i'm christine romans. coming up, sesame street bought to you by the letters stem. elmo is here to explain. plus, is college worth it? bill gates, richard branson, steve jobs, they don't have a college degree. why do you need one? and millions of students are learning math for free from sal con. what you can learn from him. first, the kig talker of the week. hold your kid back from kindergarten at your child's peril. a recent "new york times" op-ed says parents who think they're giving their child an edge holding them back a year from kindergarten may actually set them back. co-wrote the piece and the co-author of "welcome to your child's brain" and she joins us now. good morning, sandra. you say in the long run, 5-year-old kindergartners do better than 6-year-old kindergartners. why? >> because school makes kids smarter. the experience of being young in class makes kids work harder and as a result they learn more. the kids who are oldest in the class are already doing pretty well and they're not motivated to work as hard. >> there's so many moms and datdads who thi

christine romans, thank you. >> see you in a bit.e. >>> they've been springing up in cities across the nation, those massive protests. just ahead, why some republican presidential candidates say some demonstrators are going about it the wrong way. >>> but first, today is columbus day, but there are three days that do not observe columbus day has a holiday. can you guess which states those are? here are your choices, a, california, nevada, and hawaii. b, arizona, california, and oregon. or c, california, nevada, and utah. the answer after a break. it's 36 minutes past. >>> 38 minutes past the hour. this is your "am: wake up call." today is columbus day, but there are three states that do not observe columbus day as a public holiday. can you name those three states? here are your choices once again. a, california, nevada, and hawaii. b, arizona, california, or oregon. c, california, nevada, and utah. the correct answer is a. california, nevada, and hawaii do not celebrate columbus day. time now for our political ticker. let's bring in

christine romans, cnn. >> for more on finance, check out christine romans new book.nd make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ shapiro ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. >>> an update on the investigation into cheating on college entrance exams. it's no longer great next north high school in long island, a district attorney says authorities are looking at two more public school districts as well as a private school. last month seven current and former students at great neck north were arrested. one of them now, a college students, accused of taking s.a.t.s for others in exchange for money. >>> in los angeles the prosecution is wrapping up its case against dr. conrad murray. he was hired as michael jackson's private physician and was with jackson when he died. to our legal guys now are with me. avery friedman

i'm christine romans in for carol costello live from new york. time is now, it's been about two weeks since a missouri baby disappeared from her home. now 25 members of the missouri national guard are joining the search for 11-month-old lisa irwin alongside local and federal investigators. police say they haven't had any breakthroughs in this case. they're hoping a fresh set of eyes will help the investigation. two anonymous people are offering $100,000 for lisa's safe return. she is now 11 months old. >>> the maryland man held in aruba hets back to court. gary giordano hopes to win his release. his lawyer argues there is no evidence to hold him. giordano says he was snorkeling with robyn gardner in august when she disappeared. he was arrested three days later while awaiting a flight back to the u.s. family and friends say she would never go snorkeling. >>> the trial of michael jackson's doctor is on hold. the father of the prosecution's last witness passed away. dr. stephen schaffer began giving his testimony last week, expected to give more tes

i'm christine romans joining you live from new york. good morning. >>> maybe it's all just a bad dream we'll wake up from soon but a pretty nasty day on the markets. asian markets fell. the hang seng down more than 3. european markets fell. the ftse down more than 2%. dax down more than 3%. no surprise, folks. dow futures are down this morning. now to preday on wall street. a 2.4%. the european debt crisis weighs heavily on investors' minds and wallets. the only one to finish on the up side, walmart. >>> amanda knox and her family are expected to return to seattle as early as today. knox broke down in tears after a jury overturned her murder conviction yesterday for the stabbing death of her british roommate meredith kercher four years ago. appearing dazed, knox had to be helped from the courtroom after this verdict was read. her italian boyfriend cleared of murder charges. knox's sister told reporters her family is thankful. >> we are thankful for the support we have received from all over the world. people who took the time to researc

i'm christine romans.ild animals after they're turned loose on the street. the question, why were there so

i'm christine romans. police forced to ki

my colleague christine romans back as well.g to look like the new normal. what needs to happen to get this market moving again? >> ali, i think we need a polic. you listen to the budget debates we continue to have. the word growth is not mentioned ever. i can't help it, but i have to contrast it with china. china is spending half a trillion dollars a year and will send many trillion dollars, about what we spend on world war twosh two, on new industries. we need to create new industries. >> when you say new industry like the solar industry in the united states? >> we put half a billion dollars into na and got into a lot of trouble for it. >> take another solar company, evergreen, traded at $100 share was the bellwether company in 2008. i was bankrupt today. that's because china is funding their solar companies to the tune of massive amounts of money. much, much more than we're willing to. now china controlling the solar industry. they basically do. with their monopoly on rare earth, they can control the wind industry, too. >> th

i'm christine romans joining you live from new york. all right. the presidential candidates, the republican hopefuls declaring victory or licking their wounds this morning. all except jon huntsman took the gloves off last night at the debate in las vegas hosted by cnn. this was perhaps the most heated of the five debates held in the past six weeks. much of the focus on the three front-runners, romney, perry and cain. a heated exchange between romney and a very assertive perry. >> they're coming here because there's a magnet, and the magnet is called jobs. and those people that hire illegals ought to be penalized. and mitt, you lose all of your standing from my perspective because you hired illegals in your home, and you knew about it for a year. and the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you're strong on immigration is on its face the height of hypocrisy. >> governor romney? >> rick, i don't think i've ever hired an illegal in my life. and so i'm looking forward to finding your facts on that -- zbl i'll tell y >> i'll tell you

christine romans reports. >> most aren't saving enough for college or starting early enough.o see why. you're already spending $227,000 to raise a kid from birth to 18. this according to the usda up 40% since 2000. that doesn't include the cost of college. that's 21,000 for a private four-year college room and board every year. the debate should be is college worth it, it should be how are you going to pay for it in a smart way. according to the government a worker with a college degree will make a million dollars more than one with high school. the graduation rate is 3.4%. >> they are going to require the college degree like a high school degree. you really absolutely need the degree. but what are you going to do wit and how are you going to pay for it is the important question. >> time is your best friend even saving a little when your kid is in diapers is better than taking out boat loads later. 529 help you to do this with tax breaks in some states. you don't have to save for all of the college and you shouldn't. you should save for your retirement, too. ulrich recommends

cnn's christine roman s breaks t down. >> reporter: five bucks a month, that's how much they will charge to use debit cards. customers are voicing displeasure. >> not psyched about it. i'm switching. >> reporter: the fee will not apply if you use atms or have a premium account with a high balance. why the new fees? a bank of america spokesperson said the economics of offering a debit card have changed with recent regulations the regulation they are referring to is the durbin amendment. it goes into effect saturday and reduces the amounten of money used to make a purchase it will drop from $0.44 to between $0.21 and $0.44. that may seem like pennies but it's expected to cost banks $6.6 billion a year according to strategy and research. b of a aren't the only making changes wells fargo has a $3 in some markets, suntrust $5 on some this summer. regional expected to roll out a $4 fee next month. with regulation along with legislation last year shutting down the bank's fee machine of overdraft charges, financial institutions are finding new ways to generate income. but all these new fees are

it's christine romans in for carol cos stall low joining you live from new york.>> investigators poring over the horrific scene discovered in a dirty philadelphia boiler room. they're looking to see if there may be other victims. the suspects are accused of locking up four mentally disabled people. those are the suspects there. police believe they did it to steal their social security checks, locked away for nearly two weeks in filthy conditions, the victims are now speaking out. >> came with a bat in my head. all this was real dirty. >> it was real dirty. >> did cue guys willingness give you her information. >> no, she asked for it. >> she took it away from me. >> the fbi investigation has turned up documentation for dozens of other people. >>> jurors in the michael jackson case watching their phones waiting to hear when they'll head back to court. the trial is on hold until at least wednesday so defense attorneys have time to pour over fresh lab results. >>> the worst nuclear disaster since chernobyl may be winding down sooner than expected. the fukushima daiich

if you do what you love, it's not going to be work and you'll be successful. >> christine romans, cnn. >>> one of the highlights of our noon eastern hour is our legal segment, and a highlight today, we have richard herman in the house. how are you? good to see you. >> great to see you. >> it's great to have you in person. we had avery here a couple of weeks ago. >> i was very jealous of that. >> you're here. >> we have to get avery and you here at the same time. >> me and you and avery. perfect. >> we play our peaches and herb here, "reunited." that's the planning. we have an interesting lawsuit coming up, and we'll talk about killer whales and seaworld and we'll take a dive into that case. it's an interesting one, right? >> take a dive? not bad. zo >> what a tease. >> we have batman. that's interesting. >> and michael jackson. >> and mj, too. >> and a surprise because it is halloween weekend. spooky things happen. much more for our legal segment straight ahead. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've be

christine romans has a report about the ten-year break and now they're back.ddle school smoking spot" and a rejuvenated theme song. after a ten-year hiatus, pop-up video is back. debuting in 1996, pop-up video offers nuggets of trivia and behind the scenes information on top of music videos. it was an instant hit and now with ten years' worth of new music videos to pop, it's creators have a lot to work with. >> there is plenty to mine. we haven't hit o-town, we haven't had every "american idol" contestant, winner, loser, so the time is now. >> reporter: slotted for 60 new episodes, pop-up video has mined 300 fresh music videos from amy winehouse to cold play. when word got out, music industry types were lining up. >> everybody wants to be on this show. even though they may take a few hits, i think everybody knows it's like being on "saturday night live" or being a guest on "south park" or "simpsons." >> reporter: the landscape has changed a lot since pop-up video went off the air. facebook, twitter, we almost live in a pop-up world. with information on demand,

here's the explanation with christine romans. >> if you have a mortgage rate 5% or higher, you need tohat mortgage. rock-bottom rates can spell huge savings for homeowners. how big? consider a house with a $200,000 mortgage. three years ago, a 6% mortgage rate was common and the payment excludeing property tax would be $1,199 a month. that same home refinanced at 5.5% a year ago cost you about $1,135 a month. are financed today at a low 4.2%, the mortgage payment is only $978 a month. that's $2,650 a year less than the same loan at 6%. a lower monthly payment, you would save $79,000 in interest over the life of that loan. the math is clear. so why aren't thousands of people running out to refinance? it takes money. home appraisals can run you $400 and closing costs could reach couple thousand at minimum. takes time, patience, and paperwork. and if your home has lost value or your credit score has dropped, you are likely frozen out. >> the single biggest impediment to refinancing is the lack of equity that many homeowners have. what it really takes to qualify and get these low rates is

christine romans is with me in new york.up, what, 9,000% since its return 15 years ago? how did the company continue to grow even though a recession? >> if you've been to an apple store recently or anytime over the past five years, you'll notice there's no recession in an apple store. the past two years, the stock has done phenomenally. steve jobs and apple computer, well, they dropped the computer. why? they are doing things like music and phone. they gave the world things they didn't know they wanted. that is true leadership, the leadership of steve jobs, that he was able to put his reputation and the talents and the money of his company behind things that were completely unproven and had never been tried in modern society. it worked. america didn't know it needed the iphone. the world didn't know it needed the ipad. now these are some of the fastest growing technological devices in history. one thing about steve jobs, he's a computer nerd but he's also a salesman. he was also an artist and a cult hero. all together these

but in this week's "smart is the new rich" christine romans introduces us to a man who did just that.e left a job with the nba to coach kids. >> reporter: it's not the nba but it's a job and it turns out, david brown loves it. >> i have a great passion for working with kids. i have a great passion for the sport of basketball. >> reporter: brown, a former division i college basketball player, runs basketball stars of new york. he launched the business this spring after leaving a job with the nba. >> freeze, freeze, freeze. >> reporter: brown says he's fortunate. he's still working in basketball given the league lockout and prospects for 400 more job losses. career coaches say pursuing a passion in a job market with 9.1% unemployment, it's a big gamble. >> i love passion. i think it's great. you never want to take a job that you're going to hate or not be pleased with. but especially for people coming out of school, there's this almost romantic view of jobs, meaning like, i want a job that i'm going to love every day. and the fact of the matter is, there's probably not many jobs that an

christine romans errors plrepor >> reporter: ravens prophets in the system. >> don't have anyone to gaindvice or put together a resume or conduct themselves in an interview. >> reporter: she's now a student at university of albany studying women's studies. she wants to be a roll model for other children. she's a youth ambassador for career workshops like this one. >> i learned how to be punkial, professional. >> reporter: a three-state study found former foster care youth are three times more likely to have a high school diploma or ged. they are more likely to end up on the government roles. three-quarters of women and one-third of men received food stamps and housing assistance. it's a tough role to break. >> the two largest pipelines for young adults in the country. >> reporter: for those young adults who age out of the system, suddenly being on their own can be difficult. >> right now i'm looking for any job that's hiring at the moment. i just need to be financially stable at the moment. >> tom hilliard, author of a new study on employment and former foster children. these kids, he sa

so let's head to christine romans live here in new york with me. morning. >> let's talk first about the european leaders and whether they're making any progress on ways to tackle the euro zone's debt crisis. >> yeah. we're going to need some definition on their plan and what they're going to do. and that definition's probably going to come today. a big summit. it will be hours before we know what they want to do. first of all, what wilban kind recapitalization plan do they have for the banks, and will there have to be any changes to treaties for countries to be in the eu. once you put all that uncertainty behind us, that will be important for everyone going forward. we'll get more clarity on that today. still a lot of questions. today is the day we hope to get those answers. >> let's talk about the president's plan to help college students who are deeply in debt. it sounds good at face value. >> yeah, it does. i want to be clear about something. the president's health care reform had a lot of this in it, and it really got overshadowed. the presiden

christine romans, richard quest, ron harrah, soesh professor of public policy at the rochester institutechnology, co-author of the book "outsourcing america." either start with you christine, what do companies want? >> they want to be able, according to this particular report, venturing into the sticky area of reform, highly skilled workers. they want more visas to bring them in from other countries to do highly skilled jobs. they want automotive work permits from any foreign student who graduates from an american university with a degree of science, technology, engineering and math. all of this has been discussed many, many times. lots of programs in place, including one anybody wants to invest, entrepreneur wants to invest million dollars can come to the country to do that. a lot of work permits and the like. this comes at a time with 14 million unemployed in the country and 7% underemployment. clearly will be charged, no question. >> bill gates thinks there's a shortage. this is what he said before the house committee on science and technology. this in spring of 2008 before the recess

my colleague christine romans back as well. volatility is starting to look like the new normal. what needs to happen to get this market moving again? >> ali, i think we need a policy called growth in this country. you listen to the budget debates we've had and continue to have,e to have, the word growth is really not mentioned ever. and, you know, i can't help it, but i have to contrast it with china. china is spending literally at least half a trillion dollars a year and over the next five years will spend many trillions of dollars, about what he we spent on world war ii on new industries. we need to create new industries and be willing to pay a temporary price for this. >> new industry, like solyndr and the solar industry in the united states? >> but take another solar company, evergreen, traded at $100 a share, the bellwether solar company in 2008, it is bankrupt today. and that's because china is funding their solar companies to the tune of, you know, massive amounts of money. much, much more than we're willing to. and now

for more morning money news, christine romans has more from new york. how could this happen? error. wells fargo won't tell us approximately how many people were affected. frankly, because of affiliate coverage and because of complaining customers, we know that south carolina and florida is where many of these accounts were. it could be up to 4,000 different accounts. imagine opening your mail, opening up your statement and it's someone else's account number. someone else's activity, someone else's information right there in front of you. wells fargo says they think the chances of someone running away with your information or doing something with it are very low. just to be sure, they'll give these customers one year of free identity theft protection. there you go. >> that's great. >> they lost control of the information no question. i know. >> we don't know how many statements went to the wrong customers? like hundreds, thousands -- >> it could be up to 4,000. the affiliates of some of cnn's affiliates are reporting based on what they're hearing from customers, it could be up

check out my new book "how to speak money" with christine romans. head to amazon.com to be the first to get the book. my handle is @alivelshi. have a great weekend! >>> hello, everyone. you are in the c in. "cnn newsroom." >>> spreading protest in response to the global economy. in rome, we are monitoring the "occupy italy" protest that turned violent a few hours ago. about 500 anarchists infiltrated the otherwise peaceful protest setting a government building on fire. police are firing tear gas into the crowd. news reporter tells us many of the peaceful protesters left once the violence began. we are reaching out by phone. noda will be joining us in a few minutes. >>> a much calmer gathering in washington, d.c. it is a march for jobs and justice being led by civil rights activist, the reverend al sharpton, heading for the new martin luther king memorial which will be officially dedicated tomorrow. >>> a catholic bishop has been charged with failing to report suspected child abuse. bishop robert finn knew about foreign graphic pictures of children o

let's head to christine romans here in new york. charges on checking accounts, and people are not happy about this. >> you know, this, carol, we saw this coming. we knew that free checking was going away. we knew that rewards programs were going away. we knew that there would be new create everybody types of fees on accounts that use debit cards. why? because the industry has said, for almost two years, that if congress takes away their fee machine that they were slapping on people for years, billions of dollars, that they would find new ways within the law to do it, and they are. the latest is citi. citi is raising some of the fees that it has on its basic checking accounts. now, there are ways to get around it, of course. you could do a handful of online transactions, direct deposits, keep your balance a certain way. the bottom line is, for a lot of citibank customers, there will be new charges on their checking accounts. now, i want to give you some advice here. people are so outraged, but the banks are betting on the fact that y

let's go to christine romans live here in new york with me for a quick breakdown on what this deal means investors here. >> healthy europe, carol is incredibly important to a healthy united states. and that is the bottom line to all of this. very complicated banking and debt negotiations that have now concluded in europe. we want stability in america's number one trading partner. the united states sends $400 billion worth of goods every year to the eu. we know that right now european growth is only 0.2%. that means its economy is barely growing. if you have a protracted debt crisis it could tip this economy, europe's economy into a deep recession and a deep recession would certainly mean a recession again in the u.s. also the global banking system. the nature of banking is global. you want healthy european banks because u.s. banks, u.s. private equity firms, u.s. investors, u.s. taxpayers and u.s. investors all have exposure to what's happening there. so you cannot really separate the health of europe from the health and the recovery of the u.s. right now. that's why progress was so care

business correspondent christine romans and dr. sanjay gupta both in new york for us. dan simon, let's go ahead and start with you. a new era there in cupertino the post-steve jobs era. >> it is a new era. steve jobs hand picked his successor and ceo tim cook. there is an acknowledgment that the company will be in good shape for the next few years with all the various product in the pipeline. what will it look like in say five or ten years from now and who will fill the shoes and be the product visionary. steve jobs could understand what consumers want before they wanted all these products. who will step in and be able to sort of create the next iphone or the next ipad? that's the own question here. i don't think anybody can answer that, kyra. >> i think a lot of people are asking that question. i understand there are some special services for employees today. >> we don't know when they're going to occur, what we know is that when steve jobs died ceo tim cook put out a statement and said at some point there will be a celebration of steve jobs' life for apple employees

let's bring in christine romans. are politicians -- what do you think, starting to pay attention to their message? >> they really are. i would say the movement is maturing and enduring, and that means people in washington are trying to figure out what side of the occupy wall street and occupy washington movement they want to be on. first of all it looks as if democrats are trying to endorse this and say, look this shows you that people are unhappy, people are unhappy with the way things are going. and corporate greed, and follow our policies, and some republicans are saying, hey, wait, they are trying to refocus and say, if you want to be mad, be mad at this white house and these economic policies. listen. >> it's class warfare. some of them are there because they don't have a job. yes. but the fact of the matter is, why aren't there jobs? go and picket the white house. demonstrate in front of the white house. >> when we said everyone should pay their fair share, the other sides there's class warfare. no. it's not. i

i'm christine romans. coming up from pawn stars to down sized to the job whisperer. is reality television getting too real to watch? plus, every 26 seconds a student drops out of high school. my interview with alma powell on what they're trying to do to turn that around. an estimated 160,000 students are too afraid to go to school every day. why? and let's fix it. but first, paying the bank to use your own money. by now, you have heard that bank of america wants to charge a $5 fee to use a debit card. it is a trend. citibank moved to end free checking and chase in some states will be charging similar purchase fees. consumers as you might already know are not very happy about it. greg mcbride is an analyst at bankrate.com and legal ger at fortune. people are so mad and we all know that free checking is dwindling. that's down from 76% two years ago. the answer if you hate the fees is community banks, credit unions, not for profit by the way and stays to stay with the bank and avoid the fees but maybe only if you have money, investment accounts, maybe a mortgage. how do

christine romans, cnn, new york. >>> here are your top stories. 1,300 others are injured. as rescue teams struggle with near freezing temperatures to reach potential victims in dozens of collapsed buildings. >>> the state department has recalled the u.s. ambassador to syria, robert ford. we are told it's in response to a credible threat against him. but we have no word on the nature of that threat. the state department also accusing the syrian regime of incitement against the ambassador. just last month, some vehicles in ambassador ford's motorcade was damaged by supporters of president assad. ford was not hurt. >>> new leaders in libya officially declaring the country's liberation from four decades of rule by moammar gadhafi. an autopsy has revealed that gadhafi died from a gunshot wound to the head. his body is now on public display in a meat locker. >>> in tunisia, right next door where the arab spring started, they are counting votes. more than 90,000 went to the polls in tunisia's first free national election in 200 years. they will elect an

good morning, i'm christine romans. president obama says he isn't waiting for lawmakers to make up their minds. big changes coming to student loans and how you refinance your underwater home. who will it help? and how fast? we take a look at what really changes for you and your family. let's start with housing. president obama this week announcing new efforts to help struggling homeowners again. the revamped home affordable refinance program, or h.a.r.p., aims to make it easier for homeowners to refinance high-interest mortgages at these rock-bottom interest rates. who qualifies? homeowners who have mortgages backed by fannie mae and freddie mac. you must be current on your payments. and you'll now be able to refinance no matter how much you are under water on that home. this lifts a previous limit of 125% loan-to-home value ratio. the program also aims to streamline the refinancing process, please, and reduce and eliminate fees. i'm joined now by lynnette cox, bob molten and rick newman is the chief business correspond