[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]
COY WIRE: Hey, you.
Hope you had a Happy Hallow-weekend,
and you're ready to trick or treat yourself later today.
Can't wait to see your costumes.
I've already been loving some of the bald dude costumes
I've seen, like the one from math teacher
Alison Frank from Philly.
And some of you have some serious vest game,
we could be vesties.
I'm Coy.
This is "CNN 10."
Let's start this week off strong.
The midterms are one week away.
On November 8, Americans will cast their votes
for representatives in Congress and candidates
for state and local offices.
They're called midterm elections,
remember, because they happen two years into a US
president's four-year term.
Every two years, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives
is up for election while about a third of the 100 seat Senate
are up for grabs.
Many states have aligned their elections on this schedule,
which means 36 governors, as well as various state
officials, local positions, and government
initiatives are on the ballot.
The main question on everyone's mind
is, will Democrats maintain control of the Congress
for the remainder of this presidential term?
Or will Republicans take control of one
or both chambers of Congress?
Then, what about those races for governor
and state legislatures?
We'll hear now from CNN national politics reporter Eva McKend
on how the results of this year's election
could impact the next two years of politics in America.
EVA MCKEND: President Joe Biden needs Democrats
to win in the 2022 midterms if he wants to move
his policy agenda forward.
Yet, the president's party almost always loses
seats in midterm elections.
The party in the White House has lost seats in Congress
in every midterm, except for four in the last 150 years.
And polls suggest that voters are disappointed in what
President Biden and the Democratic majority
have accomplished so far, which doesn't bode
well for their 2022 chances.
MITCH MCCONELL: And it's my hope that the '22 election will
be a referendum on the performance
of the current administration.
EVA MCKEND: So what would Republican power in Congress
mean?
First, Biden's political agenda will be fully halted.
He's already had a hard time getting much of his policy
priorities passed.
Democrats have a narrow majority in both the Senate and House.
If they lose even a few seats in 2022,
Republicans will take back power and stop Biden in his tracks.
Of course, Republicans would then
find it difficult to get anything passed
and signed by President Biden.
This all leads to gridlock on Capitol Hill.
COY WIRE: 10-second trivia.
Which of these social media sites
has the lowest character limit per post--
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or TikTok?
The current limit for a tweet is 280 characters, far lower
than the others, but changes may soon
be coming for the Twitterverse.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Today is a day many people
thought they would never see Elon
Musk taking control of Twitter.
Of course, the question now is what
is he going to do with the company, with the platform?
He's expressed his frustration with how many fake accounts
and bots are on the platform, so we could see
him doing something with that.
But he's also expressed discomfort about permanently
banning people from the platform, most notably,
of course, that former US President
Donald Trump, who was kicked off the platform for good.
We thought after the January 6 attack on the Capitol,
Musk saying, though, that he will not be making
these decisions any time soon.
He is going to set up a council, he says,
of experts who are going to advise
on these types of decisions around speech,
around what they should do about banning
people or bringing them back.
Within the company itself, speaking
to people who work there today, a lot of worry,
a lot of concern about what is going
to happen with the company, but also
what is going to happen with their jobs
and their livelihoods.
Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, Dallas.
COY WIRE: Up next, we're headed to outer space.
NASA's InSight lander, a robotic spacecraft
designed to land on the surface of Mars
has completed its mission to map the planet and its interior.
The latest mission found information
that changes how experts view the formation
of planets and their relationship to Earth.
CNN space and defense correspondent
Kristin Fisher is on the story.
- Touchdown confirmed.
KRISTIN FISHER: Three years after NASA's InSight lander
touched down on Mars, it has delivered
the information that it was sent to collect
from millions of miles away.
BRUCE BANERDT: This is definitely a data that we've
been waiting decades for.
KRISTIN FISHER: For the first time,
scientists have mapped the interior
of another rocky planet.
They discovered a thinner than expected crust.
And the biggest surprise-- a larger lighter and more liquid
core than earlier estimates.
For comparison, Earth's core is much more dense,
meaning the Martian core is, at least,
partially made of different elements.
Why is this important?
Why should earthlings care about the composition of Mars?
BRUCE BANERDT: It allows us to take our theories
of the formation of rocky planets
in general and the Earth, in particular,
and understand how our planet formed out
of the initial solar nebula, how it changed from just, kind
of, a ball of, kind of, gray indistinguishable
meteoritic material to the diverse planet we have today,
with oceans and continents.
KRISTIN FISHER: On Earth, there are earthquakes.
But on Mars, they're called Marsquakes.
The InSight lander's cutting edge seismometer
spent two years measuring them and tracking
those seismic waves as they rippled through the red planet,
while NASA's other active robot is focused on the surface.
COY WIRE: Halloween is upon us.
And according to the National Retail Federation,
Americans are going all-out, spending a record amount
of money on Halloween this year, whether it's
buying candy, costumes, decorations,
or pumpkins to carve.
Let's break down the economics of this year's Halloween.
Spending is projected to hit a record $10.6 billion in 2022,
and participation in Halloween related activities
will resume to pre-pandemic levels with nearly 70%
of consumers planning to celebrate.
That's up from 65% last year and even the 68% who celebrated
pre-pandemic in 2019.
But no matter how you spend your Halloween,
one thing we can all agree upon is
that not all Halloween candy is created equal,
according to candy commerce.
- I can't process that this is even candy.
- I've never seen these before either.
- You also might heave.
- That's actually disgusting.
- That is not great.
- What you may love might not be somebody else's favorite,
but there's something for everybody to enjoy.
- Each year, we do over $4 billion in sales.
And this year, we are projecting about a 5% increase
in chocolate and candy sales.
For Halloween this year, the top three treats
are chocolate, candy corn, which I know is
controversial, and gummy candy.
- I don't know why people hate on me so much.
They're really not that bad.
- Whether you love it or you, let's say, don't love it,
candy corn is an iconic part of the Halloween season.
- It is a direct link to the past because it is a nostalgia,
reminder of everybody always got candy corn.
And we always hated it, but we always ate it.
Everybody can talk about candy corn.
It doesn't matter where you are.
You can start a conversation.
Candy corn has become one of those commonalities.
- It might just be a good memory and not a good reality.
- And people feel that really strong nostalgic tie
to different treats.
So there are plenty of treats out there that, again, are
really innovative and exciting.
But people also have that strong emotional connection to, maybe,
something they enjoyed as a child
or at a particularly exciting or challenging time in their life.
- Circus peanuts seemed like a mistake.
I'm surprised they're still around.
- You give what you remember from the past.
You give what you can afford.
They'll buy whatever looks familiar to them.
Oh, yeah, I remember those Smarties.
I'll take those.
There are people who cannot afford
to give out Haribo and full-sized Hershey
bars to their community.
It just doesn't work that way.
But they want to have something to give,
and this is what they can afford.
We'll always have candy.
There is something about candy and Americans
that is just inseparable.
We just have to have our security blanket of sweets.
COY WIRE: Today's story getting a 10 out of 10.
An Iowa dad going all-out to freak out
unsuspecting trick or treaters.
Greg created the monstdoor.
The seemingly normal door with a wreath
comes to life with digitized eyes and furry
arms, claws, and gnarly teeth.
The fuzzy purple people eater was created by using a high def
TV for the eyes, cutting out door panels,
and using broomsticks for the arms,
and a foam wreath with puppet-like strings
through the mouth and teeth.
And the result-- a perfect 10 out of 10 on the freak-o meter.
All right, my sweet, light, candy beautiful people.
I'm witching you a fantastic Halloween.
Big shout out now to Rapid City, South
Dakota South Middle School.
Rise up.
Thanks to everyone for subscribing
and commenting on our YouTube channel for your shout-outs.
Be safe, lovely people.
Take care of yourself and each other tonight.
Enjoy your day and your candy.
I'm Coy, and this is "CNN 10."
[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]