"happening now," you think this economy stings? guess what, a lot of experts think it could get worse. surprisingly high odds of a new economic downturn according to a "wall street journal" report as we look at the dow numbers, they are up 7 points right now. the journal conducted a survey of economists who say there is a one in three chance that the united stas will slip into another recession over the next year, the highest odds this survey has shown since theost recent recession supposedly ended. jenna: dennis kneale is here with more. >> reporter: the stock market shrugged that off yesterday when the bad numbers were first reported, you know, i think it's because we've been so worried about europe was one reason, so they had late help there. more than that, jenna when you bend down so long it looks like up. not only did they say there is a one in three chance of recession, i'd take those odds, i'd bet against it. they ratcheted down growth from

2.5% from 3%. that is $150 billion in lower business. a double-dip recession let's remember would be extremelyou no see all kinds of job losses to have a recession, and yet for 17 consecutive months we had job growth, tepid, but job growth. then suddenly in august we looked and there was no job growth at all, so that adds to the worry. the economic data are horrible. the weekly jobless claims rose this week. the manufacturing is slack, the retail is slack. consumer spending is down. it gets kind of depressing. jenna: you still think the odds that a double-dip recession won't happen or isn't going to happen. those are the odds you would take. why are you feeling optimistic. >> reporter: if you could put money into something and had a two out of three chance of being okay won't you do it? economists have accurately predicted three of the last nine recessions. they always are worrying about

what can go wrong. second you need to see the big job losses i talked about, and also you've got to believe, jenna. we can talk ourselves into recession just because we keep talking about whether we are going into recession. it's like the leading cause of insomnia, it's that i keep worrying that i'm not going to be able to go to sleep. a new analysis at million kin institute came out yesterday and it looked at all the numbers and it says we worry that the people aren't spending because they worry about this big jobless rate and all this stuff. the fact is people aren't spending because they are disgusted with washington. it is easier to change what is going on in washington if the guys on both side want to wake up and get their act together than it is to change a 15 trillion-dollar economy in a sudden way. jenna: got it. we'll start doing our pep talks, should we dennis, once a day. >> reporter: you've got to have the hope, you've got to believe. we are going to be okay, guys. jenna: so says dennis kneale,

fox business. dennis always great to have you, thank you. >> reporter: thanks. jon: well as dennis kneale just told us the "wall street journal" is reporting one in three economists predict another recession before the presidential election. of course that would have major political implications. let's talk about it with a guy who knows, karl rove is former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to george w. bush and a fox news contributor. you should heard dennis saying we've got to have hope. this was a president who came into office promising hope and change. what about the delivery of those? >> reporter: well if he doesn't provide the realization of hope then he's going to be changed out of the office. look, the president's numbers are low. his job approval on the economy is 36% -- excuse me 26%. that is a pitiful number. if it doesn't change he's out of

office. jon: at the same time there is a new poll out, when asked who do you blame most for what has gone wrong in congress, president obama, the republicans in congress or the democrats in congress, 45% say the republicans in congress are the problem. why is that. >> well that's what the democrats are focusing, particularly the obama whaous white house. they are trying to recreate 1948 when harry truman wrote ran against the republican do nothing congress. th republican congress is not going to be a do nothing congress. they will face an energized candidate at the end of this congress. republicans won't have the same attude next year. they'll be running hard on obama at their record and laying out their own prescriptions. jon: when candidate obama was

running hard against the former record of your former boss, george w. bush. he was saying, give us the economy, give us the wheel, we'll take it and make things better. are people going to remember. >> reporter: sure they will. he'll present his promises, if we pass the stimulus bill unemployment will top out at 8% by the end of 2009. instead we are at 9.1. all those promises he was so lavish with about the passing of stimulus have not performed out. i've got a little white board here. take a look at this. clinton at this very point in his first term had 5.7% unemployment and his job approval was 47% on the economy an ended up with 49% of the vote. bush had 6.1 unemployment, 45% approval rate on the economy ended up with 51% of the vote. his dad had 6. 6.9 unemployment. obama is at 9.1% on the economy,

and 6.1%. jon: voters like them. they say the president is popular although his policies are not popular. >> reporter: that's the cautionary note. republicans cannot take on obama and say ugly things about him. americans want him to succeed, they still like him, they are disappointed in him. the tone is important, i thought he spoke beautifully but i don't like what he did when he got in office. jon: glad you'll be along to watch this with us. thank you fox news is teaming up with google to host a debate september 22nd. you can submit questions to the republican presidential candidates and not just in writing. we want to hear you and see you. you can ask the candidates what you want to know, upload that video go to youtube.com/fox

news. you'll be able to vote on which questions you want the contenders to answer and don't forget to ooh tune into that republican debate hosted by fox news and google september 22nd, the:00pm eastern time. jenna: another big story we've been watching very closely. new details about a top air force general congressional sources now saying the general told them he was pressured by the white house to downpla concerns the military had about a company that donated to the democratic party. a lot of twists and turns, jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon and here to talk a little bit more about this. from a military perspective explain to us a little bit more about what is behind this controversy. >> reporter: the source of the controversy is two told, jenna. when general william shelton who is the head of the military space command gave a classified briefing on capitol hill a little while back we are told from congressional sources that he told them that he was pressured by the white house to

downplay the pentagon's concerns that this new technology used by a company called light squared that will be used to upgrade the country's telecom network, wireless net work to a 4g network would interview with the military's gps system. it would essentially make the military blind when it comes to gps, and they use gps for targeting, for missile launches, for all sorts of training. and general william shelton was going to say that he was concerned. yesterday in open source testimony he explained his terrance. here is what he said. >> i don't know that it's total low accurate to say that there were no concerns. i think this was a very different business plan that was put forward, and i do believe we were caught a bit off guard. january, february timeframe this year is when we really started to get concerned. >> reporter: and it's not just the military it is also the faa. we spoke to the faa this morning, they rely heavily on

gps and they think that this technology that light squared, the company that has given to the democratic party is proposing, and that they got permission from the fcc under the obama administration to pursue, that that technology would make the faa blind as well in terms of air traffic controllers using gps. jenna: those are very serious accusations to consider, or just ramifications from this new technology. you said light squared is the name of that company. have they issued any sort of response so far? >> reporter: yes they've pushed back very hard. they say that this is partisan politics. this is a company that is based in restin, virginia. they say their owner has given to republicans as well as democrat -gs. they say this is the gps industry not wanting to upgrade, spend the money to upgrade and that they are using partisan politics on capitol hill. here is the statement from light squared itself that we've obtained. it says, it's also ludicrous to suggest light square's success depends on political

connections. the founder of light squared has given the candidates in both political parties in the last eight years with two-thirds of his contributions going to republicans, because of the founders free market philosophy. light squared argues that they began seeking permissions for this technology, this 4g wireless technology under the bush administration and that they started the process with the fcc under president bush. jenna: we'll continue to watch this story. jennifer griffin, thank you very much for the update from the pentagon tay. jon: right now a new search underway for missing utah mom susan powell. crews are back out carefully digging through what appears to be, they say, a shallow grave in the high desert. lots of confusion about all this. police initially reported finding human remains after search dogs alerted them to the spot, but they dug down at least a foot and found no signs of powell, or anyone else for that matter. so now they are back out with shovels to dig even deeper.

alicia acuna live in denver for us. do we know how far they have got even and how far down they plan to dig. >> reporter: at last report we heard they have got even down about a foot and they still have more digging to do today. we are told the cadaver dogs can detect a dead human body or parts of it at least 12 feet underground if necessary. i talked to a police sergeant with west valley city p. d. and he told me that as they continue to dig the cadaver dogs continue to indicate that there are human remains underground. sergeant mike powell further explained that they have only used the term human remains, but not have completely defined exactly what that means because they simply don't know yet. he did say that investigators collected evidence in the area that will be photographed and documented before it's sent back to their department for further inspection and verify if it may be related to the susan powell case. susan's father flew to utah

yesterday because he says he wants to talk to police. he says he would like to go to the area where a federal anthropologist is working with local authorities to excavate the shallow grave found. the bureau of land management sent her day to determine if that was a burial of an indian for her. the digging continues today. jon: the only person of interest identified in this case, her husband, has he said anything about these developments. >> reporter: josh powell and his father put out a statement yesterday and this was when they believed that an actual body had been found and it reads with very little information available to the public we can ly hope that additional information is released quickly to minimize heartache to those of us who loved susan. in the meantime we continue to hope for susan's safe return. you'll remember, though, that josh's father recently claimed to have had a flirtatious and

sexual relationship with his daughter-in-law. this is a claim that suzanne's family denies. jon. jon: it is all pretty sad and somewhat sorted. alicia acuna in denver, thank you. jenna: brand-new developments in a tragedy at a famous amusement park. the judge just decided whether the public can see the moments a killer whale killed its trainer. remember that story? we have that decision straight ahead. jon: imagine you're shooting video out of your hotel window and then you see this. >> o', look at that. it's a tornado, right there. i got it on video too. holly crow. jon: a blast of cold air along the east coast causing some very wild weather but that's not the only place mother nature is surprising people. janice dean will be along.

jon: breaking news a federal judge in florida ruling in the case of that seaworld trainer who was killed by the largest whale in the theme park, harris has the story at the breaking news test. >> reporter: we remember back in 2010, the news where a trainer was pulled under the water by a huge killer whale and died a short time later. her family, her husband, mom, brother and sister were trying to keep the video and pictures from the moments around her death suppressed. there is a hearing coming up, because seaworld has a finger pointed at it by osha, saying that there were safety and protection rules that really needed to be in place at that seaworld park that it felt were not in place. now seaworld is fighting that. in order to fight it they need this video and these pictures they say shown publicly in court. so what the judge is saying, you

know, he doesn't really find a reason to suppress that, to keep it from being played. the first of the hearings is set next week, the video and pictures will not be released for that, but beyond that the judge is saying that he does not see the family sitin citing a deeply personal interest as keeping them out of the court records. there is still a little bit of dispute about how they'll play that video and show those pictures, who will be in the courtroom, how public that will be, but as far as allowing it to come for the and that information to be released and become part of the case of seaworld versus osha the judge says they can be part of that. jon: we'll take you to alexandra virginia. the president is there signing into law the america events act. he's at a high school for technology purposes there. this is a law that is supposed to make i easier for those who

want patents in this country to get them, to sort of streamline the process. it's all part of the plans the president says he has to get jobs -- job creation going in this country. if you'd lick to watch more ever the president's remarks we have them streaming for you live on foxnews.com. jenna: another story we are watching today, somali pirates launching boulder attacks and finding new targets onshore. a vacation resort. we'll tell you more about this just ahead. a scary study for parents. a growing number of children getting into the medicine cabinet and overdosing on their parents medication or just adult medication in general. it's in the just as home. we have a question for you today up online. we'll talk to a doctor coming up right after the commercial. are you worried about prescription medicines when you visit friends and relatives with your kids? is that something you think about? go to foxnews.com/"happening now" and we'll see what you said and talk to the doctor about it coming

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jon: the u.s. faces a diplomatic dance of delicacy you might call it in the middle east right now. it comes ahead of president obama's trip to new york next week to address the united nations general assembly. the palestinians want the u.n. to support their hopes to establish their own state. the u.s. does not back their desires. so-called arab spring in countries like libya and egypt put the white house and the state department in a very awkward position here. catherine herridge live in washington for us. where do things stand right now? >> reporter: well, thank you, jon and good morning. this potential showdown at the u.n. next week has been brewing for months and the stated position of hillary clinton and other members of the administration is that they do support statehood for the pa palestinians but through negotiation not through

recognition alternate the united nations. a white house spokesman emphasized the point. >> the palestinians will not and cannot achieve statehood through a declaration at the united nations. it is a distraction and in fact it's counter procee counter productive. that remains our position. we continue to be focused with great intensity on the need to get israelis and palestinians together again in direct negotiations. >> reporter: well the palestinian ambassador to the united states told reporters earlier this week in washington that they are committed to statehood and recognition by the u.n. and asked about the rights of minorities in the future palestinian states they implied it would be free of jews, quote after the experience of the last 44 years of military occupation and all the conflict and friction i think it would be in the best interests of the two people would be separated. and for context, jon right now the administration is actually running two sets of talks to try and resolve this issue before

next week. jon: what is the bottom line for members of congress? >> reporter: well this morning the head of the house intelligence committee republican mike rogers says the administration's policy in the middle east is confused at best. >> the israelis don't know if they think we are their friends right now but are not sure. the turks have taken very aggressive steps with no one saying, hey what are you doing. so without any u.s. strength in that whole region we are close to a disaster as we can possibly get. >> reporter: right now we are waiting on a conference call here in washington for more reaction and we'll get more throughout the day, jon. jon: those are ominous words, close to a disaster. >> reporter: they certainly are. jon: catherine herridge in washington. thank you. jenna: emergency room doctors are reporting an alarming trend now. a growing number of children poisoned by powerful drugs like painkillers, and sedatives and sleep aids. kids are getting into medicine

cabinets and getting their hands on pills meant for adults and this has increased over the years, instead of going down. dr. marty ma carry is a physician and professor at john hop since. doctor, what do you think the reason is. >> reporter: we live in a overtreated over medicated society. let's face it americans take too many pills because many of them are lifestyle pills. now with all of these pills laying around the home kids are getting into them more often. this study in the journal of pediatrics interestingly showed that one of the casualties of this over medicated society we live in is that kids are getting into number one sedatives, number two pain medicines and 0 number three heart medicines. they've looked at now half a million people over the course of a decade that have come to the emergency roomy sepbgs alley poisoned becausroom poisoned because they have got even into the medication. jenna: how dangerous is it for children under five like the study was looking at. >> reporter: remember, a child's

medication is usually one-third or one seventh the doze of an adult: by taking an adult doze they essentially can be overdosing. sedatives can have the complication of stopping someone's drive to breathe. same thing with narcotics. although there haven't been many deaths, there were 66 deaths that were noted in the study, it's an alarming trend, because as you said it's a growing phenomena. jenna: the question then becomes, what we do about it. it was interesting that you referenced some of these pills, sleeping pills as lifestyle pills. i haven't heard that as much before. and it makes me wonder whether or not you think we're being too casual as well, making these pills just a part of our lifestyle, maybe not considering them serious medication. what are your thoughts on that? >> reporter: i absolutely agree. you know, jenna the most important thing is not to teach kids that if you have trouble sleeping you just pop a pill. we live in a pain-pill popping

culture. we are instilling values to kids and it's important to have safety caps, of course, if you get your medicines by mail. you may want to change that if you've got kids under five at home. and it's important to keep a poison control number handee at all times. jenna: it's a good point. kids do things you do. if they see you taking pills at certain times of the day they might want to copy it. thank you for joining us again. we asked our viewers, it was interesting to see the results on whether or not you're worried when you go over someone else's house about prescription medication that your kids might get into. harris it was interesting to see how the pool changed over the last five minutes or so. >> reporter: literally five minutes. part of that is because we told people how to get here it's at foxnews.com and it's on our "happening now" page halfway down on the right hand side. people were asked are you worried about prescription medications when you visit your friends and relatives. yes i check the house upon

arrival. no i keep my eyes on my kids. no i trust my friends and relatives will keep them in the right place. at first it was 75% saying they trust. now it's 41% they check the house upon arrival. 11% say they keep their eyes on their kids. now you have 47%, no i trust that my friends and relatives keep their drugs in a safe place. and then we have, maybe they are not doing it now, but next time they'll check the house. i have two toddlers under four. they tend to break things, that's my greatest concern, jenna. jenna: thinks something controllable, it might be good to check the medicine cabinets, make sure everything is just away. harris thank you. jon: my teenagers tend to break things. there are some new emails that seem to put pressure on the

white house. they show some in the obama administration have concerns about using taxpayer money to back a solar company that has now gone bankrupt. a government report also raised red flags last summer and the author of that report is coming up. also, torrential rains bring flash floods and the situation turns dangerous fast. drivers in one city caught completely off guard, we'll take you there next. wanna know the difference between a trader and an elite trader? it's this... etrade's pro platform. designed bottom up? integrated top down. customizable. well, duh. no compromises. no multiple platforms. got it? get it. good. new pro elite from etrade. investing unleashed.

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jon: a fox news weather alert. right now the national weather service is looking into whether a tornado touched down in maryland. take a look at this. camera rolling as a funnel cloud formed over the water and moved toward land in ocean city, maryland, that popular beach resort. it is still not clear whether this water spout reached land as a tornado and touched down, but there are reports some buildings and cars in the area sustained damage during this storm. jenna: pretty brave to keep the camera on, right? might want to get -- jon: close the windows, get you should the bed. jenna: tucson, arizona, slammed with rain and hail and flooding and many reports of stranded cars and motorist rescues. hazmat crews also laid hundreds of oil-absorbent sheets throughout the area after a mechanic shop flooded. and rescue crews combed the banks in search of a man

reportedly swept away. there's been no sign of him, unfortunately, since he was last seen clinging a bridge pillar. the water just comes in so fast. the national weather service says tucson sent a september record for rainfall, and we're just in the middle of this month. jan jon yeah. so is more nasty weather on the way? let's get to meteorologist janice dean who is a busy lady in the weather center. >> reporter: and what about these cold temperatures? jon: i know. it's like a two-blanket night in the northeast. >> reporter: i know. our wonderful producer here, her mom, diane, she lives in cambridge, new york. it was 35 last night, going down to 27 tonight. jon: 27? >> reporter: double the blankets, yes. way below average for much of the country. so, diane, you make sure you get the winter clothes out. and you know what? we're going to see these temperatures sticking around for the weekend. perhaps a warmup for the northeast as we head into next week, but look at the rain we're

seeing across the central u.s. the good news is we don't have any widespread severe weather that we are expecting today. a little bit of rainfall over the drought-stricken texas region, but it's really not going to make a dent in the drought, unfortunately, and across the i didn'ter mountain -- inter-mountain west. is it too soon for fall temperatures? weigh in on that. your current temps, 51 in minneapolis, 72, they are loving this, i bet, in the big d. again, much of the country below average. freeze advisories including you, diane mca tee, in cambridge, new york, for parts of the northeast, new york and new england where we could set some record lows tonight. look at these freezing temperatures in some cases. 39 in burlington, 50 in new york, 48 in buffalo and, again, much of the country may be enjoying -- i'm not sure, you tell me, janice dean fox,

twitter -- 47 is what we're going to see in minneapolis, 54 in kansas city, 59 in memphis. what about you, jon scott? you like the cooler temperatures? jon: i do. i was at the concert in central park last night -- >> reporter: fancy. jon: well, people were not listening to you because i saw people in t-shirts. it's raining on us -- >> reporter: that's new yorkers. they don't listen to me. [laughter] jon: i did, j.d., i was prepared. >> reporter: that's good to hear. jenna: one of our top stories we've been watching this week is about solyndra. newly-released e-mails showing the obama administration had some concerns over what kind of effect a so solyndra default would have on a re-election campaign for them. we'll have more in just a moment. but one of the questions that came up as well this week, with was there warning signs, warnings of potential problems with granting the now-bankrupt company? was anyone checking? yes, indeed, frank rusco is the

director of the natural resources and environment team at the government accountability office, and he was in charge of an audit of loans given out by the department of energy. your report doesn't go into specific companies, but you took a look at ten different companies getting some of these government loans. why, first of all, did you do that audit? >> well, the doe loan guarantee program was createed in 2005 and as part of the legislation, gao is required to report annually on the program and how it's functioning. jenna: so this is part of the annual report. you took a look at ten companies. what did you findsome. >> well, we looked at the ten companies at the time we reported that had received commitments for loans. and what we found is fully half of those had received those commitments before the program had completed key reports that are required by the program in order to assess the risk of the loans. jenna: why did they get the money before that was done? >> well, we did ask the program

that, and the program officials told us that they had enough information to go forward with each of the loans. however, we also asked for documentation for a systematic way that they had made those decisions and for records of that, and they did not provide those. jenna: so did they provide any more insight as to why they were confident to give out that money? were they specific at all for the reasons even in conversation about why they thought this was a good idea without doing some of this other due diligence? >> it varied by loan but, yes, they had some explanations including that they had preliminary results for some of the studies that would be required. some of these studies include things like a marketing analysis or a legal analysis or a technical analysis that you would want to use to evaluate the risk of the loan as well as the timing of the loan

agreement. jenna: so as we mentioned, ten companies looked at, you found five that were concerning. you can't go into the specifics of whether or not one of those five were solyndra, although that was referred to in a hearing this week, and you can't tell us the other names -- and i'm just clarifying this to our viewers -- because there is a question of whether or not that information would cause the companies harm. how much money, though, is at stake as far as the loans to the phi companies that -- five companies that you're concerned about? how much taxpayer money is at stake? >> well, there's actually been many, many loans that have been issued or committed to since then for the total portfolio it's billions and billions of dollars. and we are currently engaged in our further review of this process to look at more of the loans and to see if due diligence process, as you mentioned, has been fully followed. jenna: we always appreciate the

gao's reports because we know how thorough you are, and i just have to ask you, frank, you've been part of the gao for more than a decade now. have you ever seen anything like this? is this business as usual in d.c., or is there something different here? >> well, we review programs, and we review processes. and it's not unusual to find especially in a new program that as they are setting the program up that some of the processes are -- they're following we find could be improved. and we've found this in the loan guarantee program over the years. they have implemented a number of our recommendations. however, we continue to find every time we look additional areas of concern. jenna: and we look forward to your additional audit that you're going to be doing. we belief those results at the end of this year or early next as to whether or not they followed the recommendations in your 2010 report. frank, it's really a pleasure to have you. thank you so much for joining us.

>> thanks very much. pleasure. jon: somebody's got to mind the store, that's for sure. the fighting in libya is still raging in some places. the tiehard loyalists to moammar gadhafi still firing rockets and mortars trying to beat back libyan resistance fighters in a couple of stronghold cities. we will take you live there next. plus, big companies going green. the changes coming down the road that are good for the environment. a live report on who's doing what coming up. there's only one bottle left !

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jon: some developing stories we're keeping an eye on here this newsroom and from our control room. more than half the states in this country feeling the pain of rising up employment. in august the jobless rate grew in 26 states. it dropped in only 12. in 12 it remained the same. mediators from iraq and oman are in iran right now urging leaders there to release two american

hikers. oman says a plane is on the ground in tehran to fly the two out of the country if some kind of an agreement the is reached. and a new embarrassment for italian prime minister silvio berlusconi. court documents allege a businessman recruited dozens of young women to attend parties and have sex with him. jenna: in the meantime, libyan rebels say they're now in control of the airport in moammar gadhafi's hometown. it's the latest development in a fierce battle with loyalists that is still going on, and these loyalists are trying to hang on to some of their final strongholds. david piper has more. >> reporter: hi, jenna. yes, anti-gadhafi forces are still trying to smash they way into gadhafi's hometown at this hour. they are facing stiff resistance particularly from snipers, but

they still control the airports on the western outskirts of the city, and they're moving in now from the west and the south. they're also getting nato air support, we understand they hit a tank and a missile launcher there. but also they are suffering casualties. they're reporting 11 rebels killed during the latest action and also 18 were captured in an ambush at one of the gates to the city. over in bani walid which is about 90 miles southeast of here in tripoli, they're also pushing the attack now. they're using pickup trucks with heavy machine guns on top to try to break the front line of that town. we understand that they have established a mortar position near the town now and are able to send mortars in to the center of the city around the market. but they're also facing stiff resistance there particularly from snipers also, and they do, they do say that the men they're coming up against there seem to

be well controlled by some kind of gadhafi commander there, a good command and control structure in that city. so it could be a tough one to actually clear that city even within the next few days. at the same time, today in the deep south there has been nato airstrikes, that is also a pro-gadhafi holdout area. at the same time, turkey's prime minister has been in tripoli today. he arrived a day after the british prime minister and the french president arrived to a rap chowous -- rapturous reception. turkey was against, initially, the nato operation but has since recognized the government, and they've also got massive investments here, something like $15 billion in building projects, jenna. jenna: still so much going on in the libya, and the battle rages in certain cities. david, thank you very much. david piper live for us from tripoli today. jon: we've told you about those pirates operating off the coast of africa.

you think they go after container ships, tankers, that kind of thing. well, they're becoming more of a concern for tourists. this after a couple visiting a resort off the coast of kenya was attacked and the husband killed. we'll talk with a travel expert on how you can make sure you're safe when traveling in that part of the world. plus, the search for an armed soldier on the run from police. he is reportedly saying he won't be taken alive.

jon: you have heard about pirates off the coast of somalia targeting big ships with expensive cargo. well, now it appears somali pirates are increasingly going after tourists and business travelers. just last weekend british publisher david and his wife judith were vacationing at a kenyan coastal resort when they were attacked. he was shot dead, she was taken

away by boat and is still missing. the founder and ceo of the center for personal protection and safety, he also handled hostage survival training for the u.s. department of defense. randy, are you surprised that pirates would go after land-based tourists? >> you know, what we're seeing all over the globe is increased instability. if you look at moscow, you know, the airport blowing up, all over the middle east more instability and even some of the most dangerous places in the world being right next to our own border mexico. so we've seen piracy all over the globe for some time now. typically, they're not going after land-based targets, but you are seeing this kind of activity and kidnapping as a whole increase globally right now. jon: so what do you do to protect yourself? kenya is right next door to somalia, a pretty popular destination for some americans. >> yeah, you know, there's several things you want to do. first of all, you want to do some research before you go and

find out what's going on in different parts of the world. the state department's overseas security advisory council is step number one. number two, if you're going to travel into some of these higher risk locations, you want to be what we call a hard target versus a soft target. first and foremost, the option would be to travel as a group and not alone. that's the most significant thing you can do to keep yourself targeted from a crime. there are other options like not being distracted while you're traveling, do a lot of research on the specific hotel or resort you're going to go to, and ask questions about the security procedures they have in place before you go. jon: and most importantly you say most hostages survive, you just have to trust your intuition. >> yeah. most people don't realize it, but if you are kidnapped, most hostages survive, well over 80%. of those who do survive, most are negotiated out and somebody pays something because almost all kidnappings around the globe

are done for money. so if you are in that situation, you want to connect with them and make them see you as a person, not an object and be a real calming influence on that. and part of that is trusting your instincts in the situation. jon: randy from the center for personal protection, thank u. jenna: well, we have certainly covered a lot of ground. you have the economy, national security, the middle east, higher ed. how about this news just for a moment, take a break, and listen to this new push to get orangutans to stop smoking. jon: of course. jenna: i mean, what else would we be telling you? zoos in the indonesia are being urged to help the red apes curb the habit. apparently, visitor have been throwing them smokes for years inside the zoo. the primes are known for mimicking humans, and they get addicted just like people do. but unlike the human population, orangutansre critically endangered. there's only about 50,000 of them left in the wild, so they just shouldn't be smoking at

all. jon: aren't they reading the warnings on the packages? [laughter] jenna: stop throwing them cigarettes, okay? jon: yeah. jenna: in the meantime, we're going to talk to someone who says we need a counterinsurgency strategy to get a handle on the violence right over our southern border. maybe a solution coming up. 

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calling for that deficit reduction committee to cut taxes. what's that all about, jim? >> reporter: well, it's high noon for these guys too, jon. 36 senators from the both parties are calling for comprehensive tax reform that would lower rates for all taxpayers, and they promise to give their backing to that special deficit reduction committee if it orders such a move. one republican said lowering rates would unleash economic growth. >> you're going to see a growth in this economy like we've never seen. it's going to increase revenues without increasing tax rates. >> reporter: now, that, he said, would invigorate the economy and create job, and the liberal democratic reid arguing that eliminating tax deductions would yield savings, part of which could be dedicated to cuts in tax rates, and he cited the reagan tax cuts as a model. >> in 1986 we created 6.3 million new jobs in two years after that legislation was passed. there have been projections that we could even exceed it.

we understand what the challenge is, and that is to give up tax preferences, inefficient tax preferences that are on the books today to hold down marginal rates for everybody. >> reporter: so, jon, you have three dozen senators of all stripes in favor of tax cuts. jon: all right. so tax reform, this kind of tax reform that they're talking about, does the committee have the power to make it happen? >> >> reporter: the power, the time may be a problem, but they do have the power. they have the power to order congress to do whatever it sees fit including comprehensive tax reform, even if it doesn't happen before a deficit reduction package has to be voted on in december. in fact, a former official jokes the committee has so much power, it could move christmas to august if it wanted to. now, this bipartisan group also called on the supercommittee to go big in cutting deficits aimed for clash 4 trillion -- $4 trillion over ten years.

and if committee does those things, this bipartisan group pledges to back them up. listen. >> if 36 of us in the senate across party lines stick together, the leadership has to react. >> reporter: keep in mind, jon, wha this group is suggesting is a very different approach from the president who wants to raise taxes on those who are better off, not reduce them. jon: jim, you're down there in washington. tell my senators i would like to keep christmas in december, but i would also like to simplify the tax code. [laughter] >> reporter: okay. i'll pass that on. jon: please do. jim angle, thank you. jenna: senator manchin is part of that group of senators, and he's going to be joining us in about a half an hour to talk about to us. jon: interesting conversation ahead. jenna: we have some serious questions today about the white house's involvement in securing taxpayer money for a solar panel maker. you probably heard the name by now, solyndra. the new e-mails released late yesterday show people inside the administration were very concerned about the company's financial health, even as it got

more than a half billion dollars in loans. now, of course, that company is bankrupt. we're just getting some new reaction to that from the white house press secretary, and wendall goler is live at the white house trying to figure this out for us. wendall, let's go ahead and start with the e-mails. what do they have to say? >> reporter: well, jenna, the e-mails indicate that the energy department was under pressure to make a decision about the solyndra loan, but white house press secretary jay carney says that's a decision one way or another, there was no pressure to actually approve the loan. the approval, he says, was merit-based. ultimately, of course, the bush administration decided not to aid the company. an e-mail from august of 2009 warned solyndra could run out of cash in september of this year which is when it went bankrupt. an e-mail from january of this year warned that, questioned the political ramifications of letting the company go on. it reads, quote:

>> reporter: now, the e-mail goes on to say letting the company default at the beginning of this year could be put in the context of fiscal discipline and good government because it would be limiting taxpayer exposure. jenna? jenna: so, wendall, you showed us that one e-mail from back in january. what about right now? what's the white house's response as of friday, today? of course, they've been responding a lot to the story, but what's the white house's most recent response to the story? >> reporter: well, jay carney says that the administration knew that some projects were going to fail, that it was likely in any case. he says that's the nature of cutting edge technology. but he says this technology is going to be developed, and the u.s. will either own it, or we're going to have to buy it from someone else and be in the same position of importing foreign oil. here's a little bit of what he had to say at yesterday's briefing. >> we never thought and the department of energy never thought that every investment would succeed.

but that is not a reason to simply throw up your hands and say, never mind, let's let the chinese own this industry, this field or the indians or the europeans, and we'll just buy their products. that's not, that's not the way that this administration, this president views our economic needs for the 21st century. >> reporter: carney says the president's going to continue to push the development of this technology. be jenna? jenna: it seems the broader question then is, if he wants to push it, is taxpayer money the right money to put at stake for it? there's been a lot of questions, wendall, and we'll continue to follow it. wendall goler live at the white house for us today. but on what the press secretary had to say, solyndra's not alone. at least four other companies have stimulus money and have had financial problems. two of them were working on alternative energy. evergreen solar indirectly received $5.3 million through a state grant to open a new facility. it had been a bright light in

the solar industry before filing for bankruptcy protection last month. spectra watt is the name of another country, it received a half million dollars' grant to develop ways to improve solar cells, it also filed for bankruptcy last month. mountain plaza got $424,000. it filed for bankruptcy in june of last year. and olsons crop service and olsons mills acquisition company also failed despite receiving $10 million after filing for bankruptcy protection, but we have to remember the economic times that we're in if as well. we'll continue to follow this solyndra story and others and bring you up-to-date as we hear more. jon: a fox news alert and a frantic search underway right now for a soldier who, apparently, is armed and on the run from authorities. 20-year-old russell markham escaped from custody at upstate new york's fort drum last night. the soldier reportedly said he would not be taken alive. heather childers live in our new york city newsroom. what are authorities doing to find this guy?

>> reporter: well, they are using helicopters, k-9 units and the latest, road blocks. they're focusing specifically on the town of ridgefield, that's in western new york. they've set up what they're calling a scanning area to check cars passing through for the missing soldier. markham, as you mentioned, said he will not be taken alive. authorities say he's suicidal. on top of that, he says he will force police to shoot him to end his life, suicide by cop. according to a spokesperson, markham had been under what they refer to as unit custody in the bare racks after making bag on a civilian -- bail on a civilian charge. he was being watched by a member of his unit. at some point he stole a vehicle. we have found out that that vehicle was his parents' vehicle. he led police on a chase across three counties. authorities eventually stopped the vehicle, they used stop sticks, they punctured the tires, but markham, he jumped out, and he ran. he's 20 years old, described at

6-3, 180 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes of. he was last seen in camouflage, and he may be wearing a bulletproof vest. if you see him, call 911. jon? jon: so what do we know about the burglary and markham's time in other military installations? >> reporter: well, specifically at fort hood and in terms of the burglary, it was pretty minor. he's a private first class from morgantown, west virginia. he joined the army in august, 2010, and he was deployed to afghanistan this year. over the labor day weekend he was charged with third-degree burglary after the owner of a storage unit facility found him allegedly trying to steal property from some of the units including a $700 plasma tv. and let me add this to you, jon, apparently, business owners in that area up there in western new york, they are being handed flyers with a photo and some basic information about marcum as well at this point. once again, if you see him, call

911. jon: all right. a lot of good soldiers out there. it's too bad there are some bad apples. >> reporter: yeah, let's hope they find him. jenna: a growing number of democrats are expressing reservation about the president's new jobs plan. senator joe manchin will tell us why he's speaking out against it. jon: also, drug violence in mexico. is it time to treat the cartels more like terrorists? as a manager, my team counts on me to stay focused. so i take one a day men's 50+ advantage. it's the only complete multivitamin with ginkgo to support memory and concentration. plus it supports heart health. [ bat cracks ] that's a hit. one a day men's.

jenna: regulation nation from the feds the local government. new laws that raise the cost of doing business. in seattle the city council just passed a bill to require paid sick lee at all -- leave at all companies with at least five workers. dan springer's taking a closer look live in seattle. hi, dan. >> reporter: hi, jenna. seattle joins san francisco, washington, d.c. and the state of connecticut in requiring

state pay, and residents in denver will vote on the issue in november. five days is just the minimum. if you have 250 employees, you have to give nine paid sick days a year. this new unfunded regulation comes at a time when we're starting to see more vacant buildings in seattle, the unemployment rate right at 9.1%. mayor recently said he wanted to do away with costly government red tape, but he supports sick pay and will sign it. small business other thans who are just hanging on say they may have to lay off some workers. others will almost certainly look at other benefits they currently offer. >> we have a benefits budget, and you lay more cost on top, other benefits go away. benefits that an employee might prefer; health care benefits, training budgets, bonuses at the end of the year. >> reporter: but supporters say it's a public health issue and will improve worker performance. molly who owns a chain of five ice cream shops in seattle started offering her workers sick pay in april when the city

council first started talking about it. since then the 60 employees have taken just a combined 24, 25 hours of sick leave. san francisco found workers take an average of about three sick days a year. >> my employees aren't going to abuse the policy because they appreciate the benefit, and they all know collectively that to keep men admits -- benefits and good jobs, they need to treat the company and me with as much aren't as i'm treat -- respect as i'm treating them. >> reporter: $10,000 fines for not complying. by the way, unions can opt out of the mandate using sick pay as a bargaining chip to get things they really want more like higher pay and job security. jenna? jenna: that's an interesting twist at the end there, dan. thank you very much, dan springer in seattle. jon: there are calls for a new strate fight mexican drug violence by treating the cartels as criminal insurgents, maybe

like the taliban. some of the worst violence taking place along the border threatens the lives of american citizens, so should we do that? our next guest says in order to fight the battle, it's going to take a counterinsurgency strategy. gary shipman is managing director of the chertoff group and a former senior executive at the department of homeland security. so you're thinking we need something like a general petraeus approach to going after these cartels? >> jon, we clearly need an all-of-government approach. the key question is, you know, what is the nature of violence taking place in mexico? is it random violence related to small-time criminals or big time organized violence with a broader political purpose? and i think it's clearly big business taking place among the drug cartels in mexico, and the violence has a purpose. there's a grand, strategic purpose, and we need to treat it that way. jon: well, like the taliban in afghanistan, they are trying to win the hearts and minds of their local afghan populations.

you say that the drug cartels are, essentially, trying to to o the same thing in mexico? i thought they were just trying to sell drugs. >> sure, you've got to understand they're big business, and it's difficult to run a big business. you need work force, you need employees, you need to raise money, you need a base of operations. and if it's an illicit business, people are going to try to crack down on you and put you out of business. so you try to gain political control of that space. so that's what's happening across large parts of mexico. you have drug traffickers who actually control the political space. they conduct acts of violence and murder, but they also provide public goods and benefits to the population to try to win them over. it's absolutely hearts and minds. jon: we have called it america's third war here at fox, and i guess you're saying that's an apt description. can the u.s. do anything about it? are you saying that we, essentially, attack it as a military problem the way we have in places like afghanistan?

>> no, it's a rule of law problem, and it really takes an all-of-government approach. so chairman mack and the foreign affairs committee called attention to this by first saying things have changed since 2007 since we put together the merit initiative which is the u.s. policy towards mexico. and it needs to be evolved and updated. we need to, we need to think across dod lessons learned, but it's primarily a law enforcement/rule of law/diplomacy, all of the elements of u.s. power need to come together here to support the mexican government in bringing about legal reform and rule of law programs inside of mexico. jon: there are so many parallels, it seems, to places like afghanistan where some of the good guys get shot dead in the streets by the insurgents. same kind of thing happens in mexico. >> yeah, absolutely. there are a lot of wonderful, brave people fighting the good fight in mexico every day, but there's also a lot of corruption. we need to be very careful about who we work with, but we have to remember that president calderon

has really taken the fight to the criminals. he deserves credit for that, and there are a lot of great people who have put their lives on the line. and, unfortunately, a lot of people have been killed in the line of duty because they're willing to stand up to these very complex and well organized organizations. jon: gary shipman has experience in the u.s. military as well as customs and border patrol and homeland security. interesting argument. thank you, gary. jenna: president calderon's up for election next year, so that's also interesting to consider that. jon: campaign season in both countries. jenna: that's where we're turning next. one republican here at home is picking up a major endorsement, another one is taking hits from his opponents. we're going to bring you the very latest just ahead. also, the top counterterrorism official in the white house says al-qaeda is on the ropes. but we're going to show you where the terror group is finding brand new allies that could netten us here at home. we have that just ahead. [ male announcer ] butter. love the taste, but want to cut back on f?

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jenna: the next story is so interesting. it's about actors playing a different kind of role that won't win them an oscar, but potentially could help us save lives some day. they're pretending to be sick patients to help train medical students. it's a program that takes place all i cross the country -- all across the country, and courtney friel has a look in our new york city newsroom. >> reporter: hey, jenna, you're right. almost every medical school in the country has some sort of simulation program, but the ones in new york city and los angeles have the privilege of working with professional actors. ♪ >> reporter: quinn and tom are off-broadway actors, but today they're standardized patients playing sick. >> i'm having a cocaine-induced

heart attack. >> stomach pain that's actually pan create title. >> reporter: all fourth year students test their clinical schools in this simulation program. it's a safe practice environment offering real-life doctor/patient interaction much different from textbooks or the classroom setting. >> in here you're really flying solo. usually in medical school you're doing everything with a team, so you always have someone to back you up. >> what you read in a book is always so different from how someone presents to you in real life. it feels like you're in a real patient encounter, it's that stressful. >> reporter: the sessions are videotaped so there's instant feededback from the faculty. >> we're observing to see how students interact, what are they asking in terms of the history questions, what are they doing on physical exam? we just want to make sure our students are taking the right approach to the patient overall. >> reporter: the actors also get to grade these med students who are often nervous. >> i feel for them.

>> we're rooting for them, but sometimes they miss it. >> reporter: better here than in the real world. plus acting sick isn't so bad. >> it sure beats, you know, waiting tables and, you know, driving a cab and tending bar. >> reporter: the actors at cornell make $25 an hour, and many of them have been doing the same case for years. they say this job has helped them become more aware at the real doctor's office. jenna: i'm sure it does. jon was taking notes, i think it is to fake sick at work. >> reporter: you know, they're still looking for people, too, so if you know someone who does a really good sneeze or cough -- jenna: interesting. jon: so i could moonlight on weekends maybe? >> reporter: exactly, jon. jenna: very cool program. thanks for taking the time to fill us in on it. jon: new info about the growing terror threats posed by groups based in the africa. they could be teaming up with al-qaeda. despite the death of usama bin laden, allies of his in the terror network are popping up in the eastern and western africa,

and you might expect it, they have their sights set on the u.s. joining us now, peter brooks, a former c irk a operations officer -- cia operations officer and a senior fellow at heritage foundation. peter, the head of counterterrorism in this country said that al-qaeda is on the ropes. is it? >> yeah. well, jon, you have to look at it a little more closely, and i'm glad that you are. what i think john brennan, the white house counterterrorism coordinator is talking about is al-qaeda in the pakistani tribal eas. we got usama bin laden earlier this year, they got the number two recently with a drone, and that's what they were talking about. but they have to be careful because regular folks immediate to understand that in places like africa, as you just mentioned, we're seeing the rise of other al-qaeda affiliates. plus the other one in yemen, al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula, which many people think is the most dangerous wing of al-qaeda to do. jon: there's a group which literally means western education is sinful, that's

erupting in western africa? is. >> that's right. in nigeria. and they were responsible for that terrible attack on the u.n. headquarters last month which killed over 20 people. and some analysts are saying this doesn't mean that they're necessarily going against just nigeria and the goth, but also because they want to get to the u.n. it's more transnational. there's also a belief, jon, that these groups are coordinating and consulting, training and talking about tactics. because especially we've seen in some of these cases we've seen some devices like ieds that we have seen elsewhere used by al-qaeda. so there's a real concern that there might be a marriage of convenience among these groups to work together. >> jon: and you say you also have concerns about libya and what's going on there. >> absolutely. in libya the fighting is still going on, it's not over. there's been reports out that many of the fighters are islamists, and a lot of them actually have experience from overseas in places like iraq and

afghanistan, and that's the way that these rebel groups were able to be effective because they actually had some people with combat experience. combat-hardened veterans who fought overseas sometimes against the united states, they were a large part of the rebel force. now, there's still speculation about this, but now there's a concern that you might see an upsurge of these groups throughout africa. there's another group in algeria called al-qaeda in the ago remember, and thai -- maghreb, and they're also a concern. there's a concern, and we have to be careful when we say al-qaeda's on the ropes. and the government is being a little more careful, the administration's being a little more careful that they're talking about pakistan. but then we have these other groups, and some people believe they also have us in their crosshairs, these groups in africa. so we need to be careful, and we can't become complacent about al-qaeda. jon: a good observation there. thank you. >> thank you, jon. jenna: after the financial panic of 2008, there was a push for

more regulations to protect consumers and the economy, but are too many rules stifling our recovery? we have a report on that just ahead. plus, stoking the fire, the war of words between presidential hopefuls michele bachmann and rick perry over a cancer vaccine heating up yet again. >> i'm a mom, and i'm a mom of three children. and to have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat out wrong. [applause] that should never be done. while i was away e-trade's techno-magic -- thanks martha -- triggered my stop loss orders... saved me a pantload. [ crying ] oh great. every time i fly.

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jenna: welcome back, everybody, it's a busy friday of am panic for the gop presidential hopefuls. a recent controversy rearing its head yet again. doug mcelway is live in washington with more on what is happening today. doug. >> reporter: the republican candidates all over the maps today, raising money, scoring votes and correcting gaafe. michelle bachmann trying to regain the momentum of the straw poll and her attack of governor perry that required hpv vaccin vaccines. indicating that the vaccine had

hr-pb linked to mental retardation. >> i didn't make any statements that i was a doctor, sigh even 'tis or i made any conclusion about the drugs. at the conclusion of the debate a woman came up to me who was very distraught, crying and she thanked me for my remarks and said her daughter had had a negative reaction and that's all i related. in other campaign news today the big story continues to be the jocking between mitt romney and perry. romney holding his spot as the frontrunner according to most polls. romney will be attending a fund-raiser in california. he picked up votes in new hampshire. governor perry spending his day in iowa where he will be speaking at a coca-cola bottling plant hammering erring away with this big anti-government message. >> i want to promise you one thing, every day, every day if you trust me to be your

president i will get up, i will go to the oval office, and i will try to make washington d.c. as inconsequential in your life as i can. >> reporter: the romney campaign sending out an email to reporters today encouraging them to ask this question of the texas governor, quoting, do you continue to belief that social security should not be a federal program, that it's unconstitutional and it should be returned to the states? or are you retreating from that view end quote. that may be a little bit of a prelude to the sniping we can expect between the two frontrunners in the next fox news-google debate set for next week. jenna: we'll let the campaigners ask their own questions. we'll ask our viewers question in that debate. thank you very much, doug. fox news is teaming up with google to host a gop debate in orlando next thursday night. you can submit your questions for the candidates go to foxnews.com scroll down to the spotlight section and click on the gop presidential debate. there you'll find a link to submit your questions.

you can also see what others have submitted, watch some of the questions and vote on the questions you want asked. mark it on your calendar next thursday night. jon: let's take a look at regulation nation. the bigger a company gets by adding more employees the more federal regulations come to apply. it's causing some to wonder if all the rules and regulations discourage owners from growing their companies at a time when our nation is in dire need of more jobs. james rosen takes a look at that issue live from washington. >> reporter: good afternoon, there are close to 28 million small businesses in the united states and they employ more than half of all private sector workers. as he hires more employees a small business owner often will not know about the regulations he faces until he's been found in violation of them or been fined. businesses with only one employee face at least ten federal regulations right off the bat including things like social security but also the

polygraph protection act. grow your business to 25 employees and you face all of those plus a whole new raft of them, including the older worker benefit protection act. surely every pizza owner has that memorized. it grows like a bean stock when it reaches 100 employees. last year seesaw a rise in the number of rules from 755 to 115 a there the smaller the firm the more expensive it gets per employee to comply with the cost. five federal agencies last year proposed 501 of those 845 rules on small businesses we saw in the last graph, roughly 59% of them. they are the department of agriculture and commerce, health and human services, the environmental protection agency and the federal communications commission. president obama has pledged to streamline and pare back the united states regulatory burden but with limits.

>> i reject the argument that says for the economy to grow we have to rollback protection that ban hidden fees by credit card companies. rules that keep our kids from being exposed to mercury. laws that proceed convenient the health insurance agencies from shortchanging patients. >> reporter: he had skepticism about the alarms voiced by business owners. >> when they are making record profits they'll still complain about regulations, frankly they want to be able to do whatever they think is going to maximize their profits. >> reporter: now in fairness to president obama federal regulatory spending by uncle sam has grown steadily since the early 60s with the doubling of those budgets seen even in decades dominated by republican presidents. jenna and jon. jon: something interesting you don't think of as an employee at least i certainly don't. all the regulations the boss has to put up with. james rosen, thanks. jenna: major companies are going

electric, frito lay and staples are buying smith electric trucks in cliff. it's the largest all electric truck company in the country. you can expect to see more of these vehicles on the road. adam housley is live. >> reporter: you're seeing them in los angeles, new york, dallas. it's not just smith, there are other companies out there like navastar . there is the nissan leaf, the chevy volt. people commute using electric vehicles. companies will be the first adopters and potentially the most successful early one. the electric trucks, we went on a ride-along with the staples truck, they can store up to 48 batteries for example in a staples truck that is under the undercarriage so you're not taking up any storage space. they have the availability to put more batteries in there. most the delivery trucks travel less than a hundred miles away, no need to go over 50 miles an hour, they are going around

town. they can be charged overnight. we talked to the coe of smith electric vehicles about the prospect and how the business is growing. >> it's not like buying a nissan leaf and driving it to work and ka phaougt home at the end of the day. you're actually out there all in. the impact on the environment and the net efficient see gain that you see in a large application is really powerful. >> reporter: you mentioned some of the companies that are using it, frito lay the chip company was one. they say the model they are using can carry 16,000 pounds of chips, 50 miles an hour, 176 trucks already they've ordered that will cut use of 500,000 gallons of fuel that would have gone into their older vehicles. take a listen. >> the electric vehicle strategy helps us improve our environmental footprint, reduces our diesel fuel usage, and in the end saves us money.

>> reporter: and, jenna money is something that has been a criticism for people who bought electric cars to commute in. they say by the time they recoup the cost they lose money. these electric trucks cost $30,000 more than the diesel versions but that cost can be recouped a lot quicker because of fuel and the ability of the trucks to last longer and have less services. the companies are saying not only does it make them feel good because they are helping the environment but the bottom line and they'll actually make money off of this. that's why a loot of people believe the adoption of these electric delivery trucks will be the first in the industry, or the first people to really adopt them fully and make money, and it makes a lot of sense. jenna: interesting story. you know those electric trucks they can be quiet, though that's the other thing. you've got to be careful, i was -- no checking the blackberry if there are a lot of electric trucks on the road. >> reporter: if you're a deliveryman the sound of a diesel engine might affect you. the fumes of a diesel engine, they are saying it's healthier for the drivers as well.

jenna: well it sounds pretty good. we'll keep watching it, adam. thank you very much, adam housley in san francisco. jon: i'm just hungry for the potato chips. jenna: you saw the frito lay and it took you away. jon: it's lunchtime past. a new try to create jobs. president obama's plan is getting some push back even among democrats. we'll talk with one of them, senator joe mansion, coming up straight ahead.

megyn i'm megyn kelly. he's been charged with raping a 15-year-old girl. so what is this star athlete still doing out on the football field? the accusor's mother wants to know in kelly's court. some say they are appalled by the crowd's reaction at the tea party debate this week on the death penalty question and on the question about letting an uninsured man die. but are the criticisms fair? we debate it. all that plus the woman who won

54 milt in the lottery only to find out she didn't. she is here live. see you at the top of the hour. jon: very tense minutes for 0 russian mission control when it loses contact with a soyuz spacecraft returning to earth from the international space station. three people on board including an american astronaut. fortunately they landed safely, we are happy to report, but there are some serious questions about what might have gone wrong, especially after the last soyuz. let's talk about it with tom jones, a former nasa astronaut, a fox news contributor, the author of sky walking, an astronaut's memorandu memoir. we have a soyuz spacecraft plopping down on its side in,

plopping down and nobody could contact the thing. >> as you know, jon in august we lost the soyuz booster on a launch failure. our way up was compromised. now we have suspicions with the return capsule. it's been very reliable and flying since the 60s. this communications black out raised worries at nasa mission control about the loss of the columbia. where we couldn't call the crew until we found out the pays capsule was lost. whenever you can't raise the crew it's very nerve-racking on the ground. in this case the crew landed safely. jon: right, the crew did land safely. i grew up in the glory days of the american space program where you could name every astronaut, they were our heroes. to see these guys sitting in what look like lawn chairs out

in the middle of almost siberia was a little disconcerting. >> reporter: it's very low key. the russians have been flying back to kazakhstan since the 1960s. this is the way they do it. they take the crew out. they've been in space for almost six months. sitting in a lawn chair feels pretty good and a good way to take care of the grew. this is what we'll be seeing on both the russian capsules and the american commercial companies, landing in the ocean or on american land in the newt. it won't be sophisticated like this. if we now have to worry about the re-entry capsule. this was a minor failure, i think the crew handled this very well. they had the training to conduct the landing without intervention from the ground. but when you have these little hiccups like this it raises questions about the reliability of your partner's transportation system and i think it races questions about whether we should have our own back up for

the system. jon: that souyz craft that failed on launch is not that different from the one that sends the astronauts up. >> reporter: the boosters are identical. we need to have a redundant way to get to the space station. the bottom line is nasa needs for funds to get this transportation system backed up sooner than they had planned and i think that is a policy failure. jon: tom jones, thank you. jenna: what a contrast. interesting seeing that video. we talked a lot about jobs, it certainly is the big issue in american minds right now. unemployment is rising in half the states in the nation. we just got some of that information. the president is traveling the country selling his plan, the americans jobs act. some, though are not sold on it, including some democrats. we'll talk to one of them, senator joe mansion straight ahead.

jon: breaking right now new details about a tennessee woman charged with murdering her newborns. harris has details for us. >> reporter: she is 25-year-old lindsey lowe. police in a suburb outside of nashville say this according to what they can find out her dad found a baby's body in the laundry basket. she was living with her parents. and she was carrying twins, and police say she tried to cover up her pregnancy and recently gave birth in her parents' bathroom. the details of the story, jon and jen a are so tough. but now she is facing first degree and second-degree murder in the deaths of those two baby boys. police say that she delivered in the toilet. one of the children was born alive. she smothered it. the next child born alive she mothered it. aeu corresponding to them they are going forward with their case against 25-year-old lindsey

lowe outside of nashville, back to you. jon: that is a tough story to bring to our viewers. harris, thank you. jenna: new information now on the nation's unemployment rate and the situation is bleak to say the least. more than half of the states in the u.s. are reporting increased unemployment rates for august. this is on the heels of the president's push to pass his jobs bill. we've heard it from many republicans who have made it clear that they do not support the plan. even some democrats are speaking out against us. joining us is democratic senator joe mansion. you just got done presiding over the senate. it's been a busy morning for you. thank you for joining us. would you vote yes or no for the president's jobs bill. >> there is the good, bad and ugly. i don't think it will be given to us in one jobs bill. it was very encouraging yesterday, 37 of epl came together supporting a larger deal for the deficit. we showed that we can come together.

i think we can find good parts of the deal helping our veterans back to work, a infrastructure bank. jenna: that would cost money wouldn't it? you said you're for cutting the $4 trillion or supporting the super committee to do that cutting $4 trillion over the next four years. the infrastructure would cause money. >> if you're going to invest i keep looking at things that would work. infrastructure works. infrastructure makes things happen and makes the economy grow. it happened in west virginia, we did well witness. let me tell you the things that don't work, okay if you want to know that. the -- extending the employment tax cuts, that is $240 billion. we tried that last year and did not get the bump we should have got even. and also it puts a strain on social security. that's something we don't want to do. jenna: you don't like that part of the bill but you like as you mentioned the infrastructure bank. i only have about 45 seconds here, senator, but in virginia

did you see that the infrastructure spending created sustainable job growth for the long term not just for a few months. >> when you improve your infrastructure your roads, bridges, it gives you a chance to compete in the marketplace. it's a one-time basically when you do the construction, but basically it gives you an opportunity to perform, and we are able to do that. our little state of west virginia has done quite well, but we watched and we targeted what we were going to spend money on. and if something didn't work we didn't spend it over again. we didn't continue to invest in something that didn't work. there is $450 billion, this cost is too high we can't put more debt on the back of the taxpayers. we need a fairness to the tax system. i think fairness needs to be in the tax system. they want to make sure, i'm going to be paying taxes, i'm going to be paying more as far as fairness is it going to go to reduce the debtor more spending. they don't want more spending, and i don't want more spending.

x node to take care of thwe need to pay down the debt, put fairness to the taxes. jenna: i wish we had more time. i'd like to dig into a third of the senate getting together saying they will support the super committee to making cuts that will be bold and the ones we needed. maybe next week we can get together and talk a little bit more about that. thank you very much. we'll be right back you could save a bundle with geico's multi-policy discount. geico, saving people money on more than just car insurance. ♪ geico, saving people money on more than just car insurance.

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♪ give me what you got, now magic, you getting tired yet? i'm just getting warmed up! [ male announcer ] it's like magic! call today for a free home loan review. we'll offer a free android smartphone to you! ♪ hit it [ laughs ] here's one for the east coast. now that's some detroit magc right there. [ male announcer ] one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. jon: two hours went by like that. jenna: in a flash. jon: but it's the weekend. jenna: you have to go to work and do news watch, busy man. jon: "america live" starts right now. megyn: fox news alert new fallout in the solyndra scandal as reporters go after what the white house new about the meltdown of this company and when they knew it. welcome to "america live," i'm megyn kelly. republican lawmakers and reporters across the country are