gathered 300,000 signatures. Molly Katchpole joins us live now.
MOLLY KATCHPOLE, GATHERED 300,000 SIGNATURES IN ONLINE PETITION AGAINST B OF A: Hello.
COSTELLO: Are you feeling victorious?
KATCHPOLE: I am. You know, it's very -- it's a collective effort. So, you know, I'm excited that I started it. But I wouldn't be anywhere without these 300,000 people who signed the petition.
COSTELLO: Still, you have to be feeling good about yourself this morning.
KATCHPOLE: It's exciting. It's exciting. But I'm trying to, you know, really trying to, you know, make it known that it was the 300,000 people who really did it.
COSTELLO: I know that you went to Bank of America and you spoke with some vice president, you know, in the Washington, D.C. area. But have you heard, again, from Bank of America at all?
KATCHPOLE: No, I haven't. They haven't tried to contact me at all. So, I don't know if they will. You know, I welcome it, if they want to call me up, hey, go for it. I'll talk to you.
But I haven't heard anything.
COSTELLO: After the initial -- Bank of America, no one thought it would rescind these charges. And it reversed its decision. But suddenly, it did. I mean, at what point -- when you heard about it, what did you think?
KATCHPOLE: I mean, it was exciting -- it was really exciting that finally, this big corporation is listening to its customers, and backing down. And that is so exciting to me. I wish it could happen more often, you know? I just want everybody to know that if they are unhappy about something, they can try to create change.
COSTELLO: OK. On the subject of creating change, you know, "Occupy Wall Street" is going on. And we actually are doing a talk- back question today about "Occupy Wall Street's" efforts and your efforts. I mean, you really -- you evoked change. And the Wall Street protesters they kind of like, you know, have started a conversation but not real change.
Like, what advice would you have for that movement?
KATCHPOLE: I mean, I think they are doing a great job with what they are doing. You know, it's not really about creating an immediate change with "Occupy Wall Street". I'm in such solidarity with them. I think they are going about it a different way. It's great.
So, you know, I can't really tell them anything. I mean, I'm not an expert. Keep trying to keep the media attention and keep rallying and I think it's great.
COSTELLO: Well, see, people look at your efforts and they see a strategy. I mean, y had a plan. You instituted a plan and you carried it out and change happened. It seems like "Occupy Wall Street" doesn't have a strategy, per se.
KATCHPOLE: I mean, they are more of a long-term effort. You know, this petition that happened was -- it's short term thing. I mean, it took a month and it kind of is getting the conversation started. With "Occupy Wall Street" and all the "Occupy" movements across the country, it's a long-term conversation. And that's really exciting.
You know, I reject the notion they need to have one leader or a clear set of demands because these movements -- they have general assemblies. They all get together and they discuss it every day, what they need to do. So, you know, I think if people went down there and talked to them, they would find that they have demands.
COSTELLO: Have they invited you down to talk it all?
KATCHPOLE: I mean, anybody can go, you know? And you can just walk right down to "Occupy D.C." I live in D.C. and hang out at the general assembly. So --
COSTELLO: So, what is your next step? A lot of people say, oh, Bank of America will come up with a new fee anyway and maybe this is just a short-lived victory. What would you say to that?
KATCHPOLE: You know, I really don't think it is. I think they saw 300,000 people who are upset about it. They saw all of the people leaving their banks. And, you know, if they are smart, they won't come up with a new fee.
And you know, as for what I do next, I'm going to support people who start campaigns. I mean, there's already been a bunch of change.org petitions that have started about banks. So, I'm going to support those.
COSTELLO: I think there's one that has signatures already urging people to change over to credit unions.
KATCHPOLE: Absolutely. I completely support that.
COSTELLO: Molly Katchpole, congratulations.
KATCHPOLE: Thank you.
COSTELLO: And we appreciate you being here this morning.
KATCHPOLE: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Christine?
ROMANS: All right. It's about 36 minutes after the hour.
Here's what's new this morning:
A tugboat pilot responsible for a deadly river crash in Philadelphia that killed two Hungarian students have been sentenced to one year in jail. The NTSB found that Matthew Dublin spent nearly an hour on a cell phone and laptop and turned down a marine radio as a barge hit the duck boat last year.
A Japanese government panel is saying it could take 30 years to fully clean up the nuclear disaster at the Japan's badly damaged Fukushima plant. The tsunami caused blackout triggered meltdowns and explosions at the plants' reactors. While officials say the plant is now relatively stable, they say it could take decades to safely decommission it.
Improvements to the Northeast after this weekend's freak snowstorm -- the number of people without power is down, but there are still more than 1 million homes in the dark, especially in areas of Connecticut. So far, 15 deaths linked to that storm.
Let's get a quick check of the weather forecast. That's Rob -- Rob Marciano in Atlanta.
Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Christine.
You know, I usually cringe when I hear the word freak when you talk about a snowstorm but this really was that, Christine. I think you hit the nail on the head there. And temperatures in the snow zone where those people are without power are still in the 20s in some spots. So, not they are in the dark but miserably cold.
And here is an interesting picture via NASA satellite. It's a high resolution visible satellite, which shows you the expanse of the snow cover here. But this is different from what you see in December or January because there's an extreme contrast between the snow and the ground because the ground has a kind of greenish look to it because there's still foliage on the trees there.
Here are some of the temperatures. Scranton 33. Boston, 39. Albany, 28.
Obviously, in this area where a lot of people are still in the dark, 1.1 million, temperatures are likely below freezing mark. They will rebound into the 50s, into more seasonable temperatures. But the mornings are certainly chilly. And in out to the West we go, we are highlighting a snowstorm there. This is a big mess.
Everywhere east of the Mississippi is fine. Everywhere west, kind of a storm system that's very strong for this time of year. And the backside of it, actually, decent Santa Ana winds will be cranking throughout the day today, high fire danger. We've got winds that will gust 40 to 50 miles an hour.
And the storm itself, Denver could see anywhere from six inches to, in some cases, a foot or more of snow. And a matter of fact, blizzard warnings are posted for some of the high plains.
I want to show you this picture out of Florida. This picture of a Burmese a python. A 16-footer caught in the Everglades. But what's different about this guy is the girth of the stomach, 44 inches in diameter.
COSTELLO: Oh, my gosh.
MARCIANO: This snake, guys --
ROMANS: Where is this?
COSTELLO: Florida.
MARCIANO: In Florida.
COSTELLO: No!
MARCIANO: This snake doesn't belong in Florida. Remember, I did a story about invasive species. This animal does not belong in Florida. They cut the stomach open, we won't show it.
COSTELLO: Oh!
MARCIANO: I may tweet if you want --
COSTELLO: What was in it?
MARCIANO: A deer.
COSTELLO: Oh!
MARCIANO: You know, a 70-pound deer.
COSTELLO: That thing ate a deer!
MARCIANO: That's right.
ROMANS: I don't like snakes. I do not like snakes.
MARCIANO: Look at the size of that thing. This was probably a pet that got out or maybe during the hurricane. Anyway, there's a lot of them floating around and they don't belong there, and they're eating things they probably shouldn't be eating.
COSTELLO: That's like insane. Thanks for sharing that this morning, Rob.
MARCIANO: Sure and I show you a python.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: All right. Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING: "Occupy San Francisco" -- we wanted to get a better sense of who is making up this Bay Area movement. So, Dan Rivers set up a sort of open mic night with the protesters to find out.
COSTELLO: And a stunning scene in Missouri -- a police officer rescues a woman and her baby from an oncoming train with only minutes to spare. The incredible pictures next.
It's 39 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back.
"Occupy Oakland" revived. The movement is calling for businesses to close and protests to rally at banks, as part of a citywide strike today. And that's triggering fears the city's strained economy could suffer even more.
And across the bay in San Francisco, we wanted to know who was making up the occupy movement.
CNN's Dan Simon hit the streets to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What really should be named the California --
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Protests are part of the Bay Area's DNA. And most are peaceful.
(GUNFIRE)
SIMON: But that sense of calm was shattered last week by the violent clash with police in Oakland, after authorities sought to end the occupation in front of city hall.
Across the bay, police were set to evict the protesters in San Francisco but backed off. And now, just casually monitor things from the perimeter.
We wanted to get a sense of who is coming here. So, we set up an open mic.
PATRICK CAROLAN, PROTESTER: I think there's a huge discrepancy in our wealth between the upper 1 percent and lower 99 percent.
SIMON: To allow people to say whatever they want.
BRIAN PAGEANT, PROTESTER: Major focus is still economic and individual grassroots support.
MARK DENNEHY, PROTESTER: The reason I'm here is to give voice to the voiceless.
SIMON: And that's how we met this 36-year-old, Mark Dennehy. He's a part time student at a community college, has a job as a caterer, and lives in an apartment with roommates. But for the last two weeks, he's been living in a tent drawn in by the national "Occupy" movement.
(on camera): How long are you prepared to stay here?
DENNEHY: You know, I'm prepared to stay here as long as this is a fruitful mission. You know, if this lasts, if it keeps going in the positive direction and keeps up momentum, I'm here to stay until the end.
SIMON (voice-over): Some tents are filled with people like Mark, intelligent and well-spoken, angry over the direction of the country. Still, they seem to have unfocused youth looking for companionship and a good time.
For organizers here, the challenge is putting out a coherent message, and not letting this be perceived as place for debauchery or a squatting area for the homeless.
Is it OK for the homeless to come here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it is OK for the homeless to come here. It's OK for everyone to come here. We just ask for the homeless, if they come here, to, you know, just be respectful of the other people, to try to be part of the community. And, you know, there's no reason why if someone is homeless, they have a card, and they're here, that they can't make a part of contribution.
SIMON (voice-over): To pass the time, there's a place to practice yoga, play handball or just hold up signs. San Francisco city officials were concerned about unsanitary conditions so there's now plenty of portable toilets which are cleaned regularly. He says he's continuing with his normal life, but spends all of his free time as a protester.
(on-camera) So, what started as a tense situation with a threat of eviction has now morphed into an easy going community in the heart of downtown San Francisco. Now, the question is whether they'll have the endurance to stay here when the rainy season begins next month.
Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right.
COSTELLO: And this just in to CNN, an incredible train wreck rescue in Missouri. Take a look. This dash cam video shows a train slamming into a car, stuck on the tracks. Can you believe that? Only moments before, an off duty police officer noticed that vehicle, and he managed to pull the woman who is inside the car and her baby, also inside the car to safety. Both mother and child are doing OK. It's not clear how the car became stuck, but police say the woman later failed sobriety test.
ROMANS: Oh, my God! There's a baby in a car.
Ronald Reagan would have turned 100 this year, and to mark the centennial, the airport that bears his name has unveiled a statue in his honor. It took nearly a million dollars and two years to make it happen, but air travelers in terminal A at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport are now being greeted by a nine-foot tall bronze likeness of America's late 40th president.
All right. It's 47 minutes after the hour.
Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, public college costs are skyrocketing. Public school, this is supposed to be your affordable school, right? But states are turning to students for help down (ph) within their budget because they don't already have enough debt of their own, maybe, students. We're going to show you the biggest state tuition hikes and the best tuition values.
COSTELLO (on-camera): And calling Jay-Z. The Los Angeles Dodgers are for sale. Could (INAUDIBLE) go to Brooklyn? Maybe, they'll go back, maybe. It's 47 minutes past the hour.
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ROMANS: Forty-nine minutes past the hour. Welcome back. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
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ROMANS (on-camera): One of Herman Cain's accusers may want to talk. Her attorney is telling CNN she wants to share her side of the story about a sexual harassment claim, but she is bound by a confidentiality agreement she signed. Cain has denied he ever did anything inappropriate.
The FBI is now investigating the failed financial firm, MF Global, after the company was unable to account for at least $600 million of its customer's money. MF Global was run by former New Jersey governor and former head of Goldman Sachs, Jon Corzine. That company's filed for bankruptcy on Monday.
President Obama flies to France later today to attend the G20 summit. World leaders gather tomorrow in Cannes with Europe's debt crisis topping the agenda.
Israel says it will speed up settlement construction in the west bank and East Jerusalem. Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered the move after the U.N. agency, UNESCO, voted earlier this week to accept a Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership. And the Los Angeles Dodgers are for sale. Owner, Frank McCourt, pulling an about face agreeing to sell the team after he dragged the stored (ph) franchise into a messy divorce and bankruptcy.
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ROMANS (on-camera): That's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING back right after this.
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ROMANS: Welcome back. State's face massive budget shortfalls. You know, they're trying to create money. They're trying to generate revenue any way they can, and that means they're raising tuition prices for state universities. This is supposed to be your affordable choice, right, going to a state school instead, but in many states, that affordable choice is getting more expensive.
These five states have raised in-state tuition the most of past year. I want you to look at California here. This one has average in-state tuition now over $9,000, total increase of 21 percent. California facing a budget deficit in a billion. They've upped their tuition. That is a big jump, among the biggest. I want to take you to Arizona now. This is Arizona's average in-state tuition. It's up 17 percent in the last year and -- or 72 percent since 2007.
After years of low tuition compared to many other states, Georgia is now catching up. So, Georgia was always pretty cheap, right? But now, Georgia has had to -- oops, sorry, it's had to, you know, raise its fees by 16 percent to $6,808. All right. I want to take a look at Washington, because that legislature is reducing tax subsidies to public colleges as well.
Washington State has raised a total of 16 percent to now $9,400 a year. And Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. We've said that too many times -- oops, sorry. $6,000 now is where its tuition stands. That's an 11 percent increase just in one year. Now, I hate to give you all the gloom and doom, right?
So, I wanted to show where some of the tuition, state tuition continues to be a very good deal. These are the top five most affordable public colleges. The most affordable, Sitting Bull College in North Dakota. $938 a year. We should point out that these are in- state and these are what we call net prices.
They factor in books, room, and board, but they also take into account financial aid. OK? Take a look at the south Texas College, this is for a year, $1,317. University of Texas Pan-American, 1,646. Take a look at Indian River State College, two grand, and California State University here, you don't need to spend a fortune to get a good education, but boy, you have to shop around.
And those affordable choices, Carol, the thing we'd -- I'm a state school grad. Always count it on the state schools, those are going up because budget's are real tight for states, Carol.
COSTELLO: I know. I'm a state school grad, too.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: And it's scary. I depended on Pell Grants, too, and there's a danger those may go away. So, man, I hear you.
ROMANS: Choose wisely.
COSTELLO: Yes.
"Talk Back" question of the day. This is the question we asked you this morning. Could the Occupy movement take a cue from Bank of America crusader, Molly Katchpole?
This from Alessandro, "Occupy Wall Street originally had a solid message. Sadly, it's degenerated with tons of splinter organizations and truly bizarre behavior by participants. If you want to send a message to Wall Street and the banks, switch your accounts to local banks and credit unions."
This from Tony, "Molly definitely deserves a lot of credit, however, she was addressing a single issue. Occupy Wall Street is protesting all of the Wall Street crimes and Congress for permitting their corruption to happen."
Then, this from Daniele, "Bank of America reversing its decision. It's a combination of both the amazing work of this girl and all the attention being put on the banking institution in part by Occupy Wall Street. It could be a collective effort."
Facebook.com/carolcnn. Thanks for your comments.
ROMANS: All right. Time for the best of late night. CNN shadowed more in your Halloween edition of late night laughs. Check it out.
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CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, CONAN: I was going to go trick or treating last night, but I couldn't decide which costume to wear. It was either Harry Potter or (INAUDIBLE) Wolf Blitzer. Those are my choices.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: You know which one I went as.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been a bad girl.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON": President Obama gave candy to trick or treaters at the White House. Obama wanted people to like his costume, so he went as himself from 2008. (LAUGHTER)
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ROMANS: The president often jokes. He gives away the candy and Michelle Obama runs after them and takes the candy back.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Well, because she's into healthy eating.
COSTELLO: It's true. And that is a good thing. We don't want to take that away from her.
Up next on AMERICAN MORNING, new bombshell details overnight in the Herman Cain scandal. Will one of his accusers be able to tell her side of the story? Should she be able to talk?
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