with the senate bills on the verge of a merger. president obama is working to keep support up, today rallying a group of doctors at the white house. he talked big picture, tying reform to the hippocratic oath. >> the reforms we are proposing to our health care system will help you live up to that oath. they will make sure -- [ applause ] they will make sure that neither some government bureaucrat or insurance company bureaucrat gets between a parent and their doctor. >> joining us now, nbc news chief white house correspondent chuck todd and nbc political director. chuck, good to talk to you. any mentioning here of public option versus co-op? >> reporter: this wasn't a lot but what we do know now, the president is actually doing some work behind-the-scenes to figure out how to get some form of a public option in the senate bill. as we stand now, nothing in the max baucus finance committee bill, which a lot of people assume is the framework for an actual bill that gets passed,

doesn't have a public option in it, but now we know the white house is trying to figure out a way to get some version of it in. could be a trigger, could be a negotiated version of it that's a little bit, you know, weaker than what some strong public option advocates want. so, that still seems to be in play, at least behind the scenes. >> give me some idea here, how much pressure is harry reid under, given the fact he has to coincide these two bills, the health committee bill which has a public option, the finance committee bill, which does not and he has to go forward and isn't he basically the person who decide also there is a public option in the plan at a gets presented to the full senate? >> reporter: there is no more thankless job being the majority leader in the senate, whether you are the democratic majority leader or the republican majority leader. it is very easy to back seat drive a majority leader, very easy to say how come you can't get this done? you have got 60 votes. how come you can't orchestrate

this better. it is not as powerful a position legislatively as speaker of the house is. nancy pelosi, as speaker of the house, can really dictate what she wants in many ways, how the framework of a bill gets done and she can find a way to get votes, plus she has got a bigger cushion, in an odd way, you would think a 60-seat majority is too. you have to consider all those factors. reid isn't under a a lot of pressure, he has his own re-election bid to worry about. that also casts a cloud over all of the work that he's doing and he is trying to figure out what is the -- calibrate this public option in particular, calibrate it in such a way that he figures out how to get 60 votes. right now, that's not clear. he may have to get some version of a public option in and then vote it out, then they vote out a health care bill that is the politics of this that is very confusing for now and that we won't know about for another couple of week he is. >> all right, chuck, thank you. the pressure is on president obama to decide whether to send more troops to afghanistan. insurgents killed 17 u.s. troops

in just the first four days of this month alone. yesterday, eight americans were killed in a firefight on the pakistani border. nbc's adrian monk is with me now. tell me about the attack and why so many americans have been killed this month. >> reporter: hi, contessa. well, the attack, which took place this weekend, and which the u.s. military described as being well coordinated targeted two small places in nuristan province on the border between afghanistan and pakistan. now, these bases, which were actually combat outposts are in very, very remote areas. one was on top of a mountain, which the soldiers were able to fight back and keep successfully. the other base, however, is very -- it's very much in a deep valley surrounded by very steep mountains and harsh terrain, which the enemies -- the fighters use to their advantage and launched rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine gun fire at the outpost.

the americans fought back using apache helicopters, heavy gunfire as well and air strikes but the battle there, in that outpost, still lasted more than six hours. now, in addition to the eight american soldiers who were killed, the u.s. military says that about 50 of the enemy fighters now identified as taliban, possibly senior leaders, were also killed in that gun fight. now these two -- process of being shut down it is part of this new strategy under general stan mcchrystal who wants to relocate these american troops from these very remote small outposts into more densely populated areas so that they can focus more on protecting local citizens. so, this has been part of the reason that some of this fighting has stepped up. it was -- apparently, the u.s. said that they had informed local leaders that these outposts were in the process of shutting down. >> adrienne, thank you so much for bringing us up to date.

i know there is some speculation as well about whether the insurgents attacked because, specifically, they had been forewarned that the outposts were being shut down. my big questions today on afghanistan, are politics motivating decisions on military strategy? the death toll rising, are the insurgents getting smarter and more effective? and what was general mcchrystal hoping to accomplish with his speech in london last week when he criticized an alternative strategy known as "chaos "istan." gregg jefferie joins me to talk about this a correspondent with the "washington post." good to see you. >> good see you. >> general mcchrystal, all his public statements what the strategy should be, what the dangers are what the pitfalls are, what is his angle here? >> i think he wants to pursue a population focus of insurgency strategy, controlling the major cities, population centers and villages with as many troops as he can. >> given the fact that most insiders who come back from

afghanistan have a similar thought, they tend to think that without engaging the citizenry in a new and unique way, that there is no winning in afghanistan. why is there such reluctance on the part of the white house, on the part of american leaders here at home, to give the general what he thinks is necessary? >> well, population focus counterinsurgency is expensive, require a lot of troops and there is no guarantee for success. you are paying a big price and taking a big risk, all at the same time. also, afghanistan is a huge country. so even if you can control some of the cities and villages, you are still going to have big safe havens. the nuristan is a perfect example, an attack this weekend, we are pulling out of there when we leave, the taliban will control it. >> greg, today, dan senior, instrumental under the bush administration in iraq said if you take a look at the successful occupations, the successful reorganization of countries after a war, that in

every case, they look at the -- about a 50:1 soldier to population, one soldier for every 50 people. he said in iraq when he first went energy the number was about 700:1. is it just that the american people have no will, no stamina for that kind of massive force in afghanistan? >> well, the american people and i'm not sure that the army has -- the u.s. army has that kind of force available and can sustain it. remember, we have been at war for eight years now and that put a lot of strain on people, a lot of strains on sergeants and captains and majors who have gone back for multiple -- multiple tours at this point. >> also, as a final negotiate the president is getting a lot of criticism for dithering on this, not making a swift, decisive plan on, on a strategy they can move forward on. why the delay? >> i think once you commit to a large-scale population focus counter insurgency campaign, you are stuck with it for a while

and it is going to cost a lot of people it is going to cost a lot of lives. and i can understand the desire to make sure that, you know, you are not wasting lives in vein, that what is really what you want and what you are committed to. >> yeah, greg, thanks. a suicide bomb attack has closed the united nations food program in islamabad, pakistan, temporarily. the ataker was wearing the uniform of a paramilitary soldier when he walked into the lobby, detonated his explosives, kill canning four employees at the u.n. agency. pakistan's new taliban leader is vowing more attacks ant country has already seen violence scattered through the cities country-wide. police in nevada found a missing 16-year-old girl in indiana. she was unharmed but she was with her brother-in-law. police say he was visiting reno before the girl disappeared. they are reportedly trying to determine if there was criminal conduct involved in her disappearance. at this hour, a man accused

of stalking and secretly videotaping an espn reporter in the nude goes before a judge in chicago. 47-year-old michael david barrett already faces federal interstate stalking charges in los angeles. he allegedly called more than a dozen hotels to find out where espn's erin andrew was staying, requested the room next to hers and he is accused of tampering with the peephole so that he could capture cell phone video of her. nbc's john yang is following developments for us from chicago. okay, so today's court appe appearance what are you expecting? >> reporter: it is essential lay bail hearing, decide whether or not he goes to california as a free man or bail or whether he goes to california as a prisoner with federal marshals. he has already been ordered to go to california to face these charges, that's where the jurisdiction is. that's where the charges were filed. i think it's -- the lawyers say it is because this began or

this -- the tracking barrett began when he asked tmz if they would buy the video from him and they were able to use that e-mail that he sent to tmz to track him down. and tmz is head quartered in los angeles, contessa. >> john yang, thank you very much for the wrapup there appreciate that. still ahead, health care workers are rolling out the h1n1 vaccine in some states today. we will get some answers about how safe that really is. plus, we get real with a mother whose child died of flu, traditional flu. her take on the vaccine ahead. david letterman back to work for the first time after bombshell revelations of an extortion plot against him. the new details that have everyone talking. the battle between jon and kate goslin turns really ugly. jon is accused of wiping out the couple's joint banking account. we will be right back. what's our favorite part of honey bunches of oats? the sparkly flakes. the honey-baked bunches!

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health care workers in memphis, tennessee, became the first in the nation to receive the h1n1 vaccine. they received the vaccine via nasal spray this morning. shortly afterwards, health officials in indiana got their sprays. the first shipment of the vaccine was so small, it was reserved for health care workers so that they don't infect patients with h 1 n 1 the high-risk groups being advised to get the first vaccines, pregnant women, caregivers of children younger than six months of age, health care personnel, people ages six months to 24 years old and people with underlying conditions. let's get real now. i am joined by kansas city missouri by joy. and she enrolled her children in the human trials of the h1n1 vaccine. i know that was prompted by a tragic loss that you suffered.

tell me your story. >> in 2003, we lost our son, ian, to comp plic excations of -- complications of influenza a. he was just six months old and we thought he must have died from something we weren't aware of. we had a healthy, beautiful baby one day and the next day after two doctor visits, he was gone. >> i know he had the first of two flu vaccines he needed to protect him. there are a lot of parents out there very concerned about any vaccines at all but specifically the swine flu vaccine. was there ever any question in your mind about whether that first shot is what initially gave him the illness? >> my husband and i both believe that the vaccine had nothing to do with ian getting sick. children under 9, they have to get vaccinated twice with the influenza the first year that

they have t and ian did get his first vaccine. my older two boys also got vaccinated that day. ian got sick and about ten days after the vaccine, but the vac seep is made with a dead virus. i don't believe he caught it from the vaccine. >> what would you say to all these parents out there, and there's been so much attention paid to swine flu and how easily it's -- it's spread, and the folks who have died, it really strikes not just babies and old people but really striking people in those middle ages, 10 to 22 years or so, what would you say to them about wake the risks versus the protections you might get from the vaccine? >> the vaccine is a safe vaccine, not 100% effective no vaccine is but your number one way to help prevent getting both seasonal and h1n1 influenza.

to the parents, i would say get your children vaccinated, not only get your children, tough make sure and get yourself vaccinated, too, because we can bring it home to our kids. i've got three kids at home right now, ages 4, 11 and 13 and they get vaccinated against seasonal flu every year and this year, they have been vaccinated against the h1n1 strain also. >> has there been any side effect there is? >> none whatsoever. and they finished up the testing on saturday. they had their last blood draw on saturday. and they had no reactions whatsoever. my best friend, she also got her two children in it, who were 3 and 6 years old and neither one of her boys had any type of side effect or reaction, not even redness or swelling at the site. >> on the other hand, when you had your little baby, little 6-month-old ian who otherwise was a perfectly healthy little boy to contract the flu.

as i understand it, it died in you and your husband's arms -- >> yes. >> i know that this must feel like a mission for you. in fact, you have ian'srainbow be okay to really educate people about flu vaccines. >> yes. shortly after ian died, my husband and i started doing research and we were just amazed at how bad seasonal influenza is. you know this year, we have h1n1 in addition to that. seasonal influenza, most strains kill 36,000 people. the year ian died, 64,000 people divide influenza. we started ian's rainbow flu foundation and also involved with families fighting flu and the american lung association faces of influenza campaign and i just think it is so important that people realize it can happen to anybody's children it doesn't matter if you have insurance or if you don't have insurance or if you get your child to the doctor. we had ian in twice answered still died within 30 hours after his first symptoms.

>> i'm so sorry that you -- i'm so sorry, julie that you lost ian and i hope that in some way, that your message can help other families who are struggling with, i said before, weighing the choice of whether to go ahead and get their children vaccinated against seasonal flu and against now this h1n1 strain. and i hope faith and sean and ryan stay healthy. thank you for your time. >> thank you. thank you so much. and i would like to thank everyone who has already reached out with your stories. if you haven't already and you would lake to reach me, you can send me a message. i am on facebook, i'm on twitter and my e-mail, contessa at msnbc.com as we get real on some of these big news stories of every day. stay with us for continuing coverage here, much more on the safety and effectiveness of the swine flu vaccine today at 4:00. a mother reunited with her kidnapped newborn only it to have the state take away all of her kids for what they say is safety reasons. what's behind that? we will have the latest on that developing story. and an adventure goes terribly wrong for one thrill

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welcome back to msnbc. we are following breaking news right now. looking at wfla's shot here above the university of south florida the tampa campus here. usf apparently is asking its students to stay inside and lock their doors because there is an armed intruder reported on campus now. they are telling its students to avoid the area, to report anything suspicious. they have shut down the transit system that would carry the students around the school. it is not even picking up passengers until police give the all-clear and they are telling students at this point not to wait in sheltered or in bus stops torque go somewhere indoors where it's safe and to lock the doors there. this is the word that i have now

from usf website, that there is an armed intruder on campus at the library. and as you can see now there are authority who are on the scene it looks like crowds of people waiting outside. well, so much seeking safe shelter but i suppose with the authority there is, they are keeping an eye on that but they are also asking students to stay inside, presumably in their dorms or in their classrooms and to lock their doors because of this armed intruder. i assume that what we are looking at now is the library at the usf campus in tampa here, wfla on the scene. looking now, police are actively searching for this person who apparently has a weapon, was spotted on campus at the library. and so the authorities there, and they sent out the campus-wide alert telling students to stay where they are, lock their doors, stay inside and if they were planning on waiting for the campus bus to pick them up, it's called the bull runner transit system new

york the to wait for the shelter. in fact, they have told the buses to stop picking up passengers until authorities give the all-clear about this particular intruder. once again, if you are just joining us, wfla a's chopper now over the scene at university of south florida, tampa campus, here. we are looking at an armed intruder on campus and the order for students now to stay inside, to lock the doors because of this person who is deemed dangerous at this point. we will continue to stay on top of this story. we are working to get some more information for parents who are out there and obviously for any students who may have msnbc up and running. quick break. msnbc returns after this. you could buy 750 bottles of water. or just one brita faucet filter. - ( plinks ) - brita. better for the environment and your wallet.

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now on their website if we pull up the website, you can see it is an alert that goes out to students saying there is an armed intruder on campus. they have ordered students to lock their doors to stay where it is safe, to seek safe shelter, told people who are waiting for the bus that the bus will not be picking up any passengers and not to wait at the shelters at the bus stops for this bus because of this armed intruder. it looks like tampa bay online is reporting that it is a gunman. they have talked to the police there, the lieutenant of the usf police, and saying that they have to take this credible -- you take all the threats seriously, they are there on the scene. they are in the library now, which is where this armed intruder was first reported, but again, wfla's chopper now over the scene of the library. and what we've seen is, in addition to a heavy law enforcement presence both from the campus police and the tampa police, it looks like a lot of students have been evacuated now

from the library and are standing out on the sidewalk surrounding t and there you're seeing the law enforcement, a number of vehicles, squad cars that are on the lawn of the library. parking lot's right next to it, while they search for this armed intruder. even in the other campus buildings, they are telling students it's not safe to keep the doors locked and not to be out and about at this point because of the threat from this particular person. waiting to get some more information directly from the authorities here, but again, wfla on the scene, circling the library overhead where presumably they are focusing their search for this armed intruder. again, tampa bay online now reporting that that intruder is a gunman. we have not confirmed that here at nbc news. meg ross joins me now, she is the usf campus police lieutenant. lieutenant ross, can you explain the situation as it stands right now? >> hello? >> can you hear me? >> i can't hear you, i'm sorry.

>> can you explain the situation as it stands right now? >> yeah, we are searching the area right now. we have information that there was an armed person in the area of the library. we got that call at 1:36 this afternoon. and as of this time, we have been on scene since 1:43, we have not yet located anybody that seemed to be fitting the description, but we are in the area. >> okay. do you know armed with what? >> i don't have that information. >> was there a particular threat from this, what's being described as the armed intruder? >> i don't any other information, other than that we did get a call that there was an armed person in the area of the library. >> okay, we are seeing right now from the chopper video, meg, a lot of people standing outside. in fact, we are seeing officers running out the door. has the library been fully evacuated? >> i don't know. i don't have any update on that.

i know that we were focusing on the library. >> and how many -- i know the campus police are obviously there as well. what other kind of law enforcement support do you have? >> i'm sorry, i -- believe we have the hillsborough county sheriff's office but i don't know who specifically is on scene. >> all right, meg ross is the university of south florida campus police lieutenant joining us. thank you very much, lieutenant, for your information today. again, we are looking at the scene now outside of the library on the usf tampa campus, where an armed intruder has been reported in the library. we are seeing a bit of activity now as this particular officer, it looks like he was just running out of the library, jumped into his squad car and now the squad car taking off. we have not learned whether they believe the intruder is still in the library, whether the intruder was specifically threatening someone in the

library and though tampa online news is reporting it was a gunman, that even has not been confirmed to us by police officials there at the campus. so we are keeping our eye on the situation but again, the advice for students at this point is to remain in your -- in your area, lock the doors. if you're outside, they are asking students to seek safe shelter, not to wait at the bus stop for the campus bus to pick them up. they say the bus will not be picking up any passengers until authorities gift all-clear. once again, you are looking now at wfla's chopper tracks the squad car on his way, the officer left the library in a bit of a hurry in a run, jumped into the squad car and is now taking off. it looks like heading to a different part of the campus now in tampa. looking at the library, it looks like the library is fronted here on several sides by other campus

buildings and then we are seeing the parking lots nearby as well. just to give you an idea about this campus of south florida, it is about, oh, just off of 275 here where 275 and 75 split there in tampa. the catch puss that you are seeing now. again, the alert for people who are on campus to keep their doors shut and locked because of the threat of this armed intruder. again, we are staying on top of this, waiting for more information either from the campus police, from the university or from the sheriff's department that -- the chopper pilot who is in the wfla chopper is reporting that the campus police officer is heading toward the student center on campus and presumably that also would be under that alert. the alert went out to the other students on the website and in many cases, as was instituted after the tragedy before with a gunman walking onto campus, that these alerts even can go to your personal blackberries or cell

phones, might get text messages alerting to the security orders from campus police. so, in this case, we are expecting to hear that students are following this order because of this alert. now, look at this. this presumably is the student center. again, the chopper pilot says this is heading toward the student center, but again, another area that may be on campus, it looks like the police officers are out there they have their weapons in hand. and this appears to be that maybe a witness or a security guard, a bystander describing to police what they may find inside this -- this facility. i'm being told that this is -- well that seems obvious, it is a bus facility in this case. i see a number of buses lined up there once again, they have said that the campus bus is not going to be picking up any -- any passengers at this point. okay. again, the officers arrived at the scene about quarter till

two. meg ross who just spoke to us, told tampa bay online that all the threats would be taken seriously, that "the call"s are taken seriously, when they get a call about an armed intruder, they take those seriously, on the scene and in the library as we just saw, but it looks like much of the action now is focused on -- maybe i will describe it as the bus depot, a number of the buses outside. >> pull back a little bit. a hostage negotiator has been called n let's turn up the chopper pilot. >> we should not be live with this. >> well there you go. that's what the chopper pilot's communicating with us. okay. once again, the police officers are now approaching these situations. again, there is some question about why they would stop the bus service altogether and they have done that the university telling people that the buses would not pick up any students

and not to get on a bus, not to wait at the bus shelter. you wonder if they got some specific information that has now led them to this particular bus depot. once again, we are hearing that a hostage negotiator has been called in. and there you're seeing -- it looks like the police officers -- okay. here's -- here's our plan at this point. we are going to put this on the delay so that we can have some measure of control over the pictures that we're showing you. we will put it on a bit of a delay, showing you there where this is happening in tampa. and again, we are looking at 275 and 75 and 4, where those major interstates intersect, the university of south florida, tampa campus would be right in the center of that. there again, the map of florida. let's go back to the pictures now that we are following and it looks to me like the police officers are now surrounding several buses. what they do is they kneel they get to on it and there are some

officers who are surrounding some of the other vehicles. okay. we are going to continue to follow this story. look for more details about it, but we are going to take a quick break here. we are working on getting some other information. we will be right back. 100 years of engineering excellence is here for the taking. it's gmc truck month. shop the gmc yukon that offers 20 highway mpg, and over 108 cubic feet of maximum cargo space. step up to the best. it's gmc truck month. get 0% apr for 72 months on 2009 gmc yukon. or get $6,000 total cash back on select 09 yukon vehicles in stock. see your gmc dealer today. it's not always easy living with copd, but i try not to let it hold me back... whether i'm at the batting cages... down by the lake or... fishing at the shore. i'm breathing better... with spiriva. announcer: spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment for both forms of copd,

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negotiator has been called in. all of this sparked by what was described as an armed intruder at the library of usf tampa campus. so the police officer get there is on the scene they start searching the library they send out an alert telling people to stay in their rooms to lock the doors but more specifically they told people that these campus buses would not be running, they would not be picking up passengers until the all-clear was given and not to wait with the shelter. i am joined on the phone by a former nypd detective who joins me to sort of analyze the situation. when we are looking at the university of south florida and the situation here, gil, where they have just surrounded one of these campus buses called the bull run they're would go around picking up students, letting a a lot of people off, are we to presume this may have had nothing something to do with this initial report of an armed

intruder? >> yeah, i'm sure they wanted everybody out of the area and that is the reason they are clearing out probably all the buses they have around there and getting everybody away from the area as much as possible. the last thing the police want to do is have an armed assault against this intruder, so, that's why the hostage negotiator's coming in. one of the thing about the -- you know, the -- having him there is that you have cameras there you have surveillance cameras, so they right now know something about this individual, what he has, what kind of -- what kind of -- maybe what kind of weapons he showed or anything else. and no -- so the hostage negotiator is -- has to have them contained so they want to know, does he have any hostages at this time? who is he holding? how dangerous is the situation? and the fact that they can talk to him that is going to be a big thing and have contact with this person and have him contained. >> okay. and gil, let me describe the pictures, in case you are not in front of a monitor right now. i see one police officer who is now on his -- on his knee, they

are surrounding -- there's a line of buses here, but they are surrounding one specific bus it looks like. and i'm not sure whether that is the same bus in fact that they just let all of those people off it may be a different bus, but at any rate, they have police officers now surrounding it. will they wait for the hostage negotiator come before they make a move? >> i don't think they are going to make a move. it depends on who they have and what he has inside. if there is a -- if there is an intruder inside the bus, you know they don't know what the situation is maybe it is one guy in the building and another guy some place else. they don't note situation. but if they believe somebody informs that bus, they would surround the bus with a lot more police, tactical police, and really take cell of that bus. so, um, you know, they don't really know what they have at this point. maybe they are looking for an individual that could be there and he was hiding with everybody else and he is still around, maybe he is under the bus, maybe

he escaped from the building, he is out there or maybe that is the second intruder that they have. but obviously, they are looking for somebody else that may be around that location. >> if this situation does not resolve thisself, will they call in s.w.a.t.? >> that's the last resort on this, but it's a protection what can this guy do? go up on the roof start shooting people? have hostages, everything else? they would call s.w.a.t. in now, but not to do damage, for protection. really, i don't think they know what they have yet and who they are looking for and where this other person may be that has a weapon because they are mighty cautious, the police, scurrying around with their guns out. so, i don't really think they have full comprehension of what could be happening at this point. >> all right. and now they have moved away from one location, moved to a different location, as we are watching from the pictures here. definitely farther away from the bus situation. i'm letting the video, in some cases, speak for itself, gil, as

we are watching what's happening. it looks though like there is a limited number of officers. there is not an army of officers here. we are just seeing -- we are only seeing handful. there may be others that are out of the frame of it this particular shot, but it looks like there are just a few. so do they just sit back and wait and watch, because it does look like they got a number of people on -- off the bus. okay. wait. wait. hold on one second. let's pull up the wfla chopper pilot. >> usf, where a gunman was shotted at the library a short time ago, just after he got on the scene and made our first report, we noticed a number of squad cars leave very rapidly, lights and sirens from the library. they headed to the northwest side of the campus just off of west holly drive at the bus facility where they all spread out and now have surrounded a couple of buses. s.w.a.t. members and police

officers are on the ground with guns drawn. high-powered rifles in presence. there were some students on one of the buses, they evacuated them and herded them across the street, away from the area what is exactly going on is unclear, whether this is the same supposed gunman or whether this is just a false alarm. we are not sure. but the police are taking this very, very seriously. if you are on the campus, stay put, stay indoors, do not travel around at this point because of the situation that's going on down here. it is a very critical situation with the police officers armed and prepared to shoot, from the pictures. over at usf, for tbo be.com, this is pilot judd chapin. >> that is the pilot giving a report to his local station, live as you see them, nearly live on a small delay.

just surrounding this and moved away, a dozen, two dozen people freed from that bus. we don't know if they were hostage on the bus, kept there by someone in a position of authority. at this point, the information from the campus has been, from the campus police, stay where you are, keep the dars locked, and don't go out, specifically what comes to this campus bus, known as the bull runner go around the campus, pick up students a the certain spots and drop them off in other spots, said they would be make nothing passenger pickups until the situation was resolved and that police gave it the all-clear. we are seeing this as a developing situation. and wand potential passengers away from waiting at the bus at the bus stop, again because of

this armed intruder. we have just seen now a group of people allowed off of a bus. we were told that a hostage negotiator was coming in and now watching someone in civilian clothes and a guy with his hands -- you see three people now with their hands behind their heads being asked to back up slowly, they are backing up they backing up, again, we don't know whether they werement ises or people who potentially are students, maybe passengers on the bus but police want to question them before they are allowed to leave. the group of people who were allowed off the bus were taken to a grassy area nearby and these three people seated on the concrete ground where the buses were parked. we are working on getting information where the people may be. we will take a quick break here and rejoin you in just a minute. boss:hey, glad i caught you. i was on my way to present ideas

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all right. six minutes till the top of the hour now. as you can see, police are putting one of the guys that we just saw with his hands behind his head into the squad car now, presumably in custody to be questioned. this all began today at the university of south florida, the tampa campus, in tampa, florida. there was a call that came in to the campus police about an armed intruder in the library. so the campus police arrived on scene. they sent out a campus-wide alert telling people to stay in their rooms to keep their doors locked, that the campus bus service would be suspended, not picking up any passengers until they were given the all-clear. and then we saw officers moving to this bus depot. this is where the bull runner, the campus transit system apparently keeps its buses. we saw police go in and free a

whole lot of people, release them from a particular bus. they ran out of the bus depot to a grassy area and then we watched unfold as police had their weapons drawn, surrounded a particular bus and then we saw them take three people. it looks like they were coming off of a bus, walking backwards, their hands behind their heads. the police officers have them on the ground, handcuffed. we saw one gentleman handcuffed and taken to the squad car, put in the back of the squad car. and now as wfla's chopper widens out and pans over, we can see this grassy area where these other people released off the bus were taken at this point. there are some of them right there outside of the van, as you can see, and presumably, officers will be questioning some of these people about what happened on that bus. we are interested in knowing were they hostages, were they just taken for a ride? let's now take you back to the first moment that we saw police.

and here you have the -- here's the guy who was being led away by this police officer. again, you can see his hands behind him, shackled and handcuffed, he gets put in the back of the squad car. presumably, he is going to be questioned about his relation to this whole incident a lot of questions here about whether there was an armed intruder, about whether this guy and the other guys we saw are part of that and whether there was a hostage situation. we are waiting to hear from usf on this particular story. a quick break here. david and tamron take over after this. my name is herb. i live in northport, alabama. i'm semi retired and i'm here to tell a story. my parents all smoked. my grandparents smoked. i've been a long-time smoker. you know, discouragement is a big thing in quitting smoking. i'm a guy who had given up quitting.

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who know the health care system best, the doctors and nurses of america. >> the latest polls back up that, so why are key parts of the democratic health care reform plan on life support. the message, who in the gop is trying to tamp down the leader of the party? and more to come, a secret bedroom and allegations of sex with interns. what else is there in the david letterman sex and bribery scandal? plus, a new controversy over the pledge of allegiance. students are now forced to recite the pledge in one state. is the law patriotic or crossing the line? good afternoon, everybody, good afternoon, tamron, i'm david shuster live in washington. >> i'm tamron hall live in new york. david, we have been following breaking news out of tampa, florida, at the university of south florida. we saw a man just happening a short time ago being taken into custody after authorities, quite honestly, swarmed that campus following