at galludet university bruce leshan, 9 news now. >> galludet's president t. alan hurwitz said in his e-mail he will use the extended period of dr. mccaskill's leave to determine the most appropriate next steps. >>> you'll live at usa today headquarters ahead of tonight's vice presidential debate with a political team like no other. we're going to preview our coverage tonight plus a key debate scheduled for maryland and voter registration deadlines. all of that is ahead. >>> just under three hours to go until the first and only vice presidential debate of campaign 2012. the stage is set in danville, kentucky, tonight. all that's missing are current vice president joe biden, republican running mate paul ryan, their moderator and the crowd. i'm out here life at usa today headquarters in mclean and i'll be with you all night through the debate and for 9news at 11:00. once the debate starts usa today reporters will be live blogging about what the candidates are saying. they're fact checking it. you can track that live at www.wusa9.com and take part in the conversa

. >>> the controversy goes on at galludet university. the school's chief diversity officer still on paid leave because she signed a petition that helped put maryland's same sex marriage law on the november ballot. so is this a violation of . ang la mccaskill's first -- angela mccaskill's first amendment rights or is the case of a diversity officer not supporting equal rights for all? bruce leshan is looking for answers. >> reporter: two people at the heart of this controversy are not talking. the galludet university president did send out an e- mail blast to students saying that dr. mccaskill has participated in a legislative initiative that some feel is inappropriate. dr. mccaskill's husband did pick up the phone at their upper marlboro home and said no comment because they're still looking for a lawyer, but he did say his wife is so upset about this that she is now under a doctor's care. >> i was quite shocked. >> reporter: the man leading the effort to block gay marriage in maryland says he is shocked. >> now we're saying because she

here on fox 5. >>> the chief diversity officer at galludet university demand be to be reinstated. dr. angela mccaskill was suspended last week several months after signing a petition asking for a referendum on gay marriage in maryland. here's what the chief university officer is saying tonight. >> reporter: there is turmoil at the moment among students and alumni of galludet university, the nation's preeminent post secondary institution for the hearing impaired and depending on who you ask the university administration is primarily at fault or the chief diversity administrator, angela mccaskill is at fault. mccaskill who has been suspended from her job has now broken her silence. >> i was shocked, hurt, insulted. i was humiliated. >> reporter: here's the background. after maryland's legislature narrowly passed a law which would legalize gay marriage opponents circulated petitions to stop the legislation. upon hearing a sermon on marriage at her charge dr. mccaskill signed one of the petitions upsetting some in the university community. >> then she of all people should be open to a

i'm surae chinn at galludet university with details coming up. >>> two groups who could not be further apart in their beliefs at least on one issue came to a protest for a common cause at galludet university. people for and people against gay marriage say a university administrator should be reinstated. now earlier this month the school's president put angela mccaskill on paid live and as surae chinn reports, groups have called on the university to reinstate her as its chief diversity officer. >> reporter: both sides may not agree on same sex marriage, but what they do agree on is that angela mccaskill was exercising her first amendment right signing a petition and that she should be reinstated at the school. >> when do we want this? >> no! >> reporter: southern baptist church bust in members for the rally. >> the university is the one that is wrong here and not dr. mccaskill. >> reporter: and reverend daunte hickman. >> no one should need permission to sign a petition. >> reporter: the two have been outspoken on maryland's question 6 on equal rights for same sex marriage that's on the

galludet's action was wrong headed from the start and a delay in reinstating mccaskill only compounds initial knucklehead in this step. that's my take. let me know what you think. go to www.myfoxdc.com and click on that's my take or send me an e-mail at tmt@wttg.com. anncr: every president inherits challenges. few have faced so many. four years later... our enemies have been brought to justice. our heroes are coming home. assembly lines are humming again. there are still challenges to meet. children to educate. a middle class to rebuild. but the last thing we should do is turn back nonow. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message. >>> just 11 days until the presidential election, the candidates keying in on those critical battleground states. earlier i spoke with fox sunday host chris wallace. >> they'll decide the election. you can forget about 41 states. i think it's eight or nine that will decide this election and we've been hearing about them, virginia obviously one of the key ones, ohio, florida, colorado, nevada out west. they're going to decide the electio

that's right next to galludet university. police have not released the victim's name or age and haven't said whether he's a student and no arrests have been made. >>> now to virginia, police believe a serial groper has struck again. this is a sketch of the suspect, a 25-year-old woman who said she was walking near the commerce street bus stop in the springfield area when a man came up from behind, grabbed her and grope heard about a month ago. police say this is the sixth case they're investigating. >>> a former campaign aide to d.c. mayor vincent gray will not serve jail time. today howard brooks was spared for his role in paying off sulaimon brown. fox 5's matt ackland is following this one tonight. >> reporter: the judge sentenced howard brooks to two years probation and 200 hours community service. she also said that he could not participate in another political campaign without permission. this all stems from a guilty plea brooks gave admitting he lied to the fbi. brooks worked for vincent gray's campaign and admitted he

. >> reporter: there's another controversy going on at galludet university, a question of a chief diversity officer there being put on administrative leave because she signed the petition that would have brought same sex marriage to the ballot. we're going to have that story coming up at 6:00. back to you. >> thank you, bruce. >>> well, the national zoo says liver failure and underdeveloped lungs caused the death of their 6-day-old panda cub. the announcement was made this morning at a press conference and our kristin fisher was there. >> reporter: sad as it is, this is something that's relatively common among newborn panda cubs. the liver needs oxygen and when you have underdeveloped lungs, it means that the liver can't get enough of that oxygen which leads to liver failure and that's what happened here. here is the zoo's chief veterinarian to explain bit more detail. >> our current thinking is that since the lungs were not fully developed they did not bring in as much oxygen and not enough oxygen got to the liver which killed the liver cells and ultimately caused the death of the cub. >>

. -- galludet is on leave for signing a petition. she say everyone is entitled to free speech. >>> joe biden and paul ryan are preparing for tonight's vice presidential debate. the polls show the presidential race is neck and neck. mitt romney teamed up with chris christy on the campaign trail in ohio. if romney loses ohio, he would have to win almost every other swing state to make it to the white house. the president knows that as well and spent tuesday in ohio and there criticked his performance in a radio interview, saying he had been too polite. the vice presidential debate is next. biden is an experienced debateer. >> he has been doing this 40 years. i hope to present people with a clear choice. >> ryan has been trying to down play expectations. voters believe he will do better than biden. you can watch the debate here on channel 9 at 9:00 and we will stream it on our website, wusa9.com, and follow the notion of us -- blogs of usa debaters. and we'll check the facts with our fact checking team. >>> were they lies or untruths? w

. >> reporter: i'm surae chinn at galludet university where people both for and against gay marriage came together for one common cause. mount eden baptist and southern baptist church bussed in members for the rally. their leaders reverend delmond coates. >> the university is the one that is wrong here. >> reporter: and reverend daunte hickman. >> no one should need permission to sign a petition. >> reporter: the two have been outspoken on maryland's question 6 on equal rights for same sex marriage on the november ballot. on the other side of campus -- >> because we don't believe in same sex marriage. >> reporter: -- there are differing views standing on common ground. >> we want her to get her job back. >> reporter: while some accuse angela mccaskill of being anti- gay marriage when she signed a petition to get the question on the ballot she has not made her position known. >> we'd like to have her come back and talk through this to resolve this issue. >> we are of general consensus that she should return and the issue is how? >> that debate over same sex marriage has drawn protests

. >>> tomorrow supporters and opponents of that same sex marriage referendum plan to rally at galludet university in d.c., but this time they're both planning to call for the same thing. both groups want angela mccaskill reinstated as school's chief diversity officer. mccaskill was placed on paid leave earlier this month after administrators learned that she had signed a petition to get the referendum on the ballot. for her part she said she is not anti-gay but does think voters should decide if same sex marriage should be legal or not. >>> maryland state board of elections is investigating why some absentee ballots in prince george's county and montgomery county seem to be missing a passenger. governor martin o'malley says so far the board confirmed the mistake in fewer than 20 ballots. he says residents who requested absentee ballots need to make sure there is that second page which would answer questions about those questions 4 through 7. >>> in virginia attorney general ken cuccinelli's reversing course on claims of voter fraud. a pen pep man working in rocking -- a pennsylvania ma

. >>> the woman at the heart of the debate over same sex marriage on galludet's campus plans to speak out tomorrow. angela mccaskill was placed on leave after signing a petition to get the question about legalization on maryland's ballot this november. mccaskill's attorney says the maryland resident is not anti- gay but merely felt it was an issue that should be decided by the democratic process. >>> tonight a 15-year-old is recovering after being stabbed at a local school. >> reporter: i'm matt jablow at northwood high school in silver spring where one student was arrested for allegedly stabbing another student earlier today. >> i think it's sad because we're a really great school. >> reporter: it was right around 11:00 this morning when montgomery county police were called to northwood high school in silver spring. >> i heard it was in the cafeteria in the courtyard area. >> reporter: when they arrived, they found a 15-year- old student who was stabbed in the buttocks area just outside the cafeteria. shortly hazard an 18-year-old student was arrested. police said they recovered a kn

. >> plus dueling gay marriage protests at galludet university as a university official fights for reinstatement. we're back in a moment. >> if you see a story we should look into, let us know. call us 202-895-3000 or send your news tip

man was shot to death this afternoon in the 1100 block of eighth street near florida avenue near galludet university. the man's name has not been released. they have not said whether he was a student. >>> one of d.c. mayor vincent gray's aides now released from jail time. he got two years probation, 200 hours community service. he pled guilty to lying to the fbi. brooks admitted he helped pay sulaimon brown to stay in the race and verbally attack mayor fenty. his attorney continues to investigate mayor gray's campaign. >>> the u.s. anti-doping agency releasing details of it's investigation into lance armstrong. the agency claims the cyclist played a key role in what it calls the most sophisticated doping program in recent sports history. jonathan hunt has details. >> reporter: the u.s. anti- doping agency releasing a report on its case against lance armstrong. the agency accuses armstrong of using performance enhancing drugs during his ar names 11 former teammates as key witnesses and details the way they say drugs were delivered and administered to armstrong's teams. the report also clai

. >>> today the chief diversity officer for galludet university will discuss the recent controversy on her stance about same-sex marriage. the university recently placed her on leave after she signed a petition to put maryland's same-sex marriage law on the ballot. an attorney for mccaskill says she's not anti-gay. she just wants voters to decide on the issue. >>> washington state is also getting to vote on whether to uphold the law allowing same-sex marriage in that state. and supporters got a big boost from high end retailer nordstrom. the ceo of the seattle-based luxury chain recently sent an e-mail to all 56,000 employees about their stance on the issue without explicitly mentioning same-sex marriage. the letter says that gay and lesbian employees should have the same rights and protections under the law as heterosexual employees. >> even though i may have my own personal prejudices in different directions, from a corporate standpoint, i think it's a good idea. >> i've always liked nordstrom. i don't know that i would consider it a reason to shop here, but it makes me feel good abo

a diversity officer of value debt university is speaking out -- galludet university is speaking out for the first time. we have an exclusive one-on-one interview with angela mccaskill. mighke tell us about it. >> some thought it was inappropriate for the associate provost to sign this petition. today, she opened up about the controversy, but following her attorney's advice, she will not discuss her personal views on same-sex marriage. >> i am not anti-gay. i never have been and i never will be. i have nothing but love for all of the members of the community. >> since news broke fishy was placed -- news broke and she was placed on administrativeshe says she has received a e- mails from a marriage supporters. >> to have this tarnishing my reputation and, my character hurts. >> after our interview mccaskill held a press conference in annapolis where she has received support from governor o'malley and groups like marriage equality. >> signing the petition is a right i have as a citizen of the state of maryland. >> earlier today the university president sent a message to the campus community

. >> in the same vein students at galludet university celebrated the day with a national food and culture fair. there were displays and facings tastings set up -- tastings set up across campus. >>> today firefighters distributed coats in cooperation with operation warm. about 3,000 children and their families will benefit from the program and this is the sixth year the department sponsored the event. >>> don't feed the wild turkeys. a battle is brewing between people who want the birds around and those that don't. >> hurricane sandy pounding jamaica now. we'll come back and show you some tracks. some models now take it much closer to land. >> up next gone in 60 seconds, smash and grab burglars bust in a jewelry store and break into the glass display cases. >> don't forget we're always on at wusa9.com. stay with us. we'll be right back. ou tomorrow here on cbs "this morning". >>> for most of us prohibition ended nearly 80 years ago, but in a small montgomery county town they are still fighting over it. >> this is a place called damascus, maryland, and they will vote in less than two weeks

. >>> an administrator at galludet university in hot water is getting support from a surprising placeland governor martin o'malley as well as many other supporters of the state's gay marriage law wants chief diversity officer angela mccaskill to be reinstated. this week she was put on paid leave after the school found out she signed a petition against the law. o'malley says everyone has a right to take part in the political process. >>> a difficult day for the wife of a man beaten and robbed in eastern market. she'll come face to face with the suspects in court. thomas maslin has been in the hospital since august. he is now blind in one eye and unable to walk or feed himself. last night a business community in capitol hill announced a $10,000 trust for maslin's family. his wife abby accepted the donation and talked about a safety festival being held next weekend. >> we are part of the greater community. this event is not only a reminder that we are a member of this community but it is a very real, visceral experience for us to bond together in a way we should be doing every day, and i