time and sunday at 1:00. martha: all of that is very good preparation. i think we need to prepare for the anniversary. we need to remember what happened, think about where we are going from here and the threats that face us, and those two terrific pieces are a great way to get mentally ready for the day to come. bill: in the meantime have a great weekend. martha: we'll get mentally ready to do that. bill: goodbye. martha: new august job numbers are out. there is a lot to work through but disappointing to many economists who expected to see some job creation. good morning i'm jenna lee. i'm greg garrett in for jon scott. no net jobs since 1945.

the labor department calling it the weakest performance in almost a year, the unemployment rate unchanged at 9.1%. jenna: another important part of the report is the revisions we saw. we saw rescissions downward for both june and july. it's raising fears right now on wall street and elsewhere about another recession. if we take a look at the dow the dow has been trading lower for most of the morning. you can see down more than 200 points right now. normally a light trading day, by the way heading into the labor day holiday. just a few moments ago i spoke with gene sperling one of the president's top advisers. i asked him why we haven't seen and didn't see job creation last month. >> when you're coming back from a financial recession of this debt it takes a while and you've got to stay at it. what the president will make clear on thursday evening is while we absolutely need a long-term fiscal soundness plan for certainty and confidence and absolutely need the type of

investments in education and innovation to win the future that it's imperative that we take immediate action for job creation and growth. he's going to put forward very meaningful proposals that would have a very significant impact on the economy and job creation in areas like tax relief for workers in small businesses, in areas like jobs to rebuilding america, in areas like strategies to deal with those who have been unemployed for a longtime through no fault of their own. and we think this is the type of proposals that have been historically deserving of bi-partisan support, and the president is going to be very clear in asking congress to put politics and partisanship on the side and take action that can help this economy and this recovery take hold with greater strength as quickly as possible. jenna: i did hear from one of the top economists today based on the job reports and the revisions over the past few months the thought that we might have negative economic growth overt next quarter or so is an

actual reality. that brings up the question of whether or not we are headed toward another recession or perhaps a double-dip. is the white house preparing for that reality? >> i think as i said, i think the overwhelming majority of private sector, independent forecasters believe this economy is still growing, it's not projected to grow as strongly in 2012, more like 2 1/2% as opposed to 3 1/2% growth. that is not strong enough. that may be okay in a normal, stable time but when you've inherited the worst recession since the great depression you need stronger job growth to dig out of the hole. our message is that we need something very significant. and we -- no matter how much you're worried about the downside, even if we are growing, even if the projections for growth are even a little better than they are being projected that is not good enough. we need more action, we need

action that independent experts will state are likely to create jobs over the next 18 months, are likely to see the growth projections go higher, that's the type of things that will get people to work, give larger companies the confidence to get cash off the side lines and start investing in our future, to give small businesses the customers they need to start expanding and hiring again. jenna: thank you so much for joining us. >> thank isked him during this interview was, what is the message from the white house to the american people that see a number like this about jobs and see a market like this and are just nervous, scared and struggling and he said that he wanted to remind everyone that the president is focused on this issue. his expression was like a laser in fact he said that he met with the president for three hours yesterday. there is constantly exchange of information and they are working hard to present ideas to the american people and to congress next week that would not only pass congress, but will help the job situation in this country. you can see the market is down

190-plus points. we'll keep an eye on all the developments and have continuous coverage of the jobs report and its affects coming up on "happening now" "happening now." gregg: brand-new fox news polls are now the. president obama's handling of job creation not getting very high marks in one of those polls. take a look at this, it shows that 60% of those polled disapprove while 35% approve. now another poll that look at a fox news poll finding 62% disapprove of how the president is handling the economy, 34% approve. karl rove is former senior adviser deputy chief of staff to george w. bush, also a fox news contributor. always good to see you. when you dig a little further into the numbers in the polling data by fox news here is what you find, more than 40% of those

polled think the president has no clue as to how to solve the problem, 40% say he has no clue. can he change that, i wonder, in next week's big address? >> one big speech rarely changes the numbers. in fact i think the administration has made a little bit of a tactical mistake here by building up the expectations for this peach almost to a point where it's impossible to satisfy them. you're right the president is in trouble. his overall job approval in the fox poll is 44% approve, 47 disapprove. but morey mark plea only 31% of independents approve that's down from 40% in may, and 5 a disapprove. that is up from 50. he's deteriorating among the group that he absolutely needs to win in order to win re-election. gregg: there's plenty of blame to go around and i want to move to the next poll because it's revealing about your former boss

and whether he bears some of the blame. look at this. clearly people in washington get most of the blame for the economic situation we're in. but look at this. george w. bush, this is the wrong poll, put up the next one. george w. bush gets 46% of the blame compared to 28% for president obama. so when the president tells audiences, as he does all of the time, look, this is not my fault, this is a ka tas tra free to our economy that was caused by my predecessor that seems to be resonate w-g people. >> yeah, well it's the wrong question and wrong tactic. if you say to people, do you believe this president has a responsibility to help solve the problem? that would be a different answer, in fact that's the answer we sort of get at when we get a 31% of independent independents approving of his overall job performance and 35% of all americans approving on what he's doing on job creation and 34% on the economy.

the president is making a mistake by saying, this is all somebody elses fault. people are increasingly asking, what are you doing about it? and they are coming up with the answer, you're not doing the right thing. the president said i'm going to make a speech to congress and try to get bi-partisan support for those proposals. then he sent out an email which i was sent a copy of that says to tell congress to stop playing political games. if you're trying to build political allies across the aisle to get something big done for the country you don't send out a fundraising email signed by the president decrying the political opposition for opposing the plan you have yet to laid out. this shows it is more about politics than it is about the economy and it's the reason why the president's numbers are low and likely to go lower on the economy. gregg: sarah palin is going to make an announcement of some sort tomorrow, don't quite know what it is. our recent fox news poll just came out yesterday, 74% of those

polled say sarah palin should not run for president in 2012. if i recall correctly, karl, you think she is going to run. do you want to modify that? >> no, no i don't. first of all i said that her schedule looks more like that of a candidate than a celebrity and i think it's more likely than not than it runs. i wouldn't put a lot of money on it. why do you keep going to iowa. why do you go to the iowa state fair and give a big speech. gregg: she is trying to influence people. >> maybe. at some point you need to start influencing and stop looking like a candidate. remember, 74% of all americans, if 71% of republicans don't want her to run and it's 66% of tea party members. when i run into tea party across the country they tell me, i love sarah palin, i hope she doesn't run for president. i think the rising numbers of people that don't want her to

run is the result of her having this on again, off again tees, she either ought to get in or out. if she gets out she becomes more influential, people want her support. as long as she is in this ambivalent, looks like she is, won't say that she is, gets angry if you suggest she might but wants to be seen in all the early battleground states i think she is creating problems for herself and not serving either role, being a successful presidential candidate or a king maker. gregg: great to see you. >> thank you. gregg: you can check all the polling and get more analysis. log onto foxnews.com, we are america's election headquarters. jenna: a fox news weather alert. we are watching two big weather developments. katia back to hurricane strength and churning westward through the atlantic.

a direct hit on the u.s. cannot yet be ruled out. more on that in a moment. all eyes are on a tropical depression forming along the u.s. gulf coast. the threat of torrential rain and flooding stretches from texas and florida. people in new orleans are freeing debris from storm drains and stacking sandbags. despite the concerns the storm may also bring relieve to parts of the south. it's kind of a double-edged sword at this time. meteorologist janice dean is live in the fox news weather center watching all of this for us. >> reporter: i wish i could push some of that moisture across texas. 81% of texas into extraordinary drought, such a tough story to watch. and it looks like this storm is unfortunately going to pound parts of louisiana, including new orleans. we have flash flood watches in advance of the storm as it continues to churn off the coast. so flash flood watches including parts of bath o bait baton

rouge, new orleans. mobile. we will watch this over the weekend as it continues to pump a ton of moisture. upwards of 15, even 20 inches in isolated areas. you can see it's going to sit and spin. and that's wednesday and it's still just not even further inland. this is something that is going to cause a lot of problems across the gulf coast region. again, here is one of our forecast models showing the precipitation. looks like bull's-eye new orleans for upwards of 12 inches of rainfall. that is one of the big stories we are falling. and as jenna mentioned we are back to hurricane status for katia as it continues to make its northwesterly path. however i just want to make mention that we were thinking earlier that this was not going to be a u.s. story, but look at the computer models just within the last hour or two, they are starting to move more westerly as opposed to more

northwesterly, so there is bermuda, we were thinking it was going to clip or come across bermuda, look at where the computer models -rl going now. we need to monster katia and the developing tropical storm in the gulf of mexico. we do think it will be a storm within the next 12 to 24 hours. there is the latest on katia from the national hurricane center, cat 2. and you can see how the cone is starting to reflect the computer models, starting to curve a little bit more westward. this is something we definitely have to watch as the hurricane center has this a major hurricane by wednesday, back to you. jenna: we will certainly watch that. by the way we talked a little earlier this morning about what a big story this could potentially be, this weather in new orleans over the weekend. i was just referencing j.d., we were talking earlier about this. we were talking to the army core of engineer district commander for that area to find out how bad the flooding might be, how they are preparing and how big of a story it might be.

thank you j.d. whatever you are as we took her off the screen. we thank her. august was the deadliest month for american troops since the start of the the war. now we are using key inch tpwraoed kwrepbts used against them comes there a country who is an ally on the war on terror. gregg: new video rolling on the earthquake, we'll have the full video for you next.

martha: new information on a powerful earthquake off the coast of alaska triggering fears of a tsunami today, but those fears soon subsided. emergency sirens waking up residents in the i wil the aleutian islands. officials issued a tsunami warning but later canceled it without any major wave. in june by the way a -p .2

magnitude quake triggered a tsunami alert for the same area tkpwregsz we ar. gregg: security cameras rolling inside lisa county high school as the ground shook in virginia. it collapsed ceiling tiles and knocked out the lights, the school suffering some of the worst damage from the quake. repairs on the building could take years to complete. jenna: now to virginia, we are learning hurricane irene destrod a national treasure at arlington national cemetery, a 220-year-old oak tree known as the arlington oak, it was part of jfk's grave site. jackie kennedy chose the location because of the tree and the architect based the design around it. the cemetery closed his site as they took the tree away. this oak in particular, you know, it's been around for a

longtime, gregg. gregg: it's really one things of beauty that surround that area. it's such a shame. that's how mother nature goes. they'll have to replant something new a majority of the bombs used to kill u.s. troops in afghanistan are made with an explosive fertilizer and most of that fertilizer comes from pakistan, our so-called ally. meanwhile august was the deadliest month for u.s. troops in afghanistan since the war. national security correspondent jennifer griffin live with more. where are the materials for the bombs that are killing u.s. troops in afghanistan coming from. >> reporter: according to the u.s. military, gregg, the main ingredient in these bombs that are killing u.s. troops in afghanistan, they are coming from new main tprabgt tees inside pakistan. one of those factories is near the indian border, in eastern

pakistan. it is a company called pack arab. the other one is the fa fatima fertilizer company. 80% comes from fertilizer when mixed with fuel oil becomes exemploys itch. the pack arab company in pakistan made enough fertilizer last year for 140,000 bombs. gregg: what is the u.s. government doing to stop it? are the pakistanis cooperating in any way, jennifer. >> reporter: the u.s. has been reaching out and trying to negotiate with the pakistani to control this calcium nitrate for the past year and a half. a delegation with bob casey went to discuss this with the pakistani, the state department has reached out. they are trying to stop the flow of basically the fertilizer is

being smuggled across borders such as the torkan border crossing that you're seeing in these pictures at th kyber pass. he wrote in the wake of the killing of osama bin laden we believe that pakistan must implement concrete measures to counterterrorism removing a moment yum nitrate from the terrorist arsenal is one good nature measure that is pakistani's interest. twice the number of people were killed this year. jenna: one of the biggest athletes out there facing a serious medical condition that affects millions of women. venus williams sidelined by an autoimmune disease. what it is, its symptoms and who is at risk. plus a family vacation turning into a nightmare. right now a desperate search for

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out of the u.s. open this week. announcing she has an autoimmune disease that is affecting her ability to compete. it's called sjogren. she says it is causing her pain. what exactly is this syndrome? doctor, we say it's an autoimmune disease but what is sjogren syndrome? >> it's an autoimmune disease. your body has an exocrin gland,

salivary glands, tear ducks in the eyes can be affected. two of the most common symptoms are dry mouth and dry eye which is more than a nuisance, it can cause cavities in our mouth and ulcers in your eye. you do get fatigue. it can be associated with rheumatoid arthritis, so you can have joint destruction and joint problems if you have the other diseases. jenna: this syndrome affects 4 million people. i'm sure people are listening right now and say wait a minute, i might have one of these symptoms. how do you know it's an actual autoimmune disease rather than something else. >> i think the average time to diagnosis is seven years. in fact venus herself said she was fatigued, she didn't know what was going on. she tried to push herself harder. sometimes you can't tell. if you persistently know that your eyes are dry and they hurt

all the time especially if you have severe pain it might mean you have an ulcer. if you notice you're suddenly getting a lot more cavities in your 30s and whos than you had before you should talk to your dentist and doctor and see. jenna: we are looking at pictures of venus wil williams. she is really the picture of health. why her? why does someone get an autoimmune disease. >> nobody really knows for sure why people get them. studies have shown that there is maybe some environmental factor that we don't know about. twins, identical twins that have the same dna, sometimes one will have it and one will not. it can run in families, autoimmune diseases but it's not 100% inherited. so we don't really know. this is a perfect example. you can be perfectly healthy, tiptop shape, training and still have this. it's amazing that she has trained so hard, done so well and she's been fighting this probably for years, this fatigue

and everything. jenna: what you just pointed out about twins, one experiencing it and one not, we know her sister also plays tennis, of course. is this a career ender? people that have this. whether they are athletes or quote unquote regular quotes is it a job ender? is it debill kwraeuting so it affects your life that way. >> no, most people learn to cope. there are medicines you can take. anteimmune medicines that can help it. if you just have sjogren alone it shouldn't be. she might have to get used to a little bit more fatigue and adjust her training and stuff. there are things you can do. increase your fluid intake. increase humidity. artificial tears, artificial mouth rinses to keep your mouth moist. if she has other things like arthritis, which they haven't said that she has then have you to deal with that. it's not necessarily a career

ender. phil michelson is a gol golfer and he has a type of an autoimmune disease, and he has a successful career. >> thank you for telling us about this. we appreciate learning this. >> a pleasure. gregg: fox news alert katia again is a full-blown hurricane. it has regained strength out in the atlantic with sustained winds of 75 miles per hour. there it is on the radar screen. katia is expected to regain strength throughout the weekend. it's currently no threat to land janice dean tells us but we still have to monitor it over the weekend. so we'll wait and see. right now his legal fate hangs in the balance. prosecutors already boggled -- bungled i would say their big chance to try baseball great roger clemens. but will they get another shot at it, a second shot? we are about to find out. remember mortgage buyers fanny

mae, freddie mac? your tax dollars helped bail them out, and now the government agency overseeing them going on the attack. who plans to sue to try to recoup billions of dollars. you're not going to believe it.

gregg: a fox news alert, former major league pitcher, cy young award winner roger clemens in court right now. this is new video into fox news,

clemens is hoping that a judge will dismiss charges that he lied about his use of performance-enhancing trucks. prosecutors are pushing for a new trial after they presented inadmissible evidence to jurors triggering a mistrial the first time around. so what can we expect from today's hearing? doug burns, former federal prosecutor. good to see you, doug. defense is yelling double jeopardy, fifth amendment, no person can be tried twice for the same crime. >> yeah, yeah. gregg: but generally speaking, that applies to somebody who has been acquitted and can't be retried on the same charges. >> yeah. i mean, you go through three steps. one, you can't be tried twice for the same offense, but there are exceptions to every rule. reversal on appeal or a mistrial, if those happen you can be retried. so the next question is how can the defense turn around and say you can't retry me? gregg: and the veteran defense attorney out of texas says, oh,

your honor, they did it deliberately. they presented evidence that you said they couldn't present because they knew the case was going south, and they wanted a mistrial to start all over again. boy, that's kind of a stretch. >> if i may be a semi-professor, under oregon v. kennedy, 1982 supreme court case, u.s. supreme court, if a prosecutor intentionally engages in misconduct with the intent to cause a mistrial -- gregg: right. >> -- then the judge could rule they can't try him again, but that's a tough standard. gregg: the judge would have to say, you know, this is so egregious and you guys on the prosecution side are so smart, you had to have known that you were violating my order. but, you know, people are human. >> but you know, in the opening it was interesting, the judge had rule inside a pretrial motion you can't get into other major league baseball players' use of steroids. the prosecutor says, fine, i'm not going to open on that. gets in front of the jury, you will hear that player a, b and c usedder the oidz. i was surprised.

so they have a shot there. the other part was on video, e rye ya cummings, and there was a video of andy pettitte's wife. you can't get into her statement. so what do they do? they put that in. so, i don't know, we'll see, you know? gregg: is this an example of bad lawyering by good lawyers on the prosecution's side. >> is. >> i think you're probably right. having been in the heat of battle myself many, many times, you can be a good lawyer, and, you know, you want to prevail, you get a little carried away. but i'm still a little puzzled, because i've been in so many situations where you say i won't do it. gregg: prosecutors seem to be overburdened and focusing on so many different things because it's a complicated trial, they had more than a year to prepare for this big trial. >> not only that, when you finally get to crunch time, trial, and there are these inlimb nay motions, you know very carefully when a judge says

you can only say a and b, don't say c, you don't get up in front of the jury and say, ladies and gentlemen -- you just don't do it. gregg: you would say the judge is going to rule how? >> i think the judge is going to say misconduct occurred, but i don't think he's going to say they did it with the specific intent to cause a mistrial. gregg: all right. so there's a retrial, roger clemens. look, is this a tough case for the defense to win? there is so much evidence against roger clemens. >> well, yes and no. i mean, conventional wisdom is perjury cases are hard to win, we've been through that before. you saw the barry bonds case -- gregg: yeah, but they convicted him on obstruction of justice. >> you're right. i think they do have a pretty good case. but i'll tell you one thing for sure, if judge makes a pretrial ruling and they violate it again, that's going to be it. gregg: see you later. >> sayonara. gregg: all right, doug burns, former federal prosecutor, good

to see you. jenna: we're a little more than a week away from the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and on this friday we have a worldwide travel alert issued by our state department. i'm just going to read a little from this. while they have not identified any specific threats from al-qaeda affiliates or al-qaeda allies, they say that citizens should be aware that al-qaeda affiliates and allies have demonstrated the intent and capability to carry out attacks against the u.s. and our interests around the world. they go on to say that oftentimes they've seen that these plots coincide with significant dates on the calendar and, obviously, this tenth anniversary would be one of them. just a word of note regarding this alert, it does extend past the anniversary all the way until past the first of the year, so it's a travel alert not just for the next week, week and a half, but far beyond that as well. in the meantime, right now more trouble looms on the horizon for major american wang banks. the u.s. government plans to sue some of the country's largest financial institutions, and it's all over their involvement with

risky mortgages. as you probably know, those were at the heart of the financial meltdown. they call it a housing crisis and credit cry crisis -- crisis for a region. jim angle has the details. >> reporter: hello, jenna. well, the housing crisis that staggered the u.s. economy is entering a new chapter, as you said, as the federal housing finance agency plans to sue about a dozen big banks over what turned out to be risky loans. many of those mortgages were bought by fannie mae and freddie mac, government-sponsored institutions, that bought tens of billions in shaky mortgages in the part because congress encouraged loans to those with low and moderate incomes. the banks obliged by loaning money with little documentation of incomes and simply resold those mortgages to fannie and freddie leaving the federal government and, therefore, the taxpayer holding what officials estimate to be some $300 billion in bad loans. >> it's probably likely to be closer to $500 billion by the

time all of this is finished. and you and i get to pay that. >> reporter: one reason the cost is so high is that fannie and freddie which were taken over by the government own or guaranteed the lion's share of all mortgages, a role that has been expanding. >> fannie mae and freddie mac, own or guarantee a little over half the mortgages in this country. >> they are buying about 90% of all the loans that are made in the united states, all the home loans that are made in the united states today. >> reporter: now, fannie and freddie also hold some 240,000 loans that are in foreclosure. when the economy collapsed into recession in 2008, it was both a financial and a housing crisis that drove it down. the new round of lawsuits may save taxpayers some money, but some argue it also threatens to reopen financial wounds and make it harder for banks to lend and the housing sector to regain its footing even as the economy is still struggling to recover. jenna? jenna: a dynamic story.

we should point out the timing because this is ahead of the president's big jobs plan announcement, and one of the questions is whether or not part of that jobs plan has something to do with housing as well because people need to be able to keep their homes in order to keep a job, too, or vice versa. interesting story and one we'll continue to watch and see if that suit comes down today or tuesday, perhaps. jim, thank you so much. gregg: one of the banks they're planning to sue, b of a, it's teetering on the precipice -- jenna: teetering on what? gregg: what is their stock, down to five? jenna: right. certain banks have been singled out in some of these reports, and all of the banks there's been questions about them not only here, but over the europe. so it's a tough story to report straight on without seeing the lawsuit and not seeing what other banks are involved. gregg: sure. jenna: otherwise you pick winners out of the bunch. gregg: wire going to -- we're going to talk to paul gigot

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jenna: we have some more information on the markets right now. the dow is down more than, well, 150 points. it's off its lows, by the way. it was down much further, but you can still see it's in the led, and it comes on the heels of a disappointing jobs report. unfortunately, there's more news we want to share with you as well. "happening now" got its hands on a brand new survey, and it suggests that the recovery really hasn't trickled down. 62% of those surveyed said they see no evidence that the recession's over. and this is important because, again, the consumer is the engine in this economy. louis hernandez jr. is the chairman and ceo of open solutions, the company that

commissioned this survey. he's also the author of the book, too small to fail. so we take a step back from the jobs report today and for, again, this report that the government might be suing some larger banks. what do you think -- what's happening with the economy right now? what does your survey say? >> well, it didn't surprise be us about the jobs report because consumers, and as you know 70% of our economy's driven by the consumer, and small business which employs about 70% of the employees in the country, both of them are still fairly pessimistic and never saw a return of the economy overall. so while there was some rhetoric in '0 t that the recession had ended, they hadn't seen that, and their own personal view of job creation and economic stability is still pretty pessimistic. so it didn't surprise me today. jenna: when we were in the midst of the crisis, 2008, you heard terms like credit contagion, this is a credit crisis, the markets are frozen. you don't hear that as much now. are we still in a credit crisis?

what are the small businesses telling you, what are consumers telling you? >> what's interesting about the consumer survey and the small business survey is, yes, small businesses say they've seen it more difficult to get loans, particularly from large banks who are tending to loan to large businesses. the most interesting thing about the survey is a lot of them blame some of the programs that were put in place to rightly protect and stabilize the economy by addressing the big banks, but the unintended consequences, they've made it harder for main street. and so we've seen this disconnect continuing between wall street and main street. jenna: how do you fill that gap? >> if you don't do something to make it easier for community banks, for instance, who are the lubricants of local economies, they loan 58% of the small business loans, they generally disproportionately lend to mortgage, autos, so the basics, jobs, your transportation, house, if you don't make it easier for them to do what they do best, it's going to be a tough time creating jobs and the consumer confidence is not going to come back. jenna: the president has this

big jobs plan he's going to come out with next thursday. if you could talk directly to the president, what would be your suggestion to him about how to help the economy right now in. >> you just pointed it out, these large banks apply to everybody so far. community-based institutions did not participate in be subprime for the most part. they have to comply with all these policies, their costs are going up, it's making it harder for them to loan to small businesses. if small businesses can't hire, that's 70% of the employees in the country and, therefore, you're going to see consumer sentiment remain weak. those three buckets, consumers, small business, community-based institutions, and i think those are the drivers and be local lieu ri captains of the economy. jenna: it feels like we're having some of the same conversations we've had over the past year, and you wonder when that trickle-down effect is really going to get there. >> well, i think so. that's really the issue, and i'm hoping, you know, we recognize. we had to address that acute need during the height of the crisis -- jenna: with the big banks.

>> but it's surprising to some that since then we haven't really addressed the underlying economic drivers. in an effort to protect the consumer and stabilize the economy, i feel we've undermined both, and our survey has shown that the american consumer and small businesses who drive jobs feel the same way. jenna: thank you for letting us take a peek at it earlier. we'll put a link up on our web site. thank you so much for sharing that with us. gregg: investigators ruling a mysterious death at a california mansion as a suicide. you'll remember this woman, she was found hanging naked inside her boyfriend's coronado mansion, and her hands were bound behind her back. her family's calling it a murder. we're going to talk to a forensic pathologist about the findings. and as the water starts to recede in if flood-ravaged new jersey, a look at new estimates of the damage caused by hurricane irene. ♪ why settle for a one-note cereal? get more with honey bunches of oats.

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gregg: we're beginning to get a clearer picture on the extent of the flood damage in the wake of hurricane irene, and it comes as president obama plans to visit hard-hit new jersey this weekend to survey the disaster. david lee miller has the latest developments. david? >> reporter: the flood waters in patterson, new jersey, where the president will tour on sunday, continue to recede. authorities say the water level is now dropping at a rate of about two feet a day, and they expect it will drop below flood stage this weekend. meanwhile, hundreds of roads in vermont remain closed because of the storm, some 100 members of the maine national guard are being sent to that state to assist in road repairs. the new hampshire and illinois national guards are also helping out. and in new york state governor andrew cuomo says private insurance companies will be the main source of funding for the $1 billion in damages throughout the state caused by the storm. the storm has made life

especially difficult for some 2300 daily commuters to get to and from work, a 14-mile stretch of a railroad line traveling through rockland and orange counties was left twisted like a pretzel, an official said, and i quote, he has never said anything like it. repairs will make months and cost millions. immediately following the storm more than nine million east coast residents were without power. that figure is now down to about 400,000, and it continues to dwindle. in massachusetts where 22,000 national grid customers are still in the dark, some customers are outraged that the head of that power company took a scheduled vacation to hawaii the thursday before the storm. the very next day all workers were told all time off had been canceled. the company president who returned to massachusetts on tuesday told reporters the fact she was out of state for five days didn't make a difference when it came to storm restoration. gregg? gregg: david lee miller, thanks. jenna? jenna: a desperate search is going on right now off the coast of honolulu.

patti ann brown is live with the latest on this story. >> reporter: jenna, matt curly has been missing for four days now, and is searchers are getting desperate. curly is a doctor in new york city. he was vacationing with his family in hawaii when he vanished while scuba dyeing monday. he was on an education cushion with a driving company for tourists. they were off the south shore of oahu. somehow curly got separated from his island divers group. later, one of his fins was found. curly is a certified, trained diver. the u.s. coast guard called off its search tuesday night. a coast guard spokesman saying they searched an area more than 900 square miles using two ships, a plane and a helicopter. the spokesman says when they suspend a search, they consider how long the person's in the water, the weather and the likelihood of survival. well, the honolulu fire department has continued its efforts to find him along with teams of volunteer divers. curly is 6-5, he's in his third

year of residency at st. luke's roosevelt hospital in manhattan. he's a former high school basketball standout in upstate new york. the state department of commerce and human affairs has no record of complaints against island drivers, the u.s. coast guard, reportedly, has an open investigation. jenna: more on that story as we get it, thank you. gregg: an investigation into the cover-up into operation fast and furious, the program which put weapons in the hands of dangerous mexican gang members. we're going to have the latest on the expanding investigation. and california governor is pushing to pass a controversial law that would allow illegal immigrants to receive taxpayer-funded aid for college. millions and millions of dollars. but a similar law is stalled in congress. a good idea? fair and balanced debate coming up. [ male announcer ] it's a fact:

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what's happening down on wall street today. the dow is down more than 180 points, it's off its lows, by the way, of the session, but two big factors in the market today, you have a jobs report that showed no new job growth in the month of august. you also had this report about the government potentially suing some of the big banks for their role in the housing crisis or their alleged role in the housing crisis. bundling mortgage-backed securities of loans that were questionable and marketing them as good deals to their clients. it's a story that we're going to continue to watch here. gregg is going to talk to paul gigot of "the wall street journal," but as you take a look at the markets, financial stocks are lower and, again, some doubts about where the economy is fueling the downward spiral in the market today. gregg: and hello, everyone, i'm gregg jarrett in for jon scott. jenna: i'm jenna lee, and "happening now" some new allegations of cover up at some of the highest levels of

government. two leading republicans on capitol hill say they're expanding their investigation into fast and furious. that's the botched gun-trafficking program that put dangerous firearms into the hands of mexico's a drug cartels. some of those weapons found at the scene of a murdered border agent. gregg: and now lawmakers not only claim the u.s. attorney's office tried to cover up the connection in that case, but that higher up in the u.s. attorney's office in arizona even tried to retaliate against one of the whistleblower agents. jenna: that's a new twist. william la jeunesse has been covering this scandal from the start, and he's joining us live from los angeles with the latest. >> reporter: this story gets worse for the administration every day. now we have evidence that the government tried to cover up its role in the brian terry murder. we also know that many people, multiple people in the white house did know about this program down to the type of weapons being purchased as well as the amount of ammunition. and also it seems only a matter of time before the u.s. attorney's office is removed from prosecuting that brian

terry murder case and all the underlying cases because of the, basically, obvious conflict of interest. first, brian terry. newly-revealed documents suggest that the u.s. attorney's office tried to conceal evidence that guns recovered in the his murder scene belonged to this man, jaime avila, they were traced to this straw buyer who had been under surveillance and that the atf could have arrested him before he bought the murder weapon, but they chose not to. according to a letter from congressman darrell issa and senator charles grassley, and i'm quoting: >> reporter: the motivation? apparently not to complicate an fbi investigation. now, remember, once these guns were sold and there was no attempt to stop them from being distributed to criminals, people would die. it was only a question of how many. well, initially the doj said it

had proof of 11 violent crimes committed with these guns? the now we know their math was wrong, the clarification was issued, it could be as many as 28. >> everybody in america should be outraged. they were used as collateral. they could have cared less that guns were being handed to criminals, to people that should not have them, and they didn't take into account our lives, the mexican people's lives, our property and our safety. >> reporter: so the question is, where does this go now? well, the investigative committees of congress are looking at all the e-mails that, within the u.s. attorney's office of all the deputy u.s. attorneys, where that information may lead. just as important we have the white house connection now, what did they know, who knew about this? we have extensive e-mails, basically, between phoenix and the national security staff at the white house. they will continue to look into that connection as well. back to you. jenna: lots of questions and awaiting some answers. william, thank you. gregg: well, the feds going

after the big banks in the mortgage meltdown that played a key role in the deep recession we're still feeling today. "the new york times" reporting that the agency that oversees the mortgage markets will be filing a lawsuit against bank of america, jpmorgan chase, goldman sachs, among others. claiming that these wall street powerhouses were negligent, failing to perform due diligence and outright missed evidence as many of the borrowers' incomes were inflated or just plain falsified. paul gigot of "the wall street journal" joins us here in the newsroom. let me get this straight. when the mortgage crisis hit, the federal government loaned huge amounts of money and pailed out -- bailed out the very banks they're now suing over the mortgage mess. >> well, yeah. this is one part of the federal government, the regulator for fannie and freddie which has lost, you know, upwards of $150 billion of your money and my money. gregg: right. >> trying to get some of that back from the banks. and they're saying we didn't know that these loans, the

packages of loans that you sold us were bad loans. gregg: yeah. >> now, maybe in some cases, you know, the banks said they were better than they really were, no question about that. gregg: but fannie and freddie's pretty sophisticated. >> no babe in the woods, exactly right. and also congress, keep in mind, basically told fannie and freddie by law, you must make sure that they are affordable loans, that means subprime loans and these liar loans. basically, you've got to go out and take these from the banks because this is your legislative mandate. so maybe fannie and freddie should sue congress. [laughter] gregg: i was thinking the same thing, you took the words right out of my mouth. the federal government may be complicit in that, so this may be part of the banks' defense. >> right. but i think the real danger here is economic because you're taking money, these lawsuits could take tens of billions of dollars if regulators win out of the banking system system at a time when we need more lending,

and the banking system -- while better off than in 2008 -- is still relatively weak. gregg: yeah. in the particular bank of america. now, warren buffett pumped in about five billion which certainly helped b of a, but they're suffering because of their acquisition of countrywide. >> absolutely, of countrywide. so they have an awful rot of those bad loans to work off. you've got the federal government suing them in another case for mortgage foreclosure problems. that could take another big chunk out of the banks, bank of america -- gregg: could this ruin b of a or not? >> well, i think that is probably going too far at this stage. b of a's stronger than it was in 2008, but there's no question that they're struggling. the key thing, look at bank stock prices. gregg: sure. >> because those have been really low, and when you look at that, they're saying, you know what? their earnings are going to be hurt for many, many years. gregg: yeah. i wonder if this could cause another bank bailout by the federal government, or is that overstating it as well?

>> well, just by itself, no. but combined with a recession, if that's what we've got, you never know. that would be the real trouble. gregg: now, negligence is failure to exercise due diligence in the looking at the borrows and whether they were truthful and so forth about their assets and income. there's another aspect of this, and it's fraud, that some of these investment banks may have been engaged in. in other words, they were bundling these mortgage securities in a way that was intended they would go down in value and fail, and yet telling some of their investors, oh, buy this, go long on this at the same time one of the investment banks, arguably, was going short. >> well, that's a legal question. and, you know, you did have a lot of the banks saying, some of the banks saying we think that the housing market overall is going to go down even as they were more packaging these things. but remember everybody, including the federal reserve and the u.s. treasury at that time were saying, look, the housing market is okay.

it's not going to fall. so we had a kind of general government come complicity, ande banks were part of that playing along, saying the housing market doesn't go down, it certainly doesn't go down as much as it has so far, and that's, you know, so we're all in some sense, certainly the government, complicit. gregg: yeah. paul gigot, thanks so much. paul will have a whole lot more tomorrow at 2:00 eastern when he hosts "journal editorial report." then don't go anywhere because i'll be sitting in for jon scott tomorrow hosting "news watch. ' catch it at 2:30. jenna: brand new reaction from the white house on an alarming setback for the economy. employers adding no net jobs last month. the unemployment rate holding steady above 9%. peter barnes of the fox business network is live at the white house with more on this. peter? >> reporter: hey, jenna, that's right. listen, there was some noise in this number for the month of the non-pharm payroll number, but we have that strike by verizon

which cut payrolls temporarily, we had some state workers in if wisconsin who were coming back to work after the budget showdown there. but nonetheless, wall street economists were expecting about 75,000 new jobs to be created by the economy in august, and we ended up with zero. the most troubling thing in this report, though, revisions for june and july. it turns out that the economy created 58,000 fewer jobs in june and july than had been previously estimated. that was a troubling development and has people worried about potentially a double-dip recession. if you're looking for a job, we can tell you where employers are adding them. take a look at this full screen, we have private education and health care added 34,000 jobs in august, professional and business services added 28,000, food services and hotels added 11,500 jobs in the august. but sectors that lost jobs, well, information services down 48,000, most of that, though, is verizon workers. retailers, this is troubling. retail down about 8,000, that's

generally can be sometimes a leading number. that's a little bit troubling. the government cut 17,000 jobs. jenna? jenna: peter barnes at the white house. peter, thank you so much for that breakdown. peter at the white house, as we just mentioned, where we spoke with an adviser to the president as well. gregg: that's right, gene sperling. and one of the president's top economic advisers, take a listen to jenna's conversation with him. jenna: what is the message coming from the white house? what do you have to say to americans that see the headlines today of no net job growth and are scared and struggling? what do you say to them? >> i think what they should know is that, first of all, almost all economic experts do think our economy is still expanding, that we have created over a million private sector jobs this year, that we are actually ahead of where we've been from the last recession in terms of private sector job creation. but more importantly, that they know that this president doesn't think that this is anywhere close to enough and that whether

it had been 50 or 70 or 100,000, we have to get a much more robust recovery going to dig ourselves out of the deep hole we inherited. and i want them to know that their president is deeply focused on this like a laser beam, is going to stay on it every day and that we need all of their support in saying to everyone in washington, put the politics and partisanship to the side and ask yourself what you can do to pass something meaningful that can help those who are unemployed, that can help those who haven't seen their wages go up, who can help businesses and small businesses have more confidence to start hiring and start expanding. jenna: that really is one of the questions, you know, we talk about economists in the private sector, what does the white house have to say to the american people about the job situation? gregg: yeah. in a way maybe the president is saying something by an action he took today which was to abandon one of the new regs he was

proposing for the epa on smog, and now the president is saying we're not going to do after all. and he said we do not need to place additional regulatory burdens on businesses. doesn't that sound like something the republicans have been arguing? jenna: well, that's a really interesting point about the regulations because so many people have said, and i say people generally, but economists say that more regulations, you know, makes businesses nervous, and they're not sure how they're going to operate and, therefore, they're not going to hire. you put these restrictions on, and they do the opposite of what you want them to do. this, again, ahead of the big jobs plan we expect to hear on thursday. gregg: and it may be part of his plan. jenna: what some of the new ideas might be. gene sperling says it's not new ideas, it's the best ideas, but we'll look for some new ones as well. why not, right? [laughter] gregg: good idea. jenna: chilling information in the search for a missing teacher, what police are now saying. plus, the newest innocent

victims of mexican violence. teachers are afraid to go to cities, a popular vacation spot, by the way. we have more on that next. [ female announcer ] so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables? maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. [ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com.

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gregg: right now the sheriff's department in lee county, florida, releasing chilling new information on a missing teacher, 41-year-old amy patterson last seen in late july. just a few days before school started. patti ann brown has more. >> reporter: tragically, police now say their investigation suggests that amy patterson is likely dead. that's according to lee county sheriff lieutenant ryan bell in florida, and the suspect in her death is her ex-husband who was currently her boyfriend. they had reunited. patterson did not show up for work in july at mariner middle school in fort myers. deputies say her ex-husband told school officials patterson had died in a car crash, but his story began falling apart. a missing persons report was issued august 25th. deputies are looking for 44-year-old daniel ray proctor.

he was last seen at a friend's home in alabama. he is considered armed and dangerous. meanwhile, yesterday patterson's mother went in front of the cameras begging for her daughter's safe return. she told whn-tv whether she's alive or dead, i want my daughter. she needs to be back home with her family. danny is the only one who can tell us where she is. she accused proctor of habitually abusing amy over two decades. when asked how she felt hearing his name, she responded: fear, fear of a man who has no conscious. gregg: patti ann, thanks. jenna: new concerns of violence across our southern border. 140 schools in mexico are now closed because teachers are simply too scare today go to work, many fearing they could be targeted by drug gangs. steve harrigan is taking a closer look, and he's joining us live from miami with more. steve? >> reporter: jenna, this is certainly no idle fear. at least four of these teachers have been kidnapped in the last

eight days alone, 600 of the teachers are afraid to go to school, so they're sitting out outside of acapulco. these are elementary school teachers. a notorious drug gang in the region is demanding half of their salaries. the paymaster received a typewritten note from the gang wanting teachers' names, even registration cards. this is a gang known for violent retaliation against its enemies. elementary school teachers sitting at home afraid to be decapitated if they do go to school or else turn over half of their salary. this is another sign in mexico how the drug violence is growing. it's not just drug gang targeting drug gangs, drug gangs trying to move their product north through the u.s. or to europe. it's really an expanding range of activities now including extortion of working people and scaring teachers, really, to death element keeping them away from teaching elementary school children. jenna: that really hits home for

so many americans here. can't even imagine that being the situation. steve, thank you so much. gregg: casey anthony facing brand new demand for money. the mother acquitted of murdering her child may have to pay up to $500,000. we'll tell you why. and california expected to pass its own dream act allowing illegal immigrants to receive state-financed aid for college. good idea or a bad move? we'll debate it. [ male announc] sitting. waiting. hoping. that's a recipe for failed investing. open an e-trade account and open doors, seize opportunities, take action with some of the most powerful yet easy-to-use trading tools on the planet all built to help you maximize the potential of every dollar you invest. successful investing isn't done by throwing ideas against the wall and hoping. it's done by lowering your costs and raising your expectations by using unbiased research and powerful screeners to build a diversified portfolio

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jenna: right now some new information on some cme stories we're keepi an eye on for you this friday. a florida judge is considering whether casey anthony should pay for the cost of investigationing the disappearance of her 2-year-old daughter. the tab? about $500,000. the hunt underway for a california college professor

charged with heading up a massive drug ring. police say 43-year-old steven kin si is a teacher at california state san bernardino. and a grandfather in arizona accused of abusing his own grandson. it was said or he says he was just trying to get them in shape, apparently. police say he forced his three young grandsons on a brutal hike in the grand canyon beating them and denying them food and water. gregg: all right. some new information about the dream act. it may be stalled in the u.s. congress, but california expected to have its own dream act in the coming days once signed by the democratic governor, jerry brown. it would allow undocumented illegal immigrants who attend high school for at least three years access to college financial aid grants and scholarships. the bill's backers saying it makes great economic sense. opponents say the dream act's

$40 million price tag is a bill that cash-strapped california really can't afford. and worse, rewards people who cross the border illegally. fair and balanced debate, ira mehlman, spokesperson for the federation of american integration reform and immigration attorney francisco hernandez. ira, let me start with you. in a way is california saying to its folks south of the border, jump the fence and we'll help pay for your college education? >> that's what they've been saying for a very long time in california. they continue to find new ways to reward people who violate u.s. immigration laws. you know, this is an outrage even in the best of economic times, but here you have a state that is in deep financial trouble, what, about $15 billion in the hole this year. they're cutting services and benefits to legal residents across the state, they're cutting admissions to california universities, slashing programs, and yet up there in sacramento they keep dreaming up new ways to reward people who have

violated our law. gregg: yeah. >> and it's coming at the expense of honest, hard working california californians who are drying to get their own kids through college. gregg: francisco, why should taxpayers finance the education of people who are in the state illegally? you're a lawyer, doesn't that make taxpayers complicit in breaking the law? >> well, you've got to remember we've been complicit in offering people jobs. the economy has attracted these folks. what we're talking about is the equivalent of the dream act in federal that if there were kids who were brought here through no fault of their own, they want to study or serve in the military, they are here, do we want them educated, or do we want them not getting an education? nobody can say that there's any harm by educating them, and by educating them get them degrees, they can get better jobs. it's not like they're going to disappear, and we can't deport them. a lot of them don't even speak their native language. gregg: ira, what about that argument that, you know, the more educated an individual is,

the less apt he is to get in trouble, he can be a benefit to society, you know, they're here, so let's help them improve our citizenry? >> well, you know, first of all, when you make the threat that if you don't provide the education, the taxpayers don't fund the education, they're going to go out and commit crimes, that becomes a form of extortion. but it also, you know, what we're talking about here is a fixed pie. there is only so much money available to help finance higher education in california. that means that money that is going to be illegal aliens is money that is not going to other students in california. they deserve the opportunity. they need to become productive members of society, and this money isn't going to be able -- available to help them. gregg: francisco, the obama administration sued it's for usurping federal power over immigration matters. isn't california doing the same thing here in reverse, and why do i have a hunch that the obama administration ain't gonna sue california over this? >> well, and you bring up a great point. that is exactly it.

why are people complaining because somebody in california chooses to do something that the federal government refuses to do? it is the other side of the coin, of course, and, of course, president obama is for comprehensive immigration reform as are many republicans as well. gregg: yeah. >> we just can't seem to get it passed. now, we don't hear anybody complaining about all the foreign students that we do give loans and grants to that end up going to other countries with their degrees. gregg: sure. >> and there's no -- gregg: yeah, but they didn't break the law in the process. ira, last question. are you going to sue over this? >> well, the federal government, clearly, is not going to sue, the obama administration has made it clear that they -- gregg: will your group? >> you know, it's hard to get standing. there have been students in california who tried to sue over the in-state tuition benefits begin to illegal aliens. the courts have thrown that out. you know, the problem is that americans who are hurt by these laws simply don't have access to the courts in order to bring

suit. unfortunately, illegal aliens get the access, american students don't. gregg: ira and francisco -- >> pass the federal law. it's a simple solution. gregg: i'm afraid we're out of time. we'll follow this. francisco hernandez, ira mehlman, thanks, guys. jenna: "happening now," a major storm setting its sights on louisiana, and people there are just bracing for some heavy rain and strong winds this holiday weekend. we have the latest on the storm's path coming up. plus, bombshell developments in the investigation of a death at an historic mansion near san diego. the sheriff's department releasing its report, and it is certain lu kicking up some controversy -- certainly kicking up some controversy. we have all the details next. a. for dentists, the choice is clear. fact is, more dental professionals brush with aal-b toothbrush than any other brush. trt the brush more dentists and hyenists use, oral-b.

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gregg: a huge concern shaping up along the gulf coast right now. a tropical depression is getting set to wash out the holiday weekend bringing the risk of torrential rain and flash flooding. janice dean is live in the weather center. >> reporter: a potential of tornadoes as well. as you can see, this is your tropical depression number 13, a very big area of thunderstorms that continues to playing much of the gulf. unfortunately we are not getting the rain where we really need it, and that is across texas. again, these outer bands are going to continue to playing portions of louisiana,

mississippi, alabama, into the florida panhandle. we do expect this to be named possibly within the 2pm advisory, and definitely by the 5pm advisory. it doesn't matter if it's named or unnamed. it's going to bring 20 inches of rain along the coast here. tropical storm warnings are posted for warts of louisiana into mississippi. taking a look at our forecasted precipitation over the next five days there is that bull's-eye of over 12 inches, some of the forecast models showing two feet of rain on top of this area. there is our cone of uncertainty. there is wednesday. this storm will continue to pound the coastline for much of the holiday weekend unfortunately. and we are also watching hurricane katia still in the atlantic. 75-mile per hour sustained winds. there is some uncertainty with this storm. we were thinking earlier on it was going to make a bull's-eye

for bermuda. this is one of our long range forecast, look at how close it comes to the u.s. we still have ten days to watch it. certainly some of the more cast models are bringing it more westward and it could certainly pose a threat to the u.s. again, just a caution here we need to watch katia in the days to come, category one storm. as it gets closer to the lesser antilles we are thinking possibly of a major hurricane by wednesday, and again we're going to have to watch this one very carefully, gregg. some of the computers models are making it more of a western turn. gregg: that's just what we need. >> reporter: if i could you know i would steer this right out to sea. gregg: do your best, blow, blow real hard. >> reporter: okay. gregg: janice dean. thanks. jenna: fox news alert, big newsreel i on the environment the president ordering the environmental protection agency to withdraw its proposal to tighten government smog

standards. why now? why is this happening. molly henneberg is taking a closer look. >> reporter: this proposal is getting a lot of bush pack from businesses and republicans that argued it would cost big bucks and jobs to comply with the new rule and they argue there was a new smog standard put in place back in 2008. today in a letter from the president's head of regulatory affairs to the epa administrator says the president is concerned that the new tighter rules, quote, could produce needless uncertainty in the private and public sectors. also the letter said there was no reason to do it now since the clean air act requires another look at smog rules in 2013 any way. ththe letter goes onto say, president obama does not support finalizing the rule at this time. issuing it in 2011 would be

problematic in view of the fact that a new assessment and potentially new standards will be developed in the relatively near future. boehner sent a couple of letters to the president in august asking for the economic impact about this and other regulations. he says the president's decision to hold off on the new smog rule is a good first step. the statement says, we're glad that the white house responded to the speaker's letter and recognized the job-killing impact of this regulation. it's only the tip of the iceberg of more government stimulus spending and increased regulation by the white house. white house officials insisted this decision by the president, quote, has nothing to do with politics and that the president is and has been, quote, committed to reducing regulation. jenna. jenna: interesting. we'll continue to watch the story going into the big jobs plan announcement on thursday,

molly. thank you very much. gregg: was it murder or suicide? right now we're awaiting a news conference in san diego where the sheriff's department will make an announcement in a really bizarre mystery, the death of this woman at her millionaire boyfriend's mansion. her body found nude, hanging from a balcony, her hands and her feet bound. already the woman's family is crying foul and speaking out about what investigators have concluded. adam housley live in san diego. adam. >> reporter: yeah, some of the questions actually, some of those details actually in question i should say. a lot of the stuff has been coming out of media reports from the area and the sheriff's department was saying all along, we didn't tell you that her feet and hands were bound and she was naked. they are going to have a presentation, including a powerpoint presentation to explain to everybody how they came to their conclusions from

what happened about six weeks ago. you might remember over the course of a week on a monday morning a young boy, max shacnai, the son of a pharmaceutical executive, he fell down the stairs of his coronado home. that was determined to be an accident. he was seriously injured at the time. two days later the girlfriend, rebecca zahau was found hanging in the same house. a few days later the young boy after that would die of his injuries. the boy dies, the girlfriend dies. there's been all kinds of spe speculation. the sheriff's department says some of the accounts that have come out has really been untrue. we are curious to see the information they do have, and how they came to the conclusion. about an hour and a half from now the sheriff will be there, they have all the toxicology results. it will be done we're told as a presentation so everybody uns how they came to their conclusion. as you mentioned the family, at least the sister of the victim, rebecca zahau's sister is

calling this into question saying she doesn't necessarily believe that her sister committed suicide. gregg: adam housley in san diego. for more on this let's turn to forensic pathologist dr. michael baden. isn't it incredibly unusual and difficult to commit suicide the way she did with her feet bound and as we understand it from her family, her hands bound behind her back with a sophisticated slip knot? >> it is unusual, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. hanging is the second most money way when people commit suicide. number one is gunshot wounds, number two for the whole country, 32,000 people who commit suicide a year, hanging is number one, number 3 is drug overdoses, that is about 92% of all suicides. one can do that. one can tie one's wrists together, and then step through,

if you're alive and athletic, step through the ties. gregg: right. >> one can do that by sitting on a chair, tying the legs. it can be done, it's extremely unusual. gregg: what else would you want to look at here to determine whether this is suicide, or perhaps foul play, murder? >> yeah, the most important thing in evaluating a possible suicide is was the person depressed? did the person have any psychiatric history? was the person on any kind of medical drugs? and i'm sure all that will be explained in the presentation, the sheriff's office and the medical examiner are going to do shortly. gregg: let me stop you there if you can. her family says she never displayed signs of depression, did not blame herself for max's death, was upbeat on the phone the ple the previous evening and they say an alleged suicide note was not in her handwriting.

>> so there is an issue here of a possible suicide note. the hardest cases medical examiners deal with, gregg, are not homicides but suicides, and the reason for that is because family members, loved ones don't believe the medical examiner. in all those cases of suicide families don't want to believe the medical examiner, and they are hard cases, they still have to be done properly. what the sheriff's office has done i'm sure is go through her cell phones, her internet, talk to families to see how she felt in the past few days prior to her death. and the most important i think is security cameras, finding out who was in the house when she died, not what she was found but when she died, and part of that is looking at the remains, the body and finding out rigormortis, lividity, temperature, how long she had been dead when she was found and

seeing who was in the house then from family, friends and security cameras. gregg: stomach contents might tell you something too. >> stomach contents tell you, right, and also whether or not she took any drugs. gregg: as always, thank you, doctor, appreciate it. and the attorney for rebecca zahau's family will join kelly wright and jaime colby on america's news headquarters today about an hour from now. jenna: california's decision to close 70 state parks, what will happen to the space once they are shut off to the public? a live report on that ahead. dramatic new video just in of a horrific car accident in iowa, the rescue attempts caught on tape. some real bravery there, we will show you next. hey, the new guy is loaded with protein!

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video showing police responding to an accident. these pictures were taken from an officer's dashboard camera showing a frantic effort to save passengers inside the two vehicles. one officer climbs on top of the burning suv reaching through the passenger side window for the occupants. another officer attacks a flames with fire extinguishers getting dangerously close. running back to his squad car to get new ones. the two officers pulled two people to safety. a ten age girl died in this accident. you see the response from some of the officers on the scene, pretty incredible and lucky not more people lost their lives. gregg: incredibly heroic. 70 state parks have to close. but saving money could threaten the pristine beauty of the tkpweld even state. more live in our san francisco bureau.

>> reporter: hi, gregg, many californians cannot believe it's come to this. officials closing 70 state parks to save $22 million over the next couple of years may not sound like much but many of the state's parks are in disrepair and need a billion dollars worth of maintenance work. governor jerry brown cutting costs wherever he can, in this case by closing historic sites like the old governor's mansion in sacramento, as well as scores of state run beaches, lakes, forests, even deserts. by law california can't sell the parks so it's trying to figure out how to keep them open maybe by working with volunteer caretakers, getting financing through corporate sponsorship or teaming up with nonprofits who would take over day-to-day operations. unless something happens 70 parks will be closed by next summer leaving many californians not only disappointed but wondering how the state is going to pull this off. it's one thing to lockup a museum, quite another to close down campgrounds and beaches which are often thousands of acres and have several access

points. there is growing concern without park rangers on hand these places could get trashed, there could be crime, fires, all kinds of problems that some argue could end up costing more than the 22 million the state is trying to save. state park officials admit they really don't know how they are going to close all these parks, they've never done anything like this before. in the meantime they are hoping that visitors police themselves and maintain the parks for free and maybe, gregg, check out some of the 208 state parks in california that are still open, at laos for now. gregg: you've got that going for you, but 70 of them, it's too bad. claudia cowan, thanks. jenna: we have new threats of severe flooding in the south as a major storm forms near new orleans. they warn the rains could be more dangerous than the winds. what the region is doing to prepare. we talk to someone on the ground next. inside every box of cheerios are those great-tting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholester.

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for you now. we are closely watching the weather radar, a tropical storm forming along the u.s. gulf coast is threatening to flood a region hit by hurricane katrina. the storm could drench the city with up to two feet of rain. that's just a forecast at this time. joining us on the form a district commanderred flemming. you say it's raining right knew in new orleans, how are you preparing for a worst case scenario. >> we've set up an emergency center. we've set up liaisons in the parishes here, we are out doing our typical maintenance and testing operations on our gates at the pump stations and we are prepared to adjust as the

storm allows us to. jenna: what is your advice to the public. >> folks need to listen to their local elected officials. at this point right now the national weather service tells us it's going to be a rain maker and there is not going to be a whole lot of surge to worry about. folks around here know where the local low-lying areas are and they need to keep away from them. jenna: what are the one or two things that you watch to see if this is going to be an intense situation for the people in new orleans, what i mean by that, is it the rain amount, is it the surge eventually, what is the first sign to you that this is becoming a more intense situation. >> we listen to the national weather service and we get their reports and we need to pay close attention to the organization of the storm itself. at this point it's pretty disorganized and it looks like it will come onshore as a tropical storm and a rain event, but we are prepared to adjust if

it gathers any kind of strength and organization. jenna: walk us through the next 24, 48 hours, what is the plan? >> the plan is they need to do the maintenance on the canals, the bump stations, and the gates as needed, and we'll have our liaisons out, we'll been working with the national weather service and the local elected officials and we are prepared to adjust as we need it. but, again, we don't see a lot of surge coming out of this thing, we see this more as a rain maker and a little bit of wind. jenna: we hope you have a good pair of boots and a poncho. >> we do. jenna: thank you for joining us. it's a story we'll watch over the next few days. we appreciate it very much, sir, thank you. >> yes, ma'am, thank you. gregg: remembering 9/11. fox news has been following the rebuilding and rebirth at ground zero every step of the way and now a peak at a special airing tonight on fox hosted by fox

reports anchor shepard smith. >> reporter: it was a towering landmark that said new york. >> i think the city of new york came to love them. i certainly did. >> reporter: a symbol of economic might. >> the world trade center was not appreciated as architecture. >> reporter: and a target to the enemies of freedom. >> it's like being in a horror film. >> reporter: staggered by 9/11 america vowed to fight back. >>he real me is to get out there and kick some ass. >> reporter: and rebuild. >> and not to rebuild these buildings would be to give the terrorists exactly what they were looking for. >> reporter: a decade later it's a story of rebirth. >> what we wanted to do is find a way to reflect the fact that so many people died together. >> reporter: remembrance. >> anything that is going to tackle some very difficult things. >> reporter: and rester recollection. >> people look at it and say, my god, isn't that fantastic. gregg: fox news reporting, freedom rising with shepard smith a two hour special airing

tonight 9:00pm eastern time right here on the fox news channel. we'll be right back. really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure hh protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! @ [ major nutrition ] new ensure hh protein. ♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪ ♪ hah @

jenna: so this isn't the end for you, it's the beginning. you have news watch this weekend. gregg: jon is off, so i'm going to step into his shoes. i'm not going to be able to do it well, but i'll try. and one of the subjects we're going to cover is a lot of press has been written about whether the media overhyped hurricane irene. some have said, you know, it was shameless overhype for ratings, and others said, no, you probably saved lives, and we'll never know about that. so we'll debate that. jenna: that's interesting, you have the president visiting new jersey to take a look at damage this weekend as well. you guys can check it out -- gregg: saturday, 2:30 eastern time. jenna: just want to make sure everyone watches. thank you for fill anything this week. gregg: it's been fun. jenna: thanks for joining us, everybody. greg greg "america live" begins right now.