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Travel Forecast For Thanksgiving Week; Nepal Introducing A Ban On TikTok; Town In The Northern Part Of Alaska Won`t See The Sun For Two Months. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired November 17, 2023 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: What`s up sunshine, go on and smell the flowers and cool the soup. It`s Friday. We are going to finish this week, strong
kick our weekend off, right? I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10, it`s Friday, November 17th. And we start with some travel news.
If you`re traveling for Thanksgiving, have some patience because next week is expected to be the busiest in years. The American Automobile Association
or AAA predicts that more than 55 million people will be traveling during the five-day period from Wednesday to Sunday.
Now, if you`re traveling by plane, the transportation security administration expects a record high number of travelers at American
airports. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving alone, TSA is preparing to screen nearly 3 million people at airports across the nation. So bring a
good game, bring a book, something to brace yourself for potentially long lines.
There is a positive here though. Demand for travel has just continued to grow after the pandemic and post-COVID work trends with hybrid and remote
schedules. Now, let people leave for the holidays at different times. That might be good news for drivers say, because the longer travel period could
make the usual peak traffic days, a little less busy than they used to be like. Can you guess what those days are? The Wednesday before Thanksgiving
and the Sunday after.
Still most Americans may be returning from the holidays on Sunday. That`ll make it the busiest air travel day of the year. That`s according to the
aviation firm Cirium. It expects airlines to fly more than 3 million seats on 22,000 flights that day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you are traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday, pack your patients, it`s expected to be a record setting travel season in
the skies and a busy one on the roads.
AIXA DIAZ, AAA SPOKESWOMAN: The trend is that, people are still traveling in very large volumes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: AAA is forecasting 55.4 million people will be traveling to their holiday destinations, including more than 49 million who
will drive to their destination between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after the holiday, if you are hitting the road, AAA says
that Wednesday afternoon is still the worst time to hit the roads with AAA recommending you leave on actual Thanksgiving day.
DIAZ: It shortens the amount of time that you`re at your destination, but it also shortens the amount of time that you`re in transit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Sunday after Thanksgiving is also brutal, but not as busy as it could be.
DIAZ: Hybrid schedules and remote schedules have changed everything because now people can leave for holiday travel at different times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you are taking to the skies, brace yourself for packed airports and possible delays and cancellations, the transportation
security administration is bracing for an all-time record number of passengers at airports nationwide on this Sunday after Thanksgiving.
So what can you do to minimize the chaos at the airport? One travel expert says avoid checking a bag in case your flight gets canceled and you`re
moved to a different one, take public transit to the airport or book your parking spot online now, and finally give yourself plenty of time, be
flexible and very patient.
SCOTT KEYES, FOUNDER OF GOING.COM: There`s always going to be some amount of cancellation that happen as long as we have bad weather.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Next up, we`re headed to the south Asian country of Nepal. Nepal`s government decided to ban TikTok. They say it was disrupting family and
social structures. Nepal isn`t the only country where a popular app with 1 billion monthly active users is now banned. India put a ban on TikTok three
years ago, and the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand put restrictions on the app because of security concerns.
Nepal, however, had a different reason to ask internet providers to cut access to TikTok throughout the country. Citing local media, Reuters
reported that more than 1,600 TikTok related cybercrime cases have been registered over the last four years in Nepal. Nepal`s Prime Minister said
that the government had a long discussion on how to control the tendency to spread disharmony, disorder, and chaos in society and decided that a ban on
TikTok was needed.
Now pop quiz, hot shot. Ten second trivia. Which state has the lowest population density in the U.S.? Hawaii, Alaska, Montana, or Wyoming?
Wyoming has the lowest population overall, but Alaska, which is by far, the largest state has the lowest population density. All right, we`re headed to
Alaska now where this weekend a town in the very Northern part of the U.S., which is located north of the Arctic circle will see the sun for the last
time in two months, our Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here to explain why
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That`s right, Coy. Just before 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, the sun will go down in the town of Utqiagvik, Alaska,
formerly known as Barrow. And it will not come back again for 66 more days. That`s right, the sun go down on Saturday and comes back on January 23rd of
next year.
Now, this happens every single year. It`s called polar night, and it`s a common occurrence for a lot of these areas and what we call the Arctic
circle. So here you can see exactly where the town is located at the very northernmost point of Alaska, putting it inside the Arctic circle. That
means for several weeks during the winter, they go into a phase of complete darkness. The sun never fully rises.
Now, on the flip side, Coy, in the summer, the opposite happens where they will have 24 straight hours of daylight as the sun never truly sets for
several weeks in the summer.
WIRE: Today`s story, getting a 10 out of 10, an unusual new use of fall foliage. By the way, did you know that warm colors of autumn leaves are
always present? They`re just hidden by the abundance of green chlorophyll during the warmer months. You see in the fall leaves stop their food making
process and the chlorophyll declines. The green color fades away to reveal all the other colors hidden beneath.
Now, check this out, at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington, a baby ox named Willow came up with a fun way to enjoy the new fall foliage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know how in the fall zoos are always giving their animals, squashes to squish, pumpkins
to spear with their horns, the zoos call it enrichment. It gives the animals something new to do and a photo-op for the press.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is her first time with a big leaf pile.
MOOS: We think you`ll really fall for this fall ritual featuring Willow. the baby muskox. Willow is a little over two months old. She lives with her
mother, Charlotte. Willow was born here at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington, a girl who loves to headbutt her red ball and splash
around, in puddles, and now this.
(On camera): Willow really seems to be in the fall foliage.
TELENA WELSH, CURATOR, POINT DEFIANCE ZOO: She loves it. The leaves are one of her favorite things
MOOS: Raked into a pile by the keepers.
WELSH: And she just went wild.
MOOS: The name Willow totally suits her because it`s one of her favorite foods, but the pile consists of maple leaves.
WELSH: If it was all Willow leaves, she`d probably eat that entire batch of leaves.
MOOS: Eat it rather than frolic in it. Either one is a barrel of fun.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: What an awesome week we`ve had. We took you to Japan, to Iceland. We followed the stories from the depth of the ocean to the mountaintops. We
learned a lot, laughed a little and showed a whole bunch of love.
Shout out time. Cinnaminson Middle School in Cinnaminson, New Jersey go Pirates. And shout out to, Mighty Spartans at W.T. Chipman Middle School at
Harrington, Delaware, rise up. Have an awesome weekend, everyone. I`ll be here with you Monday and Tuesday. Remember you are more powerful than, you
know. I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10. It`s been a blessing to spend this week with you.
END
