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FBI Investigates Leaks; Jurors Selected in Sandusky Trial; Florida A&M Officials Meet to Discuss Future, Anti-Hazing Plan; LinkedIn Hacked, Massive List of Passwords Disclosed; Rally on Wall Street; Violence Escalates in Syria; Texting Teen Sentenced to Year in Prison

Aired June 07, 2012 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. It's 11:00 on the East Coast, 8:00 on the West Coast.

Rally on top of rally on Wall Street. Blue chips are building on their 287-point jump yesterday, the best day of the year so far followed by a slump that wiped out the year's gains.

Here is another nice number, 377,000 first-time claims for jobless benefits. 12,000 fewer than the week before.

But that follows measly job growth in May and a slowing economy overall and don't even get us started on Europe or the tax cuts set to expire and spending cuts due to kick in a few short months from now.

So watching it all is Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, who right now is trying to explain to Congress -- live pictures right now -- what if anything he plans to do about it without, of course, saying too much.

CNN's Felicia Taylor is watching from the New York Stock Exchange Felicia, what have we heard and learned so far?

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a very careful dance because, obviously, the Federal Reserve chairman can't come out right and say anything ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting which takes place at the end of June, June 19th and 20th.

So it's interesting that the expectation was that the stock market would actually rally in yesterday's session on the fact that they were expecting to hear something.

What he's been doing, though, is basically sort of admitting that there has been slower than desirable growth in the marketplace and there could be room and the Fed has left the door open for further stimulus, although not saying, actually, specifically what could be there, rather repeating himself that he's got the tools and, quote, "is prepared to adjust holdings as appropriate to promote a stronger economic recovery."

So far, as you well know, things have been tepid. We had that slowdown in GDP, weak jobs growth. Although the number you mentioned today, fewer people signing up for unemployment claims is good, but it's not really the best that we could see. We've still got that deepening crisis in Europe. That's all taking a toll on investor sentiment. The market has backed off of the rally we saw. We were up 130 points. They are not seeing exactly or hearing exactly what they would like to from the Federal Reserve yet about what the Fed could do and might do at the next meeting.

Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Trying to be optimistic. Tell us about this fiscal cliff that Bernanke keeps referring to.

TAYLOR: That is basically the stalemate in Washington. That's what's really frustrating. There are naysayers that don't really believe further stimulus is going to accomplish anything.

What he's talking about is there has to be incentives in Washington to get businesses off the sidelines and back into the marketplace, whether it's actually hiring people, which is the intention -- that's what they want to see -- or whether they are going to be borrowing money from the banks.

That's the kind of fiscal stimulus, the fiscal cliff that he's talking about. We can't stand at this precipice any longer. We've been at it now for a couple of years.

And just for viewers to understand, if we did see another round of stimulus from the Federal Reserve, that actually indicates that things are worse out there than he might have otherwise felt because of the need for that.

So it's not necessarily a good thing. It's just a good thing for the marketplace, for investors on Wall Street because it boosts stocks.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks, Felicia. Appreciate that.

All right, overseas now as the violence escalates and new reports of massacres surface, the urgent focus today for the United Nations is Syria. The special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, is briefing the U.N. right now on the situation.

But as the U.N. discusses what to do, Russia and China are proving to be major road blocks. The two countries and four other Central Asian nations signed a statement yesterday saying they opposed outside intervention in Syria and Iran.

Let's get straight to Jill Dougherty who is monitoring the U.N. meetings in New York. Jill?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, it's a very serious moment and that's why you have Kofi Annan briefing the U.N. general assembly, but basically everybody agreeing that his plan simply is not working, new violence, new killings, and that was the primary purpose for his plan.

In fact, just before he spoke, the secretary-general, Ban Ki- Moon, said there were reports of new killings in Hama Province. He called them shocking and sickening. He even said that just a few minutes ago he had heard that the U.N. monitors who were there were trying to get in, access one of the scenes, but were shot at with small arms.

So that gives you an indication, Fred, of what is going on.

Meanwhile, you have Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She, although saying that we still support the Kofi Annan plan, essentially she is saying the world community has to look beyond that, to look for a post-Assad future.

Here is what she said in Istanbul.

I'm sorry. I guess we don't have that sound. But, essentially, she said that the world community has to look beyond what is going to happen when Assad is gone. Of course, Assad isn't gone. There is no indication that he is stepping aside, Fred.

One of the problems is Russia and China continue to not support action. What they are looking for is some type of a conference that might get all the sides, including Iran, together to try to influence both sides to stop this violence.

WHITFIELD: Jill, we do have another expressed sentiment from former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who spoke with Piers Morgan last night and he said this is about the sanctions and this is what he thinks needs to be done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: The idea that sanctions will work as long as Iran and Russia and other countries are supportive of the Assad regime is mindless. The sanctions will not work.

The next thing is to do what I said, and that's to engage in some covert action, to work with some of the dissidents, try to figure out somebody that would be better than Assad and then provide assistance to them.

And the next step would be to move as they did in Libya.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And, Jill, the U.N. would think what about sanctions?

DOUGHERTY: Well, sanctions right now are really one of the only things they can do. There was a briefing, in fact, yesterday by the Treasury Department saying that the world community needs to take even stronger sanctions and that they would argue they are working.

Assad, according to who you talk to, has spent down at least half his reserves. What they are trying to do is peel away people who are near him, to support him, to give him the idea their future is very bleak if they stick with Assad. That all still, though, is theoretical because there aren't any signs that anyone really is peeling away.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jill Dougherty, thanks so much from Washington.

A little bit more now from U.S. Secretary of State Clinton and what she says. She says the existing sanctions on Syria are having an impact. She says businesses are cutting their ties to the region and senior Syrian leaders have had their funds frozen and travel curtailed.

Nobody likes a dusty submarine, but the U.S. Navy may want to inspect its fleet of vacuum cleaners. The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard now says the fire that cost $400 million worth of damage to a nuclear sub last month -- that's right, $400 million -- apparently, started in a vacuum cleaner used to clean worksites and stored in an unoccupied space.

The USS Miami was in for an overhaul at the time and its nuclear plant was shut down. No weapons were onboard and no one was hurt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Just a quick note for those heading out the door. You can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone or, if you're heading to work, you can also watch CNN live from your desktop, of course. Just go to CNN.com/TV.

A Massachusetts teen is sentenced to a year in prison in the state's first-ever texting while driving case. Aaron Deveau was convicted of homicide in the death of a 55-year-old father last February. Deveau was 17 at the time.

Thirty-eight states ban text messaging for all drivers and 31 states make it illegal for so-called novice drivers. Those numbers may soon be rising.

Last hour, the Transportation Department announced a new, national distracted-driving initiative. CNN aviation and regulation correspondent, Lizzie O'Leary, is in Washington with more details on this. Lizzie?

LIZZIE O'LEARY, CNN AVIATION AND REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Fred, what they basically are trying to do here is poke Congress a little bit and raise awareness about distracted driving.

This has been the transportation secretary, Ray LaHood's baby. It's his campaign. He's been pushing very hard against distracted driving. They are giving some extra money to California and Delaware to try to have distracted driving awareness campaigns.

And they are also needling Congress, saying, you guys haven't really passed a big transportation bill that would essentially overhaul the roads since the Eisenhower era. They want to get some distracted driving stuff in that, as well. So it's two part. It's raising awareness and trying to get the policy to move a little further along.

WHITFIELD: Lizzie, if you look at the facts, it puts the danger in perspective. Texting while driving takes the driver's eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds. That's the equivalent of driving 55 miles per hour and going the length of a football field, blind, many say.

What is the key to getting out the message that texting is dangerous because people do it all the time?

O'LEARY: They do it all the time. About 1-in-10 fatalities is caused by distracted driving and one of the stats that the department uses, about some 600,000 people are on a device at some point while they're driving.

So we went inside a simulator. I got to see how this looks and feels. It takes about four seconds to send a text. It takes two seconds of taking your eyes off the road to lose the focus and to put yourself in a dangerous situation. I more or less rear-ended the fake car in front of me.

One of the questions is, all right, there is this tension between education and regulation. How far can the government go in terms of what they ban? How much money can they both give and withhold to states for education campaigns?

One of the things we have seen is them work with vehicle manufacturers to say, if you've got some built-in hands-free stuff, you've got to have it automatically turn off while the car is moving.

So we seem to be moving slowly in that direction.

WHITFIELD: All right, Lizzie O'Leary, thanks so much in Washington.

Still not convinced just how popular texting is? In June of last year, more than 196 billion text messages were sent or received in the U.S. That's according to the website distraction.gov.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Another quick and unannounced visit to Afghanistan today by Leon Panetta. The U.S. defense secretary met with U.S. troops and commanders as well as his Afghan counterpart and delivered a warning to Pakistan.

CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom is in Kabul. So, Mohammed, what prompted Panetta's fourth trip now to Afghanistan as defense secretary and what did he say.

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, ostensibly, this trip was to assess the security situation here. Frankly, there's a lot to assess. Yesterday, there were a number of attacks across the country. It was the deadliest day for Afghan civilians this entire year. You had twin suicide attacks in Kandahar city, an alleged NATO air strike that happened south of Kabul. We heard as many as 50 civilians killed yesterday as a result of these two strikes and these attacks.

Secretary Panetta also had a very stern warning for neighboring Pakistan because he said that Pakistan needed to do more to route out the al Haqqani terrorist network. This is a network that the U.S. says has ties to al Qaeda.

They've alleged for quite some time that the al Haqqani Network conducts cross-border raids, that they come into Pakistan, specifically targeting U.S. soldiers.

Here's more of what Secretary Panetta had to say on that issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LEON PANETTA: We are reaching the limits of our patience here. And for that reason, it is extremely important that Pakistan take action to prevent this kind of safe haven from taking place and from allowing terrorists to use their country as a safety net in order to conduct their attacks on our forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JAMJOOM: Secretary Panetta clearly putting pressure on Pakistan to do more to clean up its act here.

But the topic of discussion wasn't just Pakistan. As I mentioned, there is a lot of concern here because of the recent spike in the attacks that have been blamed on the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Secretary Panetta acknowledged these attacks. He said there was concern these attacks had become more coordinated in nature, more sophisticated in nature, but also said that they had been expecting that there would be more attacks, especially in light of the season that we are in.

This is typically, traditionally the season for the Taliban spring offensive because the weather's a lot warmer. It's easier for the Taliban to get to different parts of the country.

Nonetheless, a lot of concern here and, because this is a time when more provinces in this country are getting handed over to Afghan security forces so they can take the lead on security, a lot of people wonder if Afghan security forces really have the wherewithal to fully protect this country at such a dangerous time?

Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Mohammed Jamjoom, thanks so much.

The U.S. has about 90,000 troops in Afghanistan today, fewer than the 70,000 expected there by fall. Jeb Bush's name has been floating around as a possible v.p. pick for Mitt Romney, but the former Florida governor told CBS it's not in the cards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH, FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: I'm not going to do it and I'm not going to be asked. It's not going to happen.

That doesn't mean I don't have a voice. It doesn't mean I don't want to enthusiastically support Mitt Romney. I intend to do that. I'm doing it.

But I'm not going to be a candidate with him.

CHARLIE ROSE, CBS NEWS: Under no circumstances?

BUSH: Under no circumstances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: But he says he is not ruling out a future presidential bid, although he admits this year was probably the right time for him to go for it.

Meanwhile the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, is meeting in Chicago. We will be covering that for you, this hour, tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We all know Justin Bieber gets so many girls in a tizzy, but there is one fan whose "Bieber fever" is helping her defy the odds.

Eleven-year-old Megan Hamm has a condition that has left her severely, neurologically impaired. Doctors said she would never express emotions, among other things.

But Meghan's teachers accidentally discovered a medical breakthrough when a Bieber song came on the radio one day.

It turns out when Justin Bieber sings, Meghan smiles and even kicks her feet, the only time Meghan shows emotion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justin Bieber just does it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes me want to cry. Makes me happy. When she is happy, I'm happy. When she is healthy, I'm happy. It's a pretty big deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And "The Biebs" tweeted, "Megan, you stay strong for me and I'm gonna make sure we meet when I come to Portland. Love you and thank you."

In a revealing interview, Michael Jackson's only daughter Paris is opening up about her dad and her childhood. Fourteen-year-old Paris Jackson sat down with Oprah Winfrey three years after the King of Pop's death.

Here's what she says about Michael Jackson as dad and living in the public eye.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST, OWN: Did you feel that he wanted you to have a, quote, "normal life?"

PARIS JACKSON, DAUGHTER OF MICHAEL JACKSON: Yes, he did.

WINFREY: Yes? Do you feel that he thought that that was possible with him being who he was?

JACKSON: He had his doubts because he told us that when he was younger, he didn't really have a childhood. He would always be stuck in the studio, singing, while other kids were out playing and he wanted us to have that.

So a lot of times we would go to Chuck E. Cheese and everything and Chuck E. Cheese and Toys R' Us were our favorite places to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Paris also talks about her dad's death. She told Oprah, quote, "It never gets easier." The rest of Paris' interview airs Sunday on OWN.

"America's Got Talent" and, apparently, the popular TV show may also have a case of stolen valor. Contestant Timothy Poe appeared on the NBC talent show this week.

The country singer who served in the national guard was being deemed a hero after he shared his tale of battle in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY POE, "AMERICA'S GOT TALENT" CONTESTANT: My career was ended in 2009. I had got hit by a grenade in Afghanistan and it broke my back and gave me a brain injury, so that's the reason why I stutter a little bit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: While the Minnesota National Guard says Poe did, indeed, serve in the Minnesota National Guard and served one month in Afghanistan, they say he did not suffer those injuries.

Military officials say it isn't the first time Poe has lied about his service. He reportedly told another TV station that he was shot in Iraq back in 2005. Now, for this week's "Travel Insider." If you're looking to save on your vacation, you my want to consider a "stay-cation" or look at visiting a place kind of close to home.

CNN producer, Jamie Maglietta, recently moved to Atlanta and she found Savannah, Georgia, can be a fun getaway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MAGLIETTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: While researching weekend trips from Atlanta, I realized Savannah is only four hours from the city.

What we love about Savannah is River Street. The cobblestone street borders the Savannah River. It has a New Orleans feel with Southern hospitality and, get this, street drinks. Yes, you can stroll along River Street with a beer in your hand.

Besides beer, there are also tasty restaurants. If you want seafood, I suggest you try Fiddler's or Tubby's.

But if you want to take a break from River Street's festivities, walk seven minutes to Lady and Sons. It's owned by Paula Deen. I recommend you try shrimp and grits. Yum.

If you're looking for a place to stay, you may want to try Bohemian Hotel right on River Street. It is across from the Savannah River and the World War II memorial.

Just keep in mind, hotels along the Savannah River are price, so I recommend you stay further out of town to save.

From River Street from Savannah, Georgia, I'm Jamie Maglietta, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thanks, Jamie. Savannah is definitely a very charming city and, if you don't live in Atlanta, Savannah is still pretty easy to get to. It's just a few hours by plane from New York City and that's this week's "Travel Insider."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The FBI is launching an investigation into troubling accusations that classified information about U.S. attacks on Iran was leaked. Some top officials are pointing the finger straight at the White House. Leaders on both sides of the aisle are speaking out about their concerns.

Let's get to Suzanne Kelly about the firestorm brewing in the nation's capital.

Good to see you, Suzanne.

SUZANNE KELLY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: This centers around a report in "The New York Times" that provided classified details of a U.S. cyber attack on Iran. What can you tell us about the investigation, where it begins?

KELLY: The FBI specifically is looking into this investigation. According to a U.S. official, they want to know where the source of that leak came from. You remember this is about the cyber program that became sort of famous as being called Stuxnet. That was planted into the computer programming in Iran that caused the centrifuges in one of their nuclear facilities to speed up and render them inoperable. That was one we heard about for a while. But the allegations in this reporting was that it was the U.S. behind it. The FBI is looking into that investigation for leaks.

We know Director Muller had called for an investigation into the leak last month in Yemen. You remember, AQAP, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, had been working on developing one of those underwear bombs that uses explosives that are difficult to detect. We were told that intelligence, U.S. intelligence had some sort of person in there who had found this out. The problem with that leak though and that information was that operation was still ongoing. We had this cascading effect of leaks that have come out. The FBI is going to look at those.

What the FBI has said is that it's focusing their investigations on the source of the leaks. They have not said they are looking specifically at the White House as the source of those leaks. That's really becoming somewhat of a political football right now.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That's interesting. There are some on Capitol Hill who are saying the White House is responsible for the leaks. Of course, the spokesman, Jay Carney, was asked about that. This is what he said.

Oh. He said, quote, "Any suggestion that this administration has authorized intentional leaks of classified information for political gain is grossly irresponsible."

It is a political football, even some on Capitol Hill are asking for an independent investigation outside of the FBI. The likelihood of that?

KELLY: There are several investigations looking into it. Senator John McCain rarely holds back. He did really point the finger directly at the White House. But today, we heard from other Senators who said that's just not the case. We don't believe -- Democrat Senators, we don't believe these leaks are coming from the top ranks of the White House. Senator John Kerry one of them.

Senator Feinstein feels so strongly about it, she spoke with our colleague, Wolf Blitzer, last night. And this is what she had to say about her concerns about the leaks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, (D), CALIFORNIA: It's dismayed our allies. It puts American lives in jeopardy. It puts our nation's security in jeopardy. If you look at terrorism, intelligence is fundamental to knowing what's going to happen and prevent it from happening in the first place. So I think the FBI should continue its investigation. We are going to do ours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY: She is going to take the lead into this meeting that's going on right now as we speak. We know Senator Chambliss has arrived on the Hill. James Clapper arrived for this meeting. John McCain has arrived. He was asked as he was going in, what questions are you going to be asking? He wants to know what happened and the impact on security.

WHITFIELD: Suzanne Kelly, keep us posted on that.

Senator John McCain says the Armed Services Committee agreed to hold a hearing on the alleged leaks.

On to the jury selection in a high-profile molestation case. Some are young, some are old, some have kids, some don't. Have either worked, teached or studied, or used to work, teach or study at Penn State University. 16 residents of Center County, Pennsylvania, are changing their summer vacation plans today because they've been chosen as jurors or alternate jurors in the child rape trial of Jerry Sandusky. Opening statements are four days away.

Sarah Ganim will be there. She is a CNN contributor and Pulitzer Prize winning crime reporter for the "Harrisburg Patriot News."

Good to see you, Sarah.

If you factor out the ties to Penn State, this is a very diverse panel, is it not?

SARAH GANIM, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING JOURNALIST, HARRISBURG PATRIOT NEWS & CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's a panel that -- really more than half of them have ties to Penn State, which in some ways should not be too surprising. It's very indicative of this community. Judge Cleland said from the start, a tie to Penn State University was not going to preclude someone from making it on to this jury because it is such a large university in a small community. Prosecutors used that to try to get jurors from another county to be bussed in. They estimated one in three people in this county have some tie to Penn State. Turns out nine of the 16, 12 jurors plus four alternates, have some kind of tie to Penn State University.

WHITFIELD: It seemed unavoidable. Except for trying to bring in people from another area, was there another effort to try to exclude Penn State people?

GANIM: There really wasn't. Once Jerry Sandusky expressed his desire to have a jury picked in this county, the judge said, if that's what you want, I'll give that to you, and we'll try to pick a jury in this county. We all expected, including the judge, I believe, since he scheduled opening statements for Monday, we all expected this to take a while. It might be more difficult than everyone had thought, and it went quickly. It was done in about a day and a half.

WHITFIELD: Wow. What more do we know about the expected witnesses and evidence that will be rolled out beginning next week?

GANIM: We do expect that the first two witnesses for the prosecution are going to be men who allege abuse that occurred over long periods of time, prolonged abuse. One of them has accused Jerry Sandusky of being like a surrogate father. That he would travel with the family. That he was constantly at their home. Both of those first two witnesses have accused Jerry Sandusky of abusing them during sleepovers. So that's what we expect for day one for, the first couple of witnesses. From there, moving forward, there are 10 separate cases combined into one for this trial. Some of them are very different from others. They run the gambit. That's what we expect next week.

WHITFIELD: Sarah Ganim, thanks so much.

Jerry Sandusky is 68 years old. If convicted, he could easily spend the rest of his life in prison.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This hour, officials with Florida A&M University are meeting to discuss the school's future amid the fallout of last year's hazing death of one of its band members. The tragedy, arrest and scrutiny of the university's famed marching band is impacting students' dreams, as George Howell reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TARIK ROWLAND, DIRECTOR, TRI-CITY HIGH MARCHING BAND: One, two, three, four.

(MUSIC)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is much more to band than just the music for many high school programs. The director of the Tri-City High's marching band in Atlanta says a competitive edge translates to big college scholarships for his students.

ROWLAND: It can mean the parents don't have to fork out thousands of dollars for a school year. That can be money for four years.

HOWELL: And Tarik Rowland has good reason to boast. This year alone his band members grossed about $2 5 million in music scholarships, 37 graduating seniors, offers from a variety of schools around the country.

But as seniors here prepare for their last performance as high school students, many admit their top choice for college marching band programs was not their first pick.

(on camera): Where did you want to go first?

SHARIFA HARDWICK, BAND MEMBER: I wanted to go to FAMU.

HOWELL: Why is that?

HARDWICK: Because they have -- they have -- they put on a great show.

(MUSIC)

LAWRENCE WILLIAMS, BAND MEMBER: They're just a great band. They show a lot of pride when they perform.

HOWELL (voice-over): The famed Marching 100 had its last performance November 11th. They suspended the band program following the hazing death of 26-year-old Robert Champion. And with more than a dozen former band members now facing criminal charges in connection to Champion's death, Florida A&M suspended the band through the 2013 school year, leaving students like Danny Oliver out of luck.

DANNY OLIVER, BAND MEMBER: I have lots of scholarships to other colleges, but FAMU never came and auditioned anyone because of the suspension.

HOWELL (on camera): Were you disappointed?

OLIVER: A little bit, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

HOWELL: Every year, there is great competition among colleges to recruit from high schools like the Tri-City's Bulldog marching band. With FAMU out of the picture, several other colleges are seeing a 10 percent to 20 percent increase to auditions giving them the opportunity to be more selective.

ROWLAND: Some schools wouldn't seek out the most musically achieving students. They didn't have a chance. FAMU is known as the school to pull the most dedicated and outstanding citizenship.

HOWELL (voice-over): Some worry how the prolong suspension will affect FAMU, missing out on top talent.

WILLIAMS: They receiving a lot of talented students made them such a great band.

HOWELL: In the world of marching bands and everywhere else, it's all about the talent. And the question, will FAMU be able to get the talent back?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: As we mentioned, University officials are meeting to discuss the future of the university and they are also talking about a proposed anti-hazing plan.

George Howell with me now.

So how serious is this potential measure?

HOWELL: This plan has been in the works for several months. We are finally seeing this board of trustees, they will make a decision and vote on this plan. It's got several different parts. First of all, improving the academic standards to make sure incoming students maintain a 2.5 GPA. Also bringing in a compliance officer to oversee the band, and creating a new role under the president, an assistant to watch out for hazing and anti-hazing personnel person there, to make sure all employees, all members of the band and students are just not involved in hazing.

WHITFIELD: This is an HBCU, an historically black college and university. The marching band is very much engrained in the legacy of FAMU and any other HBCU. With this hazing death and this investigation, this suspension of the music program, the band program, how much will that impact the legacy, not just at FAMU, but maybe other HBCUs?

HOWELL: You do hear from parents -- parents are concerned about their kids going to FAMU, the concerns about hazing. Along with this plan that the board of trustees will vote on, there is an item for rebranding, an advertising and marketing campaign to fix the school's image, given all the publicity since this case.

WHITFIELD: You have to wonder if there are parents having discussions worried about, while FAMU may be doing something about the hazing death, the music program, some students who still want to go to FAMU, how much is there an expressed concern coming from parents who say, I'm wondering if there are other programs within the university that may follow suit? That may also have hazing?

HOWELL: We talked to other parents before. Parents are paying close attention to what the university does. The university is doing everything it can to make sure, first of all, it stamps out that culture of hazing and make sure parents are relieved or feel good with their students at the school.

WHITFIELD: You wonder how much it will impact recruitment in other schools and colleges on the campus.

HOWELL: You're seeing other universities get more students.

WHITFIELD: George Howell, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

The university's National Alumni Association will have a support rally and a press conference this afternoon, 3:00 eastern time. They want to make note of FAMU's achievement in spite of the focus on the marching band tragedy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: You can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone and watch CNN live from your desktop. Go to CNN.com/tv.

If you're one of the millions who have an account on LinkedIn, the business-focused social networking site, you may have been hacked. Russian hackers released a massive list of 6.5 million passwords, dating web sites. EHarmony's web site has been leaked. If you use the same password to other accounts, they could log in there.

Christine Romans is in New York.

6.5 million passwords leaked. What happened?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting. These Russian hackers put this on a cyber forum. It was international web security experts who scouted this out and even found their own passwords on this list and realized it was from eHarmony dating web site, and most of them from LinkedIn.

It's interesting. As the economy, the labor market slowed here, people, people -- a lot of people are going on this professional networking site. It's incredible popular. They're adding something like two new users on linked in every second. So that's an awful lot of people who could potentially be affected. It's the world's largest professional networking site on the Internet. It operates in loads of countries, 200 countries, 161 million users. So this is about 6.5 million different passwords. You've probably been notified by LinkedIn if your password is one of them. A lot of them are things like 1234567, which is very bad, not secure. Human resources, this is my logon, this is my password. A lot of those are out there. This is a good time to please change your password.

WHITFIELD: What else do you do to protect yourself? Change your password and then what?

ROMANS: Think about pass phrase. These are passwords, not the user names, too. But a password is a gateway for someone who might be trying to steal your identity. So think of like a string of words or a phrase. Change some of the key strokes. Don't make 12345 -- hundreds of people have a string of consecutive numbers as their password. Don't do that.

WHITFIELD: It's hard to remember all these passwords.

ROMANS: And don't use the password across all your different accounts. You have to have like a little piece of paper folded up in your back pocket all the time. Don't repeat your passwords. That's incredibly important.

There was a story about how the Mitt Romney campaign was investigating how whether an old hot mail account of his had been hacked because someone was able -- using the name of his pet, guess his old password. They were investigating that. It made me certainly go and clean up an old Hotmail account. I don't know about you.

(LAUGHTER)

If it says "whitfield2" or "fredricka1" for your password, can you change it now?

WHITFIELD: Too simple. I won't do that. I have not done that. I'm like a total technology neophyte but at least I know better than that.

(LAUGHTER)

Christine Romans, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

The password hack is the second piece of bad security news to hit LinkedIn this week. Its mobile app was caught collecting and analyzing data from user's calendars. They said it seeks permission first, but promised to be more transparent about it in the future.

And if your Google account gets hacked by a foreign power, Google wants you to know. You may, in fact, have already seen this warning at the top of your browser saying, quote, "We believe state-sponsored attackers may be attempting to compromise your account or computer," end quote. Google won't say how it detects such things, but you should take its advice and update your passwords and anti-piracy software.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hail storms and rain wreak havoc across Colorado. You're looking at ankle-deep piles of hail in Colorado Springs in some parts. The hail even trapped cars and fierce rain in other areas of El Paso County caused flooding. Damages now being assessed.

And a huge fraud ring has been busted in New Mexico. Investigators say the alleged gang members were helping illegal immigrants obtain driver's licenses using fake paperwork. Many of these licenses have already been tracked down, but there are probably hundreds more. The state taxation and revenue secretary says several other rings are still operating in the area. The fraudulent driver's licenses cost $4,000 each. Two of the nine suspects have already been arrested.

Take a look at this. A small child dangling from a balcony. It's hard to make out, but believe me, as you're looking at those images, an eyewitness recorded a video of the tyke hanging from a metal grating in China. The kid apparently slipped, falling through the crack and then -- get this -- his head helped prevent him from landing on the street. Luckily, an adult also saw the child and then scaled the wall of the building to make that daring rescue as you see right there. He was able to extend an arm up to help the toddler so he could actually give the child's head and neck a break. Oh, my goodness. Emergency workers eventually did arrive and pulled both to safety.

It's award season here at CNN. IReport awards that is. And we want you to help us decide who deserves this year's Community Choice Award. Logon to CNNireportaward.com to vote. Here is a look at all the nominees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) (MUSIC)

(SHOUTING)

(MUSIC)

(CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's still going. Oh, my god, the building is going to fall!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. The other guy, run, run, run, run.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Remembering everyone who passed away around September 11th.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am taking a stand to end slavery.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to be real about who we are, not be politically correct about our history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't see racism. I see pride, respect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're stooping to the terrorists' level when they celebrate an American's death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven't had the urge to buy my first electronic book quite yet.

UNIDENTIFIED CARTOON CHARACTER: I voted for you. Where's my change? Where's my hope?

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We still want the dialogue we asked for.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I pulled my vacuum cleaner out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is how we portrayed space clothes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To commemorate those lives lost on 9/11.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely it boosted me to a whole new world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think the world really understands what collective bargaining means.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So to vote for your favorite iReport nominee, logon to CNNireportawards.com. That's going to do it for me. I'll be back this weekend with a face-to-face interview with Tim McGraw. We talk fame, family and philanthropy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM MCGRAW, COUNTRY SINGER: For a soldier to have that, to come back from being wounded and giving everything we have for us to be able to live in our home, to get in our car and to drive around and go to our jobs and to have that sort of sense of freedom and that sort of sense of security for their family, I can't think of anything better for a wounded soldier to have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: He's helping to give away homes, mortgage-free, to vets. More in my face-to-face interview with Tim McGraw this weekend, right here on CNN. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Much more in the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead. Don Lemon, in for Suzanne Malveaux.

DON LEMON: All right, thank you very much, Fred. I'll see you this weekend. Looking forward to that interview.