>> brian: it's our cliff hanger for tomorrow. >> it's a surprise. >> brian: we might never know. >> now everybody will tune in to see. >> brian: thank you very much. >> gretchen: have a fantastic day and log on for the after the show show. more with ali. want to start right now with some breaking news and fox news alert. two earthquakes rattling japan at the moment. tokyo recording 6.1-magnitude earthquake after a 6.9 shaker. tsunami warning called off in the last hour. we're awaiting word on injuries and damage. it was a little bit more than a year ago when a devastating 9.0 quake hit japan killing 19,000. as we get more details we'll bring it here on inside "america's newsroom." the that is one major story. the other, two for two deep in the american south. rick santorum celebrating twin victories in mississippi and alabama. there he is with his wife

last night. he says the frontrunner status in the campaign needs to be updated. >> we did it again. [cheers and applause] we will compete everywhere. we will compete everywhere. the time is now. for conservatives to pull together. the time is now to ke sure, to make sure that we have the best chance to win this election and the best chance to win this election is to nominate a conservative to go up against barack obama who can take him on every issue. [applause] bill: where are we this morning? good morning, everybody, i'm bill hemmer here in "america's newsroom." how are you doing? patti ann: i'm doing well. bill: we've been awaiting your return. only able to keep us at bay for so long. >> i'm alisyn camerota in for martha maccallum. newt gingrich takes second and mitt romney third.

despite the loss he says he is not going anywhere. >> at a time i hope this evening we ended any news media talk of the inevitability of their hand-picked candidate who would do a best job ref senting america and governing and winning the election against barack obama. bill: one thing is certain this morning. this race is far from over. seen steven hayes, senior writer. "weekly standard.". >> good morning, bill. bill: romney did not make a speech and society for appearances in new york. where are we now, steve. >> it was a fascinating result. on one hand mitt romney lengthens his delegate lead. he got more delegates when you include american samoa and hawaii and delegates that will likely come out of

there. mitt romney will end up with 41 delegates. rick santorum wit 35 and newt gingrich wit 24. mitt romney extend his delegate lead but the story is the his weaknesses remain. the things that have plagued him at every step. and he has not solved the problem. rick santorum contends to surprise and places friendly to him and his strong conservative views. bill: what about newt gingrich, alabama, neighboring state to georgia to the west. >> this i think not a good night for newt gingrich. what was most interesting last night to hear newt gingrich talk about how he sees his role in the campaign going forward. this is no longer about winning for newt gingrich. this is about denying mitt romney requisite number of delegates, 1144 to win the nomination before he gets to the convention. newt gingrich was open about that in his speech and interview with bret baier. bill: that was late last night. what did he say to bret? >> he basically said to bret

and count up delegates taken tonight in mississippi and alabama, rick santorum and i took 2/3. we denied mitt romney majority of the those delegates. he talked about the partnership. there will be period after the final primary has been held where there is going to be a dialogue among republicans and it will be 60 days. we can have this conversation and the nominee could be rick santorum t could be newt gingrich. he twice said that something else could happen, coming out of those, the end of the primaries and caucuses. interesting to see what newt gingrich does from here. bill: crystal ball quickly, is it over in may or june? or august? >> i mean, right. that's the real question. i don't think may. i would say june or august. mitt romney has captured 52% of the available delegates to this point. he needs to win 49% going forward. if this become as two-man race, seems to be edging in that direction, but if not a two-man race until newt gingrich gets out if in fact he does, if it becomes a

two-man race everything changes. bill: next stop illinois. stephen hayes. >> thanks, bill. bill:. alisyn: mitt romney may have been third in the south but had a commanding performance in the hawaii caucuses getting 45% of the vote in hawaii. santorum came in second there. romney getting all nine delegates at the caucuses in american samoa. bill: as steve was pointing out although santorum got both states in the south he did not gain much ground in the race for delegates. romney leading the count 495 to santorum's 252. gingrich at 131. ron paul only eight. check that. 48. magic number to clinch? 1144. next primary? march 20th a week from yesterday. illinois 54 delegates up for grabs in the land of lincoln. alisyn: we have a fox news alert for you now out of afghanistan. defense secretary leon panetta landed there for an

unannounced trip. he is the first high-ranking u.s. official to visit in the wake of that u.s. soldier's alleged massacre that killed 16 afghan civilians. the taliban vows to avenge the murders by beheading american soldiers. conner powell live in afghanistan. conner, how is panetta's visit being received there? >> reporter: secretary of defense panetta arrived in afghanistan and went straight to helmond province. this is the area of afghanistan where surge strategy showed real results. security has improved. he met with afghan troops and afghan officials there. he arrived in kabul, meeting afghan president hamid karzai and the minister of defense. he is expected to deliver a letter or statement from president obama expressing his condolences. this is a tough crowd here in afghanistan in kabul because of anger over the koran burning and latest

shooting incident down in kandahar but the reality both the united states and the afghan government need each other here. so they will continue to work with each other. the bigger obstacle here is resfaning the -- regaining trust of afghan people that will take time. that is what defense secretary panetta and u.s. military have to overcome in next couple weeks. alisyn: conner powell in afghanistan. thanks for the update. bill: it is not just pain at the pump you're feeling america, shopping starting to hurt too, putting a big pinch on the family budget. the numbers do not lie here. average monthly grocery bill of a family of four jumping 5%. $943, compared to the year before. stuart varney, fox business network checks in on this. inflation. what do you see? >> actually it is worse than the numbers you just gave because if you break out and just look at food, food alone within the grocery store segment you will see

individual basic food prices are up way more than 5%. for example, beef, sugar, turkey, milk, cheese, a long list of basics all of them are up 9% plus over the past 12 months. now the government says inflation is under control but to you and i, bill, it is not under control. it is something we feel every day especially when you throw in gas. bill: beef products and gasoline. the question is why? specifically on food? >> well, there's all kinds of reasons for this. a the of people blame the federal reserve, printing a lot of money. chucking a lot of money out into the economy and finds its way into stock price, gold prices oil prices and even food prices, basic commodity prices. that is one explanation. but there is one more thing to add here, bill. we have gas up again overnight. we've got diesel up again overnight. and that high diesel price, 4.11 a gallon on average across the country, that is not yet factored into the

delivery cost of all these groceries and food prices which are already rising. bill: gas prices historically come back down. the question is when. but the food prices a lot of times, folks who sell that stuff keep the price right where it is and see advantage to make more revenue on that. >> inflation is to the point where it may now start to turn the economy a little bit to the south. and as i have said many times, this may be a turning point for the election campaign, much. maybe we'll start to focus on the economy in the future with inflation threat like this. bill: we'll see you at 9:20 on fbn. >> you will. bill: stuart varney. thank you, sir. alisyn: fox news alert for you. we want to talk take you to the white house now where british prime minister david cameron just showed up for a official visit. the president and prime minister took in a basketball game. a little march madness recently, a couple nights ago. now they're doing more official business at white house. there you can see hillary clinton, secretary of state,

speaking i believe to tim geithner and, we will let you know what happens at the white house. bill: talk about your march madness, huh? they were at university of dayton arena, taking in a play-in game for the tournament that gets underway full force on thursday. great game. winning shot came 30 seconds left in the game. alisyn: always exciting. bill: i don't know if he is a big basketball fan. alisyn: the president we do. >> 10 minutes past the hour. just getting start right here. show you a new look of a meltdown on a airplane. a flight attendant threatenses to kill everybody on board before takeoff. newly-released 911 calls on that. you will not believe this. alisyn: new report. the cost of president obama's health care overhaul. why it is going to cost twice as much as we first thought. bill: that ain't cool. the energy secretary doing about-face on gas prices. we'll tell you why he says

biofuels are your best bet to stop the pain at the pump. >> are you saying that now longer share the view we need to figure out how to boost gasoline prices in america? >> i no longer share that view. >> you did then but you don't now? wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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alisyn: we're monitoring this terrible developing story right now in "america's newsroom". this is a bus crash in switzerland that killed 28 people. 22 of them were children. they were returning to belgium after a ski trip when the bus hit a cushing and slammed into the a concrete wall of a tunnel. 24 other people were injured. took eight helicopters and a dozen ambulances to rush all the victims to the hospital. bill: so awful. a stunning new report on the financial impact ever the president's health care law. the cbo report that is the price tag is almost twice as

what we originally told. the price tag has been upped to 1.7 trillion dollars over 10 years. alan colmes, host of alan colmes radio show and tucker carlson, editor of the daily caller and joins us this morning. tucker will say i told you so. i don't know what alan will say. that's why we brought you two together. tucker on the face what does it say about the law. >> what we already knew, as whats all the costs were backloaded. one of the way they got through cons guess delaying various parts of the law. the numbers, were phony about from day one. anyone paying attention knew that. this is $1.7 trillion. it is also interesting we're learning this will cover four million fewer people. not only twice as expensive as advertised but it is also not even close to universal coverage so the question is, what is the point of this

law? this is why it is so unpopular. by the way it is so unpopular even with moderates and democrats. bill: i will come back to your bigger point. alan, what do you think about the quote. >> cbo numbers indicated previously the economy was a lot worse than we thought which is really contributing to this. those who want to say cbo numbers show this will cost more money somehow didn't want to acknowledge the cbo numbers said how much worse the economy was doing in the first place of the also brings down the deficit. same numbers, same report shows we save $4 billion in the -- $48 billion in the deficit. bill: that is disputed too. the argument you're making the economy is dragging this is getting more expensive. if the economy doesn't recover and we linger for longer and longer this price tag will go higher. >> what if the economy does recover and it actually goes lower? hopefully if the economy gets better, this will cost more, subsidies will cost more to those that can't afford it. bill: fair point. you prefaced that saying

what if. >> you said what if the economy gets worse. i said what if the economy gets better? bill: what if it is even worse than these numbers project, tucker? >> this is a question of basic economics. maybe the health care law itself is a drag on the economy and on the employment numbers. look when employers are faced with higher costs for hiring people, guess what, they high hire fewer people. this is not super complicated. dealing with an administration virtually no experience of the actual marketplace. i guess they can't be blamed for not knowing that. anybody had any experience running any kind of business, looks at that and says, this hurts economy. >> economy is getting better. we've had how many, 25 months of job growth. unemployment stayed 8.3 last couple months. going in the right direction. trajectory going in the right direction. economy, seven out of 10 economic indicators are getting better. notion this is hurting economy doesn't bear out by

the numbers we've been seeing. bill: is this a shell game sold to the american people? tucker, when you look back at this right now, some project a 2 trillion dollar price tag over the last 10 years. or 20 years? >> think about this. you're looking at wreckage of the 2008 financial collapse. you're president obama. 2009. first thing comes to mind let's have a massive new federal entitlement. that's what this country needs. the whole thing was out of hand from literally from day one. that is why it was so difficult to get through the congress. why not one republican voted for it. it remains the single heat popular thing obama has done. it was never a good idea. bill: based on the argument tucker is making alan, is this administration's undoing come the fall? >> no, i don't think so. if romney is the nominee and said my massachusetts model should be the model for the country, something he now denies he ever said. that will zero out that particular argument. you also, the economy seems

to be getting better and i would favor a single-payer. don't forget a lot of people who object to this health care plan are those progressive wanted a more progressive plan, single-payer. john conyers had a great plan. bill: how much will that cost? >> more socialism. >> what did you say? you toss around the world socialism. people indiscrimenantly use the word socialism. >> alan, you're recommending socialism. government-run single-payer program. i'm not espousing it. you are. >> call it anything you want. bill: economy jumps on back of rocket takes off you're still looking at 15 trillion dollars in debt. that is one thing not changing. >> if the economy gets better that will be good. >> thank you, gentlemen. we'll pick it up soon. alice. alisyn: i'm not sure they were done. some lawmakers are asking voters to do their dirty work. we'll explain.

plus? >> before take off. get out of my way. >> hey, guys. bill: well that was a take-down before take-off. now we have new video of this flight attendant with serious issues on board. >> looks like they're physically restraining a flight attendant. >> okay they're physically restraining a flight attendant? >> yeah. she lost it. people are helping out.

bill: take you live to the south lawn of the white house. it is a picture-perfect day for the arrival of david cameron. actually he got in town yesterday the official arrival happening right now. he and the president have big issues.

iran, syria, afghanistan. hold a joint press conference noon eastern time. you will see that live here on the fox news channel and upcoming summits with the g8 and nato. a lot to talk about with the two men including march madness where they took in a game where western kentucky pulled off the win at the end. foxnews.com streaming live. alisyn: newly-released 9-1-1 tapes captured the fear and panic triggered by a flight attendant's rant aboard american airlines flight. this happened friday as the plane taxied for takeoff while other flight attendants and passengers fought to restrain her. passengers grabbed cell phones to call for help. >> airport 911. >> this woman is talking about crashing our plane. >> who is talking about crashing your plane? >> the attendants over the pa. >> okay you're on board flight? >> yes. >> you're, what flight,

american airlines? >> yes. 233. please help us. >> a man up front. >> don't be alarmed. he may be a sky marshal. >> looks like they're physically restraining a flight attendant. >> they're physically restraining a flight attendant. >> yeah. she's lost it. people are helping out. alisyn: how scary. david lee miller is here to bring us the latest in addition to the new 911 calls. david, we understand there is new video? >> that's right. a passenger in first class, kevin rich. he recorded what took place on the plane. we've seen other video. this is the first time we get an up-close look. it puts you in the first class partment, first class passenger, rich, rolled this recording only feet away from a flight attendant as she suffered some type of mental attack. listen and watch. >> this is has not happened to me since 9/11 and i'm not putting up with it!. >> navy seals?

you seal team six. >> back off. >> haven't been to church in 10 years. i'm going to hell. >> you're not going to hell. why would you be going to hell, ma'am? >> before i shut the doors and cross-check. >> reporter: that was audio portion. he began to roll video, allison. he realized the crew needed help to subdue the troubled flight attendant. he left his seat. there is the video playing now he did record. you hear the flight attendant. you can hear her shouting at times. get out of my way. someone responds, someone help us. the flight attendant says. this is very disturbing, i have to kill passengers before takeoff. i have to kill passengers before takeoff. fortunately though, no one was seriously hurt around troubled flight attendant was subdued. by the way according to police report. she is not being criminally charged. the report describes her not

as a suspect but rather as a patient. allison? alisyn: we heard she may be bipolar and had not taken her medication. the passenger who recorded this is obviously keeping his wits about him. seems cool and collected. what more if anything do we know about him? >> reporter: he was very cool during this entire ordeal. a number of passengers who assisted the crew. as for rich he says he was very glad about the things ultimately turned out. you have to understand this plane was moments away from taking off. fortunately that did not happen. listen to what happened during the actual scuffle. here is passenger rich. >> there were three of us really subduing her? >> leaning on her? >> leaning on her and somewhat sitting on her but primarily leaning. >> reporter: allison, when police finally able to board that plane the troubled flight attendant was already restrained. according to the police report described her as i quote now, combative.

allison. alisyn: we've seen so many examples of brave passengers leaping into action since 9/11. date lee miller, thank you so much. bill: on surface found it somewhat amusing more we find out about this she clearly has problems. we we hope she gets help. alisyn: you may need to look at a calendar. the stunning weather moving across the country. what season is it? bill: digging global warming, aren't we. alisyn: today we are. ♪ . americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first.

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i'm enjoying my freedom again. even conversations in noisy restaurants are easy. not an aarp member? join today. and then take advantage of the aarp hearing care program provided by hearusa. call hearusa ... and reconnect with your world today. alisyn: defense secretary leon panetta saying recent violence will not deter the united states from carrying out its mission in afghanistan. the taliban is vowing to take revenge on the killing of 16 afghans by beheading troops. kt mcfarland joins meese to talk about this. great to see you. what can panetta say to the hamid karzai and the afghan people? >> we have been here 10 years. we spent hundreds of billions of dollars. we lost thousands of

americans lives. tens of thousands of americans coming home with permanent disabilities to give you guys freedom so where are you now. you have a corrupt and incompetent government. haven't trained ad army and get off my hands and knees and stop apologizing to everybody. alisyn: you're asking a question a lot of americans are asking a question. do all the recent incidents make us rethink our timeline in afghanistan? we were supposed to be there another two years. >> why are we there? you asked at the very beginning of this what is our mission in afghanistan. our mission initially going in was to defeat and destroy al qaeda in afghanistan. we did that. we did that in december of 2001. there were less than 100 taliban left. they ran across the border into pakistan. we should have pursued them there and killed them there. what did we do? we relied on the pakistanies to do that. they didn't do it. they let al qaeda grow and

regenerate and we stuck around in afghanistan. what did we do there? schools. hospitals. educational facilities. roads. we gave them a government. we engaged in nation-building. as a result we spent awful lot of money and american blood and treasure. what do we have to show for it? al qaeda has gone. they have moved on to far greener pastures. alisyn: is it time to get out today? >> if you look at afghanistan there is a three-legged stool. the militariry part, our military guys did everything that was asked of them. they have defeated and turned around afghanistan. there are two other legs to the stool. corrupt and incompetent karzai government which will never change and safe havens in pakistan are never going to change. unless you have two strong legs there, the stool falls. our military performed brilliantly but our political leaders let us down. alisyn: what does that mean? what is your strategy moving forward in afghanistan. >> we need a major rethink. all about priorities.

foreign policy about setting priorities. what is america's greatest strategic priority right now? nuclear weapons in iran. continuing free flow of oil in persian gulf. afghanistan doesn't have a lot to do with that. we should declare victory in afghanistan and start bringing boys home. alisyn: we should report some members of the taliban are threatening to behead u.s. soldiers in retaliation for that brutal attack. what do we do about that. >> why are we having this conversation with them? we have done good deeds there. why are they talking to us about beheading people? again admit we're not going to ever succeed in having an afghanistan that looks like switzerland. stop nation-building. start bringing troops home. what i find particularly offensive if this president decided we're getting out of afghanistan if he decided do it now. don't wait until after the election because you don't want to have a loss on your balance sheet after war that you said was a war of necessity. i don't want to see anymore americans get killed so

obama gets reelected. alisyn: kt mcfarland. always great to talk to you. >> thank you. alisyn: thanks so much. bill: spring fever, right through the heartland. temperatures are soaring so high, we could see a number of records fall, whether it is in atlanta, georgia, or up to the heartland. meteorologist, maria molina i bet has not seen temps like this in march her entire life, have you maria? >> this is crazy. we're looking at temperatures well over 20 degrees, or 30 degrees over what is typical parts of minnesota, iowa, illinois and even here in the northeast. just incredible stuff out there. as we head into your thursday, guess what, more of the same. extremes across the eastern 2/3 of the country. reason for all this, the jet stream which separates from the colder air from the warmer air is up to the north. that allows warmer air to be pumped into a big part of our country. fargo, north dakota. your high should be 34

degrees. today, 60 december. as we head into thursday, 62 degrees. new york city, high average of 49, today, 69 degrees. thursday still on the warm side with high temperature expected 60 degrees in chicago. typically in the mid 40s. high temperature of 77. we have highs in chicago dealing with warm temperatures and a lot of sunshine. it will be a beautiful day. get out and enjoy in new york city, chicago or live in the city of st. louis. as we head into your friday, guys, more of the same. more warmth. widespread 80s across the midwest. bill: 72 here yesterday. >> yeah. bill: the daffodils are 14 inches high. >> we had no winter so. bill: maria, they're confused. >> i'm confused too. bill: thanks. alisyn: the crocuses are up. it's all good. if you have a picture of great weather near you or daffodils or crocuses we want to see you.

go to foxnews.com/ureport. up load them and provide a brief description. you might see your picture on the web or on tv. bill: check that out. meantime another reflection of the economy. brand new numbers, state unemployment numbers that rates are falling in some 10 key swing states. battleground areas in november. michigan's unemployment rate down almost 2% when compared to january 2011 to 2012. unemployment rate in michigan fell more sharply than any other state to 9% in january. down nearly two points from a year ago. the state gained more than 47,000 jobs. also florida, ohio, nevada, colorado, also down as well. jobless numbers still high overall. 8.3% nationwide but last night in the southern primaries the economy ranked as the top issue among voters. 59% in alabama. 56% in mississippi. saying it is the most important issue of the day. in mississippi you're about 10 1/2% unemployment

statewide which is two points well above the national average. quite clear why the issue was number one. alisyn: they're really feeling it there. we want to take a quick peek at the white house. the president at the podium speaking. there is the official white house visit with british prime minister david cameron. if you want to listen to what the president is saying or what the prime minister is saying watch it all, streaming live for you on foxnews.com. we which bring you their news conference at noon eastern live here on fox. bill: the energy secretary is saying all for lower gas prices but will biofuels and electric cars and algae do the trick instead of more drilling? >> we need to, we need to have these prices well, could well affect the comeback of our economy and we're very worried about that. so, of course we don't want the price of gasoline to go up. we can't -- want it to go down. ♪

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alisyn: we have update for you on our top breaking news story. two earthquakes rattling japan. tokyo was hit with a 6.1 magnitude quake, right after a 6.9 shaker. a tsunami warning was called off just in the last hour. it was just more than a year ago of course that devastating 9.0 quake struck japan, killing at least 19,000 people. we will bring you more details on these quakes as we get them. bill: that september a bit of fear throughout the country of japan already today. alisyn: yeah. bill: here at home the obama administration hitting back at critics says it is committed to lower gas prices and feels the pain you feel. energy secretary stephen chu says the strategy for doing that is moving away ultimately from oil. >> we think biofuels have considerable promise. by that i mean we think they have considerable promise in developing technologies that can compete in the open

market without subsidy. and that is our goal. bill: national average, 3.81. up about 30 some odd cents in 30 days. texas republican john cornyn, chairman of the national senatorial republican committee. good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: how will we solve this? >> secretary chu sounds like he is talking about a five, 10, 20 year plan, for all tern of it fuels and i'm for doing that research. we're talking about pain at the pump for people now. we're for more domestic production and reversing the president's decision to block the keystone pipeline that would bring 700,000 barrels of oil from canada, a friendly source, into the united states and create a lot of new jobs in the process. bill: what are you hearing on keystone? republicans like yourself talk about it a lot but do you sense there is any chance that policy will be changed? >> well, i think we're all

just incredulous that the president has blocked something that would not only help bring down the price of oil and thus gasoline but also create jobs. just seems so counterproductive, and we're hoping he will reverse his decision. but the problem is you can't just listen to what the president and his administration says about oil prices. you have to watch what they do. and what they have done is create barrier after barrier to more domestic production of oil here in the united states and, thrown new regulations in the way. for example, the fish and wildlife service listing endangered sees sees in the permean basin in the midland texas threatens 27,000 jobs in a oil boom in that location. you have to watch what they do and not what they say. bill: you're hoping he will change policy. is that a yes or a no you think it will happen? >> i think it is a no

because unfortunately the president and his administration seem idealogically fixated on alternative sources of energy which is fine but this is a five, 10, 20 year plan. this does nothing to help people's pain at pump now or this summer. bill: sometimes public opinion as has a way of changing minds of politicians. "cbs poll" the other night. approval rating for white house. president sliding to 41%. nine-point drop in one month. 54% of the americans think gas prices are something the president can do something about. you have to think that is now being considered down pennsylvania avenue. your home state of texas right now on a different topic is being challenged by the department of justice with a voter i.d. law. is there a chance that your state can win or can the justice department tie this up in court. >> well we will win eventually because this is not a partisan issue. 70% of the independents support the common sense notion you ought to be able to, same i.d. you need to

buy cigarettes or beer or get on an airplane or to drive a car, should be required to identify yourself as a legally qualified voter. this is about preserving the integrity of the ballot. attorney general holder in another disappointing and political decision has blocked it even though the united states supreme court in 2008 upheld an indiana voter i.d. law very similar to this. unfortunately this has become par for the course with the attorney general and the justice department. we'll eventually win but there is no reason for playing politics with the voter i.d.. bill: senator, thank you for your time. john cornyn from texas on two topics. thanks to you. >> thanks, bill. bill: on these topics or anything else you want to talk about, go to our web site, foxnews.com, /americasnewsroom. click on the bya box and send your question. hemmer@foxnews.com o

or@bill hemmer. alisyn: anything you want to talk about? you really want to put that out there? bill: you can pick your poison. alisyn: i can't wait to see the questions you get. bill: hour 1 minutes in the chair. you have the option. alisyn: i have questions for you. i'm going to send them in. meanwhile, american communities are facing a possibility of a economic disaster but what happens when local leaders are afraid to the make tough choices to balance the budget? that startling answer for you next. bill: a house committee voting to whether to repeal a key part of the health care law. why republicans want to make sure advisory boards never happen. we'll explain that. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery?

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>> too long i found so much great information i put it in. overkill. bill: remember those days? alisyn: check out the hairstyle. bill: nicely done. new chapter for one of the world's most popular reference books. 244 years later. enencyclopedia britannica the print version is stopping the presses. they want to focus on internet edition. surprise. the online and mobile versions have 100 million users. if you want to get your hands on 32-volume set, hurry up. the set costs nearly $1400. alisyn: we did a story on "fox and friends" this weekend that kids under 15 have never seen an enkey close pea yaw. bill: that's right. they go to wikipedia and whatever else. alisyn: google, sign of the times. big pension issues could

force two cities to go bankrupt. that includes the wildly popular tourist destination of san diego. that is where we find william la jeunesse. he is live. william, explain if anything can fix this. >> reporter: well, this is ground zero, ali, for pension reform. voters in june will consider ballot initiatives here in san diego and san jose will radically change how government workers are paid. let me show show you why. half of every payroll dollar in these cities pays not for salaries of current workers, but to support pensions. here in san diego, for instance, a retired librarian get as $234,000 a year pension. taxpayers pay 92% of pensions for politicians. city workers can retire at age 55 with full benefits. under the initiative here in san diego government pensions would end for new employees. would only get a 401(k), current workers would have to pay a lot more and politicians will get no

pension at all. >> i want our taxpayers to know that government employees are going to receive no better a retirement package, retirement contribution than the hard-working families that pay the bill, the taxpayers. >> this ballot measure is illegal, if it passes. we'll see you in court and city can spend more money on legal fees. >> reporter: now in san jose, taxpayers with their share of the pension would go from 75% to 50%. workers, new workers would have to retire at age 65, not 55. ali. alisyn: william, given lawsuits are being threatened what are the chances this initiative will pass? >> reporter: just qualified for the ballot. so you don't see attacked as yet. but supporters are optimistic. let me show you why. number one, city workers would be treated just like private pension workers. everyone else in the city and benchmark would be what other private workers get paid. they could retire at, after 30 years with 65% of their last year's salary.

that is still considerable. taxpayer exposure will be limited. they will pay 6% of the social security match and 3 to 4% into the 401(k). that is typical by the way of what people pay in private sector. former mayor, rodger hedgecock, believes union money will be considerable against this initiative. here is his sound bite. >> san diego will be the next wisconsin. i think you will see a national confrontation between these very powerful public employee unions who in this state a hammerlock on public, on the public sector. >> reporter: this city is pretty purple. it tends to be conservative even democrats, retired military but unions will be spending money here, both statewide as well as national unions to fight both initiatives. alisyn: sounds like everybody is bracing for a fight. thanks, william. bill: the feds are putting

top banks in the country through this vigorous stress test. did your bank make the grade? we'll tell you which ones did not in a moment. alisyn: rick santorum sweeps the deep south. where does the battle go next? >> we have the best chance to win this election and the best chance to win this election is to nominate a conservative to go up against barack obama. who can take him on every issue. [cheers and applause] [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota.

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to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease a before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. bill: i want to start with fox news alert. a whole new hour in "america's newsroom." a certificat series of powerful earthquakes through japan. 6.1 centered 65 miles east of tokyo, one of the country's most populated region, dea

devastated by a earthquake and a tsunami a year ago. trace gallagher is live in l.a. what can we determine now from japan. >> reporter: the key thing is that 6.9 magnitude quake in the northern part of the country. that was the same area that was struck last year during that quake and followed by that massive tsunami. the quake hit about four hours ago and shortly there after they issued a tsunami warning for that region. many of the small towns that were devastated last year had evacuation orders underway just a few hours ago. we've now learned they have lifted the tsunami, but in fact there was a small tsunami in that area, and about three hours after that another major earthquake. keep in mind these 6.9, 6.1 not the magazine nude 9 that struck last year, but they are nonetheless very powerful earthquake. 6.1 hitting near the capitol of stoke kwroe.

it shut down the airport for a short time, rattled a lot of nerves, we have heard it's a shallow earthquake, they are going out in the outlying areas checking the damage. two major earthquakes within a few hours in japan. we are checking the damage and reports as they come n. it might take time before we know the full extent of what is happening in the northern part of that country as well as the capitol bill: the depth in the earth determines a lot on the surface. do we have a depth reading how many miles. >> reporter: they haven't given us that. they say the 6.1 quake was shallow. you go back to the san francisco quake back in 1989, the northridge quake back in 1994, those were both about the same size as the first quake that hit in northern japan. that gives you an idea of how powerful these things are. the 9.1, or 9.0 quake last year was completely off the charts.

still 350,000 people homeless from that tsunami and quake last year. 5,000 still missing, bill. bill: that is remarkable. trace gallagher stay on it. when there are more headlines i'll bring you back. trace in l.a. that is one big story this morning. here is another, rick santorum sweeps the deep south in the political picture in this campaign is muddied once again. [cheering] there he is entering the room with his wife and kids behind him. he notched primary victories in alabama and mississippi. they were close but rick santorum was the winner. mitt romney, he argues may no longer be the inevitable nominee. that is the case that santorum will make from this day forward. good morning i'm bill hemmer. martha is out this week. how you doing. alisyn: i'm well bill: it's like musical chairs over here. alisyn: i'm just occupying it

for one day. i'm alisyn camerota in today. santorum did not gain any in the delegate fight. romney has 495, santorum has 252. newt gingrich 131 and ron paul 48. the magic number is 1,144. but santorum says he's not focused on numbers. >> people have said, you know, you're being out spent, and everybody is talking about all the math and all the things that this race is inevitable. well for someone who thinks this race is inevitable he spent a whole lot of money against me for being inevitable. [applause] bill: we heard from santorum and gingrich last night. romney did not make a speech last evening. john roberts is standing on the corner in lafayette in the state of louisiana.

>> reporter: contest here on the 24th. allison talked about the tell gather. there are team people splitting up the delegates. they want to stop splitting that conservative vote. they think that rick santorum could do a lot better than he is and he's been doing well if gingrich was out of the race to allow con tore um to catch the very conservative vote. rick santorum called short of asking beginnin newt gingrich to get out. he called for conservatives to surround him. i said do you think should get out. >> i'm not newt gingrich to do anything. i'm asking conservatives to give us the best chance to nominate a conservative. we nominate parties in this party we lose . we nominate parties that stand for what our principles are that made this country great, we win. >> reporter: santorum could continue to do very well. he's got missouri coming up on saturday which he has already won once.

puerto rico, which he hopes to return into puertoricko. bill: what about newt gingrich? what is he saying about his campaign? >> reporter: the rational is to stay in. he wants to stay in all the way to the end feeling he can provoke a dialog within the republican party, and that 60 days between the end of the campaign and the beginning of the convention the dialogue he heaps could propel him to the nomination. if he stays in he takes delegates away from mitt romney, prevents him from becoming the nominee. gingrich also wants to be the candidate of idea. here is what he said last night. >> i think the fact i'm willing to talk about substance is what makes this campaign different from other campaigns and is the reason we will go all the way to tampa to compete for the nomination. we need great solutions at a time of great problems. substance requires actually knowing something. >> reporter: a bit of business you probably heard that a campaign adviser to newt

gingrich has floated the idea of a santorum-gingrich ticket. the sam pain says we haven't heard about that. i asked the santorum campaign about that. sea theud while they are friends and there is probably a police for him in this is campaign it's too early to talk about that. alisyn: let's talk more about what newt gingrich and what his plans are now. ed hrol inch is a director for the reagan-bush ticket now in 1984 he's a fox news contributor. great to sigh,ed. let's pre vend that you were newt gingrich's campaign director this morning. what would you tell the candidate. >> it's not my place to tell him, but if i was his adviser i'd tell him to get out of the race. newt obviously likes to continue to be part of a dialog and if he drops out he won't be, but if he really wants a conservative to win and santorum is his ally in the conservative cause the longer he stays in the more difficult it is for the

one-on-one. alisyn: let's look at his side. let's show you what happened last night. in mississippi, yes, he didn't win but he got as many delegates, 12, as romney did. you can see there that santorum got 13. newt gingrich got 12, romney got 12, that is hardly, you know, a runaway win by santorum. in alabama the same thin. let me tell the viewers for a second. santorum got 18 there gingrich came in second with 12 to romney's 11. >> the dynamics if he wasn't in the race if either candidate got 50% they get the delegates for the congressional district in the statewide thing. santorum was an underdog going in here. this is the south and gingrich is a southerner. the bottom line if he wasn't in the race and santorum got over 50% he would win the majority of those delegates, and that is the game that is in so many places. there is a threshold and you've got to get to the threshold. alisyn: it sounds like newt

gingrich is saying that he and santorum together can get 50%, or more than 50% and tro u.n. ce romney. is there way that these two team up somehow? >> i don't see that as very smart. i think at the end of the day people vote for a candidate that they are inclined to think is the best president. they don't vote for two. so i think the reality here is, you know, it's gingrich's prerogative to stay in as long as he wants, and he will he doesn't quit. i think it makes it harder for santorum to get to the magic number. they maybe able to stop romney from getting to 1144 and you'll see what chaos you have beyond that. at this point in time it's going to be hard for santorum. he'll win more states but it will be hard for him to get to 1144 too. alisyn: that chaos sounds exactly like what gingrich is banking on. he thinks that the math doesn't add up for romney that he can't get to the magic numbers with

all these proportional delegates being awarded and then he could sort of swing in at the convention and maybe it's anybody's game. >> well, i've been through a few conventions as i know newt has. it's just not going to happen. the last time there was a contested race was 76, that was reagan-ford. beyond that it was 1948 where it went beyond one ballot. went to the fourth ballot when dewy won. usually what happens is you vote once or twice and somebody drops out. at this point in time gingrich is not going to drop out, he's going to stay in so it's all a moot question here. alisyn:ed roll listen, great to see you. good to have your expertise. bill: you wonder who the calendar favors if anyone right now. if you've got illinois a week from yesterday, louisiana is coming up soon, then you've got some bigger states down the line, like new jersey and the state of new york. alisyn: right. stpho: and then ultimately you have california the first week of june.

alisyn: this could go on for a while. bill: stay tuned, as we like to say. all right. energy secretary steven chu tk*efrpbding his department's assessment in energy efficient light bulbs that cost $50 a part. he does not expect americans to fill their homes with them, he says the department is backing the product as a first step in developing cheaper energy efficient light bulbs over time. >> no one expects to pay $60 for a light bulb, and quite candidly, you know, if you fill your house with light bulbs like that, given that they last that long they should be part of your will bill: a republican criticizing the investment. chu says it makes economic sense in office buildings and traffic lights, because they last so long. coming to an intersection near you. alisyn: i want my red light to last longer. democrats attack being the white house on gas prices, why some in

the president's own party says he does have the power to ease the pain at the pump but he's just not using it, plus this. >> if they renege on the law, the agreement, they'll be forcing yet another government shut down on a blight of the american people bill: another budget battle looming in congress, america. democrats and republicans already split talking about a government shut down. john soon on the republican budget committee is live to break us down in moments, we'll talk to him. alisyn: there is a reason kids pay in the sandbox in the sandbar pit. wait until you hear this scary story. >> we were digging behind the property here, and it tkhrapse collapsed, and my brother is stuck under there right now. @? buy one spectrum by lg, and get one free ?

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alisyn: a powerful electrical fire leaves a major city in the dark. large plumes of smoke filling the night sky. a transformer in boston's his toeurbg back ba historic back

bay district burst into flames. they shut down straoed streets and blocked off a highway exit leaving the area. >> we're stuck here. i couldn't get a taxi. >> we had the smart phone and tablets. we could get information without having tv and everything. it's pretty crazy and we looked outside our windows. we live on the 9th floor there and saw huntington was pretty packed with police. alisyn: as of this morning at least 10,000 people were still without power. police say subway and bus schedules interrupted by the fire are also getting back on track at this hour. no reports of any injuries. bill: in the dark, huh? alisyn: scary. bill: a new warning for the u.s. banking system. the federal reserve says that four u.s. banks, giants like citigroup and met life have failed a critical stress test. there are several others that have passed. what does this mean for you? senior editor of the american spectator is with us.

good morning. what do americans have to worry about here. >> in the short term not much. these stress tests were very tough. they basically said if unemployment goes from 8% to 13%, housing prices plummet 21%, four ever the 19 banks would have real trouble having enough capital. that means most banks are in pretty good shape. the stress test was a pretty tough one. this does bring back into question these banks are now huge, and, again, are they too big to fail? because we saw what happened when they were too big to fail in 2008. everybody got an enormous taxpayer bailout. consumers can be happy this morning, as taxpayers they should be worried. these banks are hanging around and there be another bailout in the making. bill: your money is safe but your tax dollar may be not because more bailouts maybe on the way? >> oh, yeah and the bailouts were huge back in 2008, over a trillion dollars. so we supposedly had this

dodd-frank law that congress passed that was supposed to make things better. it cemented the banks into place, made it much more difficult to have new competitors and they are still too big to fail. we have a ticking time bomb here if we ever have another financial meltdown. bill: you mentioned some of the conditions for passing this test. i just want to repeat this and make sure i've got it right. you have to be able to weather the peak unemployment rate of 13%. a 21% drop in housing prices. that would be a great depression, would it not? the market shock that could take stocks as low as 50% of their value at the moment. that is a high bar. >> yes, but remember with the collapse of lehman bros. in 2008 we saw conditions that weren't quite like that, but they were pretty severe and they took several financial institutions down. we learned we need more transparency. we need to be able to look inside these banks and see what is inside the black box so investors and taxpayers know

more. it would be far better -- hen lee kaufman who was the great financial wizard 20, 30 years ago he says look if you've got banks too big to fail maybe them less big, we haven't done that. bill: d aorbgodd-frank was supposed to do that. has dodd-frank made our economy better, worse or stagnant? >> nor complicated. i think it's more difficult for the u.s. institutions to adapt, to attract foreign capital. bureaucrats are writing the regulations and they are a mess. i think dod-frank has made things worse. it's over responded to the crisis in the wrong way. bill: john fund, thank you we'll see you again, thank you, john. alisyn: 18 after the hour now. here are other stories we are following on "america's newsroom." former illinois governor rod blagojevich spending his last day as a free man with his

family. he is heading to colorado to serve a 14-year prison sentence for corruption. stkwrad skwrad is being grilled over a long list of allegations including that he mismanaged the nation's economy. the accusations are seen as a serious blow to his on going pow irstruggle with clerical leaders. winter wonderland for oregon has south coast. an overnight storm leaving 8 inches of snow on the ground. students and some city employees getting the day off. bill: snow? alisyn: in oregon. bill: we were talking about record high temperatures. spring is in the air. it was designed to help control the cost of medicare. republicans say a new federal committee will lead to rationing for you, they have a plan to stop it. alisyn: people get misquoted by the media every day, but not everyone has an entire police department at their disposal. what one chief of police did to a newspaper reporter that has him now in very hot water.

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alisyn: house republicans are setting up a vote next week to repeal a federal healthcare board that was created by president obama's healthcare law. it's supposed to help control the cost of medicare. but g.o.p. lawmakers say the board's decisions could, quote, lead to a system of rationing. dr. marc siegl is a fox a teamer and a of medicine at nyu's langome medical center. the republicans see this as a

rationing board. how does it work? >> in the way it's a rationing board is this. if you say we are going to keep your benefits and you're a medicare beneficiary you'll get your benefits, but we'll curtail the services you can buy with those services. we're going to say one service is better than another. they even have provisions in the law to study that. we're going to say one service is better than another and we are going to def u.n. d the service that isn't as good, and we are going to pay doctors less for administering what could be an essential service for doctors. and doctors may be afraid of malpractice by the way if they can't order a particular test or service. to me this is a form of ralgsing, as a physician wanting all options on the table. alisyn: doesn't it seem our medical system is always caught between the two extremes, which is rationing or over testing by some doctors who are afraid of lawsuits. why can't we get this right? >> exactly the thing you said. the g.o.p. is saying, how about

this place of this putting in tort reform. love that idea. they are only talking about payment -- about tort reform for pain and suffering. in other words, nonessential alpayments -- alisyn: punitive damages. >> pain and suffering. i'd like to see a board that instead of this board, the independent payment advisory board, let's replace it with a board that looks at frivolous lawsuits and says, you can't bring that suit, and you know what i'm not just making that up, that is already the case in michigan, in tennessee. so you have these boards already established, i want to see them on a national level. get rid of this board, put in a malpractice review board. physicians would love it and that would cut down on costs. i also think that the belo the bloat ph medicare is really to be found in none essential services. people that come to the doctors that don't need to go there. we need more deductibles and copays as a disincentive for over use. alisyn: isn't that rationing, that not every elderly person

can go to the doctor any time they want. >> we have to figure out a way for that not to apply for people can't afford it. there are plenty of people ou rich people out there that can afford it that pay for co-pays. adding all this bloat, doctors get penalized, they are afraid and practice defensively. now we're going to say you can't even order this service. this independent payment advisory board is a form of rationing. alisyn: we shall see what happens next week when the g.o.p. brings this legislation forward, dr. marc siegl thank you. >> many democrats are for getting rid of this too by the way. bill: more talk on your money. a budget battle now brewing on the hill, democrats hammer republicans. they say they are playing politics. republican jon thune is on the senate budget committee. he reacts to that charge. things are tough out there, right, ali? how tough are they? how about no toilet paper. when a wonderful sight is.

not a roll to be found, the rope for this paper pre dick act. >> really? >> that's what i said, really. it's sad, it's sad for the city. otels.com. if you're looking for a place to get together, you came to the right place. because here at hotels.com, we're only about hotels. finding you the perfect place is all we do. welcome to hotels.com. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. two. three. one. two. and, three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn more cash back for the things you buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% cash back on groceries. 3% back on gas. automatically.

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[ children laughing ] ♪ ...is the smell of salt in the air. ♪ it's the sound a seashell makes. [ seagulls calling ] away...is a place that's beyond your imagination, yet well within your means. find your away. for a dealer and the rv that's right for you, visit gorving.com. bill: fox news alert, paul ryan firing backs at attacks from lawmakers. a major budget battle set to get underway a week from now. senate majority harry reid had

this shot about that. >> now the reports in the press are that the republican right wing, and that says a lot in the house, are trying to chain the agreement we made as a matter of law. i guess they love government shut downs, or at least the threat of them. bill: congressman ryan will roll out his budget proposal next week. with me now is john thune. he is on the budget committee. what do you say to harry reid there. >> harry reid and the senate democrats now for the 1,050th day have not produced a budget in the senate. it's one thing to go out and attack the houfs representatives. we have not done a budget for three years in the united states senate. the house will do their budget next week, they will mark it up in the budget committee the following week, they will have it on the floor and that will set the stage for what should be a budget discussion between the house and the senate, which is supposed to conclude by the middle of april.

but as of right now there is no scheduled mark up in the senate budget committee, and i'm a member of that committee. there is no intention even if we were to mark up a bill for senator reid to bring that budget to the floor. it looks like the united states senate for the third year in a row will go out a budget and a plan for how to spend all this money. bill: a thousand 50 days, how do we explain that to the american people. >> i think, bill here is the challenge. obviously we have a tremendous a. debt. the president's budget adds $11 trillion to the debt overt course of the next decade and increases spending by 62% and raises taxes by $2 trillion. i don't think the senate democrats want to have votes on what are going to be very difficult issues. for example what are we going to do to reform entitlement programs to save social security and medicare for the next generation? what are we going to do on taxes, on tax reform to fuel economic growth and get the economy growing again? those are things that a budget document would spell out. it provides not only just the

numbers but the vision, what your vision is for how you're going to solve these pig problems thabig problems that the country case. all these businesses out there and all this economic uncertain and congress unable to function and do basic tasks like create a budget it creates more uncertainty for investors and makes it tough irfor the economy to get back on its feet. they don't want to make the hard choices and face these tough challenges. bill: what is your sense for politicians on the senate side, the house side or in washington in general. do they think that the american people have short memories? $15trillion, that debt was a big deal a year ago. it was headlines every day. two years ago it decided an election during the midterm fight. that 15 trillion has not gone away. do they think the memories of americans has lapsed as well? >> it certainly hasn't gone away. in fact every family shares that, that is $134,000. i think that is a message that

will not be lost on the american people as they prepare and listen to the debate and look at this election coming up in november. it just seems to me at least, bill, that there isn't the -- at least among the democrats in the united states senate, a desire to take on these tough challenges and to make the hardy situations. these are going to be hardy situations. how can we solve the nation's fiscal problems? we cannot continue to barrow at the rate we are today. every dollar that we spend in this country at the federal level 42-cents of that is borrowed we had a trillion to $1.5 trillion to the debt every single year. we cannot sustain that over time. we need a budget that spells out how we will get this country become on a more sustainable fiscal path and that is the part on which the senate democrats are completely punting. i give the house republicans credit, they are going to do a budget they will face the tough challenges. bill: we'll see whether or not a shut down is in the offing or not. thank you, senator.

alisyn: gearing up now for the next big g.o.p. battle in the land of lincoln. mitt romney and rick santorum both campaigning hard in illinois right now. 54 delegates are at stake when voters head to the polls on tuesday making the prayer restate a major player in what could become a two-man race. steve brown is live in washington. steve, we understand that up until now mitt romney's illinois operation was being run out of a living room, true? >> reporter: well, in a sense it was. as of a week ago the straight treasurer here and the state chairman for the romney campaign was essentially marshal link the campaign from his living room or his political office wherever he happened to be at. the romney folks have landed. national staff is here. they are in the midst of doing coordination as best they k. the air waves have a distinct romney flavor or advantage, if you will in that restore our future, the

ppro romney super pack has run almost a million dollars worth of ads. the romney campaign itself is running ads. we expect a lot more as the days wind down until tufplts. alisyn: why is illinois tricky territory for rick santorum? >> reporter: this isn't mississippi and this isn't alabama, no disrespect intended to those states. illinois is a lot more like ohio. >> it's turned in to another battleground. as you look at illinois it really ought to favor romney. the demographics of the republican vote there are more moderate, and they are also higher income and white collar. >> reporter: so u.s. senate mark kirk who is a social moderate, but a fiscal con receive tiff, whconservative who won elections statewide two years ago is a good example. rick santorum is expected to get away from the suburbs to the far western suburbs of the city of chicago and down state. this too is an open primary.

democrats and independents can participate. alisyn: that always makes it interesting. steve brown, thank you for a preview. bill: we are hearing from the obama administration that it feels the pain for you, that americans are feeling at pump, but some republicans say the white house is all talk no action. here is john john cornyn from our program last hour. >> the problem is you isn't just listen to what the president and his administration say about oil price, you have to watch what they do. and what they have done is create pair year, after barrier to more domestic production of oil here in the united states. bill: meanwhile what he's talking about is the national average right now at $3.81 a gallon. up 30-cents from a month ago. 70 democratic lawmakers now saying president obama can do more. one of them is with me, new york democrat congressman paul tonka. what do you want the white house to do, sir?

>> well, basically what we're doing is witnessing the largest domestic production that we've seen in some eight years, and so we would encourage that they continue in that pattern, which the president has suggested he would do. in terms of demand we have seen an all time low since 1977. i think the relationship of domestic supply and demand is where everybody wants to take us. we have to remember, and the president knows this and everyone has to acknowledge that no one leader can adjust a worldwide price for oil. these gasoline prices are driven by a cartel, an international cartel. where the president, i think, can be supportive and is supportive is looking at speculating. you know, he put his signature to a bill that legislation, that restricts the sort of speculating that the market can do with the commodity of oil. that's why i put my name to a letter with some colleagues

urging the commodity futures trade commission to enact, implement that law, make certain that the restrictions are in place, so speculating, which is adding nearly 60-cents to the gallon is not allowed to continue. and i think the president is there with us, and that's what we are encouraging the cftc to do, and again with his signature on that legislation. bill: it appears the american people would disagree with that, because they feel the president has a lot of authority when it comes to gas prices. there was a new york times poll that came out two days ago, about 54% says, yes he does have the power. what republicans argue is that this administration is in the way, they are part of the problem not the solution. here is senator barasso on that. i want to play it and get your reaction to that. >> the president has been a complete obstructionist on it and his energy policy if you want to even call it a policy has in my opinion actually krebtd contributed if not

caused the pain at the pump and he should be held fully responsible for what people are paying for gasoline. >> satisfactory advertise particulars don't lie. we're up, the best record in eight years. when you talk about pain at pump there is legislation that i introduced with that label and it says we take the $4 billion that we give annually in subsidies to this rich, profit rich industry, perhaps the richest in the history of capitalism and share that wealth, take those subsidies and make certain that we create alternative choices to gasoline. i think we need to encourage with the intellectual capacity of this national tern tiff splice. bill: why subsidize any of these companies, whether they are oil companies or green companies? >> pardon me? >> why subjec subsidize any of these companies?

you've seen the examples that have already failed on the green energy side. >> i think we have to spur the development of alternative technologies, we don't take a bad example and stop good policy. what we do is encourage the alternatives. we should have done it decade ago, we didn't. this president is showing the leadership by saying, build the alternative. the cartel will control the price. the more we supply, and we are supplying, we are exporting, we're supplying -- we're importing less than 50% now. bill: i hear your point. >> we've done what people want done, we've been drilling and reducing demand. bill: at $3.81 a gallon you know it is a top priority for every american every time they pull into that pump. i appreciate you coming on today. paul tonko is a democrat from new york. we'll catch up with you real soon. thank you. alisyn: one newspaper reporter getting a big surprise at his front door in the middle of the night. >> police showed up at my door

and it was like something that might have happened in the 1950s in the south or in some other countries where journalists aren't as protected why they are here. alisyn: why in a local police chief is now in hot water. is this a free spao*ef speech battle?

alisyn: wait until you hear this story. a police chief in berkeley, california, now apologizing for sending an officer to a reporter's house in the middle of the night demanding that he change his story. >> here i am working, and i see this article come out late at night, after 11, or 11:20 something like that, i think hey, i'm going to deal witness right now. the reasons really don't matter. it was just a significant error on my part. i put him in an awkward position, i shouldn't have done it. alisyn: judge andrew napolitano is here to give us his take.

basically what happened was the police chief read a story by this local reporter that was a story about the beating death of a local resident. the police chief did not like how he was being characterized. the article said that he had apologized for the beating death when in fact he wasn't beaten by a police officer or anything. the police chief just didn't like that he hadn't got even the word out to the public soon enough. any way, there was a mix-up in the article. so, the assistant to the police chief goes and knocks on the reporter's door at midnight. is that illegal? >> yes, it's illegal on a couple of fronts. first of all, it's the use of a governmental resource, the police officer who showed up at the door and knocked on it for an improper purpose. the police do not exist to correct errors in newspaper articles. secondly, it was an intrusion on the newspaper reporter's privacy, because this cop arrived at one:00 in the morning. you wake up to a police officer banging on your front door at

1:00 in the morning, what do you think? somebody died. there is a crazy person lose in the neighborhood. there is some emergency here, not his boss didn't like what i wrote in an article about him that is coming out in a few hours. alisyn: okay, so now let's take it a step differently. what if somebody from the police department called the reporter at a reasonable hour and said, you know what, you got this story wrong, by the wait journalist said when he went back to his notes he realize eld he had got even it a little wrong. is that illegal? >> no, no that is not illegal. it is the use of force at an improper time. alisyn: was it force just knocking on the door in. >> force is the presence of a person in uniform with a badge, with a gun making a demand of you at an inappropriate time and place, like 1:00 in the morning. there is another issue here and that is freedom of speech. of course, look, we are journalists, we are in the business, we all make mistakes from time to time and we welcome, believe it or not when people correct us when we make these mistakes, but for the

police to show up wearing a uniform, a badge and a gun saying, i want this changed, that is chilling, that is interfering with the breathing room that the first amendment gives to everybody who expresses their opinions verbally or in writing. highly improper. so it's a violation of federal constitution with the chilling and a violation of california law by using the police officer who showed up for an improper purpose. alisyn: meaning that it has the chilling effect on other journalists to think, gosh i better check every single thing and not have an armed guard show up at my house. >> at 1:00 in the morning because he didn't like what i said. alisyn: judge, great to see you. >> that doesn't happen in new jersey, does it. alisyn: never. new jersey does everything properly. >> she is a jersey girl. alisyn: nice to see you. bill: jon scott is standing by in that room over there. what is happening, jon. jon: one of the greatest alliances in history, that's how press refers to the u.s. relationship in great britain,

he's got a guest in town the british prime minister. he'll join the president for a live news conference, one hour from now, noon eastern. we'll have it for you. big wins for rick santorum in mississippi and alabama as all eyes turn towards illinois. speculation mounts about newt gingrich's future as well, and did you hear about the stress test? who passed, who failed and what does it mean to your financial future? we'll have it for you "happening now." bill: we'll see you in ten minutes. judge, i told you i had something else for you from jersey. there is a crisis in new jersey because at the state house they can't even spare a single square, did you know? >> this right here, these look like mop heads. >> yes. >> that is not going to help. >> that is not going to help us. >> that will not replace toilet paper. >> no and my concern -- >> not in a real society. >> exactly.

bill: a terrifying crisis of epic proportions gripping the new jersey state kapt to. trenton, new jersey is experiencing a short average ever a crucial ka mod today taoefplt it appears no one there can spare a square. alisyn: i'm sensing sarcasm. bill: we have more. >> reporter: hearts are beating faster in new jersey's capitol city. city hall is gripped with fear. the headlines spell out the danger of paper shortage. [screaming] >> reporter: yes, that kind of paper. really? >> that's what i said, really? arguing about toilet paper. it's sad, its sad for the city. >> reporter: a squabble among city councilmembers have left this as few of the remaining squares to spare in all of the municipal building. i was taken to city hall's secret basement storage room shocking devoid of comfort giving toilet paper.

>> it's eupl bar ration, and the residents and employees deserve better. >> reporter: these right here look like mop heads. >> yes. >> reporter: that won't help us. >> that is not going to help us. >> reporter: that won't replace toilet paper in a real society. >> exactly. >> reporter: the council has twice voted down the purchase of back up ticket. some were concerned about, wait for it a $4,000 purchase of disposable coffee cups with handles. >> there is no doubt that there was stealing going on here in the city of trenton too with the workers. >> reporter: you believe these cups were going to disappear. >> absolutely, one hundred percent, there is no doubt in my mind that the cups were going to disappear. >> we wonder why city officials don't stretch their remaining supply of toilet tissue by taking each individual roll of two ply tissue and it into two roles of two ply each. dangerous after spicy meals, but

well worth the gamble. >> you know you can stand here and smile but it's not a laughing matter to me. >> reporter: facing mounting ridicule city council appears ready to make its paper purchase, but the order may have to be rebid, delaying a resolution to the crisis while the city's reputation goes down the drain. bill: indeed it does. kudos to bruce gordon. alisyn: intrepid stand up. bill: we have late word this morning, crisis diverted. there was a deliver lee of $16,000 worth of toilet paper and paper towels. that's your state. alisyn: that's where i grew up, but i washed my hand of it. bill: $16,000 worth of toilet paper, kid. so as you were. alisyn: actually this is a scary story, you'll be happy to know it ends well. buried alive, never before has playing in the sand been so

dangerous. >> it was a miracle, my little lucky charm. it was hard, i knew how long he had been an didn't have air. if he didn't have the air pocket he won't be here. i'm a home in a high-risk flood area. it doesn't look risky. i mean, phil, does this look risky to you? nancy? fred? no. well it is. in a high-risk area, there's a 1-in-4 chance homes like us will flood. i'm glad i got flood insurance. fred, you should look into it.

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>> 11-year-old boil suffer as terrifying scare after being buried alive for nearly 15 minutes. nicolas nelson said he and his older brother were digging a tunnel in a sand pit when suddenly a large piece broke off. his brother running to a neighbor's house to call 911. >> this piece of sand fell on me. then all of sudden it all started to fall. every time i tried to get out it would tighten up on me. after a minute or so, i passed out and then, the last thing i remember i woke up in the ambulance. >> he says he survived by breeding through small air pockets in the sand, saving his life. scary.