>> well that's going to do it for us but we've had a great show. lots more coming up. martha: great having you here, gregg. we'll see you tomorrow. "happening now" getting underway with jith jon scott and jenna lee. have a good day. jenna: thank you very much. "happening now", we're getting ready to introduce to you a brand new millionaire. we'll have a live look. there it is. of the small town of red bud, illinois a mega millions winner is about to be publicly introduced. claiming his or her share of the record jackpot from nearly three weeks ago. you see the red sheet, rick lotto officials are dropping hints it may be a local person. lucky folks in kansas and maryland who had their prizes awarded to them were

able to do it anonymously. depends which state you're in. if you're in the state of illinois you have to go public when you win. we'll find out who these folks are. get a little it about their story and share that with you a little later in this hour. rick: but first, the secret service prostitution scandal getting even uglier. some are asking if our national security was compromised? and mitt romney now weighing in saying what he would do if he were in the white house. >> another scandal keeps snowballing. looks like family members of those gsa workers also got a few perks on our dime. rick: and in the face of painful gas prices at the pump the president taking on oil speculators proposing new regulations, doing that live on this show yesterday. will it really help consumers or is it all just politics? a fair and balanced debate. it is all "happening now." rick: glad you're with us,

everybody. thanks for joining us on a wednesday. the secret service prostitution scandal taking a new turn. the latest fallout raising alarming questions about our national security. hi,, everybody. i'm rick folbaum in for jon scott. jenna: we're glad you're with us. i'm jenna lee. at least, at least 20 women were allegedly in hotel rooms with men assigned to protect the president in columbia. this during the latin america summit that happened over the weekend. 21 military agents and personnel are under investigation. they want to know how they spent their off-duty time and who they spent it with. that would be the key. one senator asking if the circumstances ever put the president or our country at any risk? doug mckelway live at the white house with more today. doug? >> reporter: that's right, jenna. secret service director mark sullivan is said to be deeply upset with the growing scandal. he turned the investigation

into a independent inspector general. the scope is so wide, 21 prostitutes, as many as 21 secret service and military personnel involved some on capitol hill are wonder whether this might be a cultural problem within the secret service. >> a culture problem and i also find it hard to believe it hasn't happened in other countries and on other important missions. >> reporter: the president did not respond to shouted questions after a rose garden ceremony yesterday but later jay carney did say that the president is standing by director sullivan. >> the president has confidence in the director of the secret service. director sullivan acted quickly in response to this incident and is overseeing an investigation as we speak into the matter. >> reporter: but some on capitol hill are now calling for director sullivan to be dismissed. >> if you travel across the country, if you travel acrosstown and can find a

book that says security planning 101, first chapter, first page, first paragraph, first sentence says, don't let the prostitutes in. if we can't get that fundamental principle right, how can we get the rest of the principles right we need for our national security? >> reporter: and the presumptive republican presidential nominee mitt romney spoke out about it today on laura ingraham's radio show. he said, quoting now the right thing to do is remove people who violated public trust and put their play time and personal interests ahead of the interests of the nation. he said it is time to clean house but he stopped short of calling for director sullivan to step down. jenna? jenna: more on the story as we get it, doug. thank you. rick: well, right now the senate is trying to get to the bottom of the spending scandal rocking the general services administration. we've been watching this drama play out. that's the federal agency under investigation now after blowing almost a million of your taxpayer dollars on a lavish las vegas conference. jeff neely, the gsa executive behind the vegas

spending spree, taking his wife along. some pictures you can see his wife posted on a social media website. you see them enjoying their luxurious hotel suite. there he is is relaxing in a hot tub with a couple of glasses of sangria behind him. jenna: you wonder who took the photo? rick: his wife probably took it do you think? she was there. he was a no-show on the hot seat on capitol hill refusing to testify after taking the fifth at a different hearing. lawmakers not hiding their outrage at seeming out of control and over the top spending. >> i think the american public can see why this committee is so frustrated. i hope the administration, i hope the new gsa administration is seeing how frustrated the american public is. a lot has been talked about in the media about this lavish expense of las vegas and it is inexcusable.

rick: chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel live on can capitol hill. mike, more hearings today. what is the tone so far? >> reporter: rick i have to say on day three and the first hearings on the senate side of the capitol, definitely calmer and i should point out, that is because the two guys that are testifying today are those who are responsible for kind of cleaning up the mess. new acting administrator of the gs. and also the inspector general who investigated the mess at gsa. so not the people who were necessarily responsible for what they're looking into at this point. a short time ago the chairman of this hearing set the tone. >> it makes me cringe for the good people at gsa who work so hard every day and have been humiliated by a few bad actors. to those who betrayed the public trust let me be clear, the party's over. it's over because of gsa inspector general brian

miller. >> reporter: so that set the tone essentially. they're looking at ways forward with the gsa and how to make sure this never happens again, rick. rick: so many things to get angry about in this story. mike, but one of the biggest things that people are asking, one of the biggest questions what took so long to find out this was going on and to get it stopped? >> reporter: well, that's right. jeff neely, the executive you mentioned, who was enjoying the suite in the las vegas at the top, he was traveling up until as recently as a month ago on the taxpayer dime. the inspector general explained the problem is essentially you're dealing with a huge organization. you're also dealing with people's reputations and their careers. so you have to tread carefully. every time he lifted a stone, there were other things under those stones and so it turned out to be a huge investigation but we did hear some expression of frustrations about why this took so long. >> the conference took place in october of 2010 and then

the whistle-blower asked for the ig investigation a month later. it was reported back in may of 2011 that was going on. that was enough time to investigate. and then the white house is briefed the beginning of june. >> reporter: and so that is why a lot of people are feeling frustration. they feel like this has been going through a process for a very long time but, perhaps that is the nature of the bureaucracy. rick? rick: perhaps. mike emanuel, on capitol hill for us. thanks, mike. jenna: fox news is your election headquarters and we have some brand new national polls out today showing mitt romney and president obama in a dead-heat. the latest cbs news "new york times" poll has them tied at 46%. compared to last month when romney trailed the president by three points. chris stirewalt is the fox news digital politics editor

and host of "power play" on foxnews.com live. chris, we're 200 days away from election day. at this point what do these polls really tell us? >> well they tell us the story what happened in the last month and in the last month two significant things have happened. one is mitt romney essentially clinched republican presidential nomination. so part of his improved condition comes from the fact that the red team is decided that they can, they will deal with him and they will rally around him in an effort to try to beat president obama. the other thing that's happened though has been a pretty lousy start for the president. he came out of the gate in the full-fledged general election. you go all the way back to the hot microphone moment with the russian president about post-election flexibility. his dust-up after trying to tell the supreme court that they shouldn't take the unprecedented action of overturning his health care law. last week you had the

kerfufel over the democratic strategist that said ann romney never worked a day her life. he had a couple of rough weeks and it has come at a good time for romney. jenna: the president is in ohio. looking at "power play" on foxnews.com, interesting to see the same numbers the in poll and see you write about what your opinion is. the same strategy that president of and mitt romney are using. tell us a little more about that. >> base matters. the earlier you are in the process, the more the base matters. mitt romney's challenge going forward is this. right now, republicans are say okay, look, romney may have not been the heartthrob of the right, super conservative candidate some people had hoped for but republicans are coming to understand that he is way better than barack obama by their way of thinking. but in the long term, romney's challenge is this. the president is going to be working very hard to peel away base voters especially christian conservatives. those sort of santorum

voters, the social conservatives. the democrats are going to work hard to chip away and make romney continue to protect his right flank going forward. right now there is unity. romney will have to work harder in the long run than obama to maintain it. jenna: you mentioned mitt romney according to some is not the heartthrob of the republican party. a poll also showed us how republican voters feel about mitt romney. 33% support him enthusiastically. 40% say they have reservations. chris, is a vote a vote whether you're enthusiastic or not? does it really matter the enthusiasm factor? >> we generally talk about one to four scale, one to four scale of voter intensity. the fours are ones you want. they don't just vote for you. they drive neighbors to the polls. they put yard signs and give money all the way in. romney may be able to get a lot of threes, and fours, more intense voters not on virtue he selling something with a lot of sizzle. but just on the fact he

offers what to republicans as a credible alternative to president obama who they think is way too liberal. interestingly enough, it may be enough. jenna: interesting. i'm very enthusiastic about our conversation, chris, just for the record. >> you're a four absolutely. me too. jenna: chris, thank you very much. catch more of chris by the way bottom of the hour hosting "power play" on foxnews.com. rick: a quick break and then when we come back a tragedy that will take your breath away. a young mom gunned down with her newborn baby in her arms. now a nurse is charged with murder. we have a live report. jenna: the price of gas taking center stage in washington this election year, leaving house republicans fuming over the president's energy policies. we'll have a fair and balanced debate those policies and what effect they may or may not have. rick: plus the link between anxiety --. jenna: why are you looking at me? you're looking at me. rick: not looking at you for any reason. how worried you are versus how intelligent you are. is there a connection? a new study says there may be. we'll tell you all about it.

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jenna: well, if you know merle and pat butler out of, out of red bud, illinois, they're probably some pretty good friends to have right now. there is their check. $218.6 million. rick, you were telling me they're opting for the cash option which means they will just take a lump sum. rick: just a lump sum of $157 million. jenna: just a lump sum of $157 million. mearl and pat lived their entire lives in the town of red bud, illinois. they held onto this ticket and anonymity for a couple weeks right now. but no longer. because they're in the state of illinois they have to come forward publicly. we congratulate them today. rick: why not. jenna: why not.

millionaires. rick: good for them. jenna: here is wick thought from merle today. >> i started on other numbers and it was 2, 4, and the further i went the more they matched. so, after i looked at it for a couple minutes, i turned to my wife who was right there with me and he says, we won. and she kind of looked at me funny. and i said, no, we won. and, then she started giggling. and, she figure gelled for about four hours i think. jenna: like we are right now. what a story. pat, his wife said this is all very exciting. that is what she told the press. she said they were up all night after realizing that is what happened. congratulations. i guess that is the ticket he is holding up. congratulations to pat and merle butler today. rick: very different kind of story now and some new information we have to tell you about regarding a horrific story out of texas.

a registered nurse has now been charged with capital murder, accused of fatally shooting a young mother. police say kala marie golden was leaving the doctor's office with her three-day old son when she was shot dead. the shooter then snatched the child from her arms and took off. now fortunately the baby was found safe hours later. heather childers has the breaking developments for us now. heather. >> reporter: hi, rick. the prosecutor on this case tells fox more charges could be filed against other people in this case. but for now, this arrest record, it spells out exactly how the woman charged with murder, 30-year-old verna mcclain kill ad young mother, abducted her baby. all the while planning to tell family that she adopted the child. police say mcclain admits shooting kala marie golden multiple times and taking the infant to her home in houston. the baby boy as you mentioned was found unharmed in the suspect's home around

8:00 p.m. last night, six hours after his mother was killed. all of this started yesterday about 20 miles north of houston in spring, texas. 28-year-old golden had just left a pediatric clinic with her young son. witnesses say the suspect, mcclain, approached golden in the parking lot. the two argued. as many as seven shots were fired. the infant snatched. mcclain sped away, hitting the dying mother as she tried to reach into the suspect's car, screaming, my baby. now the car was found parked outside a nearby apartment complex late last night. the driver's side stained in blood. it was during that time that the suspect, mcclain, her grandmother and another woman returned to the apartment complex, asked to speak with investigators and mcclain admitted the crimes. meantime the prosecutor tells me the suspect's sister, was at mcclain's house with the baby. and the sister says, mcclain had been talking about adopting a child and after

killing golden, and taking little keegan, said she now had the child and would need to do the adoption. there are unconfirmed reports of a man with mcclain in the vehicle at the time of the shooting. the prosecutor on the case tells us he is trying to figure out who that man is or if even exists. we'll have more on all of this when investigators hold a news conference later this afternoon. baby keegan, by the way, rick, is expected to be reunited with his father soon. i know you're a dad. i know you can't imagine this. rick: this story is appalling. i'm glad the baby is okay and soon to be reunited with the dad but what an awful story. head they are childers in the newsroom. thanks. jenna: we'll turn to a little business news next. the pain at the pump could soon hit your favorite burger joint. sandra smith from the fox business network will talk energy pricingses and fast-food. if you thought about spending money on anything these days has you worried? keep it up.

that awful worrying may reflect a truly excellent quality. we'll have the reason why next.

rick: do you worry a lot? do you worry about worrying too much? well don't worry. there is a new study out there today that finds a link between high anxiety and high intelligence. here to talk to us about it is psychologist. good to see you, doctor. what is the headline, the smarter you are the more you worry? >> something of that nature, the baseally what the researchers found was, they

found people with generalized anxiety disorder which is a pretty serious form of anxiety. they measured intelligence and measured the amount of worrying these folks engaged in. what they found a very strong relationship between those two. basically folks worrying the most were the most intelligent out of that group. rick: this may be of comfort for people who tend to worry a lot or could lead them to worry more? >> that's right. well, the main thing i would say, don't worry about it. actually, no, the important thing to remember is that, for individuals who have anxiety disorders it can be very serious, it can be very crippling. there are effective treatments out there. rick: what are some of, what are some of the treatments? do they all involve medication or are there other ways to treat this? >> no, absolutely not. there are some medications that have been shown to be effective but the first line treatment, first thing you should go to non-medical treatment always. one of the most proven treatments is acceptance and commitment therapy. and cognitive behavior therapy is another proven

therapy. basically forms of psychotherapy are actually evaluated by real scientific research and actually been shown to make real differences in the lives of people with anxiety disorders. rick: when those things don't work, there are medicines, there are drugs on the, on the market. anti-anxiety pills that can sometimes be helpful as well? >> that's correct. and occasionally a many could nation of the two is the most effective treatment. however it's always a good idea to go with the least intrusive treatment first which is generally considered to be non-medical. rick: for those people that worry a lot probably knew all the information we're talking about any way but helpful to get it out there anyway. a an interesting study and maybe silver linings for people dealing with a little too much worrying in your lives. good advice from dr. jonathan tarbox. thank you very much, sir. >> thank you. jenna: well, the rising cost of gas and raw ingredients is hitting fast-food joints and other restaurants across this nation which could mean we'll be paying a lot more

the next time we all have to get our burgers and fries and that fix which happens more often than that not. sandra smith with the fox business network. sandra, we're talking about some of the restaurants that are being effected. what changes are we talking about? >> jenna, this is definitely a hot topic. not only are fast-food chains fighting high gas prices to transport the food to the restaurants but battling high commodity prices of ingredients. some of the companies we're talking about, america's favorite, mcdonald's beef prices are going higher. ingredients that make flour are going higher. and coffee prices are going up in the popular cafe beverages. skinner, ceo of mcdonald's, costs for mcdonald's this year could go up as much as 5 1/2%. we've definitely seen this at a lot of different restaurant chains. chipolte, they serve higher end ingredients. they're definitely battling the costs as well as yum! brands which owns taco bell and kfc brands.

food costs going up as well. gas prices to get food to the restaurants is also going up. so it is kind of a double-whammy for these guys. jenna: sand draw, thank you very much for that. >> reporter: thank you. jenna: rick, we have the dollar menu at mcdonald's. that is very key to them. if they don't have the dollar menu working it may be a problem. rick: call it $2 menu. jenna: doesn't exactly have the same ring, no, it doesn't. when we come back a major court ruling to tell but the on the voter i.d. law in arizona. wait until you hear about this. could the outcome be a game changer for voters this coming november. rising gas prices. we're talking a lot about this. taking center stage this election year. president obama just yesterday challenging congress to crack down on oil market speculators. but is more government regulation really the answer or is it all about politics? mary katharine ham and juan williams coming up. a fair and balanced debate straight ahead. everyone in america depends on the postal service.

i get my cancer medications through the mail.

now washington, they're looking at shutting down post offices coast to coast. closing plants is not the answer. they want to cut 100,000 jobs. it's gonna cost us more, and the service is gonna be less. we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. the ripple effect is going to be devastating. congress created the problem. and if our legislators get on the ball, they can make the right decisions. rick: glad you're with us everybody, right now, a growing financial drain for most americans. in an election year that makes it a very hot political issue as well. we're talking about the price of gasoline. the national average per gallon now, $3.89. yesterday the president urging congress to give government regulators more power to crack down on oil market speculators and manipulators.

in the process, the president set up a new showdown with house republicans. >> a few weeks ago congress had a chance to stand up for families paying a extra premium at the pump. congressional republicans voted to keep spending americans hard-earned tax dollars on more unnecessary subsidies for big oil companies. so here's a chance to make a amend. a chance to actually do something that will protect consumers by increasing oversight of energy markets, mary katharine ham of the daily little caller is a -- daily caller and juan williams. always good to see you both. mary katherine, a good idea from the president or political gimmick? >> this is political problem for the president so he come up with a political sew using. solution. this thing polls badly, let's do something bad to it. if juan and i poll badly the president would come up with a new scheme to regulate us. that would be a tragic

mistake. juan and i are popular cause celebre and voters like us. because regulators don't, expand regulatory power and take $52 million of your dollars to do it. take the president at his word that actual rampant speculation is happening here. that means the federal government and its regulators in place now are doing a terrible job at their job. so why would i give them $52 million more dollars? rick: all right, juan, very popular with the voters i hear. let me get your take on this. is it something, i mean a lot of folks have come out and said, even some conservatives have said this morning, you know what, these ideas the president put out yesterday but they're not bad ideas, politically speaking, practically speaking most would need congressional approval and there is no way that's happening right? >> that's right. unfortunately that's the case. republicans control the house. they're not going to do this. they're not going to give him this power and point to exactly what mary katherine said which is added cost. say in fact the powers that

the president would need to go after some of these oil speculators he has in hand. now the president and his team are making the case that you know what? this market has grown over the past few years and i think the analogy the president used in his rose garden remarks was to say imagine the nfl had more teams but didn't increase the number of referees. he wants to do what he calls putting more cops on the beat to stop the oil traders from artificially creating scarcity by buying up oil futures and then driving up oil prices for me, you and mary katherine. rick: mary katherine he almost seems to be daring republicans to say, no, we're not going alongwith this. just as democrats dared republicans to vote down the "buffett rule" which happened other night. >> yeah. rick: is this same kind of thing and will we see more and more of these kinds of things as we get closer to november? >> we might see one of these ideas a week will not go anywhere and probably not solve problems they concede themselves won't solve the problem. both carney and, white house

spokesperson and obama said this isn't really sill very bullet. they know it will not do anything. because it polls well because people don't like speculators. he also didn't offer any evidence there is speculation which his regulators are supposed to find. you remember post-katrina when fcc did actual investigation lo and behold there was no artificial or jacking up prices going on. so i don't think this is meant to solve the problem. again follow the president's logic here. they passed dodd-frank. it was supposed to solve all the speculation problems. they have a commodities futures trading commission that is supposed to catch all the problems. didn't catch mf global. in the end we suck at our jobs give us 52 more million dollars. rick: juan, what does the president have in his bag of tricks as we get close to election day? of course there are the reserves. if the white house believes the price of gasoline is the biggest hurdle aside from the unemployment rate the president faces to win another term, what more

could you see the administration and the campaign do here? >> well, they can do, they can further go after the speculators if you will. they can try to even, some democrats are suggesting release the some of the supply from the strategic oil reserve. i think that's a pretty extreme step but the idea again is to shock the oil market to remind them that they have some, they have to behave socially responsibly and not just, you know, reap the profit. but to get to mary katherine's point, rick, i think that you have to understand that these margins and how much money can be made by the speculators, really does anger the american voter. and so i think the president helped himself by saying he is doing something, rather than just throwing up his arms and saying there is nothing this administration can do -- >> he is not really doing anything. >> i think he is saying you know what? we are taking action. we care about the you and the consumer. that is good politics. rick: good politics and as we've been arguing sometimes it is good politics and

sometimes it is not. folks out there will have to decide. we'll see what happens in washington. mary katharine ham and juan williams. good to see you both. >> thank you, rick. jenna: supreme court ruling could be a game-changer for voters this november. the court upholding a section of a arizona law that requires voters show an i.d. before casting a ballot. popular position according to new "fox news poll". 70% of you say we need voter i.d. laws to prevent voter laws. only 26% say there are unnecessary and could discourage voting. shannon bream in the washington bureau with more on this. what else did the polls reveal to us? >> reporter: it is interesting. couple delve into the reason behind these voter i.d. rules. in many states you are required to show some type of i.d. before you can vote. that has been upheld in some cases in the supreme court as recently as 2008. let's take a look at couple of these polls. first, are supporters of voter i.d. laws trying to reduce legal votes from

minorities. 34% said yes, but overwhelming majority, 62% said no. other side of that is our next question. are opponents of voter i.d. laws trying to increase illegal votes by noncitizens? 50% said yes they do believe so. 45% said no. interesting look at motivation or what average americans think is motivation behind some of these laws, jenna, a federal appeals court upholding a section of the law in arizona. a number of voter i.d. laws are being contested in federal court. how could that impact the fall election? >> reporter: the doj is very clear are concerned about any voter i.d. that would impact the poorest among us, minorities, specifically blacks an hispanics. that is one of main objections in the law in texas on hold. we looked at exit poll in the election in 2008. see how those particular groups voted. those with lowest income, 73% voted for president obama. black voters voted 95% for

president obama. hispanic voters where there is dust-up in texas. 67% voted for president obama. critics say democrats focused on getting votes that obviously will most heavily weigh in their favor. the other side argues that republicans have something afoot trying to stop votes who legally would be able to vote. it is not something that will be settled anytime soon, jenna,. jenna: an on going debate, jenna. thank you very much. "fox news" has been investigating voter fraud allegations for years now. this weekend our fox news channel has a special. fox news reports stealing your vote. eric shawn has been doing the stories for us periodically on our show and many others. he will bring us the storiesries. you will not believe some of the cases he uncovered. that is this weekend on fox. rick: eric is one of the best in the building. look forward to that. how concerned are you about north korea's nuclear weapons program? the defiant country

promising to retaliate over a failed rocket launch. western nations are worried that the north could soon carry out a third nuclear test. we'll talk about it. new developments in the mystery of tom petty's missing guitars. we told you a way to e-mail tom petty if you knew anything. jenna: i didn't have any information. rick: someone did. we'll tell you why he and his bandmates may no longer be singing the blues when we come right back. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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rick: coming up next all new in our next hour, horrific pictures just published by a major newspaper appearing to show u.s. troops posing with dead afghan militants. these are militants who had just killed themselves. we have the latest on alleged incidents that the u.s. embassy in kabul calling morally repugnant. an executive pay plan rejected by citigroup shareholders. steve moore will be here to

weigh in on the stockholder revolt. and now we know the final winner of that record-setting mega millions jack polt. we've got the details on the lucky couple coming up in the next hour. jenna: well turning now to new developments out of north korea. as the nation apparently angry over its failed rocket launch now gets ready to retaliate according to reports. there are some growing fierce it will push ahead with a third nuclear test. what makes that particularly disturbing again are some reports that experts say they believe that this nuclear device will for the very first time use highly-enriched uranium. and that is a sign that the north could be improving its nuclear weapons capability. this is all going on as the house is know holding a hearing on the threat posed by north korea. joining us michael as you land, director of japan studies and school lore for asian studies at the american enterprise institute. mike, some have been describing this situation with north korea as an escalating crisis. why?

>> good morning, jenna. the problem they are no longer waiting as they used to do in the past to see how we would react but they're pushing forward. one big mistake that the obama administration made was tying the humanitarian food aid to the political agreement. we have never done that before. and, rightfully, we can selled the aid because we couldn't go forward with it after the rocket misfire. now the north koreans --. jenna: michael this agreement that you're mentioning just happened in late february. >> absolutely. it only took two weeks for them to break the agreement. that number one, is worrying. now north koreans are saying we're aggressors because we're not giving food aid they were expecting. they decided to renege on their agreement they made with us february 29th. not let atomic inspectors in. they will definitely go with another nuke test which you as you point out will probably be uranium for the first time. we have very few tools that we can respond to this. we're completely on the

defensive right now. jenna: michael what do the north koreans want? >> that is great question. if we knew that we could solve this 20 years ago. number one, the regime wants to survive. number two it wants to be recognized as a nuclear power which is something we resisted for now. number three it wants to be able to insure that it has the ability to basically stop us trying regime change. we're not doing it anymore. we know they have some nuclear weapons. we know they have so many thousands of artillery pieces placed at seoul or pointed at seoul they can be basically assured all the illegal activities to enrich themselves we're going to do nothing. the truth is we've been doing very very little for a very long time. jenna: you say our options are limited. we have 30,000 troops in the dmz, the demilitarized zone and they have been stationed there for years. do you see a possibility we could be pushed in some way to a military conflict on the korean peninsula? >> i think we could be

pushed in if they miscalculate. if they force south korea into reacting as the south they said they will if there is another attack on their territory. it could be a full-fledged war. we're bound by treaty to support south korea. i don't think we'll initiate a war with the north out of the blue. basically troops have been there, we talked about this last time, the troops have been there they have helped keep the peace for 50 years, over 50 years now,. 60 years in south korea. on that boarder between the north and the south. so without the troops, you know, i don't know what we could have expected. the problem is you're right, by having those troops there with increasingly erratic regime where we don't understand who is in charge right now means there is possibility for miscalculation. jenna: miscalculation and i say pushed into a conflict and whether or not we would choose at certain point to get involved in a conflict if the timing and situation was that. of course we'll have to leave that up for further debate. michael, always nice to have

you and your expertise. thank you very much. >> thank you. rick: "happening now", new violence in syria despite a nearly week-old cease-fire. [explosions] this amateur video showing explosions in the city of homs. the army reportedly shelling rebel targets in violation of that truce agreement as president bashar assad faces new pressure to make sure that agreement is honored. leland vittert is live in our middle east bureau with the latest on this. leland? >> reporter: rick, the syrian government is doing the old say one thing and do another. their foreign minister says, oh, we're abiding by the cease-fire. meantime video out of homs shows a battlefield-like assault. >> "allahu akbar!"!. >> reporter: the opposition group there inside homes, this amateur video shows the shelling that killed at least two people there. so far, remember that the syrians are supposed to have

withdrawn their military from the streets. they clearly have not done that. syrian state television is now reporting that some 20 soldiers have been killed in roadside bomb attacks by the opposition. it doesn't look like either side is keeping this cease-fire. meantime, president assad and his wife are trying to win the hearts and mind of their own people. they still have a lot of support inside that country. they have been handing out aid and food packages around the country. rick, right now the u.n. observer teams that are on the ground there have very little freedom of movement and clearly there is not much of a cease-fire for them to observe. back to you. rick: leland vittert in jerusalem. leland, thanks. jenna: if you don't pay your taxes don't even think about leaving the country. we'll look whether the taxman should be able to seize your passport? is that even legal? that is coming up. careful, pringles are bursting with more flavor.

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rick: new information on a story we told you about yesterday. singer tom petty and his band the heartbreakers, no longer heartbroken. now that the police recovered the band's five stolen guitars. julie banderas with the story. >> reporter: rick, california police not only recovered five stolen guitars they made an arrest in the case very quickly soon after they were stolen. the alleged thief identified as 51-year-old darrell washington. he was arrested after authorities say one of petty's guitars sold at hollywood pawn shop was recognized. wow, at a news conference on the culver city police chief, he said if you take a look at these guitars each one of these guitars has been responsible for creating one of his greatest hits in the last 30 years. so there's a lot of emotional attachment to them. listen. >> if you take a look at these guitars, each and everyone of them has been responsible for creating one of his greatest hits in the last 30 years.

so there's a lot of emotional attachment to these guitars. we couldn't be more pleased we were able to get them back for mr. petty. >> reporter: on thursday four of the five guitars were stolen from the soundstage. a day later another one reported missing. according to authorities washington works as security guard where petty and the heartbreakers were rehearsing for upcoming tour. petty issued following statement i'm extremely grateful to the culver city police department for a job well done and the well-wishes and concerns for the band from our friends. they had no questions asked $7500 reward for return of the get, at that. no word whether anyone will --. rick: that pawn shop owner should get some free concert tickets. i'm just saying. >> reporter: i would agree, see ya. jenna: when a man's best friend is more than just a pet. this chocolate lab named

banning is also a lifesaver. he is a diabetic alert dog. his owner, dr. jonathan beach has type one diabetes. diabetic it is have difficult time regulating sugar levels and can face dangerous health complication. this little guy, banting is trained to sniff out and warn of any upcoming problems. dr. beach by the way has a diabetic care center. he plans to bring his little puppy with him to work with other patients and of course to keep an eye on him as well. rick: smart little guy. jenna: he is cute. rick: looks like a young pickup. look at him. i like that. jenna: this is all good arguments for someone out there wants a pet and is told no. rick: truly man's best friend. coming up, house speaker john boehner lashing out at president obama. did you hear this morning? accusing the president of abandoning his job to campaign among other things. more on what he had to say coming right up. also, new developments in the search for the killer of a 13-year-old california girl. what investigators were doing at her middle school

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jenna: new this hour on "happening now," she left her home and headed for the bus stop, today a grim development in a search for this missing teenager. also, don't book a trip anywhere outside the united states if you haven't paid your taxes. why the irs may soon be stopping people right before they leave the country. and this is not california, no santa ana winds in sight, the unlikely placed getting scoressed by racing wildfires. all ahead on "happening now." a top democrat says, it's more an announcement that the party is over. this as the senate weighs into the federal spending scandal at the gsa. we are glad you're with us, everybody, i'm jenna lee and welcome to the second hour of "happening now." rick: i'm rick folbaum, god you

are with us. the senate taking a different tone from earlier hearings on the house side run by republicans. as jenna just said california senator barbara boxer says the party is over at the gsa. now it's time to look forward to make sure it doesn't happen again. charlie hurt is a columnist for the washington times. seems like everybody wants to get in on the act when criticizing and showing outrage over the gsa. >> it really is funny to watch. it's bipartisan condemnation by both sides. this is right around the very weak when americans are having to write those tax checks or at least tally up how much of their hard-earned money they've seen slip away between their fingers with every pay check. to have all this come a the same week we have extraordinary hearings into this mindless waste and many an arrogance that

is sort of -- it's kind of hard -- friends of mine who are in the private sector who get to go on lavish corporate trips, they are not as cocky about this stuff as these folks are. and it really is shocking. i thought one of the most amazing things to come out of some of the testimony was one of these leaches explained they didn't realize taxpayers were picking up the bill. my goodness who did you think was picking up the bill? rick: this would be appalling any time of year. the fact that these hearings are taking place right around tax day as you mentioned it certainly heightens the outrage this a lot of people are feeling. in your column today you come down pretty hard on the president. what kind of role do you think he played, or how much of the blame do you think he deserves in all of this? >> it's kind of interesting, rick. there's been a whole debate going on around here about how high up the chain of command you can sort of blame something like this on. i would actually argue when you

have a bureaucracy as massive as the federal government it's hard to figure out where the blame goes. and i think it's a stretch to say that president obama is to blame for this sort of -- this culture or something like this, but i will say this. that president obama has over seen a massive expansion of the federal government. he wants to expand the federal government to get into healthcare in ways that even the mone monstrosity that the government is now isn't involved in that yet. i think it's important to stop and remember at times like this. this is what you get when you have a massive bureaucracy. there is no way around it. humans are humans, people are people. when you have a passive operation like this. like the federal government that has only limited oversight, selfoversight and they are doing things that are super basic that taxpayers can hold them

accountable for, you wind up with crazy stuff like this. rick: i know, charlie. here is the thing. it's easy to gripe about taxes this time of year and people don't want to pay taxes, then you see what is going on at the gsa and probably elsewhere, who knows. at the same time, americans like the stuff that they get from their government. they don't want to lose any of that. they are fine with you cutting other people's programs but don't cut my program. where do we go? >> i think that -- you've hit exactly on the most important point here, and that is, you know what -- again i just blame the politicians. the politicians need to wake up and realize that they -- we are in a serious problem here. and they have to act like adults, and they have to make serious decisions about -- and we as voters do too, but the politicians can't just keeping saying yes, yes, yes and then spend money that we don't have and put us all in this terrible position where we're deeply in debt, all the money that we -- a

huge portion of the money that we spend every day is borrowed putting us further at risk for the future. we have to -- politicians have to grow up and figure out what to cut, and they need to cut the spending and they need to -- dash if these are tough decisions that they get punished for, so be it. it's got to get done. something has to happen. something has to give at some point. rick: charlie's column in the washington times you can read it there. charlie hurt, always good to see you, thanks. >> thanks, rick. jenna: now a desperate search is going on in north carolina for a missing fort bragg soerld. he soldier, her name is private first class kelly bordeaux. she became mission after leaving a bar. police say they have reason to plea of she is in danger. jonathan serrie is live in atlanta with more. >> reporter: her disappearance

is apparently completely out of character. police have no suspects but they say they are concerned. right now they are searching an area around froggie bottom's bar in fayetteville, north carolina, that is where private first class kelly bordeaux was seen leaving around 1:20 saturday morning and where her cellphone transmitted its last pink. pink. they say she was always reliable and this is the first time she's had any kind of unexplained absence according to the missing soldier's family. listen. >> she is a really beautiful, smart, person. she is an amazing soldier. being a soldier to kel eyes something she wouldn't jeopardize for anything. missing work is not something that is in character for kelly. >> reporter: the 23-year-old combat medic is described as 5'1", 102 pounds and was last seen wearing a pink tube top

with spaghetti top and black shorts. police are asking anyone with information to call crime stoppers at the number on the screen. jenna: we hope to learn more soon, jonathan, thank you very much. rick: new information out of washington. the white house putting out a video making an argument for tax fairness, suggesting that the rich pay less than ordinary americans. in it they attempt to illustrate who is paying what percentage of their incom income in taxes. jim angle did fact checking on that and joins us with the results. >> reporter: president obama has made tax fairness one of his signature issues, and to help argue that the rich are getting away with murder and economic adviser recently gave a presentation online starting with a single mom making $49,800 a year. as he goes through the three examples designed to show that some middle income tax payers are paying more than some wealthy taxpayers.

>> she sits down to do her taxes, she takes outside deductions and ebgt annex khraougss at the end of the day she pays an effective federal tax rate of 16%. >> reporter: he points to a married couple making $105 a year on which he says their tax rate is 19%. a pediatrician and spouse making 173,900 a year and paying a 23 tax rate leading him to this conclusion. >> 16, 19, 23. it's the basic core of our progressive tax system. >> reporter: everyone supports a progressive tax system. in fact it's so progressive that 40 to 50% of all americans of modest income pay no income tax at all one of several reasons that critics including a former director of the congressional budget office immediately raised questions about the white house numbers. >> for the executive system, we didn't come up with 16%, we got 7%. and when we looked at the teac teacher and the top, we continue get 19, we got 10%.

and finally when we got to our doctor, not 23, 16%. and if you'll notice, that looks like tax fairness, 7, 10, 16, 18, the more income you have the higher your tax rate. >> reporter: how did the white house and conservative analysts come up with such different numbers? the white house confirmed to fox that it included social security and medicare taxes along with income taxes. people do pay those taxes of course, but critics say they shouldn't be counted unless one also counts the enormous benefits attached to them. >> the idea of social security is you pay the taxes in and you get a retirement benefit coming out. they are only looking at one side of the equation in this calculus, that is the tax payments going in. they are distorting the numbers by including social security taxes, but not social security benefits. >> reporter: and rick, analysts say individuals collect many times more in benefits than they originally put in, making it far different from income taxes.

rick. rick: jim angle with the story from washington. thanks. >> reporter: you bet. >> people kept asking me if i want it and most of the time i would laugh it off and say, yeah, sure i want it, you know. and just let it go at that, you know. and so i talked to several people around town that asked me, and i've answered most of the time truthfully that, yes, i did, but they didn't kaeufpt, you know. jenna: you probably won't. why would you believe it? there are only 3600 people in that town. the mega millions mystery is over and this small town, well the residents there have a very big price. an illinois couple claiming their share of the jackpot more than $218 million and they are beyond charming, mike. what a couple. >> reporter: they really are neat. this is the kind of couple you want to see win the lottery. there was a $3 quick pick and

for that merrill and pat butler will take home a one time payment of $158 million before taxes. merrill joked he waste ez two of the dollars because only one of the dollars won. i get a kick out of the fact that he said he got his bill fold and realized all the numbers matched. >> after i look at it for a couple of minutes i turned to my wife who was right there with me and i says, we won. and she kind of looked at me funny, and i says, no, we won. and then she started giggling. [laughter] >> and she gig eld fo giggled for about four hours i think. >> reporter: in the morning they went to the bank and put a ticket in the safe deposit box. small town america, everyone knows everybody. the banker said, what you got there the winning ticket? like he said he played it up, he

said oh, yeah. he's a systems analyst, retired, a vietnam veteran, a grand dad. these are the kind of people you want to see win the lottery. a happy story today. jenna: what is happening behind you in the town there today? >> reporter: that's what you do here in red bud, illinois. have you a barbecue for anything, in particular if they get $158 million. jenna: why not. it looks like a fun event. i hope you get at least a free lunch out of the whole thing. >> reporter: i want a million bucks. jenna: it looks like they have a little bit to spare. it's a great story, thank you, you have . rick: loaf that story. they seem like such a nice couple. jenna: merrill and pat. you feel like you know them already. rick: i wish i did. when we come back the house speaker john boehner, did you hear him this morning on the morning shows snow was attacking

the president's economic policies, and what he said, is it right? we'll talk about that. a protest at the aeurt port that landed one frequent flyer behind bars. we have the naked truth coming up next. ♪ ere's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats. our premium litters now work harder to help neutralize odors in multiple cat homes. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home.

jenna: tracking our top crime stories right now. police are winding down a frantic search for a 15-year-old sierra lamar. they are scouring reservoirs today. she was last seen walk being to the school bus stop near her home. awaiting a controversial execution in delaware. convicted killer shannon johnson sent to die by lethal injection this friday. the fifth person in modern state history to volunteer for execution by waving all of his remaining appeals. a naked man causing quite a stir at the airport in portland oregon. kwebg went flyer was protesting

the security screening process so he look off all his clothes and started asking things, like am i good to go now? a loaded question, right? he was arrested after refusing to get dressed, but apparently he made his flight. >> the president is going to try to make the election about anything other than his failed economic policies, because he can't run on his record. they are going to pull out every bogeyman they can. the fact is is that we've got a serious problem, that's why republicans have a plan for america's job create ors to put americans back to work. rick: that of course house speaker john boehner attacking president obama's economic policies and saying the president's record will be a major issue in november. bacbob sue kabg is managing editor of the hill. it sounds like john boehner is going to be going up against president obama in november. >> that's right. speaker boehner endorsed mitt

romney as did mitch mcconnell. boehner and the president had a nice outing of golf last summer. i don't think they will be golfing this year. 200 days to go before the election. congressional leaders, republicans are ramping up their attacks on president obama. it's going to be a tough election, there is no doubt about it. rick: long, well reported story in the new york times a few weeks ago about how close these two men were to actually coming up with an historic agreement on taxes and entitlements. i guess they won't be sitting down and having any serious negotiations any time soon. when you hear the speaker talk about a bogeyman, what do you think he's referring to? >> i think he's referring to anything that democrats will go half. there is no doubt about it that the president has been tough this election year. democrats say he's got to be tough. republicans point out as boehner did is he's not talking a lot about the stimulus, healthcare reform. unemployment rate has gone up under press. stock market also has gone up under press.

he's going to have to make this a choice, not a referendum on his first term. democrats acknowledge that publicly. rick: the speaker in the interview asked about the president's opposition to the paul ryan budget plan. >> if the president doesn't like that budget where is his budget? his budget failed on the floor of the house, zero to 414. not one democrat or one republican voted for the president's budget. why? because he wasn't serious about dealing with america's problems. rick: that vote that the speaker was referring to was largely considered to be a political maneuver on part of republicans to put it out there. to the larger issue of the president and his track record when it comes to budget does the speaker have a point? >> that's what republicans are saying, is that if you look at the deficit, and some conservatives have criticized the republican budget for not cracking down on the budget kreub quick enough. but republicans say president obama doesn't close the deficit

gap ever. that's what you'll hear more about. more than that you'll hear about jobs, that is the flavor this year. deficit was last year. this is about jobs. the deficit is important. there is no doubt about it the relationship between speaker boehner and president obama has got even frosty as boehner said it's just a matter of trust here where boehner and obama were so close to that deal you talked about, rick, then they didn't get the deal done, and both sides are still pointing fingers to this day. rick: they didn't get the deal son and now speaker boehner is saying that the president basically checked out on labor day at the end of last summer, checked out, went into his re-election mode and has stopped governing. i wonder when we hear the sort of combative tone of speaker boehner and he's not the only republican saying these kind of this is, not just mitt romney. what kind of a role will speaker boehner play in the upcoming general election? >> president obama has the bully pulpit. republicans know they are at a disadvantage.

they need republican surrogates to go up against president obama and the bully pulpit, that's why mitch mcconnell on the senate florida was attacking president obama and democratic policies as a disgrace. that's why mcconnell endorsed romney. that's why boehner was attacking obama. i think congressional leaders will have a big role. mitt romney has run on the anti-washington campaign. i don't think they'll have a huge role but certainly every day between now and the election you'll hear congressional republicans attack obama and try to unite the g.o.p. which has been fractured after this long primary process. rick: managing editor of the hill, bob cusack, good to see you. jenna: a 13-year-old found dead last month and now police are at her school. we are going to tell you why just ahead. and you better pay your taxes if you plan on leaving the country. why the irs could soon get the power to block your travel plans right at the airport. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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into jessica haslam's murder seemed to center on surveillance video of a man seen running away from the park where the young girl's body was found on march 5th. that all seemed to change last week when detectives showed up at the albert einstein middle school. that is where jessica went. police talking to three or

four of her classmates. that number unclear. they even swabbed the student's cheeks for dna samples. police didn't ask the parents for consent but the school says the parents were can'ted. this is the first indication there may be a dna link to this case. police say jessica was strangled, stabbed and beaten to death. they believe she argued with her mother the night before and headed for rosemont park where her body was later found, rick. rick: julie banderas in the newsroom. thanks. >> reporter: sure. jenna: this caught our attention to new concerns by some that the irs could soon have the power to seize your passport. that is just if you've delinquent paying your taxes even if by the way you haven't paid your taxes but you're not facing any criminal charges. this is part of a bill that is reauthorizing transportation funds. so sort of tucked in there. making its way through congress right now. the irs can already confiscate your property and pursue criminal cases

against tax cheats but it can't take your passport. so is it legal to stop citizens from leaving the country? let's bring in a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor doug burns. welcome to you both. >> thank you. jenna: very interesting topic. jennifer, is this legal if it happens? >> listen the, the right to travel abroad is a constitutionally protected right. now it can be regulated. the government has the right to regulate it but it has to be done under the confines of due process. and this legislation on its face arguably does not provide the protections that are warranted when the government is infringing on a person's constitutional right to travel. and that's what's troubling about this legislation but can they regulate it? yes. but they can't do it willy-nilly. there has to be protections in place so that people are not having their constitutional rights infringed on. jenna: doug, the argument there is due process. if you're $50,000, you have to be $50,000 behind in your

taxes the irs can do this. >> first of all we have a law that says if you're in serious a rearage on child support, okay, your passport can be suspend or revoked and the state department can refuse to issue a passport. that leads to the next bit of analysis how would you compare theoretically child support and taxes. >> sure. >> the law is you have to be $50,000 in arrears and the irs has to have already levied against your property or filed a lien on your property. moreover there are two exceptions that are critical. if you are fighting it in court or if you have some payment plan in place, the law does not apply. jenna: the question becomes, jennifer, when it comes to enforcement because it sound really, important disclaimers if there is levy against your house or something else is going on you should be able to leave the country but thinking that will all be organized when you get to leave the country. there could be some doubt. >> yes. and what happens when they make this determination when you're trying to come back

into your country? the problem with this bill is that it doesn't have independent oversight. the irs gets to be the judge, jury and executioner here. jenna: is there a police officer there, jennifer? it wasn't irs and another agency, doug will let you weigh in a second, does that change the law for you or change this policy because it is not even a law? >> there should be review process by neutral arbiter to say whether it is appropriate for the irs to take this action to curtail your constitutional rights. there should be a third party, magistrate, administrative body, some body to review the evidence and review whether in fact you are delinquent $50,000. sometimes the irs gets it wrong and there has to be a process to review that. >> the reason i was disagreeing is that the irs, if they make this determination of a $50,000 a rearage on a lien being filed, they then switch it over to the state department. jennifer's right, of course you want to have notice and

an opportunity to contest it which is in the child support law. >> it is not in the passport. >> see it in here, exactly. jenna: would that change -- >> may be in the state department procedures and it has to be. it does. >> the state department is, just the agency that is giving the passport. they take notice from the irs the and i mean the way i read it, there isn't going to be any oversight by the state department which is precisely the problem. the other problem with this legislation it has been tubbed in with a funding bill. jenna: right. >> we don't know whether or not there is support for this type of legislation. jenna: one has to wonder how big of a problem it is of americans that oh more than $50,000 in taxes leaving country. doug, do you have a quick final thought, then i have to run? >> we have $450 billion unpaid to the government for the '06 year. that was based on a study d look, it is a pretty serious problem. i don't know exactly how many people owe more than 50 but i don't think people will be stopping you at the airport, okay? jenna: we'll see what

happens and have you both back. hmm, you don't know, we don't know what might happen. jennifer, doug, nice to see youals all the. -- as always. true, rick, it is tucked into a transportation bill. passed the senate on the way to the house. there are all sorts of things tucked into places. rick: they sneak it in. jenna: you wonder what the real consequences that might be. rick: we'll follow that story. another story we're following for you. how worried are you about north korea? that rocket launch failed but their next test could really shake things up. a quick break. we'll talk about that. also a raging five-alarm fire sending flames high into the school destroying several homes. we'll tell you what caused this mess when we come right back. choose control. introducing gold choice. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

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jenna: incredible new video just into our newsroom and we have some flames to show you destroying three new jersey homes in the middle of the night. this is in elizabeth, new jersey. look at this fire now. took dozens of firefighters two hours to get the flames under control. two people were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. the cause of the fire is under investigation but you can see how aggressive it was. some truly incredible pictures out of elizabeth, new jersey for us today. rick: we have breaking news about a new threat from north korea raising fears of a third nuclear test on the part of that country. intelligence agencies are reporting signs of preparations for an

underground blast. leaders in pongyang are threatening retaliation for the international backlash against last week's failed rocket launch out of north korea. that country in the spotlight again today on capitol hill. chief washington correspondent james rosen is live in d.c. with the details. hi, james. >> reporter: rick, good afternoon. the intelligence you alluded to includes recent satellite excavation being done at a site where north korea conducted one of its two previous nuclear tests. u.s. policymakers are grappling with the unpredictability with the north's largely untested largely unknown 28-year-old leader kim jong-un. his patterns behavior suggest he is following the playbook of his father, kim jong-il. >> there has been a cycle of apparent north korean agreements followed by provocations cooling off periods and new agreements. pongyang has learned no matter how badly it acts the united states will eventually come back to the negotiating table usually with new concessions.

>> reporter: that failed missile lawn of last friday fit the pattern after it came less than 60 days after u.s. and north korea finalized so-called leap day deal for food aid. house foreign affairs committee heard divergent views how to change north korea's behavior. >> i think the way to do this is really to focus on changing the environment for north korea in a way that influences its strategic options rather than trying to negotiate carrots and sticks directly with north korea as a vehicle by which to do that. change the environment and then talk to them to determine whether we are seeing the type of change that we need to see. >> a policy of tackling north korea's illicit activities which brings money from outside the country whether it is the sale of their meth and heroin. they do a lot of that or it is the sale of their missile

programs and bringing the hard currency back from that program, that's the way to weaken the regime. >> reporter: analyst mike green, a former bush administration official now with "c.s.i" s testified it would fit the pattern if north korea swiftly conducted its third nuclear test. fred flight, who we heard earlier cia veteran put those odds at less than 50/50. always with north korea, rick, difficult to predict. rick: james rosen in washington. jenna: a big story in the business world. a revolt over executive pay rattling wall street and really igniting more debate over the true effects of financial crisis. shareholders of citigroup using their new power under the dodd-frank financial overhaul rejecting the bank's new compensation plan for top executives calling it excessive. it is the first move of its kind. steve moore, senior economics writer of "the wall street journal." he joins us to tell us a little more why this is significant.

what do you see in this story? >> jenna, what is going on now as you said is the shareholders among fortune 500 companies are starting to rise up and question some of the ceo pay compensation packages that these executives are receiving and, my position on this by the way is that if a company is performing and it's stock is doing well, jenna, i don't think i or most shareholders have any problem with paying very high salaries to the people that are making money for the shareholders. i think where this become as big issue, jenna, companies aren't faring so well. where the stock is actually falling in value and people say wait a minute we're paying these ceos, $25 million a year or nor. more. that is where you get the kind of revolts happening in many boardrooms right now. jenna: this is what citigroup wanted to do. ceo came in mid financial crisis and tried to get the bank back to solid ground was earning a dollar a year for last couple years. >> right. jenna: the company wanted to increase his pay from a

dollar to nearly $50 million. the shareholders said, no, we don't want that. however their vote is nonbinding. meaning the company doesn't even need to follow it. >> that's right. jenna: is this regulation or this, this right to do this by the shareholders really something that can be a game-changer for some of these banks or is it just kind of lip service right now? >> well, first of all, jenna, you are exactly right in most cases these votes are nonbinding on the corporate board, but you know what? they ignore what the shareholders start saying at their own peril. these are shareholders sending a signal, jenna. by the way the shareholders are owners of the company. so they should have some say in what the executive compensation is. but on the other hand, jenna, there is a real opportunity for kind of grandstanding here. as i said earlier, look, if a corporate ceo is making the right kinds of decisions and by the way they're making billion dollar decisions that have enormous impact on whether these companies are going to perform and add value and

their share prices are going to go up. jenna: sure. >> in those cases i don't have a big problem with paying that person a lot of money. consider this, you have professional athletes making 20, 30, $40 million a year. jenna: professional athletes don't threaten the entire financial system making bad choices. >> exactly. jenna: this regulation was supposed to help make us safer. using this as an example does it seem like we are saver, steve when we look at these big banks? >> no. i don't think the problem was ever executive compensation. i agree there are many times when it is hard to justify some of these big executive packages, but, you know jenna when you look at the cost structure of these big companies and we're talking multibillion dollars, companies, jenna, the executive compensation is less than 1% of their cost. even if you paid the executives zero it wouldn't have much impact on the cost structure. this is about symbolism and about kind of fairness. how much should an executive be paid versus an average

work year that is interesting. citigroup obviously, citibank, one of the biggest banks in the entire country and entire world. you want to take a closer look at it today with you. >> by the way i think one related point is, people are taking a closer look because a lot of these banks were bailed out. jenna: right. >> not only taxpayers but shareholders think we should take a closer look now. jenna: looks like we are at least by citigroup. steve, thank you very much. always nice to see you. >> thank you, jenna, coming up a new story getting a lot of attention today. some just published photographs of 2-year-old pictures that appear to show u.s. troops posing with dead terrorists. we have a live report from kabul. don't go away. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: slow ]

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jenna: some new information on an alleged incident of misconduct by u.s. soldiers in afghanistan. just-published pictures appearing to show u.s. troops posing with dead afghan terrorists. dominic di-natale streaming live from kabul with more on this dominic?

>> reporter: jenna, some rather gruesome and shocking pictures published in this morning's "los angeles times" involving soldiers from the 82nd airborne. these pictures taken in february of 2010 and later in the spring of that year while deployed in the province. one. photos u.s. servicemen are standing to afghan national soldiers. in the photo you can see legs of failed suicide bomber held up, dapg gelled by rope around the ankles. the newspaper published another photo on the front page. you saw severed hand of another suicide bomber resting on the soldier of one particular u.s. servicemen. there were 18 photos in total handled by servicemen from the same division. in one of the most disturbing photos apparently two soldiers are holding a dismembered hand of a former fighter with an middle finger raised as an insult to the fallen fighter. this couldn't come at a

worst time for relationships between afghanistan and united states after a series of missteps by the u.s. military including video of marines urinating on dead taliban fighters and nighttime killing of some 17 afghans by u.s. servicemen. here the u.s. forces were very quick to condemn the acts. the u.s. general here who is in charge of nato forces, general john allen issued a statement very quickly saying these acts do not represent the policy of the international security forces nor the u.s. army. he went on to say the seriousness of the error in judgment by the soldiers who acted out of ignorance and unfamiliar lairty with u.s. army values. he said the military would determine the responsibility and the accountability of those involved. so far no reaction from the afghans however but we do know that the 82nd airborne has actually redeployed to afghanistan. they arrived here in february of this year. we do not know if any of the individuals in the photos who have now been identified are actually here in the country at this time, jenna. jenna: a lot more to this

story and certainly a lot of details to come, dominic. we talk about fallen fighters or insurgents that these troops are apparently asked to go investigate their deaths. often times when soldiers are asked to vet they're required by the military to take photos of the same people that were trying to kill them. so there is some speculation about what was going on inside the unit. allegedly involved, again, a lot of allegations and speculation but what can you tell us about that, the limited amount we know? >> reporter: what we do know, and this actually, well from the newspaper who quoted the soldier that handed the photos over said that the unit in particular or sorry, the division had taken heavy losses during 2010 and soldiers were extremely frustrated and very angry at the enemy. apparently they had lost 35 soldiers in that deployment. and everybody apparently in the photos, either lost a friend or had had a friend

injured while they were deployed and this was really just the result of the anger, frustration, and just having to deal with that loss, and just that harm that had really been done to them. i don't think this wonders into the realm of ptsd, post-tramatic stress disorder. that will be determined by military themselves and the pictures which are incredibly graphic you can see these are part of a evidence-gathering base. these appear to be from attempts to gather evidence. you can see that the soldiers are ingring. they're down the lens and acts of disrespects really to the dead. jenna. jenna: dominic dinatale in afghanistan. a reminder that we are at war. we'll tell you a little bit about one soldier we've been following over the last couple days, a true american hero. army staff sergeant travis mills is a name that you will be familiar with if you've been watching our show the last couple days. many of you have been speaking out about it and sending us e-mails.

right now staff sergeant travis mills is struggling to beat up credible odds at walter reed army medical center. he was severely injured by an ied explosion in afghanistan a week ago. he is now a quadruple amputee. he lost his arms and his legs. he underwent mmg surgery in germany. he was flown back to his home in the united states yesterday. he is recovering from a few more operations. this is still ongoing for his family. we spoke to his wife kelsey on monday. she has been able to see him. family is asking for some help right now. you see the website at the bottom of your screen. there is immense traffic to the website. a lot of folks want to help and donate. the website is actually asking for any help or guidance. if you have expertise on gathering donations making sure a website can handle some high traffic they would like to hear from you. travismills.com. staff sergeant mills is in serious condition today. we'll follow his journey on

"happening now" and foxnews.com. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice.

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rick: we're back. a new blood test may soon change the way doctors diagnose depression in teens. doctors currently ask patients to describe and recall their symptoms but according to a study published in the journal, translational psych tri, researchers discovered some of the answers might be found in a patient's genes. dr. manny alvarez, senior managing editor of fox news health.com. a member of the fox news medical a-team. doc, my kids are young. they are not yet teenagers but certainly moody sometimes. how do you know as a parent if your kid is just being moody or if there is a more serious problem at hand and maybe these blood tests are the way?

>> this is very premature. this is a very small study looking at some biomarkerers, general at the time tick markers linked to depression. you have to realize depression especially in adolescents affects 10% of the kids. you don't know if it is true depression, anxiety. there are other subtypes of depression and psychiatrists and developmental pediatricians have a difficult time finding the right treatment. the key is to see if through markers in the future, because i don't think this is applicable now, you're going to be able to say, okay, this is a typical depression. it's, identifiable and we're going to formulate a specific treatment plan for that child. rick: i mean, it might be premature but kind of makes sense because blood tests are used to diagnose so many other kind of health problems that we have. so why not this? >> well, because genetic markers per se, you don't know if, you don't know if these markers are truly conducive to depression at the end of the day. right now we still don't use a lot of biomarkers to identify specific diseases.

whether you're talking about heart disease. we have markers for heart disease, for instance. we say, okay, this is commonly found in patients that develop heart disease but we still are not using them clinically. and i think it's a little premature because this is only 14 students or 14 kids that were analyzed. if you use this in 100,000 teenagers maybe the markers are not going to be able to identify specific problems. i think the ail of finding a way to diagnose, you know, depression, needs to be more objective. and i applaud the scientists that are doing the research. practically right now i think the, it's not going to change much and i think it's important for parents though, to realize that in adolescents, 10% of them can develop depression and that really could alter their lifestyle moving forward. rick: take it seriously if you suspect there might be something going on with your kid at home. >> absolutely. rick: dr. manny alvarez, fox news health.com. check him out there.

thank you, dr. manny. >> thank you. rick: we'll be right back er tecy helps make you a better investor. with our revolutionary new e-trade 360 dashboard you see exactly where your money is and what it's doing live. our e-trade pro platform offers powerful functionality that's still so usable you'll actually use it. and our mobile apps are the ultimate in wherever whenever investing. no matter what kind of investor you are, you'll find the technology to help you become a better one at e-trade.

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