and weather are always on cbssf.com. >> caption colorado, llc comments@captioncolorado.com >> pelley: tonight, an american legend leaving in disgrace. penn state football coach joe paterno will retire in the wake of the child sex abuse scandal. armen keteyian is covering. a second woman is ready to go public with accusations of sexual harassment against herman cain. jan crawford reports. the european debt crisis deepens in italy, and shock waves are felt on wall street. frk phillips and elaine quijano have reports from both continent. and what happened to the remains of fallen american heroes at dover air force base? david martin talks to the whistle blowers. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley.

>> pelley: good evening. it's not the way you'd expect a football legend to leave, not joe paterno, not penn state, where the motto for athletes is "success with honor." but today, paterno, who is 84, wid he will retire at the end rf this season. after questions were raised about what he did and what he oiled to do after a longtime assistant coach was accused of sexually abusing boys, some of deem on campus. tonight, there is also word that tonight, there is also word that the university president may be the next out the door. our chief investigative correspondent armen keteyian has the latest from state college, pennsylvania. >> reporter: paterno made his announcement in a five-paragraph statement that said in part," i am absolutely devastated by the developments in the case. i grieve for the children and their families, and i pray for their comfort and relief." >> everybody hustle! let's start it off right! >> reporter: paterno made only a passing reference to the decision that triggered his

departure after 46 seasons as head coach. to tell his superiors, but not police, of an alleged sexual assault of a young boy, perhaps as young as 10, in 2002. in the football locker room shower by former defensive coach jerry sandusky. the 67-year-old sandusky has been indicted on 40 counts of rape, molestation, and other charges involving eight young boys over a 15-year period dating back to 1994. "this is a tragedy," said >> this is a case about a sexual predator. >> reporter: according to state attorney general linda kelly, sandusky preyed on young boys he met through a charity he created to help at-risk kid. in 1998, the mother of an 11- year-old boy reported her son had been molested by sandusky. an investigation by campus police came up empty.

in 2000, a janitor discovered sandusky performing oral sex on a young boy in the shower in the football building. again, there was no investigation. pennsylvania state police commissioner frank noonan. >> it's a case about children who have had their innocence stolen from them and a culture that did nothing to stop it or prevent it from happening to others. >> reporter: today, his students worked to erase the memory of sandusky, paterno headed to the football facility to speak to his players. some told us he broke down. >> this is probably the first time i've ever seen him cry, and i actually almost got teary-eyed myself. >> crowd: we love joe! >> reporter: last night, paterno waded into a crowd of supporters outside his home. >> the kids that were victims, a tough life when people do certain things to you. but anyway, you've been great. >> reporter: since 1966, the now-84-year-old paterno has been a larger-than-life figure, winning more games than any major college football coach in history. but for a man revered as "jopa,"

winning always took a backseat to creating not just great athletes but great people, evidenced by a nearly 90% graduation rate and not a single major ncaa violation in nearly a half century of coaching. but now his reputation as a moral giant has crumbled. pennsylvania governor and university trustee tom corbett made clear today there's more house cleaning to come. >> he who preys on a child is the worst type of person in the world as far as i'm concerned. that's why i have urged the board to deal with this quickly and swiftly. >> reporter: paterno's decision to retire was his and not the university's. the board of trustees is meeting tonight. it could well fire paterno, scott, as well as president spanier. >> pelley: armen, thank you very much. sandusky is not the only one facing charges.

athletic director tim curley and vice president gary schultz were arrested this week, charged with lying to a grand jury and failing to report the 2002 incident to authority. and there is late word tonight that the u.s. department of education plans to investigate penn state's handling of the sex abuse case. hermain cain is participating in a republican presidential debate tonight, the first since bielek went public with accusation that's cain made unwanted advances toward her. political correspondent jan crawford reports another of his accusers is about to step before the cameras. >> reporter: karen kraashaur who filed a complaint that cain sexually harassed her in the 1990s has decided to speak out. lawyer joel bennett told us she was prepared to hold a press conference to talk about several instances of alleged harassment by cain that lead to a settlement with the national

restaurant association. >> she feels that with all these denials by mr. cain that it's appropriate for her to put more of the facts out there to the extent that she's comfortable doing so. >> reporter: another woman who said cain was sexually impropriety with her, sharon bialek, has agreed to participate. as the women come forward, they are facing increased scrutiny. cain's campaign released information showing bialek had financial problems and had been sued a half dozen times. we asked her lawyer about that tactic. >> the more the cain campaign tries it attack her, the more it says to me that they are very worried, perhaps desperate. >> reporter: and reports surfaced today that karen kraashaur filed another complaint when she was at another job after her supervisors refused her request to work from home. >> every complaint has to be judged on its own merits and the fact that someone filed another complaint elsewhere is totally irrelevant. >> reporter: the growing controversy and how cain has handled it is causing consternation among republicans. linda divall, a g.o.p.

strategist who worked for many republicans including president george w. bush and vice president dick cheney and is not associated with any of the other presidential campaigns said today that cain should withdraw from the race. >> i don't see that there's any way hermain cain can be a serious candidate for president of the united states and i say that for one simple reason-- if you're running for president of the united states there's an implicit understanding you want the american people to have trust and faith in your ability to inspire and lead the united states of america and herman cain is wanting in every single criteria in that regard. >> reporter: now, cain insists he is telling the truth and won't quit, but, scott, republican strategists say the allegations also are starting to have a negative impact on the entire republican field, distracting from the issues lets than two months before people start voting. >> pelley: jan, thank you. cain and the other republican presidential contenders will debate national security and

foreign policy issues this saturday evening at 8:00 eastern time. that's right here on cbs. the focus of the european debt crisis moved today from greece to italy, where the prime minister is promising to step down. but that wasn't enough to calm the markets. there was a sell-off on wall street and around the world. mark phillips is in london. ( speaking italian ) >> reporter: in italy, silvio berlusconi had to promise to quit finally after the debt crisis there got so big his party members deserted him. traitors, he scribbled, as he kept score, but even his promise to go did not stop the italian government's borrowing rates to skyrocketing to above 7%. like a homeowner with a rising mortgage rate, italy could not afford the payments and a bailout is out of the question. because the italian economy is simply too big, europe's third largest, based on a lot more than pasta and cars.

with the debt of $2.6 trillion, there simply isn't enough money available. italy, perhaps too late, may have realized what the problem is. >> we have a credibility issue, and berlusconi is a credibility issue. >> reporter: greece has a similar, if smaller problem with its debt-damaged outgoing prime minister george papandreau. he even went on tv to announce he was stepping down, but there's no new government to replace him. and no confidence in the markets that new leadership in greece, or more importantly, italy, will be any more successful than the old in solving the debt crisis that is consuming europe. and threatening to spread far wider. the euro-crisis is claiming its first political victims, although, with silvio berlusconi's track record for survival, he's been prematurely pronounced politically dead many times. there are those who won't believe he will actually go, scott, until he's gone.

>> pelley: thanks, mark. the turmoil in europe sent the dow sharply lower. at the close it was down nearly 400 points. that is more than 3%. elaine quijano is at the new york stock exchange. >> reporter: for these traders and you it's been a roller coaster ride today. >> yeah, it has been, particularly in the morning was very. >> reporter: piero ghezzi of barkley says the bad news from italy is causing deep concern on bond trading floors like this one in new york because europe could be pushed into recession by an italian financial meltdown. >> if that happens, i think you're going to have a big sell- off in all financial markets, and the u.s. will be affected for sure. >> reporter: europe is the u.s.' second largest trading partner. a european slowdown will put the brakes on the u.s. recovery. >> it's a clear and present danger right now. >> reporter: bill gross founded pimco, the world's biggest bond fund. he says america's economic output, which grew by 2.5% last

quarter, could drop by as much as a full percentage point if europe slides into recession. >> job creation, economic growth, you know, the financial stability of some of our institutions is dependent upon the continued growth in euro- land, which is now problematic. >> reporter: the u.s. financial system is tightly intertwined with europe's. half of american banks lend to their european counter-parts. in italy alone, some of this country's biggest banks, including citigroup, j.p. morgan and chase, and goldman sachs, have billions of dollars in outstanding loans. >> there's no doubt u.s. institutions and u.s. financial markets will be affected. >> reporter: here at the new york stock exchange, scott, the biggest losers today were those financial companies in the u.s. with european connections. jpmorgan chase, goldman sachs,

and morgan stanley all lost 7% or more in stock value today. >> pelley: elaine, thank you very much. europe isn't alone in facing a debt crisis. commissioners in jefferson county, alabama, voted today to file for bankruptcy. the county, which includes birmingham, is more than $4 billion in debt, most of that from a costly sewer project. it is the largest bankruptcy filing for a municipality in u.s. history. remains of america's fallen heroes are mishandled, and we will hear from the people who discovered it. does life begin at fertilization? mississippi voters say no. and surf's up, way up, when the "cbs evening news" continues.

what's in your wallet? >> pelley: we told you last night that remains of fallen american troops have been mishandled at dover air force base. after an investigation, the commander of the mortuary there received a career-ending letter of reprimand. well, david martin kept working on the story today, and he found the mortuary workers who first reported the trouble and who paid a price. >> reporter: these are people who almost never talk about their grim, heartbreaking work, mortuary technicians at dover air force base in delaware, where remains of the fallen come moment from iraq and afghanistan. >> working at dover it's like

you get a train wreck every single day. >> reporter: at any one time, mary ellen spera keeps track of 1,000 different pieces of young bodies torn apart by war. then one day, a piece of ankle belonging to a soldier went missing. >> i went through the entire facility, every single rack. i couldn't find it. >> reporter: that must have been a terrible job. >> it's the job, sir, and i'm proud to do it. >> reporter: bill zigarosky has worked at dover for 12 years and it's the first time a body part has ever been lost. he didn't like the way the commander handled it. >> i think consideration should have been given to notify the family. that's the way i've been brought up in this business is to face your mistake and take responsibility for it. >> reporter: then another body part went missing, a four-inch piece of flesh belonging to either captain thomas gramith or captain mark mcdowell, the crew of an f-15 jet which crashed in afghanistan. these three decided to blow the

whistle and call for an outside investigation, a decision which nearly cost them their years. >> i was terminated. >> reporter: fired? >> fired. >> i was given a letter of rip remand throughout this period and placed on eight months of administrative leave without reason. >> reporter: but a federal office created to protect whistle blowers stepped in and they are all back on the job now. are the fallen being treated with the respect and dignity they deserve? >> i can guarantee the families that there loved ones are being treated with honor, dignity, and respect, bar none. and if we see that they're not, we have all jeopardized our careers, our jobs, to ensure that happens. >> reporter: we talked to the father of air force pilot mark mcdowell. he called the mix-up with his son's remains unfortunate but no longer an issue because, in his words, mark is in heaven. >> pelley: david, thank you very much.

there were state and local elections all over america yesterday. voters in mississippi rejected the so-called personhood initiative, which said that life begins at fertilization and would have outlawed abortion from that moment. and in a victory for unions, ohio voters rejected a republican-backed measure that limited the collective bargaining rights of public workers. eddie murphy's turn as the host of the oscars is over before it ever began. why he quit when we come back. ñ[? ,,

>> pelley: for the first time, a host of the oscar telecast has quit. eddie murphy bowed out today after his friend, brett ratner, resigned as the producer. ratner came under fire for using an antigay slur while joking around at a screening of his new film "tower heist" which stars murphy. ratner has since apologized. bill keane's humor was much more family friendly. his family circus comic strips poked fun at everyday life, like what happens the day after halloween, or when you try to collect snowflakes. keane started drawing the strip in 1960. it still appears in 1,500 newspapers but bill keane died yesterday at the age of 89. the most amazing picture that we saw in the newsroom today has got to be this. american sufferer garrett mcnamara found a challenge off the coast of portugal yesterday.

have a look at that. he rode a 90-foot wave-- that's like surfing down the side of an eight-story building-- and while he was at it, he set a world record. and as you can see, he survived to surf another day. in the room where the founding fathers gathered, a new generation of american leaders find reason for optimism about the future of the nation. our conversation is next.

protesters. what the police are determined to stop from happening. next on cbs 5 >> pelley: this week, we've been talking to some smart people from outside washington about how to get america back on track. we gathered them at independence hall in philadelphia because in 1787 the country was in crisis, and in this room, washington, madison, hamilton, franklin, 55 delegates in all, gathered to write the constitution and move the country forward. on the floor above, where the founders had parties and meetings, we put together some of the most thoughtful americans we could find. joining us in independence hall were mary frances berry, constitutional historian, professor at the university of pennsylvania, and former chairperson of the u.s. commission on civil rights. arturo vargas, the executive

director of the national association of latino elected and appointed officials. michelle rhee, c.e.o. of students first, and former chancellor of the washington, d.c. public schools. matthew segal, cofounder of ourtime.org, an organization focused on empowering youth. eileen mcdonnell, president and c.e.o. of the penn mutual life insurance company. dr. joe greer, assistant dean and professor of medicine at florida international university. john bogle, the founder of the vanguard group, the world's largest mutual fund company, and mick cornett, mayor of oklahoma city and president of the republican mayors association. tell me one thing, one thing that is working well, one thing that gives you hope. >> i still believe in american ingenuity. i think the 18th century was about the best farm. i think the 19th century saw a move toward a more manufacturing economy. i think the 20th century was

about creating the most efficient factory, but the 21st century is going to be about ideas and i think america is going to produce the most ideas and we're going to rein supreme. >> pelley: matt? >> i say the service ethic of the country, but in particular, my generation gives me hope in the sense that applications to americore and city-year and all these public service programs have doubled and tripled. >> pelley: eileen? >> i like the fact that people are taking personal responsibility, that they're really taking a hard look at the actions that they're taking in their households every day. folks don't want to throw in the towel, that there is still that glimmer of optimism and hope, and so i see that as something that's going well. >> pelley: optimism is critical. it's especially critical to consumer confidence, which is going to ultimately drive the economy. >> we still have immigrants who come to this country who are

fundamentally optimistic, who believe in the american dream, who believe this is the land of opportunity, who reinvigorate our democracy. that gives me hope. >> pelley: we have spoken to people all over this country who have told us their children are not going to be as well off as they were. >> i think if we keep talking about it, it will happen. if we change the frame of reference and say it is possible to make that happen, we're smart enough. there's folks in this room represented from all walks of life, spectrum of experience in life. i think if we put our heads together and think about it we can move forward. i'm allen martin. barring some statistical fluke... ed lee

will become san francisco's next full-term mayor -- and the first chinese good evening. barring some statistical fluke, ed lee will become san francisco's next full-term mayor and the first chinese american to hold that office. but lee's closees competitor is not conceding. phil matier on the results released and what they mean. >> reporter: it's been an interesting race for the candidates and how they were selected. in the first last night when the first place votes came in ed lee was a 31%, john avalos at 19% and city attorney dinner herrera at 11. after they started counting the twos and three's and eliminating the candidates that didn't make the cut it wound up a two-way race and ed lee now has 61% over john avalos what does the mayor have to say about the situation? :ed lee says he got the