hello everyone. i'm don lemon. thank you for joining us near the "cnn newsroom." we're going to begin with incredible pictures oust philippines. entire villages may have been wipe out by flash floods caused by a tropical storm. just look at the force of that storm. more than 400 people are

confirmed dead now. hundreds more are missing. an estimated 100,000 people have been displaced. you can see them walking in the water in. according to witnesses, residents were in their beds when the deluge struck and water rose so quickly, people had to scrumble on to their roofs to keep from being swept away. cnn spoke with the philippines red cross about the disaster. here it is. >> this is one quick deep fix we never expected out of what is considered a storm that brought an awful lot of rain, that brought a lot of landslides caused by high t.i.d.e. tides n rivers and all of a sudden you have a flash flood that suddenly kills people in most of the villages in the area, and that is why today we have 436 people dead and over 350 people missing. >> let's get for perspective.

from meteorologist jacqui jeras. so many displaced? >> happened quickly and caught a lot of people off guard for a number of different reasons. first, a lot of rain. this wasn't storm surge that came up and flooded out the town. over a month's worth of rain in about 12 hours or so. >> wow. >> i know. it happened very, very quickly. people were in bed sleeping and they don't get tropical storm in the southern philippines. more used to it in the northern philippines. one every 12 years or so. let's fill out the -- why this happened. >> does the water have anywhere to go? can't azorb it? >> has to do with their proximitity. a google here, right in the coastal areas. right? as water lifts up the mountains, air forced up the mountains the rainfall becomes happier and has nowhere to go. a big deluge of water that comes

down the mountains. there you can see the river on the western side of the city. it all comes down at one time. most of those that died drowned. a flooding event for them. about five people or so from what we understand died in a landslide. all the mud comes down and pushes the homes away. >> any warning there? we can gauge it here with our technology. was there a warning before? >> they knew was coming. knew there was going to be a tropical system. you think storm as opposed to a typhoon, you're not as concerned about that type of thing. >> since year hour, what about domestically here in the u.s.? >> a couple big stories. santa ana winds, big deal. gusts, over 70 miles an hour. people without power in southern california. last weekend, the snow in arizona and new mexico? same story happens again this week. >> sticking around, jacqui jeras. thank you, meteorologist jacqui jeras. appreciate it. moving on and talk about what's happening in your

government. the senate able to stop arguing long enough to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment for two months instead of the full year. the house must okay it before it goes to the president's desk. even if it all goes through, we'll just be back here talking about it again in february. in february, it's not that long off. i'm sure athena jones agrees, live at the white house. what's the reaction from the obama administration on this? >> reporter: interesting. you talk about next year and the president is already pushing forward to next year. he came out in and spoke from the briefing room here in the white house at about 12:30. spoke a few minutes and talked about what he expects congress to do next year. let's listen to what he said about it. >> i'm very pleased to see the work that the senate has done. while this agreement is for two months, it is my expectation, in fact it would be inexcusable,

for congress not to further extend this middle class tax cut for the rest of the year. it should be a formality, and hopefully it's done with as little drama as possible when they get back in january. >> reporter: so he went on to say it's not hard. plenty of ways to pay for the proposals. interesting he should is a that. it has been hard, very hard for this congress to agree on almost anything all year. you mentioned earlier the house still has to vote on this and it's not at all clear this bill is going have all the support it needs in the house. there was a conference call with republican house members just this afternoon and there was a lot of consternation and concern on that call about this bill. so the president's already looking forward to next year, and yet we still haven't really reached past this final hurdle that needs to be passed so you can sign this into law. they're talking about the victory of being able to make sure that people have, don't see their paychecks fall january 1st

and it's still not a done deal. >> i want to talk about the process here. as you were talking, beautiful. it's dusk in washington. a beautiful live shot of the capitol in we're looking at next to athena jones. we can bring it back up. look at that. isn't that gorgeous? so the question, athena, here is, proposal stuff. so when will the house take this up and when will house -- and will house republicans go along with it? >> reporter: that's the question here. it's not at all clear. we know that one of the provision that was added to this bill, this keystone pipeline provision, about this pipeline that's going to be built from canada bringing oil from canada down to the gulf coast, that's something that the obama administration had wanted to put off a final commitment of that whole project until 2013, because of some concerns environmental ifrts brought up. republicans say it's going to add a lot of jobs. so house republicans added this pro stroigs their bill. their year extension of the payroll tax cut and ended up

sending it to the senate. the house added that provision to get republicans onboard. the real question is, yes, they kept that provision in. the white house says it doesn't change too much. but still you're going to -- we're hearing from the few people who have been on this, that we're hearing from, on this republican conference call with the republican conference, it's not claire they're all coming together. we know the house could vote at early as monday. we expect them to be in pro-forma session. not the full house. could be tuesday. right now it's anyone's guess how it's really going to play out. >> always something. 34e they got to go away for vacation. pro forma. okay. you mentioned the senate. the senate also passed a spending bill. give us details on that. it's, to keep the government operating until september? >> reporter: yeah. the good thing about this, the people are certainly pleased that this is something that's going to keep the government operating all through next year. a big deal, because look back at this year, numerous continuing resolutions, bills passed for a few weeks or months at a time to keep the government running.

inship ways that's a victory. certainly the white house senior administration official whose held a briefing not long after the president spoke wanted to spin this omnibus bill as a positive. it preserved a lot of here to key priorities. preserved funding for environmental protection initiatives. 60,000 spots for headstart. they feel the one good thing about this, it takes this funding fight off the table for next year. >> athena, thank you. beautiful shot there. you should get outside and go look at it. gorgeous. >> reporter: i will. >> appreciate it. now for the people vying to be in the white house, not far from there. to iowa, first true battleground for the field of republican presidential hopefuls. some campaigning in the staid today but not the front-runners. cnn political reporter is standing by live in des moines. peter, it's kind of a who's on first, because newt gingrich is in washington. mitt romney, south carolina today. and romney's making an appeal to a group that hasn't always liked

him. which is the tea party. >> reporter: that's right, don. endorsed yesterday by south carolina governor nikki hailey. strange support from the tea party and nationally. the romney campaign is putting out a message of momentum. we're bringing the republican party together but has to make an appeal to the conservative base, long skeptical of him. especially in south carolina. campaigning with hailey today, he said something that democrats are really seizing on. take a listen to what he said in charleston, south carolina this morning while campaigning with governor hailey. >> many tea party folks are going to find me, i believe, to be the ideal candidate. >> i think tea party is a parties twubt see government shrunk. they think it's too big. they think someone has to cut the federal budget, and i do. they want us to balance the federal budget, and i will. someone too get the economy going who understands jobs and the economy, not just government. and jobs and the economy is a what i know. tired of people who spent their

life in politics thinking washington is the answer. i didn't spend my life in politics. i spent my career in the private sector. >> reporter: so they see governor romney trying to explain why he does line up with the tea party. saying i'm a washington outsider. that's kind of a jab at newt gingrich. listen to what he said at the beginning. i'm an ideal tea party candidate. democratic national kmd seized on that comment today and started hammering governor romney in a series of e-mails to reporter, saying, this is a guy who will say and do anything to win. you can't trust him. obviously, romney is the guy that president obama doesn't want to run against. so they're trying to weaken him as much as possible. >> that's expected. >> reporter: so -- >> that's expected. >> reporter: yes. >> this is always big deal every time. the des moines register, who they're going to endorse. and who's expected to get it? >> reporter: well, the talk here in des moines awe among republican insiders is that they expect governor romney to get it. they say the des moines register

sort of has established senitarian streak that endorsed john mccain, the establishment friendly candidate back in the last campaign in 2008. >> how important is this endorsement? how important is it? >> reporter: i know. well, you know, the media loves to pay attention to this. will it move votes? probably not. will it determine a winner? >> most certainly not. the last time they picked a winner, 2000, when they picked george w. bush. he won in '96. picked bob dole. he won. after that, haven't had that strong of a record. we'll see. it's always good for a campaign to get this endorsement. you want it, you want voters in iowa to wake up sunday morning open the paper over their coffee and read nice things about their candidate. but is it going to change the narrative or the race? probably not. pay attention what the des moines register editorial board says about the candidates they don't endorse. do they say negative things about rick perry, mitt romney, newt gingrich, whoever they choose not to endorse.

>> that's all inside baseball. people across america, kind of want to know, hey, peter, having a little fun. look behind you. it's beautiful. my favorite time of the day. i talked about athena's live shot and yours. the light is gorgeous. beautiful. look behind you. can you see that? >> reporter: yeah. a nice time of day. the iowa state house. this is a nice part of town. standing in the east village, which if you're a reporter and coming to des moines for years and years covering politics, the east village here in front of the state house is developed in a cool neighborhood. a lot of political people hang out here. had people from the state house today right next to me in the east village of des moines. a beautiful time of day here. and i'm glad the live shot looks good for you guys, don. >> and that's not a real dalmatian over your left shoulder, because it hasn't moved since you've been doing your live shot. >> appreciate it. now that american troops pull out of iraq, will fear set in for iraqis? the government is already showing serious signs of

cracking, and we'll take you inside the government dispute there, and a reminder -- this "time" magazine cover. look at that. nine years ago, the iraq war began in baghdad. we'll talk to "time" magazine's editor and former baghdad bureau chief about the long road from then until now. that's straight ahead. nyquil (stuffy): hey, tylenol. you know we're kinda like twins. tylenol: we are? nyquil (stuffy): yeah, we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. tylenol: and i relieve nasal congestion. nyquil (stuffy): overachiever. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't.

well, americans ponder what happened in iraq, many iraqs fear what will happen after remaining u.s. troops depart? some iraqis say they are scared their leader will become a d dictator, peace crumble and basic freedoms denied.

>> reporter: the largest bloc in parliament headed by former prime minister allawi announced on start that it would be suspending its membership from parliament, because the bloc says iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki has absolutely no intention of every implementing the power sharing agreement that was established between iraqiya and al maliki the state coalition. the lawmakers accusing the prime minister maliki of consolidating power and he maintains full control over the security portfolio including the ministries of defense and interior. now, iraq's deputy prime minister who is also a member of iraqiya had harsh criticism during an interview with cnn that took place just a few days ago. he simply called al maliki a dictator saying he was playing

both the u.s. and iran. and that one day america would grow to realize this and regret its decision to back al maliki. meanwhile, other concerning signs when it comes to the so-called democracy in iraq, which is why so many iraqis are concerned about their future. when we talk about freedom of speech, one of the main cornerstones of democracy, it most certainly seems as if the iraqi government is either unwilling or unable to safeguard it. a cnn cameraman on friday was beaten up following an anti-government demonstration, ripped from his vehicle, taken down an alleyway by pistol-wielding pro-government thugs, the iraqi army present, all happening with their sights did not do anything to stop this. this is not an isolated incident. human rights watch, end of february, catalogs numerous violations by the iraqi security force, against not only journalists but activists and bloggers as well. many iraqis increasingly concerned as the u.s. continues to leave their country could

descend into chaos. arwa damon, cnn, baghdad. >> thank you, arwa. coming up at 5:30. in-depth on this milestone in u.s. military history. speaking to a former baghdad bureau chief of "time" magazine. stick around. interesting. questions of bradley manning's gender identity came up today in this trial at fort meade, maryland. manning the attorney brought up his online ultra ego, breanna. accused of the biggest intelligence leak in history. documents ended up on the wikileaks website. facing 22 counts of violating military code, which could land him in jail for life. sorry stories from around the world, protesters in cairo are fed up with their interim prime minister. today they clashed with egyptian security forces who beat them back with batons and firearms. at least ten people have been killed since friday. more than 400 others are

wounded. a 10-year-old girl refuses to board her school bus to go home. we'll tell what you she said that led to the arrest of her mother and her mother's boyfriend. and why she's being called a hero. we're back right after the break. acuvue® oasys for astigmatism. he said it's the only lens of its kind designed to realign naturally with every blink so now, i'm seeing more clearly. [ male announcer ] learn more at acuvue.com. long-lasting, too. yeah, i could really use this silverado. deer. fish. fantastic. ♪ this holiday, chevy's giving more. now qualified buyers can get 0% apr for 72 months on a 2011 chevy silverado.

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if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. tank top v neck 3 piece suit dance wear bolo snakeskin boots sequin costume under things stiletto heels skinny jeans houndstooth snuggie pork pie hat oshkosh socks 5% cash back. right now get 5% cash back at department stores. since the penn state scandal broke we have been inundated by stories of people not doing the right thing. now here's a story to put all of those accused do-nothings to

even further shame. a 10-year-old girl in illinois refused to get on her school bus one day staying behind to tell her teacher her mother's boyfriend had been molesting her for years. she wanted to save her two younger sisters from the ongoing abuse. >> and i didn't want to get hurt anymore. or bad things that happened to me again. >> guess what happened after this? the boyfriend pleaded guilty to sexually abusing all three sisters, and the mom has been charged with child endangerment since the girl says she repeatedly told her what was happening. going to bring in our human behavior experts. first, a clinical psychologist joining me here in atlanta and dr. of psychologist wendy walsh and co-host of the tv show "the doctors." thanks to both of you. wendy, start with you. what is it, women, why would some woman allow her children to be abused bilike that?

is any man worth that? >> not like to. women hold on to weird attachments and go on to this for many reasons. may need the money sashgs port. no way to defend her. single mother, i'm one offy 14 million single mothers. one of the most dangerous places for our children to be is if a he'll with a non-biological male. mommy's boyfriend. 11 times the chance of suffering sex abuse, physical abuse or emotional abuse. women have to be really careful when they're choosing boyfriends if they're a mother. >> yeah. the question is, too, although what tei what type of challenges ahead what challenges are ahead for her? because she and her siblings have been separated now. she's probably going through something for telling and having her siblings separated? >> feels like a leer oh. she stopped abuse. she'll need counseling, but she stopped it and explain to her sister, doesn't matter what adults say if they're sacs waex

abusing, it's never okay. >> short and simple. this one has to do with sports. parents in connecticut are outraged after the coach of the eighth grade football team had his placer burn their third place trophy as a coach and two others resigned, why is this such a big deal? first of all, why burn the trophies? >> i understand what they were trying to do. being a former coach, forget about the last loss, but should have burned the score, not the trophies. if they wanted to use trophies, expectation of winning, should have done a trophy for next year and made them champions and had them take that. these are five-time champions. these coaches understand about winning. it's hard for me to come down on coaches that made a simple mistake of burning trophies when they spend oh much time with kids when so many fathers won't do it. >> did i hear a sigh? >> okay, dr., mr. coach man, let me say this, that we know about behavioral theory. if you want people to behave

better you reward them. did great. catch up next year. by burninged trophy you're symbolically saying, you are not good enough. you are trash. that doesn't generally motivate people to do better. it lowers their self-esteem, in my opinion. just saying. >> okay. all right. listen, it's interesting, because releasing a statement quick, one of the coaches said, our point was to flush away the disappointment of the team's last game and move on, not dwell on -- it any further. bad judgment. apologize to the players and parents. so let's move on. finally, bad behavior at the university of vermont. sigma phi epsilon shut down after the national chapter learned about a survey that asked, brothers, quote, if i could rape someone who would it be? wendy, really? >> oh. oh. you are starting me sighing again. whenever people have trouble

with sexist communication and say, it's just a joke. it's just life. i flip it around and turn it into racist communication. what if the survey said, which black schoolmate of your you would you like to lynch? okay? should the fraternity be closed? absolutely. raping women is nothing to joke about, it's nothing light and i totally agree for the university for closing down this fraternity for it. >> i couldn't agree more. most concerning, not the fact he thought it but didn't have the good sense to not spread this as a survey throughout the whole fraternity. this guy definitely needs counseling. >> all right. you can at least agree on that. the middle thing, take to you task for. >> go blue. you know? >> thank you, guys. appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up next, basketball star kobe bryant and his wife vanessa bryant are calling it quits. have you heard? no pre-nup. the chicago bears cut one of their players. you won't believe what he's accused of doing in his spare time. your headlines are straight ahead right here on cnn. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation,

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if you pay attention now you'll get caught up on all the day's headlines. the chicago bears have dropped wide receiver sam hurd from the team. this follows his arrest wednesday on federal charges of conspiring to possess and distribute cocaine. saying hurd was trying to set up a drug distribution metwork in chicago. need on $100,000 cash bond.

it looks like basketball star kobe bryant is headed to a different kind of court. not the hardwood but a hard one, i'm sure. divorce court. his wife vanessa decided to end their marriage due to ten and a half years of irreconcilable differences. no pre-nup agreements. and vanessa hired attorney laura wasser whose clients include maria shriver and a long list of celebrities as well. and sound advice for u.s. troops coming home. get educated and make the most of the military's g.i. bill. that's what this former army first class jessica lynch did. she grad waiuated earning an bachelor's degree in elementary education. she made headlines in 2003 when

captured and tortured by iraqi soldiers and later rescued by u.s. forces. here's the image. many of you are seeing this at checkout stands this week. "time" magazine naming the protester as a person of the year. but as u.s. troops continue their pullout from iraq, there's another cover that we want to show you. from nearly nine years ago. fire and smoke, bim owing into the nighttime sky over baghdad. remember that? one of the most famous covers. the u.s. and its allies launching a massive assault on the capital. the beginning of war that seis only now reaching its conclusion. bobby ghosh, also "time's" former baghdad bureau chief and knows a lot about the war and the situation. thank you for joining us. good to see you. the world waged thursday as u.s. troops cased the colors in baghdad, which is ceremonial, but this is more than the

marking -- it's marking an official end but more than symbolic here. >> well, yes. it's marking the official end of hostilities for the u.s. military. it doesn't mean that the bloodletting in iraq has come to an end. but for an audience in this country, it is an enormously emotional moment. this is a war that has taken a very heavy toll of blood and treasure on this country and for americans at least there must be a deep sigh of relief and acknowledgement that that is over. >> a number of great articles about this war ending, and a really good one today in the christian science monitor i want to read to you. the paper quotes analysts for the center for american progress. bobby, saying, the end of former iraq president saddam hussein's brutal regime represents a considerable global good and a democratic iraqi republic partnered with the united states to potentially yield benefits in the future. when weighing those benefits

against the cost of the iraq intervention, there's no conceivable cal cue lift by which "operation iraqi freedom" can be judged a successful or worthwhile policy. bobby, that's a pretty bold statement. do you agree with that? >> i think i would agree with that and you'll find most iraqis do, too. most iraqis i know, friends, people i've known many years, acknowledge that being rid of saddam hussein is an enormously good thing, that perhaps the united states was the only international power that would do so. that would get rid of saddam for them, but they question, and i question, the cost that was paid, both not just by americans but also by iraqis in blood for that achievement of getting rid of saddam hussein. and they point out over and over again it need not have been this way. that bringing saddam hussein down and the things that happened in the aftermath took this war into a very different direction. it need not have been this way and was not simply a question of

2020 hindsight. people all along back in the summer of 2003 were telling american administrators the post-war planning was lacking. some of the steps taken were wrong and would have terrible consequences, and unfortunately, those consequences came to pass. >> 2003. that long. just not that long after the war had started. that's a long time ago. there's been -- >> some of the worst -- sorry. go ahead. >> you finish. some of the worst what? >> well, some of the decisions that were made in the immediate aftermath of the war, with weeks and months of that famous stat chew co statue coming down and dismantling the entire iraqi army. 9 decision to criminalized entire baath party no matter where you were in the hierarchy, those enraged iraqis and sent them into the arms of the insurgency creating an enormous -- the second war, if you like, between the occupying coalition forces and the new

insurgency. that is what extended this war, al qaeda came in and found willing recruits, and that extended this war to eight years and people looking back, smart people, not just me, looking bag sort of come to the conclusion that it need not have been this way and could have gone in a very different, less bloody, less expensive way. >> we'll be watching. by the end of the year, supposed to be out. watching to see when the last troops leave, what happens. thank you, "time" magazine, appreciate it. a grand jury report put him in an unwanted spotlight. the man who says he saw jerry sandusky rape a child in a penn state locker room's in court, mike mccreary changes some details in that story. straight ahead, what he said and what his testimony could do to this case. ♪ cheap cologne ♪ motor home ♪ i'm the rocket man! [ both ] ♪ rocket man ♪ burning out his fuse up here alone ♪

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two form are penn state officials face trial for their alleged role in the child sex abuse scandal surrounding former football coach jerry sandusky. a judge ruled friday that tim curley and gary schultz will be tried on charges of perjury and failing to report an allegation of child sex abuse in 2002. joining me right here in atlanta, that's what that hearing was for. >> yes. >> yesterday. they decided they're going --

holly hughes is a former prosecutor, here, knows everything about it. the judge made that decision after hearing from mike mcqueary who claims he witnessed jerry sandusky touching a boy in a locker room showers in an extremely sexual back back in 2002. quite graphic, he heard slapping sounds, sounds that slapping like sex. there was no -- he didn't see more detailed things. he says he told curley and schultz about the incident about a week later. and curley is the school's former athletic director and schultz, he is the vice president of the school. former vice president. they deny it. they say he didn't do it. >> right. >> he didn't tell them about it. >> correct. and obviously, you know, the judge isn't buying that, because he's saying, you are lying, in an official proceeding. you are giving tainted testimony. you need to be tried for that perjury charge, and you also need to be tried for failing to report the sexual abuse in the first place, because, remember,

they have mandatory reporting out there in pennsylvania. >> yeah. here's what he said. he's claiming that mcqueary only spoke of inappropriate contact, that made him feel uncomfortable and explains to the judge, what he did and then went and told his dad, because he was so upset. >> here's the question. he said when he told those two, he figured because one was the head of the school he was actually talking to the authority figure, which was the police person, and that it would be relayed. does this get him off the hook when it comes to that? >> no, not really. >> straight to the police. >> exactly. i mean, when you see crime being committed, then you call 911. this was the abuse of a child, sexual abuse of a child. mccreary said, look, he's about 10 years old. you know something criminal is happening at that moment. that does not alleviate yosh responsibility to pick up the phone and dial 911. because at the time he was graduate student. remember, not on staff as a coach. so he didn't have the manndator

reporting. he's not in as much trouble at the people who had the duty to report and failed. >> if you have kids in the room, they may not -- it may not be appropriate. you want to talk to them about this in their own way. what i'm going say is not for children's ears. he couldn't say for sure whether he saw sandusky rape the boy, and that, that differs from the grand jury report which mcqueary said he saw the boy being sodomized, meaning he didn't actually see -- >> correct. yeah. a very, very different testimony. >> does that do anything for credibility? >> what they're going to do, when we finally get to a trial and there's cross-examination, those prior inconsistent statements, that's the legal term we use. a prior inconsistent statement. different than the testimony you're giving now. those will be used to try and impeach mcqueary's testimony. they're argue to the jury this man is not believable. you shouldn't believe what he is saying because he can't get his story straight.

he's changed it two, three time. one thing to the grand jury, something else to the press, something else to the judge at this latest hearing. so, yes. it will absolutely be something the defense argues. >> yeah. a bunch of things to talk to you about. let's drop that and finish talking about that. talk about sandusky in court three days before mcqueary. and he dropped his right, waived his right to a hearing? >> yes. >> what does that mean for him? >> the preliminary hearing is sort of a mini trial, don, where the state has the burden to go before the judge and prove that there's enough evidence here to let a jury decide. there's enough that this could go either way. so they put up a mini case and they say to the judge, give us the right to go forward at trial. now, the defendant demands that right, but he can also waive it, and i think what happened here is sandusky and his lawyer figured, we don't want the jury pool further tainted. we don't want the evidence out there that early, because it's bad. it's going to be bad. don, we just had to give warning to our viewers at home, this may be something you don't want your

children to hear. this is something that he probably sat down and said to his lawyer, do we really want this information out there now, and it's going to be out there in the public. this graphic testimony. for all the time when we're waiting for that jury to get picked. >> yeah. every time you hear it -- this is the first time we've heard anything official, besides what was in the grand jury report and sandusky speaking on television. we've heard from mcqueary and we'll hear much more and it's going to be even more graphic. >> it is. it's heartbreaking, don. that's unfortunately what the state has to do to meet their burden. got to prove the elements happened. yeah. it's going to get ugly. no uglier than the original crime on those poor victims. >> no. you got that right. >> absolutely. holly hughes, thank you. the death of a florida a&m drum major, roomed a homicide. the latest on the hazing scandal and what band parents have to say, coming up in moments. people with a machine.

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drum major rule add homicide. robert champion jr. was beaten to death in that hazing incident. it shows the otherwise healthy 26-year-old died from excessive internal bleeding after going into shock. champion died on november 19th following a game in orlando. no charges have been filed. also, three famu band

members facing charges accused of severely beating 18-year-old band member brea hunter. they graduated from the same school here in georgia. school officials here have since suspended all band activities throughout the county. george howell spoke with champion's parents about the decision. >> reporter: the southwest dekalb high school marching band performed for presidents, played at the rose bowl. when you ask band parents like annie brown -- >> the band, it's like family. so it's a real, nice family atmosphere. >> reporter: but brown tells me her suspicions are now raise raised about the culture are in that family that an investigation was started into all of its bands after the death of florida a&m drum major robert champion, his death is believed to be the result of hads izing.

administrators discovered inappropriate behavior over the summer. what is that? inappropriate behavior? >> i don't want to get into specifics of the behavior, but we had two incidents over the summer of inappropriate activity associated with band at two different schools. that was part of the evidence that we collected that determined we needed a formal investigation. >> reporter: sitting here waiting for your son, do you worry about all of these things you've heard on the news? >> yes. even when i was in high school, back then, it happened then. >> reporter: in high schools? >> in high schools, colleges. >> reporter: the dekalb county school district suspended all outside activity for its 20 bands. a decision robert champion's parents say is a move in the right direction. >> i wouldn't have never thought the band, the one thing he loved the most, that this would happen like this. >> people don't want to go to high school and be the kid left out. you don't want to be the kid in

college you don't have any friends. that becomes, you go through those processes. you become a member of one of these groups and you automatically have status. >> reporter: the president of philanders smith college wrote a book on hazing and says it's important to examine student organizations, cliques and subgroups from high schools to colleges. there's always been a long history, a strong connection between the southwest dekalb high school band and van hughes band and in this case, both robert champion and brea hunter went to school here not to mention the fact that two of the three people arrested for allegedly beating hunter also went to this school. parents tell me they appreciate the fact that this school district is investigating all of its bands. >> if that would help one kid not be hurt, be hazed, even losing their life, it will be worth it. >> reporter: dekalb school officials say it could be two months before their investigation is complete, and band activities can resume. george howell, cnn, atlanta.

>> a quick reminder for you. the attorney for the famu band member beaten in a hazing incident, weeks before robert champion died, will join me in champion died will join me in the 7:00 hour. nice, huh? yeah. you know what else is nice is all the savings you can get on cruze and traverse over there. oh! that's my beard. [ chuckles ] it's amazing. ♪ [ male announcer ] this holiday, chevy's giving more. now very well qualified lessees can sign and drive a 2012 cruze ls for around $199 a month. ♪

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tell somebody who is in my shoes. there are times i really didn't think it could ever happen. >> all right. before can you build your savings and your investments, you need to pay for what you have already spent, right? so paying off debt is something everybody wants to do. but it's not always easy. christine romans has tips in this week's "smart is a new rich." >> reporter: the worst present you can give yourself for holidays is more debt. you are listening, congress? don't buy that hype that you need to add to last year's debt this year. no sale, no hot holiday toy, no impulse purchases worth it at 20% on your credit card. first, if you can't afford it, put it down. >> in a perfect world, you would never charge more than can you pay in full when the bill arrived. worst case scenario, plan to pay it out no longer than three months. >> reporter: track your spending. the national foundation for credit counseling surveyed shoppers and found 56% had no

idea where they spent their money by the end of the month. >> we work very hard for our money. and then we spend it very casually. you'll never know where the leaks are until you write down every cent you spend for 30 days. seeing your spending staring back at new black and white is a real wakeup call. >> reporter: prioritize your debt. credit card debt is unforgiving, even with new protections. aim to pay it off. the best boost to your credit score is paying off big amounts of debt and then paying on time every time with the card after that. did you know a missed credit card payment stays on your credit history for seven years? finally, making a resolution to get out of debt and stay out of debt in 2012. >> go to annual credit report.com and print out your credit report to see how much debt you owe. organize your debts from smallest on bottom to largest on the top. start calling the creditors to maximize and reduce the interest rate. going into 2012, this is one of best things we did k. do to

organize our few tours to get that right peace of mind. all right. we want to check headlines here on cnn. united front in suburban detroit has 200 muslim and christian protesters joined to picket lowe's. they're criticizing the home improvement chain's decision to pull ads from the tlc reality show "all american muslim." a florida group objected to the portrayal of the muslims in the u.s. 30 counter protesters showed up to support lowe's. i'm don lemon in atlanta. i'll see you back here in one hour. "the situation room" begins right now. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894,

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