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Sandy Threatens U.S. East Coast; Obama, Romney Continue Campaigning; Supreme Court to Take Up Controversial Copyright Protection Case
Aired October 29, 2012 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Want to kick off today with a big hello to the students and teachers at JC Booth (ph) in Peach Tree City, Georgia. Really enjoyed meeting with you on Friday. Delivering the Monday edition of CNN STUDENT NEWS to you and classrooms all over the world, I`m Carl Azuz.
New York City subway, closed. The New Jersey bus and rail service, shut down. We just got word that almost 2 million public school students are out today, and it`s all because of this massive storm system named Sandy. On Sunday, it was a Category 1 hurricane. A lot of times with these storms, forecasters focus on the center and where and when it might land. With Sandy, one expert said it might not matter where the center is, because the entire thing is so large. And things could get worse. There`s a cold front coming from the western part of the U.S. If that meets up with Sandy and the two weather systems merge together, it could have a severe impact on the East Coast.
Sandy is already being blamed for at least 60 deaths from when it moved through the Caribbean. Yesterday it was off the coast of North Carolina and moving north. Predictions estimated that Delaware, Maryland and Virginia could get up to a foot of rain.
Governors all over the northeast declared states of emergency to help make resources and money available to prepare for this storm.
Our next headline takes us all the way across North America to Canada`s British Colombia. An earthquake, and a pretty big one, hit there on Saturday. And no major damage was reported, but the quake`s potential impact, where the quake had threatened reached across the Pacific Ocean out to the Hawaiian islands.
The sirens in this Youtube video are letting people know about a tsunami warning. The concern was that the quake in Canada would trigger a large ocean wave that would wash up in Hawaii. Now, that didn`t happen, and the tsunami warning was canceled after a few hours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this legit? In order to be U.S. president, you have to be at least 45 years old. Not true. There is an age requirement, but it`s not 45. Presidents have to be at least 35.
AZUZ: Well, of course this year`s presidential candidates meet that constitutional requirement. Barack Obama is 51, Mitt Romney is 65. With the election just eight days away, we wanted to share a little more about the men running for the Oval Office. Both of them are family men. Romney and his wife Ann have five sons. Obama and his wife Michelle have two daughters.
If you look back at where they went to school, they started at almost opposite sides of the country. Obama went to college at Columbia University; Romney graduated from Brigham Young. One thing they have in common: both men have degrees from Harvard Law School. Romney also has a degree from Harvard Business School.
How about prior work experience? Mitt Romney helped found an investment company called Bain Capital. He also helped organize and run the 2002 Winter Olympics, and he served as governor of Massachusetts.
Barack Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago. He served two terms in the Illinois State Senate, and he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004.
This is the second time that both men have run for president. They were candidates in 2008 as well, and they both made some history along the way. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first African-American presidential nominee for a major political party, and this year, Mitt Romney became the first Mormon to be a major political party`s presidential nominee.
President Obama and Governor Romney are both aiming for the same number -- 270. If you want to win the presidency, that`s at least how many votes you need to get in the electoral college. Jonathan Mann explains how that works and what it could take for the candidates to reach that magic number.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It`s nice to be popular, but it does not win the White House. The national poll numbers show that more people prefer Mitt Romney lately, but winning the presidency is not a popularity contest. You have to win states, not just votes. And for Romney, that`s a problem. Even though the poll numbers are moving his way, the color-coded CNN electoral map has barely budged in months, and it speaks volumes. It still projects that Obama is leading in the electoral vote with the blue states, comfortably in his corner. Romney`s safe states are in red. Each state has a different number of electoral votes, though, based on its population. And the thing is that whoever wins 270 electoral votes will win the election.
That`s why the yellow states, the tossup states are crucial. Polls in those states show the race is still too close to call. Romney`s problem is that he needs to win most of them.
Just this week, North Carolina turned light red, showing that the state is now in the leaning Romney category. Romney has a slight edge in Florida, so we`ll be turning that state red as well. He has high hopes for Virginia and for Colorado. If they turn red too, he is still, though, 13 electoral votes short of the 270 he needs to win. He`d have to win two more of the smaller states, or the big prize, Ohio, to win the election.
Now, resetting the map, there is more wiggle room in Obama`s path to the presidency. His campaign is setting its sights on Iowa, Wisconsin and all- important Ohio. Those three states alone could put him over the top. Any other wins would just be extra insurance. But say Obama wins Ohio and Wisconsin, and loses Iowa. Well, he wins New Hampshire, Romney wins the rest. Each candidate ends up with 269 electoral votes, a tie. That hasn`t happened in more than 200 years, but it could, and if it did, the newly elected House of Representatives would actually be the ones to vote to break the tie.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: A tie for president. That might sound unbelievable, but it has happened before, and it`s something we`re going to look into more later on this week, so please keep watching.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See if you can ID me. I was established in 1789. I lead one branch of the U.S. government. I have one chief and eight associates, who can serve as members for the rest of their lives.
I`m the U.S. Supreme Court, to which thousands of cases are filed each year.
AZUZ: So let`s say you`re a college student, you`re looking for ways to help pay for tuition, and you come up with a plan to buy some stuff and then sell it to make some money. Sounds simple, but it might not turn out that way. It`s the starting point for a case that the Supreme Court is about to hear, and as Joe Johns explains, the decision could go a lot further than just college campuses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It`s a case that could cause trouble for anyone who ever thought about selling an old iPhone or iPad, donating clothes to charity, or even unloading junk at a yard sale. The issue about to be argued before the Supreme Court is whether the original copyright holder on U.S. products manufactured or purchased in other countries can control your ability to resell the product once you buy it.
Davis Klyonaga resells old products at this eBay consignment store.
(on camera): How much of this stuff is foreign manufactured?
DAVIS KLYONAGA, OWNER, DROP & SHIP: I`d probably say 85, 95 percent.
JOHNS: He fears the case could put him out of business.
KLYONAGA: I think it`s ridiculous. I mean, I have known about it because it could affect my business so horribly, but I kind of pushed it back, because I`m like, how could this possibly happen? The repercussions would be ridiculous.
JOHNS: Even libraries are worried that a legal defeat could require them to seek the copyright owner`s permission before lending books printed overseas.
Andrew Shore represents a coalition of interests, including libraries.
ANDREW SHORE, ATTORNEY: The rule we`d like to see is very simple. You bought it, you own it, and you could do with it as you please.
JOHNS: Otherwise, Shore says, copyright owners could demand a fee every time you try to resell almost anything not made in America.
(on camera): Anything I`m wearing, would that apply?
SHORE: It`s got a copyright.
JOHNS: Right. DVDs?
SHORE: Yes.
JOHNS: What else? Iphones?
SHORE: Iphones.
JOHNS: Computers.
SHORE: Yes.
JOHNS: Televisions?
SHORE: Yes.
JOHNS: Cars?
SHORE: Yes.
JOHNS: Jewelry?
SHORE: Everything with copyright.
JOHNS (VOICE-OVER): The copyright`s holders and their lawyers say the rhetoric has gotten a little overheated.
THEODORE OLSON, LAWYER FOR PLAINTIFF: You know that you`re on the right side of the case when the other side, the best answer that they can come up with is that the sky is going to fall. Garage sales, museums, and that sort of thing, none of that is going to happen.
JOHNS: Powerhouse attorney Ted Olson says this is mostly about books and movies and other so-called intellectual properties, and making sure producers of such works have exclusive rights to distribute them in the U.S.
OLSON: It is protecting the integrity of the copyright system in the United States, which was created by the Constitution in order to create an incentive for people to create works that make us all laugh or cry or educate us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Finally today, there are times I`m very glad I do most of my reporting from a studio, because the field presents perils, like when this fish flaps and the field correspondent freaks. Only problem, her backup`s balance. But it is more or less embarrassing than what`s about to happen to this reporter. The problem with being out in the air is the birds, and one of them just dropped a present on the reporter`s shoulder. That`s just a sign of disrespect. You word hard, toil at your job, and then a bird does something to foul it up. If we keep this up, this show is going down the tubes, so we`ll see you tomorrow on CNN STUDENT NEWS.
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