nicely done. how about that for finishing up the week? president obama heading to traditionally red state he won in 2008. good morning, everybody, i'm bill hemmer. the campaign rolls on as do we on a friday. welcome to "america's newsroom." martha has time with the family. how are you doing? alison: i'm alisyn camerota

bill: mike emanuel at the white house. what issues do we expect him toe emphasize. >> reporter: real clear politics average shows president obama up by three in virginia. he won by six in 2008. everyone is expecting a closer race. part of the bus tour is president obama trying to invigorate and energize key constituencies, latin american voters, african-american voters and young voters. >> let's agree on that. that does create an important amount of economic certainty not just for the recipients of of that tax cut, but for the broader economy. it address as portion of the so-called fiscal cliff. let's do it now. let's continue to debate the issues where we, whether it is, contention and disagreement. >> reporter: how big is

virginia? well the ad-spending between the two campaigns has been huge. the third most ad spending of any of the states in this election cycle. bottom line, it is a critical state and so, that is why president obama has been there 15 times since announcing he was running for re-election, bill. bill: if you live in virginia, watching tv get used to these ads, man. also in the virginia the threat of these automatic spending cuts facing the military which is a big issue in the southeastern part of that state how does it play, bill? >> reporter: no question, bill. the norfolk area has the world's largest naval base. automatic defense cuts due to start in the new year would cut the navy to the smallest it has been since 1915. you have tens of thousands of defense contractors who are expecting they will be getting layoff notice unless congress and white house can work out a deal to offset these defense cuts. so there is great anxiety in virginia about these pending defense cuts. recent surveys suggest

virginia is number one in the country in terms of defense spending in its state. republicans are saying to president obama where is your plan to deal with these defense cuts. bill? bill: mike you, thank you. to our viewers at home, hear a lot about virginia. it flipped in 2008. we had not seen that in 40 years. go back to 2008 on the map. red is republican. blue is democrat. blue is the way virginia went for president obama over john mccain by seven points. that was a stunner in that state. look where he is going today. red is now for mccain and blue for obama. john mccain won west and southwestern part of the state overwhelmingly. up in washington, d.c., president obama as senator was very strong. this is norfolk and virginia beach, it was really a split here. go to virginia beach in small little county.

you will find something quite telling. 50% for mccain and 50 for president obama. just to the west there in norfolk, this area here which is the issue of the military spending and military spending cuts will play so prominently, president obama, senator obama did very well. 72% of the vote down there. another reason why he is going down to virginia today. so watch that trip today. 13 electoral votes, again in the state of virginia. alisyn. alisyn: we will talk about that state a lot. meanwhile a police officer is being investigated for inappropriate comments about first lady michelle obama. washington, d.c. officer allegedly told several otherers?, he would shoot her. the man works as motorcycle escort for d.c. metro police the department is taking the comments seriously. >> very shocked that a metropolitan police officer who guards the first family would even make that kind of a statement, even if he made

it in jess. i think police officers have to act responsibly. if he made that kind of a threat, even as i said in jest, i think clearly he should faced a administrative charges and i think he should be dismissed from the metropolitan police department. >> as long as we know he is not wandering around with his gun threatening people i think we should let it unfold before we go too far. alisyn: the secret service is in charge of protection for the first family is also investigating. they say the first lady was never in any danger. bill: the chair of the house judiciary with a message to the white house about recent intel leaks. lamar smith saying he wants to interview several key administration officials what they may or may not know about those leaks. some high-profile names on the list including national security advisor tom done allyn. james clapper. former white house chief of staff, bill daley.

some in congress are calling for a full investigation. alisyn: there is eye-opening report on growing burden entitlements weighing on fewer and fewer americans. right now there are less than two private sector employees for every one person on welfare assistance. now just to give you context, in the 1960s there were 18 workers for everyone medicaid recipient. today that is down to 2.5 workers. and the number of americans on disability has risen 19% faster than jobs created during this recovery period. fox business network's charles payne is here to give us context and talk about more on this subject. you've been talking about this top i can -- topic for a long time. what do you think of the numbers released in this american earn enterprize institute report? >> the numbers are shocking but it is pretty simple. it can't continue to go on this much further this much longer. in other words you can't have so many people

receiving so many different benefits, welfare benefits, food stamp benefits and of course the extreme explosion in disability. a lot of that by the way which i think is out and out fraud, weighs so much on the u.s. economy that you have a smaller and smaller pool of people who are carrying the weight of this nation instead of unlocking the greatness of the nation. alisyn: charles, how did this happen? are these numbers, do they have something to do obviously with the recession we were in the grippings of for a long time and still are feeling the aftereffects of? or shifting demographics, or is this just a shift in attitude? >> i think it is a and b. certainly the recession has a lot to do with it although technically we've been out of the recession since 2009. we would be expecting at this juncture, 250, 300,000 jobs a month. the idea we've only had less than a quarter of a million over the past three months means this is a real sluggish recovery and that doesn't help. also though, it is so much

easier to get the benefits. in part it feels like the government, at least this administration is urging people on to these things. a big-time ad campaign for food stamps all over the country. even spanish language media. big-time effort to take take away the stigma of these programs. the abuse of some of these programs is out and out rage just. gets back to the argument who is paying a fair share this kind of thing. cbo came out with a report this week. it shows overall individual income taxes, the top 20% paying 94%. as far as federal income taxes, paying 68%. here is irony, in both cases those numbers are well above where they were with the bush tax cuts. alisyn: 1960s, american enterprise looks back and show far smaller percentage of recipients of medicaid in the 1960s. how did we deal with our poorest and sickest people generations ago? >> a lot of people dealt

with it themselves. remember these programs, we still call them safety nets. in other words they weren't the main source how we dealt with this. this was in case someone slipped through the cracks. we call them social safety nets but reality they're sort of promised entitlements everyone wants. remember, too, when all these programs were designed from social security to medicare the idea was that, you know, we thought it would always be the same sort of population, parameters. all of that stuff has changed. we know there are a whole lot of baby boomers coming in. there is not a lot of young people out there. unsustainable so many ways. economically it is unsustainable. even though politicians on both sides of the aisle are so afraid to deal with this, i say they're gutless to deal with it. it must be dealt with. if we don't deal with it sooner it will be harder in the future. alisyn: charles payne of fbn, we'll watch you over there. bill: working for stuart varney. alisyn: he is busy. bill: big shoes.

how are you doing? are you all right? alisyn: i'm fine so far. bill: we're just getting started. alisyn: i know. bill: president obama describes the biggest mistakes of his presidency. what is that, do you wonder? mike huckabee live with that in three minutes. alisyn: congress taking action on the bush tax cuts extension. a republican will join us live on that. also -- >> get out of here. go that way. bill: shots fired as hundreds gather in a major city downtown. what sparked this protest. in minutes. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. ♪

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alisyn: hundreds of protesters clashing with police. [gunshots] alisyn: this scene is in downtown los angeles. protesters reportedly throwing rocks and bottles

at officers. police spokeswoman said some of the protesters may have been connected to the occupy movement. at least one officer was hurt. all this happening during l.a.'s monthly artwalk festival. bill: different kind of art, huh? president obama now reflecting what he considers to be the biggest mistake of his first term in the white house. here he is during an interview, rather, with cbn news. >> the mistake of my first couple of news was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right. and that's important. but you know, the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the american people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially

during tough times. bill: what about that? mike huckabee, former arkansas governor and former republican presidential candidate, the host of "huckabee" here on the fox news channel on saturday and sunday night. good morning, to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: you've always been looked at at grand communicator. i will save the great communicator to the other guy. what do you say about that? >> this president says it is all about story telling. i think he perceived he should have been dr. suess but he turned out to to be stefen king. he has not communicated hope and optimism he campaigned on. neither has he exhibited things he campaigned on, transparency, bipartisanship, bringing people together, resolving economic issues. the unfortunate thing is not how he told the story but how the story ended. that is why he is in trouble. it is not because he is not a great storyteller. he can read a prompter just fine. what he has said and what he

has done has resulted in more americans being out of work on a sustained basis than ever, just the product is not edible and that is the problem. bill: what he went on to say he needed to do a better job of inspiring. now that was a lot of what 2008, hope and change was all about, wasn't isn't. >> you have to inspire with substance. if you make this wonderful presentation of a plate of food, say, doesn't this look magnificent. i never presented a more wonderful and everybody is aing and awing over loveliness of the plate but put your fork into it and it makes you gag, something is wrong in the presentation outlived the production. that is what obama's problem is. he had a magnificent presentation. we were all optimistic. heck, i'm a republican, i was optimistic. bill: you were? >> i was. i went on television my show after the election i had tears in my eyes to think as a child of deep south who grew up jim crow laws i

would see in my lifetime to see an african-american elected as president. not the optimism he was a democrat, that didn't excite me. i wanted him to bring the do that. i had been thrilled had he been able to do that. instead it is the most hyper partisan presidency in my lifetime. bill: you walked arm in arm with him on a special night in iowa because that was the night he was giving birth to the political, the political life in america. what he said he was asked by charlie rose he said i need to do a better job in my second term, explaining. charlie rose, explaining? explaining and also inspiring. that seems to me if it is appeal, voters give me another look because i'm going to give you a story about how thin will be in the second half. do you see it that way? >> i think maybe what he is hoping for but it is very different when you have a record. four years ago he didn't have a record.

he was a blank slate. but he did have a great story. now, his story is matched by a record and the record hasn't lived up to the story. that is when a politician has more trouble than ever before. you can run with nothing but inspirational stories until people tasted i once they tasted your food it is not unlike, let me go to the food analogy. restaurant gets rave reviews. great anticipation as it is preparing to open. you go there. you actually eat there and you say, this really wasn't very good and it was horribly, horribly overpriced. what people are saying about the obama policy is, it hasn't tasted good and the price tag, we can't afford, we can't come back here again. bill: quickly the rnc said this, with 23 million people struggling under our slow economy the decision for voters can the president tell a good story, can the president create jobs? 115 some odd days. it always comes back to that, does it not?

>> ultimately. people don't care whether the president is or mayor or governor is democrat or republican. regardless what level of government you're in, does it work? are the potholes fixed? are the roads driveable. is the trash getting picked up. are the parks safe. those are things that matter to people. in the case of a president, is there economy which i really want a job, maybe there is a choice to choose from. will i be able to keep some of my paycheck and spend it on my family. or will i cough it up so the government can pay off old debts they incurred which i have nothing to show for it. >> what is on the show this weekend, quickly? >> we'll have some doctors talk about why they're getting medicine. it is amazing, 83% of doctors polled by a national organization, if obamacare is fully implemented they will consider retiring. 83%. we'll have doctors to talk about it. bill: check out "huckabee" only here on the fox news channel. 8:00 eastern time. >> thank you, bill.

bill: allison? alisyn: the u.s. is hitting iran with another round of sanctions. this one aimed at disrupting its nuclear program. but as u.s. and european fibls agree increasingly frustrated with their diplomatic efforts will these sanctions be effective? bill: flood watch for parts of texas including some areas that have been feeling the pain for more than a week. where the threat is there on going. >> flooding concerns but, so far we're okay even though down the street is flooded. >> like soaked the road rugs thoroughly in all the rooms pretty much. and water crawled up the walls. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals.

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bill: 23 minutes past the hour right now. jpmorgan letting two top managers walk. they were connected to the highly publicized trading

blunder. this as the company says the cost of that error is more than triple the original estimate. the bank now says the loss is about $5.8 billion. texas governor rick perry making his first campaign appearance for governor mitt romney. perry will visit nevada today, despite launching months of attacks against romney while running against him during the republican nomination battle. san francisco looking for ways to curb the use of plastic water bottles. firms are considering a law that would require some buildings to install special bottle filling taps. you got that to look forward to. ali? alisyn: the u.s. is filing new sanctions at iran. they are aimed at disrupting its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. the treasury department is announcing financial penalties against 11 companies and four individuals for actions they took to support iran's programs. the sanctions freeze any assets they may have in the u.s. and they bar americans from doing business with them. peter brookes is a former

cia officer and is the senior fellow for national security affairs at the heritage foundation. good morning, peter. >> good morning. alisyn: so these sanctions, the financial sanctions against 11 companies affiliated with iran, what can the sanctions do. >> hopefully it will prevent them getting their hands on technology or equipment that will advance iran's nuclear programs. the big question, allison, how effective will they be? sanctions as punitive as they might want to be are only effective if a lot of people play in that. iran is quite good using front companies to skirt the sanctions on a whole number of these issues. alisyn: by the way some of these companies are already subject to financial sanctions by the is and europe so is it safe to say those sanctions didn't work? >> there you go. that is a perfect example. what about asia? what about china? what about india? there are a lot of countries

that may not go alongwith this. of course we're very heavily sanctioned on iran. this is one aspect of getting to iran. congress is talking about sanctioning iran's oil and tanker programs, or you know, assets that would even be tougher on iran but so far the administration has not signed up for that. so that is another direction we can go to increase the pain on iran. the question is, will any of this work? will any of this prevent iran from developing a ballistic missile that could reach the united states or a nuclear clear weapon? alisyn: that is of course the weapon. what do you think the key is thwarting their nuclear advances? >> well i mean you can do this. this is obviously the, diplomacy isn't working. we've been negotiating with them since 2003, oh by the way and of course economic sanctions don't seem to be stopping them at all. the other question what can you do to push back the program? i think things like cyber programs which i was sorry to see exposed in the media. i think cyber programs, other sort of programs to push back the program are

probably your best option short of the military option where you may have to go if you really feel you can not live with their iranian nuclear weapon. this administration has talked about that but recently we haven't heard them talk much about the military option to threaten iran, to push iran in the direction of coming to some sort of negotiated compromise on its program. alisyn: yeah, let's hope those leaks about those cyber attacks didn't somehow thwart the whole plan. peter brooks, thank you. >> thank you. bill: wonder if it will stop them anyway, if anything. there are new developments in the latest city to go belly-up, bankrupt. why the police are now involved. details on that. alisyn: plus governor mitt romney's time at bain capital is under scrutiny today. a spokeswoman for the obama campaign hinting that romney could possibly be a felon? we have a romney campaign spokesperson who will respond after the break. this man is about to be the millionth customer.

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help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. alisyn: so which campaign is lying about mitt romney's experience at bain capital? the romney campaign calls president obama's ads on the issue and his re-election staff, quote, out of control. meanwhile the president's deputy campaign manager accuses the governor of possibly committing a crime in regards to his time at bain. stephanie cutter says quote, either mitt romney through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at bain to the sec, which is a felony, or, he was

ion at bain to the american people to avoid responsibility for some of the consequences of his investments. we have the communications director for governor romney's campaign. gail, good morning. >> good morning. thanks for having us on. alisyn: great to have you because there seems to be some confusion about exactly when mitt romney left bain capital. the reason this is significant is because in the years 2000 and 2001 after mitt romney says he left, there were apparently some job losses and some outsourcing as a result of some of bain's decisions. so democrats want to confirm whether or not mitt romney was still at bain. so what year did mitt romney leave bain capital? >> well, it has been well-documented by many different people, both from the bain company, bain capital and as well as people from the olympics as well as independent fact checkers from across the country. governor romney left bain in

1999. to go run the olympics. alisyn: got it. that has long been your stance as well as governor romney's. however, "the boston globe" says that they have examined these sec documents. according to these sec documents, mitt romney was listed as the sole stockholder, the chairman of the board, the chief executive officer and president of bain through the year 2002. does the sec have it wrong? >> well, there are technical legal reasons why his name would remain on those documents, but the fact is, and been confirmedded by fact checkers, bain capital and the people at the olympics he was gone from the company to the olympics in 1999. and had no involvement in the day-to-day decision making at the company, that time. the only confusion there is --. alisyn: he was still collecting a paycheck from bain after 1999 but he was not involved in the operational decision-making? >> that is correct. and the only confusion that there is on this issue is from the obama campaign.

the obama campaign has issued these reckless and wild accusations that mitt romney is a criminal and felon. that simply doesn't pass the laugh test. frankly just shows sign of desperate and unraveling campaign for them to continue along these lines when there have been independent fact checkers from all over the country say they are running a dishonest attack, dishonest campaign that has a pattern of being dishonest. this attack from yesterday has frankly just jumped shark and it shows that the obama campaign, they are scared to death of having to run on their own record, because they haven't been able to create jobs and they have no plans in the future to be able to fix the economy. that is what the american people care about. i can tell you that the american people are not sitting around the dinner table, wondering when mitt romney left bain capital to go to the olympics. they know they did because they saw him running the olympics. what they're sitting around dinner table talking about is this economy and how we will get it moving again.

that is what the american people want to talk about. what governor romney wants to talk about but not at all what the obama campaign wants to talk about. alisyn: we should let our viewers know that we reached out to the obama campaign to have someone on during this segment but they never got back to this segment. let's read what bain capital says about his time there. hear is the statement. they say mitt romney left bain capital in 1999 to run the olympics and has absolutely no voflment with the management or investment activities of the firm or with any of its portfolio companies since the day of his departure. do you think, i know that you said nobody is sitting around their dinner table commenting on this, do you think on some level, particularly in battleground states, all these negative ads that president obama has been running against mitt romney are starting to make a dent? >> well i let me tell you yesterday, president obama, made it very clear that he is bound and determined to run a dishonest campaign. let me explain why i say

that. i say that because he has put millions of dollars behind an advertisement that has been proven false by people around the country that suggest that governor romney through very specific companies sent jobs overseas. what is interesting about this week is that it was reported out that president obama is the outsourcer in chief. president obama is the one who sent jobs to finland. he outsourced job creation to finland. jobs were not created here in the united states because of the stimulus. they were created in finland and maybe the obama campaign didn't want to come on the show today to talk about that because they can't defend it. they can't defend the fact that president obama outsourced jobs to finland. alisyn: well, gail git. cho you're the communications director for governor mitt romney, his campaign. thanks for coming in to clarify all these reports. we appreciate it. >> thank you for having me on. bill: is syria going from bad to worse? we're getting word that syrian forces could be moving massive stockpiles of

chemical weapons out of storeage. leland vittert follows that in our middle east bureau. leland, what is happening there as best as we can tell? >> reporter: hi, bill, two theories why the syrian government would move these chemical weapons stockpiles both of are pretty troubling. syrian army has one of the dollars largest chemical stockpiles in the entire world. theory one, about to use them on provinces in revolt. primarily sunni muslims leading the rebels. the theory foes that president assad is getting so desperate he is willing to unleash his army's full potential including chemical weapons. theory number two, that assad's regime is so detablized and some of the chemical weapons stockpiles are being threatened to be taken by the rebels and used on regime so they're pulling them out of one storage area to another. syrian government denies they moved them at all. difficult in this part of the world to know exactly

what is going on the ground. bill: what is the latest word on another massacre? reports of 240 dead, leland? what can we say? >> reporter: exactly. it is following a trend every week we're seeing here in syria. you've to got the assad army going in, shelling, using helicopter gunships against a town. sending in ground troops to kill civilians one by one on the ground. whether this is simply trying to send a message to the rebels or whether an intentional way of trying to ethnically cleanse, hard to tell. bill? bill: leland vittert in jerusalem. thank you for that story, the latest what is happening inside syria. 22 minutes before the hour. ali, what is coming up? alisyn: president obama putting bush-era tax rates on the table as part of his re-election pitch. the house is putting a vote on the just before august break heading president off at the pass. republican congressman louie gohmert is live. bill: shocking discovery.

two drug smuggling tunnels found along the border. one of them is unlike anything we've seen before. >> probably million, million and a half dollars to complete it. it probably took upwards of a year to complete from start to finnish. and based on what we discovered in there and based on our experience, the tunnel was not operational for very long. chances are, you're not made of money, so don't overpay for motorcycle insurance.

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and reconnect with your world today. alisyn: drought conditions making a massive wildfire even worse out west. some 1800 firefighters are now fighting so-called robbers fire burning just outside of sacramento. it more than doubled in size on thursday the flames forcing hundreds of people from their homes. >> i love my house. it took me a long time to get it but, it's tougher having dogs and you know, who do you decide to go and who shouldn't? >> this is a driven fire. we want to make sure we can tell you in next couple of days every single one of

your homes is fine and you can return. i tell you because it is so fast-moving i don't know if i can make that promise today but that's what we hope. alisyn: crews say the fire is only 10% contained. bill: i really feel for those people. that woman is on camera explaining how --. alisyn: leaving your home behind. bill: her life has been flipped upside down. house republicans planning a vote on extending the bush tax rates to all americans in the coming days. watch for this now. president obama wants tax breaks on income above $250,000 to expire. that move would generate $85 billion a year which is about what the federal government spends in eight days. what about that? texas republican louie gohmert is both on the house judiciary committee and house study committee. welcome to our program. >> thanks. good to be with you. bill: what's the plan? >> well the plan according to the president is, he wants a bottoms-up economy but what he has create ad a

belly-up economy. everybody is going belly-up broke under his ideas. what he to be proposing additional taxes right now, as he said he would never do, in the middle of a recession, is just a devastating blow. and of course you remember last september he was saying, he was going after the millionaires and billionaires. went across the country, going after the millionaires and billionaires. when he finally gave is husband bill in it wering he was going after everybody making more than $125,000. and, if you look at obamacare, it is a tax. if you don't buy the 12,000 or so policy and you make $14,000 as a single person or more, then you're going to pay an extra 2.5% income tax. he says i'm going after millionaires and billionaires. going after people making over $250,000. but americans understand, when he starts talking about raising taxes, there is nobody safe in america. he is coming after your wallet. bill: if that's true then,

you would seem to have a good arguement during an election season. why wouldn't you welcome that policy? >> well, because he is hurting the country and, you may not have noticed, bill, i know our speaker has, that i'm rather vocal even when our own party is screwing up without regard to which party is screwing up. i don't care. i want people to quit being hurt by our government. and, they say, well if you make more, you should pay more. you're dad gum right. let's have a flat tax. what time would be better than this, than to flat tax across the board, cut out the loopholes, if you make more, you pay more. if you make less, you pay less. none of this --. bill: that is what you would favor. but i think the vote will be specifically extending tax rates under the bush era for one year, is that right? >> i think it, well, i would like for us to extend it permanently. bill: why not publish that. >> the republicans lost our nerve year-and-a-half ago we

should have have forced it to be made permanent back then but republicans lost their nerve. didn't think we had enough leverage. we have got to force this issue. we can't let people like this president keep threatening the economy with massive taxes. to threaten as he is, to have the tax rates go up on anybody, in this kind of economy, is simple madness. bill: if you feel that way, why don't you take that message to your leadership on the house side? ask for a permanent ment tax cut. are you going to do that? >> listen, our leadership is saying, they have the right message. they are saying this is what we're going to do. we'll extend the current tax rates, right like they are. we're not going to let them go up on anybody. so, our leadership has the message. they heard from the people pack home. they heard from people in our delegation and our conference. they know. so we're going to be fighting. bill: there is another element to this discussion about overall tax reform. now how serious are

republicans on the house side about making sure that happens? >> well, some of us deadly serious about it. there is no better time than this. bill: what would that look like then for everyday americans? >> for everyday americans, we would have to figure out what would be the appropriate rate. i think steve forbes had a great, had a great bill, a great idea. 17% across the board flat tax for everybody. my friend arthur laffer says he thinks we could do it with a 12-12 tax. a 12% tax on, a flat tax on everybody. and then, he has an explanation for the top 12% corporate tax on government. bill: you like fors idea and art laffer when they talk about a flat tax? >> yeah. bill: what are the chances, in moments i have left, of that becoming a reality? >> there is a tremendous chance of that happening if the voters make very clear

this fall, this is what we want. this is what we expect, and that's why i appreciate the chance to come on the show. bill: you bet. >> the voters have got to make that heard. you would be amazed how scared people in washington get when americans make their voices heard. they s, yes, sir, yes, ma'am, let's get it done. bill: thank you for coming on. it would not be a friday without a dad gum it dropped on our program. louie gohmert. thank you. >> thank you, bill. alisyn: and a get 'er done. dire new warnings about medical professionals who are forced to use expired drugs. what is causing this problem? and does it pose a threat to your health? bill: we are learning more by the hour about the details on a deadly avalanche. the latest as the search for survivors continues. ♪

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bill: this will get your goat. from california, surf's up. the speckel, got the attention of beachgoers in orange county. the owner shot sheepish about how the -- not sheepish how they pulled this off with the goats. >> they did a pretty good job. they topped the first wave. and it was pretty good. i love surfing. so i figured the goats would like surfing. bill: the goats name are pismo and goatee. alisyn: why are they going the wrong way? they are facing the wrong way on the surfboards. bill: the owners say they're naturals. whether picking grass on the side of a mountain or riding a surfboard in orange county, california. alisyn: that was bbaaad. serious report because there are reports of life-threatening

consequences of this nationwide drug shortage. some emergency responders admit they're relying on expired medications to treat patients when they can't find drugs that they need. dr. marc siegel, member of our fox news medical a-team. dr. siegel, there is a report in the associated press that says paramedics are using expired drugs. we as patients are told to throw out our expired drugs. is there a danger in what they're doing? >> alisyn, i'm really glad we're putting a spotlight on this today. frankly we're talking about chemotherapy being short. we haven't focused enough about drugs being shortage in emergency rooms. this is crisis in oregon and utah. in our country we have five times more drug shortages than we had a simple five years ago. to answer your direct question. i don't think it is a issue of safety. it is an issue how effective the drugs are. for first year or so after a drug expires i don't think there is any risk to the patient. the question if the patient comes in with allergic

reaction or their heart starts beating you want to give them epinephrine, a very, very powerful drug. the question is will it work after it expires? the farther out from the expiration date the less likely it will work. alisyn: dr. siegel, why are we having this drug shortage? >> we're having the drug shortage for this reason. we're going more and more to generic drugs which don't make the drug companies any profit. sterilety bogs them down and distributors don't get the drugs they need. and third problem, every time they find a contaminant in a drug, as you might imagine, allison, it sets them back a long way. we take off the top for the war theater. i expect that that is going to ebb now that we're, basically getting out of the wars. iraq had a lot of the drugs in stockpiles over there which you understand. some of these life-saving drugs though, if, it is a shame they would end up stockpiled rather than used

in an emergency room. in some cases there are dupely cats. i'm happy about that. there is a lot of talk about pain medications. if you don't have fentinol you can use morphine. if you don't have morphine you can use percocet. there is choice there. but some drugs like the heart medication may be only one that work. >> dr. siegel, you say with the wars winding down we won't have the shortages in the future. is that the problem? >> we still have problem with sterilety and raw materials. 90%. our raw materials come from overseas. fda has to get involved with manufacturers that they have the raw material here and by the way insuring a profit. because the drug companies should make a profit on this but with the war winding down i think we'll see less of a problem on that end. so there are three or four major issues here that are not resolved but the wars winding down definitely will help. alisyn: very quickly as our takeaway, at heem if we have on expired bottle of advil

we can use it for another year you say? >> i don't want doctors getting in trouble doing this at all. i'm worried about that i'm not telling people at home to use medications expired. i'm telling them if you did it by accident it will probably not harm you in any way but i don't think the effectiveness is the same. so i don't think people should use expired drugs at home. if you did and it was 5'6" months out of date, it is probably not going to hurt you. alisyn: dr. siegel, thank you so much. >> good to see you alice san. bill: did you see the states that will opt out of expanded medicaid. we'll talk to one of governors about why. alisyn: details of a story of a third city in california filing for bankruptcy. we're now learning of allegations of criminal activity that may have led the city to ruin. >> i'm the eternal optomism. we're doing things in the city that is bringing city back to economic vibrancy. we'll come out of this stronger i'm convinced. [ alarm buzzes ] [ female announcer ] wake up time,

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bill: i'm going to start this hour with fox news alert. reports of a criminal investigation involving the new bankrupt city of san bernardino, california. remember only days after the city council voted to declare bankruptcy, now allegations are coming to light. welcome to a new hour here on a friday edition of america's news rom. i'm bill hemmer, good morning to you. alisyn: i'm alisyn camerota in for martha maccallum. documents may have been false tpaoeuz to hid hide their troubles. we have jeri. good morning to you. financial documents could have been falsified, what do you say. >> no one is saying publicly what the investigation is about. its thought to be lying about the city's finances. why? how well a city is doing is

critically important to how much money it can borrow and how it can pay its employees. 75% of that budget goes to public employees, particularly police and firefighters. they will not be able to meet their budget next month. the situation is really pretty dire there. the fact this has escalated to a criminal probe, really shocking. bill: it's the third city, san bernardino, mammoth lakes and stockton. in either of the other cases there was no suggestion of criminal doing. >> no, this is a new turning point in what has become a multicity, multi-state problem with not enough taxpayer dollars coming in, money being overspent. what is really going on here, bill, here is what i think is so interesting, people who are retired in san bernardino may get as much as a hundred thousand to $200,000 a year in benefits. now understand that san bernardino has a lot of people who are living under the poverty line, some 310,000 people, as

many as 15% of folks there. this to me is the criminality, that folks retiring from the county are making this much money. bill: is it county workers or city workers or both? >> county workers. bill: the city is in debt $45.8 million. that's how short it is on its own budget. that is 35% of the annual budget. >> that's right. bill: that's a deep hole. >> it's a very deep hole. cities across the country are facing this already. we had reports from wall street that there would be 50 to 100 bankruptcies among cities and towns. some of this is being covered up. now we're seeing that there is lying going on, that states are trying to bail some of these cities and counties out. remember this debt is investments for older people for their retirement, municipal bond debt. this is circles upon circles at this point. we'll have to wait and see what the we will true criminal probe of this is.

bill: jeri willis check her out on fox business network. the wills heirs money through friday at 9:00. alisyn: we want to give you more context on the situation in california. san bernardino is the third city to file for bankruptcy. stockton filed for bankruptcy after they could not reach a deal with creditors. mammoth lakes is facing a $43 million budget, twice the annual operating budget. bill: the federal deficit hitting $904 billion on june remaining on track to top a trillion dollars for the fourth straight year. the cbo says this year's deficit expected to be lower than last year's $1.3 trillion, but it will still be greater than any deficit before president obama

took office. alisyn: there were anxious moments last night over the atlantic motion, a bomb scare forced a delta yet to turn around and make a landing. they discovered suspicious fires inside a bathroom. jaime colby is live in our new york newsroom. what happened on that flight? >> it's good that they have these marshals. he was the one that discovered something bizarre. the flight was headed for madrid out of jfk with more than 200 passengers on board, flight 126 delta i want to show you the an. this is the scene when the plane actually had to turn around. it came back to kennedy at 9:23 to be greeted by nypd, the court authority and the f.b.i. the pilot calling in suspicious behavior during the flight after a marshal went to the lavatory

and discovered what looked like a suspicious device. it returned to jfk due to a discovery of a suspicion object on board. passengers were esported off the plane, the aircraft was searched with negative results. as of last night the authorities new th the device was not a bomb. tph*efrls they don' nevertheless, they don't know what the straws with wires attached in that lavatory might have been intended to be. they are considering whether or not it could be part of a terror plot, but right now they say it's not. alisyn: straws with wires attached, that is weird. what are they going to do now? >> they questioned two passengers last night. one was a woman who claimed she was having breathing problems and actually was on oxygen, that's the important the pilot gave to the control tower. the thought of the marshall's, there were reportedly them on

board is that she might be a possible decoy as part of a plot. a gentleman who was the last to use the lavatory was also present as were the passengers who were escorted off the plane. here is what the nypd had to tell fox news today, no explosive device was found after the plane was searched in a sweep that included bomb dogs and no arrests have been made. so whatever information they learned from the two passengers they questioned, or any of the others, the flight was allowed to leave, everybody is now on their way in flight to madrid and the nypd and f.b.i., then the tsa they are not saying anything more about what the bigger picture may have been for the bizarre behavior or device that they did find, but no bombs that has con confirmed by the nybd. alisyn: that's never rackin skwrer of rackinnerve-racking for those passengers. >> they are not talking.

bill: torrential rains refusing to let up in parts of texas. a 7th straight day of downpours expected today. that severe weather flooding streets and homes and knocking out power across the greater houston area. they deal with this flash flooding it seems every year. a flash flood watch in effect for much of southeast texas until 1:00 today. residents say they are shocked with the amount of rainfall they are seeing. >> it's kind ever incredible. we've had a week's worth of rain here, every day has been rain, rain, rain every single morning. >> so far we are okay even though down the street it's scary. >> it's the second time i've seen it this high. if you look over here we are on an elevated trail but there is another trail that is probably another ten feet below the edge of the water right here. >> i'm sure it will be back. i thought it was supposed to be back around midnight, maybe a little bit later than that. we hope it goes away enough and deal witness tomorrow. bill: those people better get

used to the rain. it looks like no relief until tuesday of next week. alisyn: some of that water would be a blessing in many areas. the worse drought in a generation now tight inning its grip on the midwest as it spreads throughout the country. let's take a look at this map. it shows the extent of the drought in the united states. look at that. more than half of the country parched by lack of rain. conditions are especially severe as you can see in the midwest. climate experts say near here twegion is suffering from drought and that's up from just more than 50% a week earlier. you can see the corn and soy bean crops witnessing in the sweltering heat. bill: it's going to be a summer to remember when you think about the heat that is still out there. how early it started back in march and april. alisyn: record-breaking. bill: presidential campaign ad flooding the airways in battleground states. if you live in one of them you know that already. but are they working for either candidate? we'll tell you. alisyn: and governors in say the

states around the country saying they will opt out of the medicaid expansion in the healthcare law. now some doctors are blasting those announcements. we'll look at who is opting out and why. bill: we'll tell you why lawmakers are upset over the u.s. olympic teams' uniform even calling the olympic committee to burn the outfits, have you heard? >> if they have to say are nothing that a singlet that says usa painted by hand, that's what they should wear. ♪ don't our dogs deserve to eat fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet vital recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido

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bill: new information on this deadly avalanche in kwroefrplt it hit the french alps without warning. there were survivors telling a newspaper that the avalanche tossed him leaving him in his own work. they say the climbers were well equipped but had little chance against the onslaught of snow

and ice. >> they were where they should be but they had the huge misfortune that a big chunk of ice detached further up and came through and carried away a number one them. as one official said to me last night, they were doing nothing inprudent. bill: the investigation continues and they will study how similar disasters like this can be avoided. alisyn: let's talk about the race for the white house, negative ads hitting the airwaves and some political analysts saying they are not working. how much money has been spent so far? well in the past three months more than $11 million has been spent on all tv ads by the candidates or their allies. of that amount the president's campaign spending some 14 million bucks on negative ads. governor mitt romney has spent almost half as much on negative

spots. juan williams is a fox news police cal analyst. he joins us now. alisyn: we've always heard that voters don't like negative ads but they are effective. >> there is no question they work. that's why political strategists use them and they know those are going to may make dollars. the question is how well are they working? what we've seen -- the "wall street journal" had a poll a few months ago that indicated there had been substantial imprint from negative ads run by the obama campaign to create a negative outlook on mitt romneys as an out of touch rich guy, and they continued yesterday with the attacks in terms of how long he was in charge of bain. the gentlemen is how effective how the ads have been has risen

now. the race remains tied. when we go become and look at early data, they indicated five to one people who were changing were changing towards obama based on the negative ads, you go back and say, well wait a minute it hasn't changed the actual race that much. alisyn: lanny davis, former special counsel to bill clinton has an opinion piece out today in which he looks at a usa today polling that shows they may have hurt president obama, the negative odds, of his own tkofplgt he was thdoing. he was the candidate in 2008 who railed against negative ads. is there a boomerang effect to the candidate that does it? >> potentially. there's been a long history of negative ads working. if you say u know what i really don't light suits.

everybody will remember it. they won't remember the rest of the segments. it's attacks on politicians, their family and their character. the people by into the spin, what was that negative comment in we have to watch it. you talked about how much money is being spent on these ads, that's an indication, let me tell you, alyson. the deluge is coming. mitt romney can't spend his money right now because he's not officially the candidate. we are going to be swimming in negative ads come october and november. alisyn: this is the money spent on ads in swing states, here are the top three cities. cleveland, charlotte and tam parks and you see the millions of dollars spent already there. this out paces anything we've

seen prior to this. even 2008 the negative ad pending. >> right now you have money being spent by superpacs, especially crossroads and crossroads gp s-rbgts, they are spending money early on. the obama campaign is spending money early opening. romney coming in the tphaul and more obama money coming in the fall. they very intense fundraising to try and catch up with the romney campaign. you talk about fourth of july fireworks that will be money fireworks all to the negative ads. can you bring down the other guy? that's what this is about. alisyn: yet there is also some evidence that americans don't care that much about mitt romney's time at bain. much of that has been the negative ad attack from president obama's re-election campaign. do you think it's resonating with people? do they care about when mitt romney left bain and what happened with bain's record after that ph. that? >> no, the way you were expressing it sounded tedious

and petty. mitt romney's campaign is based on the fact he's a businessman. he creates jobs. obama is trying to undermine that sentiment. really, how many jobs did he create? what is this is experience? is he honest, is he being transparent? if people perceive that this president has gone back on his ideal is eupl and he's throwing the dirt and mean-spirited, then that's going to hurt. alisyn: thank you, i like your light suit. it's really handsome. bill: it looks great any time on juan. a handsome man walking down the hallway. >> what is the rule after september 1st i can't wear this. bill: that's right. a new find along the u.s.-mexico border, a tunnel used to smuggle drugs, the kind we have never seen before. alisyn: plus, a new survival

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hour. time forehead lines. a major security beach at yahoo, the internet giants saying the email addresses and passwords of 450,000 people have been stolen. more debris from japan's deadly tsunami turning up in the u.s. a man found a beer crate on the beach. from natural disasters to those created by people. the centers for disease control trying to prevent any

emergencies associated with weddings. they've posted a survival guide. among the tips preparing a bridal kit that contains sedative snooze who did that? alisyn: the cdc. bill: the h1n1 wasn't enough for down there? we get into designs apparently. a new find along the u.s./mechanics con border, tunnels for smuggling drugs like we have never seen before. tunnels equipped with lighting and ventilation systems. 40 tons of marijuana found in tijuana. another had a trap door at a vacant strip mall in ha arizona. >> the hole goes 57 feet down and 755 feet across and comes up in san luis rio, colorado that

is an ice manufacturing plant, something along those lines. this is the same toupbl the mexican authorities discovered or reported last week. bill: they are still good at it. jay ahearns a former commissioner of customs and border protection. good morning. one began under a bathroom sink in a tea house in tijuana. how good are we at detecting these things jay? >> detecting tunnels becomes much more of a challenge than the things we can see above the ground. there are only two or three key locations along the border where tunnels can be configured, that is in the san diego area and over in arizona. when you go further to the east you get the rio grand river, and the mountainous region and extreme desert. that is not conducive for it.

they are extremely difficult to detect. it takes the authorities to really hone on in the resources. bill: one suggested you would need engineering expertise in order to construct this. this is high-scale stuff. >> it sure is, bill. i had the opportunity to see one for the first time in the 90s went down into several of them over the years. one of the ones i saw that was one of the most magnificent pieces of engineering clearly needed to have the high skill building. bill: what do you mean by that. >> it was reeven tpoersd. reinforced. to be able to put the loads across the border underneath the ground it takes more than manual laborers to go ahead and do this. bill: depending on what you have deployed above ground that would seem to dictate how far or how affected you are driving the drug cartels to this point. does that suggest we've got even

better on the surface? >> well, it certainly does. when you take a look at things done over the last few years, doubling the size of the border patrol, building 650 miles of fence, adding technology along the border. let's speak with san diego. san diego is one of the most secure locateses on the border with mexico above the ground. there is double fence. wire across the top, tactical roads for the border patrol to be able to patrol visibly. that we are seeing is a tunnel below and moving out into the ocean small boats making places north of the b like louisiana whla jolla and san clemente. bill: there is an estimated cost of $1.5 million. it shows how critical it is for the drug cartel to have this avenue. three new tunnels discovered.

thank you. alisyn: there were new attacks this week against governor romney's time at bain capital. the romney campaign tells us these are desperate things by the obama campaign. bill: a new warning about the new healthcare law. one governor whose state is opting out with part of that law. he's here and he'll explain why. the medicare debate continues in washington...

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bill: governor mitt romney's campaign firing back at new accusations from president obama's re-election team surrounding romney's time at the tamed bain capital in boston. ali talked with the director about this last hour. >> there is on this issue is from the obama campaign. the obama campaign has issued these reckless and wild accusations that mitt romney is a criminal, and a felon, that just simply doesn't past the laugh test. and frankly it just shows us signs of a desperate and unraveling campaign for them to continue along these lines when there have been independent fact checkers from all over the country who saying they are running a dishonest attack. this is a dishonest campaign that has a pattern of being

dishonest. bill: ben labull is the national press secretary to president obama's campaign. thanks for coming on. >> thanks for having me. bill: what the mitt romney team says is this is a technicality, that this is what is required to file paperwork with the fcc. what have you found out? >> well, it took plea years to clear up a technicality? look, since mitt romney was running for office in massachusetts i has bee he has been telling people that he left bain in 19 the 9. we found out from the globe that that wasn't true. he signed documents with the fcc that said he was president, ceo, sole owner, sole share older and chairman of the board for years after 1999 and he's trying to avoid responsibility when he had legal responsibility for the acquisitions that bain worked on, which outsourced american jobs and bankrupted companies causing american workers to lose their jobs and pensions. bill: even if this is true, and i know you're citing the boston globe for your reporting here.

even if this is true, why does it matter? >> because, listen during this period the companies that romney and his partners owned were companies like modus media. they made a decision to eliminate jobs in california and washington state and create them in china. stream international that took a look at opening call centers in the united states to create jobs here, they decided not to, they pursued cheaper labor costs wherever they could be found and created jobs in india. that is the philosophy that mitt romney has brought into government. bill: the romney team will argue, and you know this well they say their story is backed up by the workers at bain capital and also by the workers in salt lake county who are gearing up for the winter ow olympics. that's where he went to set up the winter games when he became chief executive of the winter games. what do you say to that, ben? >> a couple of things. if you're talking about how the workers feel about interview the

workers at denver, colorado at smtc who lost their jobs because they were shipped to mexico. bill: my question was the romney team argues their story was backed up by people who worked with him. >> let's take a look at what mitt romney said in sworn testimony in 2002 that emerged last night. he said he left salt lake to attend board meetings back in massachusetts and the campaign wouldn't answer any questions w-s on whether he had contact with bain during this period or attended board meetings. we no was chairman of the board during this period. i think if you ask the average american, if you're chairman of a corporation, president of a corporation. ceo, sole owner and shareholder would you really have no contact or involvement with that corporation stpheu don't think tha, i don't think that passes any test. bill: do you think that he's a fel felon?

do you think that is a fair question. >> either he misrepresented his tenure at bain to the fcc or miss republican edit to the voters in massachusetts. if he released more documents, like further tax returns we would know the extent of his involvement at bain during this period. if he would release board minutes we would know. but he hasn't done that. bill: is that what the obama team is after? is it more tax records. >> mitt romney is the most secretive candidate we've seen since richard nixon. mitt romney's own father when he ran for president released 12 years worth of tax returns. mitt romney provided john mccain 12 years of returns when he was being vetted for vice president. bill: to be precise is that a question for that question. >> yes, absolutely. bill: one more question to you. what the romney team will say is if you can talk about anything but the economy that's where you want to be. your response.

>> governor romney is the only one who has declared his record off limits. we think this is going to be a choice between two different economic records and visions. mitt romney is an out sourcer in chief. he's got a tax plan that adds incentives for companies to ship jobs overseas. the president wants to end tax credits to businesses who shift jobs overseas. governor romney is campaigning, the central premise of his candidacy is that he was a job creator in the private sector. he says he knows how jobs come and go, and we now know the answer to that, he does know that because he was own out sourcer in the private sector. he profited off of outsourcing american jobs. bill: i hope you come back, the invitation is always there for to you come and prevent your side. >> thank you, bill i appreciate it. bill: ben lebow with the obama

campaign. alisyn: tough economic times causing more u.s. coast guard cadets to stay on the job and not leave to find work elsewhere that's creating fewer opening for rookie cadets. fox' laura ingle is live in new london, connecticut with the latest class. you know the u.s. coast guard academy is buzzing with activity as 248 students begin what's known as swab summer training. you can see behind me we have a drill practice going on. they are doing the manual of arms right now. it's an intense 7-week program, the guards' version of boot camp to prepare students in the new core of cadets. this is the smallest class since 1999 and the most diverse in the history. 36% of women and minority students. tomorrow pigs is heating up to get a coveted spot in the academy. so many people already in the service are holding onto their jobs for as long as possible. >> so, we have a line of people wanting to come in for all the

benefits, the free education, the guaranteed job. so i'm demanding that micah deaths develop into those leaders of a character that america expects of them when they are commissioned as officers. we can afford to be chooseee and we will be. >> reporter: 85% will choose to be beyond five years of their commitment. military retention rates are at an all-time high. alisyn: what are they saying about their hopes and chances for jobs with the coast guard in the future? >> reporter: you can really sense how grateful everyone is to be here. as the cadets toil away in the summer sun learning how to be a part of a people with rigorous detail, some say they are keeping in touch with others their age that are looking for work and know they are in very good position. >> i'm super lucky to not have to pay college loans and not have to search for a job after i graduate. definitely feel very secure that

i have a job and i'll have a steady income once i graduate. i definitely do plan to make a career out of the coast guard and stay in it for as long as possible. alisyn: we've hear we've heard that from most of the cadets. back to you. bill: the summer games are going to fire up over there. have you seen what the american athletes are going to wear? kind of snazzy. have you seen them. alisyn: i have. bill: do you know where they were made? that is having leading lawmakers in washington suggesting that we burn those uniforms. but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company

by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you. our current dividend tax rate will expire this year, sending taxes through the roof and hindering economic recovery. the consequences? millions of americans will see their taxes on dividend income spike, slowing investment in u.s. companies and jeopardizing development in energy projects that create american jobs. ask congress to stop a dividend tax hike -- for all of us.

alisyn: more and more states rejecting the healthcare laws

medicaid expansion plan. in florida several health groups are promising not to go down without a fight. eight states are opting out. among those, florida, iowa, south carolina, texas, wisconsin, and another eleven states are considering opting out, among those some key battleground states like virginia, ohio, pennsylvania, nevada and colorado. governor terry branstad is the opting out. he's the governor of iowa and planning to opt out of medicaid. he's currently in virginia for the national association meeting. governor, good morning. >> great to be here, beautiful williamsburg. this is the 104 meeting of the annual governor's association. alisyn: are you going to levi what and start working for the chamber of commerce in virginia? >> no, but i love iowa, and i love the hospitality and colonial williamsburg is part of

our -- an important part of our american history, so we're really happy to be here. i'm chairman of the human services committee for the national governor's association. i'm one of the governors that doesn't believe giving people false promises. the government is deep in debt. alisyn: that's what you're here to talk about. why are you opting out of medicaid for your state. >> first of all i think we need to know the circumstances. the federal government has for the last several years spent more than a trillion dollars more than it's taking in. we now have a 16 trillion-dollar national debt. 40% of the money that the federal government is spending is borrowed one, and guess what in 2014 they are going to not bring spending under control, they are going to add a new entitlement program that is going to cost an additional half a trillion dollars a year. now -- and we're supposed to believe they are going to pay 100% of that? paid for the mandate on special education that's been on the books for

decades. there is no way the federal government is going to be able to afford to do this. not only that, what happens when the interest rates go back up? right now the federal reserve has kept them rock bottom. every 1% they go up the cost of funding the national debt goes up $160 billion. i'm not going to make false promises. i have a better approach in iowa. we have the goal to be the healthiest state in the nation. we want people to take ownership of their own health. the state of iowa is working on a public-private program to exercise. not use tobacco programs. we want to work with them, we don't want the federal government setting the rules. alisyn: those are lofty goals, and obviously everyone wants to be at their peak health. what do you say to your fellow iowa citizens who say they need this medicaid expansion. >> i just say we're not going to give you a false promise and embark on something we know we can't afford as a state, we can't afford as a country.

instead we want to do it by work with you to help improve health and we have our own plan that we're going to workout in the state of iowa, and it's part of this whole healthiest state initiative. i indicated on a voluntary basis i am going to be paying 20% of my health insurance. we have city employees paying zero. i think that's wrong. many people are paying 100% of health insurance or a significant amount of it. just by having state employees pay 20% we can save a hundred million dollars that can help us meet the needs of other people in our state. alisyn: there are some reports, governor that shay by opting out you will actually saddle iowa with more costs down the road. >> well, the fact is, if you look at the facts, if you realistically look at the federal government, you can see that 40% of what they are spending is borrowed money, they are deep in debt. we don't believe that they are going to be able to fulfill this. but if we opt in then we're stuck with the federal rules and

we have this maintenance of effort requirement that is going to just literally sink our budget. i inherited a financial mess, i've got the state back on track, we're spending less than we're taking in, and we have now restored our cash reserve and economic emergency account. we want to grow the economy, bringing more businesses and jobs to our state and not be saddled with a nine titlement if we can't afford. alisyn: governor terry branstead thank you for joining us from the commonwealth of virginia. have a grit time down there. >> thank you so much. bill: think about the states. the list keeps growing. it will be an issue until they can figure out what direction to go. we'll talk to more governors in the coming days and weeks. in the meantime we'll talk to jon scott who -- johnsto jon: not running for governor. president obama says he's made some mistakes in communicating his vision. governor romney says it's a bit

more than that. we will have a fair & balanced debate on these claims out of the white house. plus, former president bill clinton jumps into the fray, and we'll take a look at the media coverage the campaign this week, and of the healthcare overhaul repeal. just what is that huge navy ship, the u.s. s. ponce doing in the persian gulf? we'll tell you. bill: saving our heros, an inspiring story that led to life-saving technology and how it could help our troops in battle. u receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one!

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alisyn: well, it's a dream for lovers of pop culture and it's going on right now. it's day one of the geek festival comic-con. the convention kicking off in

san diego. people dressed up as their favorite superheros. it celebrates movies, video games, television. the convention will run for four days. bill: protecting those to keep them save through new technology. developing a way to prevent gas tank nasa car from bursting into flames. adam housley is live in l.a. >> reporter: it's an inspirational story about a hero who has been through an unspeakable battle, and his fight has helped an arizona company develop something that saves a thousand lives. he was living his dream just 14 months into a career with the phoenix police department when tragedy struck. his patrol car was rear-ended by a car traveling more than 100 miles an hour causing the gas tank to explode and the car to burst into flames with him trapped inside.

>> the initial burn was something that nearly took my life. i spent five months in the hospital, two and a half months in a coma, and several years just trying to get past those injuries. >> reporter: jason has become a home-town hero even inspiring an arizona company to develop technology that stops gas tanks in vehicles from exploding on impact. the technology is being used in tens of thousands of police and emergency vehicles across the u.s. as well as over 30,000 military vehicles in iraq and afghanistan. >> if there is something we can do to make their jobs easier to help bring them home safely there is no better feeling. we get letters from parents, and sometimes soldiers saying, your technology helped save our lives. >> reporter: military vehicles are designed to resist the explosion from an eye tack or ied. when the gas tank is hit it operate even ruptures and the troops inside get burned.

same for police cars. there are 300,000 vehicles on the road without the technology. jason is lobbying the cities across the country to get the fire panels. >> the impact that had on me, it made me realize what i needed to be doing. >> reporter: jason recently started a foundation called beyond the flames. he's touring the country giving motivational speeches and helping others go through tragedies themselves. he says he is the luckiest man on the face of the earth and would not trade one day of his life. bill: i bet. adam housley thank you, from los angeles. alisyn: we have new developments in this horrible story. two texas sisters murdered, allegedly at the hands of their own father because he thought they'd become too wester westernized. what the detectives in the case say they must do now. the postal service is critical to our economy,

delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer.

by what's getting done. measure commitment the twenty billion doars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through.

>> just two weeks until the opening ceremonies of the 2012 olympic games in london, some washington lawmakers

are crying foul over the uniforms the u.s. athletes will be wearing. turns out the ralph lauren designs seen here are made in china. senate majority leader harry reid offering the strongest criticism. let's listen. >> i am so upset i think the olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves. i think they should be embarrassed, should take all the uniforms and put them in a big pile and burn them. all if they have to wear nothing but a shrinkle. it says usa and painted by hand. that's what they should wear. >> burn them? the u.s. olympic committee saying we're proud of our partnership with ralph lauren a iconic american company and proud to watch our athletes compete at upcoming games in london. jon: how. bill: how about that. >> doesn't burning them run afoul of environmental concerns, bonfire of uniforms? you l. bill: strongest language you hear from harry reid.

burn them in a pile. we'll see how they look in the berets and jackets. you have a great weekend. >> thank you. bill: you're on saturday at 6:00 a.m.? >> until 10:00 a.m.. bill: sunday? >> until 10:00 a.m.. bill: see you on monday. >> "happening now" on right now. jon: alisyn, get some sleep. president obama talks about one of his biggest mistakes. what it all means for the race of the white house. getting in the mind of a killer who hid out in a unabouter after a heinous crime. chilling details just coming to light. the honor killing of two teenage sisters. there is a new push to turn the investigation over to the feds. the main suspect, their own father. he remains on the run as accusations fly that local police botched the case. it is all hap