than agreeable man. you know where you end up if you try to get along with everybody? president of the united states. [laughter] martha: the squeaky wheel syndrome. they make more money, the squeaky wheels. bill: they do. we are going to be on the radio in a couple of minutes with shaquille o'neal. martha: i pumped into shaquille o'neal on fox & friends. bill: did it hurt? martha: exactly. not as bad as brian bumped into him. he swatted him like a fly. see you on the radio and tomorrow. jon: the political earthquake is shaking after a political upset in one of the bluest district in the country. good morning, i'm jon scott. martha: hi shall everybody, i'm jenna lee. we're here in the fox newsroom. "happening now," anthony weiner's congressional seat up

for grabs after he resigned in the sexting scanned he will. voting for a republican since 1920. bill: bob turner is his name. he scores a stunning victory. the seat was held by some of the biggest names in the political community including charles schumer and the late geraldine ferraro. eric has the latest. >> reporter: it is seen as an astounding and stinging rejection of president obama and his policies. the improbable spector of a republican troupbsing his democratic opponent in one of the most heavily democratic congressional district in the nation. that's what happened last night when job turner a retired 70-year-old businessman did he even better than the pollsters had predicted. he focused his campaign directly on president obama, his economy and the president's policies regarding israel. he defeated democratic

assemblyman david weprin despite heavy union and democratic support. turner won by a margin of 54 to 46%. that's two points more than the polls had predicted. >> we have been told this is a referendum, and we are ready to say, mr. president, we are on the wrong track. [cheering] >> we have had it with an irresponsible fiscal policy which endangers the entire economy and every one of our social safety networks. >> reporter: turner says this is just the start of the rejection of president obama that he says will spread across the country last year. democrats are down-playing that possibility. they say special elections like this one are unique and not reflective of what will happen in 2012. after refusing to concede last night assemblyman weprin did just that this morning

acknowledging the inevitable. he said in statement, quote, i just called bob turner to congratulate him on a well fought campaign. i'm incredibly proud of the campaign reran. we raised issues like medicare, taxes and relief for working families, issues that will be of critical importance for the next generation. jon: we are asking what kind of impact does turner's win in new york have on the national scene. what does it moon for press as he traoeuz to win re-election in 2012. joining is now david drucker, a staff writer at roll call. is this a referendum on president obama and his policies, david. >> reporter: it looks like it could be. in 2008 we saw three democrats win seats in louisiana, an

illinois seat and a conservative mississippi seat and i think this is very similar, possibly to what happened to the republicans in separate when you look at how strongly democratic this seat is. jon: some democrats say look it's a special election, turn out is low, you know, the folks who normally would get out there and vote just weren't there today, not a big deal. >> reporter: well, they are right to some degree. i don't know that bob turner can survive the 2012 election if his seat remains as it is and it probably won't through the redistricting process. when you look at the dissatisfaction withhe president according to the polls and you look at the fact that so many strong democrats voted against mr. weprin and for a republican like bob turner who didn't soft pedal his conservatism, i think it says something. clearly were local issues at play. mr. weprin serves serves in albany, and nobody likes

albany. when you look i don't think you can dismiss the fact that it could mean a lot about what is to come even though so much time is left between now and the elections everything could change and this could clearly than an after thought by the time people go to the polls last year. jon: we are looking at live pictures right now of the president in raleigh, tkaur ham, north carolina, air force one has just touched down there. he will be making a peach in a little less than two hours from now trying to tout his jobs plan. what are you hearing, david, about the whispers that are being said in washington to the president's people about the message that this sends? >> reporter: this is never good, because this helps republican fundraising, it helps enthusiasm and it scarce democrats. i think the message to the president is he needs to focus on jobs and the economy which he has been doing in september and he's got to see if he can turn this thing around. there is a lot of time. he's going to end up with a republican opponent who by the way will come to define the republican party in the

elections much more than house speaker john boehner and the republican-controlled house of representatives. i don't think we can draw final conclusions, but we've seen this play before, and when voters are unhappy with an administration, whether they are unhappy with their own party they are willing to cross the aisle to send a message, they are thinking, it can't get any worse and i'm really upset. jon: david drucker is our guest, role call, david, thank you. bob turner will be a guest today coming up on "america live" with megyn kelly just off our broadcast. another winning a congressional seat in a special election. mark almadae of nevada will be aeu phaoerg on "america live." tune in starting at 1:00pm eastern. we know you'll stay with us until then. jenna: has weiree talking about 2012 we have to talk a little bit about the battle that is heating up over fund between republican presidential

frontrunners mitt romney and rick perry. the two candidates as i'm sure you can imagine are working hard to raise money and grab high profile endorsements. james rosen as more from washington. >> reporter: governor perry as we have seen has participated in two debates so far and received mixed reviews. his performance in the invisible contest of big and small donor fundraising remains unknown but not for long. at the outset of the nominating process mitt romney the former massachusetts governor enjoyed both frontrunner status which he has since lost and the presumption of a decisive edge in fundraising and spending ability. he had been running for if the for six years after all and had $12 million in fund banked at the beginning of summer. perry's fundraising abilities in texas is legend second only to the bushes. $160million in two years. rom niece net worth is estimated at or above 200 million.

perry has personal assets between 1 to 3 million. the figures that take us through the second quarter ending june 30th say romney was way out in front reporting 18 million in funds raised. ron paul placed second with 4.5 million tkhra*rz. jon huntsman and congresswoman michelle bachmann were not far behind. the asterisk is behind huntsman's name because he declared late in the game. that question mark appears besides perry because he declared late. he'll have to report his funds tomorrow. he's required to file his first financial disclosure form with the commission. we'll see what his actual net worth is. he can request two, 45 day extensions. the romney operation in target

rich orange county, california has suffered to defections to the perry campaign. perry is expected to raise 25 million from the core of his texas followers. jenna: thank you very much. jon: it is a story that keeps getting bigger and we are keeping a close eye on it. solyndra, the solar panel company that got more than $500 million in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees only to go bankrupt two years later. it closes its doors. it has now become the focus of an f.b.i. investigation and lawmakers are looking nor answers. a hearing underway right now on capitol hill as new emails surfaced, raising questions into whether red flags were ignored. rich edson of the fox business network live for us now on capitol hill. what do the e-mails say, rich. >> reporter: republicans and democrats trying to fight this one over to see exactly what the ails mean.

republicans charges that these emails demonstrate the fact that the house had knowledge that maybe there were problems fiscally with this company and they pushed it any way because they wanted to get a press event out. they wanted to get the loan out to get pr out of it. we obtained an email from an office and budget staff member. he says this deal is not ready for prime-time. officials still had steps to take to get it approved by march 19th 2009. the approval came about a half year later. in august 200 the a senior staff member said as long as we make it crystal clear to the department of energy that this is only in the interest of time and that there is no precedent set then i'm okay with it. we also need to make sure they don't jam us on later deals so there isn't time to negotiate that too. so they are saying that the republican -- the republicans are saying that the bottom straeugs didn't exactly do their homework on this one, jon. jon: what is the administration saying in response. >> reporter: the office of management and budget from the

obama administration does have folk testifying at this hearing and they are basically saying there was no pressure, there was no time pressure and they did do their homework, take a listen. >> the transaction went through three years of rigorous internal annex terrible due dill lens including reviews by a leading, independent engineering firm. the department's own solar experts and a blue chip law firm all before any taxpayer funds were put at risk. >> reporter: this isn't over after today, jon. the executives from solyndra were thought to be testifying today, they won't. a senior staffer tells us on the committee they expect to hear from them late last week, back to you. jon: there are lots of other shoes to drop. rich edson, thank you. jenna: iranian president said he'd hoped they'd be comin coming home in a new days. the story of two jailed hikers in iran takes another turn. stay with us for why freedom may not be quite as close as we once

thought h. jon: and a young man thrown from his motorcycle, sent underneath this car, we showed you this incredible video yesterday. we hear now from one of the people who helped save him. jenna: a violent end to a 20-hour insurgent assault on cab bull. the race is onto secure the afghan capitol. we have a live report are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. as with all medicare supplement plans, and help pay for what medicare doesn't. call this toll-free number now... jon: a major development in an effort to bring home the two hikers locked up in iran. we are learning the persian gulf state of oman is sending a plane to iran as part of an effort to negotiate their release. yesterday we heard ahmadinejad saying they could be released in days. they say bail offer set for $500,000 a piece is still under review. shane bauer and josh fattal have

been locked up since their arrest in 2009 under questionable circumstances. last year they were convicted on spy charges and sentenced to eight years in prison. they say the delay or decision to delay their release might be a personal swipe against mahmoud ahmadinejad. he's locked in a bitter power struggle with iran's ruling clerics. jenna: and end to an outbreak of violence on the streets of afghanistan. this was the scene at the capitol today, a 20 hour assault on the heavily guarded city finally ending. and it ended with 27 dead, including police, civilians and attackers. dominique d-natali is streaming live from kabul with more. dominic. >> reporter: very gruesome scenes in the aftermath. the press were taken down there first thing this morning by the afghan police and shown the scene. they dragged out six dead bodies of the militants that the afghan

forces had killed in the 20 hour long siege. they had bullet wounds but mostly died from head shots. across walls in the building where they had actually been pinned down there was flesh, there was brain matter splattered across the walls, a very intense fight had taken place. this was by far one of the fiercist attacks we've seen since the u.s. ep embassy who received 7 individual rocket propelled grenades hitting it. they say it wasn't any big deal, but people inside the embassy were terrified and hunkered down for hours yesterday. he tried to say it was mere harassment by the taliban. but things are beginning to emerge that it may be al-qaida. they think it has ties to the haqqani network which is tied to

the taliban and al-qaida. they say they have phone records taken from the mobile phones of the militants who were killed and it's all leading back to problems with pakistan. looks like they'll have a lot more to answer for because they have been struggling to help the united states on cracking down on the military problem over there which has been creating more problems for nato forces over here. back to you. jenna: we'll continue to watch that thank you. jon: fresh violence in the middle east as the palestinians push for statehood on an agenda of a u.n. meeting set for next week. what secretary clinton is doing to get the peace talks between israel and the palestinians up and running. aaron miller joins us to tell us how it could play out. a desperate effort to save a man's life. the video is unreal. we'll hear from one ever the rescuers about how the managed to save a guy trapped underneath this burning car. >> i think i'm going to back

up. the motorcycle is spitting out fire, and i don't know if it's going to explode or not. are you still there? >> it looks like someone may be under the vehicle. the car is burning. [ male announcer ] you love the taste of 2% milk.

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jon: getting new information about that incredible rescue we showed you yesterday and we had to share this with you. good samaritans risked their own lives running to a burning car, pulling a motorcyclist out from underneath the smoldering vehicle. rick has the latest for us, rick. >> reporter: jon you've seen the amazing heroism. now heretofore 911 calls, these are the calls that came into police after the accident that left a man pinned underneath a car, his motorcycle burning out of control and threatening a much larger explosion.

the bystanders as you said risking theufr ow tear own safety, raising the car, pulling the guy to safety. listen. >> 911 what is your emergency. >> i'm right next to utah state university. you've probably got several phone calls there is an accident between a four-door sedan and a motorcycle. >> is anybody hurt? >> yeah, i can't see on the other side, i think the motorcycle driver is down. >> it's a motorcyclist. >> yes. the motorcycle is on fire. i think -- i'm going to back up. the motorcycle is spitting out fire and i don't know if it's going to explode or not. are you still there? >> it looks like someone may be even under the vehicle. the car is burning. >> the motorcycle is on fire, the car is starting on fire right now. i think it's going to go right now. >> the bikers name is brandon wright.

he is still in the hospital. he's in critical condition. his uncle says this he's very grateful to the strangers who saved his life. here is one of those rescuers. >> i thought he wasn't breathing, when i pull it he started to breathe. i was afraid, it was kind of very close the kind of fire, a very tall fire. i don't think so i'm hero, i just was in the right moment to help him. >> reporter: the police think that all of those folks are heros, they are asking all of the good samaritans to come forward so they can be properly thanked for what they did. back to you. jon: it really was amazing video. and all of the folks deserve a thanks from all of us. jenna:ess ka hraeugt tensions between israel and its neighbors

ahead of the u.n. general assembly next week where palestinians will seek statehood recognition from the u.n. secretary of state hillary clinton sending two heavy hitters to the region in a last-ditch efforts to get this done. joining us is aaron miller. author of the not too promised land. it's appropriate that we talk to you now. we mentioned the u.n. meeting. why is the timing of this and the travel of this envoy, why is this important? >> i think the administration is vulnerable and exposed because they haven't done enough to avert this. saudis are upset. europeans are upset. i think just about everybody is upset. the prident doesn't want to veto this. wants to avoid a crisis, wants to avoid further diminishment of american kred peult in the arab and muslim world.

unless he can produce something significant for the palestinians he will and likely should veto any palestinian effort to become a u.n. member state. it is simply not appropriate, and it's going to undermine any chances, by the way, which are pretty bleak, in negotiating a two state solution. jenna: you said the president did not -- is trying to avoid a crisis. do you think we are on the verge of a try sis in the middle east with israel, and the palestinians and the rest of the countries that are upset potentially about us vetoing the palestinians becoming a recognized state? >> six months ago i would satisfactory said to you, jenna, this is basically business aurbs. the u.s. has to stand up for its principles. if they don't like it that's essentially too bad. in the wake of the last six months our predictive powers on violence, escalation, turmoil have been pretty poor. look what we've seen since

january. egypt, tunisia, we're on the verge of civil war in syria. crackdown in bahrain. one thing i can assure you it's likely not going to have a happy ending. jenna: the states as you mention and as we look at video from cry row, egypt, and correct me if i'm wrong in the control room, is this the attack on the embassy in cairo,egypt? it is. that was a big attack over the weekend that we saw egyptians attack the israeli embassy. it kind of speaks to some of the violence we're seeing in the region and how israel itself is coming under some scrutiny. you mentioned the prince in saudi arabia. he wrote a new york times article, he's and ambassador from saudi arabia. although his title is a prince. he says if we veto the palestinian's attempt to be recognized as a state by the

u.n. next week that will forever change our relationship with saudi arabia, and then there is no way to contain iran. he says there is a much bigger picture here and the united states needs to approve this otherwise we'll lose any leverage we have in the region that we have right now. what is your response to that? >> well, i mean i think the saudis have never been happy with our close relationship with the israelis. they are not happy with what they consider to be the stumbles and bumbles on the state israeli peace process. even though the arc has headed southward over the last six months. i think the reality is this. what happens in new york is much less important than what is going to happen the day before. the fact is there is no conflict ending agreement between the israelis and palestinians right now. the gaps are simply too large to bridge between the pakistani

president and benjamin netanyahu. this is the strategic problem that the united states faces on this particular issue. trying to dance around that in the next year when the president is devoting much of his attention and he should appropriately to fixing what is clear to everyone is a broken economy, trying to pave the way for his own re-election, that is going to be the key. and it seems to me this president is going to be very risk averse on foreign policy particularly if it provides his republican opponents an issue to hammer him or it lead to further stumble bumbles for failures. i think we are in for a tough year on this issue. jenna: there are big domestic issues as well as some of our allies in the middle east like israel. always appreciate your insights, thank you. >> pleasure, jenna. jon: a new airport screening policy and it concerns the controversial pat-downs. what this rule change means to

you if you want to take a flight. we're live with that. and you might be on the alert for any sort of terrorist threat when you're flying, but what about when you're eating? the dangers to our flood supply and why many observers say it is vulnerable to a terror attack. a shocking report to bring you next. also fox news is your election headquarters along with google we are hosting that gop debate on september 22nd, but we are not coming up with all of the questions, you are. make a video with your question for candidates or you can do it the old fashioned way, write it down. send it to us by going to foxnews.com or you you can click on the link right on the google home page. get those questions in.

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jon: i'm here in our acquisitions rm at fox where we bring in hundreds of satellite feeds from all over the world, all over the country. have you heard of the american jobs act on remote 62 now, president obama unveiled it under that joint session of congress, now he wants to make sure you hear it. he'll be talking about it in raleigh-durham, north carolina. we'll have that in an hour and 15 minutes. there is tropical storm maria swirling in the carribean, expected to cut between bermuda and the united states, and that could make for some nasty ripcurrents along the eastern seaboard. up here on remote 218, the dow is positive, slightly.

about 14 points right now. not much. but what what's been going on lately, we'll take it. we'll have all of those stories for you on "happening now". skpwr*epb jen also -- jenna: also this story as well, a airport security policy, the homeland security department saying it's changing the screening policy for children under the age of 12, this after several travelers and privacy advocates complained that children are subject to inappropriate patdowns by airport security. peter doocy is live from washington with more on this. peter, what exactly is going to be new for kids at the airport? >> reporter: jenna, the most noticeable change for the 12 and under set is they can keep their shoes on at check points. beyond that, any time they set off an alarm they won't necessarily be subject to those patdowns that a lot of people think are inappropriate for people of any age, so if there's a question about contraband on a kid, said kid will be moved through a metal detector and imaging machine

a few more tiles and might even get an extra swab for traces of explosives until agents have a clear answer answer about what's setting off the alarm. the ta has tested these procedures in boston, atlanta, houston, denver, and they say, quote, results of the pilots have been favorable and have reduced though have not eliminated patdowns of children that would otherwise have been conducted to resolve alarm, while also assuring effective security measures. when is -- this is moving away from the one size fits all approach and a risk-based strategy. skwr*pb skwr pb it sounds silly to say this, peter, that we know bad people do bad things, so the question has to be raised, is there any concern that terrorists could manipulate these changes to carry out an attack? >> dhs thinks to like -- likes to think they're one step ahead and because kids have been discussed by terrorists as vehicles for attacks in plots before,

homeland security secretary janet napolitano says we're still going to keep the bad guys guessing. >> there will always be some unpredictability built into the system and there will always been random check, even for groups that we are -- that we are looking at differently, such as children under the age of 12, but i think the traveling public will begin to see some of these changes really in the coming months. >> reporter: the tsa also says these new programs will strengthen and streamline the security screening process for everyone. jenna. jenna: we'll see. we're right on that verge of that holiday travel season, so certainly, plenty of material to test out. peter, thank you very much, peter doocy in d.c. jon: could terrorists tamper with this nation's food supply? it is one of the biggest perceived threats to national security in the days since the september 11 attack. the feds have spent billions of dollars trying to protect our country's crops and livestock, but at hearing yesterday, lawmakers were

told our food supply might still be vulnerable to attack. john hoffman, a former senior adviser at the department of homeland security, saying, quote, we may be blindsided by an intentional food-based attack on this nation some time soon. the unfortunate truth is that we as a nation lack effective surveillance. at present, our primary detection capability is the emergency room. joining us now, dr. david atchison, former fba assistant commissioner and food safety consultant. it seems a little far fetched, attacking the food supply. what kinds of scenarios are we talking about? and i know that you're not giving us things that terrorists haven't already thought about. >> right. you know, i think one of the things to realize here is that terrorists have thought about attacking our food supply. thankfully so far, they haven't done it. but it raises the question of a vulnerability, and one could think about this in two ways, the first being some substantial attack

focused on a vulnerable food, and there's a lot that the government has done to safeguard those risks, to reduce those risks significantly. the other part to this is a random attack that could be done by a terrorist or small group of dysfunctional individuals who simply target a store or retail outlet. that's almost impossible to prevent. so a lot has been done but you're never going to remove all vulnerability. jon: the government has said it's spent billions of dollars trying to remove those vulnerabilities, but the success rate or effectiveness of those billions of dollars is certainly coming under question. >> well, that's exactly right, and i think that post 9/11, there was a lot of focus on deliberate attack of the food supply by the federal government, particularly food and drug administration and the department of agriculture and homeland security. jon: well, and there's been -- the complaint that there's been a lot of infighting between fda and the usdaver all this. >> you know, i think that's an accurate statement.

i think the challenge was there was no clear leadership between those three agencies. what's changed in literally this year is that the food and drug administration has now been given the mandate, the authority from congress, to require food companies to put in place food defense plans, food defense being safeguards against terrorism. so there has been a shift just this year, which i think will make a difference. jon: i guess it's so hard to imagine, you know, that somebody's family farm or dairy or orchard or something like that becomes the center point of some kind of toxin or other -- well, toxin in our food supply. >> yes. no, it is. i mean, you think that that's not going to happen. if you start to think like a terrorist, you realize that there are ways in which that could happen, and to your earlier point, we don't particularly want to draw out a road map so that we're encouraging people to do

this. but there's a lot that's been done by the private sector, by industry, and by the government to cover up those loose ends, to deal with the major vulnerabilities. from a consumer perspective, obviously, the little that can be done, other than just raising awareness, it's the same message when you're at an airport, if you see something suspicious going on in a supermarket, what i would call reverse shoplifting, where somebody is actually appearing to put product on a shelf where they shouldn't be, that to me would just raise a question, go and talk to somebody in the store and say i've just seen inappropriate behavior. jon: dr. david atchison is a food safety consultant. thank you. >> pleasure, thank you. jenna: to the deadly wildfires in central texas, destroying more than 1000 homes there, and this is a new grass fire near george bush park in west houston. fire crews had already put out an earlier fire in a different part of the park and this fire erupted. we'll keep you up to date on that. a view from the sky over

walker county, texas, another new fire just broke out. as of now it doesn't appear to be threatening nearby homes but we'll keep you updated. as we continue to look at texas, north texas breaking a record, but not necessarily a good one. folks in the dallas area, seeing the 70th consecutive day. think about that. of temperatures topping 100 degrees. the previous record was 69 days, set back in 1980. but again, record breaking years, here we come. j.d., we've been asking the question over and over again, i'm peering over your shoulder. maybe a break? maybe? >> reporter: yes, jenna, good news from the weather department! amazingly for dallas, texas, as you mentioned, 70 days of 100-degree-plus heat for the year already, and it looks like we're going to see the 80s, downright frigid for dallas, thursday and friday, into the 90s for saturday and sunday. but i'm sure that they will take it. unfortunately, the bad news story is that we are still

dealing with incredible, exceptional drought over much the state of texas, their worst drought on record and unfortunately we're not going to get much rain in the area, we are seeing the potential for showers and thunderstorms across the midwest. but i just want to show where you we're going to get freezing, below freezing temperatures tonight across the upper midwest, jenna, an early season freeze, a hard freeze for a lot of folks. look at these lows overnight! twenty-four, international falls, not even fall yet on the calendar. back to you. jenna: are you serious? freezing? >> you got it. get the winter coats out. it's whacky in the weather center. jenna: it certainly is. at least 87 in northern texas will seem like a vacation compared to what they've had. >> it's extreme weather center, my dear! >> jenna: there you go, just as the name says it! thank you very much. jon: a two blanket night for sure. >> an eight-year-old

autistic boy missing since monday is now home safe, we are happy to say. where he turned up and why his parents say he might have run away in the first place. also, asf we don't have enough to worry about, an out of control satellite, dying in the sky. this thing is about the size of a school bus. and what goes up must come down. it's falling back to earth. right now, nobody knows exactly when it will hit, or where.

jon: too many times we have to bring you stories about missing children and all too often those stories don't end well but this time it's different. this eight-year-old autistic boy we told you about yesterday, he is back safe with his family today. he had been missing nearly two days in some pretty nasty weather in the mountains. rick has details for us. >> reporter: i love it

when we get to report news and this is great. eight-year-old joshua rob, found safe and sound in the rugged forest of the san bernadino mountains in california, joshua, who has severe autism had run away from his school playground monday morning, he survived more than a day and a half before being found. >> you could tell he was really tired, he was exhausted, came up, louise and i were both there and were just hugging on him and he just wanted to be close to you, and you could tell he was comfortable. he said thank you. >> reporter: joshua's parents recently lost custody of their son after someone saw them tether him to a pole. they say that his autism leads him to run away at times, and that occasionally, they have to do that. the family home is also in foreclosure, so they have a lot going on. but at least their son is safe. >> for a little boy with autism, it was -- i'm sure extremely hard for him, and if he said thank you, you saved me, i'm almost sure you got the right boy.

that's great. >> reporter: he's got good manners, the robs' next custody hearing is tomorrow. they say that joshua may have run away, jon, because he could have been looking for them. so we'll see how that works out. we'll keep you posted. >> great news on that one. rick folbaum, thanks. jenna: a big medical story we wanted to share with you, a possible new breakthrough in the fight against alzheimer's, to potentially treat the disease and maybe even reverse it in some patients. so we have important health news right after a quick break. plus check out these guys. where authorities found thousands of rare animals. it's a huge bust, and we have all the details, next.

jon: what could be a breaknew in the fight against alzheimer's, doctors

say they have seen signs that inhaling small doses of insulin may help to prevent and in some cases reverse memory loss in people with early signs of alzheimer's. this treatment, however, is still in its early stages. this is the result of a very small study and doctors warn against several drawbacks and possible side effects. with more now, dr. stephen garner with new york methodist hospital. this all started i guess because scientists were see something signs that alzheimer's is related to a lack of insulin in the brain? >> lack of insulin and grew coes that sugar gives to the rest of the body so it's similar to diabetes, it's like diabetes of the brain and they notice the abnormal parts of the brain in alzheimer's were related to decreased use of the glucose, so actually, you're demonstrating it's a cause and effect, you have decreased glucose use and the abnormal connections form. jon: i think everybody knows somebody who's an alzheimer's patients. it has affected some of my

relatives and it is such a cruel disease. if there is this kind of treatment available, and you say that it has actually shown signs reversing. >> reversing, yes. jon: how does it work? >> what happens is it gets into the brain, you put it very deep into the nostril,ba you don't want glucose -- inlin into the blood stream because you'll get hyper glycemic, it goes to the brain, increases blood flow, increase of the suing -- sugar or glucose and makes these abnormal proteins go away. jon: but you say this was a very small study, they're not absolutely certain this works yet? >> it was 104 people, very promising, 80 percent improvement in the early alzheimer's group, but we've seen studies like this that mean nothing. but i think it's important to look out for trials because now they're going to expand the studies. jon: and alzheimer's patients may be able to get into some of these trials? >> this is good for alzheimer's patients, the younger the better.

you don't want people at home squirting insulin into their no, sir riles, they see this and they think it might work. jon: it's got to go straight to the brain. >> and it's got to northbound gas form, but it's something that's remarkable because we didn't think there was any way to treat alzheimer's or reverse it. improve the use of insulin by exercising, losing weight and there are pills that make the insulin more sensitive, so the meantime until they get into the study, i would suggest that people ask their doctors about that. jon: good tips. we'll get more information on our show page, fox news dole comb/happening now, dr. stephen garner, thank you. jenna: we have new video topping our international deck, nearly 3000 rare animals rescued from being smuggled in thailand, custom officials stopping a truck they saw and it was packed with 2700 monitor lizards and hundreds of turtle, among other species. all the animals are protected by a convention on international trade and endangered species.

it of the biggest wildlife tracking bust reported in the country this year. in the meantime this, video also out of thailand, veterinarians treating an elephant wounded after wandering into a neighboring market. this is what he did, he steps on a land mine. the 22-year-old elephant's left foot was severely injured. doctors expect him to make a full recovery, though. they say it could make 8-12 months before he goes home but at least he's getting taken care of. jon: that's so sad. brand new information coming in on a school yard smackdown, a mother apparently egged on her daughter. why she told her 12-year-old to go fight, and mom even got in on the action. we're live with that story. and one of nascar's biggest stars, jeff gordon, is going to be with us. we will talk to him about the chase for the cup. he'll also be taking your questions. what do you want to hear from jeff gordon? get those questions to us on our live k459 -- chat, log

on to foxnews.com/happening now, click on the america's asking tab, join the chat.

>> reporter: fox news alert, hi everybody, i'm rick folbaum at the fox news assignment desk. this is where the news comes n. we filter it and bring it to you. a couple of stories we're following, raleigh-durham, north carolina, the president getting ready to try sell his jobs act. we'll have the president later on. this is a live shot of los angeles, california. there was a suspicious package found earlier today at the federal building in downtown l.a., they have now been given the all-clear. we'll get more information on that and bring it to you. take look, also los angeles at screen three outside the nok ca thaoert. ever wonder what the red carpet looks like when it's still rolled up? there it is, they're getting it set for this sunday's big emmy telecast.

thought we'd show that to you. some of the stories we're following. the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. jenna: we start the new hour with new details on the role of the white house pushing a bad bet which costs taxpayers more than a half billion dollars, that's what one side says. hi everybody, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. some internal e-mails suggest the white house applied pressure to rush through loan guarantees for a solar energy company that later went bankrupt. molly henneberg, live in washington for us. a flurry of e-mails, molly, right before the loans were akrofd. -- approved. what are they saying? >> reporter: they suggest the white house was anxious to have the vice president announce the $535 million in stimulus loan guarantees so solyndra, when mr. biden was out in california on september 4th, 2009. the office of management and budget, omb, had not signed off on the deal yet which prompted a white house staffer to e-mail the omb, asking if, quote, this is on

august 31st, 2009, asking, quote, there is anything we can do to help speed along on the omb side. the department of energy and omb were communicating about that and this is how the omb responded saying, quote, i would prefer this announcement be postponed, talking about biden's announce minute about the loan guarantees. this is the first loan guarantee and we should have full review with all hands on deck to make sure we get it right. the omb eventually did sign off on the deal and solyndra got the stimulus money and two years later, we saw they went bankrupt. jon. jon: i know this deal is under the microscope now, a hearing underway today about solyndra. republicans in the house say the whole deal was based on politics and not really on the company's fiscal viability. right? >> reporter: yes. but republicans contend that the obama white house wanted to promote solyndra's green energy business and push through a bad deal for taxpayers. here's more:

>> the documents demonstrate that when doe was reviewing the solyndra guarantee in 2009, it was well aware of the financial problems the deal posed. what the documents also show is that the rush to push out stimulus dollars may have impacted the depth and quality of doe and omb's review. >> reporter: but the obama administration officials push back that it of the bush white house that was first to consider loaning money to solyndra and that the review process was not rushed, they say. take a listen: >> i was not at the department at that time. it is my understanding that the transaction went through nearly three years of rigorous internal and external due diligence, including reviews by a leading independent engineering firm, the department's own solar expert, and a blue chip law firm, all before any taxpayer funds were put at risk. >> reporter: solyndra executives were supposed to be at the hearing today but they have asked for an extra week to prepare. jon: molly henneberg in

washington for us, thanks molly. right now, some mixed messages from iran on the fate of those two american hikers, held captives iide that country. today, iran's judiciary refuted reports the freedom of joshua fattal and shane bauer is eminent, the judiciary said the final decision will not come from president mahmoud ahmadinejad. yesterday in an interview ahmadinejad said the pair would soon be released. last month iran sentenced both men to eight years in prison on charges of espionage and illegal entry into the country's territory. bauer's fiance and traveling companion, sarah shourd, was released one year ago today. she's been working for her fiance and her friend's release ever since. jenna: it's the time of government oversight millions of americans really

don't think about every day, unless, of course, you live and you work on a form. -- farm. and right now some farmers say uncertainty over federal regulations is bad for their business. of course not everyone is convinced, especially environmentalists, who say the opposite. shan i don't know bream is live with more. >> reporter: farmers are increasingly going public with their complaints about the epa, saying some of the agency's regulations are unnecessarily oppressive, while others they say seem downright silly. for example, one hog farmer in indiana says she spends 10-15 hours a week specifically complying just with regulations, including keeping records of every load of manure that she carries out of her barn and because she happens to own 10,000 hogs, she says that's a whole lot of record keeping. north virginia grain farmer calvin hale who raises soybeans says worry about epa regulations actually keeps him up at night. >> i would say any regulation from the epa is worrisome to us.

they have a lot of power and nobody seems to have a hold on what they can do. >> reporter: but the epa says it plays a vital safety role and that there are many myths and rumors floating around about what the agency does and doesn't do and also about future regulations that could be coming down the pipe. for example, the agency says reports about plans to regulate dust on farms are false, and tells fox news, quote, epa has profound respect for the contribution that farmers make to our economy by producing food, fiber and fuel for our world, they are in close contact with farmers and ranchers and have made them a part of the work we do. farmers say they have spent plenty of time and money looking for ways to make their farms operate firstly and safely and piling additional regulations simply makes it too expensive to turn any kind of profit and to stay in business. jenna: and staying in business these days is tough enough. we'll continue to follow this series, shannon, thank you very much.

jon: storm ravaged school districts in places like tuscaloosa, alabama, just getting back on their feet after a brutal spring tornado season. now they're accusing fema of letting burattic -- bureaucratic put students at risk. john roberts is live with that. >> reporter: this is one of those crazy stories about bureaucratic regulatory red tape that leave so many scratching their heads. we all remember the tornado an april 27th, big tornadoes, up to f5s that tore through mississippi, alabama, georgia and other states. among the casualties were a lot of schools, those schools either destroyed or damaged to the point where they can no longer hold students so the students are in portable classroom, portable classrooms with another tornado season a month and a half away not a good thing, so fema offered to put up storm shelter, hardened tornado shelters around the schools while they're being rebuilt but here's the catch, those tornado shelters are considered temporary under

fema regularlitions -- regulations and when the schools are rebuilt, the storm shelters have to go away. the schools can buy them, but there's no money to do that, the communities can buy them but they're poor and don't have the money, and the thir option, fema, in addition to build the money to build -- building the shares will give them the money to tear them down. here's the superintendent to cadd county schools. >> i fully expected fema to help us build one but i was shocked when i was told that they would actually help us demolish it and haul the debris away. i was totally shocked. i never heard of anything like that. >> reporter: he was shocked, it's an understatement. we got pictures of one of the storm shelters, the one for dekalb county, they are hardened pieces of concrete, they will withstand the force of 125-mile an hour winds. to demolish it would cost #

hundred thousand dollars more. ryan hollingsworth, the school superintendent of marion county says the whole thing doesn't make any sense >> you think at some point, some folks would sit down and take some common sense to this and say look, we've got a shelter that will hold 600 people, it's just been hit with an f5 tornado in april, why would we tear that down? that's nonsense. >> reporter: you know, 18 people were killed in marion county as well, so just to reiterate, figure it out, fema will spend $375,000 on constructing these shelter, schools in the state emergency management will pick up the rest, then if the school can't buy t. fema, rather than giving them the shelter, will say use another -- here's another $100,000 to tear it down. congressman spencer baucus thinks that is short sighted and indefensible, in this letter to the president, saying he will introduce legislation to turn things around if the white house and fema don't, and we got a response from fema, jon t. says we continue to evaluate all the options available to

fema and school district to ensure each community is provided every resource that they are eligible under the law while remaining proper stewards of the taxpayer dollar. that statement from some president -- for some of the superintendents say laughable, with this policy, gleam is being anything but a good steward of taxpayer money. jon: you build it and you tear it down. that's the issue that's under the microscope, huh? >> one school superintendent says it's like the navy building a new ship, taking it out to sea and sinking it in the middle of the atlantic ocean. makes no sense, jon. jon: a very good analogy. john roberts, thank you. jenna: the hu is jobs now and in 2012, that also is going to be the issue. the president has he has a plan but a lot of the gop say they don't like the way the president plans to pay for it. can they find middle ground. one of the top republicans in the senate weighs n. senator orrin hatch is coming up. there's an unusual cheerleader behind this school yard fight, a mother,

arrested after encouraging her daughter to, well, brawl. does the punishment fit the crime? you report -- we report, you decide. >> jeff gordon our special guest today. what would you like to ask him? send us your questions, fox news.com/happening now, and we'll ask jeff around 12:45 eastern time. we'll be right back.

jon: right now, dangerous fires erupting all around the country. in chicago, a transformer, exploding into flames on the southwest side of the city. firefighters are on the scene there. no reports of any injuries. in texas, the singlemost destructive fire in that state's history is still burning. the parks department now saying nearly all of bastrop state park has been scorched. in minnesota, the governor dispatching the state's national guard, sending in black hawk helicopters to help battle a fire that's grown to more than 100,000-acres.

dozens of homes evacuated in the northeastern part of the state. the red cross is there on the scene. jenna: we have new information on a shocking school yard fight, captured all on video with the very surprising twist. rick, you've been watching and following this story at the breaking news desk. what do we know? >> reporter: it's hard to believe a mother would do something like this but it's caught on video so judge for yourself, davny mellon accused of incyte ago brawl between her 12-year-old daughter and another child and at several points in the video you can even hear an adult voice off camera, reportedly mellon, getting in on the act, coaching her daughter to punch and kick the other daughter in the face, taking a punch herself at a youngster who tried to step in and stop the fighting. the video begins with a different young woman playing the role of ring announcer, calling out the two girls' nails and saying let's get ready to rumble, ala, michael buffer, and now

dav knee mellon is speaking out, saying she actually encouraged her daughter to fight back after a long history of being bullied at school, but the police have arrested mellon and charged her with attempted assault and child endangerment. back to you. jenna: all right rick, thank you. jon: jen kwrarbgs here's a trivia question for you. what weighs more than 6 tons, 35 feet long, 15 feet wide, and it's hurt ling toward earth? jenna: nothing good. jon: we'll see what nasa has to say about this thing because what goes up, must come down. and we showed you this video earlier this the week. police think they have cracked the caper of the crook! who is behind the gumby mask? that's next.

jenna: it's an update to a crime story we first told you about haas week, a robbery attempt so outlandish the intended target thought it was fake and the rest of us did as well, a person dressed up as gumby trying to rob a 711 in san diego, california. rick has an update in only the way that rick can! >> reporter: we have been following this story so closely, jenna, and we have a word of advice to all teenagers out there, don't dress up like gumby and pretend to rob a 711, nothing good can come of it. you got to trust us on that. there's the surveillance video and we know the rest of the story, it was just a prank. two, 19-year-olds, they thought they'd have a little fun, one dressed up like gumby, the other dressed up like himself and they have now turned themselves in and told the police they didn't

have a gun, they weren't trying to rob the store, they just wanted cigarettes. one even knew the store clerk from high school and says he's blowing the whole thing out of proportion. the two were questioned and released, the d.a. will decide whether or not to charge them with anything and in the meantime, gumby's agent is trying to capitalize on the publicity, here shopping the big guy around in hollywood, hope to go resurrect his once-vibrant career, so maybe, just maybe, something good will come of this after all. back to you. jenna: you know, jason and jacob are in big trouble! >> they are. jenna: grounded for sure. >> reporter: at the least. jenna: we wish these agents the best of luck and maybe an exclusive interview. >> reporter: i'm working on it. jon onand credit chris chulo with this line: gumby is going to go to the pokie! jenna: oh, come on. jon: that's a sidekick there, the pokie.

jenna: can we end this? let's do it! jon: end it by looking out your window, you might see something strange streaking across the sky. let's hope it's not headed toward your bedroom. huge pieces of space junk, hurt ling to earth. the upper atmosphere search satellite has been dead in space since 2005. well, guess what? it's falling out of orbit now. the thing weighs more than 12,000 pounds. it is nasa's largest satellite ever to fall back to earth. so where is it going to hit? let's have nick johnson, nasa's chief science for orbital debris, orbital debris a big problem and this thing is a really big problem. do you know where it's going to land? >> no, jon, we don't. right now, it could be anywhere from 57 degrees north latitude to 57 degrees south latitude. jon: basically that includes, well, all of the populated surface of the earth. i think we've got a map to show the possibilities here.

you know it's going to mostly burn up on reentry. here's the area that's in danger, so if you live in northern canada or maybe siberia, you're okay. the rest of us, we have to be looking skyward. chances are it's going to fall into the oceans, but you don't really know, right >> that's correct. because the majority of the surface of the earth is covered by oceans, and even beyond that, you know, a lot of the land mass of the earths are relatively unpopulated areas like the canadian tundra, the siberian outback. it's not a problem. jon: and because the satellite is dead, you don't have any ability to try to steer its reentry. >> that's correct. it's been deactivated since, as you said, december of 2005. jon: so the expection is it will mostly burn up, but you think there are some components of it that are large enough and i guess

heat-resistent enough, that they're going to end up hitting with a thud. what are those components and are they dangerous? >> well, there are no had dous on board uars and we have done a detailed assessment of what components might survive reentry and we believe it's a couple of dozen and those are going to be strewn across a path which is roughly 500 miles long, so very few and far between. jon: when this thing does come in, assumeing it happens at night, at least night on whatever side of the earth it comes through, people are going to be able to see it, right? >> it will put on quite a show and you'll probably even be able to see it in the daytime if that's the way it turns out. jon: nick johnson from nasa, we hope it doesn't go bonk on anybody's head. thank you for being with us, we'll keep updated with you as to when this thing finally comes down. >> be happy to. thank you. jenna: the president is taking his jobs plan on the

road today to convince the american people it will work and convincing republicans who have to vote on it, they're also part of the bunch. apparently it's going to take a little doing to do that. utah senator orrin hatch joins us after the break to talk about where there may be middle game. >> nascar's all-time great jeff gordon is going to answer your questions, go to foxnews.com/happening now and get those in.

jon democrats in california are scrambling to find out how much money might be missing from their campaign accounts after the arrest of a long term trusted treasurer, the woman allegedly stole millions of dollars from several unelected officials putting a major damper in the upcoming election efforts. anita vogel has more from the west coast newsroom. political intrigue, huh anita? >> reporter: certainly, jon, kende durkee is a major democratic treasurer who was trusted by major politician toss handle their money. now a lot of that money is gone. perhaps pilfered by durkee, she has admitted as much to the feds. her burbank offices are now closed, a sign at the door says staff is temporarily unavailable. california regulators have ordered the firm to stop providing accounting services as it is not licensed and has no certified accountants on staff.

meanwhile political consultants across the state who know durke say they were caught off guard. >> we used her as -- her as late as 2010 on the campaign. seems to be okay. but who knows how the money was shuffled around. so to me, it's just a shock, a surprise, and just can't believe it. >> reporter: neither can senator dianne feinstein, who had $5.2 million in campaign funds in skwr*pb, now she has no idea how much mope she has left, same story for other high profile politicians like loretta sanchez and susan davis who both say they were hit. susan davis believes she's missing about $250,000. as for senator feinstein, her campaign tells fox news, quote, what the ultimate damage is, we just truly don't know, says bell kerrick, taking anything as a positive in this situation, she, dianne feinstein, is a good fund-raiser and she'll be able to replenish this. the problem is for dianne

feinstein and others, they have no idea how much money was taken end right now they don't have any access to those accounts. now, representative susan davis, she says kende durke may become known as the bernie madoff of campaign treasurers. back to you. jon: anita vogel in california for us, what a story. thank you. jenna: moving overseas now, the recent political turmoil in egypt, having a big impact on tensions between israel and gaza. a reduced presence by egypt's military is allowing gaza militants to use an underground tunnel like the one you're seeing on your screen to help transport goods, weapons and maybe even fighters across the border. reena ninan is live from jerusalem with more on this incredible story. reena. >> reporter: jenna, that's right. that is what they're worried about, that the militants are possibly using underground tunnel toss launch an attack which happened last month and killed eight. >> we drove through the run

downtown of rafa, along the egypt border, avoiding hamas checkpoints, we arrive at a tunnel where nervous smugglers await. we tried to see how easy it would be to get smuggled into egypt. israel believes militants were brought in through tunnels like these to launch an attack last month that left eight dead. >> this won't come off? you're positive? it's okay? >> it's okay, you are fine. >> okay. okay, we're going down. then they lowered me 50 feet under the ground. these tunnels are usually used to smuggle in goods and construction supplies but sometimes they're used to smuggle in people, illegally. i'll told if i walk 20 minutes underground here, i'll end up in egypt. you feel claustrophobic, it's incredibly hot, but the big fear is the israelis could bomb this at any point. >> as we walk i ask one of the young smugglers to help us get into egypt. no, no, no, they shout.

they're worried about being caught if hamas security finds us. they'll shut down -- they'll shut down their tunnel, their only source of income. as we were filming, israeli jets could be heard above us >> when i was hoisted back up, hamas security was waiting for us and ended up kicking us out of that area, they maintain very close control of everything that comes in and out of those tunnels, jenna. >> what an incredible story. thank you for sharing that perspective with us, an important one we're going to continue to watch. reena, thank you. jon: after just retiring, the decades-old shuttle program which was used for exploration and supplying the international space station, nasa is now unveiling its new plans for manned space travel in front of a congressional hearing. rick folbaum is keeping an eye on that. >> jon, sounds a little bit like buzz lightyear, inifiti and beyond. but that is what nasa is promising for the next generation space launch vehicle. officials unveiling a rendering of vehicle saying

it will send man to deep space and beyond. this system costs about $35 billion. the announcement comes as the space agency is undergoing a lot of change with the end of the shuttle program recently. this new plan, basically uses electrified tracks which you can see in that picture. they're very similar to the ones with used out of amusement parks with roller coaster. they will propel a spacecraft 600 miles per hour up into orbit. the spacecft would be wedge shaped and be able to reenter the atmosphere on its own after conducting a mission and land on a normal airstrip. scientists say the technology already exists but has to be improved and tweaked a little bit. perhaps a look at the future. test launches are set to begin in the year 2017. back to you. jon: cool, rick, thanks. jenna: a group of wounded veterans proving nothing can stand in that way with the planet's rugged terrain. after treking all the way to the north pole they're

setting their sights much higher. we'll tell you about it. no stranger to the winner's circle. jeff gordon taking your questions later this hour. submit yours to foxnews.co foxnews.com/happeningnow. we'll see you after this quick break. here's the idea...

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jon: some developing stories we're keeping eye on here in the newsroom. three deadly terror attacks in iraq. two bombings and a drive-by shooting all targeting police and iraqi soldiers. at least 19 people dead in those attacks. more than 50 others wounded. a key federal report on the bp oil spill now blames poor management, key missteps and a faulty cement job by bp for the worst offshore oil spill in u.s. history. new data shows back to school shopping is not enough to spark retail sales. sales were flat in august and weaker in july than

previously reported. yet another worrying sign about the economic recovery as consumers are the main drivers of economic growth. jenna: minutes from now the president takes the stage to promote his jobs plan at north carolina state university in raleigh but he has his work cut out for him as far as convincing republicans to follow the same plan. orrin hatch of utah is the ranking republican on the senate finance committee. senator, nice to have you back with us. >> nice to be with you. jenna: in all the times i've spoken i don't think i've talked to you about some of the previous jobs you've had in your life. you've been a senator since 1976, but you also worked if i'm reading this correctly, as a janitor, also an all-night desk attendant in a dorm as you were trying to earn your law degree. so you certainly had quite a dynamic experience professionally. tell us what is the key to job creation having seen your professional live from so many different angles? >> i also learn ad killed trade and became a member of afl-cio and was proud of it.

all i can say is that secret is unleash small business and let small business create jobs. the best way to do that is reduce taxes and reduce regulations. you know, i think we're going to have to repeal obamacare because that, that is going to cost in taxes and penalties, $1.1 trillion over the next number of years. it's going, according to the doug elmendorf, dr. elmendorf, the head of the cbo it will cost 800,000 jobs over time that is pretty big. jenna: i'm glad you brought up the director of the cbo because he was speaking to the supercommittee earlier this week about deficit reduction. >> right. jenna: one of the things he said and i'm paraphrasing this a bit. if you want to keep taxes where they are or lower them, you're going to need to severely cut entitlements. that is what you're going to have to do. so what entitlements are you willing to take a look at and start doing some cutting on? >> first of all, i don't think you do have to cut entitlements. we have 214 tax expenditus,

some of which could be cut out and, these are, some of which have good reasons for being in existence too, like the home mortgage interest deduction, the corporate deduction of, health care that they provide for their employees, or, charitable deductions or 401(k)s. but there are about, like i say, at least 214 various tax expenditures to be cut out. plus, why don't we start cutting back on the federal government which has been growing by leaps and bounds which is not, most of which is not justified? i think what we ought to do, is get government spending under control before we start raising taxes. and if we get government spending under control, i think you'll find that we don't need to raise tax. >> would you not cut entitlements at all? would you leave them the way they are? >> well i think, there is no use kidding. we know that social security, $17.9 trillion in unfunded liability. that is not as bad as medicare and medicaid. medicare is $38 trillion in unfunded liability.

we know how to solve the social security problem for our kids, without, without any, any change in social security for those 55 years of age or older. if we don't make modest changes, social security won't be there for our kids in the form that it is today. we also know that we've got to do more than that. we've got to modernize medicaid and medicare. some of the best ways to do that is use 50 state laboratories to be able to use their ideas to show how we can actually cut back on the costs of those programs. jenna: senator, all of this would take some time to do. you can give us a timeline and i'll certainly allow you to answer that in just a moment. but the president says he has a jobs plan right now and at this will get some jobs into the economy, 2012, at begning of the year and we desperately need those jobs. do you see any middle ground as far as parts of this plan you like that the president is proposing that you think would be good for the american people? >> that is just analyze. $450 billion.

almost all of which is tax increases on the so-called wealthy. 800,000 small businesses would be hit rather hard. tax increases on energy when we need energy in this country. tax increases on a whole raft of other things. it is not going to stimulate the economy. we were just props in the joint session. he was making political points, even the democrats aren't going to support. you've probably seen a lot of democrats griping about some of the things he is calling for. it is all politics and frankly i'd like to get away from politics and start sitting down and really doing things that would help get our country in order. jenna: so you've been, as i mentioned, a senator since 1976. how can you make that happen? >> i've been here now 35 years and we never had a fiscal conservative majority in the united states senate. we've always had three to five more liberal republicans go with all liberal democrats on spending issues. the way you do this elect republicans in next election and give us enough republican votes we can make

the changes and dot savings and cut back on government and get rid of obamacare which is going to eat us alive. we have to get rid of the dodd-frank bill making it so banks won't lend to small businesses. they won't even get involved in small business the way they shoulda. that's because of the overregulatory attitude. there have been hundreds of thousands of regulations formulated by this presidency in just the 2 1/2 years he has been in power and it is eating us alive, i'll tell you. jenna: took 2 1/2 years to get some of that in place the question becomes what is the timeline for unwinding it and how do we get jobs back into the economy as soon as possible? senator we look forward -- >> those are good questions. jenna: wish we had time to answer them. we'll ask our next guest about jobs too. are you race car fan, senator? >> oh, sure. jenna: do you like jeff gordon? >> i like him a lot. he is a gutsy guy. he is great driver. jenna: we'll ask him about jobs. and go to nascar race and

talk this out and figure out a solution. jon: that is what she should do in d.c.. >> that's great. tell him i care for him a lot. jenna: sure will. senator hatch, nice to see you, sir. jon: from the marble columns of the capitol to the pits of nascar jeff gordon is hire. he is taking your questions. what do you want to know? jdog wants to know what he would change about nascar racing. go to foxnews.com/happeningnow

jon: jeff gordon will be along in a moment. but first the president of the united states, mr. obama, in north carolina, touting

his jobs for america plan. let's listen in for just a moment. >> the president of north carolina state university. [applause] and i want to thank the power sound of the south. for that -- [cheers and applause] thank you. jon: well the president still in the introductory thank you of his speech. never, incredibly interesting unless you're one of the people he thanks. we have it streaming live for you on foxnews.com if you like to hear what the president has to say to this audience at n.c. state. we'll have it for you there live. meantime let's talk to somebody at the white house and met the president not that long ago, jeff gordon, one of nascar's winningest and most popular drivers. he has been on a tear of late. he has 85 career victories, four sprint cup championships earned him nicknames like wonder boy and flash gordon. jenna: after the recent

victory in atlanta he is gearing up for the chase for the cup. that is next for you. jon: flash gordon, can i say. flash gordon. jenna: does he need a introduction? probably not. we heard from senator hatch a big fan. >> i heard. jenna: you're down at the white house hanging out. are you considering a second career politics? do you want to announce anything to us right now? >> i have nothing to announce. i'm definitely staying away from politics. right now i have too much left to do with the sprint company championship coming up. jon: plenty of, plenty of work to do. you've been in the winners circle a lot lately. what changed? >> well, we made some changes to the team over the off-season and i've got a great crew chief in alan gustafson. a lot of it is just chemistry. we have a team come together and worked really hard and working in the right direction that is paying off. we made our cars better. we've --. jenna: wait a minute, who is that guy by the way. >> shows you how long i've been doing what i'm doing. jenna: we're going to get to

your questions in just a moment. we'll have it explain this picture a little bit. i was reading you and your uncle built your own track and that's where you got your start learning how to race? >> my stepfather. we got into racing at a very young age. i had actually been raising for a while than that previous picture. this is when i started. >> you didn't have a license? >> i started raising bmx bicycles. my mom didn't like it. she thought it was too dangerous. we moved on to racing. >> how did you feel about that decision later on? >> well, she is my biggest fan and loves it now. jenna: so we have a lot of questions from our viewers. one of the most popular and several of you asked this question about your favorite track. also the most challenging track to drive. are they the same? are they different? >> no, they're different. i say one of the most challenging would be darlington, which is one of my favorites but michigan is my all-time favorite. it is actually not the most challenging track we go to but it is a driver friendly track. we raced at bristol, tennessee a few weeks back. it is one of my favorites.

we had a great race there. i definitely say a fan favorite and plenty of challenges. jon: one of our viewers, wants to know if teammates, jimmie johnson and dale earnhardt, jr. are your biggest competition when it comes to winning the sprint? >> that's a great question. they could be, hendrick motorsports is a strong organization. jimmie johnson won last five in a row, so you have to certainly put him on, high on the list of who can win but there are a lot of other competitors that we'll be racing against. carl edwards and kevin harvick and kyle busch. it is great to have dale, jr. in the chase this year. and i think any of the teams in the chase can definitely win the championship. jenna: jeremy has a little bit of a more personal question when it comes to your family. you have two children, he will la and leo. >> that's right. jenna: jeremy wants to know do you want to see your children get involved in the support? >> i'm certainly not against it. i want to do the same thing my parents did for me, where they, and my sister. they showed opportunities

and saw what we enjoyed and what we're passionate about. and if ha happens to be racing whether for my daughter or my son i definitely want to pursue it. jenna: i can see your daughter. saw a couple photos on the website. she could be a quite a iver. >> she has got in her. jenna: she has fight in her. >> her mother, my wife ingrid has fashion in her and i think that the fashion is probably going to outweigh the driving side if i had to guess. jenna: good combination no doubt. jon: maybe she could design your suit. >> yes. jon: mike in north carolina says, with racing in your blood and the fact that you hold a dream job for us, regular people, if you could not race, what do you think your dream job would be? >> well, it's a different question or answer now than i've been a race car driver because it opened up a lot of different opportunities for me, whether it be the thanks that we're doing with the drived in for hunger and bringing more awareness to the nine million older americans that are fighting hunger issues. or through my own foundation

that we focus on pediatric cancer research. so, doing something with philanthropy i love to do more of it if i had more time. but if you look back before i got into racing my parents had a manufacturing business with a lot of machines and building things and i probably would furthered my education and gone to work for them. jon: you mentioned the cancer foundation. we got a note from a viewer who just wanted to thank you. said you spent time with a relative of theirs who well, it was his dream to meet you before he passed away. and you did. said it was all that the relative talked about for six months. thank you for that. >> oh we're fortunate for nascar, it is a great community of giving back. i don't know if it was through the make-a-wish foundation but one of the foundations we work with. they bring a lot of different children to the racetrack every weekend to meet a driver or spend the weekend at a racetrack. so it's always a pleasure to

get a chance to meet them but it is under unfortunate circumstances. jon: that was brian bumgartner. i couldn't find the note. he said you met with his wife's dying cousin. >> that's great. jenna: had a question about mental toughness. obviously you're doing a lot of other things besides driving. what does it take to keep the focus and what's the key to that? >> actually was talking to somebody about this earlier about the focus. when you're driving a car at 200 plus are miles per hour or around 200 miles per hour, you're staring at a wall there is no chance of slipping off your focus. it is the only option you have. so i don't think focus is, you know, that difficult inside the car. i think that what it is, it is about focusing on what you're doing, communicating to your team what to do to make your car better. it is about the competition. how you make your car go faster than others. whether you're driving or trying to tune the car or the team is, it is about

team work, the pit crew. there are a lot of things going on. so i guess it is more of taking in a lot of information at one time. jenna: are you as focused of a driver on just regular roads? >> you know, i am. i take pleasure in getting from point a to point b, in the most efficient way i possibly can. without breaking the law. [laughter] jenna: do you have a lot of speeding tickets? >> i do not, no. i'm not saying i never have had one but not recently. jenna: really quick here. there is lot of americans that are going through some tough times. we're going to have to wrap it up, but what would your message be to the americans out there who are losing their focus and, facing some challenges? >> yeah. and you know, i think all of us have been affected in some way. our sport, we definitely are, we have very loyal fan base, large numbers of people traveling. and it gets tougher for them to travel to the races. so we're seeing it.

and you know, all i can say is, that, you know, a lot of times during the toughest times you find out what you're made of. especially with 9/11 here, the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. think we found out as americans, you know, just how valuable our freedom, our peace and our health is and not to take that for granted. jenna: thank you for joining us. so nice to have you. i know our viewers appreciate it too. we'll be right back.