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tv   Happening Now  FOX News  September 13, 2011 8:00am-10:00am PDT

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crocodile farm. fest he wanted a little bit of freedom. they have 4,000 crocodiles. i guess it was crowded. he got through a broken wall damaged by flooding. so far some 22 crocodiles up to 16 feet long have been recaptured. everybody is sneaking out. they all want to party together. get out of the old crocodile farm. bill: apparently good business. martha: like you with the snake in your backyard. bill:, no. that snake was bigger than that crock. martha: we'll tell you that story another time. "happening now" starts right now. have a good day, everybody. jon: good morning, we begin with a fox news alert. local authorities are hoping to find the people you will see in this amazing video. complete strangers who rush in to help a motorcyclist, trapped underneath that burning car. take a look at this video out of utah. a motorcycle fuel tank on fire after the collision with that car. the rider trapped underneath.
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several people, ignoring the danger that both vehicles could explode. spontaneously come together to lift the car and free the rider. after rescuing him they simply melted away. now authorities would love to know who they are. we know now who shot this amazing video. coming up a little bit later in the hour we'll talk to the man behind the camera and watch the whole scene unfold. that's coming up. good morning once again to you. brand new information coming in on the u.s. embassy attack in afghanistan. i'm jon scott. jenna: one of our biggest news items of the day. hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. we're here in the fox newsroom and "happening now", secretary of state hillary clinton vowing the u.s. will take all the necessary steps to pursue the embassy attackers. this as we hear gunfire and explosions rock the city of kabul for hours. the taliban claimed responsibility for this deadly violence saying its gunmen opened fire with
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assault rifles and launched rocket propelled grenades at u.s. embassy and nato headquarters all in the same area. >> that is not all. the taliban saying it dispatch ad number of suicide bomb ders bombers and foreign intelligence officers. jenna: dominic did i that tall lee with more. dominic? >> reporter: fighters are still loose in the city. i can hear the sound of distant gunfire east of the city in the general area of the u.s. embassy where four people were injured. they weren't american citizens, jenna. they were afghans waiting in line for their visas. three adults and one small girl. but casualties elsewhere in the city. this is the total we have at the moment. four afghan police officers were killed. two civilians so far dead and 15 to 18 other civilians have been injured.kft5j across the city.
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it wasn't just the u.s. embassy and mate toe headquarters which was slammed with rockets, about five or six hours ago when the fight just started. we're looking at afghan institutions, the counterterrorism unit, criminal investigation department. there were concerns that parliament was going to be authorities in particular. several departments where fights broke out. even the local mosque in the neighborhood behind me, a local mosque was targeted as well. one person was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade slipped past the mosque and hit an office next door. we have never seen anything quite like it on this scale. well-coordinated attacks. even as attackers were running through the city they were getting instructions from the commanders how to progress to the next stage. there have been two of the fighters apprehended so far. one still at large in the city and yes, the sound of gunfire i hear it right now as they try to take him out or at least arrest him if they can, jenna.
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jenna: dominic, we can hear as well echoing through your camera microphone. dominic, we hear a lot of heightened violence along the border between afghanistan and pakistan. that seems to be where there is lot of focus. not again often in the capital city of kabul have we seen this as you mentioned. why, why have the taliban chosen this location and now to launch these attacks? >> reporter: taliban spokesman has told "the washington post" this was a message to the west that it had to stop harassing people who wear it.[ñ urbins and people who sort beards. it comes close to the 10th anniversary of 9/11. it can't be helped this was actually something to mash the particular milestone. didn't perhaps plan to do it on sunday itself. felt it was upstaged commemorations taking place in the states. we did have 77 u.s. soldiers
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hurt in the attack in wardok province. all the people injured. nobody decide from the injuries i understand so far. maybe this is reminder that the taliban remains very strong. accusations are now coming in perhaps the pakistanis were involved in this supporting the haqqani network allied with the taliban and also al qaeda here. we hopefully have more details and see iffá we be is stand eight anything. back to you. jenna: with all your reporting, dominic in pakistan we look forward to your continuing coverage. thank you very much. >> right now on capitol hill, that debt commission supercommittee is holding its first substantive meeting, second meeting overall. this one examining the history and driver of this nation's debt. it comes after the president urged congress to find even more than $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction to make room in the budget for the jobs bill. bret baier is the host of "special report". wouldn't you like to be part of that meeting?
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are they going to be getting anything done i guess the question the whole nation is asking, bret? >> i don't know if i would like to be a part of that meeting, jon. jon: yeah. >> the big question mark is if this supercommittee can move forward. clearly both sides are, have been dug in on their respective issues and now with the president putting a different onus on this committee, a different bar to get over with an additional half a trillion dollars in cuts, it's going to be very difficult for these 12 members to come to consensus. you're looking at the cbo director, doug elmendorf, testifying up there on capitol hill. this will be a process and now before thanksgiving these 12 will have to come to some consensus for an up-or-down vote. the white house would like to see $2 trillion in deficit reduction. if it doesn't get to that point, they have, as a part of this jobs bill, the
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republicans call it the stimulus ii but as part of it is a double trigger. that if this committee doesn't get to 2 trillion, then these tax increases would add on to additional cuts at the department of defense. so the pressure is on, these 12 lawmakers. jon: there are some similarities to the simpson-bowles committee in a way. a smaller group that's tasked with solving a problem that the larger organization. jon: the congress and the administration, can't seem to get a handle on. we all know simpson-bowles came out and you know, was essentially ignored. >> exactly. and listen, washington has done this numerous times through different administrations. both parties. giving blue ribbon commissions some sort of task to do something that politicians can not stomach or can not politically do without the umbrella of some sort of cover of some bipartisan committee. there is a lot of criticism on that, of that on the
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campaign trail. former speaker of the house newt gingrich especially has gone after the supercommittee structure. but there still is some glimmer of hope that the simpson-bowles commission guideline, the frail work, could be the bones of what this supercommittee does. something big. there's a lot of skepticism but there is a glimmer of hope. >> what's the thinking on capitol hill this morning after that republican debate last night? if i were rick perry i suppose i would feel a bit like a punching bag this morning. he took a lot of shots from his fellow candidates. >> definitely. he definitely did and all analysis of that debate showed that governor perry came under a lot of fire. whether he rose above and was able to convince people that he is going to be able to be the one who republicans believe can beat president obama, that's really the guideline. a lot of republican voters are using. who in this field can beat president obama?
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because that's the number one stipulation. as far as, you know, who is the most conservative and who is closest to the tea party that is an entirely different question. so it is interesting to see. our next debate, next week the 22nd. if people want to send in a question, youtube.com/fox news. send in a video question and you can ask the candidates yourself. jon: bret baier, the host of "special report" which runs each evening 6:00 p.m. eastern time on this network. bret, you will be a busy man in the weeks ahead. nation so much for being with us. >> okayú÷f, jon. jenna: ahead of the big elections in 2012, happening now a special election in new york city is going down to the wire. the battle for anthony weiner's former congressional seat, now closer than anyone predicted. congressman weiner, a democrat is now-infamous for some revealing self-portraits sent to women online. he represented the city's heavily democratic 9th district for years. looks like the two vying for
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his sight neck-and-neck. republican bob turner leading assemblyman david weprin by six percentage points in a new poll. that is not the only reason this race is attracting national attention. eric shawn is live in queens, new york, with the latest on this, eric? >> reporter: we're at polling place in howard beach, queens, the voters we talked to this morning are angry. this is one of the blueest districts in the nation. number of democrats out number republicans three to one. hasn't sent a republican to washington since 1923. been represented by charles schumer. guard dean ferraro, walter mondale's running mate in 1984. many wonder if it will go to a republican tonight. if history will be made and there will be an upset. republican bob turner is leading his democratic rival by 6 points. turner is 70 years old and retired businessman. he has been hammering away in this campaign president obama's policies making that
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the cornerstone of his campaign. his economic policies and the president's policies concerning israel. for his part his opponent democrat. jon: david weprin. veteran assemblyman and member of prominent family in new york. he is blasting him as a member of the tea party. president obama's name is not on the ballot but those here tell me it might as well be. >> rightly or wrongly that is really how this will be interpreted and perceived. that is how many of the voters are looking at it. things are wrong in washington. they want to raise their voice against it. protest. >> it is a special election. traditionally low turnout. the polls are really not that significant because it doesn't determine who is going to vote, who will come out. we identified our voters early on. we have a lot of union households in the district. >> reporter: turner says he is not a tea party member but agrees with many of its
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principles. he has been endorsed by variety of public officials as former new york city mayor rudy giuliani and prominent democrats. among them, former new york city mayor ed koch. weprin has row bo calls from former president clinton and governor cuomo. there has been a lot of fingerpointing in this race because he seals to on trailing his opponent. we'll know what happens later on this evening. the polls close at 9:00. many political professionals say if indeed the republican pulls it out that will send an earthquake in districts across the country. back to you. jenna: interesting and intense battle over this one district. eric, thank you so much for that report. jon: we have some sobering new information on the victim of a brutal beating at dodger stadium. back in march. remember this case? attorneys for brian stow now attobñ price tag for his now medical care could climb to more than $50 million. rick folbaum on the story at the breaking news desk.
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>> reporter: brian stow is still in a coma. he is getting treatment in a hospital in san francisco. his family is fighting for the money they say they will need to continue his care now and into the future. as you mentioned, that number according to family lawyers, $50 million. to get it, they're suing the owner of the l.a. dodgers, frank mccourt, along with 13 other team related businesses. they claim the dodgers are liable since the attack on stow took place in the parking lot of dodger stadium. two men have been charged with actually carrying out that attack supposedly targeting stow because he was wearing a san francisco giants jersey at dodger stadium in l.a. attorneys for mccourt and the others being sued for damages ask the suit be dismissed all together. the next court hearing in the case is september for september 30th. back to you. jon: what a sad case all the way around. rick, thanks. jenna: as we know, happening now, football season. jon: football season is underway. unfortunately the wrong team won the late game last night
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on "monday night football". jenna: sorry to bring it up. are you going to make it through the rest of the show. jon: i'll try. jenna: this year it was particularly important, you had the anniversary of september 11th. you had super tight security as tens of thousands of people inside stadiums across this country. wait until you hear what one man got past screeners and brought into a stadium. a weapon that he later used and it was all caught on tape. we have the whole story for you coming up. jon: also, a company once touted by president obama as a bright spot for green energy jobs is now broke and the focus of a federal investigation. the congressman leading the charge for answers joins us live coming up. jenna: the latest on the california wildfires in the american west. we'll be right back.
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jenna: welcome back, everybody. a surprising breach of security at a packed football stadium on 9/11.
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thousands and thousands packed stands for the jet jets-cowboys game sunday night, one man managed to sneak a taser into the game and actually ended up using it. laura engle joins us from the newsroom with more on this. >> reporter: three men were injured in this brawl including a marine who went tumbling down six rose in the upper deck of the stadium after being hit in the neck with the taser gun. the taser reportedly brought you in and fired by 59-year-old cowboys fan, leroy mcevy when things got heated in the stands. connect out the cell phone. you can hear the buzz and s&p of the taser a few times with the scuffle going down. witnesses say a marine sitting near him became annoyed at his friend when they wouldn't take off their hats or for the national anthem and spoke loudly during the amazing grace on the 10th anniversary of the attacks on 9/11. mcelvy tried to leave the
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seat. the marine refused to let him get by. he whippeddóz out his weapon and security was tight with it being 9/11 and former president george w. bush in attendance. we got a statement from the ceo of metlife stadium that reads quote. unon sunday evening the man entered the stadium will legal taser the size after small cell phone in his pocket. the taser was used with altercation with fans which no one was seriously injured. the man was immediately arrested. procedures for pat-downs established by nfl were used at every game and effective at all entry gates. his dad is a devout jehovah's witness who doesn't believe in standing for pledge of allegiance or national anthem. he says his dad is not a violent guy who just likes to have fun. he was charged with three counts of aggravated assault and two weapons counts of. and we will wait for more information. jenna: thank you, laura,
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thank you very much. jon: some incredible rescue video. we brought you some of it a bit earlier. rick is over at our dot-com wall with more. 7lelieve what they see when we show them the rest of this video which we'll do in a couple of minutes but we want to know from you, what would you do if you came across a scene like that with a guy underneath a burning car? we have a poll at the homepage for "happening now." scroll down and you can see it. there it is. what would you do? would you scream? try to lift the car? call 911. run the other way. stand back and watch. you can weigh in during the next couple minutes during our commercial break. when we come back we'll have the results of the poll and the rest of this amazing story including the guy who shot that video. don't go away.
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jenna: an incredible story
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of bravery caught on tape. complete strangers working together, to lift a burning car off a trapped cyclist. rick folbaum is following this story that is just is incredible to watch, rick. >> it is unreal, it really is, jenna. let's set it up fo]i>nr a minute before we show you the videotape a bmw swerves in front of a motorcycle, causing the guy on the bike to go underneath the car and a firebreaks out. then we have this video. look look what happens to the brave samaritans. they see what is going on. they realize the only way they can get the guy is literally lifting up the car and putting him out. that is exactly what they did. % to safety. in critical condition. look at that he has broken bones and cuts and bruises but a very lucky man with a whole new group of friends who literally saved his life and hats off to the brave people who jumped in and performed so heroically.
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they showed up and took him away in a ambulance. with pretty serious injuries. but apparently, jenna, he will be okay. back to you. jenna: wow! we have more on this now. jon: joining us is the man who actually captured that rescue on tape. chris, when we first saw the pictures we were amazed, you know. generally you don't get such quality images from casual bystanders. there is a reason for that. it has to do with your job. >> yes, i'm actually, i work for the2vug utah state university as a viginggrapher. jon: you were in your apartment that day, is that what i understand it. >> i was getting ready to film a lecture series we do for the business building. the business building is nine stories high on the 9th floor. i saw smoke and i was set up for the shoot. and i started to, i put my ãshot. captured what you guys saw there. jon: so you saw smoke but you must have been astounded when you saw what the smoke, what was causing it? >> yeah, the minute i saw that, i saw a fireball on
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road with a motorcycle on fire and i was, i was astounded. in broadcast journalism. when you see something like that you put your camera on it. jon: the, the rescue, i mean, the first person up to that car is a woman, who is going to try to lift the thing. all of a sudden construction workers and other folks try to join in. >> yeah. you could see, from the beginning of the video i didn't really know there was someone under the car. you start to see the panic in the people around the car. i was just, shock, they have got to get the guy out of there. i thought someone was in the car. then i realized someone was underneath the car. it is a pretty, pretty daring feat that these people accomplished. jon: the heat coming off those flames had to be intense. >> i mean you saw the flames. yeah. jon: sure. just the possibility that the gas line in the car is maybe going to go up and the gas tank in the car should explode. >> sure. jon: the pictures don't
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entirely tell the story. i mean the cyclist is lying there this in the street, obviously unconscious. i don't know that for a fact. it looks like he is dead. >> yeah. jon: he was hospitalized and has some pretty serious injuries but he is expected to recover. >> yeah. hopefully he has full recovery and hopefully he wears a helmet next time. jon: my understanding that the local authorities are looking for the people who helped out. they want to recognize them and putting the call out. if you were part of this rescue we would like to at least give you a certificate. so, it is just an amazing story. makes you feel good about living in this country. chris garff, videographer from utah state university who shot the incredible tape. >> if we have a big story out of utah, the guy behind the camera. good job, chris. jon: thanks for sharing the story with us. incredible bravery and quick action by those good samaritans is on our website. we asked what you would doyb-iz
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in this situation? and, here's, here's the answer. we're offering you these choices. scream or cry. try to lift the car. or, run the other way. the, numbers are up there on our website. you can log in, still time to get your vote in there. jenna: i know what you would do? you would lift the car up by yourself, jon scott. do the rest cue. jon: i would like to think so but i don't know. jenna: i think so. i think so for sure. what a great story. and we hope those good samaritans do get recognized. certificate or anything else. jon: good for all of you. jenna: big-name endorsement for one republican white house hopeful. we'll talk with louisiana governor bobby jindal who announced earlier today he is throwing his weight behind texas governor rick perry. he is joining just ahead. i'm really glad we took this last minute trip!
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you booked our room right? not yet, thanks for reminding me. wait, what? i have the hotels.com app so we can get a great deal even at the last minute.
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ah, well played sir. get the app. hotels.com.
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jon: developing stories we are keeping an eye on in the newsroom, signs of hope amazingly in iran, where president ahmadinejad says he's working to have u.s. hikers, shane bauer and josh fattal set free. both had bail set at half a million dollars. all of this coincides with ahmadinejad's trip to the u.s. and a speech to the general assembly next month. warplanes hitting radar and missile systems in key strongholds of support for
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moammar qaddafi who remains a fugitive. a jet bound from new york to phoenix diverted, after three passengers reportedly acted suspiciously. the transportation security administration says the plane landed without any problems but did not say whether anyone was taken into custody. jenna: folks in texas wishing they had some of the rain that's been swamping the northeast, the worst drought in memory continues in that state and so does the heat now that we are in the middle of september even. meteorologist maria molina is following all the developments from our fox extreme weather center, maria. reporter: the heat and the drought will continue here. we also have something called la nina, that is expected to continue for another six months, throughout the winter we are also thinking we will be looking at the state of texas continuing to be in drought, a lack of precipitation for weeks and months are expected. we have over 99% of the state in a drought. you can see all of the drought advisories across the region. today there is a red flag in vehicle across the city of
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dallas extending eastbound into portions of northwest louisiana, because there are gusty winds in place gusting up to 25 miles per hour in addition to warm temperatures again into the triple digits. we are going to be looking at a front that will begin to approach the area, northern texas you are looking at a relief coming up towards the end of this work week, thursday through friday temperatures will be dropping a little bit because the cold front will continue to move southward. showers and storms firing up today increasing wednesday and thursday across the central planes. interior storms across the interior portion of the northeast. we do not need additional rainfall in parts of upstate new york and vermont. there is a risk for large hail and wind gusts in effect for some of the storms out there. another hot one, 107 in dallas. 102 in san antonio. some of the cooler air will move southbound. a little better as we head into tomorrow. it won't be until thursday and friday that we'll get out of the tip he will digits for dallas,
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southern pourings of texas, no relief from the cold front, it will not bring you any rain and the temperatures will stay in the upper 90s. tomorrow's high jenna 58 will be the high in minneapolis. there is a freeze watch across the northern portions of the country. jenna: freeze watch already? >> reporter: yep, get ready. jenna: got to get those coats out for some of us. thank you very much. always great to have maria and our show giving us the latest weather. we feel for you texas. one american company is raising some eyebrows and is now under f.b.i. investigation. a solar energy company called solyndra. they are calling it a financial failure. it has wasted more than a half billion dollars of taxpayer money. the white house is defending this invest many in this firm and says you can't judge the entire stimulus package, where this money came from, on the company's performance.
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tomorrow there is a house hearing over this sropb controversy. joining us is congressman cliff stearns who will chair the hearing. the f.b.i. started a search, what were they looking for in. >> they were looking for criminality and waste. they realized that a lot of the reporting that the company did was inaccurate. they are looking over where the roughly half a billion dollars is located. therit is clear that there is some criminality here or the f.b.i. would not raid it. the company is in bankruptcy. at this point in my hearing we are trying to put these people under oath and find out what happened. jenna: what do you think happened? >> the bottom line is the president for some reason is clinging to this idea that he wants to subsidize solar panel industry. it's almost a religious fervor by him to help the green industry develop jobs through government taxpayer guarantees. and this goes to the heart of the problem. because this was the poster
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child, the flagship program in 2009 where the vice president and president both went out and toured this plant and touted it as an example of what they wanted to do. if that's what they want to do we are in deep trouble because there has been $60 billion given out to do this type of project. and solar panels cannot survive without taxpayer subsidy. at this point we don't think they can survive with the competition from china. jenna: let's go deeper into this. there are accusations clothing out there. you mentioned that the president, you say you wonder why he has such ties to the solar industry. some of the reporting about this company shows that a major investor in this company is a major financial backer, or bund her for the president. that's been stated as a fact. but there is again been please murmurs that is the reason why the company got our taxpayer money. do you believe that the
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president was following his political connections, rather than what's in the best interest of the nation? >> well, what we're sort of verifying and corroborating what you just said is one, the gao, and the office of budget and management both did not think this was a good investment. they sent out red flags saying, don't invest in this. there are a lot of questions they had. the question is, why would the administration, why would the obama administration invest in something in which two government accounting offices said it was a bad deal and they were so quick to get this money out the door. it makes you wonder was the decision based upon politics rather than the viability of this company and doing, shall we say, due diligence on the economic survival. jenna: congressman, i have some of the sound from the white house from spokesman jay carney about this company. let's take a listen. i'd like to ask you a few questions right after it. go ahead.
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>> jay, just one question on solyndra. whatever money the taxpayers put in as far as loan guarantees that won't be rufrpbltd it can't be returned it's loss. >> i don't know the details on that. i can refer you to the department of energy probably. jenna: personally i don't think we have the right sound. congressman, jay carney went onto say there is no guarantees in the business words about success and failure. and the truth is other investors lost a lot of money in this company as well. so, again, you're going to be having this hearing tomorrow. what questions are you going to be asking as to what is really behind this story? and what do you want our viewers to know about that? >> jenna, i think also the viewers should understand when solyndra got into problems it went back into the venture capital market to get money and they contacted five hedge funds. it turned out the hedge funds gave about $75 million. the department of energy allowed
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taxpayers to become secondary in getting their money in the event of a bankruptcy and these hedge funds get their money first. i don't think that's legal. i want to explore the idea why taxpayers got a second seat behind the hedge fund people, when in fact, we, the taxpayers provided over half a billion dollars to that company and why shouldn't we get our machine out first instead of these hedge funds. jenna: do you think that there are other solyndras out there? are you investigating other companies that have a similar scenario. >> reporter: i am, solar panels are going to have a very difficult time competing with china the economics of it has not bn proven that there is a pay back in a very short time. jenna: can you name some of the companies you are looking into. >> i can't, but in short order i will give you other companies that we are concerned about that will perhaps not provide taxpayers a return and we might not ever see the money anyone again. jenna: do you think anyone should be fired over this? >> i do.
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i think at the people at the executive branch who authorize it, including the president has to take responsibility for half a billion dollars taxpayer. of course 1100 people got laid off from this company, that adds to the problem and it's tragic in that sense. but oftentimes in these things after gao and omb specifically said this is not a good deal, to have the white house go ahead i think somebody should be responsible and should step up to the plate and say i made the mistake and they should be fired. jenna: if you find of some sort of improper relationship between the president and the money given out here would you ask for his resignation? is that what you're saying here? >> i'm thinking the president should address this and be clear. we had to subpoena this information from omb and including solyndra, finally we got it. i might point out that the democrats did not cooperate, they all voted against the subpoena. we are now trying to get the executives from solyndra to come. they said they can't make it tomorrow. they said they are going to come next week.
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we'll see. we have a subpoena for their attendance if they don't show. the bottom line is there is a lot of concern that this whole $60 billion of taxpayers guarantee is all for not, that is the big issue, why are we doing this and where is the money. jenna: congressman stearns important questions there. we will check back in with you as you continue the investigations, sir. thank you very much. >> thank you. jon: after nearly 50 years a historic set of interviews is released to the public. former first lady jacqueline kennedy reveals more than just her inside perspective into the assassination of her husband and their live at the white house. it is part 9/11 memorial, part tribute to our wounded warriors, and it goes for hundreds of miles. first responders, veterans and victims a*pls family members are taking part in the ride to recovery. we'd like you to get out there and show them your support.
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jon: a big name endorsement for one republican white house hopeful. texas governor rick perry receiving a nod from his fellow southern governor, louisiana yan bobby jindal. with perry's republican rifle rivals picking up their own endorsements perhaps governor jindal wants some place in this situation. let's ask bobby jindal. >> president obama wants to increase taxes, increase government spending, increase borrowing. governor perry understands the federal government does not create jobs.
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they've created over 40%, nearly half of all the jobs created in america. governor perry needs we don't need to be raising taxes, increasing government spending, trying to barrow our way into prosperity. he uns when the private sector creates jobs that's great for taxpayers, when government creates jobs that costs taxpayers that is the essential issue in this upcoming election. we've got a president who has never won anything before he became president of the united states. he's clearly in over his head, he doesn't understand how to get the economy back on track. governor perry has been governor of texas for almost 11 years. he's held the line on spending and taxes. he's helped to create jobs in texas he'll do it for our country. jon: you heard the other candidates up on stage taking shots at rick perry, jon huntsman said he had a better record in utah of crow aeugt jobs than governor perry did. >> the amazing thing governor perry in texas has been able to
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create jobs curing one of the worst recessions since the great depression. texas has continued to buck the trend. it's done very, very well. per capita income increased. people are moving with their feet, voting with their feet. texas is keting back regulations, not increasing taxes. he decreased general government revenue. he is showing with fiscally conservative principles he can bring the same common-sense to washington d.c. quit us back on track. i'm for governor perry, i think he'll be a great president, he's the right person to lead our party. when i was listening to all of the candidates on stage i thought any one of those would be an improvement over this president. with his stimulus part two last week he shows he simply doesn't get it. the first stimulus bill didn't do what it promised. unemployment is not below 8%. he said he had a plan to balance
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the budget. debt it at $14 trillion and continues to grow. he hasn't delivered what he promised the american people. it is time to put america in a new direction back on the right path to create jobs in the private sector not government jobs. jon: the obvious question, you are running for a second term as governor of louisiana in 2011. a lot of people have speculated you would be presidential people yourself. would you accept some kind of a position in a perry administration or some other administration if one of the other candidates were to defeat president obama? >> look, i've got the best job in the world. i'm privilege to be governor of the great state of louisiana, we are creating jobs for our people here. we are turning our county around despite the nation a recession. i want governor perry to create millions of jobs for my fellow americans. we still have work to do in louisiana. we are on the right track. southern business development ranked us number one in the
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south for three years in a row. we still have more work to do right here in louisiana. jon: i know one of the theupblgs you'd like to do down there is pump a little more oil. we have a story about that coming up. governor bobby jindal of louisiana, thank you for being our guest. >> thank you for having me this morning. jenna: gas prices are down from near record highs. many of us paying more than $3 a gallon. why economists fear gas prices could shoot back up at the worst time. we'll have that story coming up on "happening now" ♪ why settle for a one-note cereal? get more with honey bunches of oats. four nutritious grains come together for more taste, more texture, more healthy satisfaction. have a bowl of happy.
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jon: in california authorities are struggling to deal with massive wildfires burning out of control. this fire is about 90 miles north of los angeles. the shifting winds and rising
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flames forcing people right out of their homes. the displaced families have to stay in a local junior high school. fire officials are telling them to wait it out as they struggle to try to get this blaze under control. jenna: a happy ending for a family of a kidnapped three-year-old. this little boy snatched from his bed in the middle of the night, rick has more for us, rick. >> reporter: we do so many stories about missing kids it's a relief to be able to tell you about one who is back home. 3-year-old keenan herbert who was returned to his parents house early sunday morning five days after being abducted from his bed in the middle of the night, his capture dropping him off and calling the police to let them know. a suspect, a 46-year-old convicted sex offender, randal peter hopeee. he was released from prison and nowhere to be found. young keenan is apparently doing great, reunited with his parents and seven brothers and sisters. he's back playing out on the front line, spraying his sisters with a water gun. investigators continue their
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search for the man as they try to piece together exactly what happened to keenan during the time he was missing. back to you, jenna. jenna: new violence in afghanistan is one of our top stories of the day. the u.s. embassy in kabul the target of a coordinated attack by the taliban. latest details on this story coming up next. a desperate search in california for a severely autistic boy who ran away from his elementary school. we have the details just ahead.
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jenna: we begin the second hour of "happening now" talking about rooting out terrorist threats against america. hi, everybody. happy you are with us i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. u.s. security at home and around the world. two high profile hearings on capitol hill feature top officials including the new head of the cia. david petraeus says al-qaida is weaker and u.s. intelligence agencies have become smarter since 9/11. terrorists remain a serious and constant threat. our national security correspondent catherine herridge live with more from washington. >> reporter: thank you. the cia director as well as the nation's top intelligence official the dn you i are in the third hour before a rare special of the house and senate intelligence committees. one of the striking images this morning was the retired general in his civilian clothes warning al-qaida is weak having lost
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half of its leadership but has metastasized with others that are gaining strength. he says this is not the time to ease the pressure. >> as a bottom line up front the cia assesses that ten years after the 9/11 attacks the united states continues to face a serious threat from al-qaida and its world-wide network of affiliates and sympathizers. of significant though heavy losses to al-qaida senior leadership appeared to have created an important window of vulnerability. >> reporter: this morning there is a second hearing with the top domestic and intelligence security officials. the f.b.i. director confirmed that hundreds of people have been interviewed about that 9/11 threatened significantly the investigation is continuing and the homeland security secretary saying she considers the threat ongoing. >> we consider it an ongoing threat, and we continue to lean forward into confirming that
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threat. >> the threat has not been resolved, and until it is resolved it is an outstanding threat that we are following up on, even though september $1t 11th has now passed. >> reporter: there was agreement that the u.s. government could not put the same pressure on al-qaida and yemen, that was the group behind the last two plots against the united states the same way we were able to put pressure on pakistan, jon. jon: it is so different seeing a general wearing a civilian security. >> reporter: striking image. jenna: there is stark proof of the ongoing terrorist threat in afghanistan. attacks against the u.s. embassy and other targets. the u.s. embassy says none of its staff was wounded, but a strange occurrence.
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christian is with us. what do you make about the attack again the embassy. >> i think it's an attempt to fulfill a political goal. they have to know they are going to be defeated military in the attack. they want to under nine confidence in the karzai government. jenna: do you think it's working? >> i think the is in a sense. it's a little early to draw an analogy as a sort of possibly mini tet offensive as you recall was a 1968 event in vietnam where our embassy was attacked. it was a military failure by the enemy but it undermined support in washington. jenna: you think it might be used politically on our end not necessarily solely within the afghanistan government. >> that's right. i think the signal in afghanistan is that karzai is week and they can count an attack in the capitol. since the beginning of the afghan sufrpblg we've talked
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about off ramps. there have been signals of our withdrawals. jenna: one of the other areas as we kind of skip around throughout the middle east now we continue to watch the developments in syria. we still have an active embassy in syria. we still have the israeli embassy, one of our allies attacked in egypt. one of the questions that comes up when we look about where we are in the world today, are we safe in places like syria? should we still have a presence through our embassy in syria right now considering that the government is slaughtering its own people? >> it's a ltle different in syria. there the real threat actually comes from the government of sear yeah, the assad regime, that's where our ambassador is getting the most hassle right now. he's been out doing fairly good work. he went to the besieged city of hamaa, and stood with the protestors. it's a little different. a lot of these embassies are in
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dangerous areas. jenna: do you think we should stay or go. >> in syria at this point i think it was wrong to elevate diplomatic relationships. obama as part of his outreach around the world elevated that. that was a mistake. now that we have an ambassador there who is doing workout and reaching out, we ought to keep hem there and confirm him i'd say. jenna: we were talking to ambassador bolton and i asked him are you concerned about any of our embassies other places in the world. he says there is some reason for concern. i ask the same question to you today. are you concerned about our presence in any other areas besides syria right now. >> certainly you have the case of politicians across the middle east playing to the street. you see that in turkey somewhat too, where the prime minister is really engaged in a series of provocations against israel. and so when you have that sort of whipping up of discontent sometimes it can be turned
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rapidly on the u.s. embassies to signal our presence. jenna: i'm glad you brought that out, in that story in what is happening between egypt and israel. there is a story on what is happening wepb israel and turkey. turkey is coming out and saying that there is going to be repercussion -gs from some of the actions that israel has taken over the last several weeks. what is going on there and how concerned should we be about turkey trying to be a power broker in this part of the world? >> turkey being a power broker would actually be a good thing. so much of where pal tynan israel are located have been tug of war between saudi arabia and iran. so having turkey there might help things longtime. in the near term they are playing to the street. it's a democratic lee elected government. it's probably doing more than it needs to to go down the populous route. israel very unpopular in arab states. the prime minister throwing the gas on the fire for his own
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political benefit,he prime minister of turkey. jenna: turkey is secular. >> it is. jenna: are we seeing a shift there that we should be paying attention to? you're saying this he's playing to the populous in the street. is there something going on there we should pay attention to? >> there has been a drift away from european the west by turkey. we have our wonderful european allies to thank for that somewhat by dangling the promise of eu membership to turkey but never really acting on it. that in turn has reinforced this drift of turkey away. you have a government that even though will fan islamist flames from time to time remains an ally, a nato member and an important force in the world. we should engage with them. the obama administration that loves to talk about diplomacy should try some and deal more directly with turkey and steer him back to a better path. jenna: we'll see what happens. so much to talk about in this region of the world. christian, we thank you so much for working through a few of these key areas. you can hear more of christian
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online at live on fox news.com coming up in 30 minutes he's going to dig a little deeper into some of these topics. you can chat with him there. jon. jon: it appears that moammar qaddafi is gone but there are new concerns today about what happens to libya. the fighting and hunt for moammar qaddafi continue but nato's secretary general warns libya is in danger of finding into the hands of islamic extremists if a stable government is not established there soon. david piper streaming live to us from tripoli. what is the latest going on there? >> reporter: i'm at a rebel check-point on the outskirts of tripoli. i trapped up near bani wali today to find out what the situation on the ground. the rebels that i spoke to that are amassing on the edge of of the city said they've had to pull back at the moment because they've come under intense fire from these progaffe forces within the city. they say they've come up against
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troops they've never encountered before during this long war. they say they seem to have some type of command and control structure there and they suggest that perhaps there is some kind of high value target within the city, sufrp as one of moammar qaddafi's sons. we can't condition firm that of course. they are a waiting for more nato strikes. the nato planes were in action yesterday taking out some of those positions around the city. at the same time in bani wald, there is concerns about a possible humanitarian crisis. we understand from refugees pouring out of the city the water has been cut, jon and also the electricity. jon: what about moammar qaddafi and his sons? the hunt goes on, right? >> reporter: well, that's right. that is what everyone is looking at now. but this bani wald seems to be quite important for the whole chase for moammar qaddafi if he is still in this country.
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that is very much the gateway to the south according to people here. and if he is further south down towards the town of sabat that is still in control of promoammar qaddafi forces it will mean he has less area to be able to conduct his propaganda to keep his forces involved in this fight, jon. jon: david piper there from tripoli where life goes on. david, thank you. jenna: a lot going on around the world today, that's for sure. in the meantime we're keeping a close eye on capitol hill, stateside. the bi-partisan super committee is holding its second meeting right now and it is their job to make the tough decisions needed to reduce the federal budget by at least, at least $1.2 trillion. the hearing, by the way, they are hearing by the way from the head of the congressional budget office about the long-term effects of the nation's massive debt. we hear a lot about this. mike emanuel is live on capitol hill. what is the so-called super committee really drilling down on today. >> reporter: they are looking at
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the long-term drivers of our national debt. they are hearing from the chairman, or the director of the congressional budget office, the nonpartisan congressional budget hofs and he is saying that citizens will have to be prepared to pay more for government or accept less in terms of services or benefits from their government or both. he's also talking about the weakness of the economy. he says policy makers could look at a short term boost, in terms of reducing taxes and perhaps increase government spending over the short term and then more drastic cuts over the next decade or so. here is more from mr. almandorff the director of the budget office. >> putting the federal budget on a sustainable path will require significant changes in spending policies, tax policies or both. addressing that ford middable challenge is complicated by the current weakness of the economy and the large numbers of unemployed workers, empty
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houses, and under used factories and offices. >> reporter: so concerns about the weakness of our economy, predicting close to 9% unemployment through the end of 2012 as the super committee looks at a trillion and a half dollars in cuts over the next decade or so, jenna. jenna: sounds pretty scary. fear can be a great motivator. we'll see if it works as they try to figure out some of these decisions they need to make. mike emanuel live in d.c. thank you. jon: in new york voters are heading to the polls today to decide who will fill anthony weiner's former seat in congress. it is a surprisingly tight race according to the polls. what would it mean for this white house if a republican wins in a district that has been democratic for decades? also, a desperate search for a severely autistic boy. he ran away from his elementary school. we have the latest on the search. >> our whole life has evolved around him. we've never been away from him
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the whole 8 and a half years he's been with us, and hopefully it's going to be nine and 10 and 11 and 12 and 13 and beyond.
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jon: right now rescue crews are scouring a california mountain community looking for a severely autistic boy who ran away from his elementary school. rick it on it. >> reporter: there is still no sign of 8-year-old joshua robb. his parents say he's severely autistic, and is disturbed by loud noises. that may have been what prompted him to runaway from the schoolyard during morning recess. this is moment video shot of joshua during a visit his parents made to his school just last week. apparently he took of at the recess and headed into the woods. teachers and staff at the school tried to run after him but they were not able to catch up.
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it's starting to get colder up in the mountains, especially at nighttime. officials are very worried about joshua who was only wearing a polo shirt, a pair of shorts and a pair of sandals at the time. he is not dressed very warmly. search and rescue volunteers from nearby communities have joined in the search again today. they were out there at day break skour scouring the area looking for clues. they had to stop the search for a little bit, jon, the weather got bad. there was lightning and heavy rain. we are told they are back at it. they are searching for joshua robb. here is the number on the screen, if you have any information on this young boy we want to help him get reunited with his parents. jon: thank you. jenna: back to politics now a special election underway right now in new york city could be a sign of trouble for the president and the democratic party in 2012. we'll see. democrats are hoping to hold onto the seat given up by
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disgraced congressman anthony weiner. bob turner is facing off in a special election against a democrat david weffren. amy stoddard is an associate editor of the hill and she is with us to sort through this. this could be a referendum on the president, some say though that special elections are completely overstated in their meaning as far as what is going to happen next year. what side do you fall on? >> i mean i think that we see a different situation, a different story in every special election. as you know democrats won a special election a few months back in new york because -- in the 26th district because they pounded the republican on the issue of medicare and the fact that the republicans in the house had voted for congress and paul ryan's plan to overhaul medicare and a democrat ended up wink tha winning that seat in a
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republican district. now you have the opposite. republicans are very energized t to vote. you don't see a lot of democrats feeling good, they don't like the president's record and don't feel good about the economy and will unlikely not turn out to elect a democrat. it doesn't mean that the election will go that way. we are looking at a tough year next year for democrats having to defend president obama, but a tough year for incumbents as well. jenna: when you come to the voting booth there is an element of being worried about local issues as well. why would you say this is a referendum on the president versus being a referendum on a disgraced congressman, a democrat that lied to his constituents? >> right, well, i think it's a combination of many factors. i think democrats in the ninth
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district of new york are not feeling energized to support the democratic party. they had former congressman weiner who left in disgrace and they have press, who bob turner the republican is campaigning against in addition to the democrat, david weffren. you have president obama very unpopular. his numbers in a blue state, new york, upside down. it's unlikely democrats even with local concern are going to be as energized to turn out in a special election as republicans are. they are just much more motivated right now to vote against democrats. jenna: do you think anyone is energized at this point when you take a look at some of the approval ratings of congress for both parties? when you look at 2012 do you see people really coming out to vote on either side or do you think it will be one of those elections where maybe we don't see the turn out that we saw last year, or even if the 2008 election? >> i think that is a good point, because i think that democrats are disspirited, disappointed in
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president obama, and they are very, very scared. in this economy republicans the same, very critical of the president's policies, worried about the economy. at the same time you see republicans in congress having fought with the president in nare nine months in office their record of governing is bring us the brink of government shut down in april anda default in august, their poll numbers are a business malas well. if you're a republican incumbent next year you'll have a democrat running against you saying throw the bumps out and voters could evener size against that. if you're a democratic incumbent, tough year to defend obama's policies. jenna: always appreciate your insight. thank you for coming on. >> thank you. jon: iowa's governor says he could make his state the healthiest in the country in just five years. so how does he plan to do it? are there implications from the national healthcare plan the president pushed into law? iowa's republican governor terry
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branstead joins us live to talk about it. gas prices are down from their record highs. we don't have to tell you it's still mighty expensive to fill up your tank. what does it mean for the economy and why many analysts say there could be bad news on the horizon. ♪ [ male announcer ] each of these photos was taken by someone on the first morning of their retirement. it's the first of more than 6,000 sunrises the average retiree llee. ♪ as we're living longer than ever before, prudential's challenge is to help everyone have the retirement income they'll ne to enjoy every one of their days. ♪ prudential. bring your challenges.
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jon: a new effort underway to make iowa the healthiest state in the nation. the state wants to help people improve their own lives and still cut the cost of healthcare delivery. this new program could serve as a blue prudent for other states. let's get an explanation from iowa governor terry branstad who joins us live from des moines.
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obesity is a real problem in your state right now, isn't it governor? that is one of the things you're hoping to attack. >> yes, jon it's a problem all across the country. we think the only way we can really deal with the healthcare cost epidemic in america is to get people to take ownership of their own health. only 20% is really genetically caused. a lot of it is basically environment and lifestyle choices. and we want iowa to lead the country within five years we want to be the healthiest state in the nation. jon: one of the reasons this story caught our eye is because there has been such an argument in washington over the past couple of years over healthcare. how do you pay for it? how do you deliver it? how do you make it as efficient as possible? this is a program that you think has some of those answers, and interestingly at least the pilot program is not being paid for by tax dollars. can you explain that? >> right. it's a private initiative
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publicly endorsed. we have well mark, blue cross, blue shield, it's the largest health provider in our state. we have high sraoe and the iowa sports foundation. the leaders of those organizations have come together also with the business community and leaders from all over the state and myself and the director of the department of public health, and our lieutenant governor have endorsed and supported. we want every community in iowa to compete to be a blue zone community and to look at ways that they can improve exercise and nutrition, and those things that can reduce the risk factors and help people to live longer and healthier lives. jon: it's already showing some amazing results. tell us some of the things that people are doing, and the results. >> well, we're starting out with a walk on the 7th of october. we hope to have over 250,000 people, about 1 1/2 of the
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population of iowa participating in this kickoff. they are putting together $12 million funding for communities which are blue home communities. north of my hometown to has been a blue zone community and has done phenomenal things to reduce healthcare costs and have people live longer and healthier lives. we want every iowa citizen to get involved this. jon: life expectancy up almost 3 years. healthcare costs down 49%. absenteeism down 49%. it is showing some promising results. and we wish you well as you try to make iowa the healthiest state. thank you. >> thank huh, we are excited about it. jon: you should be. jenna: it's a 9/11 memorial that stretches for miles. hundreds of veterans, first responders and family members of
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those killed riding hundreds of miles on their bikes. riders are making stops at 9/11 memorials all the way from new jersey to the pentagon. not only to remember those who gave their lives, but also to help themselves heal. joining us now from pennsylvania is mcmcnaoonon. he's a veteran himself and director of this program. how is it today, mike. >> it's a little hot today. it's doing really good. everyone is holding in there. jenna: you the sound like you've been through tougher circumstances. i was reading part of your story and it's profound. you joined the national guard after 9/11 and ended up gng to afghanistan a couple years later. how exactly did you get injured? >> i got injured in afghanistan january 9th of 2003 from a land mine. jenna: and you lost part of your right leg? >> yeah, i lost my leg above the knee. jenna: so why is this ride
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profound to you? why does this ride help in your healing process, as we mentioned in our introduction? jenna: right after i got injured i wanted to start running, and i ran marathons, it would just beat me up too much, so john morton who is the president of ride recovery gave me my first bike and he wanted to start doing these cycling rides. and i helped him out with contacts and whatever he needed, and i did a first ride about four years ago and i fell in love with it, and what i loved about it is the comraderie, something that i missed when i was in the military, going overseas, and you get in here and everyone wants to help you out and everyone is really -- really doing everything they can to make everyone get through the ride. jenna: it must be fun to be out on the road with the guys. >> we have a great time. and it doesn't matter if it's
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really hot, or windy, or if it's really raining, it's one of those misery loves company. it's not always like that, you know, like today it's pretty good. but we're all doing it together, so i doesn't matter what the circumstances are. jenna: i understand that your wife has done a few rides with you. and i also understand that you did a little jog with president george w. bush as part of your recovery when you were getting into running again. i have a very important question for you. who is the better training partner, president bush or your wife? [laughter] >> well since my wife is probably listening to this. she is the commander in my household. she always wins. jon: well-spoken. [laughter] jon: well it's a great opportunity for you to support our viewers to support those veterans who are recuperating and also remembering the attacks of 9/11 and those who lost their lives. we have the route on our website foxnews.com/"happening now."
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we want you to get out there, check out the route. if you're in the pennsylvania area today, southern pennsylvania, check it out, take a picture, upload your image to us as this ride goes flying by. you can do a video as well. and upload it to us, foxnews.com/ureport. there is the route they are taking today. more specifics available on our website. we'd like to follow this ride as it goes on through for the next few days. i think they are doing six or seven days in all. we'll get some more pictures up. jenna: is mike still with us. >> yes. jenna: mike, do you see a lot of folks coming out cheering you guys on as you're riding by? >> yeah, it's really incredible. everyone is coming out of the houses, kids in school are coming out and waving and they have flags and it's really, really nice to see that. jenna: that is cool. we hope to continue to follow you guys along your route. we appreciate the time. i know you had to take a little bit of a lunch break. thanks for making time for us.
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>> no problem. jenna: we'll continue to follow your ride. thank you, mike we appreciate the time. jon: we have to bring your folks a lot of bad news on this program. it's great to bring you good stories like that. we hope you get out and support these guys. jenna: i don't think i could do that ride. jon: they are doing 700 miles. they are stopping at shanksville, pennsylvania. they started at liberty state park and ending up at the pentagon. jenna: another good story, maybe. the president of iran saying the remaining american hikers could be free from jail within days. there is a catch. we're going to talk more about that. also america is in the middle of a new gold rush, and california is missing out. we'll tell you why straight ahead. [ male announcer ] this is coach parker...
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shouldave happened long ago, but right now there's new hope that the long nightmare of gip prisonment for two american hikers might soon be over, iran's president telling nbc's "today show" shane bauer and josh fattal should be released soon, they've been locked up in his country for more than two years. amy kellogg is live in london with more. amy. >> reporter: hi jon. washington has no independent confirmation of any of this and president ahmadinejad said that the hikers should be released within a couple of days, in shalah, he added, god willing. it's far from a done deal but it does appear to be a very good sign. we spoke to their lawyer in tehran this morning, he said he's been informed by the
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courts that once $500,000 bail for each had been posted they would be released. it's not clear who would pony up this money for the release of josh fattal and shane bauer, if it would be the omanis who were instrumental in gaining the release of sha*eur gentleman shourd last uae. ahmadinejad said they had been in good condition like a hotel, but clearly tphoeuts hotel. shourd was released on humanitarian grounds, the other two were sentenced to eight months in prison last month for espionage. they're also accused of having crossed into iran illegalo illegally while hercing in iraqi-held kurdistan. one of the negotiates between -- negotiators said between the two sides at the sentencing last month that actually this sentencing clears the path for this chapter to be ended for the
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ultimate release of the hiker, and that's he said since things are out of the hands of the judiciary, which is viewed in iran as sort of holy and sacred and not touchable and it goes into the political arena, then march progress mattic decisions can be made, clearly iran, hoping to gain something for this if indeed it happens. again, no done deal, jon, but very good signs. jon onand it was an eight-year sentence they're facing, right? >> eight-year sentence, right, eight years. yes. jon: amy kellogg, thank you. jenna: for more on this, and amy touched on an important point at the end there, p.j. crowley joins us via skype and p.j., amy just said the sentencing was key to at least clearing the road to potentially seeing these two americans go free. do you agree with that? >> i absolutely agree with that. you have to understand the context two years ago. the hikers literally walked into a post-election crisis in iran, based on the stolen
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election that put ahmadinejad back in power in june 20 09 and in ensuing months and years, rising tensions between iran and the international community and renewed sanctions over iran's nuclear program. so i think it was understandable that iran would hold the hikers for some period of time, leveraged perhaps, as you mentioned, the prospect that perhaps, in all conversations that iran has had with either the united states or representatives of the united states, or people representing the united states, iran has raised the issue of iranians who are held in american custody. the two cases are never equivalent but nonetheless we always expected that at some point in time the cost of holding the hikers would exceed the benefit of keeping them. jenna: why do you think there's no more benefit to holding americans that obviously the world is paying attention to? >> well, this has been an issue that the united states and others have consistently
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raised with the iranians over a period of time. it has somewhat cost the iranians in terms of perceptions in the region. they're very attentive to that. so i think once the case ran through the judicial process, this is exactly right, that once the pragmatists had the opportunity to do something, just as ahmadinejad did a year ago with sarah shourd, this is potentially good news if, in fact, he's allowed to follow through. jenna: you just mentioned that, if he's allowed to follow through. we see mahmoud ahmadinejad as this face of government in iran but there are a lot of different dynamics to the politics within that country, including, obviously, the ruling of the ayatollah there. so can mahmoud ahmadinejad unilaterally say i'm going to free these kids without the approval of the ayatollah? >> you remember when sarah shourd was released
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ahmadinejad mentioned that and the judiciary said not so fast. eventually ahmadinejad's point of view held forward. in all things regarding the united states, ultimately the ayatollah holds this portfolio, so while ahmadinejad is saying he has the discretion to do this, i'm quite confident this is something that has been thoroughly debated within the upper echelons of the iranian regime. jenna: do you have hope? >> i expect that ahmadinejad having come out public --o remember this is on the eve of the united nations general assembly, ahmadinejad will be coming to new york and this will potentially be a political feather in his cap. jenna: we'll see. sarah shoud was released september 14th, last year, so we'll see if it's repeated this time around. p.j., nice to have you. >> all right jenna. jon: at a time of economic uncertainty, the price of gold is soaring. it is lead to go a new american gold rush, unlike the first one in 1849,
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though, california seems to be getting left behind this time. we'll tell you why. also, it's time to vote for our must-see moment of the day. rick is at the web wall with details. >> reporter: i've got a job for you at home, now is the time to go to the foxnews.com/happening now page, if you've ever seen a blue whale, could be your chance if you vote for that, or see a romantic proposal, a national guard soldier proposing to his girlfriend at an airport, or your final option, a crazy car chase in aus rail kwrarbgs involving a yellow porsche which could be reason enough to make this your selection. now is the time, go and vote, we'll have the results and the story when "happening now" comes right back. don't go away.
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megyn: hey everyone i'm megyn kelly, ron paul getting hammered last night on whether without the president's health care insurance law whether patients would be left to die. what's the truth here in
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dr. siegl weighs in. plus mitt romney suggesting president obama is in the tank for the unions, citing the administration's refusal to let boeing open an already-built plant in south carolina, which is a right to work state. fair charge? we'll debate. casey anthony's parents speak out to dr. phil. do they believe their daughter did, in fact, murder little caylee? we'll tell you. it's a surprising answer. dr. littman is here to analyze it. see you top of the hour. jon: well, drivers are still tkaoeging -- digging deep to fuel up, drivers are paying on average more than 3.64 a gallon for regular. that's down quite a bit from july 2008 when gas prices hit a record high of 4.11 per gallon. but gas could still be heading back up again soon. fox business network's dennis neal live along the new jersey turnpike with word about why. >> reporter: hello jon. a new figure came out this week saying that americans this year could end up spending almost half a trillion dollars on
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gasoline, $491 billion, to be exact, under this projection from that oil pricing information service. how big is that? well, at $400 billion, even, which is what we would be spending on gasoline by the second quarter, you're bigger than all the money we spend on clothing and shoes, $350 billion, bigger than the money we spend every year on prescription drugs and medical products. you know, we started the decade of 2000, in '03, average her gallon praoeurbgs 1.46. by this year, they think we will close out the year at an average of 3.56. so we're spending more on gas and we're continuing to buy a lot of it. why is that? well, it's a slow creep. in '08 when prices hit that high of four-point # one per gallon, it was sudden and we saw it. here it's been a slower creep, prices spiked up but didn't go as high but stayed high for a longer period of time. now, we can afford this, of course, and if you're spending money on gas at least somebody somewhere is making money, oil companies, gas station attendants.
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the problem is psychologically. first olele all, we're not spending it on gasoline, not con -- not on consumer product, the movies, the clothing we talked about. second, psychologically, when you go to the pump and see that higher price, it makes you feel bad and we need to feel better before the economy, jon, can get better. that's it from the new jersey turnpike and production values, you can't beat it. back to you. jon: if you live in the tri-state area, for the view theirs don't, new jersey is the place to buy gas because it's much cheaper there. dennis neal, thank you. jenna: hope he fill that is before he leaves and goes home for the day. the must-see moment with rick now and i think rick might be partial for a yellow pourst but -- porsche but i don't know. >> thanks to everybody that voted. if you're going to have a high speed chase with a police, you might as well get behind the wheel of a yellow porsche. these chases don't just happen in the states. take a look at the scene on the coast coast of australia where a stolen yellow
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porsche goes careening into the side of the highway and this keeps going, the guy kept on going even though he loses a wheel. eventually he does have to get out of this car and jump into yet another car, and it was after, oh -- oh, look at that -- after the second car got into it that actually came to a stop as well, police were able to trackle down but all of this captured by the news crew, helicopters flying over australia. again, we're not the only country where people get involved in messes like this. back over to you. jon: remember, they do drive on the wrong side of the road in australia. jenna: oh, that's the reason! i wonder what he threw out of that car. mystery. jon: saw the wheel go flying off. jenna: thank you for voting, appreciate it, glad you guys had the yellow porsche. jon: stunning new details about life inside the kennedy white house from the former first lady herself, newly released interviews, dating back to 1964, wait until you hear what she had to say about some of the most influential people of
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that time.
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jen right now the high price of gold spark ago brand new gold rush in california, the rising value convincing some companies to reopen their old gold mines. but a few things are standing in the way. adam housley is in on the action in southern creek, california. >> reporter: those things are actually environmental regulations, jenna, that have been keeping the gold mines closed in this country for a number of years, in fact, when suer gold opens up fully operational in the gold country it will be the first fully operational mine in this area to go fully operational since the 1950s. >> 500 feet below ground, the only action in california's motherload
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these -- mother lode these days is tourism. >> it's part of mining, -rts part of hiss stkpwhraoe what built the golden state 162 years ago has basically gone dor month until now, with gold prices sparking the rush to restart claims in places like suggester creek is on. >> all indicators are that the price is going to go up and that makes it viable not just for the first five years but the 50 years in our use ser mit. >> not everyone is rushing back to welcome back a romantic time past. >> what we've seen too often, a company is going to come in when the price of gold is high, start their process, boom, the price of gold is going to drop and these companies are going to be out, either bankrupt or walk away and who cleans up that mess? >> reporter: but my operators here say there won't be a mess to clean up. >> we're going to create an environmentally and socially responsible mine in an historic district at a profit and create a lot of jobs here. >> reporter: now, suer
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gold mines hopes to be fully operational in six months, they expect to forward that first gold bar in a year's tile and they say they can get maybe 1600-ounces out per month from this mine when it is fully operational. there is one other mine trying to on that up in grass valley, 60 miles or so to the north. other than that you're talking about only two mines in the area that really was the backbone in the building of california, about 160 some odd years ago. mine tours also do continue here in this area as well, and in a couple of different locations, jenna, all up and down the foothills, including an angels camps, so if you're a tourist you can see what the gold mines looked like back in the day. jenna: the 49ers to maybe the 2012ers, it has a different ring to it but we'll see if they can do it. adam, thank you very much! jon: i did a little gold panning in colorado. very relaxing. jenna: find anything? >> jon: no! never before heard jackie o. audiotapes, what she had to say about jfk, martin luther
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king, jr., and others.
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jen it is a stunning new glimpse inside america's cam lot, interviews with former first lady jacqueline ken derb the conversations recorded shortly after her husband's assassination and in the recordings, mrs. kennedy talks about the cuban missile crisis and says she told her husband she wanted to be with him, even if it was dangerous. she also speaks out about lbj and martin luther, king, jr., even criticizing king, in later years, she apparently changed her mind. the interviews are being published in a new book set for release tomorrow. it freezes a moment in our nation's history. jon: fascinating look back there. a new poll into the fox news room, it shows people are increasingly doubtful about the president's approach to the economy, in this poll, 21 percent say the president's polices are making things

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