and rodney erickson will be the interim president and tom bradley will become interim football coach. stay tuned for the latest developments on this breaking news story. coming up, representative michele bachmann goes on the record. just moments ago, she walked off the stage, after g.o.p. debate number 9 or 10. she will tell you all about it. and an election night shocker. a political candidate does the absolute unexpected, beyond your wildest imagination. what did he do? who is he? you have to see this. [ male announcer ] want to achieve more with your money? pnc virtual wallet gathers your spending and saving in one place. credit and debit purchases, checks, bills, and oer financial information. it lets you see the details as well as the big financial picture. so you can do more with your money. see what a complete view of your money can do for you at pncvirtualwallet.com. ♪ pnc bank. for the achiever in y. ford fusion has now been named the most dependable midsize car by jd power and associates. we go to kimberly. any thoughts on this news? i have no idea what's goin on. we are o

new university president rodney erickson said today penn state should not be a place where people are afraid to do the right thing. >> clearly this is an ongoing investigation, but it does appear that certainly some individuals were afraid to make known what they might have seen. >> last night on this broadcast, i said that penn state should cancel the rest of its football season. i'll give more reason on that tonight, as there is a precedent that's been set. but erickson said the games will go on. >> it would also, i believe, not be fair to our student athletes who weren't involved in this situation to penalize them, many of whom have worked for their entire life and certainly for many cases the last four years, this is senior day at penn state. >> erickson was also asked if fired coach joe paterno would be in attendance at saturday's game. he said paterno is free to attend just like any other private citizen. paterno's son confirmed the family has retained a criminal defense attorney. for the first time, the mother of one of the victims spoke out. she concealed her identity but said

. >> right now, the new president, rodney erickson of penn state is holding a press conference. >> i have outlined to them the five promises of the penn state university in the wake of this tragedy. i will be sharing these promises with everyone who is part of our penn state community. first, i will reinforce to the entire penn state community the moral imperative of doing the right thing. the first time, every time. we will revisit all standards, policies and programs to insure they meet not only the law but penn state's standard. to oversee this effort, i will appoint an ethics officer that reports directly to me. i ask for the support of the entire penn state community to work together to reorient our culture. never again should anyone at penn state, regardless of their position feel scared to do the right thing. my door will always be open. two, as i lead by example, i will expect no less of others. i will insure proper governance over the university including athleti athletics. three, penn state is committed to transparency to the fullest extent possible for the ongoing investig

. >> rodney erickson the interim president just taking the podium there. let's bring in mary snow. i apologize. i interrupted you as you were starting to talk about this. tell us again. >> what we do know, what rodney erickson had just mentioned in his opening remarks, is that a special committee is being formed to look into the university's response to the sexual abuse allegations, to find out who knew what when. and, of course, after the swirling controversy about the failure to take any action, any more action beyond going to others within the university after the sexual abuse allegations first came to light. we do know that this meeting is expected to last several hours today. we were told early on that it's not anticipated that questions will be taken from the public, but we're also told that there may be an exception to today's meeting. so that is what we know so far about this board of trustees meeting. of course, the first one after wednesday night's meeting when of course graham spanier the president of penn state and joe paterno were both ousted. >> do we know who is goin

we are expecting a press conference from rodney erickson, the interim penn state president and we will bring that to you when it happens. when we come back, two of america's bravest young men. stay with us. ♪ [ male announcer ] when you're a true fan... [ exhales ] ...there are no sick days. [ crowd cheering, screaming ] vicks dayquil. defeats 5 cold & flu symptoms. [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] vicks nyquil cold and flu. the nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold...medicine. ♪ have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these

and rodney erickson will be the interim president and tom bradley will become interim football coach. stay tuned for the latest developments on this breaking news story. coming up, representative michele bachmann goes on the record. just moments ago, she walked off the stage, after g.o.p. debate number 9 or 10. she will tell you all about it. and an election night shocker. a political candidate does the absolute unexpected, beyond your wildest imagination. what did he do? who is he? who is he? you have to see this. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands ojobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for oucountry's energy security and our economy. this is not how witness protection works! when we set you up

the naming of rodney erickson as psu's new president, just the latest attempt to begin the heeling process. and as we wait for mr. erickson as the podium, i do want to bring in our friday mega panel, ari melber, krystal ball, and toure. and we were talking about this, excuse me, upstairs before we came down. the degree to which the trust in young relative to old and young men relative to older men is really shaken when you have the level of what we are calling patriarchal betrayal that's playing out in the situation. it's obvious what that does to penn state, throwing it into disarray and restructuring. what is less clear is what that does to our sense of trust outside of penn state, when we look at our leaders. go ahead, crystal. >> well, i think it's that. i think it's, obviously, turned penn state into a sense of sort of, hopefully, some soul searching, but i think we also, as a country, need to engage in a little soul searching and think about, there were so many people involved in this case who had an opportunity to do something and didn't. and maybe we in our own lives have witnessed

and back here at penn state the university today made it official naming interim president rodney erickson to the post permanently. it is an in-house promotion without any nationwide search. brian? >> peter alexander in state college, p.a. tonight. peter, thanks. >>> terribly sad story out of the midwest tonight. the coach and assistant coach of oklahoma state's women's basketball team were killed last night when the small plane they were in crashed 50 miles outside little rock. head coach kurt budke and assistant miranda serna were on a recruiting trip. the plane's pilot and his wife also died in the crash. this tragedy comes ten years after two oklahoma state men's basketball players and eight others died in a plane crash outside denver. >>> overseas tonight, president obama made big news today on his tour of the asian pacific region with an announcement about secretary of state hillary clinton. our chief white house correspondent chuck todd had a chance to speak with secretary clinton earlier today. tonight he is traveling with the president. >> reporter: the president showed up in the

rodney erickson. [ applause ] >> reporter: penn state's new president greeted the board of trustees and seemed to appreciate the hot seat he now occupies and the rough terrain ahead. >> i accept this new leadership role under circumstances that i never could have imagined. >> reporter: with three decades on campus, most recently as executive vice president and provost, erickson said while the university has been rocked by this week's scandal, it is not adrift. still, the costs already are staggering. a president, a legendary football coach, two senior university officials, all losing their careers. >> it would be premature for me to comment on any actions. >> reporter: today, officials appointed ken frasier, president and ceo of pharmaceutical giant merck and a penn state alum and board member to lead an internal investigation. meantime, the criminal investigation continues. >> i didn't even know that he was leaving the school with my child. >> reporter: on abc's "good morning, america" the mother of an alleged victim described her son's struggle in coming forward about former assistant

rodney erickson. >> reporter: penn state's new president greeted the board of trustees and seemed to appreciate the hot seat he occupies and the rough terrain ahead. >> i accept this new leadership role under circumstances that i never could have imagined. >> reporter: with three decades on campus, most recently as executive vice president and provost, erickson said while the university has been rocked by this week's scandal, it is not adrift. still, the costs already are staggering. a president, a legendary football coach, two senior university officials, all losing their careers. >> it would be premature for me to comment on any actions. >> reporter: today, officials appointed ken frasier, president and ceo of pharmaceutical giant merck to lead an internal investigation. meantime, the criminal investigation continues. >> i didn't even know that he was leaving the school with my child. >> reporter: on abc's "good morning, america" the mother of an alleged victim talked about jerry sandusky whom he first met at age 11. >> he should have told me. he was like,ing we ingwell, i dw what

rodney erickson. [ applause ] >> reporter: penn state's new president greeted the board of trustees and seemed to appreciate the hot seat he now occupies and the rough terrain ahead. >> i accept this new leadership role under circumstances that i never could have imagined. >> reporter: with three decades on campus, most recently as executive vice president and provost, erickson said while the university has been rocked by this week's scandal, it is not adrift. still, the costs already are staggering. a president, a legendary football coach, two senior university officials, all losing their careers. >> it would be premature for me to comment on any actions. >> reporter: today, officials appointed ken frasier, president and ceo of pharmaceutical giant merck and a penn state alum and board member to lead an internal investigation. meantime, the criminal investigation continues. >> i didn't even know that he was leaving the school with my child. >> reporter: on abc's "good morning, america" the mother of an alleged victim described her son's struggle in coming forward about former football

interim president rodney erickson. >> we will be completely open, transparent, cooperative in any investigation that is launched. >> reporter: under heightened security, more than a hundred thousand fans wore blue in a blue-out in support of all abuse victims. a pregame gathering on the field by both teams leading to a moment of silence that stilled an entire stadium. >> the whole thing was very emotional. the prayer, i thought that the idea of nebraska to get together midfield was a very special moment. >> reporter: gone, but certainly not forgotten, legendary head coach joe paterno. one of five university officials either fired or sidelined over issues relating to their handling of the scandal. after a heartbreaking loss, paterno's son jay, an assistant coach, broke down. >> dad, i wish you were here. we love you! >> reporter: armen keteyian, cbs news, state college, pennsylvania. >>> three fresh crew members are on their way to the international space station. they blasted off this morning from kazakhstan. they are aboard a soyuz. daniel burbank and two russian colleagues will arrive at the

also there this morning is the president of the university rodney erickson. mr. erickson, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> reporter: pennsylvania's government says he is expecting more victims will come forward. are you expecting the same? >> that's entirely possible. i'm not aware of any at this point but certainly possible. >> as armen also mentioned, there is three separate investigations taking place. have you put any kind of a time frame on when you'd like to see those finished? >> well, certainly we would like to see them completed as soon as possible so we can take whatever corrective actions may be recommended as a result of those investigations. >> the governor of pennsylvania also said that mike mcqueary, a grad student at the time in 2002 when he witnessed some of these alleged sexual abuse said he failed his moral obligation nine years ago by not doing more to intervene. why was mr. mcqueary put on administrative leave and not just removed from his position? >> there are some legal issues we have to deal with there. >> you have legal issues, b

the board also named rodney erickson as the new president of the university. he spoke for the first time today in his new role. >>> this is a tragedy for many lives. it will take all of us some time to come to grips with the full magnitude of the damage that's been done. >> a candle light vigil will be at 9:30. we'll have more in the broadcast at 11:00. >>> a security export in venezuela says there will be a large ransom demand for a nationals catcher who was kidnapped. he was abducted in the city of valencia in what was described as a sophisticated operation. fans are planning a vigil while a family friend tells us what happens. derrick ward is live with the interview you will see only on news 4. >> reporter: we are outside the gate at nationals park. as you see behind me, lots of red and white. the team colors and the faint flicker of a candle. it marks the vigil happening here. there are vigils being held in valencia for ramos. the nats fans gather outside the stadium to show support for the missing player. he was taken from his home in a working class town

. >> rodney erickson, we'll continue to monitor the q and a at the news knchs. he also said there would be increased security at tomorrow's football game. penn state hosting nebraska. the news mike mcqueary won't be participating in this became. he's been put on administrative leave with pay as you heard that going on. let's bring in erin burnett, she's been covering this story thoroughly. this charity that's been involved right at the center of all of this because of jerry sandusky, the man accused of sexually abusing these young boys. i know you've been speaking to speaking to frank o harris who is on second mile's board. give us a sense of what's going on. >> when you look at this charity, wolf, as you've been talking about, 250 high schools across pennsylvania have participated in the second mile program. franco harris is a honorary member of the board there. he's going to be on with us again tonight and really find out who knew what when at second mile, especially as you were just reporting that they looked into it there and then decided nothing had gone wr

also there this morning is the president of the university, rodney erickson. mr. erickson, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> pennsylvania's governor says he's expecting more victims will come forward. are you expecting the same? >> that's entirely possible. i'm not aware of any at this point, but certainly possible. >> as armen also mentioned, there's three separate investigations taking place. have you put any kind of a time frame on when you'd like to see those finished? >> well, certainly we'd like to see them completed as soon as possible so we can take whatever corrective actions may be recommended as a result of those investigations. >> the governor of pennsylvania also said that mike mcqueary, a grad student at the time in 2002 when he witnessed some of this alleged abuse by jerry sandusky, now an assistant coach as you mentioned, said that he failed his moral obligation nine years ago by not doing more to intervene. why was mr. mcqueary put on administrative leave and not just removed from his position? >> there's some legal issues that we have to d

erickson. is he committed to staying on as long as needed. under normal circumstances a national search would occur but this is not occurring at this time. they say the current situation which is obviously unprecedented, the board has taken this unusual action to name the president who they believe will lead us forward. some penn state taking the interim tag off the man you have seen -- in a lot of press reports, see his face on tv quite a bit as he was being a spokesperson while penn state was going through this certainly terrible time for their campus but they have now taken the interim tag off rodney erickson, the new president now at penn state university. >>> that super committee's mission is to fix our budget woes. but why is the issue resting on the shoulders of 12 people? stay with us for some answers. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announce

we did hear from president rodney erickson, there were some factions of students wearing all blue in support of the victims. what we also need to look for whether or not there are going to be protesters. what the security is going to be like. are people going to show up for this? there's a high focus on security because of all of those concerns. i think that tomorrow, you know, could be unlike any other football saturday ever in happy valley. >> sara, trent and roxanne, thank you for your help. thanks to you all. >>> president obama is due in san diego any time now, first stop on a nine-day trip. up next, we'll ask cnn's fareed zakaria what he wants and what he's liking to get. ♪ you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. >>> there's ed tonight of a significant reshuffling

in is rodney erickson. he will be the interim president. released a partial statement saying they have authorized a full investigation to determine what failures occurred. who is responsible. what measures are necessary to ensure that this never, ever happens again. brooke? >> jason carroll live for us at the penn state campus. next on reporter roulette. in new york, luis, you're following the kidnapping of a major league baseball player, wilson ramos out of the washington nationals. this kidnapping in venezuela. what are you hearing this hour? >> reporter: hi, brooke. this is a huge case in venezuela. according to preliminary reports, two armed men actually stormed his house in valencia, venezuela. neighbors tell local media that a gunmen were there. they we they were around his house before they went in and they said they threatened to kill him. you know this is a very common case in that country. kidnappings have been rising in the country but this is the first time that happened to a baseball player. brooke? >> what about the washington

the university's new president rodney erickson addressed that earlier today. take a listen. >> i believe this was the right decision to play this game. yes, there were a number of individuals, we received e-mails and other communications that indicated that or suggested that under the circumstances, it was not appropriate to play today. >> reporter: and don, here on the campus of penn state tonight in very stark contrast to what happened just days ago when joe paterno was fired and we saw all that unrest, it's been very quiet here. some fans noting that it's been very somber also throughout the day. don? >> mary, thank you very much. stand by. we'll be getting back to you throughout the evening here on cnn. i'm glad mary mentioned that she talked about that rioting that happened earlier in the week. i want to bring in athena jones now. many penn state students did not react well to the news that paterno was fired on wednesday. mary alluded to it earlier. we saw the rioting on the campus, a news van overturned. and today is senior day. and the team lost a tough

>> we're working with -- >> again, we're listening to rodney erickson, the interim president talking there. one question we did hear, whether or not penn state would accept a bowl bid. he said student athletes want to play, they're playing. this is the game with all the emotion, fredericka, that was it. before the game, you mentioned the different mood. instead of penn state charging out from under the tunnel, they walked out arm-in-arm. there was a pregame prayer involving both teams, and it was victims number one. it was announced $20,000 raised to help prevent childhood abuse. so, again, that's the kind of message they want to send from state college, $20,000 raised today by fans in the stadium who decided it was time to donate and again put victims first. >> all right. mike galanos, thanks so much there at the penn state university campus. >>> all right. straight ahead, we're taking you to the movies. j. edgar hitting the big screen. we'll find out what our movie critic of the day says about it. . look at these big pieces of potato. ♪ what's that? big piece of potato. [ male an

we will talk this morning with rodney erickson, the president of the university, about what is next for the school. the investigation. and also the penn state football program. and also we will be talking lay-away programs. a lot more stores are are pushing lay-away plans this holiday season but beware. a lot of fees associated with the lay-away plans and we will tell you if it is really worth it all coming up on the early show. see you soon. >> jeff, "the early show" starts at 7:00. have a good show, jeff, thanks. >> 6:51 now. police take down occupy oakland. >> basically it looks like a tornado ripped through frank ogawa plaza. the tents have been flattened. a huge mess out there. we will tell you what is next for the protesters coming up in a live report. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, do ty.. just abou s ago.. several >>> welcome back. we have more on the developing story. by all accounts it looks like the occupation may be over in oakland. >> exactly. police tore down the tent city. just about 30 minutes ago. several people have been arrested. and anne makovec, she has been in oakland all mo

interim president rodney ericks erickson. >> we will be completely open, transparent, cooperative in any investigation that is launched. >> reporter: under heightened security, more than a hundred thousand fans wore blue in a blue-out in support of all abuse victims. a pregame gathering on the field by both teams leading to a moment of silence that stilled an entire stadium. >> the whole thing was very emotional. the prayer, i thought that the idea of nebraska to get together midfield was a very special moment. >> reporter: gone, but certainly not forgotten, legendary head coach joe paterno. one of five university officials either fired or sidelined over issues relating to their handling of the scandal. after a heartbreaking loss, paterno'sson jay, an assistant coach, broke down. >> dad, i wish you were here. we love you! >> reporter: armen keteyian, cbs news, state college, pennsylvania. >>> three fresh crew members are on their way to the international space station. they blasted off this morning. they are aboard a soyuz. daniel burbank will arrive at the station on wednesday. >>>

rodney erickson. mr. ericson, thanks for joining us this morning. we just heard jim avila report one of the victims has hired a lawyer to pursue the prospect of a civil lawsuit. is penn state prepared to accept responsibility for what happened to those boys? >> we certainly are. we understand there will be lawsuits field. we're certainly prepared to do the right thing for all of the victims. >> what does that mean? >> well, that means that we will certainly do of course we can to determine what is appropriate, and we will do the right thing. >> you served as provost before becoming president last week. when did you first hear about the allegations? what did you think when you heard them? >> i was shocked when i heard them a week ago thursday. i read the presentment. of the attorney general, and i was deeply, deeply disturbed. >> that was the first time, last week? >> that was when i first understood the complete ramifications of this situation. i was vaguely aware that there was some issue in clinton county, to the north of us. i was not involved in

finally the interim president rodney erickson announced the formation of a special committee led by the giant merck to do a far reaching investigation to see how the university handled this horrific child abuse sex scandal. whether there was a cover-up or whether they did the right thing and clearly believe they did the wrong thing in many different ways. rebecca? >> armen, thank you. appreciate it. >>> now we ask the question how students are feeling in preparation for today's game. joining us from state college, pennsylvania, are three students lexie bell, the editor and chief of penn state's newspaper, and vice president of the student body and president t.j. and courtney. thank you all for joining us. >> thank you for having us. >> t.j., i want to start with you. all of you were at last night's candlelight vigil in support of the victims of these alleged crimes. i want to understand from you, t.j., what the mood was like there. >> it was indescribable. it was one that i constantly got chills. it was phenomenal. reports were that the initial riots that occurred on wednesday night wer

his name is rodney erickson. and today we're learning new details about the case here, and about a federal investigation, as well. several lawyers tell nbc news that more young men are coming forward to say they're victims of jerry sandusky. many of them empowered the lawyers, say, to begin sharing their stories of abuse in the face of sandusky's denials. with bob costas on monday night. >> i say that i am innocent of those charges. >> there's comfort in numbers. and i think that they now understand that we're not alone. >> reporter: ben and riazi represents at least two alleged victims, one of them not included among the eight listed in the grand jury report. and riazi says that man was told by authorities he is victim number 11. and he's claiming there was yet another sexual assault on campus. >> my client was sexually assaulted by mr. sandusky in the early '90s. and he was sexually assaulted on the grounds of penn state university. >> reporter: and federal investigators are now examining the sandusky case. nbc

we appreciate -- >> as you heard from rodney ericeri ericks erickson, the new president of penn state. making a pledge to clean up. not going to be a caretaker president. a public meeting now of the board of trustees. they have a ton of decisions to make when it comes to what to do next. we'll have full coverage coming up. "jancing and company" comes up in just a few minutes. i'll see you next week. ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. >>> good morning. i'm richard lui in for chris jansing. we start with the penn state board of trustees di

we appreciate -- >> as you heard from rodney ericeri ericks erickson, the new president of penn state. making a pledge to clean up. not going to be a caretaker president. a public meeting now of the board of trustees. they have a ton of decisions to make when it comes to what to do next. we'll have full coverage coming "jancing and company" comes up in just a few minutes. i'll see you next week. ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. >>> good morning. i'm richard lui in for chris jansing. we start with the penn state board of trustees discussing the

e k erickson. he replaced spanier who was replaced last week concerning questions about when he knew details about the allegations of jerry sandusky. nbc news has spoken to several lawyers who say that jerry sandusky's seem seem end denials that he did anything wrong has led many new victims not included among the eight in the indictment to come forward. among them one of the victims apparently told his attorney that authorities told him that he is victim number 11. >> and professors are speak out now, professor michael barabay in the "new york times" and also to our colleague, mike tell isakoff,this is what he had to say. >> this must have been an open secret. there's another bunch of people who aggressively didn't want to know. like la la la la. i don't want to know. it's so horrible that if it's so true i don't want to know about it. which is a different kind of thing than playing ignorance. it's a little more complicated. >> a lot more complicated, isn't it, peter? >> reporter: it certainly is.

erickson, today we're learning new details about the case here and a federal investigation several lawyers tell nbc news that more young men are coming forward to say they're victims of jerry sandusky. many of them empowered the lawyers, say, to begin sharing their stories of abuse in the face of sandusky's denials. with bob costas on monday night. >> i say that i am innocent of those charges. >> there's comfort in numbers. and i think that they now understand that we're not alone. >> reporter: ben and riazi represents at least two alleged victims, one of them not included among the eight listed in the grand jury report. and riazi says that man was told by authorities he is victim number 11. and he's claiming there was yet another sexual assault on campus. >> my client was sexually assaulted by mr. sandusky in the early '90s. and he was sexually assaulted on the grounds of penn state university. >> reporter: and federal investigators are now examining the sandusky case. nbc news' national investigative kpobl correspondent michael isikoff. >> reporter: federal prosecutors and fbi agents are