Evan what is the latest news in the development in ferguson . Reporter don, the development is that the police chief of ferguson, missouri, tom jackson, is expected to step down as part of an effort to reform the Police Department there. Now, the announcement is not expected to come until about next week. Most likely. And its all part of an effort by the local officials to bring down some of the tensions there. As you know, don, its the scene of demonstrations almost every night. A lot of people have been callicall calling for the police chief to step down and hes been defiant so far but officials know this is part of an effort that when the grand Jury Announcement comes down, whether or not there are charges again officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of Michael Brown, this is one of the way to show the public theyre trying to reform the Police Department there. Evan peres, according to your reporting, the police chief is tom jackson. Reporter correct. In ferguson krrt thats right. According to your reporting, under the proposed plan, st. Louis council would ask the john behlmer take over the management of ferguson the police force once chief jackson leaves. Chief jackson said he was not going to step down but see this out, ride this out. What changed . Reporter you know, hes still talking to us tonight saying that he has not been asked to step down. That he is still the man in charge, but this is also something that he knows we believe that is coming, simply because its part of the effort there to keep the peace. Don, as you know. The st. Louis county Police Department has much better resources to be able to manage the situation there. Its not without precedent. The police in a couple neighboring town, in the same way, were taken over by the Police Department, by the st. Louis county Police Department, simply because some of these small towns dont have the resources to be able to do this. Evan peres, stand by. Im going to need you here but i want to go to cnn sara sidner on the phone in ferguson. Yi im not sure if you have any reaction there in ferguson. Im sure it will come as a surprise may not come as a surprise to a lot of people that this is happening . Reporter it hasnt happened. We want to make it clear. The police chief said to us in the city council we were in today that he is not planning on stepping down. We also asked the mayor, nair noles, pointedly, there are sources, and some of evans repo reporting, that you are putting a plan in place, and, of course, his answer was no. The mayor would have to have conversations with the chief of police to have him or force him to resign and his words were, look, people have been saying that for months, and asking for him to step down for months but weve stood by him this entire time, and there is no change on that. Thats the kind of push back that we are seeing here. Both the mayor of ferguson and the police chief both denying, both saying that its not happening. You know, we dont know what were going to see. We do know, though, that weve sat and talked with both of them in times past. In the last couple of weeks high a conversation with them and we asked, when you step down, if that was the best thing for the city . The protesters arent only asking for the police chief to step down. Theyre asking for the mayor as well, in some instances, to step down. And they both said we would think about it, its something we would consider, but at this time we dont feel that is necessarily the right thing to do, and thats the kind of language that theyve been using throughout. Sarah reporter at this time theyre saying, no, there are no plans. As im looking at the reporter coming from evan peres, our justice correspondent. Evan is still with us as well. Right . As i look at this reporting, sarah, im wondering, is this enough to tamp down some of the anger among protesters . Will this be viewed as the beginning of some sort of at least movement in this case . Reporter yes and no. Weve talked to a lot of protesters over these many weeks that weve been here, and the a answer to that is, yes, people will see it as movement, were ut will it stop and completely quell peoples frustration . Absolutely not. Many people have said to me, its too little too late, but it is a step forward. A small step at this point, because its gone on so long, but its too little too late and the real reaction and what they really want to see is the arrest of Darren Wilson, who with the way that the laws work, is still in the justice process. The process is still going. Okay. Reporter and, you know, so that is one of the things that youre going to hear from people, that its too little too late, don. Stand by. Do we still have evan peres with us . Is evan still there . Evan, lets you dan interview with the attorney general. His quote, we have an ongoing, have a practice investigation into the ferguson Police Department and we are looking at a whole variety of things including a leadership of that department. The practices of the department engages in, nature of the interaction between the department and the community as opposed to serve. If reading between the lines there, saying, looking at the leadership of the department. That would mean the chief of police . Well, yes, don. I mean, and this is also we have to think about it this way. This is part of a larger discussion between the local officials, the county, the state officials, and the federal government. The federal government has two investigations into this situation in ferguson. One is focused on the Police Department and the practices there. And then the other is into the shooting itself. Now, you know, there are some people down there in ferguson who would like to dissolve the Police Department completely and have it completely be managed by the county police, as has been done in some of the other municipalitiess has is not in the works just yet simply because this federal investigation is still ongoing but something you could perhaps see coming down the line. And bring in a cnn common date perp joining me on the set. Whats your reaction . Not surprising. A little later than we expected. My concern, this is a primer for a grand jury decision. Preparening the crowd giving them a semblance of justice in the wake of something that will feel unjust. With all the leaks and information that alleged through sources this may be a primer, but youre not surprised by it . Not surprised. I actually taught it would happen two weeks ago. And more breaking news now to discussion. That spectacular explosion of a nasa rocket seconds after liftoff. Joining me is tom foreman and rachel crane. New video of the launch from a woc chopper in the air when the rocket exploded. Look at this. This is an eyewitness. Check this out. Hmm. So apparently we dont have the sound. What are we learning about this xploer explosion . What do you know . Right now the copiy that launched this says basically they know what you can see on this video, that the rocket starting taking off, they said, and i quote here, some disably of the vehicle. When you watch it closely you can see it basically start to separate at the bottom of the rocket as the explosion begins, then it fell back to earth and blew all parrot. The final explosion was actually triggered by safety officers on the scene, because they dont want a wounded rocket to take off sideway, for example, and fly somewhere where it doesnt belong. The final explosion was actually triggered trying to make sure the thing was completely destroyed but theyve secure the ground around the launch facility. Keeping everyone away and at first light out picking up the pieces to try to find out what did happen with this, taking off with 1,300 pounds of food, headed to the International Space station and i want to talk about the impact. Lets listen to the sound and then ill continue to question. Five, four, three, two, one and we have liftoff of attar antares. Ignition at 100 . My goodness. Rachel, what kind of an impact could this have on space station and future flights . Well, bill gersimeyer at the conference that happened minutes ago was intent on saying the astronauts have all the logistics they need on the International Space station to last them until next year. Were not exactly sure what kind of equipment, what kind of Research Equipment was onboard, but we do know that in terms of the food, as you mentioned, there were about 1,300 pounds of food on that cargo spaceship that the astronauts will be able to last until next year with what they have onboard right now. And miles, nasa now relies on private companies to get things to the space station. What do we know . We dont have miles. Ill ask rachel. What do we know about the company that launched this unmanned rocket, rachel . Reporter so Orbital Sciences is one of two private companies contracted by nasa to ferry Cargo Missions back and forth in the International Space station. Space x being the other one. Orbital sciences contracted with nasa is worth 1. 9 billion, and this was the third of eight missions that navy contracted them to run to the International Space station. And space xs contract is worth 1. 6 billion. These are just Cargo Missions, though. Nasa recently awarded both boeing and space x contracts worth 6. 8 billion in terms of, for boeing, and 4. 2 billion for im sorry. 2. Billion for space x. 4. 2 for boeing. Now, those are set to carry manned missions to the International Space station. Right. Reporter so we dont know yet how the publics perception of the private sectors ability to carry these missions to the International Space station raging crane, thank you for your reporting. Miles obrien, both of you stick around. When we come back, much more on that rocket. Tom foreman, thank you. Called you miles obrie be. Appreciate it. Talk to two form are astronauts and much more from ferguson on the breaking news that the police chief is expected to step down. Well be right back. Goodnight. Goodnight. For those kept awake by pain the night is anything but good. Introducing new aleve pm. The first one with a safe sleep aid. Plus the 12 hour strength of aleve for pain relief that can last until the am. Now you can have a good night and a. Good morning new aleve pm for a better am. Right here. With a control pad that can read your handwriting, a widescreen multimedia center, and a headup display for enhanced driver focus. All inside a newly redesigned cabin of unrivaled style and comfort. The allnew cclass. At the very touch point of performance and innovation. Woooooah. [ male announcer ] youre not just looking for a house. Youre looking for a place for your life to happen. Zillow. More now on our breaking news. The police chief in ferguson expected to step down. Sara sidner has more. What do you know . Reporter we talked to imhad and told him about evans reporting, having several sources saying they are making plans for the police chief to step down. We talked to the mayor in the midst of a Council Meeting and. Wards he answered our question and said, flat out, no, and let me let you hear what he said when he asked are you getting pressure from the federal government or from others to asked police chief to step down . Reporter have you gotten pressure from havent said for him to step down but weve stood by heim this entire time. So reporter theres nothing. Theres no change on that. So so sara sidner speaking with the mayor tonight. Sara, and tom johnson, the chief in ferguson, has really said the same thing. That hes going to continue to stay . Reporter yeah. Police chief jackson. We talked to him in person. He did not want to talk to us on camera, but in person he said there is i am not planning on stepping down. I am not planning on resigning. He said that to us before, and he said to do us again today. And so i think what youre seeing here is, you know, we dont we dont know, but at this point, the local authorities here are being pretty clear that that is not what theyre planning to do. If that changes, i am sure we will let you know. All right. Thank you very much. We appreciate that, sara sidner. Reached out personally to tom jackson and havent heard back and to the chief of the st. Louis county department, waiting to hear back from them. And bring back a political commentator and also others with us. First let me is this coming from washington . Be honest about it. It feels like it. Theres so much international, at this point, International Scrutiny on ferguson. They had to do something. Whether theyre right or wrong isnt the issue. Its the appearance of being unresponsive. Thats the problem. Mark omara, will this help things out in this situation in ferguson . The animosities that existed in ferguson were way before mike browns shooting, justified or not. Obviously a lot of animosity because of the way the neighborhood reacted. Unfortunately the leadership in the Police Department has to change. If hes the sacrificial lamb to get it started it has to be. Fergs han to move forward and it doesnt seem they can move forward with this police chief in place. Do you agree with that mel robins . I do. Its interesting, mark omara will agree with me, mark represented George Zimmerman and i was there covering it for cnn, and youll recall that two months after Trayvon Martin was shot to death, chief lee was forced to resign, and it was one of the things that started to move things forward. So i do think its important for the future of ferguson that he step aside, but i heard our colleague, marc lamont hill, say earlier that he thought that this might be some of the p. R. Moves towards softening the blow in case that there isnt a vote to indict, and my initial reaction, don, was, holy cow. I wonder if theyre getting signaled from inside that grand jury that theres not going to be an indictment and starting to do things publicly. There you go. To try to play this down . Thats how people on the ground feel. And you have covered this on your show yitzhak shams cnn, on thought this is a rush to judgment. I wonder how this plays into this, if the chief does step down next week . I view it as total confirmation of the is a spirgs ive had several weeks and spoken pucklily ago. All of those, the New York Times a week ago, offering leaks in the l. A. Times, leaks in the st. Louis post dispatch relative to the africanamerican accounts support ive of the officer and the autopsy xugting his arms werent in the air. As i read the tea leaves, don i have been saying, all calibrated and intended to take the temperature of the community down. Im convinced were headed for no indictment in this case. Does this take the temperature down at all or oh, no. Not at all. No way. In the 15 minutes as weve been talking about this, ive gotten text after text from local activists and organizers in ferguson saying this infuriates them because it feels lie a p. R. Move. I think it will ratchet things its. Its not a question of right or wrong but how people are feeling. I agree with mark. On some level they dont care about the chief of police. They care about Michael Brown getting his day in court their being justice served. If theres no indictment, in a process of leak after leak andic mooal smerconish has been talking about it doesnt feel as if justice has been certained. Theyre looking at an indictment as the only way justice has been served. Maybe not the beginning of something, maybe its the beginning of something, instead of it being the beginning of something, you guys think its a setup to the officer not being indicted, disappointment just as Michael Smerconish said, reading the tea leaves, mark omara . Yes. Im frustrated. It seems like a juvenile semiconspiracy to try to appease the black community in ferguson. There should never have been leaked, still shouldnt be leaks. If the chief has to go, so be it, but im very frustrated were letting out the process a piece at a imtoo because it denigrates whatever the grand jury will do, suspect only because of the people that led out leaks ahead of time when they shouldnt. Go ahead, michael. I think its going to come down to what the evidence shows and the reaction will be predicated by the facts. I have long said that that which we know about ferguson is outweigh the by that which we dont know. Whats going on behind closed doors in that grand jury really ought to be that which holds sway for alls of you. Folks in the community and people paying attention on a national level. Im not going to base my judgment as to whether theres an indictment or not. Im going to base my judgment as to what was the basis for the decision that led to that call. But see, the problem i agree. Exactly what we should be doing. I think that presume as level of trust in the system itself and because of a lack of transparency because of the leaks, because how the ferguson Police Department responded initially, the people in the town dont trust the system. They dont trust the Justice System at all, primarily, dont trust the Law Enforcement agency or the police chief, and at a result hold on a second. Theres a lack of trust best thing the pross turt did, guaranteed hell release all of the transcripts of the grand jury testimony. What is the right time, meaning if no indictment is coming out and at least well have a wad of evidence to show and document whatever the decision was. Lack of trust in the system. Right . Which everyone sort of agrees its obvious. But then theres due process for this officer. How does one separate the two . Because the officer, you know, has to go through the process, whether guilty or innocent, what the evidence shows and all of that, then also a huge tidal wave of people saying we dont trust the Police Department here. Mark omara, how do you separate that . Well, you have to i know people get frustrated when i say this. You have to trust the process to a certain extent. If you decide not to trust the process, wh