martha: con tkpwrallations to her! "happening now" starts right now, see you tomorrow. bye guys. jenna: judgment day for akpwhrapbd knox, that's the lead headline today. hi everybody, i'm kwra*epba lee. jon: i'm jon scott, we are in the fox newsroom and "happening now", verdict watch in italy, awaiting a decision in an appeals case in a murder case covered around the world, american amanda knox, about to learn whether she will go free or back to an italian prison possibly for the rest of her life, this after a lower court convicted her and her italian boyfriend of killing her roomate, meredith kircher in what prosecutors call frenz he'd sex attack. skwr*pb skwr pb her defense attorney spent months challenging the dna evidence that convicted her and right now amanda knox awaits that verdict, after appeal to go

the court to set her free. >> i am not what they say. the perversion, the violence, contempt for life and for the person, aren't apart of me and i did not do what they say i have done. i didn't kill, i didn't rape, i didn't steal. i wasn't there. i wasn't present at the crime. jon: we're greg burke is live in perugia, italy. greg, the defense team said to be hopeful. why? >> reporter: well, jon, i think it's primarily because of the dna. as you mentioned, first of all, perhaps because of the judge himself, the judge allowed the independent dna review that they are banking on so much, the judge from the initial trial, the defense had asked for an independent review, that was not granted, that request. this time, it was. then the results of that review, which really put serious, serious doubts about the presence of amanda and rafaela there at the crime scene, jon.

jon: what about that final plea of hers to the court, what was that like? >> reporter: well, you heard a bit of it, and it was really heartfelt, it was direct. i'd say it was very, very good, compared to her one in the initial trial, that was rambling and all around the place, and you couldn't really get t here, i don't know whether she had training or not, but it certainly looks as if she did. simple, declarative statements saying i did not kill, i did not rape, i think she was really very, very convincing and of course, she also choked up, she made it very clear what's at stake for her, a 24-year-old woman. jon: part of all this, though, there is a dead woman. what's the victim's family saying? >> reporter: the kircher family has basically remained very, very quiet, although a short time ago they did give a news conference, they will be here for the verdict, the sister says they are here, so that meredith will not be

forgotten. the mother says don't forget the brutality that she suffered. they're also talking about there's other evidence besides the dna, so you can tell where they're coming from. the kirchers also say it's hard to fight the public relations onslaught of the knox family, one that has been clearly vective -- effective. they say they understand why the knoxs are doing it but it's difficult to be on the other end of it with meredith basically forgotten. jon: greg burke, live from rome, thank you. a note for viewers, it is possible that verdict could be announced in the next two hours, during helicopter happening now", if it -- during "helicoptering -- during "happening now". if it does, we will bring it to you live. jenna: meantime, turning back to politics now, fox news is confirming south carolina will move its republican primary to january 21st of next year. in a statement just released, the south carolina gop says they're moving the

primary forward in their state in direct response to florida's decision to hold its primary on january 31st. south carolina republicans have an impressive record picking the eventual gop presidential nominee every time in the past 30 years. so we wanted to bring you up to date on that news. in the meantime, herman cain's 999 tax plan is gaining momentum. it's his signature blueprint for reforming the tax code and jump starting the economy. but one of the questions we're asking now is can it really work. doug mckelway is taking a closer look, live from our washington bureau. >> with polls showing herman cain becoming a more viable contender he's coming under greater scrutiny as one of the centerpieces of his platform, the 999 proposal. nine hundred ninety-nine is a fundamental restructuring of the tax code that would impose a 9 percent income tax across the board, a 9 percent tax on businesses and also a 9 percent national sales tax. it's coming under some degree of fire from both the right and the left.

from the left, critics argue it would unfairly burden the poor. fox news sunday yesterday, chris wallace pose thunderstorm this way to cain, if the world's wealthiest man buying a doughnut for a dollar and a poor person buy as doughnut for a dollar, isn't it going to hit the poor person appeared. -- harder. >> it levels the playing field t. gets rid of the loopholes but the most important thing is it gets the government out of the business of trying to pick one of the losers and trying to decide what's regressive and -- and not regressive. >> reporter: 999 is also being hit from some on the right who fear the damaging effects of impose ago national sales tax while an income tax is still in effect at the present rate. grover nowhere quist was quoted in the "wall street journal" editorial saying if it was being introduced tomorrow i'd have concerns about having both on the books at the same time and would be screaming bloody murder, end quote. cain says under the 999 plan the lowest income earners would be shielded from the

sales tax. a tea party -- many tea party groups favor the plan believing it would eliminate tax loopholes and shelters that keep the the wealth nefrom paying their fair share, and many like it because it's consumption-based, while adding to tax revenue growth. we shall see. it's going to come under more scrutiny. jenna: we'll see when we get more specifics. that's going to be important for that plan as folks continue to talk more about it, doug. nice to have you with us, thank you very much. jon: we are waiting right now for an important bail hearing in massachusetts, prosecutors accuse 26-year-old reswan purdos of plot to go fly remote aircraft packed with high explosives into the pentagon and u.s. capitol. molly line is streaming live outside the u.s. district court in massachusetts, molly, what can we expect in court today? >> reporter: hi jon. that's right, reswan furdel is expected to face a judge

and prosecutors are expected to ask that he will be held without bail pending these serious accusations. investigators believe he was meeting with people he thought were al-qaeda agents, in reality they were under cover fbi agents, and that he believes he was working to create a pretty complicated plot to bomb the u.s. pentagon and u.s. capitol, using these small drone aircraft that would be packed with c4 explosives and then when people came running out of the buildings the plan was to have several associated along with him open fire on those innocent people that were fleeing the scene that he had planned to create. he actually went to washington, scoped out the scene, looked for a launch site, according to the affidavit and paperwork, he was actively working with these undercover fbi agents who he believed to be, once again, al-qaeda operatives, to create this plan, providing them with some drives and even going so far to give them several cell phones that he had adapted, he believed, to set off bombs, to act as the go device for a bomb overseas that he planned and hoped

would kill american soldiers he places these very serious charges. tonight, we will see from the federal judge, this afternoon at about 3:00, we'll see from that federal judge whether or not he will remain behind bars awaiting trial. jon: very serious charges, as you point out, if he's convicted. what kind of a subs? >> reporter: -- if convicted, what kind of a sentence? >> he's accused of attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization, 15 years on that charge, to injure and destroy national defense premiseses, 20 years, and also, to destroy a federal government building, 5-20 years. when you add it up together, it's ayears total for the charges he's thus far facing and also $250,000 fines for each of those charges. so a lot of time in prison and also, some hefty fines as well. jon: molly line, reporting live, thank you. >> thank you. jenna: from massachusetts, take a look overseas, jon, we have video coming in from other international desk showing high school students

in greece scuffling with police near the parliament building in athens, police detaining at least one student. we've seen clashes like that in greece over the last couple of months but this was an otherwise peaceful protest against education cuts at state-run schools. this comes amid the debt crises and fear that the government will not be able to pay for the loans it needs to avoid default. jon: shouldn't they northbound class? >> jenna: that's a good question. jon: entire villages under water, leaving thousands stranded in the philippines, homes and buildings, islands now, people are clinging on to their rooftops waiting for help, many refuse to leave because of looters. the philippines struggling to recover from its second typhoon in a week. sixteen people have died in the two storms. jenna: he entered the race with a bang and conservative texas governor rick perry shot up in the polls right away, but now controversy could be coaling off his red hot campaign.

some say he's not so conservative after all. jon: and this very dangerous invasion, but these are not your ordinants. look at them move! they are so powerful, they can actually bore through concrete, and ordinary pesticides don't have any effect on them. are they headed to your neighborhood? we'll go in depth. jenna: hope not. plus when it comes to healthy eating, americans talk a good game, but what actually happens when we get inside a fast-food restaurant. do we really go for the salads or the burger and fries? we've got the lowdown, coming up.

jon: right now republican presidential candidate herman cain is riding a tidal wave of popularity, leap frogging over other republican candidates in the polls, putting pressure on both rick perry and mitt romney. but are the mainstream media taking this guy seriously? fox news digital politics editor cries stierwalt joins us with a look at that. he has improved tremendously, especially sthaeupbs debate in florida. >> it was a crucial turning point for herman cain. he had gotten attention in a another debate, people liked him, the republican base responds to cain as a businessman and nontraditional politician at a time when republicans are looking for people out of the box. jon: but he has had shaky moments as well, especially when asked questions about foreign policy and that sort of thing. does it suggest that this is going to be primarily an election about domestic issues? >> well, everybody,

republican and democrat, agrees that this is an election that's a referendum on barack obama's economic performance and when you get down to it that's what people want to hear. that's cain's strongest argument, just as mitt romney makes the argument that as a businessman he has a better strategy for getting the economy on on track and rick per yes, the our top tier, as a career politician can't do it. the question is, as you rightly point out, as you get closer to election day and americans think about national security and other big ticket items that come to the fore no matter what, cain might have a harder time hang in there. jon: cain was asked about a controversy that is big to go dog one of his competitors. over the weekend, he was asked about a sign that was apparently painted on a rock near the entrance to a ranch, a ranch that was leased by governor perry, or his family. let's listen to what he had to say, then i want to get your take on the other side of it. >> that's just very

insensitive. that is -- there isn't a more vial, negative word than the n word, and for him to leave it there as long as he did, before i hear that they finally painted over it, it's just pla insensitive to a lot of black people in this country >> the sign obviously used the n word, and again, was painted over, according to perry's people, at some point. how much is this going to hurt rick perry? >> reporter: i don't think it's that big of a deal for rick perry, just because republicans tend to hate this kind of stuff where it's the gotcha, somebody sedan offensive word or it was in your presence on land that you leased and those kinds of things. republicans hate that, because just the same reason that they hate it when rick perry said that those who oppose in state tuition for illegal immigrants were heartless, being associated with racism by association, here it's something that republicans don't like. i doubt that cain and romney will be able to make it stick on perry.

jon: and where does -- excuse me, herman cain's surge in support, where does it seem to be coming from? >> >> reporter: well, if you look at mitt romney, he has stayed within a 22-26 percent bandwidth, mitt romney has had the same amount of support throughout this process as he had really when he was running for president the last time in the 2008 cycle. this support comes from michele bachmann, but mostly, rick perry. perry goes down ten points and you see a surge for not only cain but also former house speaker newt gingrich. jon: interesting. chris stierwalt, thank you very much. >> you bet. jon: you can get more of your political fix at the bottom of the hour, chris will host power play on foxnews.com, log on, click on the link on the home page. jenna: the government weighedding into -- wading into the debate over traumatic brain injury, a debate that can impact every high schooler in the nation. we'll take a look at that. vice president biden's brother in the middle of a security scare after a mysterious powder was sent

to his home in florida. what was that all about? we have that story next. >> i opened the envelope on the way to the door and the white powder dispersed and got on me, and it was a little bit alarming.

jon: breaking details out of florida now where federal and local law enforcement are conducting a massive investigation. this after vice president joe biden's brother received a package in the mail, containing a powdery white substance. it happened over the weekend. patti ann brown is tracking the story from the breaking news desk. >> reporter: on saturday a manila envelope was delivered in florida, his girlfriend took it and gave it to him and when he took it he was doused up to his belows withhite powder, he dropped the envelope and ran to the shower while his

girlfriend called 911. there was a massive response from hazardous materials crews, firefighters, police, and federal agents. authorities evaated neighbors and closed off the street in ocean ridge, which is in palm beach county. biden and his girlfriend were taken to a hospital. she was released saturday, biden was released sunday morning. the fbi says the powder did not appear to be toxic but now the hunt is on for the source of this suspicious damage. local officials are involved as well as the fbi, the secret service, and the postal service. biden says he spotted a postmark of india. francis, better known as frank, is joseph biden's younger brother, he's 57. biden says he talked by phone to his older brother, the vice president, during his ambulance ride and joe biden told him there was nothing unusual happening on his end. frank biden heads a nonprofit that aids tuition-free charter schools in florida and also troubled teens and is registered as a

lobbyist because of work on behalf of his company. frank biden is taking this all in stride. >> all this attention is a little over the top. but i understand your interest and concern. but just to be sure, everything is fine and dandy >> we'll keep you posted on the hunt for whatever sent this package. jon: patti ann brown, please do, thank you. jenna: you've heard about nfl players suffering the horrible effects from traumatic brain injury but it's not just professionals, you know. a recent study suggests nearly 50 percent of high school football players have a concussion every year. every year they play. also, 35 percent of those have multiple concussions. right now there's no national guidelines for how to deal with con suggestions -- concussions and that's surprising to know that. the cdc, though, is getting involved. we want to talk to dr. marc siegl, physician at nyu medical center and fox news medical e teamer about this. i've talked to you enough times to know you're wary

when the government gets involved. >> i'm not wary in this case. this is an enormous problem and when you see the nfl doing this, they found out this is a 19 times greater risk of dementia in people that have played professional football in the nfl. that's shocking. now we look to the high schools and schools, the american association of neurological surgeons says 300,000 concussions a year, 45,000 of them end up in the emergency room. those are big unless. jenna: so why isn't there guidelines right now? >> well, there isn't guidelines because nobody takes it seriously when it's down on the high school level, but you know what, there's a whole problem with the culture here. you know what it is? we're taught to put on a helmet as though it's protecting our heads, then charge forward, head first, and you hit your head, you end up with a concussion. let me talk about the symptoms of a concussion for a minute, headache, nausea, vomiting, blurry vision, those are common -- confusion, you don't know where you are right away, everybody knows about what -- about those but they don't know it's occuring

because your brain has been shook and when it happens to you once it can happen to you much more easily the second time. jenna: what do you guidelines include or what do you think they should have in them? >> 41 percent of students surveyed said that they get back on the field too soon, so the first and most important thing is the guidelines have to keep them off the field for at least a couple of days, minimum. then they've got to be checked. i think physicians should be involved. i think there should be physicals involved, i think coaches need to be told what to do. i think that they're -- you can't rely on football coaches to do this. as you and i discussed before we came on, parents are the worst. every father thinks his son is going to end up in the nfl so in high school, they're rooting them forward, they probably want them back on the field. jenna: it's a good thing to be aware of even as parents. for more detail, the cdc says they'll put out these guidelines by the fall of 2014. two democrats in new jersey were looking to make this mandatory legislation and that got stuck in the senate. that's where we are as far as making it man today -- mandatory. the cdc is voluntarily

picking this up. >> i love this. the cdc should be involved in this. it's a disease. jenna: what's interesting, we talk about football, but most of the data suggests that girls are more effective in the long term by a concussion -- affected in the long term by a concussion than a boy. why would that stph-b. >> it's partly because of the fact that they're not expecting it, they're not thinking about it, they're not wearing enough protection, but you know what, it's not just girls and boys, it's young people. i want to point out, it's a developing brain that's most at risk. what your brain is developing and you get injured, you're most susceptible to long term risks. jenna: it's very interesting. we'll see, 2014 is the deadline, or when we expect it to come out, but a lot more awareness. >> we better be aware and now is the time to be talking about it. jenna: dr. siegl, nice to have you, jon, over to you. jon: some foot no thought about the obesity crisis gripping the country. sure, we've heard for a long time that americans would eat healthier if it were an option when we go out to eat. well, fast-food joints took up the challenge, mcdonald's offers fruit slices instead of fries, in happy meals, i

hop is serving up yogurt and fruit as an alternative to pancakes, bacon and eggs. the new poll finds that 47 percent of those surveyed said they would eat salads if they were on the menu, but only 23 percent, less than half, actually do it. now, apparently, price is a factor for a lot of folks. they explain that a salad costs about $6, while a burger is just two bucks. jenna: and tastes better! that's editorial. jon: that is editorial. you just got in trouble with the food police. >> dr. siegl, i had a burger yesterday. can you tell? give me break! fine! >> a final emotional appeal to the court. that's what happened today for american amanda knox. will it set her free? we're just moments away from learning if she will leave an italian prison a free woman. we're going to speak to a pair of legal experts about hecase coming up. always crowd showing no signs of ending their

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jon: fox news alert to italy now. hours after knox's emotional plea to the court for her freedom, we are awaiting the announcement of the verdict in the appeal of her murder conviction.

knox, behind bars for the last four years, after a lower court found her guilty of killing and sexually assaulting her british roommate, meredith kercher. just moments ago meredith's sister spoke out about the case. >> it's very difficult to keep her memory alive in all of this. which is why the whole trial is still going on, so we can find the truth and find justice for her. jon: joining us now to talk about the prospect, arthur eye tkal a, former prosecutor and fox news analyst and jeffery king a defense attorney. arthur, first of all explain as best you can some of the differences in the italian system. we could get a verdict here that would be very different from what we might expect under the u.s. appeal system, right. >> absolutely. here is the biggest difference. the biggest difference in the u.s. system the judge can only

look at the procedural issues, the evidentiary issues. did the trial court judge allow evidence in that he shouldn't have, et cetera, et cetera. in italy it's like a do over. unlike in america where the appellate issues are just decided by judges, here there are two judges, the chief judge who actually has two votes in deliberations, and another judge who has one vote, and then six lay jurors. and it's a point system, it's a majority unlike in america where it has to be unanimous, it's a majority. there are four possible outcomes. they could uphold the verdict and keep the sentence the exactly the way it is. uphold the verdict and escalate the sentence to life, they can uphold the verdict and reduce it or they could exonerate her after she goes to the embassy and gets her passport updated she'll be back on her way to america. jon: i think that's why we are paying such attention to this. so many people are so hopeful that she is going to walk. but the prospect is still out

there for her to get a life sentence rather -pbt 26 years that she was already serving, right? >> yeah i think so. i think one of the most important things, something that i've learned threw this process is that apparently italian gist ar juries are not see sequestered like american juries. they have been exposed to all the media coverage and all the public opinion that threst of us have. jon: it's my understanding you think she is going to walk. why? >> i do. i think one of two things will happen. either she will walk or the jury may just give her a term-served sentence that she can pack her bags and go back home. i think something that's been talked about all morning has been the dna evidence. what is key here is that the two experts were appointed by the

courts to go over this dna evidence one more time. these are not defense experts. that goes to their impartiality. what they found is that the tests conducted on the bra clasp that was found in the apartment and the knife were just simply not reliable. jon: arthur the whole world is watching in case. does that have an affect on these italian imagine straits. >> i think it would be hard to say it does not. what jeffery said that is key is the fact they have not been sequestered. a poll just came out that says 73% of the italian citizens still believe amanda knox was culpable in some fashion or another, and these jurors and judges have access to that information, and as much as they try for it not to color mayor opinion they might on the flip side apparently amanda knox was spectacular in court today, to the point where one or two of the jurors were crying, and italians are known to be emotional and passionate and compassionate. so my guess is some sort of a

compromise verdict where the sentence may be reduced but not to the point where she goes home today, maybe in two or three more years. jon: once again we could get that verdict while we are on the air in the next hour and a half or so. if we do we'll bring it to you live. jeffery king and arthur aidala, thank you. jenna: protestors flooding wall street for a third straight week vowing to stand their ground and demanding that charges be dropped against 700 protestors this weekend at the brooklyn bridge. david lee miller is following the developments from new york. >> reporter: the copy-cat protests taking aim at big business have taken place across the u.s. the other demonstrations are much smaller than what we have seen in new york city. among the cities targeted. san francisco, los angeles, chicago, denver and boston. they say they want economic equality and lash out at capitalism. the sites targeted include banks as well as federal buildings.

in seattle washington they say it's giving a voice to people who otherwise weren't being heard. >> i have been very frustrated for a longtime about especially corporate person hood and how it has squeezed out the ability of the american people. >> reporter: in new york city where 700 demonstrators were arrested over the weekend the protestors said they were tricked by police after telling them to cross the brooklyn bridge then charged them with disorderly conduct. video recorded by the nypd shows a very different story demonstrators can be heard shouting, take the bridge as uniformed police captains warned protestors they would be arrested if they didn't turn back, listen. >> you will be arrested for disorderly conduct. >> reporter: in new york this morning there were pwhoe more

demonstrations, with protestors degrees up as selfdescribed wall street zombies. they had white faces dripping with fake blood. later today the protestors are planning an antipolice brutality protest and a rally in support of union workers. jenna: thank you very much. we'll continue to follow that. we want to take a look at what is happening on wall street right now. unrelated to the protests of course stocks are down just slightly today. a columnist at the "wall street journal" is painting a bleak picture for all of us, warning us in his words not to get suck erred into stocks. let's go ahead and talk to this man, simon constable, arthur of 50 economic indicators that really matter. everyone says leave your money in for the long term, the market will come back, relax with this volatility. >> in the all long we are all dead. jenna: i'm not optimistic now. how should we invest your money. >> there are three big things, one the european crisis which is

not going to end well despite the optimism or denial in europe. you've got the u.s. going into a recession without a doubt, that will happen, and then you've got the government may exacerbate the situation with some of its sort of curbing spending. it may not exacerbate it but it may. there is a chance there. all of those things mean you need to be very cautious. jenna: are you taking all your money out of the stock market simon. >> yeah, absolutely. jenna: when did you start to do this. >> i've been worried about this for about a year. jenna: you say i'm done i'm out of stock. why do you think this time is different? we've gone through recessions before. the markets have improved and they do come back. >> they do come back and they don't come back. if you look at the last ten years and some of the indices that is basically flat. it would have been better to have your money in cds. yes, people say over the long term but it's a very, very, very, very, long term, 30, 40

years long term. over periods of 10 years, 20 years, when i'm pointing to and what the people i talk to point to is they look at dividend stocks, stocks that kickoff cash. jenna: if you are putting your money in the stock market that's where you should look. i know i put you on the spot a little bit. you're a couple tph*eus, and you're not necessarily a financial adviser. i think it's important to know we get a lot of financial advice, we never know if the people behind it are following their own advice. if you're look at stocks, stocks with dividends pay you back. what about the questions of the tax structure changing and seeing taxes go up on the dividend profits. >> they haven't gone up yet number one. the other thing is that even if they go up that is still going to be still pretty good compared to capital gains. that is the choice, right? you have dividend taxes or capital gains taxes and it's how you get the money back. jenna: what is the one question we should be asking the people that are managing our 401ks or

asking financial advisers. >> if you want to be in stocks where will i be hurt least and what has a good track record of providing solid gains? jenna: interesting. we'll take those questions. i think a lot o people have that phone in their hand right now. calling. simon don't get suck erred into stocks that is the message. >> that's the message. jenna: nice to have you. jon: pork bell lease is the answer. the presse is really on, chris christie is feeling the heat from a lot of republicans, but is the popular new jersey governor ready to jump into the race for the white house? it's not over yet. we'll have a live report. also it sounds like an alfred hitchcock film but this is a creepy tale of hairy ants biting, it's all true. they are multiplying by the millions right here in the u.s.

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jenna: welcome back. developing stories we're keeping an eye on in the newsroom and from our control room as well. out to italy now where a judge ordered three aides to silvio berlusconi to court because they hired three women for prostitution. a worker is hanging off that building. they suspended work over the weekend due to high winds. back to work this monday morning. u.s. construction is up more than a percent in august after a big decline in july. gains are far below what analysts consider a healthy number. jon: hairy ants with sharp teeth

invading america by the millions. sounds like a horror movie but it is unfolding in real life right now along the gulf coast. these flea-sized critters are extremely fast. look at them. that is not fast-motioned photography. regular pesticides are not working and some people are even being forced to flee their homes. joining us on the phone is a researcher at mississippi museum. what are these things and how did they get here? >> the crazy ants are a smallish, reddish brown ant that we think is native to south america, although they possibly came in from the caribbean along the way. we think they came in on carrier containers on ships. that's not proven yet. once they are here they can move in a variety of ways with hay bails, and mulch, and tarps and

vehicles, people can move them. there are a lot of ways they can move about. jon: i heard one of the problems is that texas is in such severe drought right now. hay has been shipped into texas and some of the hay could be carrying these things, that's a problem. >> they are able to nest in a wide variety of areas and quickly. so they can be shipped in the haw bails. jon: pesticides don't work. >> that's not correct. it's easy to kill them with any poison i'm aware of. it's just the shear number of them and the entire population in a given area. jon: because they build so many nests. >> there are so many individual ants that it's hard to kill all of them. you can kill a group of them and then another population quickly is moved back in. jon: we have a map, i believe, of the states that are seeing these things right now. how quickly are they spreading?

>> they were first found in texas in two in the houston area. within the last nine years they've now spread to at least 18 counties to give you an idea. in florida around 2000 in just five or six counties, now they are known in 20. we just found them in mississippi in 2009, in one county in hancock, now we found additional populations in jackson county. jon: do they bore through concrete or are they just so small they get through the tiny cracks. >> they are opportunistic nestors. they will find any cavity and nest in it. undie briunder debri. >> they don't bite or sting.

it's just their numbers, they are annoying. jenna: at least they don't bite. all right. dramatic testimony in the manslaughter trial of michael jackson's doctor. the er doctor on-duty is taking the stand against the man on your screen. live with that story. new fallout from the killing of the terrorist leader anwar al-awlaki. a live report neck. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8.

jon: the president meeting with thinks cabinet today. topic a was supposed to be all about jobs, but if you listen i think you'll hear a little politics sneaking in. listen. >> it's been several weeks now since i set up the american jobs act, and as i've been saying on

the road i want it back. i'm ready to sign it. and so my expectation is that now that we're in the month of october that we will schedule a vote before the end of this month, i'll be talking to senator reid, mcconnell, as well as speaker boehner and nancy pelosi, and insisting that we have a vote on this bill. jon: last month the mantra was pass this bill now. the new mantra seems to be, pass this bill by the end of october. the president daring republicans i think to vote it down. we'll see what happens and we will certainly keep you up to date. jenna. jenna: jon, newnformation about the mission to kill anwar al-awlaki. he's the american-born cleric who headed al-qaida's wing in yemen. catherine herridge has been following the story since the beginning. catherine we are learning a little bit more about this operation. >> reporter: well, thank you, jenna good morning. yemeni government officials tell fox that the initial tip came

from intelligence interrogations. through traditional surveillance he was identified. they project the image of a holy man, this is a mugshot soliciting prostitutes in san diego. the yemenis were confident about the cleric's location eight days before the strike, that's why the delay. they said he was under surveillance for some time because it took ahile to get a clean shot, that is a you've tpa miss eupl or a reference to limiting damage outside of anwar al-awlaki or in sent civilians, jenna. jenna: when we look at yemen we look at the threat of al-qaida. there, specifically is it over? >> reporter: despite the early reports by the ap that the bomb maker ibrahim hassan al-asiri was killed i've been reporting since friday that there was no forensic evidence to support the claim and now it's accepted that he was not even the target of e strike. ibrahim hassan al-asiri was behind the underwear bomb and cargo printer bombs you see him there on the right. he is ruthless by example, he

used his own brother as a suicide bomber in august of 2009 for the attempted assassination of a saudi prince and the actual leader of al-qaida in yemen is a longtime aid to osama bin laden and he's believed to be in the south of yemen. a u.s. official says that it's believed they have been apart for some time for operational security reasons. traveling to israel today the defense secretary who was recently the cia director said it was too early to write off the al-qaida affiliate. >> there is no question that al-qaida remains a threat, that there are individuals within al-qaida that are still there, that are still planning to try to attack the united states. >> reporter: a former senior intelligence official reminded me this morning that we had a similar strike with al-qaida in yemen back in 2002 and in a seven year period it was able to reconstitute itself and launch attacks against the united states. jenna: victory on one hand but

obviously staying vigilant in that area of the world as well. thank you very much. jon: it has been 30 years since the assassination attempt on ronald reagan, the man responsible for that attempted murder, john hinkley jr. went to a mental facility. now that facility wants to set him free. we'll talk about what prosecutors are doing to try to stop it. also, legendary quarterback fran ta tartenton is here to weigh in on the educational debate. we will ask him about his thoughts just ahead. where do you go to find a busess backed by the superguarantee®? only& suonline.s®. on your phone. or in the book. go to superpages®.

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the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. when they told me these plans were endorsed by aarp... i had only one thing to say... sign me up. call the number on your screen now... and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. jenna: you might have heard this name before, maybe once or twice. jon: let's hear it. jenna: chris christie, on the brink of a big decision, supposedly. will he or won't he run for president? the question that is really, well-taken a lot of focus as we head into this week. we are glad you are with us on a monday morning, everybody i'm

jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. we thought that question was settled last week, but maybe not. it is down to the wire, new jersey's governor is considering what it would take to launch a presidential campaign at this late date, even though we are more than a year out from the election, after renewed pressure from prominent republicans, christie is expected to make an announcement one way or the other within days. bret baier is the anchor of special report. bret, a lot of people heard what he had to say on stage at the reagan library and said okay he's not running. but he didn't really close the door in. >> reporter: well apparently not. his aides are saying he is seriously reconsidering it, and over this past weekend has been doing that. there are folks who say a decision could come within 48 hours, and that his team is really looking at it. now, it's a daunting process if you look at it getting in the race at this point. bill clinton did it back in 1991 getting into the race in october

but he already had an exploratory committee set up. there is no real national organization. could christie set it up quickly? yes. could big money fall in place for him? yes. but you have an expedited calendar here in which, you know, florida moved up to january 31st, all of the other states ahead of them, iowa, new hampshire, nevada, south carolina, south carolina is now the 21st of january. you would have a sped up calendar that would require, one, a lot of money quickly, and two, a lot of organization, and so far we are hearing from all of these states that there really hasn't been much of a christie outreach from anybody official. he has a lot of work to do if he decides to get in this race. jon: has he been watching the polls or watching the debates? a lot of people were pushing for texas governor, another active, sitting republican governor, rick perry. they wanted him into the race. then he got into the race and as you saw firsthand his

performance at the florida debate was maybe unde under well ming. is that why christie is taking another look at this? >> reporter: perhaps, and he's talking to a lot of folks who are encouraging him, and probably a lot of big money folks who say they will get behind him wholeheartedly. that they see something lacking in this field. there are others who say the field is fine the way it is. our fox poll has it at 63% impressed with the gop field. there is a hunger for this blunt kind of straight-talking candidate. a lot of people look at the youtube videos of governor christie confronting the teacher's union in one way or another or people who ask questions and they think that is refreshing. it is refreshing to a lot of the gop and to the base. but then when you get into a race, you get under the lights and under the microscope, and it's a different story. so it's interesting to see if he gets in this race how much he'll identify with folks who are

conservative and a part of the base on a number of different policy issues that he's not particularly lined up with them. jon: if he jumps in which candidate does he hurt the most? where does his support come from, do you think? >> reporter: i mean he probably hurts the most mitt romney, who would see a big challenge from the centrist point of view of of the republican party. as we've seen governor romney has so far a ceiling in the polls, 22-26%. he hasn't had a breakthrough moment. he's performed extremely well in the debates according to all analysis. he would have a serious challenge in the center of the party as opposed to from the right or the tea party. jon: thank you for your insight. bret will have the latest tonight on everything going on in washington. who knows we may hear that christie announcement earlier rather than later. stay tuned, special report

6:00pm eastern tonight. jenna: in the meantime listen to these topics. it sounds like these are the topics that you'll hear on the campaign trail, immigration, same-sex marriage, constitutional challenge to the president's healthcare law. these don't have to do with the campaign they are actually three hot button issues fashion the supreme court as it begins its new term today. shannon bream is live at supreme court with more on this. shannon. >> reporter: well it is a very busy day as the term starts off officially today with the first round of oral arguments here at the supreme court. before diving into a very busy docket many of the justice is took part in the red mass. it's where members of the clergy pray for the judicial branch that the folks will have wisdom in making tough decisions in the term ahead. let's talk about the things they'll face. one of the cases involves immigration and what criteria law enforcement can use when deciding to deport people who were brought here illegally but when they were children also. the religious freedoms of churches and religion schools when it comes to hiring and

firing their personnel. the biggest case, the one that is being talked about, that is the battle over the healthcare law. the lower courts have split. this is perfectly teed up for the supreme court to weigh in. it's almost a given they will decide this issue this term and that will be a lot at stake. listen. >> if this law is upheld it will mean there are no limits to congressional power and no limit to what congress can force americans to purchase. this would be a broad, wide-sweeping court opinion if it upholds obama care and will be a deep threat to the liberty of all americans. >> i think that some of the best arguments for the federal government can be found in the opinions in the lower courts of appeals that have upheld the constitutionality of the law, including a very new answered opinion by a very conservative judge, judge jeffery sutton from the 6th circuit who scalia called one of his best clerks

ever. >> reporter: so will justice scalia and the others be persuaded by someone he calls one of his best clerks ever or will they side with other whose have filed petitions here. they want to find it unconstitutional. we wait and see what the judges ultimately decide. we could have a decision by june of next year. jenna: a busy time ahead, shannon, very important decisions there. shannon bream live at the supreme court today. jon: now more dramatic testimony in the trial of michael jackson's doctor. dr.~conrad murray charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with jackson's death. adam housley joins us live from los angeles. what is going on today, adam? >> reporter: good morning, jon, court back in session about a half an hour or so here in los angeles. richelle cooper is back on the stand. she was on the stand friday when court ended. she is the doctor who was in charge at the ucla medical

center when michael jackson's body was brought in. she said show would announced him dead over the phone according to the emt's that were on scene. when he was brought in he talked about the situation, how he basically flat lined. she felt he was dead upon arrival. she also testified on friday that dr. murray never told her about propofol even though she asked him several times what medication michael jackson might have been taking. very dramatic testimony on friday. she continues again this morning. she'll be followed by another cardiologist from ucla who will talk about his interaction with dr. murray and what happened that day back in 2009. if the day goes fast enough the third witness is expected to be dr. murray's girlfriend from houston. the prosecution alleges that dr. murray was talking to her on a cellphone at the time he was supposed to be watching over michael jackson in his room and about the same time that michael jackson may have started to have those health problems. the prosecution alleges from taking too much propofol. as that all continues today the jackson family inside the

courtroom, janet jackson is here, randy jackson is here. father joe, and mother catherine, and the three children are all inmon in montreal for a cirque de soleil that opened last night. there are other people here that are protesting, but it has nothing to do with this courthouse or this case. each day seems to get more dramatic. we'll keep you updated. jon: always some kind of activity at l.a. court. adam housley, thank you. jenna: a night out with friends ends in a deadly shooting. partygoers came under fire from a band of gunmen. we have new information straight ahead on this story, plus the search for illegal immigrants is not confined to the border. federal agents extending their reach to public transportation now. fox news goes on board for a

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jenna: taking yoout to california where police are searching for gunmen who opened fire on a crowd of partygoers in suburban san francisco over the w weekend. patti ann is live with the latest. >> reporter: it was two teenage girls and a young man who were killed and three others wounded when at least two gunman opened fire as people left the warehouse early yesterday. that is according to a police agent. the three dead are a 16-year-old, a 19-year-old and a 23-year-old. an suv at the scene was riddled with bullets. at least a hundred people attended this so-called tattoo party which had been advertised on the internet, including facebook. police could not find a license for the gathering and a permit would have been required, because of the size of the gathering and the fact that they charged admission. the gunmen were armed with semi-automatic handguns. investigators were not sure if they had attended the party or

arrived as people left. so far no arrests have been made and police do not know what the motive was. they are asking anyone with information to call them at (510)577-3278 jenna. jenna: hopefully they'll get some tips. pat tee ann, thank you. jon: new information now on a new way to try to crackdown on illegal immigration. border patrol agents going beyond the border and the u.s. coastline. they have the authority to conduct searches in public places, those include trains and buses. phil keating has a look at that live from miami, phil. >> reporter: good morning/afternoon, jon. the u.s. border control does this on an every day basis. the u.s. supreme court this upcoming session is expected to rule on the constitutionality of arizona's controversial immigration law which allows local stops to spot id check anyone they suspect of being in the country illegal leave. on the federal level this happens all the time.

whether it's the arriving amtrak or the oncoming greyhound. >> u.s. border patrol we are doing immigration checks. >> reporter: this team of border patrol agents is more often than not waiting to find out who is on board and who shouldn't be. >> do you have immigration documents? >> yeah. >> can i see them, please? >> reporter: these dent my indication checks are a rarely publicized yet every day action by the u.s. border patrol enforcing immigration laws. >> we questioned everybody equally on that bus, everyone, whether you're a u.s. citizen, or a resident alien or an illegal alien. you're going to be questioned. >> reporter: the obama administration moving to selectively remove undocumented criminals or immigration fugitives advocates say these random checks are misguided. >> these are the people we should be going after, the dangerous criminals, the people who intend to do us harm, not

folks like kids who, you know, would be eligible for residency if a bill like the d.r.e.a.m. act were to pass. >> do you have your passport with you? >> reporter: until a formal policy change these checks go on. >> the key is being present here and deterring something bad from happening. >> reporter: this year the obama administration is on track to deport a record 400,000 people caught in this country illegally. now half of them this year have criminal histories compared to just 31% with criminal histories the year president obama took office. jon. jon: phil keating in miami. thanks, phil. jenna: new details about the man who tried to assassinate president ronald reagan. john hinkley jr. is in a mental hospital, the same hospital he's been in for 30 years. that could not change. we'll tell you straight ahead. any time now we could find out if amanda knox will go free. she is appealing her murder conviction in italy and the court has a number of option

tph-s this case. our legal team weighs in next.

jon: right now, new information on some crime stories we're keeping an eye on. jerod laughner's defense lawyer is asking an appeals court to keep him from being returned to a missouri prison. the court ruled that he be transported to the prison to resume psychiatric treatment. the final trial tied to the investigation of former illinois governor rod blagojevich is getting underway. william cellini is accused of shaking down someone for a donation nor blago. john hinkley has been at a

mental facility for 30 years. the facility wants the authority to decide whether hinkley can eventually live full time with his mother. >> meredith was killed and i've always wanted justice for her. i am not escaping from the truth and i never will. and i've never done that. i insist and to want the truth to come back, i insist after four desperate years i insist i'm innocent. we are innocent, because this is true, and we deserve to defend ourselves, and that you recognize our innocence. jenna: an emotional plea from amanda knox there telling an italian court she didn't kill her roommate meredith kercher four years ago. we expect the appeals court to issue a verdict really any time now. the question we're asking today is will amanda go free. we'll ask joey jackson a criminal defense attorneys and

fred a foamer prosecutor. fred, you say not so fast. >> this is a tough call. i think joey has a better argument. there is evidence in the record to support her conviction. we have a battle of experts, the state's experts saying that the dna was on the knife and handle. we have her hraoup lumenol football. fingerprint. she said she covered her ears to cover the screams of the victim while this guy was stabbing her. the last point is that her alibi testimony doesn't coincide or is not supported by the digital evidence from her boyfriend's computer. i do think she is going to walk? tough call. there is evidence to support the original conviction. jenna: what do you think joey, he says you have a better argument, do you? >> no one pummels fred tecce, too good of a lawyer.

i think ultimately she goes free and there is a lot to sustain the finding that she goes free. if you want to argue what she told the police have you to take into account that it was a 50-hour investigation, 50 hour hours of interrogating over her over what she saw, what she did, she didn't have the benefit of counsel. there were 36 police officers present. of course there will be inconsistencies in her story regarding the dna, if you look at it it is trash. the fact is is that an independent evaluation was done of the dna and it determined that that dna was not reliable and could not in any way, shape or form be used to support any conviction here. and so that comes back, and then finally, jenna, if you look at the eyewitnesses here they relied upon a homeless heroin addict to give them information as to her culpability and his culpability. i say she comes home. jenna: let me take you up on a couple of these points. you mention a laundry list of things that look like it went

wrong. fred said there could be a way that the evidence is used against her and she's why she was convicted. you have amanda, her boyfriend, and an african man serving time behind bars as well. we till still don't know after four years who killed meredith kercher. with all the energy on this case why don't we know that? >> it's always a tough call. in any system of justice, be it italy or the ooh night states there is always the element of doubt. the prosecution is contending, she did it. raffaele did it. they are culpable, they are liars. the individual who is in jail whose dna was equally found, an abundance of it, it could be that he is the only one culpable. in these instances the unfortunate thing many times we don't not entire truth. i think the truth here is, or a substantial part of it is that she and he had nothing at all to do witness. >> you know what joey the one word i'm going to latch onto is he was the only one culpable.

i believe he murdered that woman, there is no question about it in my mind but the lack of defensive wounds indicates to me that there were other people and it could just as well have been amanda and her boyfriend. jenna: they were in a whole different realm. we haven't seen other people introduced into this case other than these three major players. we already tried this in the media. is this an example of just the media being so over aggressive in a case that really we are not going to find the truth no matter what? >> jenna i've got a kick point on that. it bothers me that the media and a lot of people latch on to the defense's arguments and don't look at the evidence and take the time to look at evidence that the jury looked like. that's why i think you have these kind of ridiculous or extreme positions. you need to look at everything involved and then come to a conclusion. jenna: joey. >> i think it's wonderful the media got involved in this. now we get to hear what the real truth is. in is an american citizen who was in another country who got a raw deal as a result of the media and the attention the

evidence was looked at anew and as a result of that she will be victorious. jenna: we will see what happens. we expect it any moment. joey and fred, you bring up great points, thank you. jon: a rowdy group camped out on wall street. they say corporate greed is sucking the life out of the economy. should they really be camped out in d.c.? charles gasperino next to answer that question. plus a nuclear fallout shelter built for president kennedy and a plan to boost tourism near palm beach, florida. we'll take you inside this historic bunker, next.

jenna: demonstrators on wall street are blaming the financial industry for the sharp economic downturn and a whole host of other things as well. my next guest says they should blame washington instead. let's talk more about this with charlie gaspar gasparino, x business network. you write they should head to d.c. why is that? >> if you look at why wall street is not paying its fair share into new york state budgets -- by the way new york city and new york state is a huge welfare state, that's what the protestors are protesting about, if you can figure out what they're saying. they're unclear. >> they're not united. >> but that's kind of the base message. when the get -- when you get to the reason why wall street is not paying their fair share, it's the regulation out of washington. i will tell you, there's a slowdown on wall street but there's a reason that bank of america is laying off

30,000 over the next five years, where morgan stanley is taking cuts, goldman sachs taking major cuts, they're doing it because they're factoring in the impact of dodd-frank, the financial reform overhaul, not only that is correct the fact we need global regulations and i will tell you this, the a lot of the regulations don't address the thing that caused the financial crisis in the first place. jenna: some would suggest the banks deserve it, they deserve this regulation, they deserve this penalty for being a factor in the financial crisis. >> they deserve to be regulated in a smart way. dodd-frank does not do that. for example, without getting too much into the weeds, dodd-frank forces wall street firms out of proprietary trade, trading on your own account with your own capital. guess what, that had nothing to do with the financial crisis. it's a business that when it makes money, the bankers and traders that make the money spend is in new york city and finance city government, decided city government. listen, there was a reason why the governors and politicians that ran new york city never cut back

when wall street fell on the path, that's because wall street came back really quick. it's not going to come back quick. as a matter of fact you can expect a slowdown for next five years. jenna:jen why don't you see bankers protesting washington? >> bankers have been beat up so much -- >> yuen *pb jenna: well, you wonder about the perception issue, wall street is going to have to deal with, the regulations are continuing -- >> first off, i want to point out the irony of these i'd otic protestors. they really should be going to washington, that's where they're squeezing wall street and taking money out of the welfare state which they want to grow. the other thing is, yes, wall street has a perception problem but don't throw the baby out with the bath water. look at all the nasty things i say about wall street every day, i've written books about them, those guys hate me, but i'm telling you, they spend money, and do smart regulation. don't kill a big business in the united states. jenna: interesting look at this, and we'll see, the regulation for dodd-frank is sort of creeping into the market now and we should expect moreover the next

couple of years. >> right, and they're writing the rules of dodd-frank as we speak and they're going 20 be -- going to be pr-t tough and listen, i can see a mitt romney president may reverse some of that and a republican congress, but as of now, that's not what's going on and wall street is cutting back big time in anticipation of this. jenna: it's very interesting, charlie, thank you very much. >> any time. jenna: nice editorial today. we appreciate it. charlie gasparino with fox business. jon: jenna, take a look at this, breaking now, this is a fire in wachahaxie, texas, coming into us kurty of the wbfw chopper. it's a company that we understand mixes chemicals for other companies, mixes and packages them, and sends them out with labels on them, you know, for other companies. it could be anything from pet foods to industrial chemicals. look at that fire ball just going up. they have some 98,000 square feet of mixing facilities, and some of these mixing tanks that they use go up to

10,000 gallons. that's the size of a good sized back yard swimming pool. so obviously, this thing is fully involved, they have every fire department they can get trying to pump water on this thing. but right now, it is just black clouds, boiling into the sky over waxahachie, texas, the magablend facility is very much on fire. we'll keep you posted. no injuries to report just yet, but we don't -- obviously, it's early in the going on this thing. we'll get more information to you as quickly as we can. republican presidential candidate rick perry has repeatedly called social security a ponzi scheme. the texas governor is saying that people ought to control their own retirement money instead. but perry doesn't have to look far to see how a private i'd social security plan might work. kris gutierrez live from dallas with that. >> back in the early '80s

three counties in southeast texas took advantage of an opportunity to on that out of social security, and by doing so, these three counties here, take a look, galveston, brezoria and matagora, had to draw up their own plans, they contribute 6.2% of their income and their employer, and in this case the county matches that, the money is pooled and financial institutions bid on that money, but institutions guarantee, guarantee an interest rate of 4 percent. but if the market does well, employees get an even greater return. >> our goal was to provide those benefits equal to or better than social security, at a cost equal to or less than social security. it's a plan that's been in place for three decades, it's been successful, and it's proven from an economic standpoint. >> reporter: so if you retire at age 65, with a salary of $50,000 a year, on social security, you'll collect just over $1000 a month. but on the alternate plan,

you'd collect nearly $3000 a month. the county judge down in galveston county says these numbers do all the talking. >> it is your money, it's got your name on it and it goes with you, unlike social security which, although unlikely, could be de funded by congress. >> reporter: now, congress closed the loophole but allowed state and county governments to actually opt out of social security back in 1993. today, roughly 7 million people do not pay into social security. jon, back to you. jon: kris gutierrez, live from dallas, thank you. a cold war bomb shelter built to protect the president? well, it faces a new battle now. the once-secret bunker, located just off palm beach, florida, where the kennedy family had a winter home. but the county is blocking plans to try to attract more tourists by using a full service restaurant there. anthony miller is on the executive board of the palm beach maritime museum and is vitally interested in getting this thing, well, paying for itself.

anthony, this thing has been opened to the public for, what, more than ten years now, but do people know where its and what it is? >> yes, we've been open since 1998, and we do get a lot of people coming over. we get about 100-200 people a week coming through in the season. of course, we are always trying to expand. but we're trying to get the word out there more and more, to get more people over there. jon: so here's your opportunity to talk to a few million of your favorite folks. what do they see if they go there? >> well, it's a very unique situation because it's actually on an island, peanut island, very popular for snorkeling and swimming and using the beaches, but on the south side of it, we have approximately 6-acres that holdings the old coast guard station which was built in 1936, we walk people through that to get an idea of what it was like back then, and we also have the famous jfk bunker which was put there in 1961 during

the missile crisis where kennedy would have been basically based for 30 days, up to 30 people for 30 days until they could get a submarine or ship in to pick him up, so it's actually would he -- where he would have run the free world from. >> jon: we're looking at pictures from inside this thing. it was built by the navy. it's not exactly fancy, i guess you'd say, huh? >> that's a great thing, when we take kids in it for ka*gs, they go in it and they go what is this, and it's good to see their faces on how technology has grown, because remember this is the era they used to tell the kids to duck and cover if there was a nuclear attack, so once you start thinking about that and you're actually in the area, inside of it, where the president would have run the free world from, it's an eery feeling. but that's exactly the technology we had back then. jon: you're trying to get a restaurant built on this property to help support you. what are the chances? >> well, orlando, who is

actually the -- the federal entity, we've always had it in our lease to put the restaurant there. we like to call it a cafe, it's an ancillary business. we do do food there now but we're limit to pre-cooked food, kind of like a convenience store, which is not very healthy, not very good food, so we're trying to be able to have a small kitchen over there to be able to accommodate the tourists and also the kids and everyone else that comes over there. jon: and i guess the food that's been stored underground in the bunker for the last 50 years is probably not too edible anymore. >> not recommended at this point, no. jon: well, interesting stuff we wish you well, anthony. interesting. i'll have to take a look next time i'm down there in palm beach county. thank you for being with us. >> absolutely, thank you. jenna: we're going to take you back out to texas where we're watching this incredible fire, and we're bringing you live pictures. there they are. this is south of dallas, i should say -- what is it?

>> jon: waxahachie, texas. >> jenna: they make chemicals here and apparently, you can see multiple alarm fires. we're going to have the latest from texas right after a quick break.

jenna: we have breaking news out of webgz, waxahatchie, particulars, in fact, where you're watching a huge chemical fire, a multi alarm fire, at this chemical plant, kpwhragblend which apparently according to their website makes custom chemicals. just take a look at how big this fire is. and how hot it must be burning, jon. you see that thick block smoke which is never really a good sign. jon onit is not a good sign. look at that trench in the lower foreground that, looks like it's maybe an emergency capture trench, and it's on fire, so whatever has spilled out as a result of this fire is on the ground and is, you know -- >> jenna: burning!

you see the railroad tracks? that's on the right side of your screen there. jon: there are, according to some of the information we've developed about this property, there are something like 12 rail spurs, they can bring in a lot of rail cars at one time on this property, and there are a number of tanker cars on that rail line there to the right of the screen, and the flames are creeping very, very close to those tanker cars. given what's, burning, you have to guess some of the tanker cars have flammable products in them and if those start to go, there are going to be some major explosio. jenna: this is only speculation at this time. we're still working on a fee key parts of this information, which is exactly what start thunderstorm fire. we don't know. we know it's a multi alarm fire, but we don't know exactly what was burning or exactly what the plant was making at this time. this area is right south of dallas and fort worth, not far from this of the major cities, so as far as any warning, as far as what's going into the atmosphere, we certainly don't have that

information. we're working to try to get someone on the phone to try to explain exactly what could be at risk here. but you see a large chemical plant burning, waxahatchie, texas. there's another fire ball there at the top of your screen. so it's a hot fire and in fact jon, you don't see -- from this image, we don't have control of this helicopter and one of our affiliates is helping us with this, you don't see emergency crews. jon: no. they may have -- if they are there, they may have decided this thing is so unstable and so volatile that just for the safety of personnel, it may be best to just hold back. but again, just look at the thick black smoke that is pour going the sky. i'm sure folks all over dallas, if you looked out your window you can probably see this thing going up and it looks bad. jenna: we'll get more information, as soon as we get it, bring you back to the live pictures as we learned more as to what caused this fire and what's the plan on the ground in waxahatchie, texas.

jon: right now, some new information on other stories we're watching from across the country and around the world, all from inside our control room. for the very first time, reporters are allowed on the island off the coast of norway, where a gunman slaughtered 69 people, mostly kids, at a youth camp in july. a survivor says the world needs to understand what happened there. a real bumpy ride from puerto rico to boston, a jetblue flight, hitting severe turbulence last night about an hour after takeoff. four passengers had to be treated on arrival in boston for minor bumps and bruises. and tiger woods, doing something for the first time in nearly 15 years. once the world's number one golfer, tiger is dropping out of the top 50 in the world rankings. this after nearly two years without a win. he is now number 51. jenna: jon, we just got brand new information on this fire out of

waxahatchie, texas. we want to share that with you. if you take a look at what's going on on your screen, the magnablend chemical plant and there is concern according to local reports about the surrounding area, in fact there's an elementary school nearby and all students and staff according to one local report hadeen asked to remain inside in case there's any dangerous gases released from this chemical plant. again, this company, according to their website, makes custom-blend chemicals so we really do not know what's burning at this time but you can see several major explosions on your screen, as we're watching this fire just burn. now, according to one local report, again, from wfaa, this was one reporter that was flying over the scene in a helicopter and he said he saw a man on a forklift, trying remove containers away from this massive fire, but the fire moved so quickly, it actually engulfed a fire truck at the scene when firefighters were responding, so that goes to your point, jon, we were saying look, we don't have control over the shot but we

don't see emergency responders and you said maybe they're trying to decide what to do next. jon: you can see the potential problem on that rail spur line there, at the lower part of the screen. i'm guessing our affiliate, and we thank kdfw for bringing these amazing and tremendous pictures, they are focusing on those tank cars because those tank cars very well could include the same kinds of chemicals that are already on fire, and if they do, you've got, you know, high pressure containment, you've got the steel walls of a tank car, and very potentially explosive material inside. and i'm not saying that i know that those tank cars have explosives, potential, inside them, but based on what's burning behind there, you've got to figure at least one of them does, and that could be absolutely a monumental explosion if one of those big multi thousand gallon tank cars goes up. jenna: we can only imagine at this time. again, you can see how big

this fire is and how hot it's burning. initially, according to reports on the ground, the smoke was a big brown smoke that was emerging from this chemical plant and there is concern for local children in the area being told to stay inside an elmentry school. one elementary school in particular, wedgeworth elementary school, apparently the fire department is saying that parents can go ahead and pick up their kids from school at this time because of the concern. and jon mentioned, we can only tell you part of what we're seeing on the screen here. we're working to get more information about what precisely is burning. you can see next to the railroad tracks that jon mentioned, but you can also see that thin line, jon, can you, that looks like some ditch that also is seeing the fire extend out. we know how dry it's been in texas, we know there's been a huge drought and multiple wildfires as well, so that probably is an element as well, for emergency responders at this time. jon: and it could make it tough for firefighters just to get water to get on this fire. i'm guessing that water pressure isn't what they would like it to be.

but we have seen one still photo. you cannot see it in this conflagration burning in front of you, but we've seen one still photo of a fire truck that was apparently dispatched to the scene, and the rear end of that ladder truck is completely consumed by flames. we don't know whether they got that truck out of there or not, but even the firefighters have had trouble dealing with this one. we'll keep an eye on it, let you know as this thing progresses. it looks simply awful right now. jenna: according to the pio on the screen, amy holly telling us at fox news, this is an all hands on deck situation. we'll be right back with more of "happening now". look, every day we're using more and more energy.

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"happening now", on this big

fire burning, waxahatchie texas at the magnablend company, we understand that some kind of flaming liquid ran underneath that fire truck i was telling you about, the fire truck actually exploded as a result. no injuries reported at the fire truck, and so far, no injuries reported at the plant. but as you can see, this thing is fully involved, the investigation, or really, the reality of what's happening very much in its early stages. we'll get you more information as it becomes available. jenna: "wall street journal" op-ed today stirring up a lot of buzz, it was written by hall of fame quarterback fran tarpenton, who imagine an alternative reality where the national football league applies the same rules as teachers, each player's salary based on the league, not his performance and if he makes it through a season he can never be cut from the roster. how about that. the legendary quarterback no longer on the defensive line, he's the founder of two websites devoted to

small business legislation and chairs a site, and you and my father were teammates together, so i guess there's a disclaimer. >> your father, the general, bob lee, we played together five, six years and he was a terrific quarterback and i enjoyed playing with him. >> i appreciate that. i wonder if you were talking about this in your huddles when you were playing. what made you write this? >> i want to see us have this solutions and i am not an expert on education, i'm an expert on success and failure in both football and business. and i know that if we incent people, if we reward people for hard work and innovation and creativity and there's no -- meritocracy worked in jeffersonian days, it worked as the foundation of america and when we go away from meritocracy, we fail, when

we stay with meritocracy, we succeed. that's about incenting people and rewarding people for innovation, creativity *r eu69 an -- creativity and performance. certainly football, that's what it's about, we perform, we play. jenna: a -- as i mentioned, my father was a quarterback, my mother was a school taoefrp and this question of meritocracy comes up as far as how you measure it, in football, you have wins and loses, in public school, you have the diversity of the kids the school district's making that statistic, trying to find a way to measure meritocracy more challenging. >> my father was a teacher, too. good teachers, mentors, good cohes are so important, and there are people much smarter than me in the educational system, historically in the educational system and i want to challenge them to find ways to make this work, because when we go into a system that is not accountable, then we don't

reward great performance, we don't reward success in teachings, then we get mediocrity. we need to fix it. we think building more schools and computers is going to solve the system. it's not. it's putting in the right system which america was built on, which is that if you work hard, you're creative, innovative and successful, you can do anything and we need to apply that to our educational system, because that is the future of america. jenna: it's a very interesting op-ed and we're going to put it on our website so viewers can read it for themselves, and great comparison to football, and i wish we had more time, fran, we had that breaking news in texas, so we'll have you back and would love to talk to you more about the economy and everything else, sir, thank you very much. >> say hello to your dad. jenna: i will for sure. i'm not going to get away from that right now, but i will be right back.

jon: one of the managers at that burning chemical plant in texas says everybody is safe and accounted for. they don't know yet what caused it. jenna: