week. you'll do something else? >> brian: go to kilmeade and friends, xm sirius 126 if you have to run from the tv. see you then. your mission? have a great weekend. >> gretchen: have a great one. bill: almost there, america. good morning on a friday. are you ready for this? while you were sleeping gas prices rising at a record pace. the national average, now the highest we've seen at this time of year and it is only going to get worse. you will feel it when you fill up over the weekend and running around with the family. i'm bill hemmer. welcome to "america's newsroom". martha: that directed at me. what did you do? i ran around with my family all weekend. good morning bill, good morning, everybody. drivers are waking up to this morning. aaa reporting a national average of $3.65 a gallon. prices topping enough if you live in some parts you could pay five bucks a gallon on

board. bill: president obama says there is no silver bullet. is there or is there a chance of relief. charles payne. fox business. first the news, it has gone up yet again. >> it has gone up yet again. bill, according to aaa $4.25 by may. that is the summer driving season. demand will go up even more. we don't know what will happen with some of these outside forces. geopolitical tensions coming out of iran. certainly something big is brewing there. also policies, bill. they play a huge role in all of this as well. bill: they certainly do. you're saying 4.25 by may on average? >> on average, 4.25 by may. a lot of people now, i talk to experts every single day, almost sever single one says 5 bucks is not out of the realm of possibility. bill: president said yesterday outside forces is at work here. is he right or not? >> he is right. sometimes the president and frame things in nefarious

way. outside forces are at work here demand, global demand is higher. one of the strange ironies because of our weak economy we're driving less than we have before. also, urbanization, social networking we can get into the nuances of it but around the world is there is greater demand for crude oil. bill: that may be true. iran has certainly a lot of people on edge. what could he do immediately? what are his tools, charles? >> thing no one is talking about, 80% of price of gasoline is crude oil. what is making crude oil rock right now is the weak dollar. the dollar is weak because federal reserve keeps printing dollars. also our fiscal policy. we keep spending money we don't have. when you do that it debases currency. commodities are higher, gold is through the roof. stocks are through the roof and so is gasoline. bill: that is interesting thread. working for stuart, are you? >> i don't have the accent but try to my best to hold

down the show. bill: you don't need the accent. have a good weekend. martha: has his own charles payne kind of charm. folks in california are hit the hardest in all this. state average is $4.20. charles will be all over in may but they have already have that in california. drivers in los angeles have no choice but to fill up. they have to drive all over the place to get there. that is true for folks living in very remote areas. prices look to be heading towards $5 a gallon. bill: the way charles describes this might be cheap based on what we're headed for. back in 2008, we reached record high prices in july. $4.11. so far this year gas prices through the month of february own average, on average, $3.51. during the same time period in 2008, prices reached only $3.02 a gallon. we're well ahead of the record pace of 2008.

remember what a story it was then 3 1/2 years ago. we're ahead of that by 13 1/2%. martha: soaring gas prices are quickly becoming a hot potato in this presidential election. president obama slamming republicans for making it a political issue. he says there are simply no quick fixes that would bring prices down. and presidential candidate newt gingrich he believes republicans came up with a solution back in 2008 that was never implemented. here is from both sides. listen. >> they're already dusting off their three point plan for $2 gas. i will save you the suspense. step one is to drill and step is to drill and step three is to keep drilling. >> we had a petition drive in 2008, drill here, drill now, pay less. a million 600,000 people signed up. only became drill, baby, drill. martha: the issue of course now thrown right into the hot spotlight of this

election. how will it impact the race and president obama's re-election campaign? we're going to debate that coming up. we turn our attention to this now. major new developments right now in the fight over the president's contraception mandate. seven states are now asking a federal judge to block the requirement. the lawsuit argues that the president's so-called accommodation does not go far enough to protect religious freedom. saying religious groups would have to subsidize conduct that conflicts with their principles. peter doocy is live here from washington. what is the plaintiff's problem with the accommodation that was offered? >> reporter: martha suit was filed jointly by seven states all with republicans attorneys general. the texas attorney general says the president's accommodation is nothing more than a shell game. the lead attorney general from nebraska says the accommodation is an accounting gimmick. >> as attorney general i stand ready to defend reledge just liberty and my

constituents ability to worship as they see fit and not forced to violate beliefs oklahoma and south carolina. in the suit they claim that the federal government's regulation is an unprecedented invasion of the plaintiff's first amendment rights. to free speech, free exercise of religion and free association. and two, nonprofits, private citizen and catholic school joined the lawsuit. the nebraska attorney general is already comparing this case that is one day old to the battle over the president's health care legislation which of course is going to make its way to the supreme court next month

for arguments, martha. martha: a lot of similarities of course with the overall mandate issue being the umbrella idea there. peter, what is the white house reaction to all this? >>reporter: we reached out to the white house for comment. we haven't heard anything back. keep in mind this suit was filed yesterday out there in the u.s. district court in nebraska. no word yet. but we're waiting to hear if they have anything to say. martha: peter does sir, thank you so much from washington this morning. bill: new from the middle east. this is serious yet homs with sniper fire. it is giving assad regime a deadline. will that work? dominic di-natale with more from beirut, lebanon. dominic? >> reporter: we're hearing from a senior diplomat. gathering of the of seven nations so-called friend of syria group.

they will is ask the u.n. to have a peacekeeping mission. secretary of state hillary clinton was meeting with some of those leaders this is come out of the meeting. >> providing humanitarian relief. increase being. >> syrians caught in assad's stranglehold and diplomatic pressure on damascus. >> reporter: the biggest problem getting emergency aid in. sew far no indication it wants to do that. red cross is the trying to the negotiate a cease-fire daily. no response from assad's

government. bill: doesn't seem like there is end in sight. there syrian group will recognize the syrian national council to recognize the syrian people. does that mean there is legitimate opposition ready to take over power in syria, dominic. >> that is big problem. something hillary clinton is talking about. they recommend various smaller groups that the have no genuine communication or genuine plan on what to do in the event of the fall of the assad regime. they bring them serviceselves to more assertive party any further than they can at the moment. by that not much at all at the moment, bill. back to you. bill: meantime killing continues and reports are scattered from inside the country. dominic di-natale from beirut, lebanon. the they had during the debate to arm the rebels. is that a possibility? can you do that? we'll talk about that a bit

later. martha: so many dynamics in syria. they're different than a lot of countries we've seen in this road. those are some of the stories we're on top of this morning. how about this one, folks? michigan could be the pivotal race in this gop contest, folks. we have some brand new poll numbers, post-debate, to see how things are now faring in michigan. very interesting. we'll tell you about them in a moment away. bill: ever hear of the saskatchewan screamer? martha: sure. bill: nasty weather system out of canada bearing down on the midwest in a bad way. martha: sound cold. a shaky landing. check this out. turns into a life-or-death situation for helicopter pilot. we'll show you the video on this you will see what happens next. wake up!

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

kiss those lines goodbye! discover juvéderm® xc, the smooth gel filler your doctors uses to instantly smooth out those parentheses lines around your nose and mouth for up to a year! temporary side effects include redness, pain, firmness, swelling, bumps or risk of infection. lose those lines! the way you look with juvéderm® xc, might just change the way you look at everything. ask your doctor and visit juvederm.com. martha: how about a little snow finally this winter, folks? in the west they're digging out after extreme weather. strong winter storm and fierce wind pounding denver,

colorado. colorado northern mountains got more than two feet of snow. some places are happy, some not so happy. police closing the highways because of serious avalanche concern. they had so little snow. now they're getting dumped on. this caught commuters by surprise. >> i saw a lot of cars in the ditch. >> this is pretty bad. >> thought it would be a little white when i looked out this morning. it was much more than i had anticipated. >> it has been an adventure coming down here. hopefully won't be as bad going back up. martha: the major interstates are open, we're being told. plows are busy clearing feet of snow in some places. winter, winter, exists somewhere. not here. bill: we thought we dodged it, didn't we? new reaction by comments by president obama this week n a interview with univision radio, immigration was

confident. the president sounded very confident he will get four more years after this election. >> my press densy is not over. we've got five years coming up we'll get this done. bill: juan williams. good morning. what are we going to get done here? >> i think he is talking about immigration reform but i must say a guy, a president who said just a few months ago i know this will be a tough re-election race. it was tough for me and surprise i won in '08 he sound pretty much now if the polls have bolstered his confidence. on the verge of arrogance, five more years. >> what do you think of that. you look at these polls. is he too confident to make the suggestion like that. >> the polls are definitely trending in his direction. his numbers are high 40s to 50 in some cases i guess is a critical tippingpoint in terms of re-election chances if we look at historical patterns but it's a little early to be talking about your next five years in my opinion. bill: i think that's the thing that stand out.

because he basically said i've got five years to work it out. that is interpreted, i don't know how else you can interpret that statement. >> well, that's right. look, here i will speak to you personally, mr. hemmer. you know that there is such a thing as confidence in the locker room. young men playing games and if you have confidence and a vision and you say we're going to do the, we're going to win it, a lot of people say that is positive. but in this environment i think where he has been trying to say to his donor base that people, that have been his supporters, come out and support me i wonder if it could have boomerang effect. oh, he thinks he has got it in the bag. bill: one thing to have confidence and one thing to walk in a step of humility too at times. you want people to think that as he said it is in the bag and done deal? he will spend more money than we've seen in american politics. we haven't seen a campaign like this before and it is

just getting started. >> you see it already playing out on the republican side in the aftermath of citizens united decision. a number of big-time dollars flowing into the super pacs and into the campaigns. it is astounding. i think it was really interesting though that the president made this comment, bill, in the context of arguing to hispanics who are increasing in numbers that he did not break a promise to them when he promised in his first term he would get immigration reform done. he said he is not the king. he is not a man arc. he needs congress. he is running against congress, republican congress, this time on the immigration issue. he says he needs more time. bill: with the hispanic population his approval rating has fallen to the floor it is down 30 points, right. >> you're right, it went down about 30 points. it is back up. in latest univision poll it is back up in the 80s. it has been a tremendous

rebound among hispanic voters. bill: the point being he can't win re-election without the hispanic vote, can he? >> no. that is the critical point. even in state like arizona where they have their primary on tuesday, you know the controversy over immigration and jan brewer pointing are her finger at the president and lecturing. look at presence of hispanic voters in state like arizona and you hear from the obama campaign suddenly they think because of the potential power of the hispanic vote, that very red state like arizona might be in play for them. i just wrote a piece for --. bill: you're arguing that arizona is a swing state? >> increasingly the obama administration or the obama campaign thinks that they might have a swing state in arizona and even though mccain won that easily last time. he is from arizona. bill: it was nine points, mccain. granted the home state for the senator you but that was easily in the bag for mccain four years ago. are you making the case that arizona is in play now?

>> yeah. i think that is came from jim messina who is the campaign manager from obama looking different routes to re-election how he puts together the electoral votes. one of scenarios. look at arizona. look at increasing hispanic vote. you look at it nationally, florida, other critical states, look at colorado and looked a nevada and that is why the president said i didn't break my promise. i tried to get immigration reform done. he point as big finger at the republicans and says that's why we didn't get it done. give me five more years. bill: you made your case. been foxnews.com. you're writing about it too on our website. viewers can check it out and see what they think. juan, thank you. catch you over the weekend. >> good to see you. bill: martha? martha: more fallout this morning from health care reform. a huge u.s. pacemaker company says that they're taking a big financial hit? why? they say because of the

president's health care plan. we'll look at that. bill: riot police called to shopping mall. kay i don't see over gym shoes. what is now being done to prevent scenes like these. this is playing out a little bit. we'll show you. [sirens] if there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. [ male announcer ] ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now, that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. -three. -one. two. three. one. -two. -three. -one. -two. -three.

[ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% back on groceries. and 3% back on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. -it's as easy as...one. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] 1, 2, 3 percent cash back for the things you buy most. the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you.

bill: 23 minutes past the hour now on a friday. opening statements set to begin in moments in the trial of a former rutgers university student accused of using a webcam to spy on his roommate and another man. that roommate, tyler clementi committed suicide after learning the tape was posted online. a pilot makes emergency landing at an elementary school in texas. the pilot, the only person on board was slightly

injured. lucky man. kodak theatre getting a name change before the academy awards. they will walk the carpet at hollywood and highlands center. kodak filed for bankruptcy. martha: remember the intimate tick camera? bill: sure do. probably still have one. martha: in the drawer in the hemmer house. bill: you know what they're talking about a lot? martha: what are they talking about? bill: have you seen the artist? martha: that one they're talking about. bill: you will like it a lot. academy loves the nostalgic approaches. >> very artistic. there are no words. did we mention that? there are no words. you figured it out. bill: right. martha: all right, so back to the health care story this morning. there are new concerns over taxes in president obama's health care overhaul hurting the u.s. medical device industry. this is a big deal because this is the world's largest maker of heart devices and they're bracing for newer, higher costs of doing business as a result of all that. executives says that means

less money to develop new life saving technology in their opinion. joined by a couple of doctors who know a lot of these things. dr. marc siegel, professor of medicine at yyu langone medical center and member of the fox medical a-team you see him here all the time. and we have dr. sreedhar potarazu. welcome back to you. they found a bunch of different ways to pay for it. one of which is to charge this company 2.3% more in taxes. now they have come out, this is really going to hurt our bottom line, folks. that caused our stock to go south yesterday. what does this all mean for you and me, dr. siegel. >> martha, i'm concerned about this. price waterhouse shows there is lot of things involved why you do brand new technology and cutting-edge stuff. not just taxes. regulatory climate.

human resources are. there are a lot of things go into this. the problem these companies have a problem where there are a lot of devices out there very similar. so they don't have a great incentive for doing new technology. we're talking about a very exciting time when we're developing implanable devices without batteries that can literally do like the movie fantastic voyage and go through through your bloodstream and tell me, your physician, what is exactly going on with your body. that costs a lot of mon money to develop. i'm concerned these taxes the goal so raise $30 billion for obamacare for 10 years. that $30 billion is going into expand overused product. insurance is too easy to overuse and will skyrocket costs. >> that is so interesting, dr. siegel, we hear the president talk a lot about being on cutting-edge of technology. how important scientific development is and wants us to own it here in the united states which everybody does. dr. p, does this have a chilling effect on exactly

that? >> well i think it has a chilling effect, i agree we need innovation in health care, but if doctors will have to take the brunt of the guts proposed within the current law. why not medical device companies? i think part of innovation is not just coming up with great technology but coming up with technology that is cost effective. i think this tax actually encourages and challenges these device companies to produce great technology that people can afford. martha: you know what they said? the company basically said we're going to look at our books and finances. we try to work as lean as we can as always companies do. we'll probably end up passing some of the costs to hospitals and customers. they are not just going to eat it but pass it along to somebody. dr. siegel. >> dr. p and i agree on most things but not on this. i don't think there is anything different. cut everybody out there doing the actual service.

i don't agree that medical device manufacturers are still going to do this cutting-edge stuff that i just described. they will stick with the tried and true. they will stick it implanable defibrillator already working. they already made great strides. we'll end up with a decrease in quality of care here. it is not the main problem but adding to climate of too much regulation and now taxes they will not take that next step and spend a billion dollars to look for the next thing. martha: there has been a lot of talk about an overall attitude toward corporations and big business in this country from the administration and this may be a manifestation of that. but we appreciate both of you for being here today. dr. p, dr. f. thanks. >> thank you very much, martha. >> state says new law will mean jobs. the union argues the new job is against the constitution. are they right? we'll examine that in a critical part of the country. martha: boy, this is heating up. new violence raging across afghanistan over the burning of the koran.

two americans are among those killed in the rioting. now more deaths today. new questions for president obama's response. >> there is something profoundly wrong when the commander-in-chief refuses to defend the integrity and lives of people who serve under him and abjectly crawls to apologize to the a country. [ female announcer ] need help keeping your digestive balance? align can help. only align has bifantis, a pantented probiotic that naturally helps maintain your digestive balance. ♪ ooh baby, (what) can i do for you today? ♪ try align today. ♪ ooh baby, (what) can i do for you today? ♪ weight loss programs can be expensive. so to save some money, i just got the popular girls from the local middle school

to follow me around. ew. seriously? so gross. ew. seriously? that is so gross. ew. seriously? dude that is so totally gross. so gross...i know. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter job on track, at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill, and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota, that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪

bill: there were more deadly protests in afghanistan. protests following unintentional burning of koran by nato forces. these demonstrate stores throwing stones and shouting death to america. our embassy on lockdown again today. apology from the president doing little to stop all this coner in powell live from kabul where he is streaming with the latest. >> reporter: some places like kabul they were relatively peaceful. imams trying to make an effort to calm the tension in kabul. in other parts of the cities in places like horat violence erupted. protesters stride to storm a u.s. consulate in city of horat. seven afghans killed. other parts saw violent protests as well. there is still a lot of anger here in afghanistan the fact that the u.s. troops in bagram airfield tried to destroy copies of

the koran because they thought extremists were using them to pass messages. general john allen, president obama, secretary of defense panetta tried to calm the protests but they are growing. general allen went to the spot where two u.s. troops are killed. he told u.s. troops that now is not the time for vengance. bill? bill: conner, you said this is perhaps the most critical moment in this 10-year war. where does the u.s. go from here in terms of this mission then? >> reporter: well in the near term, bill they have to ride this out. they have to hope the protests begin to fizzle out over next couple days. in the longer term this is going to be a difficult patch to repair between the afghans, afghan officials, afghan military and local afghans are just very, very angry. there is great deal of frustration. tell, you bill there is not a lot of trust between afghans and u.s. military right now. this is going to be a

problem for a long time to come. it builds on a lot of other problems we've seen popping over the past few months, bill. bill: this after a week where two of our own men were gunned down by an afghan soldier in uniform. conner powell in kabul. thank you. martha has more on this now. >> we sure do. newt gingrich is weighing in on the koran-burning incident. he slammed for the white house for apologizing to karzai. look at this. >> i think this is astonishing day. president obama surrendered twice today. and i think it deserves to be brought to the country's attention. the more outrageous involves the killing of two young americans and wounding of four others in afghanistan. there seems to be nothing that radical islamist can do to get barack obama's attention in a negative way and he has consistently apologizing to people who do not deserve the apology of the president of the united states, period. [applause] we had a moroccan who was

arrested this weekend trying to bomb the u.s. capitol. now he clearly was driven by radical islamist beliefs. yet in the obama administration that would be so politically incorrect, you could be reprimand mannedded for telling the truth. and an american government which is afraid to tell the truth is an american government which can't defend america. that is how dangerous this is. martha: very fired up. newt gingrich on that topic. john bolton joins me now, former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. and fox news contributor. a couple of elements here to discuss, ambassador, bolton. the fir issue with the apology and whether or not it was appropriate. white house says it was absolutely appropriate. we heard conner powell about the importance of mending some of the frayed tensions that arisen from all of this. white house says that the apology actually became before the news surfaced of those two nato soldiers who

were killed in afghanistan. so apology alone, you're a diplomat, was that the right thing to do? >> no, i don't think so. you apologize when you have done something wrong and you want to make aamends for it. as i mad what our troops tried to do with these korans which local afghan officials had agreed had been desecrated by prisoners themselves writing each other messages, they carried out the destruction of the koran they felt was approved. there is a way to destroy everything when it has been misused or abused the way we destroy flags or other religion destroy sacred objects that have been mutilated or whatever. they tried to do the right thing. people get upset by it. you don't apologize for trying to do the right thing. you explain what happened and in this case i would have gone to the government of afghanistan and say, you get out there and explain to these people why the united states troops didn't do anything wrong.

apology in this case is a sign of weakness. and i think it incites those that want to do damage to the reputation of america in afghanistan, particularly the taliban. martha: obviously this is a very tense situation. conner powell says he believes this is pivotal moment in that fight in afghanistan. i want to play one more sound bite from newt gingrich because he is echoing a sentiment you're hearing from others as well in a moment. >> if hamid karzai the president of afghanistan doesn't feel like apologizing, then you think we should say good-bye and good luck. we don't need to be here risking our lives and wasting our money and on somebody who doesn't care. [cheers and applause] martha: is it time to get out of afghanistan? >> absolutely not. we're not there for hamid karzai. there may have been aspects of the program, including in the bush administration that looked like nation-building to build up the karzai administration but that is not our strategic objective. we're not there to make

afghanistan switzerland or hamid karzai a democratic leader. we're there for our own interests. we're they're from the taliban gaining control in the country and making it a base for the kind of terrorism we saw in 9/11. we're there as well to make sure pakistani taliban or other radicals don't take control of that country and don't get their hands on its nuclear arsenal. it is not sufficient to say well, we don't like hamid karzai and he hasn't performed and -- we're not there to aid hamid karzai. we're there for ourselves and we should be. martha: i think we'll hear a lot about that issue when we get to the general election where we go forward in afghanistan. i do want to get in one question about syria. we saw marie colvin, well-respected war correspondent killed this week along with her french photographerer. this focused a lot of western attention on this issue. whether that is the right reason to or not it has, thousands of people have

been killed in the street there. should the u.s. be playing a role and if so, what role? >> i think there is a political role to be played but i do not think we should be arming the opposition among other reasons we don't know exactly who the opposition is. it is dish united. the assad regime i thought we should have overthrown for 10 years but it is not just a question of overthrowing assad. it is a question who would replace him. and there is no guaranty that among the opposition leaders there aren't some who are just as brutal as assad. martha: we've seen the ramification of that in egypt starting to play out and it is a cautious word to the wise. john bolton, always good to see you. thank you very much, ambassador. >> thank you. bill: we'll keep a very close eye on this over the weekend into next week and see whether or not it subsides. check out this in a moment. a helicopter torn to pieces trying to land. this thing goes on and on. this is a rael scene. we'll tell you what caused this frightening incident, whether or not the pilot is

okay on board. whoa. martha: did you hear this yesterday? a surprising ruling in the trial of a man who was accused of murdering his bride on their honeymoon. she is in the spotlight on the picture. remember the story? how the families are now responding. >> this is the fifth judge that came to the conclusion that dave did nothing intentionally to harm his wife. >> tina did not get justice. >> do you feel a murderer is walking free on streets of birmingham tonight? >> you can answer that question.

like many chefs today, i feel the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. and that's what they do with great grains cereal. see the seam on the wheat grain? same as on the flake. because great grains steams and bakes the actual whole grain. now check out the other guy's flake. hello, no seam. because it's more processed. now, which do you suppose has better nutrition for you? mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal.

hey, it's sandra -- from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy... but you were gonna help us crunch the numbers for accounts receivable today. i mean i know that this is important. well, both are important. let's be clear. they are but this is important too. [ man ] the receivables. [ male announcer ] michelin knows it's better for xerox to help manage their finance processing. so they can focus on keeping the world moving. with xerox, you're ready for real business. ask me. [ male announcer ] if you think even the best bed can only lie there... ask me what it's like when my tempurpedic moves? [ male announcer ] ...talk to someone who owns an adjustable version of the most highly recommended bed in america. ask me about my tempur advanced ergo. ask me about having all the right moves. [ male announcer ] these are real tempur advanced ergo owners. find one for yourself. try your friends on facebook. see what they have to say unedited. ask me what it's like to get a massage anytime you want.

[ male announcer ] tempur-pedic brand owners are more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. [ woman ] ask me why i'm glad i didn't wait till i'm too old to enjoy this. [ male announcer ] start asking real owners. treat yourself to the ultimate sleep experience and save up to $200 during the tempur ergo savings event. plus visit tempurpedic.com for full details on our five day, five year special financing offer. don't wait. the tempur ergo savings event and five year special financing ends february 26th. tempur-pedic. the most highly recomended bed in america. martha: very frightening moments caught on tape. a helicopter breaking apart as it land. watch this. for people on board were injured. investigators are trying to figure out exactly what happened here. say likely the result of groipd resistance that. is a condition that can cause shock to the helicopter from the rotor spinning. this one is certainly in shock, right. spins around on the ground

and falls apart. that would shake you inside. everybody is okay. bill: amazing stuff there, wow! indiana tried something new in that state. said we'll do this law that will create jobs. now that law has been passed and the union is taking rather the state to court trying to block it from enaction. that law makes indiana the 23rd state to ban unions collecting manadatory fees from its members. john fund, senior editor of the american mechanic state tore. -- spectator. break this down for us. >> thank you. bill: what did and yana do? >> in 1947 it became legal for states to pass laws unions are free to operate but can not force people to join a union or pay mandatory union dues taken out of that paychecks. bill: that was in 947? why did they need this law now? >> each state is allowed to

make its own decision. 23 states have such laws. 27 states don't. the states that don't have a lot of union clout, new york, california, illinois. bill: would the new law create jobs or is this just a way to, i guess the unions were using dues to make sure they stayed strong, right? >> well the labor department has shown that states that have right to work laws created something like 900,000 new jobs over the last 10 years. states that didn't have right to work laws lost over three million jobs. so, looking at this, it makes it easier for employers to come in and make work schedules more flexible and a lot of employers are now looking at states like indiana to move to especially from states like illinois which are raising taxes and also have lots of union protections. bill: so indiana is like, they're in the middle of this part of the country where unions are pretty strong, right? whether it is illinois or mesh fan or even ohio to the east? >> absolutely. and a lot of businesses are talking about moving into

indiana pause because it has become such a favorable business climate. it is also a question of liberty. remember the unionses are the only organization, only private organization that can literally take money out of your paycheck without your permission. there is question here. the government obviously has the right to do that but should another entity, a private entity of the union have that too? bill: given that then, does the union have a chance of challenging and breaking this law? >> well, they failed every other time. remember, 23 states have this. oklahoma was the last state to add a right to work law. it was litigated in court and the unions lost. i think this is hail mary pass frankly because the states have individual right to make up this decision and the state courts have usually said if it is passed by legislature or passed by the voters it is good to go. bill: it is lent season. you call it a hail mary pass? is that like fat chance? >> let's say i wouldn't buy

a lottery ticket on that basis, wow! we'll see whether or not the state wins and what the real impact for the economy is there. thank you very much, john fund. got a question for this, john or anyone else, go to other website, foxnews.com /americasnewsroom. there is bya box in the bottom right-hand corner. file your question right there. e-mail, hemmer@foxnews.com or twitter@bill hemmer. want to ask martha something. martha: bya. bill: because you asked. martha: here's question for you because you asked. could we see a third president bush? what former florida governor jeb bush says about the 2012 race, trust me, you are going to want to stick around for this, folks. bill: also release of nike's latest sneaker causing chaos at a mall. what happened when the riot police showed up? this just happened this morning. this plays out for a while. >> they were wearing their gym shoes, those police, when they came. no end to skyrocketing gas

price. we want to know how it is affecting you or your family. head to foxnews.com /americasnewsroom. thousands of people weighed in on the poll. you want to be one of them of tell us what you're thinking about. bill: we had 3,000 votes yesterday. you have an option. do that while we get a break. martha: keep them coming. fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way.

not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot an on-the-go expense app made exclusively for ink customers. custom categorize your expenses anywhere. save time and get back to what you love. the latest innovation. only for ink customers. learn more at chase.com/ink

bill: bit of a rare moment on this former governor of florida jeb bush talking about the election in 2012. also addressing the question whether or not he could throw his hat in the ring. >> i know these men and they are very capable and they do talk about these things but i'm kind of hopeful the primary process ends so there's, we unite behind a candidate and eliminate the potential of a circular firing squad. >> but --? >> that won't happen.

>> sure? >> yeah. >> next time. >> positive. next time i hope to work for re-election of republican incumbent. bill: also went on to say this, quote, i used to be a conservative and i watch these debates and i'm wondering i don't think i've changed but it is a little troubling sometimes when people who are appealing to people's fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective. that is kind of where we are. martha: how about that? sometimes people say the more interesting things when the camera goes off and put it in a full screen quote like that. he had some really interesting things to say. bill: tuesday will tell us a lot in arizona and michigan. martha: sure will. bill: a week after that super tuesday will tell us a whole lot more. may end soon. martha: he may get his wish, we'll see. cutbacks are forcing cities across the country to lay off needed employees. now some local governments are finding out, you know what? volunteers are willing to pick up the slack of some of the laid off workers.

dan springer live in seattle with more on this interesting development. hey, dan. >> reporter: there is nothing like free labor. cities across america free labor is keeping city parks open. keeping cities services going and a whole lot more. look at yakima, washington. volunteers do it all. fix up homes for low-income housing and cut grass in parks and paint over graffiti. the city can only afford to pay three workers. volunteers man front desks, answer the phones and prepare the food and clean the place. city officials say citizens taking ownership of their community. >> we're all government. we all have to take an active role in our government. the only time we're not taking an active role if we're sitting on the couch doing absolutely nothing. >> reporter: archie manning says the secret to his success he is not afraid to beg for free labor and he usually gets it.

martha? martha: some of those folks are happy but not everybody is happy about this i would imagine, dan? >> reporter: well, you can imagine who. the city unions. workers who are the people who represent city workers are saying that it is actually taking work away from their members and costing them money. in red land, california, they laid off 20 police officers. while they filled it real quickly with volunteers. they have almost 300 volunteer officers compared to 75 paid cops. the volunteers make arrests and everything. in seattle union representing city park employees is pushing back. refusing to allow volunteers to drive work trucks or use power tools. >> we have to police that because, the work is being eroded naturally and these people that are working have lives and jobs and families and they pay taxes in the community and it is the city's jobs program. >> reporter: how well is it working, martha you ask? how about 63 million

americans last year volunteering 8 billion hours, saving cities, get this, $173 billion. the key here is for the cities to tap into that free labor without taking off their organized labor. martha? martha: very, very interesting, dan. thank you so much. dan springer in seattle. bill: we have brand new polling numbers who has the edge in the next two republican contests. one of those matchups in mitt romney's native state of mesh fan and you will see the numbers first at the tom of the hour. you don't want to miss that. martha: don't miss that. a brutal snowstorm bearing down on the midwest right now. in chicago, folks are waking up to a very nasty commute this morning. look at that airline travelers stuck at the airport in o'hare. we'll have the latest forecast where you get some of the white stuff over the weekend. we'll tell you when we come back. [ male announcer ] we know you don't wait

until the end of the quarter to think about your money... ♪ ...that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement.

now with amazing tools like the hd station. share your pictures, stream hd videos and movies. all on your tv. or connect your 4g lte droid razr to the lapdock and unleash its massive computing power. even seamlessly video chat. all powered by the 4g lte droid razr. droid razr by motorola, just $199.99. and back for a limited time, get twice the data for the same low price.

verizon.

martha: we've got this fox news alert for you as promised. brand new polls just out this morning that show us tuesday's presidential primaries. brand new numbers from michigan, crucial state. some say a turning point in this process in michigan coming up on tuesday. arizona numbers are out. brand new hour getting cooking on this friday morning in "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. good morning. brand new rasmussen numbers show mitt romney leading in his native state of michigan. if that holds that is a big comeback from only four days ago. romney at 40%. these numbers have really changed by the day. martha: dramatically. so the big question that rises there, is rick santorum's surge over? that is the question of the moment. scott rasmussen, president of rasmussenreports.com joins me now. scott, good to see you. >> good to see you, martha.

the big change in these numbers, one of the big changes come from tea party members. on monday before the debate and monday before the romney ad campaign took hold this week, santorum led by 34 points by among tea party numbers. it is down to 11 points right now. martha: wow. >> a little bit of reduced enthusiasm for rick santorum among the tea party. martha: you have to wonder, scott. you think about that debate and think about what it centered on and basically rick santorum saying he had to compromise in the senate when he was voting on couple issues. tea party don't like to compromise. that is not where they live. that may have had some impact, we're not sure. i want to look at this poll. we want to get the numbers up here. this is michigan, santorum versus romney head-to-head. when you take out newt gingrich and take out ron paul, santorum edges out romney by 2%. so romney has got to hope those other gentlemen stay in this race for a while little while?

>> he really does. this highlights the problem mitt romney has. he is struggling to win over other voters. if the other guys drop out. romney gains four points. santorum gains 15. that is not the kind of news he wants to see. we've also noted that since monday both santorum and romney's favorability ratings dropped a little bit. and a number of people who think romney or santorum could beat president obama has dipped a little bit. so mitt romney is not winning because of a groundswell of enthusiasm for him. it is just there is less enthusiasm for his challengers. martha: very interesting. let's look at the arizona numbers and see how things are shaping up in arizona according to your polls. lead again for mitt romney in arizona. >> right. martha: he has been holding onto a decent lead there and keeps it in your poll as well. look at the next one. we have one more, guys if we do. roll forward to that. if the gop primary were held today would you vote for romney or santorum? that comes out for mitt romney at 52%. rick santorum at 40%.

you see how those numbers have really grown dramatically for mitt romney as well, scott. >> that's right. over last couple weeks there has been a lot of talk about these two states because they're the gateway into super tuesday. governor romney was trailing in michigan but he has always been ahead in arizona. this really isn't much of a surprise. if wins both states he will have a really good platform going into super tuesday but, you know, still a long way to go until tuesday. rick santorum and others will try and change these numbers before then. martha: we've got to go, scott. so i will not put these up. i will mention it is also really interesting when you ask people who you think is going to win regardless who you like who will win the republican nomination, romney is doing really well in both of those categories as well as who would be the strongest opponent against president obama. we'll see if the numbers bear out tuesday. scott, thanks very much. interesting stuff this morning. >> thanks, martha. bill: changes race. will be drama on tuesday night.

also new this morning, arizona's largest newspaper now endorsing mitt romney for the nomination. arizona republican saying mitt romney is the best candidate to restore the nation's economy. we'll see how much influence that has on tuesday. martha: keep it right here on fox news. we have special coverage of the arizona and michigan primaries. that is next tuesday night to. we'll get rolling 6:00 p.m. eastern time with all that. bill: wonder how much of those questions were taken after the debate the other night. martha: they were taken after the debate. bill: all of them? wow okay. romney did well. martha: he did well. bill: so new this morning now, police in riot gear breaking up a brawl at at florida shopping mall. the wild scene sparked by the release of a new nike sneaker in orlando. here is how part of that played out. watch here. [sirens] >> leave the scene now!. [sirens] bill: jamie colby has been looking into this here. police on horseback here.

she is in our newsroom. what was going on in orlando here, jamie. >> reporter: checking out your footwear on the wide shot. obviously you haven't gotten a pair yet, bill but you will have to wait in line because it took more than 100 officers to get that scene under control at the foot locker store in orlando at a mall. the crowd initially was waiting patiently. everybody wanted nike shoe has glow in the dark detail, extra responsive cushioning. then the melee erupted. look at staten island in new york. folks in line for days. they were buying for performance or maybe to pump up their wallets. >> the reason i'm here today because they're limited sneakers and they have if i was to wait a week i never get them. either wait in line or you lose. >> right now the sneaker retail, if we were getting them right now is $240. >> right. >> and in a matter of hours we can sell them for $2,000. >> that is average. >> for the simple fact it is a galaxy pack, a foam, that

never ever, ever, ever, been released. martha: scratching my head. i thought we were in a tough economy. nike composite and two other new designs are tied to space exploration and to coincide with the nba all-star weekend in orlando. is it hype over short supply or these sneakers worth the crowds to get a pair. i can'ted nike. tried to be in touch with them how limited edition that shoe is. we will try to get the information later. they're not saying so far. online sales are reaching into the thousands for the 200 plus sneaker. and so far no further details on that from nike. so the good news is so far no injuries at stores but at least one arrest has been reported, bill. bill: so this is not the first time this has happened, right where you needed to control the crowd over a sneaker? >> reporter: a sneaker. bill: that has been in the news? >> reporter: still can't believe it. remember at christmas the nike released air jordan, 11

concord with kay i don't see at several stores across the nation looked like this. this is example. a mall at maryland they're not taking chances. extra schurt is on hand where the one arrest is reported so far today. customers will be asked to wait in line, take a number, get a ticket. they will be allowed into the mall and not before. even in new york customers are already lined up today, bill. it is raining. it is freezing cold. so far at least without incident. are you going to get a pair i'm just curious. bill: i think i will wait and order online. >> reporter: glow in the dark, bill. glow in the dark. >> sneakers are sneakers. can't wait in a line for sneakers. no one wants to wait in line in this mess. this is extreme weather alert, folks. chicago has had a very mild winter as has most of the country but a major snowstorm is changing all that today on this friday morning. they woke up to 8:00 inches

of snow or may be the total they will get by the end of the day. more than 300 flights were canceled out of o'hare airport. commuters heading on to roads looking like ski slopes. many dreaming of greener pastures to come. listen. >> in the front of the store it was busier. people getting salt and stuff when it started snowing. but it was slower. you know, people i think, this time of year, they're ready for spring and not, things aren't ready. we have our plants out, our first bulbs and i think everybody is looking at those and wanting it to be spring but snow blowsers are still back there. martha: we had snow on halloween. we'll get it on easter. weird winter. anita padilla on fox affiliate in chicago. hi, anita. how is it going out there? >> reporter: hi, we're surviving. we're survivors in chicago. right now we have light flurries blowing across the screen here. earlier we had some big fat

wet flakes because this was wet heavy snow. kind of snow, that kids love. i will show you this real quick here. how i know that. look it. comes up in a big fat clump here. that is perfect for snowball making but unfortunately a lot of chicago schoolkids had to go to school although there have been a lot of school closing. look at the poll. you see how the wind was blowing on one side of this pole. but it left a beautiful picture around chicago. you're right. we had areas in northwest suburbs, nine inches of snow. that is significant especially when we haven't had a lot of snowfall. who loaves it, this guy here hurting for cash this morning. he told us, sebastian told us he loves it and you can use a little cash when you're starting weekend. reporting live from chicago. anita padilla. back to you. >> thank you, anita. those plow folks had a very lean winter. i'm sure they were happy to see snowflakes falling.

thanks anita. bill: so many other people are affected by the storm. it is not over yet as it moves east. janice dean in the extreme weather center with a look at that. who is in the cross-hairs. >> not only cold bringing snow across the great lakes but the warmer part is bringing risk of tornado. already this morning two tornado watches until 4:00 p.m. local time. nine states with risk for tornados, large hail, damaging wind. there is the tornado warning, tornado watch meaning conditions are favorable. tornado warning means we spotted rotation on doppler radar north of eaton. people need to take shelter near atlanta, georgia. they already got hit by tornadic activity earlier this week. this is slight risk. i want to zoom in. that is moderate risk where concentrated area for potential of severe weather for parts of carolinas up

towards virginia. it will be a busy day in the weather center. people need to listen to the local weather authorities. bill: good advice. janice dean in the weather center there. we thought we saw the daffodils poking out the ground. martha: i think we get major snorms storms next week. we haven't had any all winter. windy city may be cover in white. this has been a pretty good winter. more than 52 inches fell two years ago. last year the snowfall was 56 inches. remember how bad last winter was? we had snowstorms pretty much weekly. chicagoland area has a long way to go. they have got 16 inches so far. they could deal with 16 inches of snow in chicago after all. bill: last year in the northeast the ground was frozen 2 1/2 months. martha: we had to stay here in the city night after night to be on time for our coverage in the morning. bill: so can rising gas prices drive the 2012 elections? republicans using the pain at the pump to call out the

president with things like. >> the president united states explains first of all there is no single silver bullet. that is just wrong. defeating obama is a single thing that would change it. [cheers and applause] bill: here is a fundamental question. your price at the pump, will that seriously hurt the president's re-election chances or not? we'll talk about it. martha: we also want to know how your budget is affected by those higher gas prices. go to our online section of the day, foxnews.com /americasnewsroom. plus this. >> shots just fired. shots fired. martha: that video just in. what led to this shootout early this morning. bill: and a disturbed family speaking out after a stunning ruling on their daughter's death. wait until you hear why a man accused of killing his wife on their honeymoon is now off the hook. >> tina did not get justice. >> do you feel a murderer is

walking free on streets of birmingham tonight? >> you can answer that question. >> we asked you. >> well, they talked to us. >> what did they say? what did the jurors say. >> just what he said. [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8.

martha: gas prices are now becoming an issue in this presidential election. aaa reports that the national average for a gallon of regular is 3.55 today. there's our in studio prompt. at the 4 cents -- that's 4 cents spike from yesterday. president obama says his republican rivals are using the pain at the fowmp score political points: >> you can bet that since it's an election year, they're already dusting off their three-point plan for $2 gas. and i'll save you the suspense. step one is to drill and step two is to drill. and then step three is to keep drilling. we heard the same line in

2007, when i was running for president. we hear the same thing every year. we've heard the same thing for 30 years. march joined now by sally cohen, political commentator and rich lowry of the national review, both fox news contributors. welcome to both of you. this is becoming a very hot topic and you know what, i think the president is right sally but i think he's right from both parties to this extent. we've been hearing about this, we've been hearing about green energy, we've been hearing about more drilling for 30 years in this country and we're getting nowhere, it seems. >> well, first of all, everyone is right, we can all agree this is a disaster in this economy and especially for families struggling to get by, that extra couple of cents or even dollar at the pump can wipe away your family's wages, wipe away your food budget so it's a huge problem. looking the reality is, and frankly, everybody on both

of the aisle knows this, there's very little that's affecting gas prices that the president or frankly, anyone can do anything about. mostly the spike is driven by the conflict -- mounting conflict and the saber rattling in iran, and to a lesser extent, what's going on in europe, and that's the reality. it's a separate conversation, which unfortunately makes it more complicated about what we do about domestic energy production. martha: it is and it isn't, though. we've been talking, rich lowry, for years about becoming energy independent. john mccain when he ran had an all of the above energy strategy, right, we were going to do more fracking for natural gas, more drilling, investigate nuclear power in this country and none of it ever seems to happen. >> i think the president is vulnerable for a couple of reasons here. one, in 2008, he was hammering away at this issue. now this issue is on the other foot -- now that the shoe is on the other foot, it's no, we can't do anything about it and two, this administration came into office explicitly with an agenda in their own words to make the prices of energy higher. and you know, president

obama might mock drilling and drilling and drilling some more, but it's actually a really good idea. and the fact that in the last 30 years every time we've tried to do it the democrats resist it and say oh you can't do that because it won't make a difference for five or six or seven years, if we had actually done it then it might make a difference now and the main reason to do it, we are sitting on an enormous amount of wealth under our ground, we should exploit it, it would make our trade decifit weather, it -- better, it would create thousands of blue collar jobs that everyone should wantd at the margin it might reduce prices. martha: so many want us to be more energy independent and a great example is solyndra that went bankrupt. that's one of the green energy companies. all four that the government has backed have, actually. on the other hand, you have the keystone pipeline which was shot down. how you can say this is an all of the above presidential strategy when that's where we're at sally?

it's complicated, and i don't agree with this but the president has opened up drilling in alaska which republicans don't want to give him credit for, and again, rich is exactly right, it takes 5-6 years for any drilling strategy to produce results so even right now, under the immense -- >> martha: let me stop you sally. when you look at the markets, when you do take these initiatives and announce you're doing them you may not get the oil for five or six years but you affect the oil markets overall and the oil markets overall would be impacted if the united states was making a very sincere effort to open up its own resources. >> look, again, there's no question -- and again, the president has taken an all of the above strategy and has opened up more domestic sources but look, first of all, martha,plicity disspell the myth it's out there. the keystone pipeline would have produced oil that would have been refined in the united states but exported. according to the keystone pipeline's own permit applications would have raised the price of oil in the united states. other than that, look, the president has made a

strategic decision which again republicans can disagree with, but i think folks should reasonably think about the alternative, which is look, we are investing and we're still having an economy that's based on fossil fuels, but we also want to look toward the economic future. we want to look toward the energy of the future, we want to be the leader in that new economy. martha: go ahead, real quick, rich. >> a couple of things. the president has been slow walking all of the drillings and permits and green energy, we've spent about $40 billion on two -- spent about $40 billion on it, crawt dollars 35 jobs, $500 million per job. department of energy, which -- to be optimistic, says in 2035, we'll be getting about 10 percent of our energy from renewables. so all of that is a fantasy. we do need to drill more here, and we should do it now in order to help in the future. martha: thank you very much, guys, sally, thank you very much. >> thank you. martha: rich, thank you. this scfertion not going to end here. it's going to go through the general election. what do you think? >> bill: we want to hear from you too. here's the question we're asking, is your family budget affected by the

rising cost of gasoline. we have almost 4000 votes right now, and almost 91 percent say it is impacting you. tell us what you think online, vote right now, during this survey as we go to commercial break. we're right back after this. ♪ [ male announcer ] offering four distinct driving modes and lexus' dynamic handling, the next generation of lexus will not be contained. the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. ♪ in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter job on track, at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill, and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota,

that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪

martha: an awful story we learned of yesterday and now we're learning more about the seven marines who were killed during a helicopter training exercise in california. sergeant justin everett was a 10-year veteran, he leaves behind his wife and two children. his mother was asked about her son's devotion to this country. >> you know, after 9/11 took place, he just felt like it was his duty to go and to prepare and to serve his country, and he has done

that very well over these past ten years, and he loves the marines, he loves his family, and you know, those two things were his passion. his family and his service. martha: boy, this is all just registering what has happened to these families. that is a look at the wreckage on the ground, the marines were killed when two helicopters collided mid air, investigators say it could take weeks to find out what caused that crash. bill: a stunning ruling from a judge in the case of murder. gabe watson accused of killing his wife while scuba diving on their honeymoon in australia and there is one key piece of evidence throughout this trial. the judge ruling there is no proof, however, of intent to kill. that case is now dismissed. and the victim's family is left stunned. >> obviously, we're very disappointed and we're disappointed in the fact that there was a lot of

suppression of evidence by the defense, obviously. bill: we want to talk about that, tamra holder, criminal defense attorney, fox news contributor. good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: you point out, this is rare, but the judge had wide latitude down in alabama, and what he said after the prosecution rested and before the defense began, that the prosecution did not prove intent. why not? >> right. well, and in this kind of case, the judge, after the prosecution puts on its case in chief, before it goes to the defense to present its case to the jury, they can always make a motion for a direct finding, where they go to the judge and say judge, there isn't even enough evidence here in the prosecution's case in chief for this case to go to the jury. and in this situation, the judge sided with the defense and said you know, i don't see anything for intent here. the life insurance policy, the beneficiary was the father.

the sole witness for the prosecution, he said that he thought that the -- that the husband, gabe, was going to the aid of his wife. so there was really nothing here to prove intentional murder. bill: listen, this was a guy who served jail time in australia, right? i mean, that's where it happened. and he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, spent a year and a half behind bars. now, why would he plead guilty to manslaughter? were the circumstances that much different? >> well, the fact of the -- facts of the case were different, the allegations were different, in that he had a duty to come to her aid, and he behaved negligently. so it's a totally different crime, although it seems similar, because obviously, we're talking about the death of his life at the end of the day. there are two totally different elements required by the prosecution to prove. bill: i see. that's a good clarification. i understand that, but this judge in alabama now made a couple of critical rulings.

he would not allow the sister to testify, and she was going to talk about the insurance money claim that you just mentioned, and also, there was a videotape of a police reenactment and that was not allowed, either. based on what you've seen, did the judge make the right call on this evidence in court? >> i think so. you know, these police reenactments, we also saw this in i believe the casey anthony trial, they're very shady and they can confuse the jury. it wasn't like a real video, and you don't want to mislead the jury in any way, so he said that's not coming in. as far as the testimony about the life insurance policy, that's hearsay. you can't talk about somebody's -- what somebody else said to prove the intent of murder. it's like one of the most basic laws or basic rules in trial practice. bill: and this case is over. there's no appeal. i mean, this -- >> no. none. it's done. bill: it's before a judge, it's done.

tamra holder. a stunning development late yesterday. thank you for your time today. >> thanks. bill: martha. martha: well, back to syria now, where rebels are being slaughtered and civilians are asking where is the help for what is going on in syria? what should the united states do? >> syria is a puppet state of iran. they are a threat not just to israel, but they have been a complete destabilizing force within lebanon, which is another problem for israel, and hezbollah. martha: so the u.s. military is on the sidelines of this crisis, at least for now. should we go in is one of the big topics of discussion. we're going to bring that on next. bill: guns blazing, police in hot pursuit of a carjacking suspect. have you seen this play out here? how this dramatic chase ends at a gas station. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began.

a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪

>> announcer: meet mary. she loves to shop online with her debit card, and so does bill, an identity thief who stole mary's identity, took over her bank accounts and stole her hard-earned money. now meet jack. enough to enjoy retirement.saved angie, the waitress at jack's favorite diner, is also enjoying his retirement. with just a little information, she's opened up a credit line, draining the equity in jack's home. unfortunately, millions of americans just like you learn all it may take is a little misplaced information to wreak havoc on your life. this is identity theft, and no one helps stop it better than

lifelock. see, ordinary credit monitoring services tell you after your identity has been stolen. they may take up to 60 days to alert you-- too late for jack. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. if mary had lifelock's bank account alerts, she may have been notified in time to help stop it. if jack had lifelock's 24/7 proactive protection, he could have been alerted by phone or e-mail as soon as they noticed an attack on their network, before it was too late. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available, guarding your social security number, your money, your credit, even the equity in your home. while identity theft can't be completely stopped, no one works harder to protect you than lifelock. you even g a $1 million service guarantee. that's security no one can beat. you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you call lifelock right now and get 60 days of identity theft protection risk free-- that's right, 60 days risk free-- use promo code "not me". order now and get this document

shredder to keep sensitive documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 value, free. [click-click] [♪...] bill: swre breaking news on the economy, sales of new homes diping in january after four straight months of gains. however, commerce department says the final quarter of 2011 that we just came out of was actually stronger than first estimated so if that's the case a bit of good news and not so good news. martha: so we've got brand new poll numbers this morning and they're looking pretty good for mitt romney in his home state dark the former massachusetts governor speaking in michigan later today, where he's expected to lay out details on his new tax reform plan, and steve brown

is watching this for us live in detroit. sort of a seesaw affair with the polling we've seen in michigan steve. >> reporter: very much so. we're at the home. detroit lions' field, it's time to check the scoreboard, the rass poll taken yesterday suggests that voters are shifting in mitt romney's direction, he's at 40 and santorum at 34. you can see the shift, romney up, santorum down according to the rasmussen nups, the the real clear politics average has romney out in front but barely, 445.2 to 33.6, so a real tight affair and a number of different polls, santorum and romney both have led in this state this month. martha. martha: so santorum may see the numbers this morning and feel that he's got catching up to do over the next couple of days. he's out there courting blue collar types we understand, auto workers, a lot of folks who sort of fall into the moderate or sometimes democrat category, right? >> reporter: often.

often. the uaw members, working in democratic events for democratic campaign, they're going to be out protesting this romney event today. but rick santorum is making a direct appeal to those folks. keep in mind this is the home of the reagan democrats, those are the folks that are union folk that is do vote conservatively or do vote republican, and santorum has a brand new web ad that his campaign put forward today talking a bit about fighting for us and showing people working on assembly lines at automobile plants, so obviously, a direct appeal for them. one more thing, martha. in terms of just cool -- when you're out on the campaign trail it does not get cooler than being in the west end zone of the detroit lions! we play with rich edison from the fox business channel, i torched him all morning long! >> that's not what -- >> so that's -- >> martha: do you have video of that, steve? >> >> reporter: we'll have to dig that up! >> martha: we'll get rich's side later!

steve, thanks a lot. bill: that's not what rich is saying. rich is reporting exactly the opposite. martha: a little different story, right? funny how nobody is taking pictures! make sure you watch fox news sunday this weekend, chris wallace has an exclusive interview with presidential candidate mitt romney, that is on sunday on fox news sunday. the aptly named fox news sunday. bill: that rasmussen report came out 30 minutes ago. >> should the united states arm rebels? the slaughter continues, rebels outgunned and hammered every day in the strong hold by the military of the assad regime, but for now the administration says there are no more options on the table, here is secretary of state hillary clinton: >> we will be discussing a range of options from tightening sanctions to increasing humanitarian relief to helping the opposition which will be

represented. bill: spider, good morning to displiew hi bill, good morning. bill: what's the effect of saying there are no military options on the table? >> well, it tells those who are engaged that the united states has eliminated that as a possibility. clearly humanitarian options are out there, but they are ineffective unless there is a secure environment into which you can flow this humanitarian aid. bill: was it smart to go public? >> of course not. you never take options off the table. you shouldn't. it portrays how you're leaning, it indicates your interest, and it gives those that are involved, for example, it gives assad a lot of room to start to maneuver even more aggressively. if we are saying military options are off the table, what that means is we're not sure who should receive this military aid, which means we don't know who's in charge, which means to assad well, i guess i just need to kill all of them a heck of a lot

more quickly until somebody tries to figure that out. bill: this came up in the debate i mentioned the other night. i want to roll this clip, i believe it was governor romney that was asked about this and it came up in arizona. listen here, and i have a very specific question for you after this: >> and syria, with assad in trouble, we need to communicate to the -- to his friends, his ethnic group to say look, you have a future if you'll abandon that guy assad, we need to work with saudi arabia and with turkey to say you guys, provide the kind of weaponry that's needed to help the rebels inside syria. this is a critical time for us. bill: it's a simple question. is he right or not? >> of course there is an opposition that needs to be bolstered, needs to receive arms, in order to provide some resistance to assad, because it's obviously not happening now. my view of this, bill, is that the best intelligence of what takes place in southwest asia is generated by the israelis. clearly, we have a very open

sharing relationship with the israelis. so i would hope to think that our intelligence apparatus is very aggressively look at who are these characters that are leading the free syrian army and this resistance, so that at some point in the very near future we can identify an entity to which we can provide assistance. bill: i think romney's bigger point is if you can tip the balance of power in syria, then you change the government there in all likelihood and throw iran off of its game. >> absolutely. bill: and syria has armed hezbollah over the past decade. >> this is a series of asymmetries. the aloites is 10 percent of the population in syria, yet they are in charge, so they have everything to lose by stepping down or being asked to step down. in a wordo. >> bill: in a word, then, if syria, the assad regime fails is that a game changer for that region? >> in a word, yes.

bill: spider marks, thank you for your time. martha. martha: there are new developments in the battle over the contraception mandates. seven states are now suing to block it, on first amendment grounds. so what is next? we're going to speak to the attorney general from one of those states coming u bill ill bill -- bill: also, no mr. nice guy. no way! wait until you hear what it took this mugger to get out of the way and how he got caught. >> one of my technicians walked past me and said we're being robbed, it's him, he's back, and the paper said give me all, and all was underlines, oxycodone and methadone.

bill: well, this is right out of hollywood, a deadly shootout at a gas station. watch this now. a carjacker gets into a police chase and the police tell the man at the gas station to drop the gun and the customers meanwhile are running for cover. how is how it played -- this is how it played out. >> whoa, shots fired, shots

fired! shots fired! >> bill: there was another angle here, where you see one of the customers, the man simply pumping gas trying to get out of the way of the crossfire, he goes under a car, the suspect pronounced dead. everyone else was okay. los angeles. martha: well, seven states are now suing the obama administration over the mandate that religious affiliated organizations must cover contraception for their employees. now, this move is the first legal action that we've seen by states attorney general in texas, florida, michigan, nebraska, ohio, oklahoma, and south carolina. joining me now is one of those attorneys general, alan wilson of south carolina. good to have you with us today, once again, sir, welcome back. >> thank you. martha: talk to me a little about -- i think in a lot of peoples' minds, when the white house put fourth accommodation, that said that the insurance companies would have to be the entities that would cover the contraception and that the religiously affiliated

organizations would not have to take that on, a lot of people felt like this story was done, that that was going to work. >> well, absolutely not. in fact a lot of the large institutions that are religiously affiliated or faith-based are in fact self-insurers, in other words, they provide the insurance themselves, and they might use the insurance company to facilitate or process claims, but this was in no way an accommodation of peoples', individual faiths or their belief system. this is basically a mandate of them to endorse or provide services that they find unconscionable. martha: where does this go from here? obviously it already has been an election discussion, and some of the states that are filing these are swing states, to be sure, and then you've got the other big suit going on -- going on that tests the constitutionality overall. >> absolutely. what we had with the health care arguments coming up next month is the individual

mandate that everyone talks about, which requires individuals to enter into insurance contracts, which we believe is unconstitutional, and i thought the line would stop there, but then now they're requiring faith-based employers to provide services they find unconscionable and then they're requiring the insurance companies to offer free products, of the services themselves. i'm not here to defend insurance companies, but this is a line that if you can require insurance companies to provide a free service, you can require restaurants to provide a free hamburger, and i hope if this gets passed and i hope it doesn't, that these private business entities will bring suits on behalf of themselves, because this is a taking, this is a violation of their constitutional rights as well. martha: we had a reporter on this from washington, he said there's been no response so far from the white house. have you heard any reaction from the administration? >> we have not. martha: so talk to me a little about the next step, legally, as people watch this process, what should they be watching for?

>> well, we filed our complaint, along with the other six states, attorney general john bruning started the complaint, we signed on and basically where we go from here, this complaint basically claims the first amendment is being trampled at the expediency at the growth of government, and we're asking for the court to give us declaratory relief, to declare the regulations unconstitutional, in violation of the freedom restoration act, and also, to enjoin the federal government from promulgating these regulations that violate these first amendment rights. martha: we'll see where it goes, thank you, sir, for joining us from south carolina. >> thank you. bill: 6000 votes in our online poll. martha: wow! we thought it might go to 5000. let's set it at 7000 in the next seven minutes! bill: so a guy tries to rob a pharmacy but the employee has something else in mind. he got away after this.

but wait until you hear how police caught up to him. he's a rising star in the catholic church and a lot of talk about tim dolan, the vatican, the united states. could the new cardinal become the first american pope? >> martha: interesting to think about those two elements together!

martha: a suspect in a pill popping robbery got a taste of his own medicine. aaron miller hands over a note, demanding prescription medication at a washington pharmacy. what he got instead, watch this, a seeping dose of mace right in his face! that was a brave act. here's the woman who nailed him right in the face! >> the deciding factor for

me is i know how far away law enforcement is here in deer park. i know that we are going to have to kind of take care of ourselves. martha: and take care of herself she did! he was arrested after he fled to his parents' house and they had to call the paramedics because he was in so much pain. bill: so the parents take him to the hospital and say help my kid and they were like he's the guy we're looking for! seven minutes before the hour. just back from the vatican where apparently he had an impression, now there is speculation new york's newly elevated cardinal timothy dolan could become the first american pope! lauren greenee is at saint pat's cathedral in new york city. lauren, is this type orioo hype or is there more to it. >> >> reporter: every parish likes to think there's a future pope in their midst, like gee wouldn't it be neat but here in new york city it may be more than wishful thinking.

cardinal dolan returns like a rock star with cameras following him everywhere. cardinal dolan is popular, a cheerleader for the church. in ten years he's risen through the ranks as being a local bishop to a cardinal receiving his red hat and ring. it's got people all around the world raising the question of whether he could be one day the first american pope. here's what one vatican expert had to say: >> having basically hit one home run after another during this week february 2012 i think the new scone us among vatican insiders would be among that second tier of candidates, if there's a rising star there, that is, if there's a new hit single with a bullet on the billboard chart, it is probably cardinal dolan of new york. >> reporter: of course, the next pope is only chosen after the current one die, an pope benedict xvi is alive and well as we speak. bill: what are people saying at cathedral there?

>> >> reporter: choosing the next pope is not a popularity contest. the people at saint pat's believe whatever happens that dolan does have what it takes to become pope. take a listen: >> he relates very well with the people. and i think that's an important characteristic in being a pope. just because he is from this area, it's not that -- i'm not that biased, i just think he has the charisma for it, i think he has the background for it, and i think it would be wonderful. >> reporter: now, to say it again, americans are real long shots for the papacy, but still the possibility of an american becoming the bishop of rome has never been stronger than it is today with cardinal timothy dolan. bill: he always leaves an impression to be quite honest with you, every time you meet him. thank you lauren. martha: there is new controversy over a plan to reduce america's nuclear arsenal. the president says he wants to set an example for the world. why some say that america's

standing as a superpower might be the real reason for the proposed reductions. more on that coming up. blank blank  [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota.

in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter job on track, at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill, and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota, that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities --

helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ today is the day. the day to breathe a little easier. the day to truly enjoy life again. hi, i'm robert wagner. over the years, so many folks who i've met told me that they'd love a chance to spend time with their grandkids or fix up their garden or just find a quiet piece of stream and fish the day away... only their finances just wouldn't give them that chance. a reverse mortgage can change all that. if you're over 62 and you own a home, you can take an easy first step towards enjoying life more fully. call the number on your screen and we'll send you a free no-obligation dvd that has the straight facts about reverse mortgages. and if you want, you can also speak with one of our specialists to find out if it's the right choice for you. no pressure, no hard sell... just the facts. so, call now. you deserve to enjoy life again with a reverse mortgage.

we're urban financial group. we're there when you need us. ♪ [singing. martha: that is and old one, huh? greg: eight track. martha: this might blow you away if seals and cross doesn't do it this morning. a hole packing winds 20 million miles an hour. a hush is what, 180 miles an hour. greg: could be, cat 5. martha: black holes suck up everything around them. the winds from this one are so fast they are actually keeping things out. that's cool looking. bill: sure is. is your family budget affected by the rising cost of gasoline. 7,000 votes already and abo