>> good morning, everyone. thanks so much for getting up with us. hope you had a great day yesterday. a lot of tired people out there this morning. >> but you're watching us and that's good. i'm heather childers. thanks for watching "fox & friends first." >> the top five at 5:00. it is day six of darkness for at least one million people along the east coast. now, some of them aren't expected to get electricity back until sunday. now, to get a good perspective on the scope of these outages check out these before and after aerial images of washington, d.c. this was actually released by nasa. the photo significantly darker

on the right following that deadly storm that killed 26 people. >> auto amazing pictures. an insider attack leaves five american soldiers injured outside a nato base in eastern afghanistan. a witness says afghan civilians were talking to the soldiers when a man in an afghan army uniform opened fire with a machine gun. >> iran delivering a disturbing threat to the united states as it holds a new round of war games. iran claiming that it can destroy nearby military bases and strike israel within minutes of an attack. the u.s. reportedly boosting its presence in the persian gulf to protect the strait, the key route for oil. iran is threatening to block it because of the sanctions over its nuclear program. iowa governor terry branstad is in good spirits this morning following a slight health scare. the 65-year-old briefly hospitalized in los angeles after choking on a happened during a special fourth

of july ceremony for a world war ii battleship. doctors performed a series of tests before determining he's ok. >> hope you got to check out the fireworks last night. did you check them out? look at these right here. well, this was the scene over new york city's hudson river. and here's a look at some other fourth of july displays in the city of st. louis, orlando and boston. if you look closely you can see the water spots on the video from boston. that's because the city was slammed with thunderstorms and lightning and that forced thousands of people to be evacuated. that show picked up an hour later, though. it was a little rainy but that didn't stop a lot of people from sticking around. what a show, right? that's your top five at 5:00 venlt let's take a look at who is talking this morning and today, mitt romney and president obama are talking. mitt romney spending his independence day in the state of new hampshire taking part in the annual parade. >> later in the day, the governor commenting on the supreme court's health care

decisions saying it is a tax. listen to what he told cbs news. >> i said that i agreed with the dissent. and the dissent made it very clear that they felt it was unconstitutional. but the dissent lost. it's in the minority. and so now the supreme court has spoken. they concluded it was a tax. that's what it is. american people know that president obama has broken the pledge he made. he said he wouldn't raise taxes on middle income americans. not only did he raise the $500 billion that was already in the bill, it's now clear that his mandate as described by the supreme court is a tax. >> as you may recall, a romney campaign senior advisor said the governor viewed it as a penalty or a fine earlier this week. >> well, president obama is also talking this morning and he celebrated independence day with 24 u.s. service members as they became u.s. citizens. well, the president also using that ceremony to once again call for what he says is the need for immigration reform.

listen to this. >> we remain a nation of laws and we have to remain a nation of immigrants. that's why as another step forward, we're lifting the shadow of deportation from serving -- from deserving young people who were brought to this country as children. that's why we still need a dream act to keep talented young people who want to contribute to our society and serve our country. it's why we need -- why america's success demands comprehensive immigration reform. >> and with the fourth of july holiday now over, it will be a quick return to the presidential campaign in just a few hours, president obama hitting the road as two of mitt romney's biggest supporters will be campaigning for him in the same exact areas that the president is targeting. molly henneberg is live for us in washington now with some more details. good morning, molly. >> good morning, heather. this will be the president's first bust tour of the 2012 election season. and it will take him to two states that he won in 2008, ohio

and pennsylvania. those are the two states that the republicans are trying to take away from him this time around. president obama who hosted military families at the white house yesterday for a fourth of july barbecue will be using this betting on america bus tour to talk about his economic policies and his decision to bail out u.s. automakers while also continuing his attack on governor mitt romney's time as head of the private equity company. romney who is vacationing with his family in new hampshire this week and marched in the fourth of july parade yesterday went on a bus tour of his own through midwestern states including ohio and pennsylvania last month. he's been pounding the strategy of calling the president a failed economic leader and urging voters to give him a veteran of the business sector a shot to turn the economy around. romney has two surrogates who will be campaigning in the areas where the president is going over the next two days. louisiana governor bobby jindal and former minnesota governor tim pawlenty mentioned as possible vice presidential

candidates will be hitting the road for romney. president obama will be on the road in those key battleground states as friday's jobs reports for june is released. you may remember may's unemployment number ticked up to 8.2%. heather, back to you. >> all right, molly henneberg live for us in washington this morning. thank you. >> well, currently very hot in a lot of parts in theountry yesterday. let's check in with janice dean with the first degree weather update to see when we might get some relief from that heat. hi there, jana. >> ladies, it is going to be another hot one across a big chunk of the u.s. across the heartland and the mid atlantic where thousands of people are still without power today. we're going to be talking about heat indices from 105 to 115, close to 120 degrees. so let's get to it. heat advisories up for many -- over a dozen states, close to two dozen states again where we're going to see high heat and humidity. very dangerous potentially deadly conditions and look at

these temperatures. this is the heat index so that's the temperatures with the humidity combined. what it feels like. it's going to feel like 108 in louisville. 107 in st. louis. 104 in kansas city and feel like 106 in d.c. today. really dangerous. people need to be really careful r, really careful. tomorrow's heat index 101 d.c. 108 in louisville. it's just hanging around and not getting any better. people are urged to take precautions and make sure you're indoors where the air conditioning is. severe threat today across the northern plains, great lakes, midwest area where we could see some hail, perhaps damaging winds and isolated tornadoes. we actually had a severe thunderstorm watch in effect for parts of michigan and a few thunderstorm warnings already this early morning so hail, damaging winds certainly we don't have any tornado reports. we'll keep you posted and one piece of good news, if i can deliver that this morning, we've got some moisture moving into

the southwest. it's the monsoon season, the seasonal shift in winds and that's bringing moisture into much needed areas across the four corners so we start off with bad news. we end with some good news. heather and heather, back to you. >> thank you very much, janice. we appreciate it. thank you. now to something you can bank on this morning. a shocking house report obtained by the associated press showing that former countrywide financial whose sloppy subprime loans help fuel the foreclosure crisis may have had its hands in the congressional cookie jar, so to speak. buying influence with members of congress and government officials by offering them discounted loans. joining us now to explain all this, lauren simonetti from the fox business network. thanks for joining us this morning. >> it's the special v.i.p. treatment that basically happened. countrywide financial which, as you know was bought by bank of america did special business with several members of congress. these six, if you bring up these six congressmen's names. offering them special discount

loans and they were in positions of influence to affect legislation and that's why fannie mae, a major client of the former countrywide financial didn't tighten regulations again fannie mae according to this report oblted by the a.p. because of all these men and executives in position. that's going to be a big story to follow for sure. >> people may lose the internet? what's going on with this? >> on monday, we've known about this for quite sometime. international hackers basically set up this ad scam last year when they infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide, an estimated 64,000 here in the u.s. if you've been affected, you've probably been contacted by your internet provider, comcast, for instance, and there's been alerts on google and facebook, what have you so you probably should have done something by now. if you haven't on monday, the temporary fix that the f.b.i. installed last year when they found about this hack attack, that expires so you might be booted off the internet. >> maybe double check that because a lot of times people ignore those things. i know that i do.

>> me, too. you don't always read everything and imagine going the whole day without the internet. >> i can't imagine it. >> what about the portable ipad or wearable ipad? >> ok, remember last week, google announced the google glass, the i glasses that let you do these cool things. well, apple apparently earlier this week has a patent, now they filed a patent and got approval to have their own version of glasses but it's interesting, the headgear that apple is looking to delve into is more like something you would install in a helmet or visor or something like that. they say this is probably going to be good for surgeons and police officers, not necessarily you and me. >> amazing, though. >> headgear is the new mobile, it seems. >> thank you very much. lauren joining us with some cool stuff. the time now is 10 minutes after the top of the hour. are you constantly forgetting where you hide your jewelry or you left your keys, for instance? a new study has found there may be more behind that than just forgetfulness and talk about a

bunch of sour grapes. one school district considering banning cupcakes? why they're going to extremes up next and we received so many patriotic pictures yesterday, we decided to share some more with you throughout the show today. so enjoy.

>> good morning, everyone. it's about a quarter past the hour and take a quick look at some headlines this morning. $ $110 million worth of homes reduced to complete ash. we're talking about devastation from the waldo canyon fire still burning outside of colorado springs. 341 families now forced to rebuild their homes and their lives. more than a dozen other wildfires are still raging in parts of that state as well as in utah and wyoming. well, thousands of jobs now available for u.s. veterans if

they'll go to canada. the veterans of foreign wars reaching a deal to fill up to get the 114,000 skilled labor jobs there. they include work on canada's section of the keystone pipeline. of course, that's delayed here because of all those political and environmental disputes. 114,000 jobs. that's a lot. >> well, george zimmerman could walk free today again. he is the neighborhood watchman who killed 17-year-old trayvon martin, something that he says he did in self-defense. steve gelbach is live outside the jail in sanford, florida, where zimmerman was ordered back just last month. good morning, steve. >> good morning. the court has confirmed that the ruling will come out sometime today. it will come out electronically and not in the courtroom. first to the lawyers involved and then on the court's web site. that's when george zimmerman will find out if he can post another bond and walk out again from the jail here. it's been a month since his

first bond was revoked for essentially lying to the court about his finances. during his first bond hearing, he had posted $200,000 that he had solicited from donations on his own web site. of course, there's a mound of evidence presented on friday in this second bond hearing that the judge is considering. there was a consultant, financial records and turned into a mini trial where his defense team put on witness statements, testimony from george zimmerman's father and had paramedics to talk about his injuries to counter the prosecution's claim that they had a strong case, a lot of evidence in this case going on the other side for the prosecution. also, the defense may be trying to try this in the court of public opinion to try to restore some of george zimmerman's credibility after he was caught lying about this. and we do know that the release will come sometime shortly after that announcement is made. last time it did take about 48 hours before that happened so it could happen a lot sooner here. we'll let you know if and when that ruling comes down and when george zimmerman does walk free waiting trial once again. reporting live, steve gelbach,

back to you. >> thank you very much, steve. we appreciate it. now it's time to brew on this. here's what we want to ask you today. have you ever hidden something at a space place and then you can't find it later when you look for it? this happens to me all the time. it turns out there's something more to this than just being forgetful. researchers in canada conducting an experiment with 120 people asking them to hide index cards around a room. they were then given two minutes to try to find those index cards in that same room. the researchers quickly noted that most people hid the cards in fairly open places like near windows and under tile. >> but the thing is when it came to look for the cards, time to do that, they went to the exact opposite places such as the corners of the room and other dark spots. the results showing that people hide things in a different location than where they tend to look for things. suggesting maybe that people overthink where they hide things. and that's the key. you overthink where you hide things. >> overthink a lot.

that leads to this question of the day. what have you hidden that you can't find? finish your comments to us. you can tweet them to us at fox friends first or shoot us an e-mail to friendsfirst at foxnews.com and we'll read them later in the show. what do you lose? >> i lose my keys all the time. all the time. >> i try to hide jewelry and i overthink it. >> all righty. let us know what you think of that. it's 18 minutes after the hour and cheryl casone is coming in with a popular segment that we have. three all american companies that are hiring right now. "fox & friends first" helping you to get hired. >> yes, and a lifeguard fired for saving a man's life? that's right. you heard it right. we will bring you those details up next. >> and as we head to the break, some more of your pictures. we got so many in yesterday we wanted to continue this again today. patriotic pictures, keep them coming, please.

>> good morning. it's now 22 minutes after the hour and those jobless numbers are coming out in about three hours. we want to make sure that you're not on that list. so in the spirit of independence day, we have some all american companies that are hiring right now. fox business network cheryl casone joins us with the details. good morning, cheryl. >> good morning, heather. >> tell us about these companies. >> first one we've got is union pacific. why is this an all american company? couple of things. sunday was the 150 anniversary. abraham lincoln started union pacific back in the day. they operate in 23 states. it's a railroad company if you weren't aware. they have 4500 jobs and 20% of

their new hires have been military veterans. we found this company is a good representation of an all american company. you don't need a degree for most of these jobs. you can work the rails, be an electrician, be a diesel mechanic. some of the positions that they have available now. >> pretty good pensions as well we point out. we heard about that. yeah. firehouse subs. this was started by some firefighters? >> right. firehouse subs, there you go. and they are -- they got 515 restaurants across the country now but they're expanding and finding that the concept is really good. they steam their subs. they have a steaming method and another reason that they're a good american job, 99% of the ingredients are grown here in the united states of america. they grow everything here pretty much organically. cashiers, general managers and 16 new locations they're building out right now and yeah, these guys were brothers and firefighters and decided let's start a sub shop.

>> hiring 1500 new employees by the end of this year. he health care, a big growing industry for us. universal health services. >> i've had the c.e.o. on several times, he has an interesting story, they're expanding into behavioral health. opening up new facilities. these are private hospitals but for behavioral health. substance abuse, emotional issues and things like that and they have jobs open right now, 1400 in universal health right now. they've got 11,900 permanent workers that they hired last year. they've got 1400 positions right now. a lot of this, obviously, is going to be health care jobs. they're opening up 140 acute care hospitals in southern california coming up. excuse me, 140 bed acute care hospital in that hospital so if you're in that area of california check that out. they're also committed obviously to veterans. so it's nurses. doesn't have to be -- you can also be in different medical services. >> i'm reading pharmacists, lab

and radiology technicians. lots of good jobs there. cheryl casone, thank you so much. always so helpful to hear your advice on this. you can catch cheryl at noon on the fox business network and you can e-mail her your questions at ffjobhunt at foxnews.com. have a great day. talk to you later. heather, over to you now. >> the time now is 24 after the hour. coming up, a lifeguard fired for saving a drowning man. you'll hear from that lifeguard coming right up and charlie rangel firing back his opponent. >> you can't just call people crooks and say that they're committing illegal acts. >> and it didn't stop there. but first on this day in history, back in 2011, casey anthony was acquitted of killing her daughter caylee. her attorney jose baez will be live tomorrow on "fox & friends." [ manager 1 ] out here in the winds,

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>> hello, welcome back to "fox & friends" first. i'm heather childers. >> and i'm heather nauert. it is about 30 minutes past the hour and thanks for joining us today. >> now it's time for your five at 5:30. the top five stories making news at this hour. for millions of people across the east coast, it was a holiday filled with fallen trees and

power lines. it's now their sixth day without electricity and patience is wearing thin. utility companies say that the lights could come back on by sunday at the latest. to get a good perspective on the scope of the outages, check out this. these are before and after aerial images of the washington, d.c. area released by nasa. the right photo is significantly darker following that deadly storm that killed 26. he's seen his belt shrink a lot since primary night. there's claims of voter discretion, charlie rangel attacking his opponent for challenging the primary results. listen to this. >> you can't just call people crooks and say that they're committing illegal acts. don't knock the system. it's all that we have. >> his opponent, new york state senator adriano espaillat calling for a recount. he hasn't officially asked for a new election yet but he's still

preserving that option. philadelphia archbishop concluding the two-week-long fortnight for freedom with this warning for catholics across the country. >> god has blessed our nation with resources, power, beauty, and the rule of law. we have so much to be grateful for. but these are gifts. they can be misused. they can be lost. in coming years, we'll face more and more serious challenges to religious liberty in our country. >> the 14 days of prayer, education, advocacy was organized by u.s. bishops in response to the federal mandate requiring religious employers to provide contraception. listen to this one, the job of a lifeguard, of course, we all know, is to help people. one lifeguard in the state of florida actually was fired for trying to save a man? tomas lopez's supervisor fired him for leaving his assigned

zone and then heading to an unprotected area to try to save someone. by the time he got there, beach goers had rescued a man who was apparently drowning. lopez says he simply did the right thing. listen to this. >> if i see someone and i have the ability to help him, i'm going to go hope him. i'm not going to worry about jurisdiction or any other nonsense. >> listen to this, the company says that we have liability issues and can't go out of the protected area. what he did was his own decision. he knew the company rules and did what he thought he needed to do. well, another lifeguard says that he got fired just for saying that he would do the same thing. stick around, tomas will be on "fox & friends" this morning to talk about what happened. looking forward to that. >> really. >> well, an emotional homecoming in north carolina. >> are you going to stay with me? >> we're not going anywhere. >> are you staying with me?

>> i'm staying with you. >> that is 5-year-old robert wood. he ran right to his mother and father who have been serving both of them in afghanistan for the last year, they and 100 other national guard soldiers finally returned home yesterday just in time to celebrate the fourth of july. that's your five at 5:30. great fourth for that. >> absolutely. let's talk politics now. mitt romney is saying that that controversial mandate in obamacare is definitely a tax. now, this is a major change in position for mitt romney. this as the president is about to head out on his first official bus tour of the re-election campaign. doug luzader is live with more. good morning, doug. tell us about romney's change of position here. >> yes. fine, tax, penalty, what do you call it? we'll get to that in a sec. the president, meantime, trades air force one for a campaign bus today but he's not going to be alone as he tours some critical swing states.

yesterday, the first family welcomed military families to the white house for a big fourth of july celebration that included a cookout and fireworks but this morning, the president starts a bus trek through the heart of the 2012 campaign battlefield. you can see it there. starting off near toledo and it includes four stops in the critical swing state of ohio. crossing the border, then, into another big player this year, pennsylvania. but his attacks on romney along the way will not go unanswered. two romney surrogates there will be following the president every step of the way. a former minnesota governor tim pawlenty and louisiana governor bobby jindal. romney, meantime, spent the day in new hampshire celebrating the fourth. he's also now joining fellow republicans who have attacked the president for raising taxes in the wake of last week's supreme court decision that the president's health care law includes a big tax hike for those who choose not to buy health insurance. it really is a delicate issue for romney because his own massachusetts health care law included a similar mandate.

>> they concluded it was a tax. that's what it is and the american people know that president obama has broken the pledge he made. he said he wouldn't raise taxes on middle income americans. not only did he raise the $500 billion already in the bill, it's now clear that his mandate -- >> and that use of the word "tax" is a change. earlier this week, the romney campaign called it a penalty. but, perhaps, trumping all of those issues, tomorrow, the june unemployment numbers come out, both campaigns are bracing for what could be more bad news. back to you guys. >> all right. doug luzader live. people will be talking about that one today. have a great day. heather? >> thank you very much, doug. before you leave this morning, it's time to check your first degree weather update. janice dean on exactly how long all this heat will stay with us. it is, of course, july, right? >> it is, heather and heather. but you know what? this is oppressive heat. for example, chicago, 103 today. that's almost 20 degrees above

what you should be for this time of year. and st. louis, over 10 days straight, you've had 100 degrees plus so yes, of course it's summer but this is kind of out of the ordinary. it's going to continue today. good news is as we head into the weekend and early next week, things will start to break down a little bit. again today, these are temperatur, tual temperatures, air temperatures but you factor in the humidity and in some cases, we're going to be dealing with feels like temperatures in the 110 to 115 degree range. again today, 103 in wichita. 105 in fort smith. 103 in kansas city. across the ohio river valley, a million people without power from illinois to the mid atlantic region. we're dealing with oppressive heat. people really need to be cautious. 106 in st. louis. i mean, really unbelievable temperatures day after day after day and just to give you an idea of where we should be this time of year.

kansas city, 87. in the 100 degree range. louisville, 88 so yeah, we're dealing with temperatures in some cases close to 20 degrees above average. satellite, radar imagery will show you where we'll see some thunderstorms across portions of michigan and across the four corners region. this is good news for them. we're getting into that monsoon season and that means more moisture for moisture starved regions like the wildfire area across colorado springs. so temperatures are certainly going to be cut back a little bit. winds are going to be light and we'll be dealing with that afternoon thunderstorm risk. the bad news is because of the burn areas, we could see some flash flooding but man, we will take the rain! won't we? good news. >> we absolutely need it. >> quick look at the travel forecast before we go. looking good. the warm temperatures, of course, don't want to be caught on the runway in the warm temperatures. you got it make sure that the air conditioning is on the airplanes. miami, we could see a few scattered thunderstorms. we'll keep an eye on that.

the big story, of course, is the heat. thank goodness for those kiddie pools, right? >> send out a picture of her little boys in the kiddie pool. we use ours all the time at home. it's fantastic. >> i love them! >> thanks so much. >> thanks again. we appreciate it. entertainment news now and oh, baby, actor matthew mcconaughey and his wife camilla announcingr third child. they have a 2-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son. they will have their hands full. and actress claire danes is also pregnant. this will be her first child with her husband. katie holmes' lawyer denying reports that the actress wants an emergency custody hearing on that and child support. a hearing of this kind would have required her to have an open courtroom. and that would allow the public to hear all the nitty-gritty about that divorce. and she is still crushing the competition. adele is already leading this year's album sales race selling

3.7 million copies of "21" so far in 2012. the singer taking home the top selling title in 2011. and now for your starting line-up, a roundup of all the sports stories making headlines at this hour. lakers pulling off a huge deal likely putting them back in the hunt for a title. reports say that they've worked out a sign and trade deal with phoenix for point guard steve nash. they'll give up four draft picks for the two time m.v.p. and talk about a heart of gold. chad ochocinco inviting a grieving widow to his wedding. she asked for his prayers on twitter. he told her to start packing for his wedding. dreams really do come true. a double amputee about to become the first ever amputee track athlete to compete at the olympics. he will compete for south africa in the 1600 meter relay event.

>> that's fantastic. 39 minutes after the hour. and coming up, we're checking out all american lives. heather is. we'll head outside to check out some of the top selling american cars. that will be a good one, heather. >> yes, excited about it. >> some california cities creating a lot of controversy for using eminent domain to prevent entire neighborhoods from going under amid the housing collapse. we'll tell you about that. >> as we head to the break this morning, some more patriotic pictures to show you. we got in so many yesterday and overnight. we wanted to bring them to you again this morning. we'll be right back [ male announcer ] if you had a dollar for every dollar

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>> good morning, everyone. it's 15 minutes before the top of the hour. let's span the globe to see what headlines are making news overseas. we begin in peru. joran van der sloot is painting himself as a victim. 28-year-old writing in jailhouse letters that his rights are being abused in prison. he also calls himself a mental mess. and blames his lawyer for not getting him a lighter sentence in the murder of stephanie flores. van der sloot is using the letters to once again deny involvement in the disappearance of natalee holloway. let's head to the west bank where the body of former palestinian leader yasser arafat will be exhumed. his widow is demanding a new autopsy after al jazeera reported he may have been poisoned. new tests reveal there were high levels of radioactive pulunoium in some of the personal items that he used in 2004 including his toothbrush. finally, over to italy where there are new details coming out this morning in the sinking of

the costa concordia ship. four days before that ship ran aground, e-mails from its technical director show that the black box had actually broken down. that black box was never repaired or replaced. even though the owners of the cruise liner insisted that the recorders were working the night of that disaster. let's talk some business news now. desperate hoouf in several cities reeling from the housing mess but the strategy is not providing much help for local home owners. officials in california are looking to invoke eminent domain to seize some mortgages where borrowers owe more than they're worth. it could backfire and many people could lose their homes. diane has the story. good morning. we hear a lot about eminent domain. not often in this way. >> it is often controversial even when used in other methods but in this case, this handful of california lawmakers may invoke eminent domain powers to seize and restructure mortgages in hopes of helping underwater

borrowers here. it allows the government to forcefully use the property to use it for the public. the government pays the owners the value of the property. rather than kick people out of their homes, san bernadino and two of the largest cities want to keep them in their home. here's how it works. let's say you have a $300,000 mortgage on a home worth $150,000. the government might seize the home for $120,000 and help the home owners refinance and resell it. the upside is the borrowers get lower payments and a mortgage on par with their home value. the government makes money and presumably you'll have fewer foreclosures going forward but the people who invested in the original loan get the raw end of the deal here. those investors say the move will backfire and drive up borrowing costs depressing property values more than they already are. it's probably safe to say if this goes through, you can expect a lawsuit to follow. >> diane, thank you so much.

it is now about 14 minutes before the hour. and get your american motor running. we're showing you some of the top three american cars. heather is running down the stairs right now making her way out there and show these great cars to us. let's check in with brian kilmeade to see what's coming up on "fox & friends." >> first, heather, let me inform you of breaking news. there is heather. she is already here. she's not running. she's jogged and changed, ready to go. let me tell you what's coming up on "fox & friends", the other show to follow this great show. is it a tax? is it not a tax? mitt romney finally speaks out after his romney olympics are now over. we'll find out what that means for him. people call him a flip-flopper and there's a bus tour coming president obama's way. we'll unwind it. michelle malkin wants to know why are so many celebrities angry with america this july 4th? revealing tweets. why does a lifeguard get fired for saving a life? we'll meet the lifeguard who will battle to get his job back. you're look at four of the finest cars in america according

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>> welcome back to "fox & friends first" and we have some good news. auto sales up in june 1.3 million sold. that's 22% higher than this time last year. joining me now is jake fisher with "consumer reports" and he's going to talk about the three best american cars to buy right now because you should buy american. thanks for joining us. >> thank you very much. good morning. >> good morning to you, too. take us through this. what's the first car on the left? >> this is the ford fusion, the hybrid. really nice choice. nice car to drive.

it's really enjoyable, roomy inside and gets 34 miles per gallon. really impressive for a car this size. >> and up next, we have another one down here. as we're talking tell me what does it take to make the list? >> these are really the best of the best and these are american name plates so these are cars from chrysler, ford, general motors, and this car right here -- >> show the inside here. this is beautiful! >> this is gorgeous inside. this is the jeep grand cherokee and they've come a long way from rough and tumble off roader. look at. this this is a solid luxury car. the interior, leather, piped leather throughout. it's great. and you know what? it rides well, it handles well. and it's still going offroading if you need to. >> best feature, pick one for this car. >> best feature is the interior and the quiet. you wouldn't expect that from a jeep. it's amazing. >> one that we don't tend to think of it as being quiet and i love this one, a mustang! and i love the red. my first car was a red car. >> i am with you. this is my favorite right here. and this is such a great car.

it doesn't matter if america's top pick or any top pick, this is the best sports car right here. >> can we see the inside of this one? wow! so this is just a gorgeous, gorgeous car. >> look at that. >> i love that! >> doesn't get better than that. >> i would love to be driving that around the streets of new york with this one. what's the horn sound like? >> get out of my way. i'm coming! >> you could use that and they'll know you're coming. this is an amazing car. this car handles well, it's fast and it's actually fuel efficient. it's reliable and you know it's that car that you can drive every single day. you can see out of it. it's comfortable. yeah, maybe we'll all get one of these. >> get more information about these vehicles and others. >> sure if you go to consumerrepor consumerrepor consumerreports.org, you can find the best car that will fit you. >> great news. thanks for joining us and we appreciate it. >> you're very welcome. >> have a great day.

you can leave the car with me. >> heather? >> heather, you would look great in that one. it's now 53 minutes after the hour and earlier in the show, we asked you to brew on this. have you ever hidden something in a safe place and then you can't find it when you try to look for it later? it turns out there's something more to it than just being forgetful. researchers in canada conducting an experiment and find that people hide things in a different location than where they look because they overthink it. we want to know what you've hidden that you can't find and here are some of your responses so far. daniel from california e-mailed us saying my wife hid her wedding ring in order to keep it safe. when she went to retrieve it, she couldn't find it. even when we moved from that house, we never found it. sorry to hear that one. david e-mailed us saying put money away in army dress uniform. when i first got out. nine years later when moving, wife checks the pocket and you know what? $500. way to go, david. well, paul e-mailed us from texas saying i once hid an entire forklift in plain sight.

that is definite proof that people sometimes overlook the obvious places when they're looking for things. how could you have misplaced that one? thanks for everyone who responded. keep the comments coming. send the comments to us or tweet them to us at foxfriendsfirst or an e-mail to friends first at foxnews.com. now to some other quick headlines we're following this morning. lawmakers now calling on the house to pass a bill that would require the government to purchase flags that are made in the united states. well, this is in response to a new report that discovered that more than $3.3 million was spent on american flags that were actually made in china. how about that? well, this guy is the top hot dog. listen to this. look at him right there. california native joey "jaws" chestnut winning his sixth straight nathan's hot dog eating contest on coney island. he tied his personal best with 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

his prize -- $10,000. it is now 5 minutes before the hour and a quick fireworks show in san diego. in fact, this one is a little bit too quick. we'll tell you exactly what went wrong. and it's your word of the day all scrambled up. figure out what this one is. stick around coming up next.

>> welcome back now to some headlines this morning. schools in eastern massachusetts pushing a ban to ice any type of cupcakes, frosted cookies or candy from classroom parties. the district says it wants students to eat healthier foods and is now suggesting that fruits, crackers and raisins be served instead. beautiful fireworks, too bad they only lasted for 20 seconds. a technical malfunction at san diego's biggest fourth of july celebration causing all of the fireworks to ignite at the same time. thousands of people were very disappointed.