mascots. >> snap, crackle -- sizzle. >> reporter: new york. very funny. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer. join us weekdays in "the situation room" every saturday right here on cnn. at this time every weekend on cnn international. the news continues next on cnn. hello, everyone. i'm don lemon. thank you very much for joining us. you're in the cnn newsroom. you don't usually see a college football game start with a collective prayer by fans and both team s kneeling together o the field. but that's how it started today for penn state's nittany lions for first game since child abuse charges have been leveled at a former coach.

>> amen. >> a very emotional game. a prayer, that prayer was for the eight alleged victim of former defensive coordinator jerry sandusky out of jail today on bail. the scandal leading to penn state's first game without head coach joe paterno in 46 years. beaver stadium was filled with navy blue. tears in the eyes of a generation of students, alumni and fan, many of them having to reconcile their loss of paterno who ran the program for so long. his departure might have seemed sudden but his fate was sealed long ago for how he handled and some would say mishandled a report that his former defensive

coordinator raped a young boy in a locker room shower. paterno's son jay is still penn state's quarterbacks coach. he spoke to espn about the first of many saturdays without his father in command. >> joe has always taught us about the blue line at practice, when you cross the blue line, the only thing you can control is what you're doing right there. we had to imagine there's a blue line coming into the stadium. we focus on the task at hand. dad, wish you were here. we love you. >> joe paterno's son. we have seem coverage for you now, both mary snow and athena jones on the campus. we'll start with you, mary. with all the attacks being paid to the game, we shouldn't lose sight of the man at the center of this case. jerry sandusky accused of molesting eight boys over a period of 15 year. where are we with the investigation, mary? >> reporter: don, investigators continue to follow up on leads and tips that they're getting.

you know, there are a number of investigations going on right now. of course, first and foremost, that criminal investigation led by the pennsylvania state's attorney general's office. just yesterday penn state initiated its own investigation into who knew about these allegations and when they knew it. and the department of justice earlier this week also said that it, too, was investigating. just a short time ago, don, we also want to tell you that joe paterno was seen returning to his home. this, of course, just days after being fired from penn state and not being the coach for first time in 46 year. there have been fans outside his home. he did not speak to them. and also just last night his family released a statement saying that he has hired a criminal defense attorney. paterno has not been charged with anything, but there is the possibility that he faces civil lawsuits. and there were so many questions about whether or not penn state

should have even played today's game. the university's new president rodney erickson addressed that earlier today. take a listen. >> i believe this was the right decision to play this game. yes, there were a number of individuals, we received e-mails and other communications that indicated that or suggested that under the circumstances, it was not appropriate to play today. >> reporter: and don, here on the campus of penn state tonight in very stark contrast to what happened just days ago when joe paterno was fired and we saw all that unrest, it's been very quiet here. some fans noting that it's been very somber also throughout the day. don? >> mary, thank you very much. stand by. we'll be getting back to you throughout the evening here on cnn. i'm glad mary mentioned that she talked about that rioting that happened earlier in the week. i want to bring in athena jones now. many penn state students did not react well to the news that

paterno was fired on wednesday. mary alluded to it earlier. we saw the rioting on the campus, a news van overturned. and today is senior day. and the team lost a tough game to nebraska by three points. mary says it seems somber where she is. is it a similar mood there where you are? >> well, it doesn't seem like there's any rioting going on. there are still some people who are out tailgating still. but in terps ms of when we saw people leaving the game. there was a sense of resignation. there were a few chant of "we are penn state." but a lot of people didn't like how they were portrayed in the media, they don't want to have the same thing happen again. so a lot of the fans we talked with, a lot of the players, families and friends, members of penn state and the penn state community that have been coming to games for years had a hard time with how they say the media portrayed what happened on wednesday night. they argued that we blew it out

of proportion. there were different emotions today. people that came out and wanted to support coach joe paterno, but others who said we're paying way too much attention to him. we need to be paying a lot more attention to these eight alleged child abuse victim. you saw during the game there was a group of student who had painted their chests in blue and white, and it said "for the kids." you have a lot of people wanting to come out and support the kids. >> a lot of people are having a hard time with this and you say people out drinking and tailgating. people feel that part as a celebration. of course, that's a rite. you do that at the football game. and so close following these charges. are the people there aware of the sentiment when you see the people out drinking, did anyone ask, hey, you know, some eight kids were possibly abused and you guys are out one week after finding out and partying and drinking and celebrating? did anyone ask about that? >> well, it's been really interesting. the people i spoke with, i said, have you read the charges? and a lot of us in the media

have read this 23-page list of charges, the summary from the grand jury, of what coach -- former assistant coach jerry sandusky is accused of doing. you ask them about that and they'll say, yeah, i've read them, but we still don't know between the lines everything that was said, who said exactly what and in exactly what term to each person. i spoke with one guy who said, i'm a teacher. i understand the weight of these charges, yet he still wants to hear directly from coach paterno, from joe paterno himself. we know that's probably not going to happen right now. we've seen this statement from him and now he has a lawyer and is not likely to speak out. he didn't come out tonight. >> i want to continue with you -- >> people want to hear from him. >> i want to continue with you because you bring up a very good point right now because we saw joe paterno heading home just a short time ago. it was dark in the suv and he's in the back. is he sleeping or is he just leaning trying to get out of the way of the cameras? but there he is in the back of the suv as it drove him home

there. you see the supporters. and this was courtesy of our affiliate kyw-3 in philadelphia. these are pictures now -- is this kyw as well? this is a cnn camera. but i think kyw is there in philadelphia for that. this is cnn live pictures outside of joe paterno's home. so there are a lot of people who are anxious to hear from him, athena. and he's got a lot of support. but again, as you said, he's probably not going to do any talking until this investigation is further and we get more information about it. >> yeah, i'd be surprised to hear him speak. certainly on the advice of his lawyers, it would make sense that he wouldn't. that was sort of the indication that we got from that statement this morning. here in this crowd, you saw a lot of people wearing shirts, some said the legend and had the years of his service. you had others that said, joe knows football. signs that said joe's still our guy. at the same time you had this

small plane that was flying around that had a banner that said joe's so dirty, he needs a shower. a lot of mixed emotions. we did hear from cnn's sarah hoy who has been on the ground right outside joe paterno's house that a former penn state player kenny jackson who played for the eagles did come by and visit joe paterno, but in terms of anyone coming out and speaking, we haven't heard anything so far and really don't expect to. >> athena, thank you and our thanks to kate snow -- i'm sorry, mary snow. john werhim of "sports illustrated" will talk about the impact the scandal has on the students. and a reporter who has covered penn state for 30 years will be here to share his impressions. actor ashton kutcher really stepped in it with an ill-advised tweet after joe paterno was fired. social media expert will explain why a bad tweet is almost impossible to undo. also ahead on cnn, the field

of gop presidential candidates minutes away from taking the stage in south carolina for yet another debate. we'll hear from some good advice or more embarrassing and awkward moments. what's going to happen tonight? breaking news in europe. tough challenges right now. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy.

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you have your life with another. but when you bundle them all together with nationwide insurance, they all work together perfectly and you could save 25%. wow... it's all in the wrists. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ the tenth presidential gop presidential debate is tonight. it is being held at wofford college in spartanburg, south carolina. the focus will be on foreign policy and national security. this could be crucial for several of the candidates. a lot of people will be watching newt gingrich. his poll numbers have improved

as some of his rivals have stumbled. gingrich, ron paul, rick santorum were campaigning in the state today ahead of tonight's face-off. but most of the attention will be on texas governor rick perry so see if he can recover from his embarrassing performance in wednesday's debate. tonight's debate could also be critical for herman cain. there's a chance to get the focus back on the issues. cain has spent much of the past couple of weeks fending off accusations of sexual harassment dating back to his tenure as the head of the national restaurant association. he seemed to borrow a page from the occupy movement describing washington as an enclave of political elitism. >> they have the political class in washington, d.c., and then you have we the people out here. they believe that they know better what we need than we do, but the american people are saying we're tired of them being the political class, and they treat the american people like the underclass.

not when herman cain is president. >> you can better believe we'll keep an eye on tonight's debate and let you know if any of the candidates make news. breaking news in italy where they're celebrating the resignation of president silvio berlusconi. he had become widely despised in his country. by the end of his reign, the country's finances were nearly in ruins threatening the entire eurozone. the burden is expected to fall on former eu commissioner who is widely to be named as a caretaker prime minister. up next the penn state sex abuse scandal. this incident this week when students rioted on campus only made the school and students look worse. next we'll hear from some students who say this isn't the penn state that they know and love. major medical, boyyyy! [ beatboxing ] ♪ i help pay the doctor ♪ ain't that enough for you? ♪

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i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. penn state's loss to nebraska today obviously seems small compared to the wider tragedy the campus is coming to grips with. but thousands of students still poured into beaver stadium and they cheered on their team even as they understand how their leaders failed them.

"sports illustrated's" jon wertheim spoke with three students to ask how they're coping with this ordeal. jon joins us now. hi, jon. >> how you doing? yeah. i talked to three penn state undergrads today. i asked them what do they want to convey about the penn state student body? i also asked them about joe paterno. >> i think i want them to know that people are disappointed that our leaders did cover up such a disturbing scandal. i think people think penn state student are blindly supporting paterno, but they are really disappointed with their university. >> i'd like people to know that penn state students aren't rafbing lunatics. we do a lot of great things. and that even though what a few individuals did, that doesn't represent everybody. >> i hope you understand that we're still going to be penn state. that we've had so many good things happen here, so many great things happen here, so many good people come out of here that just a few people

can't ruin and tarnish the reputation of a school like this. >> talking to students earlier in the week, it seemed as though support for coach joe paterno was really mixed. obviously if you want to call it a riot, obviously, that was opposed to his firing. talking to your friends, dining hall, what did you think the sentiment on campus was? >> i think a lot of people supported coach paterno. for a lot of people outside of state college that's really hard to believe because they really associate him with the face of this scandal. i'm fro out of state. i wouldn't have been here if it wasn't for coach paterno. this would have been an agriculture school. >> the student body's collective father. so it's really hard to see a father figure go out like that, i guess, and be fired in that way. >> yeah, i've gone back and forth so many times thon issue. he's just done so much for the school. you see his contributions everywhere you go.

it's so hard to forget everything he's done for us. >> go ahead, jon. what do you make of what they said? >> yeah, i thought they were very well spoken. i think the penn state students feel that they've sort of been left out of this discourse. everybody saw the footage of the riot, if we want to call it that. but otherwise we haven't heard from students. they wanted to make the point that we're up on this, we're trying to follow it. we haven't been given a lot of guidance by the administration. we're aware of this. as the kids said, we're not just raving in the streets. we've really been affected by this as well. i really enjoyed talking to those three kids. >> i'm going to ask you a similar question that i asked athena jones earlier. was the game a welcome distraction for students in? did they have any problem focusing on football when they're still under such stress. >> yeah, i don't think they -- they almost didn't look at it as football. it was sort of a time to come together. it was a diversion.

people said there were going to be boycotts, there was none of that. almost emotional depletion and exhaustion, that they were happy to be out there on a sunny day and saturday. penn state lost a close game. almost didn't matter. it was a very subdued, appropriately subdued scene. this university, in campus, this institution is emotionally exhausted seven days into this scandal. >> thank you very much, jon wertheim. we'll see you back here at 10:00 p.m. eastern on this penn state story and what's next for penn and why didn't anybody report it to police. we'll have our jon wertheim. we plesh grate your reporting. in five minutes financial tips that will keep you merry and money spart though holiday season. making their mark this week. a canadian man who didn't keep driving when he saw sara bird and her cousin having car trouble on a busy wisconsin

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it is hard to believe but the holiday season just a few weeks away. while it's supposed to be the best of time, the thought of spending money on gifts will be extremely successful for people struggling with debt. terry savage is author of the book "the savage truth about money." she joins us now from chicago to help us all master our money. so terry, the christmas tree farm, the little place went up my neighborhood a week and half ago. the kalgt oggs are coming in the mail. what can people do to keep from drowning in debt? >> it's a sure sign. it's hard to believe we'll be talking about black friday and about the stores opening up early and people lining up for all the bargains. first up, it's not your

responsibility as a consumer to save the entire economy from recession. no matter how much you hear the economists talking about will consumers spend more, your job is to take care of your own family. and that means getting set, getting organized early. make the list early. i know you're waiting for last-minute deals. the stores will give you early deals. so shop early. most of all don't get caught up in that crunch of emotions when it is the last week and you feel the time pressure. when you sit down with your family over the thanksgiving holidays, talk to them about maybe we'll do something different. maybe we'll have a grab bag. instead of everybody buying something for everybody, you know, pull a name. and remember that all gifts don't have to be financial ones, that you can actually make a card that promises -- kids can promise their parents to take the garbage out without complaining and parents could maybe pick them up after practice. they're gift card that don't cost anything, but thoughtful anyway. >> that's a good idea in these times when people are so busy

and running around, just to spend time with people i think is very important. i like the idea of pull a name. we used to do it in grade school and we had a dollar amount, a limit that you couldn't go above. that's nice. >> exactly. so you're not competitive on that. >> it's been a wild week on wall street with a lot of ups and downs. one commodity that keeps on going is gold. does that mean that we should start buying gold instead of stocks? >> well, maybe a little bit of gold might be a very good holiday present, because it's more likely to be worth more in the year ahead than be worth less. a one ounce cold coin would cost you about $2,000 but there are smaller coins and chains. man has tried to create gold. just think back to create rumpelstiltskin, could he spin yarn into gold. so as people worry about the euro and even about the dollar, the fed having created a lot of money, the price of gold goes

up. that's what it's signaling, concern over paper currencies. >> i have a two-fold question on real estate. the second part is about veterans. but the first part, is it a good time to buy? do you think that the real estate market -- i don't want to catch you off guard. >> that's okay, don. >> is that a better servement than stocks in. >> stocks are as attractive as gold is. they pay dividends, money in the bank, your chicken money you want to keep that safe, but investment money you can get a little better return on the money. take a little risk. at this moment if you have good credit and money for a down payment, you can lock in 30-year fixed rates. if you plan to stay in the home, this would be the time to get a bargain price on the home. but you may look back on this not three year from now or five maybe but down the road and say, what a great opportunity that

was to buy a home. it's not over for home ownership in america. >> and so i will answer the second part of the question. i think it's great that we're celebrating veterans day this weekend and there's some incentives, mortgage deals for vets. so that's great. that's all we have time for, terry. a quick comment if you want. >> all right. just check out those v.a. mortgages. 30-year fixed rate, no down payment, 3.875%. check with the v.a. that's a special deal for veterans day. >> thank you, terry savage. good to see you. >> thank, don. for many people joe paterno was more than a coach. he was penn state. now his school must go forward without the father figure who was bigger than life. ahead, we'll hear from a reporter who has covered the school for a generation. the markets never stop moving. of course, neither do i. solution? td ameritrade mobile trader. i can enter trades on the run. even futures and 4x. complex options, done.

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welcome back. a game unlike any other in the history of the penn state football program. beginning with a collective prayer by fans and both teams kneeling on the field. >> protect the victims that --

>> concern for the eight alleged victims, ps paps former defensive coordinator jerry sandusky who is out on $100,000 bail. the child sex abuse scandal led to penn state's first game without coach joe paterno in 46 years after he was fired earlier this week. paterno has been staying out of the public spotlight. here he is returning home soon after penn state's loss today. interim head coach tom bradley always dreamed of taking over this job, but certainly not like this. he held a news conference shortly after today's game. >> i thought that our fans, as i had asked them to do on thursday night to show class and dignity, and they did all day today. there was a crowd, the solidarity for the children, for the victims. i thought it was a touching moment by penn state and the class that i had asked them to exhibit. and i really didn't have to ask them because i knew they would do it. >> they certainly did showing

the kind of resilience that made pennsylvania proud. but one game alone won't help a school devastated by scandal. thank you for joining us. you've covered penn state for 30 year. what do you think of the way the football team and the school have handled things today? >> well, they really put their best foot forward. and nebraska as well. i mean, both teams tremendous display of sportsmanship. a very emotional scene. penn state walked out arm in arm. you've never seen that before. they always ran out. they walked out like in kind of a single file line maybe four or five players across arm in arm. then they joined with nebraska. both teams, both coaching staffs, penn state had 300 former letter winners here. it was very quiet. it was just a very touching

scene. and i think penn state took a step, a very preliminary step toward beginning the healing process. >> you can see the coaches, the staff, they've been criticized for the way they handled it. i have to be honest with you, the media has been criticized as well for not picking the story up sooner. it wasn't a national story but certainly there in state college it was sort of -- it was whispered. people talked about it openly. do you think the reference for joe paterno blinded even reporters to what happened on his watch? >> i don't know. there was an investigation in 1998, and that report never became public. there were no charges filed. so until there were charges filed or there was -- it didn't become public the investigation in 1998 until the investigation in 2009. and that's when a lot of flags went off and the grand jury got

involved and the reporting, you know, has since obviously exploded. but most papers don't typically run stories without charges. there were more whispers, but there was never any substantiated fact. >> that's what i have to ask you so as a reporter there that you have covered it for a long time, had you heard these rumors? had you heard people talking about this when it concerns sandusky? >> only in the last year or so, couple years, when, you know, you heard that they may be looking into it in terms of the grand jury. that was really the first that i had heard about that. you know, now that you look back over a period of time, maybe some things, light bulbs go off of geez, you saw this or saw that in terms of jerry's involvement with the second mile and he'd show up at different

events with kids. sometimes just, you know, one kid here and there, and then that kid would be a speaker at the banquet. and you just sort of assumed that that was how the program worked. so you know, you look back now and you may be able to see a little more of a paper trail. but i still had not heard any -- that he was being looked into until a couple years ago. >> neil, you know, people talk. and just because it wasn't made public or there wasn't a grand jury investigation, did anyone not give any greed ens to -- credence to it. was it just gossip? >> that's what you didn't know. and if we were in the business of printing gossip -- i realize the web and the twitter and everything now, that takes care of itself. but still you hope the newspapers and i think the "harrisburg patriot news" did a tremendous job in buttoning down real allegations, real facts,

talking to victims' families and, you know, i'm sure there was some relationship in cultivating the sources in harrisburg with the district -- you know the attorney general and the grand jury. >> neil ruder is a reporter with "altoona mirror." he's covered penn state for 30 years now. thank you for joining us. >> thank you, don. this isn't oscar season. so why is everybody talking about the academy awards? that's what happens when a major player on the show makes a homophobic comment. [ buzzer sou] bringing home a verizon samsung stratosphere for free from radioshack. so right.

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it is still months away, with you everyone is talking about the academy awards after a gay slur led to a complete overhaul of the show. brett ratner known as the director of the "rush hour" trilogy and also known as the man who ruined the x-man franchise, he was set to produce the telecast until he said this in a q&a for his new movie "tower heist." he said rehearsal is for fags. he resigned and apologized for

offending anyone. thank you for joining us. ratner is known for letting his mouth get away from him. should the academy have expected this when they hired him anyway? >> well, i think they expected what anybody expects from brett ratner, which is total class, you know, in a more or less sarcastic answer to your question. i think that brett ratner has sort of a reputation in the entertainment industry for sort of a desperate macho posturing. he has this self-styled bad boy loud mouth in the locker room kind of persona. just this week more people happened to pay attention to him. but this isn't really an aberration for brett ratner, anybody who has followed him the last few years knows this is like a greatest hits of brett ratner interviews. >> this is brett ratner on the howard stern show. this happened later in the week. >> this is the oscars, so i really can't talk about all the

sex i got when i was -- before i have sex with a girl, i do do one weird thing. i do take them to the and check them out. >> you do? >> i won't have sex -- i'm a cootie freak. i'm a germ o phobe, i'm a hypochondriac. before i go all the way i send the girl to the doctor. >> there were more things. i actually heard it as it was happening. i'm a huge fan of howard. i listen to howard. that's what howard's show was about. what got him in trouble, the slur or the q&a with howard stern? >> well, i think if it was going to be the slur, he would have gotten in troibl several years ago when he was teaching a guest lecture at a class in nyu while he used that word to describe what other film students were watching instead of appreciating the mastery of "rush hour three." you can look that up. this isn't an aberration in his history. this week has been a culmination of things. it started with the talk of

olivia mann and g-4, then commenting about rehearsing being something that heterosexuals don't do, then, of course, the howard stern show. but i believe the academy president said that it was the howard stern interview that made him realize that perhaps brett ratner was the classy individual that he first thought he would be. >> that he would want for his telecast. a day after ratner resigned eddie murphy dropped out as host. ratner hand picked murphy. it seems like he is causing critics a lot of frustration right now. >> well, i think that's because eddie murphy kind of seems like he's been not funny longer than he was actually funny at this point. i think that's why the critics might have something against him. when he took the oscar job, it was supposed to be the beginning of the eddie murphy comeback. he talked about returning to

stand-up. he wanted to do edgier material, which the oscars are obviously edgy material. but "tower heist" critical returns on that, the box office returns on that are a little weak. i think very interesting thing happened this week. you know, the day after eddie murphy resigned, we finally got a look at his next movie, which is basically more of the same. >> yeah, what is it? the movie is called "a thousand words" is that it? that's the next movie. >> it's actually been on the shelf for two or three years. they weren't sure they'd release it. then they decided they wanted to capitalize on the eddie murphy oscar buzz that was probably going to happen and decided to release the trailer this week. if you've seen the trailer -- go ahead. >> if you've seen the trailer, it's been criticized. we'll move on just for time purposes because i have to get to a break. a day after murphy dropped out they got billy crystal, which is a safe choice. stick around, we'll be talking

to ashton kutcher next. he stuck his foot in his mouth or whatever the twitter equivalent of that is. how he's making up for it now.

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how do you fire joe pa? pound ensult, pound no class. i found it in poor taste. he removed the tweet. as of immediately i will stop tweeting until i find a way to properly manage this feed. i feel awful about this error. won't happen again. so i want to bring in a guy who knows a lot about social media. ashton kuch ser a twitter stoorp star. he got a million followers even before cnn. so what does it mean for him to have to turn over his twitter account to managers? >> yeah. this is quite a reversal of fortune. it's what parents call a teachable moment. a comeuppance for ashton. this is a guy who helped popularize the platform in its infancy. now he's having to hand it over to his production company to handle it. it emphasizes thinking before you tweet. with 8 million followers, that's a lot of people listening.

social media is about trust. him having to turn it over to another party is like me answering your question by pulling out a publicist and having them do it for me. >> this is the editor for the av club. you heard what he said there. was this a case of kutcher tweeting before he knew what he was tweeting about? >> a lot of lot of people are guilty of that for sure. not everybody has 8 million people listening to them. he's a biggie guy and has a lot of acting and social entrepreneuring to do. he probably learned this week putting every single unfltered thought as he has it is not the best idea. >> kutcher seemed sorry. he tweeted out this picture of himself. do you think he can manage the bad pr on twitter? >> he's certainly not the first celebrity to put his foot in his mouth. we're all human, we all say dumb

things. the internet tends to have a long memory. as with any ni relationship, a parent, a spouse, a child, sibling, if you lose their truss, it's going to take before foregeoffness happens. >> while i have you here, i want to switch gers for ament and talk about facebook. there's some news about privacy featur features? >> they are reaching a settlement that would require you to let you opt in and in the past your photos, wall post, friends, those have often times become public and it sent people scrambling back to update their pages. the ftc is talking about having annual audits, making sure if you choose that information should be private, it stays that way. >> and thens to both of you. appreciate you joining us here on cnn this weekend.

>> many high school seniors serious about aemplpplying to colleges rely on rankings "u.s. news and world report." we talk to someone who thinks they're hurting higher education. >> rankings don't matter as much to me. >> lloyd leads the education conserve antsy. they say the rankings have become a butty pageant. >> there's a group -- >> they don't like the ranking. >> they think it's a crock. >> it's true the rankings have become a big brand for u.s. news but they've become a brand because there is a void of information. >> according to robert morris, the rankings are fair because they're based on a combination

of reputation, graduation and endowments. we hit the streets to find out what students thought, the results were mixed. >> there's always that strive to get into the school that's ranked one higher than the next zip think in my opinion it's kind of stupid. it is. it shouldn't be that way. >> a college ranking might easily sway a college student to choose one school over another. >> biased. a little bit biased are tainted, kind of stereo typical. but important. >> we believe that we're producing something for consumers, that's our main mission. i don't think it's this pivotal force in admissions, even though it's a factor. >> what it does is it turns students into customers, education into product and gaining admission to the most selective college a prize that must be won. >> steve perry, new york. coming up --

♪ life is bigger >> the musicians behind "losing my religion" and other hits are counting their final days. moments away from the r.e.m. interview. [ female announcer ] if you're considering going back to school, you have options. you can attend our online program or if you prefer a classroom experience... look no further than your own neighborhood. we have over 200 campuses and learning centers around the country. where you can attend classes, career fairs and meet with students and faculty. today, you can go to school online, on-campus, or both. explore your options at phoenix.edu. ♪ aflac... and major medical? major medical, boyyyy! [ beatboxing ]

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the end of an era. we are witnessing the end of r.e.m. as we know them. the band members are feeling much more than fine since announcing the breakup of arguably america's biggest alternative rock band. shannon cook got up and close and in depth with r.e.m. about their final days. another great assignment. the big question is why? >> why? well, michael stipe and mike mills say their breakup has nothing to do with drama or feuding from within the band. they simply say they'd like to go out on what they consider a high note and be free to pursue other projects. as you'll hear, it's not like they're doing giant happy dances over the decision. >> reporter: so how do you feel about this? do you feel sad? are you relieved? >> there's certainly there's sadness. it's bitter sweet by all means. >> the feelings go from here to

here, we're feeling every one of them. >> not relief, though, because relief implies we're escaping something and it certainly isn't that. the word that popped into my head, there is an odd feeling of liberation because it means that for the same reason we're breaking up rather than just going on hiatus, it means we're free to do whatever we want without the shadow of r.e.m. hanging over it. it's a liberation, a clean break and a chance to move forward. >> you can check out the full interview in the 10:00 p.m. eastern program tonight. they'll get nostalgic about past hits and tackle the topic of a comeback tour. >> all right. there's a good tease. i like that. and i like michael's classes, too. >> you like that? they're pretty cool. >> we'll see you back here at 10:00 p.m. appreciate you joining us.

>> want to check the headlines quickly here on cnn. for the first time since allegations of child rape robbed the penn state football program, the nittany lions took the field winding up with a 3-point loss to nebraska. paterno was fired for his handling of allegations against his former defensive coordinator, jerry sandusky, who is accused of sexually abusing eight boys. tonight we'll talk with a sex abuse victim about surviving the pain and we'll have a live report from the penn state campus for you. >> president barack obama says china must play by the rules when it comes to trade and currency. he spoke to business executives at the asia pacific economic corporation summit in honolulu. mr. obama said the u.s. wants china to grow but beijing should do more to create a level playing field.