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What's up sunshine and happy Wednesday
from New York City. I am at the Javit
Center in Hell's Kitchen where some of
the world's most accomplished athletes
are gathering for the Team USA Olympic
Summit as they prepared for the upcoming
2026 Winter Olympic Games. I'm going to
be talking to some of the greats. We're
talking Lindsey Vaughn, Alyssa Lou, Red
Gerard, and more. And we're going to
bring their stories to you. So, be on
the lookout for those conversations
later in the week. Now, if you see lines
on my head, it's because I was wearing a
beanie. I probably shouldn't have done
that. We'll just pretend they're not
there. Listen, we have a ton of
important stories to get to. Uh, so
let's get you your news. We start today
with an update on Hurricane Melissa,
which is wreaking havoc in the
Caribbean. The storm has torn across
parts of Cuba, Jamaica, and much of the
surrounding region after becoming the
strongest storm on the planet so far
this year.
Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as the
second strongest storm in Atlantic
history with sustained winds of 185 mph.
To put that into perspective, that's
nearly as fast as most bullet trains or
a Formula 1 race car. And it's actually
faster than the cruising speed of some
small planes. Melissa is the worst storm
to hit Jamaica this century and the
first time the island nation has ever
been hit by a category 5 storm. The
results are expected to be catastrophic,
potentially impacting more than half of
the island's population. We prepared
significantly to save as many lives as
possible and that's why over 800
shelters were opened across Jamaica.
Approximately 6,000 people, I'm hearing
based on the latest indication from the
officials, have made their way into
shelters.
>> Ahead of landfall, Melissa maintained
category 5 status for more than twice as
long as any other Atlantic hurricane so
far this year. Unusually hot ocean
temperatures supercharged the storm,
intensifying Melissa's wind speed from
70 mph to 175 in just 2 days time.
Previous storms this season underwent
similar bouts of rapid intensification.
Scientists say it's becoming more common
as ocean temperatures continue to rise.
Next up, we have an update on that
brazen robbery at Paris's famed Lou
Museum. Police say they have arrested
suspects in connection with the theft of
France's crown jewels worth an estimated
$120 million. But more than a week after
the historic heist, officials are still
on the hunt for the stolen jewels. Our
Melissa Bell has more.
>> Caught on camera as they fled the Louvre
with more than hund00 million worth of
jewels. A heist carried out by four men
in just 7 minutes, but with many clues
left behind. Not just the equipment the
men used to get in, like this angle
grinder and the truck they tried but
failed to burn as they fled. But also a
glove, a helmet, and one of the scooters
they used to make their escape. Sources
say that the BRB, the specialized unit
of the French police that have been in
charge of this investigation, had been
watching the four suspects for several
days. They had to act quicker though
when it came to the two now in custody
because one was planning to flee Tamali.
We understand the other they caught
trying to board a plane to Algeria. The
two men now in custody were already
known to police. The other two remain at
large.
>> It's not like you wake up on a Sunday
morning thinking I become a thief. Let's
start with the Lou. So, they have done
burglaries before and most likely their
DNA was in the systems.
>> With more than 150 DNA traces left at
the scene of the crime, a match was soon
established. But whilst investigators
now believe they know more about the
thieves who were known for targeting
jewelry stores, questions remain about
who might have masterminded the
operation.
>> This operation was very well conceived,
but very badly executed. The beginning
was good and fast, but then they lost a
lot of pieces, evidence everywhere,
helmet, gloves, grinder. It was very
surprising. They didn't achieve the
burning of the truck. So, the last part
was kind of surprisingly amateurish.
>> Still at large, the jewels that were
stolen, the tiaras, necklaces, earrings,
and brooches of 19th century French
queens. Authorities are unhappy that the
detentions were made public. In a
statement, the Paris prosecutor's office
said they strongly repudiate the release
of the information, explaining that it
can hinder the investigative efforts of
the 100 or so investigators mobilized in
search of both the stolen jewelry and
the perpetrators.
>> I think they're going to try to persuade
these two guys in custody to tell where
the where the jewels are. In the
meantime, they will raid their houses,
family members, you know, they will do
everything possible in this case.
>> As for the crown jewels that were not
stolen, French press reports suggest
that some have now been moved out of the
Louv altogether and to the Bong de
France, the country's central bank for
safekeeping.
>> Pop quiz hot shot. Which ancient
civilization was the first to use cacao
beans as currency? Incas, Mayans, Omech
or Aztecs.
If you said Aztecs, you sweet. Unlike
the solid chocolate eaten today, though,
the Aztecs also drank cacao mixed with
water. It was thought to give strength
and vitality, especially useful before
battles or rituals. Our next story is
about a price hike on something that is
ubiquitous this time of year, Halloween
candy. Uh the numbers show it's more
expensive and less chocolatey. Those
little fun-size handouts are costing
Americans nearly 11% more this Halloween
season than last year. That's nearly
quadruple the overall rate of inflation.
The high cocoa prices have some shoppers
picking gummy candies or pumpkin spice
offerings over chocolate bars. CNN's
Matt Eaggan has more.
I don't think my kids are going to love
this segment because if there's any kind
of inflation that they don't like, it is
candy inflation. Now, unfortunately,
there's been this powerful one-two
combination of high cocoa prices
globally and high tariffs in the United
States. They've combined to drive up
prices. So, how much more expensive is
candy? Look at this. 11% more expensive
than last Halloween. That's nearly
quadruple the overall rate of inflation.
and it's five times the price increases
of last Halloween. Now, this is based on
a new analysis that was shared first
with CNN by the uh this is coming from
the Groundwork Collaborative, which is a
progressive think tank. They went
through all of the different candy
prices and they saw some significant
increase. Look at this 8% increase in
price for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
That is noteworthy cuz that's one of my
favorite candies. Also looking at 9%
increase for some of the G gummy candy
variety packs from Manderly, 12%
increase in some of the variety packs
from Mars. That's the company uh behind
uh M&M's and Snickers and a whole bunch
of other popular candies. 22% increase
for Hershey's and 34% increase for
Tootsie Roll lollipops. So, uh, yes,
unfortunately, inflation is the
uninvited guest this Halloween. When
companies are facing higher costs, they
have a few different options, right? So,
one thing they could do is raise prices.
We already discussed how they're doing
that. Another thing that they can do is
they can actually cut down how much
cocoa content is in some of the
chocolate candy. Some of the companies
are adding more sugar and they're having
less cocoa. So that does mean less
chocolatey chocolate which as a parent
of two boys I I don't see how that could
possibly go wrong adding more sugar. Uh
and then of course there's also
shrinkflation where they have less
content in some of these packages so
people don't feel like they're spending
more and they're paying more even though
they are. Uh and again this is happening
in part because of tariffs and also
because cocoa prices have gone
significantly higher over the last few
years.
[Applause]
Today's story getting a 10 out of 10. An
epic haunted house for an epically good
cause. Check out this terrifying tunnel
of doom in Royal Oak, Michigan. It's the
vision of 13-year-old Jackson Amik, who
has already survived the battle with
leukemia at his young age and decided to
turn his passion for Halloween into a
fundraiser for kids just like him. All
of the proceeds from this haunted house
help buy chemo shirts for children
getting cancer treatment.
>> Chemo shirt pretty much unzips from here
and here and you can pull the flap down
and that way you don't have to disrobe
for them to access your port to get
chemo treatment. This will be the third
year since Jackson got his haunted
masterpiece up and running and they've
already raised thousands of dollars and
this year a new addition to the design a
monster designed by Jackson and his
friends and created for him by the
Makea-Wish Foundation. Guys, go check it
out. Run.
>> This is yours only, right?
>> Yeah. Yeah. This is Nobody else has
this.
>> All right, superstars. That's going to
do it for today's show. But before I go,
I do owe congratulations to Mrs. Zulling
at Fowlerville Junior High in
Fowlerville, Michigan. Thank you for
submitting today's Your Word Wednesday
winner, ubiquitous, an adjective meaning
present, appearing, or found everywhere.
Well done, and thanks for making us
smarter today. Our shout out of the day
goes to Miss Snider at Basalt Middle
School in Basalt, Colorado. Go
Longhorns. Do you say hook them? Got to
get my move on now. Going to go
interview some of these Olympians for
the show. Rise up. Go make it an awesome
day. I'll see you right back here
tomorrow. I'm Ky Wire and we are CNN 10.
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