[MUSIC PLAYING]
COY WIRE: Hey, everyone.
I'm Coy Wire, here to help you jump-start
your week with the best 10 minutes in news,
right here on CNN 10.
Let's start today with an update on the midterm elections.
Last week, millions of adults across the country
went to the polls to cast their votes
for representatives in Congress, senators,
and state and local officials.
Democrats performed better than predicted.
They are projected to retain majority
control of the US Senate after winning
a pivotal race in Nevada.
Now Democrats will hold 50 Senate seats, with Republicans
currently holding 49.
A December runoff election in the state of Georgia
could earn Republicans a matching 50th Senate seat,
but Democrats would still hold a tie-breaking vote
in the Senate, which belongs to Vise President Kamala Harris.
But the race isn't over yet.
Republicans may win the House of Representatives,
as votes continue to be tallied from a handful of districts.
If Republicans win the House, they could still
stop a significant portion of President
Biden's Democratic agenda in his political proposals.
Congress makes nationwide laws, the House
decides which laws are voted on, while the Senate can
approve or block them, and confirm appointments
made by the President.
Let's hear now from CNN's Jessica Schneider,
a justice correspondent based in Washington.
She has an update on President Biden's proposal
to forgive some student loan debt,
which would need clear congressional authorization
to go through.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER: A federal judge out of Texas,
who was actually nominated by President Trump,
is now saying President Biden just does not have the power
to forgive these student loans by executive order
and instead, President Biden would
need clear congressional authorization
to forgive these loans.
And he would have had to go through more of a process
rather than just simply issuing an executive order.
However, we will see an appeal of this decision.
The Justice Department has already
noticed that it will appeal.
And this is ultimately a decision
that could be determined by the Supreme Court.
Of course, President Biden issued
this executive order in August.
It's estimated that if it goes through,
it would ultimately cost about $400 billion.
The program, though, now in doubt.
And it's also been on hold for the past month because
of another court decision out of a circuit court
that put the loan forgiveness rollout
on hold while all these legal challenges play out.
You know, we know that about 26 million borrowers already have
applied for this debt relief.
The government had already approved 16 million
of those applications, but no debt at all
will be canceled for the foreseeable future
here because of these court challenges.
The White House press Secretary did,
however, say that the Department of Education
will hold on to the information of all of these applicants,
so it could be processed pretty quickly
if the program is ultimately given the green light in court.
But we'll have to see how the courts decide this.
If it does go all the way to the Supreme Court,
it's possible that the conservative majority
on the Supreme Court could nix this program as well.
You know, this has been a majority
that's often skeptical of wide-ranging executive
and agency action.
So this debt forgiveness program could ultimately
be deemed unconstitutional.
And if that happens, none of these millions of people
would get any debt relief.
But for now, this program is also on hold.
COY WIRE: Next up, a film crew searching the Atlantic Ocean
for World War II artifacts unexpectedly swam
upon something much more modern, a 20-foot long piece
of the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded
shortly after liftoff in 1986.
CNN's space and defense correspondent
Kristin Fisher has more.
KRISTIN FISHER: It was the space shuttle's very distinctive heat
shield tiles that really gave these divers their first clue
that perhaps they had found a piece of NASA's
old space shuttle Challenger.
And you can see in the video these white square tiles that
are partially covered by sand now on the bottom
of the Atlantic Ocean.
And those white tiles would have been
used to protect the underbelly of the space shuttle
from the very high temperatures that it
would encounter as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.
So the lead team member on this expedition, a guy
by the name of Mike Barnett, he had a friend who
was a former NASA astronaut.
He showed him this video and that
made them convinced that this is indeed what they had found.
They brought it to NASA and NASA confirmed it, announcing
the findings just this week.
And so the big question now is what does NASA do with this?
By law, any piece of a space shuttle is NASA property,
so NASA is trying to find a way to do something with this 20
feet section, to do something that would really honor
the memory of these seven astronauts
that were killed back in January of 1986,
including Christa McAuliffe, who of course, would
have been the very first teacher in space.
Kristin Fisher, CNN, Washington.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
COY WIRE: 10 Second Trivia.
Which US government agency measures job market activity
and working conditions?
Department of Commerce, Department of State,
Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The Bureau of Labor statistics serves
as the statistical resource for the US Department of Labor.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
For the past year the job market has been strong.
In October, the economy created 261,000 new jobs.
But things may not quite be what they seem.
Job hires dropped to a low not seen in more than a
year and a half.
We'll hear now from CNN business and politics correspondent,
Vanessa Yurkevich, who's finding out why getting a job
might not be as easy as some might think,
and how some people are getting creative to get noticed.
- I'm open to all options.
VANESSA YURKEVICH: Karly Pavlinac is on stage,
in a high-stakes competition.
The potential prize?
A new job.
- How do you make sure you're working with the right talent?
You're finding the right connections?
KARLY PAVLINAC: The biggest thing
is just being able to communicate the idea--
VANESSA YURKEVICH: This is not the first time Pavlinac has
done something unconventional to land an interview since losing
her marketing job in September.
After she didn't hear back for a position at Nike,
she sent them a cake with her resume on it.
KARLY PAVLINAC: I've been applying.
Obviously, that hasn't worked yet.
So let me throw something new in the mix and see if that works.
VANESSA YURKEVICH: Her resume cake making headlines.
KARLY PAVLINAC: I've since talked to a bunch of people
at Nike, but still no job.
VANESSA YURKEVICH: But the economic data
tells a different story.
The jobs market is strong.
There are 10.7 million open positions, labor shortages,
and hundreds of thousands of jobs being added each month.
Yet some job seekers, even with a viral cake moment,
can't seem to land one.
LIZ ANN SONDERS: On the surface, is still
fairly strong labor market.
But if you go a couple of layers under,
you are starting to see more significant cracks
in the surface that suggest we should eventually
see it in those more popular headline-type, labor
market readings.
VANESSA YURKEVICH: Cracks like a slowdown in hiring,
as seen in this week's job openings survey,
hires dropping to 6.1 million, the lowest since February 2021.
And the tech industry is shedding
jobs, 86% more than last year.
KARLY PAVLINAC: My perception of the job market
was there were a ton of jobs out there
and it was going to be easy to find a job.
And that actually hasn't been the case.
VANESSA YURKEVICH: Another crack of the 10.7 million open jobs?
Some companies might be advertising positions they
aren't actively trying to fill.
KARLY PAVLINAC: I have applied to many jobs
that they're still sitting there.
That's been a giant question in my head.
VANESSA YURKEVICH: It's called "pipelining talent."
Companies post jobs to develop a pool of candidates.
Recruiter Laura Mazzullo says she sees
companies do it all the time.
LAURA MAZZULLO: Candidates don't know that's what's happening.
So they're being pipelined when actually they think they're
applying for an active job.
And this is where we're seeing a bit of a disconnect.
VANESSA YURKEVICH: That may mean,
as the labor market weakens, job seekers can't be as picky.
- Our goal is potentially to give away two jobs tonight.
KARLY PAVLINAC: I have been picky in that sense
of where I want to work.
But I know what I want.
I'm still searching, still talking to people.
I've come to terms that it is taking longer than I thought.
VANESSA YURKEVICH: Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
COY WIRE: Today's "10 out of 10" is
from Minnesota man James Rasmussen,
as we head into the holiday season.
He's hoping to avoid the "terrib-owl"
experience he had last season.
He couldn't figure out "hoo-hoo" was cutting
his outdoor Christmas lights.
Turns out it was the owl who stole Christmas,
using the lights to deck its own halls, its nest
under Rasmussen's deck.
Critters, there's no "talon" what they'll do.
Better luck "nest" time, Mr. Rasmussen.
Without further "owl-do," a special shout-out now to Ryan
Middle in Fairbanks, Alaska, wishing you
and everyone watching around the world
some motivation this Monday.
Remember, someday you'll look back
and refer to these as "the good old days,"
so be grateful for the good.
I'm Coy.
This is CNN.
[MUSIC PLAYING]