an apology from one of the biggest names in basketball. louisville coach rick pitino, married, father of five, comes out on national tv, says he's sorry for his indiscretion is six years ago when he had sex with a woman on a table with a restaurant and got her pregnant. school standing behind him. if they don't want him fired, fine, but what kind of message does that send to players, students at the school? a teen sets himself on fire and mom's blaming youtube. turns out her 13-year-old son was trying to copy a stunt he saw online. his leg, pants, covered with second- and third-degree burns. it's awful. tons of garbage on the internet, we have to monitor what our kids

do online. controversy, pin, your point of view. this is "prime news." >> welcome, this is "prime news." what do you do with rick pitino if you're the university of louisville. he just admitted to boozing it up and having sex with a woman on a table at a restaurant. she gets pregnant, he gives her three grand, she ends up having an abortion. the coach apologized to just about everyone this week. >> if you tell the truth, your problem becomes part of your past. if you lie, it becomes part of your future. and i made a very difficult decision to tell the truth to the federal authorities, the local authorities, to university officials and, most important, the people that love me the most, my family and friends. >> this happened six years ago and came to light when karen cypher was charged with trying to extort up to $10 million from pitino. after the charges, she then claimed she was raped. authorities are not pursuing the

ra charges. basically they said her story was too incouldn'ten. that brings us back to today. should the school punish the coach? they're sticking by him and the head of the athletic department says, here's his quote, a million% behind pitino. what message does that send? a player would get kicked off a team for a scandal line this and the coach? a role model, father figure, a guy who is supposed to be held to an even higher standard. he stays? earlier this week, we debated this one and i did that with a sports attorney, kent taylor, prime news affiliate wave and journalist and former anchor at espn. ken, let me start with you. is there any talk of any kind of punishment at all with the coach or are they moving forward? >> it doesn't sound like it at this point. as you said, the athletic director, vice president of athletics, says he's a million% behind him. we talked again with the president, dr. james rams see today, he seems to be behind coach pitino, so unless

something else comes out, which is entirely possible at this point, it's been crazy for the last four months, as long as we have all the facts right now, it sounds like nothing else will happen to coach pitino that he will not be suspended, won't take a leave of absence and will be back on the bench next seasons. >> the president of the school, james ramsay, knew of this but some details surprised him. what are those details that surprised him as this fully came to light? >> he has not said specifically, we can assume i guess the abortion thing was probably something that maybe he hadn't heard. we can only assume maybe that, that's the only thing kind of shocking, had a shock factor around here and all over the country. maybe that was it but hasn't really said much on the matter. >>. okay. stephen a., joining us again. we did a little research, forbes.com landed on it there, louisville basketball, most profitable in the country, the value of the basketball program, $24.4 million when pitino showed

up, i think they were 12-19 the year before, they've won 70% of their games this. he gets a pass because they win, is that what it is? >> it's all about the benjamins. it's about getting paid, the money that he brings to that program, the attention and prestige and the cache that he bring to the program, the aural-americans he's able to recruit because he is rick pitino, being a national championship coach at kentucky, taking providence to the final four, taking louisville as far as he's done, all of those things factor the equation but i don't think you can minimize or diminish the alleging the allegations and throwing the allegations because the fact is, there have been so many holes in the story, what it comes down to in the eyes of these administrators is, do we sit there and disrupt our program because the coach committed infidelity against his wife? no, you do -- he indeed raped her, which he's swearing did not happen, you get rid of him for those things. you might even consider it because of the abortion claim,

but because he committed infidelity or adultery, rather, with his wife, i guarantee you, that does not enough of a reason to get rid of your head basketball coach that generates millions for your program. >> lets bring in brian. we want to hear from you, what do you think should happen to the coach here? brian, do you agree? is it about money? rick pitino is supposed to be the pill art of the community, a face of the school. i mean, how can you be proud when the pillar of the community, come on, let's face it, that table at that restaurant is going to be a tourist stop. they've got to be proud of that, huh? >> i think you're right and what remains to be seen is what the reaction is going to be as this plays out and becomes the basketball season, is he going to continue to have the support and attract the recruits and make the money for a program? if he doesn't, then you look at what his contract says and contract clearly says that the university can terminate him, if he engages in some sort of scandal, brings the university into some sort of public

disrepute or is dishonest to the university. and of all the things that have happened here, maybe you say that even providing money for an abortion doesn't rise to the level of termination. maybe the fact that he engaged in an extramarital affair doesn't rise to that level. but if he lied or was dishonest or not completely honest when he had the discussions with the university that's very serious and you're absolutely right. are they willing to tolerate that? >> we showed the contract, if they wanted, they've got grounds to fire him if they were to choose to do so. let's get a caller in. shannon, what do you think here? what should happen? shannon? >> caller: oh, hello. >> hey, shannon, go ahead. >> caller: i have two comments. first of all, i don't think that he should be fired because he made a mistake, he committed adultery but if you take man and woman out in america and committed adultery and fire them for that, you're going to have a lot of people on the unemployment line. my second comment is, i have to destroy with you about it being a bad role model for the

students. i actually think it's a good thing because the students are going to look at him and they're going to see that, yeah, he made a mistake but went on national tv, admitted the fact that he made a mistake and the university is sticking behind him versus some of the these sports stars going out and saying they never did anything when actually they cut -- >> want to hear from you, 1-877

welcome back to "prime news" on hln. continuing the conversation. what should louisville do about

the coach rick pitino. we had a phone call from shannon saying, if every person who committed an affair was booted we'd have a lot of people on the unemployment line. teach basketball players how to be men, teach integrity, failure, he failed in that and i say he should go. let's see what rosemarie says in mississippi. rosemarie? >> caller: i'm sorry, hi, i'm so glad to hear from you. i really agree with everything you said because he is a role model and he has five children. he goes on national television and tells everybody he did commit adultery, he's not hurting himself. he's hurting his wife, his kids and all the other kids around the world. especially when they look up to him. >> okay, rosemarie thanks for the call. he said i'm sorry. let's not -- that's what you do, big deal. he said he's sorry. stephen a., go ahead. >> caller: let be real and stop

with this nonsense. we're living in the age of reality television. the sleazier you are, more money you get paid. that was his intent. he made mistakes, we all recognize that. but a long time ago, people stopped worrying about stuff like that because they know it didn't necessarily have a direct impact on their lives. at the end of the day, the guy's the basketball coach. he's not the pope. he's not a priest. he's not a reverend. he's a basketball coach, he screwed up, acknowledged it but it doesn't stop the millions of dollars they bring into the program. it doesn't stop the millions and the university it affects bringing in those millions into the university. he made a mistake, period. >> i'm going to jump back on my high horse, you laid it out, money is more important than character. and that's what they were saying about coach rick pitino. money and benjamins a more important than character. if that's what he want to stand on, good luck.

>> you and i have known each other for ten years. >> i'd like a school to stand up and say, you know what, integrity and character matter. >> i'll tell you when it will change is when it doesn't cost to fund the program. the tv deals are for free. >> money talks. >> when that's not happening, you don't have anything to worry about. >> money talks, you're right. i can't argue with that one. i wish character and integrity talked louder. brian, jump in. >> let me make two points. first of all, the university of louisville basketball program was a great program before rick pitino and whenever he leaves, it will still be a great program. >> that's not true. >> money will still come into that program. they will find a great coach who will maintain it at the status it's in. rick pitino's contract says he has to uphold the core values of the university. i think the university has to decide what those core values are. is it benjamins?

or is it other things like telling the truth to your employer, telling the truth to the government, not engaging in extramarital affairs? >> let me get a call in. stephanie's with us in kentucky. about 15 seconds, go. >> caller: yes, rick with thibault is, he is the most popular guy around here. he is never going to get in trouble. he's never going to get pun isshed because everyone's going to stand behind him because everyone loves him. >> he's the king. they win, they make money and that's what they're standing on. from that to this. two aircraft traffic chromers suspended linked to that tragic crash over the hudson. one guy was talking to his girlfriend on the phone.

an updaughter to a story we've been following closely for you. two huge developments in the murders of a wealthy couple attacked in their upscale

florida home, a home they shared with 13 adolt special needs children. six men and a teenager were formally charged with the murders of byrd and melanie billings. charges were upgraded from second to first-degree murder. they now have the option to seek the death penalty. this man led two teams of thieves in ninja-style heefts. all seven have pleaded not guilty. the family has file an emergency motion to keep the public from seeing the crime scene photo. . police have released this video just minutes before the attack. suspects broke in the front door, others took the back. in less than four minutes, byrd and melanie billings were dead. some of the men were there for a contracted hit? they still won't say why anyone wanted the billings dead. the other apparent motive, robbery. keep you posted on that one. a deadly moment of impact

caught on tape. two aircrafts collided in midair above the hudson river. no one survived the disaster. now, there's new video of the crash and two new jersey air controllers have been suspended. susan candiotti from our sister network cnn has the story. >> reporter: as investigators study this amateur video to find out what led to the terrifying mid-air crash over the hudson, there's more stunning information. an air traffic controller handle being the piper airplane was on the phone with his girlfriend at the time of the crash. according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. what the faa in a statement calls, quote, inappropriate conversations. and there's more. the faa says the air traffic controller's supervisor was not in the building at the time as required. >> they're put in a tower to do a job and if they're not doing the job, people can die. in this case, apparently, they weren't doing the job. >> reporter: our source says the air traffic controller had already cleared the plane for

takeoff from teterboro airport in new jersey before talking with his girlfriend. the ntsb says the plane had been handed off electronically to the next tower down the line in newark and then the plane disappeared from radar. the faa calls the conduct of the controller and his boss unacceptable, but says, quote, we have no reason to believe at this time that these actions contributed to the accident. >> we have somebody missing in action. we have someone else whose not doing their job. so the negligence is there. the only question is, is whether that negligence had a role in this accident. the faa is already saying, well, maybe it doesn't, but the faa stands to lose millions and millions of dollars if the taxpayers do if the faa is wrong. >> reporter: the two employees are now on administrative leave. the investigation's not over. ultimately, the two could be fired. the national air traffic controllers association supports the investigation, but adds that no one should rush to judgment

about what, at the very least, could be described as bad behavior. susan candiotti, cnn, new york. many historically black colleges and universities are hit pretty hard in this tough economy. as enrollment decreases, schools, students are struggling to make ends meet. here's sharon endo from cnn. >> reporter: sophomores found a perfect fit at spelman college but when the tough economy hit her and her family hard, she packed her bags ready to drop out. >> i wasn't able to get loans. neither were my parents. >> reporter: it's a familiar story at colleges across the country, but especially at historically black colleges and universities wherein some cases up to 95% of students rely on financial aid to fund their education. president obama has wanted to

increase financial aid but many expect enrollments to keep shrinking as families and students struggle in the economic downturn. >> many wants to come but will they afford to come? >> reporter: millions of dollars have been earmarked annually for black colleges and in the last two years, those institutions also benefit from the an extra $85 million each year under the college cost reduction act which ends in may of 2010. those institutions may feel the squeeze even more. >> we're underresourced. we try to keep our costs as low as possible. that means that our margins are always very tight. >> reporter: in the atlanta area alone, moorehouse college laid off 25 adjunct professors. spelman is eliminating 35 jobs next year and clark atlanta university's budget ax fell with 70 professors and 30 staff members let go. the white house budget office says the president's budget calls for a 5% increase in

permanent funding for historically black colleges. >> we're saying you're moving in the right direction, but unfortunately, in these tough times, not far enough. >> reporter: for this young woman, a scholarship came through at the last minute and she says a struggle to stay at the historically black college was worth it. >> i'm completely relieved and now i'm focusing on my studies. coming up, a bizarre story. at the enof a day, we have a 13-year-old boy who set himself on fire. he was imitating a stunt that he saw on the internet and his mom is now blaming youtube. she wants some restrictions. so, kids can't see this kind of stuff that they're going to go imitate. then the other side is saying, what about personal responsibility?

welcome back. this story you got to watch this video here. it's a holdup at a convenience store. the clerk is being held up by a robber. the husband of the clerk's not having any part of it. watch him come flying in here. look at that, armed robber, and it is go time as the husband begins to wrestle this guy. it lasts about ten minutes. we'll fick up the story from there a little later in the show. if you have thoughts on it, call in, 1-877-tell-hln and we want to hear from you on this story. michael vick, major announcement. a lot of people are talking about it. he signs with the philadelphia eagles after almost two years in a federal prison after dogfighting. he's going to take the field

again. here he is speaking a few hours ago at a news conference. >> only get one shot at a second chance and i'm conscious of that. >> all right. i think he should have a chance at redemption and the eagles are going to give it to him. two-year contract. we're talking about a strong organization. good coach. he's got a friend in donovan mcnabb. he's known vick since he was a senior in high school. it's a great opportunity. yes. what michael vick did was heinous but he's owning up to it. let's listen to michael vick. >> i was wrong for what i did. after everything that happened at that point in time in my life was wrong and, you know, it was unnecessary. and for the life of me, to this day, i can't understand why i was involved in such pointless activity. and why did i risk so much at the pinnacle of my career? and i was naive to a lot of things, but i figure if i can, you know, help more animals than i hurt, then, you know, i'm

contributing, i'm doing my part. >> hopefully his platform playing football again will lead to the end of this barbaric dogfighting. so, let's hope he can do some good out of all this. we'll take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln is the number. we want to bring in anthony gorgonos. welcome back again, stephen a. smith, journalist, with espn, with knee at cnnsi, was in philadelphia, "philadelphia enquirer" 13 years. he knows the fans. we got a brief snippet of what the fans are saying about the signing. let's listen to that. we'll take it from there. >> the guy has something to bring to the tomorrow make it bus ert, so what? >> he's done with it, served his time. >> i'm just a little upset with it because i'm such an animal lover. >> i'm not sure where we're going with this team. >> crazy signing. i don't know what they're going to do with the public relations part of it. >> got a mix there. fans in philly want to hear from you.

1-877-tell-hln is the number. anthony, what are you hearing from fans? thumbs up or thumbs down? >> i think mostly it's been thumbs down at least -- >> really? >> yeah. i would look at it as a moderate uprising. hasn't been all-out revolt, but fans haven't we would come michael vick with open arms. >> any specifics on what they're saying? they just don't forgive him? >> it's not like he's just forgiven. they're kind of caught off-guard. they don't know michael vick. this is not a town where he built up goodwill. so they view him strictly as what they saw, as a guy who did what he did, and they questioned what he's going to do with this football team. >> we'll talk about that in a little bit. let's stick with the fans. stephen, do you think they're going to embrace him? >> i think they'll embrace him if he's ultimately effective on the football field and stays out of trouble. nobody knows the post of philadelphia better than anthony gargano and he's right on the money. the fans are going to be down on

him at the beginning because they don't know him. you have to take into consideration, mike, the fact that this ask a city that was down on t.o. because of an attitude issue. this is ma a man that helped him get to the super bowl. this is a man that helped donovan mcnabb record his best season statistically until last year, i believe. you consider what t.o. did and the fact the city turned him against him. he didn't break any laws, didn't get into any trouble. he was just a mal content. here, you have a guy that committed a physical knee, that was responsible in large part for funding an operation in terms of torturing, hanging, electrocuting, killing and maiming dogs, it's going to be a long time. the city of philadelphia can be very hard on you. ultimately, it's one of the best sports cities in america, it will stand by you and support you if you do right, but if you do wrong, you do not want to be on their bad side. >> he makes a great point, anthony. let's face it, press, fans can be brutal in philly. they booed santa one year, right. >> in addition ancient history. it is a town prone, i think, to

either loving you or overloving you or, like stephen said, it can be very, very harsh and can bare its teeth. >> let me ask you this, michael vick busts out a 50-yard touchdown run, electrifying run. is all forgiven at that? >> in the end, we're all ron to hypocrisy in sports, any kind of moral stance that the sports fan has now will certainly dissipate if he's in the end zone or if he leads them to a super bowl and something happens with donovan mcnabb. >> real quick, stephen, you say it's going to take more than a couple touchdowns, huh? >> no question about it but also if donovan mcnabb struggles this year and ultimately michael vick produces positive contribution to field and i think then, you'll see a lot of people rallying

around him. >> let's get a couple calls. bob in florida. bob, your thoughts here? >> caller: hello? >> hey, bob, go ahead. >> caller: my question i had was kind of different is because why cleveland didn't try and draft him, but i just got to thinking because maybe he's, he has a dog pen and i wondered if he'd get violation of probation. >> bob with sarcasm on a friday. that brings up a good point, anthony. when the eagles go on the road, michael vick's going two take a beating. it's going to get ugly. >> it certainly will. it's interesting about how much he's going to play, you know, like stephen said, donovan mcnabb is this team's quarterback and how it goes is depend debit upon donovan mcnabb. i can see michael vick being in there for about a half dozen plays as a wildcat. andy reid likes to do different gadget plays and there's a lot of things can you do with him. that's the role. he's not going to come in as a quarterback. donovan mcnabb, this is his

team. >> do we have to take a break, adrianne? let's taey quick break. we've got some calls lined up. want to hear from you. and we'll let you hear what the humane society thinks about this? can he help eradicate dogfighting?

welcome back. michael vick back in the nfl getting a lot of e-mails. this one coming to us from barbara in greensboro, north

carolina. here's what she says. "second chances should be earned not handed out like lollipop. do people legally think that one day michael vick thinks away working together to combat dogfighting, the problem of dogfighting in philadelphia and nationwide. steven, you know, you and i stalked about this as this story was simmering that i think his career should be tied to real long-term work with the humane society and from that, it seems like that's the case. will that quiet the critics

somehow? >> it won't immediately, but i think over time, as he proves to be diligent in his efforts with the humane society to curb the issue of animal cruelty and to address that head-on, i think it's going to work wonders for him. the one thing i'd like to add, i think people need to be very careful about michael vick was convicted of a felony, financing a dogfighting ring. let's judge him according to that. let's not think that all of a sudden we have the right to sit there and say, and make a big issue if the man doesn't smile, if he gets in an argument with his teammates, if he gets stopped for a speeding ticket and all of this other stuff. the man was convicted of funding a dogfighting ring and as long as he replains from that or any illegal activity, it's not for the rest of us to sit there and feel like we have to the right to judge everything he does in his life. >> let's see what the folks are saying. jeff, what do you think the michael vick's work with the humane society? does that encourage you? >> caller: no, not really.

i don't think that he should be allowed to play football ever after all of the things that he did. you know, what i can think is of piece rose. he made a simple bet and he was kicked out of baseball and he was not even allowed to be in the hall of fame, you know. and he didn't hurt anybody or any animals or anything. he made a bet. >> jeff saying he's out of there. lets bring back anthonygorgano. as we dissect this and see his work with the humane society. do you see him as sincere, a changed man? >> not yet. i think you have to see him. i think right now, it begins his pen nance. he was granted the opportunity, of course he's going to say all the right things and he did that today. but it's not ready just to welcome him back. now you have to prove to the masses that you are sincere, that you want to do the right things, that you do want to help a city that, let's face it, is

plagued by dogfighting. >> and hopefully he can help eradicate it. let's listen to him again, guys. basically, no excuses. let's list ebb. >> we all used the excuse, it was part of our culture and, you know, i don't think that's an excuse. now, i understand it. people care about their animals. they care about the health. the welfare, the protection of animals, and now i do. >> all right, there it is. owning up to it right there. i got to ask you this, anthony, see if you can weigh in as well, how are the fans in philly going to react if animal rights protesters come and sdriptd eagle football? >> well, listen, i think they're -- they understand the bigness of this whole thing and this situation transcends sports. in the end, it's a rabid football town and it wants to see its eagles. they're going to expect a lot of vick and he's not going out in the forefront, he's going to be

more behind the scenes. he's only going to be there about a half dozen plays. >> right, right. real quick, stephen, go ahead. how are philly fans going to react to animal rights protest snrs. >> i think some will support him and some will come to the defense of michael vick but at the end of the day, it really does not matter. the fact is as long as this guy obeys the law and doesn't engage in dogfighting and engages in work with humane society, he'll have add votes and critics. the man spent 18 months in a federal penitentiary. he couldn't drop the soap. he had to watch his back. he had a lot of stuff to be concerned about. now he's a free man. i don't think he's even concerned about it. he just wants to make sure he stays out of trouble. >> thank you so much, thank you to the viewers for your calls. here's a story for you. robber at a convenience store. the husband sees what's going on there. he's going to tackle the guy. it's about a ten-minute fight.

we'll let you know how it plays out, take your calls a little bit. we could call him a hero. let's get to our hero of the week. a chemistry teacher. >> i was coming out and night and i see this computer. and i found everything was thrown out. >> the children in kenya have very few resources, even a pencil, which are hard to get. any part that i can play to make the life of kids better, it's great. the computers are tested, make sure they're working. ooh, that's it. then, we label the name of the school on each box and then we ship it to kenya.

the computers are saved from poisoning the environment and are going to be used for some 20 years by schools. every school is going to plant 100 trees for every computer. we are planting a seed teaching the kids to preserve the environment and be engines of change. ♪ >> it's like giving the kids a new life. computers are getting a new life and trees are being given a new life, too. it's all connected.

a new program that's helping african-american men beat some pretty serious odds. it started with a surgeon who says he saw the same shooting, stabbing victims again and again in the trauma center. richelle carey has that story in our weekly feature, "what matters." >> reporter: mike, young african-american are at an increased risk of falling victim to gun violence and those who survive are more likely to return to bad habits. but one man decided to face his future with strength and courage to turn from his street life. >> this is where i used to get busy. >> reporter: adrian barnes admits he was a bad boy on baltimore streets. he says he even shot a man. >> this is where i hustled drugs

right here. >> reporter: he became a victim of the violence he inflicted with two bullets in his leg. >> i was laying there and i was thinking about all the stuff i did to people. i had to learn from my lesson. >> reporter: recovered in maryland's trauma center, he ha changed his life. >> the probation officer asked if i wanted to change my life. i thought about it, because i am really tired of living the way i'm living. >> reporter: the program is the violence intervention program or vip. car nell cooper started it after he saw the same shooting and stabbing victims again and again. >> we all get frustrated with seeing patients that we work so hard to save come back. i grew up in a neighborhood in south carolina and they were just like me. i did not feel that these were individuals who were so steeped that we could not turn them

alive. >> reporter: he treated street violence as a disease. >> we need to have the same with heart disease and smoking. and embrace this problem of violence in our kids, because they're dying. >> reporter: cooper's cure --ñi combination of drug rehab, education and jobs. >> the patients who gotçó our intervention were much less likely to be convicted. >> reporter: patients like adrian who turned his life around. >> all you need is somebody to show you that they care about you. the program has been real good to me. they've never turned their back on me. >> listen to that. here now with don lemon from cnn reporting. since 1998, the vip program has been committed to saving patient's lives and their future. today, similar programs are being considered in other cities. check out the september issue of

"essence" magazine or logon. coming up, a husband tries to play hero for his wife, who was being held up.