did ammons catch a break today? >> i thought he caught a break today.ught, you know, given a little chance to breathe and at the same time look at the direction that the university is going. >> reporter: the crisis for ammons and for the school will get worse if criminal charges come, as expected. scott, hazeing in florida is a felony, punishable after five years in prison but second degree murder charges can mean life. >> pelley: the homicide investigation widens. mark, thank you very much. a powerful storm is sweeping across the southwest and the great plains tonight. some places could get as much as 18 inches of snow. blizzard warnings are up across five states. snow is already blanketing roads in new mexico and in texas. he was the playwright who had a starring role in a drama that brought freedom to eastern europe. remembering vaclav havel next. you found it. wow. nice place. yeah. [ chuckles ] the family thinks i'm out shipping these. smooth move. you used priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships for a low, flat rate. paid for postage o

ammons step aside while the investigation takes place. >> right. all i've suggested is that he step aside during the investigation. i'm not asking for him to resign. you know, fdle came out -- >> florida department of law enforcement. >> yeah, saying they're looking at financial irregularities. i think it's in florida's desk interests and the school's best interests that he step aside and make sure there is a though investigation. >> reporter: when i spoke to the university president yesterday, he felt as though he has done everything that the law has required him to do. do you think that is enough? >> well, i think you have to also just look at perceptions, and you want to make sure that things are perceived that are being done the right way. i mean, this is tragic. i mean, it starts with the death of a young man, and then it goes to now, you know, the investigation expanding into financial err regular leyritz. i mean, i think it's in his best interests to say, look, i want to make sure that there is no question but this university is doing the ri

critics say ammons was or should have been aware of the problem.ems with the band were apparently common knowledge, 26 band members were expelled for hazing shortly before champion's death. from 1989 to 2001, three band members were badly beaten, two sued, one collected a settlement and the other a lawsuit worth $1.8 million. the top of all that, band hazings are the norm at other top historically black colleges and universities. let's talk more about that now, we'll have more on that shortly from guest professor ricky jones, author of "black haze." first the latest from jason carroll who joins us from tallahassee. >> reporter: anderson the governor tells me that he spoke to ammons earlier this afternoon. he basically explained his point of view basically saying now that there are two investigations going on at the university, one of course into the hazing a separate investigation into allegations of financial fraud, the governor felt as though it was best for someone else to be acting as president. listen to what he said when we caught up with him

did ammons catch a break today? >> i thought he caught a break today.ught, you know, given a little chance to breathe and at the same time look at the direction that the university is going. >> reporter: the crisis for ammons and for the school will get worse if criminal charges come, as expected. scott, hazeing in florida is a felony, punishable after five years in prison but second degree murder charges can mean life. >> pelley: the homicide investigation widens. mark, thank you very much. a powerful storm is sweeping across the southwest and the great plains tonight. some places could get as much as 18 inches of snow. blizzard warnings are up across five states. snow is already blanketing roads in new mexico and in texas. he was the playwright who had a starring role in a drama that brought freedom to eastern europe. remembering vaclav havel next. you found it. wow. nice place. yeah. [ chuckles ] the family thinks i'm out shipping these. smooth move. you used priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships for a low, flat rate. paid for postage o

and i think the same thing has happened with ammons.e made more often, i think presidents will be more aggressive in speaking to issues like hazing at famu. >> what do you think is at the core of this kind of hazing? i don't think a lot of people think about a band as a place where there's hazing. but there are sub-groups within this band at florida a&m. there's a group from georgia, which apparently robert champion was part of. and there are all these different sub-groups, i guess, have their own kind of codes of discipline. what gets to the core of this, in your opinion? >> the drive of students to belong. and that's why arguments that are made by folk who say, look, people who consent to this are the folks who really have to stop and the practice will go away. they're absolutely wrong. you cannot put the entire onus on a group of students who usually are between the ages of 18 and 24 years old. and they are driven by the desire to belong. so they're going to do a whole lot of things to belong. folks who will not submit to the behavio

. >> the ammons family blames her birth control. anny was taking a new generation of pills with the hormone. studies show the pills like yaz and yasmin may put women at hire risk for dangerous blood clots. now an advisory panel for the food and drug administration is recommending the pills be sold with stronger warning labels. >> the pill can change how thick the blood is and can increase the chance of clotting. that's all pills. specifically, this yaz or yaz- like pill increase the clot a little bit more. >> but bayer, the maker of two of the most popular pills found no increased blood clot risk. doctors say women on the pill for more than six months without problems can likely keep taking them but many ob/gyns aren't prescribing them for first time use. >> i can't see a reason for having birth control pills on the market that are more likely to kill women. >> reporter: the ammons feel new warning labels don't go far enough. >> we would not be honoring our lovely daughter if we did not get out there and try to say something about t

ammons to step down or resign as this investigation continues.the murder investigation of robert champion. this conference call lasted for a good 30 minutes. we were able to listen to the full thing and we also talked to some people inside, faculty members who support the president. take a listen. >> the constitution of florida is very clear that university must be allowed to operate and therefore the governor and no one else should interfere. we have an investigation going on. why there is this jump to get ahead of the investigation. let the investigation get completed and therefore the appropriate action can be taken at that time. already also want to give you the statement from governor rick scott that came through today. it says that we have a process in florida and that process has been followed. i totally agree with the decision made by florida a&m university board of directors. so at this point we are watching as the ves continues. also keep in mind that the head of the alumni association made it very clear that if this board bends in any

. >> reporter: scrutiny in the florida a&m hazing death shifts to ammons the man responsible for theafety of all his students pending the outcome of several investigations into the hazing death of drum major robert champion. a death now ruled a homicide. hours after the school's marching band's biggest performance of the year, champion died on a hazing attack aboard a band bus. his parent have demanded full prosecution. >> you just kind of wonder what kind of people are these, people that are doing this? >> champion's dath uncovered a culture of hazing that has existed for decades within the famed marching 100. last week three students were arrested for beating a female freshman band member in a separate alleged hazing initiation just weeks before champion's death. >> every allegation of hazing has been fully investigated. >> reporter: florida's governor wants ammons suspended and hundreds have demonstrated for him to stay. the leader of the national alumni association warns suspending ammons could affect the university's accreditation. >> at the end of the day we want justice for ro

reporter: students matched to -- marched to governor rick scott's mansion after calling for james ammonso step down. [ chanting ] >> ammons has been asked to leave, amid multiple investigations of the death of drum major robert champion. champion died in a football game. in an incident police say involved hazing. florida officials say the probe led to discovering financial irregularities with the band's finances. now, they do not report directly to scott. but scott is responsible for selecting some of the board of trustees. vic? >> they have started an online petition, supporting their president. >>> a serial killer mystery on new york's long island. this week, police found the remains of a prostitute, who vanished a year and a half ago. her disappearance led to the discovery of 10 more bodies. aaron moriarte reports with the latest. >> reporter: it took more than 18 months and massiveerts -- massive efforts by man and machine. but police in long island this week think they finally found shannon gilbert, a 23-year-old woman missing since may 2010. >> we on this day, at april 9:14 a.m., l

ammons declined repeated requests to be interviewed.ts say the school must be held accountable. >> whatever it takes to cleanup. from the top to the bottom, clean house. >> reporter: they say healing for them will take much longer. >> the thing is that i'm just going to miss his smile, his big hugs. there's nothing in the world that can prepare you for that. nothing. gosh, i'm crying. nothing can prepare you for that, nothing. >> amazing the parents are able to talk at this point. jason, you pointed out in your piece that the band director said he warned the school numerous times about the hazing. right after his death, it was that band director who was fired. do people feel that he's being made the scapegoat? >> reporter: i think there are some, anderson, who definitely feel that he's being made a scapegoat. they feel as though this is a man who didn't have the power to expel students. he could recommend that they be suspended. but his critics say this is something that existed at the university for such a long period of time. suspensi

ammon. his spokeswoman said she would get back to us, she never did. shortly after that, an interview scheduled with the chairman of the university's board of trustees, solomon badger was canceled. students and band members we spoke to disagree on how the problem has been addressed and whether it can be solved. >> we definitely realize our faults and where we went wrong. and we're just trying to -- it's a move forward from here and take steps necessary to move forward. >> yesterday my friend was telling me how he was hazed. but, you know, he was still telling me, it still goes on. >> reporter: why do you that i is? the university says they're trying to do everything they can to change policy here. >> it's because of us. we have to make change. >> yeah. >> jason, fascinating interview. fascinating information about this new investigation. have you learned any more about it? >> reporter: well, yes. investigators are saying very little about this new investigation, anderson. a source close to the investigation tells me that this new one has to deal with f

>> reporter: moments after an anti-hazing assembly at the university, florida a&m president james ammons defended how his school has handled hazing on campus. why hasn't the university done more to stop hazing before this? >> the university has had a zero-tolerance of hazing. >> reporter: police suspect hazing played a role in the death of 26-year-old drum major robert champion. he was found unresponsive on a marching band bus last month. robert and pam champion are his parents. er we send soldiers overseas to fght for us. and we know that the possibility that they might be in harm's way. out when you send your kid to college, you don't think he's going to come back in a body d g. >> reporter: students have described a routine of ritual hazing from members of the famed marching 100. former band director julian white told cbs news he suspended uso dozen band members for hazing just days before ayampion's death. white, who was fired last week, says he repeatedly asked administrators to take stronger action to stop hazing. >> did i make those recommendations? yes, i did. were they followed?

ammons. >> reporter: his spokeswoman said she would get back to us. she never did.scheduled with the chairman of the university's board of trustees, solomon badger, was canceled. students and band members we spoke to disagree on how the problem has been addressed and whether it can be solved. >> we definitely realize our faults and where we went wrong and we're just trying to move forward from there and take steps necessary to move forward. >> yesterday my friend was telling me how he was. no one's anymore afraid than they were before. >> why do you think that is? the university says they're trying to do everything they can to change the policy here. >> it is up to us. we have to make change. >> reporter: jason carroll, cnn, tallahassee, florida. >> so should the florida a&m band be suspended for years because of hazing? in the next hour we'll hear from a guest who says yes. author and college president walter kimbrough joins us to talk about the hazing issue. >>> president obama's about to go around congress again and unveil a new pay protections for home health ca

the university's board today rejected a call by the state's governor to suspend president james ammons. there has been criticism that he did not do enough to prevent hazing. the victim, 26-year-old robert champion, died last month after a severe beating. the state medical examiner has ruled it a homicide. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to gwen. >> ifill: house republicans dealt the senate and the white house a surprise setback today as leaders vowed to reject that tax cut compromise passed over the weekend. >> on this vote the ayes rl 89, the nays are ten. >> ifill: for a few hours on saturday it appeared a two month extension of the payroll tax cut was a done deal. but hours after the senate voted house republicans phoned in to a conference call and rebeled. the short-term compromise, they said, lacked serious spending cuts. by the next morning, house speaker john boehner was rejecting the bipartisan senate bill outright. demanding that congress enact a full one-year extension of the year-old tax cut. >> two months is just kicking the can down the road. the ameri

what about the personal attacks we saw christian ammon pour. and then bernie -- nancy pelosi threatening newt gingrich saying she sat on the investigative committee and has all this stuff on him. what about the threats against gingrich, won't that make people feel sorry for him? >> possibly. it depends on what the substance of the attacks turns out to be. if they turn out to be. >> bill: the divorce and all of that? >> my view of that is i think he can get past the divorce, the divorces. the people who are going to be against him because of that probably already are. what i think he is more vulnerable on is his record in office and out and the things he said, the money has raised. the money he spent. the way he has spent it and all of that. >> bill: the tiffany's thing and all of that. >> all of that and more. $2 million or so on private airplanes while mitt romney who is a genuinely rich man flying around same election cycle and spent $270,000 on commercial planes. different world. >> bill: interesting matchup on the republic side. brit as alw

are james ammons from its post and it will not be influenced by outside pressures. response from the governor saying he will abide by the decision of the board of trustees here, brooke. >> i want to read this. this is mhow the governor reacted. i'm kweeting here. to assure the public that these investigations are clearly independent, i believe it would have been in the best interest of the university for president ammons to step aside. however, we have a process in florida and that process has been followed. governor scott mentioned an unrelated case of child molestation on this campus. some say, quote, financial irregula irregulaties. are these incidents, george, putting more pressure on this board? what's next for famu? >> clearly you have a very complicated case, financial issues, clearly the hazing incident of robert champion. at this point, the board made it clear that they are going to meet each week, whether over phone or in it person still unclear, but they're going to meet each week for the next 60 days to start discussing the facts of these cases so that t

. >> the ammons family blames her birth control. annie was taking a bunch of pills.tudies show pills like yaz and yazmin may put women at higher risk for dangerous blood clots. >> the pill can change how thick the blood is and can increase the chance of clotting. that's all pills. but specifically, these increase that lot a little -- clot a little bit more. >> but bayer, the maker of two of the most more pills, found no increased blood clot risk. >> reporter: doctors say women on the pill for more than six months without problems can likely keep taking them. but many obgyns aren't prescribing them for first-time use. >> can't see a reason for having birth control on the market that are likely to kill women. >> they are telling annie's story to warn others. >> we would not be honoring our lovely daughter if we did not get out there and try to say something about this to try to get this removed from the market. >> they want to make sure what happened to their daughter doesn't happen to anyone else. in los angeles, bigad shaban, wjz eyewitness news. >>> bay area is faci

. >> now even president ammons is under fire.he florida governor is trying to issue some pressure saying he needs to be suspended. the question, too, is how far up does this knowledge go. >> well, i think it goes all the way to the top of the fact is a&m counts on the marching 100 to generate lots of money, appearance fees alone, $300,000, probably eight figures. the battle will be how do you preserve the marching 100, which really identifies the university and get to the issue of how do you stop hazing. that's going to be a very, very difficult thing to do. >> so richard, this is a long tradition. the marching band, that is. now there are allegation there has been a very tradition stretching decades of hazing as well. will the university find itself in the middle of being held culpable? can the university legitimately defend they did not know about this. the people in the music department may have known about it. perhaps not the president's office or anyone else. >> fred, they can try to defend along those grounds. the more peop

hours after governor rick scott called for ammons to step down, the students rallied in the streets. the university's board of trustees scheduled an emergency meeting to discuss his future with the schools next week. >>> an embattleed city councilman reaches a settlement over his unpaid student loans. now, harry thomas is taking steps to make sure the details are not made public. >>> the scc charges former execs fannie mae and freddie mac with fraud. tonight, they join us live to discuss those charges. ges. >>> the federal government said that it will start pulling back on funding for medical research using chime pan. >>s. our closest -- chimpanzees. our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. who knew this was still going on and what are they being used for? [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices... in more ways than ever. and our networks are getting crowded. but if congress frees up more wireless spectrum... we can empower more people to innovate... putting momentum behind our economy. and we can reduce the deficit... with more than thirty billion dollars pai

james ammons fired dr. white and expelled four students. former band members but no one really wanted to talk about the hazing incidents or the students who were expelled. we found this to be a very tight-knit group. and many students on this campus tell me they are shocked this even happened. >> we hear about hazing sororities, fraternities. but when we hear the band, we are like, wait. we have hazing in the band. what's going on? >> investigators have not released details into what caused robert champion's death but the tragedy has left a cloud of uncertainty on this campus about its beloved band and the culture within its ranks. george howell, cnn, tallahassee, florida. >>> the mothers of two students from the florida a&m marching band speak out about problems their sons are having with hazing. that's next. ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer. but only for a limited time. when you're a sports photographer, things can get out of control pretty quickly. so i like control

the school's board of trustees rejected a request from florida's governor to suspend james ammons whilete several incidents on campus including the hazing death of band member robert champion. his death has been ruled a homicide. >>> the steelers/49ers game was delayed by two power outages. in this video you can see some type of explosion before the lights went out the first time. officials are trying to figure out what caused this power outage. >>> check out this half time entertainment at the denver broncos/new england patriots game. a monchs can i saddles up for a ride on a dog. sanjay? >> we'll catch up with you shortly. coming up, though, we're counting down anderson's top ten on the ridiculist. good thing to do at the end of the year. remember when joe biden got sleepy during a presidential speech? we'll revisit that next. [♪...] >> male announcer: book now, save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people came to louisiana... they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi. the best part

the university's board today rejected a call by the state's governor to suspend president james ammons. there has been criticism that he did not do enough to prevent hazing. the victim, 26-year-old robert champion, died last month after a severe beating. the state medical examiner has ruled it a homicide. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to gwen. >> ifill: house republicans dealt the senate and the white house a surprise setback today as leaders vowed to reject that tax cut compromise passed over the weekend. >> on this vote the ayes rl 89, the nays are ten. >> ifill: for a few hours on saturday it appeared a two month extension of the payroll tax cut was a done deal. but hours after the senate voted house republicans phoned in to a conference call and rebeled. the short-term compromise, they said, lacked serious spending cuts. by the next morning, house speaker john boehner was rejecting the bipartisan senate bill outright. demanding that congress enact a full one-year extension of the year-old tax cut. >> two months is just kicking the can down the road. the ameri