how about a nice round of applause for our co-hostess, kara dioguardi [ cheers and applause ] >> kara: thank you for all your help (they're great guys. >> brian: you're going to be singing in the after the show show, aren't you? >> steve: have a great weekend! america. the july unemployment rate is just out. it has gone up to 8.3% in the month of july. there were all kinds of implications from that number. we'll go through them the next couple hours. i'm bill hemmer. welcome to "america's newsroom." good morning. patti ann: i'm patti ann browne in more martha maccallum. july hiring was the best since february. that was not nearly enough to show new strength in the economy. bill: not exactly the news the white house is looking for with three months to go to election day. we expect to hear from the

president later this morning. right now we here from stuart varney, anchor, fox business network. how do you analyze this number for the month? >> the mostlyally important number of the day is the rise in the unemployment rate to 8.3%. three months to an election the president does not want to see the unemployment rate rise. we also had a rise in the so-called real unemployment rate from 14.9 to 15%. the other side of the coin is the number of new jobs created. that is another important number here. 163,000. if you look more deeply you will find the number of new jobs created in june was revised lower. so you've got a rise in the rate. 163,000 new jobs but fewer new jobs in the month before that. a rather negative report of all. bill: that is paltry where we are now. you say the real unemployment rate? >> yeah. bill: explain that again,

stuart. >> technically that is called u-6. that unemployment rate includes those who are unemployed. those involuntary littlely doing part-time work and those who left the workforce. that rate is now 15%. one in seven roughly of the american population? that is a very high number and it went up in the month of july. bill: how many people dropped out of the labor force? >> 1505,000 people. bill: that is almost the equivalent of the jobs that were added. explain how that works. >> that is how it works 155,000 people stopped looking for work. they dropped out of the labor force. here is an interesting statistic, bill, fewer people are working today as worked on the same day the year 2000. even though the population has gone up 11 million people. this is a america is not fully working. bill: let's look at history and goo back 32 years. compare the recovery so was happened in the early 1980s

with ronald reagan. >> it is a very negative comparison with president obama. in july, 1984 the last year of the first time of ronald reagan, july that year we created 312 new jobs. this july, 163,000. if you look at all of 1984 the last year of mr. rage fwoon's first term, it was 3.8 million jobs created. president obama claims to have created 4.1 million in the last 3 1/2 years. bill: that big number is 8.3%. there are political implications of that number. stuart, thank you. see you at 9:20 on fbn. a little context on the board behind me for the unemployment rate. this goes back to december of 2007 when the economy started seeing faltering right? we were at 5% unemployment. it spiked to 10% in 2009, the high point. december into january. then started slowly moving down until the last few months we saw it flat line. now we see the uptick yet

again. 8.3% which amounts to 12.8 million people without a job. and that rate is also well above the yellow line here, right about 6% or a little lower. that yellow line, that is the signal where we need to be in order to get a healthy economy. we are a long way from that at this point. patti ann has more. patti ann: bill, response coming in on those jobs numbers. reince priebus, the chairman of the republican national committee saying quote, president obama said we tried our plan and it worked. with the unemployment rate going up again, it is obvious that plan didn't work at all are who went on to say the president has not created jobs but squandered taxpayer dollars like companies like solyndra. we're awaiting a response from the white house. the president is set to address the issue when he speaks at 11:45 a.m. eastern. governor knit romney is firing back with strong

words for harry reid and his unsubstantiated claims about the governor's taxes. >> well it is time for harry to put up or shut up. harry will have who it is he spoke with because that is totally and completely wrong. patti ann: peter doocy is live now in our washington bureau. good morning, peter. has mitt romney said where he thinks that harry reid is getting this information? >> reporter: patti ann, mitt romney thinks unnamed bain capital investor senator reid claims as a source is really someone working for president obama. if the majority leader the in the senate will accuse him from not paying taxes for a decade he will have to prove it. >> it is wrong. i'm looking forward to have harry reveal his sources, and we're probably find out it is the white house. look the obama campaign will do everything in its power to try and talk about anything besides the president's record. home prices, median american incomes, gasoline prices, 23

million people underemployed or unemployed. they don't want to talk about that or his promises. >> reporter: some on the romney campaign, patti ann, calling senator reid's claims baseless and shameful. patti ann: well, has reid guaranteed his source is 100% correct? >> reporter: no. in fact he told the "huffington post" he is not certain the story he keeps bringing up is even true. but after mitt romney told him to put up or shut up, senator reid actually doubled down, writing in a statement last night, as i said before, i was told by an extremely credible source that romney is not paid taxes for 10 years. people who make as much money as mitt romney have many tricks at their dispoe a.m. -- disposal to avoid paying taxes. david axelrod tweeted his followers if mitt romney wants to stop questions about his tax returns shouldn't he put up or shut

up and reveal them. neither harry reid or david axelrod said where they're getting information about mr. romney's tax rates. patti ann: so it continues. peter doocy live in washington, thank you. bill: investigators now trying to figure out what caused a double-decker megabus to crash into an interstate overpass on thursday. in the state of illinois. the bus was packed to capacity at the time. 81 passengers on board. one person dead, dozens more injured. the bus started its route in chicago. headed to kansas city, missouri. some witnesses said the fire lost control after the tire blew out. >> i was asleep. and i woke up and people is bloody. >> felt like we were going to tip over. he was trying to regain control of the bus but regained control but slammed right into the gigantic concrete post. >> i felt a really huge impact, when i came to my senses, it was people in the

aisles and people, most people had blood on them somewhere. a lot of people, there was a man who doesn't move from the neck down. there was a man who had his stuck in two seats in front of him. i could hear screams of pain from the top level. obviously i don't want to jump to any conclusions i can't help but feel like this would have con prevent. bill: the company, megabus, is working with law enforcement to investigate the cues of that crash. patti ann: the faa is strongly disputing reports that three jets were involved in a near-miss at reagan national airport earlier this week. there were report that air traffic controllers changed the direction of incoming and outgoing planes due to bad weather in the d.c. area and two outgoing flights were told to come to the direction of an incoming plane. faa officials are pushing back on the story. they did so at a news conference yesterday.

let's take a listen. >> at no point were these planes on a head-to-head collision course. there was going to be no head-to-head collision of these planes. >> two departing aircraft came within these margins in relation to a plane that was landing at reagan national airport. but at no point were any of the planes headed directly for one another. patti ann: the faa says it will investigate the incident and address any miscommunication. bill: more breaking news now. this from the middle east now. a new images of the fighting happening inside of syria. [gunfire] while that's going on inside the borders the u.n. prepares to vote on yet another resolution to try to end the blood shed. that crisis reaching a boiling point as the u.n. envoy, kofi annan resigns. world after first contributor dominic

di-natale live in jerusalem on all of this. what is happening now, dominic? >> reporter: hey there, bill. video footage coming out in the past couple of hours of mortars or the aftermath of mortars landing in a palestinian refugee camp south of damascus. take a look at this. what happened was the mortars landed when people were out buying food breaking their fast during what is ramadan. people were trying to escape the scene but very difficult to do so, many people in the video actually lost their limbs, bill. rebels are not entirely sure where they came from. obviously it may be the regime but may be indirect fire from their own people trying to attack the government there. the state news agency is very much firmly blaming the rebels but the government actually attacked the camp before. it is a huge camp. 150,000 people. 2,000 acres inside. the latest casualties why activists say the death toll

since it began to surpass the 20,000 mark. back to you. bill: we watch the u.n. now, patti ann, for the past several weeks go back and forthwith no action there you're looking 17, now 18 months with no end in sight. patti ann: that's for sure. bill: about 11 minutes past the hour. we're just getting started. stunning new details what the white house knew leading up to the collapse of solyndra. why the officials at white house used three-letter word, ugh. why solyndra executives were relying on quote, the bank of washington. then there is this. ♪ . [gunfire] >> if you are ever --. patti ann: a shocking video showing a man opening fire on office workers. it is not real. just an instructional video, but what is one city trying to instruct and could this timing possibly be worse? bill: also feathers have

been you can mr. ed have they not? chick-fil-a matter turned into a national debate on free speech. first a supporters showed up in force. now the other side has its turn today. >> he has the right to believe whatever he wants to believe. his business should not be affected by that. >> i'm not aware of any law that forces anyone to eat at any particular restaurant. people are free to pick and choose wherever they want to go. i happen to choose to go go to chick-fil-a. [ male announcer ] fight pepperoni heartburn and pepperoni breath fast with tums freshers! concentrated relief that goes to work in seconds and freshens breath. ♪ tum...tum...tum...tum... tums! ♪ [ male announcer ] tums freshers. fast relief, fresh breath,

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patti ann: houston wants its residents to be ready in case of a mass shooting event similar to what happened in a record can, colorado. >> may depend whether or not you have a plan. the plan doesn't have to be complicated. patti ann: the city releasing an eerily realistic six-minute video that shows a man walking into an office building and opening fire. it is part of their response strategy, called run, hide, fight. some of the video tips include evacuate as soon as possible, help others get to safety if you can. don't worry about any personal belongings. the video says people should fight back and try to disarm the shooter as a last resort. bill: okay. stunning new insight into the collapse of the solar power company solyndra which cost taxpayers half a billion dollars. there is an e-mail exchange between top white house staffers sent just before solyndra went belly-up. it reads in part, this is going to be a realai pn.

solyndra is about to go under apparently and the reply, ug. had. in another e-mail exchange from 2009 the ceo of the company appeared to label president obama's administration as the bank of washington. now virginia congressman randy forbes, a republican, a member of the house judiciary committee looking for answer on this. sir, good morning to you back in your home state of virginia. >> good morning, bill. bill: put this together. what does it tell you? >> bill, first of all if this doesn't outrage every american taxpayer i don't know what report will do it. what this shows is that omb personnel and employees were worning the director, warning members of this administration that the policies that they were using for solyndra might be illegal but certainly were bad for the taxpayers of the united states. it wasn't just that they had made a bad deal initially. but when they found out about it, they doubled down, they restructured the deal to help private investors

who helped the president in the campaign. instead of costing taxpayers $141 million, it cost them over $500 million. what is even worse, bill? we find out now the chief of staff of the white house knew about this and the omb director that covered this up is now the current chief of staff of the white house. bill: white house chief of staff, jack lew. what about the comment about the bank of washington? what's that mean, sir? >> jon, i mean, bill, what they were doing, they were showing in here that even some of the investors in solyndra were questioning how the government was spending taxpayer money. and they were using the government not just as an opportunity to get these funds but they were going back to the government and saying you've got to create the market by buying these products and then using terms like the bank of washington because they just felt that washington could spend any amount of the taxpayer monies and they just doubled down. bill: some of your

allegations go to crony capitalism. can you prove that? >> i think the e-mails speak for themselves. when you look at them, bill, and you see what this report says but the big thing about this report, bill, is it shows solyndra is perfect example what the administration is doing with the economy. they come out with these policies that don't work. when they don't work, instead of changing course, they double down. they cover it up for, from the american people and they do this all for one reason, because they have to push this agenda and because it's important for them for political reasons. they don't worry about taxpayers of the country. bill: two other things, 1800 workers lot of their jobs when solyndra went belly-up. there were more at other companies there. but you believe congress can't do much about this. why not? >> well, first of all we've got a limited time between now and election and lame-duck session. i think if we're going to get this changed, bill, this will be the american people will have to change it.

they will have a great opportunity to do that in november and say we're tired of the country going in this direction. we'll turn it around and start thinking about taxpayers and get policies that will get the economy going again. bill: you're hot on this. see where it leads. randy forbes from virginia. >> thanks, bill. bill: enjoy your weekend. patti ann, what's next? patti ann: iran has a message for the rest of the world when it comes to israel. why president ahmadinejad is calling for a global coalition to fight for israel's nile ages. bill: business has never been so good at chik-fil-a apparently. supporters mobbed the restaurant this week. the other side said it will have its say today. are gay rights activists using their right to free speech to protest someone else's right to free speech. >> this is how the owner was raised in the bible and thinks like that. this is his, what is the word, religion. then there is no problem with what he said. he living by how he was raised. if you have a problem with

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bill: all right. 22 minutes past the hour now. tropical storm ernesto weakening slightly over the atlantic. he could hurricane status next week as it heads towards the gulf of mexico. watch that storm. here is new video of north korean dictator kim jong un. on a roller coaster at a park named pleasure ground. they requested aid from the u.n. following devastating flooding and torrential rains. american airlines has a new idea, offering to deliver your luggage straight to your door. that service costs between 30 and 50 bucks depending on number of bags. the amount is on top of the existing bag fees. that is interesting idea. patti ann: i think i would

rather have it in my hands honestly. bill: maybe this way you're guaranteed to get it. patti ann: i don't know about garn teethed l guaranteed. bill: that is true too. might save the vacation. patti ann: supporters of same-sex marriage have having their say at chik-fil-as around the country. they're protesting the restaurant chain's ceo and his comments against gay marriage. this is two days after the overwhelming success of chick-fil-a appreciation day. a company executive releasing this statement, quote, while we don't release exact sales numbers we can confirm reports it was a record-setting day. john roberts is live from a chick-fil-a in decateur, georgia. hi, john, what is going on there? >> reporter: good morning to you, patti ann. not much is going on. looks a lot different than a couple days ago. protests in decatur is scheduled for noon and 2:00. the national protest is called for 8:00 p.m. tonight at chick-fil-as in 39

states. show you pictures from wednesday when people came out and supported chick-fil-a. thousands upon thousands of people showing support for dan cathy's position on same sex marriage or his right to free speech. as you mentioned pushing the company to record-setting revenues that day. yesterday we dropped by one of the protest groups as they were getting ready for today's demonstration. making up signs they carry around on the sidewalks. they tell me this goes beyond what dan cathy says. that chick-fil-a's charitable foundation wind shape gives money to groups with anti-gay positions and actively campaign against gay marriage. i talked with the group's leader and asked her what she thought about the criticism heaped upon ceo dan cathy when see like jeff bezos of amazon are not similarly criticized for holding the opposing position? >> dan cathy giving his money to hate organizations is much different than am is -- amazon giving their money to support lgbtq

marriage. amazon is looking to support everybody. it should be human and equal rights for all, really. >> reporter: for its part, chick-fil-a welcomes today's protest. steve robinson, vp of marketing issuing statement quote, friday may be opportunity to serve and genuine hospitality and great food. not likely any protesters will eat here. mcdonald's has given those people vouchers for their chicken sand sandwich today, patti ann. patti ann: interesting. where does the country stand on gay marriage? >> reporter: views have been evolving last decade particularly last four years. pew foundation came out with a poll yesterday t found in total 48% of the american are in favor of same-sex marriage. 44 against. that is increase of nine points since 2008. hear is the way it breaks down politically. democrats are most in favor. 65%. independents a slight

majority, 51%. republicans just 24% support same-sex marriage. all those demographics increased in the last four years. we should point out in addition to people coming out to chick-fil-as, patti ann, some local gay rights groups like equality new jersey are asking to call franchise operators of chick-fil-a, urging franchise operators to have a meeting with members of the group. we'll see how that pans out during the day. we're expecting action to begin here in 2 1/2 hours. right now nothing at this chick-fil-a in decatur. patti ann. patti ann: john roberts in georgia. bill: who knew this would go the way it went. when you saw waiting for chicken sandwiches four hours. patti ann: the lines went on and on. bill: we'll see which angle it takes and. there are new threats from iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad. what he is saying. retired army general jack keane will join us on that. patti ann: one of the all-time baseball greats

trying to find out who kidnapped his mother. cal ripken, jr., set to speak to the media just minutes from now. >> she is doing quite well. she is doing okay. she has gone through a very traumatic experience. one you look at and think, wow, this is a movie and somehow we're in it. the second thing is just to make a plea, law enforcement needs help in finding this guy.

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for you live. take a look at the markets. wall street likes something in there, up about 138 points at the open. up above 13,000. we'll see throughout the day whether or not we stay there or not. 9:31 now. patti ann: new concerns today about the iranian threat. according to a report president mahmoud ahmadinejad is repeating his calls to wipe israel off the map. he told islamic ambassadors in a thing published on his website that the ultimate goal of the world must be the jewish state's nile ages. adding quote, liberating palestine would solve all the world's problems. general jack keane is a retired four-star general, former wise chief of staff of the army and fox news military analyst. thank you for joining us. >> glad to be here, patti ann. patti ann: israeli officials say there is nothing new here. this has been iran's object testify for decades. anything new for their calling entire world to unite behind this cause?

>> sadly this is not new. since 1980 when the islamic republic took hold their statest objective has always been the same. export the islamic revolution to the region and dominate that region. to achieve that objective they have two major goals. one is the destruction of the state of israel and drive the united states out of the region. that is why for over 30 years the iranians have been using their proxies to kill u.s. and israeli citizens during that entire span of time and they're still at it today. patti ann: so explain that about it being a proxy war. >> well they have always used the indirect approach, avoiding direct military confrontation with the united states and israelis because they know they would be defeated militarily. they have used their proxies to kill us. they have started with blowing up barracks in our embassy in lebanon in 19850. we pulled out of lebanon. they blew up the kuwait embassy the same year. they blew up our barracks in saudi arabia. we pulled out after that.

they used their proxies ben in iraq, shia militia who they trained in iran using hezbollah battalion commanders and other officers to train them. the estimate by the outgoing u.s. commander of our troops in iraq, january alston probably came close to killing 2,000 americans in iraq. obviously now we're out of iraq. patti ann: defense secretary leon panetta met with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and netanyahu said quote, right now the iranian regime believes the international community does not have the will to stop iran's nuclear program. this must change in netanyahu's words. panetta assured him the u.s. has the military option on the table. do you believe those assurances go faw enough for israel? >> i don't think they do. israelis are very skeptical diplomacy and economic sanctions will work. the reason the iranians want nuclear weapon to guaranty

the preservation of the regime. if that is the case what they would accept in hardships and suffer is very significant. economic set back will not deter them from nuclear weapons. that puts israelis on collision course here with a military option. patti ann: panetta is saying he wants patience. he wants a chance for these new sanctions to work. israel is saying look we're running out of time. do you believe israel will act unilaterally? >> absolutely. they believe this is an extensional threat for the reasons we just discussed. further evidence of that is with this recent pronouncement by ahmadinejad. so they will act. certainly they don't want to do this. if there was another option to get rid of these nuclear weapons, certainly they're in favor of that. that's why i think they have given diplomacy and economic sanctions an opportunity to work. they're running out of the time. they have a good feel for what the time clock is. if the iran krans will not voluntarily give up these

weapons, which i don't believe they wills the israelis will certainly act. patti ann: general jack keane, thank you as always. >> take care, patti ann. bill: there is a baseball legend on a mission to find the man who kidnapped his mother. cal ripken, jr. will speak in a few moments now. his 74-year-old mom was abducted last week. thankfully she was found unhurt. she's okay. just the following day tied up in the book of her car. molly henneberg is trying to piece this together live in d.c.. nice to see you. what is ripken expected to say about this case? good morning. >> good morning. the ripken family and the maryland police investigating this abduction haven't said much until today. they need help trying to find the man who kidnapped cal ripken, jr.'s mother. ripken, jr. who was on "fox and friends" this morning said his mother vi is doing quote, quite well but she has gone through a very traumatic experience. here is what he said happens. >> she was taken from her home in her garage at gunpoint. she was tied up and she was

in a car basically for the next 23 hours. she was delivered back two doors down from the original place she was taken from her house. she is, thank goodness, she is back home. she's safe. she is unharmed. you know, psychologically i think she is a little harmed. we're really happy we have her back. >> reporter: ripken says the abductor didn't say much to his mother. investigators don't know if he knew she was cal ripken's mom or if this was something horribly random. bill? bill: what do we know about the suspect? >> white male in his early 30 or '40s police believe. 5'10"s. aberdeen, maryland, police released a sketch of the suspect. they have surveillance video of him at a convenience store during the time vi ripken was missing. other than they need the public's help to find this guy. cal ripken, jr. was the former shortstop for the baltimore orioles set a

baseball record for most games played that the man made no demands of her or his family. she has not yet returned to the home where she was kidnapped. bill: we'll hear from cal ripken, jr., thank you, molly henneberg on that. 100-year-old stash of baseball cards netting half a million dollars at action. 37 cards were found in an attic in ohio a honus wagner card, perfect condition, $239,000. other cards featured the likes of hall-of-famer including ty cobb and shown here and cy young. the auction brought in 566 grand. that money will be split among 20 cousins whose late great-uncle originally owned the collection. the moral of the story this weekend, check your attic folks. who knows what you can find up there. patti ann: big money and worth it for some of them. stunning allegations leveled against governor mitt romney by senate majority leader harry reid.

>> the word's out that he hasn't paid any taxes for 10 years. let him prove that he has paid taxes because he hasn't. we already know from one partial tax return that he gave us, he has money hidden in bermuda, the cayman islands and a swiss bank account. patti ann: now governor romney responds to senator reid's allegations. bill: a real-life monster jam, patti ann. these damaged vehicles are police cars run over by an angry farmer. we'll explain. happy birthday! thank you, nana send money to anyone's checking account with chase quickpay. all you need is an email address or mobile number. you're welcome.

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patti ann: a lifeguard is slapped with a bill after rescuing a swimmer in oregon. 17-year-old john clark was off-duty, when he saved a 12-year-old boy from drowning in the ocean. clark had a headache after the strenuous rescue. so he went to the hospital figuring it was standard procedure. but a few weeks later, clark

got a bill for $2600. 1900 for the ambulance ride. clark and his family say they were very surprised. >> i don't know actually how big the swells were, but they were big enough to push both of us underwater where we were touching sand. i had a feeling there would be a bill and i didn't know how much it would be and i kind of feel bad for the fact it is so expensive. i couldn't let the kid go. i had to help him. >> i was extremely proud of him. when we got the bill, it was a shock. patti ann: there is good news here. people who heard clark's story are helping rescue him from the bill with donations. bill: cool. money well-spent. governor mitt romney now telling senate majority leader harry reid to put up or shut up when it comes to charges he did not pay taxes. and saying the allegation is coming from inside the president's own campaign. >> it's wrong. so, i'm looking forward to have harry reveal his

sources and we're probably find out it is the white house. the obama campaign will do everything in its power to try to talk about anything besides the president's record. home prices. median american incomes. gasoline prices. 23 million people underemployed or unemployed. they don't want to talk about that or his promises. bill: so where are we on this day? juan williams, political analyst for us here at fox. brad blakeman, former deputy assistant to former president george w. bush. good morning to both of you. time to name names, huh, brad? where is this going? >> you bet. there is something fundamentally creepy about the senate majority leader using high office in a sacred part of our government, the well of the senate, to make a partisan attack against a private citizen. yeah, romney is running for president but for high government official to abuse his power, i think that is where republicans need to go. there should be ethics violation launched against

harry reid for using his official capacity as a senate majority leader to make partisan attacks from the well of the senate. he has to put up or shut up but not in the well of senate. these are the kind of allegations should come from the dnc or obama campaign. they should be man enough to man up to allegations. bill: calling this creepy. what about that, juan? strike you a bit as creepy? >> yeah. i think i give a big amane this friday morning to brad blakeman. for the senate majority leader to play hardball politics of this type is a little much, especially when you go to the senate floor. but in general he is a man of stature. he really does run the government. he is a powerful man. that position is a just a special place. to be saying things without evidence. bill: so why is he doing it? >> hard ball politics. harry reid really was a fighter. he is a tough guy. he is a smart buy. bill: juan, who is telling him to do it? >> i don't know who is telling him. harry reid would do this on his own. harr reid does think, he

said in the past, by the way, bill, mitt romney couldn't get confirmed for a cabinet post because he has refused to release these tax returns. i think it is a legitimate issue. it is just then once you start getting into speculation and somebody told me but i can't tell you who that is not good. bill: goes crazy. two years of tax returns are out. brad, yesterday eric are fern strom was on our program. it is not true. baseless. nothing to back them up. speaker boehner talking about statements without any facts. mitch mcconnell, senate colleague called the accusations beneath the dignity of reid's office. but reid's not stopping is he. >> this is part of the democrats 3-d strategy, distort mitt romney's record. deflect from obama's poor job performance as we see with the jobs numbers and divide the american people. robin hood economics. take from the rich and give to the poor. everything will be okay. harry reid believes in my

estimation obama isn't doing enough. he has taken it upon himself to lead the charge against romney. the problem is, it isn't his place, in his high office to do it. it's for others to do it in the proper setting. again this is for the obama campaign to do it from the campaign surrogates but not a leader and majority leader of senate. bill: one-man message, isn't it juan? he is leading the band on this thing, if there is a band. maybe just a solo act. >> no, no. look, this is a big question and of course in political circles everybody is asking, if there is nothing there, why won't romney release the tax returns? and he must have made the calculation that you know, there is more trouble for him releasing it than taking the heat from people now including harry reid who are really putting the pressure on for the fact that he keeps it private and secret. that is the whole notion. i know, the thing i say to brad is, this really represents politics, low ball politics we see today.

i see people, congressional leaders on republican side who refuse to say this birther thing is nonsense or obama is a socialist. this kind of stuff is really, doesn't take us anywhere. doesn't lead us anywhere. it has political, emotional power. bill: fuels the other side to say see the grades from college. >> all that stuff. bill: here we go, right? round and round and round. you ignore the biggest story, ignore rather the biggest story of the day. that is running wild here 8.3% unemployment. white house out with statement moments ago, july's unemployment data shows the u.s. economy continues to recover. that is the shade we got today on that, brad? what do you make of that? >> again i think the obama administration is in denial. they believe that you can fool some of the people some of the time. but i will urge you bill, he is not going to be able to fool enough of the people this time around. the american people know they're hurting. they're hurting every time they go to the pump. every time they have to make hard choices around their

dining room table where their expenditures are going to go on a limited budget. this is validation that the economy isn't doing well with. >> the white house is going to make the argument it is a slow recovery but a recovery nonetheless. >> that's true. bill: juan, the question is whether or not the american people buy that argument? >> again, what we see here is, i think most americans know the economy is not doing great. but they see a slow trajectory of growth. there is no denying it added jobs. people are saying right now, well, so am i satisfied or not? the thing i would add into this conversation is people also have a strong memory of how deep a hole we were in and so you know what? are we in fact digging out at an acceptable level? or does mitt romney, in specific, have better ideas for how to get this economy going. and we haven't heard those ideas yet. bill: voters will ask themselves, is it good enough. >> right. bill: what is the critical question. >> what has the other buy got to offer? what is he saying? bill: that too.

thank you, juan. brad, thanks. see you soon from washington. >> thank you. bill: patti ann, what's next. patti ann: the crippling drought across the midwest, no relief from mother nature in sight. why the price of corn has a ripple effect that goes past your grocery bill. bill: a man with a chip on his shoulder, a big one too, with access to farm equipment. that is lethal combination. a crushing blow to the local police department, literally. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] for everything your face has to face. face it with puffs facial tissues.

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bill: so old macdonald had a farm and apparently a tractor and a score to settle. a former in vermont taking revenge on the local

sheriff's department. he flattened six of the vehicles with his tractor. the man at the wheel apparently upset over recent arrest for marijuana possession? he took off down the street where deputies were unable to chase him because, after all, their vehicles were destroyed. city police officer arresting him a short time later. wow. patti ann: the midwest is dealing with its worst drought in 50 years. as crops suffer your bottom line suffers when food prices soar specifically because of the impact on corn. there is something some lawmakers say the government can do to help. mike tobin live in bradford, illinois, with or on this. high, mike, what does the crop look like where you are? >> reporter: the immediate impact the court should be eight feet high. it is all stunted because it has not gotten enough water. when you look at individual ears of corn you see it is not filling in. the owner of this particular farm says he normally does

about 200 bushels per acre. this year he is looking doing about 75 bushels per acre. so the production is down to less than half. half of the corn in the united states has been declared either in bad shape or in very bad shape. as we roll some video. we can show you what some of the farmers in illinois are electing to do. that is just cut losses and plow their crops right under for the year. since corn goes into everything from your breakfast serial to corn syrup to feed for livestock. that will impact you at the kitchen table. it will cost you three to 4% more next year to feed your family because the midwest is not getting enough rain, patti ann. patti ann: mike tobin, how can the government help exactly? >> reporter: it has been interesting. a lot of people are talking about decreasing the ethanol mandate, the amount of corn required to go into ethanol. speaking with this farmer he pointed out something very interesting. there is a stocks inch that grows onorn when they grow

through a drought the it is no longer fit for human consumption and livestock. even that wouldn't solve their problems. at the end of the day, if there is not enough rain, it is tough on the farmer, costs you more to feed your family. patti ann: mike tobin live from illinois. thank you. bill: he is a baseball legend. cal ripken, jr.. and his mom was kidnapped recently. she's okay but there are some things we do not know like who is the kidnapper? what happened here? they're setting up for a press conference and cal ripken, jr. perhaps explains a lot of this in the next few moments. we have an ear on that. patti ann: security leaks that many argue are coming from inside the white house. we'll talk with house homeland security chairman peter king on what he wants the fbi to do about it. >> every leak out of the white house is a signal to other countries, be very careful about cooperating with the united states of america. because if you do, you very likely will end up running the risk at least of

compromising your country's relationship with the united states. man: there's a cattle guard, take a right. do you have any idea where you're going ? wherever the wind takes me. this is so off course. nature can surprise you sometimes... next time, you drive. next time, signal your turn. ...that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you.

bill: breaking news as we start a whole new hour. cal ripkin jr., one of the best known baseball players in the history of the game, about a week ago his mother was kidnapped, driven around in the trunk of her own car. she is said to be okay, age 74. there are so many details about that that continue to bog he will the mind, questions like where is the kidnaper? who was he? what was said during this entire ordeal? she's all right. thithis is the first time he's going to address the story here. he was on fox & friends earlier this morning. we expect for the sake of this press conference to get more answers. here an officer from the sheriff's department to explain some of that. let's drop in real quick and see what we can learn. >> the abduction was approximately 8pm that evening.

a police department called us inquiring whether we knew about her car being in the area. we initiated a investigation and determined from the family that she was in fact missing and the search began. the following morning on the 25th she was returned home in her car, probably within a hundred yards of where she lives. as a result of that there's been a continuing and ongoing investigation by our department. as part of that investigation there's been a release of video and a composite drawing. those things have generated a number of leads, which we are continuing to follow. we've also, as a result, in the early stages of the investigation obtained evidence from the vehicle, that's been submitted to the lab. i can't discuss the particulars of that. as you're aware also i'm sure you've seen the billboards around the city, they too are generating some leads.

the nation-wide nature now that this publicity is taking on ho hopefully will generate more leads and give us places to go. i'd like to charge our law enforcement agent sears, the f.b.i. hearhartford county police department. all the police departments that have added to this investigation and continue to do so. that's all i have. >> i'll start with a brief statement then we'll open it up for questions. cal. >> good morning. i just want to thank you all for being here today, number one. before we begin i want to also thank all the law enforcement agencies who have been working so hard on this case.

the f.b.i. baltimore division. tkaupl county and city police. i want to thank the orioles for letting us use this facility today. everyone has been asking how the family is, how mom is, how she's doing from a health standpoint, and i appreciate all the out pouring of love and support for our family, and i want to be able to report that mom is doing pretty good. you know, it's a traumatic situation that she was involved in, traumatic for all of us in the family, and we are trying really hard to come together and support each other in this. but mom by and large is a tough, strong, woman, was able to endure this. she's doing pretty good. again, i just want to thank everyone for their concern and thoughts nor ou for our family.

secondly i'm here to deliver a message that law enforcement needs your help. the investigation is moving along. if you know anything about the case, if you know anything about the identity of the person in the photos, the sketch, i would encourage all of you to call in and report what you know. law enforcement does need help in this investigation and that's really the second reason i'm here today. so i'd be glad to take any questions that you might have. >> can you describe your first contact with your mother after this incident ended, what it was like? >> roughly around 6:00 in the morning, a little after 6:00 i got a call that said she had been found a few houses down from where she had been taken from our house that i grew up in. i immediately went down, and after some of the police debriefing and those sorts of things we were able to have her in the family.

so she, you know, was very emotional. i think we were all thinking the worse possible things during the course of the time when we were looking for her, and not nothing what thknowing what the reason was. bill: this is a major mystery. what happened to cal ripkin's mother. we don't know who the kidnaper was. we thought we might have an idea. you saw the sketch on the screen earlier. we wanted to share with you. cal ripkin jr.'s mom put in her car about a week ago, this is the sketch, and the police have it and are working from it down there in baltimore. five minutes past of the hour. this is breaking news across the country, tempers boiling over the state of the economy. brand-new reaction from the campaign trail to a new jobs report released a short time ago. unemployment ticking up for the month of july 8.3%. the economy added 163,000 jobs,

that is better, but almost the same number dropped out of the workforce, that is not good enough for the nearly 13 million persons out of work. we have reaction from the speaker john boehner, reaction from the white house coming in right now as we start a new hour here. i'm bill hemmer good morning. >> i'm patti ann brown in for martha maccallum. governor romney said, today's increase in the unemployment rate is a hammer blow to middle class struggling families. president obama doesn't have a plan and believes that the private sector is doing fine. obviously that is not the case. we've now gone 42 consecutive months with the unemployment rate above 8%. mid class americans deserve better and i believe america with do better. bill: will americans feel the same way come election day? willis anchor, matt mccall the president of penn financial group, llc.

jerri start with the news of the day. >> the bad news is you have 163,000 jobs expanding, 155 people got out of the workforce. they are depressed. they don't think they can find a job. the real jobs rate, the number of people who got out of the jobs force plus the unemployed it rises from 14.9% to 15%. and that is a shocking number. bill: what our vires are watching now is the market take off on this. matt, explain why that is happening. >> the big reason the market is caking off, before the number came out the markets were up big. the reason for that is people were anticipating that ben bernanke and the federal reserve is going to come out at some point in the next couple of weeks and do another round of quantitative easing. today's headline numbers made it look great, but as was just explained underlying this headline number is disturbing

thumbs. this gives the feds to come out and do qe3. bill: that means print money. >> there's good for stocks. bill: the big headline for you is the under employed, which is over 15%, explain that number and the significance. >> basically what that means is you're either out of work or under employed, or you basically gave up on trying to get a job, as jeri explained earlier. these are people who have basically been trying for months and said, you know what, i'm done, i'm giving up, they are basically going to live off the government for the foreseeable future. that is extremely important to me. you look at the employment number compared to the population, that has fallen ones again as well. again, bill this headline number may be rosy and obama is going to run with it but so many numbers underneath it are going in the wrong direction. >> the numbers are 8.3%, you add 163,000 jobs, you have 155,000 that drop out. that's almost a wash. >> exactly.

here is another fact that you might not be considering today. if we were to go back say inauguration day when unemployment was at 7.8% we would have to grow jobs each and every month until november by 244,000. think about that. that would be about double what we're seeing today. bill: for how many months? >> for four months. today's report, september, october, november, those four months would have had to go up by 244% to get back to just inauguration day. so we've got a long way to go. this report is mixed at best. i think matt has it right, the markets are happen eye because they want to mixed news, they want some not great news so that ben bernanke gets in here and gives us some stimulus. bill: we will see the president in about an hour's time. you can catch jeri on the willis report fox business network every day at 6:00 and again 9:00 eastern time on fbn, thanks to both of you. patti ann: breaking down july's report the number of unemployed

americans increased from 12.7 million to 12.8 million and the total unemployed and under employed increased from 14.9% to 15%, and more numbers, that is an increase from 23.4 million to 23.5. bill: we'll go through all these numbers again throughout the hour here. in the meantime feathers are flying, aren't they? the chick-fil-a far from over. gay activists protesting the fast food chain today exercising their right to free speech. here is herman cain, same topic. >> as long as they don't break any laws or prevent the chick-fil-as from caring on business as usual they are free to do that. these why this is america. >> should the restaurant's chain krerbgs o havchain version o have the same right?

>> congressman peter king will be here live. here he is now and he is raising even more red flags today. bill: a mandatory evacuation underway. a massive wildfire and the fight to save the homes and lives there. >> i'm nervous. i just came back from a fire in colorado where 22 houses burned and it was really sad, and that's what i was thinking about with my house, and my stuff and everybody's house.

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patti ann: a fox extreme weather alert, a powerful storm flooding streets and toppling trees across the metro atlanta region on thursday. torrential rains knocking down power lines and leaving 1400 homes in the dark. the dangerous weather plaguing for a close call at a local barbecue joint. strong winds sent a massive tree crashing on to the building right over a customer's table. >> it's not good, it's not good. the two dining raorpls going to have to be rebuilt. >> i didn't realize this tree was so big until it came down. it does surprise me but i'm glad no one got hurt. patti ann: south of atlanta one family was not so lucky, s*efrpl of them shocked by lightning. they were rushed to the hospital and are expected to be okay. bill: good for them. lucky, probably. there are new calls now for a wider f.b.i. investigation into leaks of highly classified security information.

some lawmakers suggesting the leaks are coming directly from the white house. one of those raising red flags about the leaks republican congressman peter king out of no, chairman of the homeland security committee. sir, good morning to you. >> good morning, bill, how are you. bill: i'm fine, thank you. you want to know about this underwear bomb plot that was under covered in yemen that stemmed out of al-qaida and the arabian peninsula. >> going back to april or may when we had this counter spy operation in yemen where so much information was obtained, the highest we ever got in penetrating al-qaida in the arabian peninsula, and all of that was leaked to the "associated press" before it was completed. and there was such a small universe of people who knew about it, to me all the evidence points towards the white house.

and that compromised us because there were two other major allies involved with us in that, and there are tremendous hard feelings and a sense of betrayal from them. after that we had the stuxnet, the computer virus in the iranian nuclear program and we had the drone attacks, and now coming from syria, again i'm on the intelligence committee i have to be careful how i put this. but reports in the paper about the president signing a paper of with regard to actions with syria. it talked about how far we could go, how far we couldn't go and specified a location in turkey where it says the c.i.a. has -ts command center. it compromises turkey and people in the c.i.a. that would be working at that center. the f.b.i. is investigating two of these situations.

i asked director mueller yesterday in a formal letter to expand the investigation to include the leaking of the syrian operation. bill: i don't know when you'll hear back from the f.b.i. you have pointed a finger directly at the white house. and what you charge is that the group of people who have access to the information is not a wide circle. i think the question is, why is this happening? >> yeah, and again, i'm very careful in what i say. the reason i aim at the white house in this. and you read the stories, it talks about meetings in the national security council in the white hous meetings in the oval office in the white house the yemen operation we discussed before was known to a small group of people primarily in the white house, nobody in congress knew anything about it whatsoever. the only thing i can think of this is an attempt to rehabilitate the president going into an election year to show he's a tough guy. going back to a year ago when osama bin laden was killed all the secrets that were put out at

that time. the president deserves credit for killing osama bin laden butr beyond anything that had to be disclosed. i think it's to enhance his reputation and it's done in an inch conspiracy way. bill: here is donald rumsfeld with greta last night. this is a key part. >> every leak out of the white house is a signal to other countries, be very careful about cooperating with the united states of america, because if you do you very likely will end up running the risk at least of compromising your country's relationship with the united states, your compromising intelligence information that you need to defend your people. bill: that last point about national defense, is he right? >> yes, he is. in fact i had the opportunity to be with secretary rumsfeld just about six weeks ago and we were discussing this very issue. definitely compromises our national defense and what it does is, it definitely damages our relationship with allies. the yemen operation there were two very, very close at lies

involved in there with us, they are actually furious that we compromised it. we have the situation in syria now, if we believe the reports, where turkey is now being compromised because they disclosed the location in turkey where the c.i.a. command center is going to be according to reports. this damages us across the board and puts lives at risk, american lives at risk. bill: peter king we'll see you when you get an answer from the f.b.i. thank you for your time today. >> thank you. patti ann: cal ripken jr. speaking out about his mother's kidnapping and calling for the public's help in finding the person responsible. she is now safe but the question remains how does the mother of a pwaeubl supersta baseball star get a abducted. bill: most people think that president obama's views are stronger than mitt romney's. what it could mean for the

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now. fire crews struggling to contain a massive blaze burning in north california. about a hundred homes in danger near the shasta forest area. for americans kicking the pabts turning to substitutes like cigars and pipes away from the cigarettes. experts believe that higher taxes and lower taxes on the other tobacco could be the reason. floyd mayweather a free man

after serving two months of a through-month sentence for attacking his girlfriend. doctors say jail has pushed him back as opposed to getting him ready to go back into the ring. and you say jail is supposed to be you stronger. patti ann: i did say that off camera. i said i thought jail was where you got in shape. it was really kind of a joke. bill: we'll see how he does when that time comes. patti ann: a brand-new rasmussen mol shows that voters are more likely to believe governor romney's views are in the mainstream rather than extreme but the opposite is the case about how voters see president obama's views. take a look at this. by a slim margin the new poll finds that 47% of voters see president obama's views as extreme. 44% say they are mainstream. 51% record governor romney's views as mainstream. 37% consider them extreme.

joining us live it independent dent pollster scott rasmussen, the president of rasmussen.com. >> 40% of viewers disapprove of president obama's views since he came to office. most voters are moderate or conservative and that's where they see romney. this tells us about the obama campaign strategy and why they are going negative on governor romney. they would like to see his numbers to go more negative. it's not likely the president will turn around his own perceptions. patti ann: you also ask the question, who is better on foreign policy, who is better at dealing with our allies, and it's pretty much a tie, 44% say romney would be better in foreign policy, 43% say obama. >> that's right. look, on every foreign policy question we ask right now you get it split right down the middle.

you have to keep in mind only 5% of voters consider this the top issue of the campaign. the focus is much more on the economy. but if we ask about the middle east, 41% say their views are closer to romney, 39% say obama. when we ask who does a better job of dealing with our allies or enemies, our numbers are split. this is a refle reflection in the larger partisan dived in the country right now. patti ann: the daily match up comes up with mitt romney ahead 47 to 43% with 5% still not sure. what do you make of that? >> this number is a little better for romney than most of our daily tracking polls, typically easy head by 2 or 3 points. you would have to say he's a slight favorite to win the election in november right now. there is one big warning sign for him, when you look at swing states president obama is doing a little better than you would expect from the national numbers in the swing states. i think the reason is he's done a lot of advertising in those states, it may have prevented his numbers from declining and we know now they have just

placed a $77 million ad buy in eight key swing states, that is where the white house victor will be decided. patti ann: thank you so much. bill: those numbers say a lot, don't they? patti ann: they do. bill: thousands of gay activists and supporters protesting chick-fil-a and exercising their right to free speech. here is governor mike huckabee. >> they believe that will encourage people to be more sympathetic, the more power to them. in america i think people have a right that do things that i might not agree with. bill: should the ceo of the company have the right to free speech? our panel debates that in a moment when we come back.

bill: the chick-fil-a controversy is not over, still simmering. thousands of gay activists plan to protest the fast food chain after the ceo spoke out in favor

of traditional marriage. it was chick-fil-a day at 1600 locations where they said it was a record-setting day. governor mike huckabee has taken a large stake on this issue. he says each side has the right to free speech. >> i think people, as long as they are orderly and don't disrupt the flow of customers and traffic, if they believe that will help their cause to put people of the same-sex kissing each other in a public place, in front of families, if they believe that will encourage people to be more sympathetic more power to them. in america i think people have a right to do things that i might not agree with. >> our panel is here. good morning to both of you. >> great to be here. bill: does everybody have a right to free speech or should others be muslim elz? what d muslimmussled. >> i love my free speech, i love

my chick-fil-a and i love my gays. this is a free speech issue that should go away. >> i think you're going to have free speech on both sides. everybody is out there saying what they want to say, this has marked a great deabout it over marriage equity. hopefully what we'll see is a little bit more clear understanding of what these issues are and what they mean. these are can kathy's remarks. >> i think we are even sraoeutininviting god's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say we know better than you what constitutes a marriage. i pray god's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we would have the ahh today's tee to try to redefine what marriage is all about. bill: they are closed on sunday, oftentimes they support traditional causes. it's a private company.

does he have a right? >> i don't think anybody should be surprised by this. chick-fil-a sometimes place religious music inside it, they are closed on sunday, they are a traditional organization. they are a private business, a private business is allowed to believe what they want to believe. this is something we've seen happen during the course of the past few months, a debate about religious freedom, our right to have free speech, we have a mayor in new york city that is telling us what we need to be eating. this comes back to a bigger government, people questioning what we are doing and over reach. >> i have no love for waffle fries here. the bottom line is this. there is a reason why most corporate ceo's stay away from social issue politics because things like this happen, people get all up in arms, people feel kag passionately about this i issue, they feel more passionate about this and taxes that affect their bottom line.

bill: you have a problem with the protest today? >> everybody has a right to protest, it's their right to free speech. nobody wants to deprive themselves of that chicken bisquet. >> here is the phaeufr oakland. the closes chick-fil-a is 40 miles away, i strongly recommend they try not to come any closer. >> i would think they are going to avoid san francisco. do you think they are going to be down there at the chick-fil chick-fil-a. >> you have rahm emanuel, all the mayor, did you find their remarks offensive. >> i think the mayors are trying to be bullies. >> they can't insert themselves governmental lee and say you can't come here, we're going to

block you from something you said. there is no evidence of that in in case right now. what they say they can say. they are going to pander to their constituents like any other politician. as for the kissing if governor huckabee is okay with the kissing why should i argue with him. >> right on. thanks. nice to see you guys. enjoy your chicken. patti ann: we have good news for the housing market and those looking to sell. new numbers show home prices have jumped in all 20 metro areas of the country. according to standard & poors case-schiller index prices climbed 2.2% for the second straight month in may. william la jeunesse is live in los angeles. does this mean the housing market may have finally bottomed out? >> despite the slow recovery of today's job numbers there are indicators that tell us the housing market is on the rebound. prices in 20 of our largest cities are up 2.2% in pay, while prices in 12 of those 20 markets are higher than a year ago

suggesting that the upturn is not a fluke in and the collapse of 07 is over. phoenix, homes were cut by more than half. prices april to may rose about 3% and 11% over the last 12 months allowing sellers to sell, thousanding the market and pr for buyers like this woman from minnesota to step in. >> to find one on a golf course that was affordable compared to five years ago was to me as throw tphopl i cawas the exact thing that worked out to our benefit. >> it used to take 150 to 350 days to sell a moment. today it's taking 30 to 60 days to sell a home. >> rebound chicago, atlanta up 4%, tampa and miami up 2%. patti ann: patti ann patti ann: for those sitting on the fence is this the time to buy? >> there is no investment without risk. typically you don't have strong

housing when there is high phrouplt. here is what is happening. interest rates are now so low, lore than they've ever been and that's doing two things, forcing investors out of bonds and into rental properties where investors are getting up side capital appreciate kwraeufgs the assets and is fueling individual buyers. it is now cheaper to buy than rent in our one hundred largest cities. >> so the advice would be very simple, stay within your budget, buy that first home that is not necessarily their dream home but well within the budget, and trade up as the economic circumstances improve, and that has been the old-fashioned hard earned american way of building wealth. >> another indicator that we've hit bottom, four of the major housing stocks all showed solid and better than expected earnings. most of them have back logs on homes to be built and also we've

had a big push, however, from investors, from latin america, asia, and the middle east and that is helping us because they see the u.s. market as a bargain. patti ann: william la jeunesse live in l.a. thanks. bill: we just heard from cal ripkin jr., the baseball star, asking people to find the armed man who abducted his mother. >> you know, law enforcement needs your help. the investigation is moving along. if you know anything about the case, if you know anything about the identity of the person in the photos, the sketch, i would encourage all of you to call in and report what you know. bill: so today are police hitting a dead-end in this investigation? we'll talk to a former homicide detective to answer that question in a moment. patti ann: team usa busting through olympic records, wait until you hear how the new dream team demolished the competition in record-setting fashion.

bill: from an epic blowout to record-setting and breaking performances, day six ever the olympics memorable for the american team. men's hoops, the u.s. smashed the all-time record for points scored in a game. it beat nigeria 156-73. if you had nigeria getting 82 points you lost, right? they also set u.s. records for three pointers, field goals and field goal percentage. michael phelps was back in the water the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three straight olympics. this is a great race right there. his 20th medal, 16th gold overall. he has two events left now before he -- he says he's going to retire. patti ann: allegedly retire. bill: we'll see what mom says about that. the girl known as the flying squirrel takes home gold for

gymnastic's biggest price. gabby douglas became the first african-american to win the all around title. hats off to all. well done in london as the games roll on later today. cool. patti ann: exciting. the ironman of baseball is looking for some help from the public. cal ripkin's mother was kidnapped at gunpoint from her home in maryland last week. the 74-year-old was driven around for hours and still found tied up the next day in her car. luckily she is okay, and police have released surveillance video of the suspect. and now the baseball hall-of-famer is pleading for more information. >> i'm thankful and happy that my mom was returned, and the family is so thankful for that. i know that, you know, a crime has been committed and it's being investigated. so the reason i'm standing here reluctantly in front of you is

just to help the process, to help law enforcement get more loads and get an identity of the person that took mom. patti ann: joining us now live is former homicide detective and fox news contributor rod wheeler. hi, rod. >> good morning. patti ann: there is video we saw from the store that they believe is of the suspect and they also have the sketch. what are they basing that on? why do they think that is the guy. >> there are a number of reasons why they think is the guy. the time element is the main roefpblt this abduction too reason. this abduction took place in aberdeen, maryland, and the video is from white marsh. aberdeen and white mash is only about 10 to 15 minutes apart. that's why they honestly believe this is the particular guy they are looking for. patti ann: she was not harmed, she was tied up in the back seat of the car, she was driven around. >> that's right. patti ann: he told her, don't worry i'm going to get you

home. what was the motive? >> you know what, here is the thing, and i think i have this all figured out i believe this guy was a local contractor working in the area of aberdeen, close to where cal's mom hraoeufpltd he could have even previously did some work at cal's mom's home, i don't know i think he was a local contractor and for some reason i think this guy came up with the idea of extortion. i think the plan was to kidnap cal's mom and then call in a call, a phone call to try to get money out of cal. and i think the guy got spooked for some reason or another at some point, and he changed his mind. now one last thing, that a i think is very important, i also believe this guy is probably watching this show right now. i think this guy has been hiding out. he doesn't know what to do. i'm going to appeal to him to turn himself in. right now in he does that it actually would be better for him than the police having to try to find him. patti ann: what would be the charges? >> well, you know what that is an excellent question. extortion i think is what his intent was, but he did in fact

kidnap the woman, so kidnapping obviously is a charge, but extortion is a worse charge than kidnapping, so that's why i say if the guy is watching, now it's better for him to turn himself in. cal ripkin and his family are not out for blood, they just want the guy to come forward, if the guy needs help they'll get him some help, but i think the guy is a local guy right up there in aberdeen and i think he just really needs to turn himself in, patti. patti ann: we have evidence the police said earlier today from the vehicle, they've got a few tips from the billboards that they have up, but generally n many clues they say. why so few clues in this case? >> you know why, i can tell you why so few clues. i think this guy did this crime on his own. i don't think he did it in cahoots with anybody else. i don't think it was a major conspiracy, i think he did it on his own. if anybody recognizes this guy, it's going to be somebody that has had a contract tpher their homcontractor in their home before and they are going to recognize them.

those are the folks that should call the police if they believe this guy is the person. the other evidence they got out of that car was probably dna evidence. once they get somebody that they can match the dna to then they are going to do that. because if this guy was a career criminal his dna would already be in the system and they would know who this is. i don't think he is a career criminal, i think it's a local guy that came up with the bright idea to extort money out of cal and his family. patti ann: kind of a crime of opportunity, wait a minute, this is cal ripkin's mom, what can we do with this. he obviously then felt compassion, felt some kind of regret if your theory holds out. >> i don't think he was ever planning on harming cal's phorpblgs mom, i really don't. i believe he was trying to get the money, that's what i believe. patti ann: you're going with that theory entirely and not the theory that maybe she was a random victim, that he saw an elderly woman and thought -- >> yeah i don't think she's a

random sreufplt the reaso victim. this was a premeditated event. this guy was waiting outside her house. he knew the woman had to come out of the garage, when the garage door opened up that's when he rushed her and kidnapped her. this was a planned thing. this guy probably had been thinking about it for a few days and he decided that day was going to be the day he decided to do his crime. patti ann: the ripkins say security has been beefed up and they are on the alert. thank you for joining us. bill: a lot coming up on "happening now," jon scott has a preview of that. how are you doing, jon? jon: i'm doing well on this friday, bill. there is a lot coming up, including that mixed report on jobs. more jobs created than economists expected and yet the unemployment rate goes up. the political implications. we will get into it on "happening now." also a fisherman comes across a bear cub drowning in an ask river. he wants to save the cub, but

momma bear is onshore, she is not happy. we'll show you the video and tell you his story. also, travis mills, one of only three surviving quadruple amputees from iraq and afghanistan he'll join us to update us on his progress. we've been following his story. we'll bring you the latest on that. bill: see you in ten minutes. an entire neighborhood on lockdown, a drug bust where gunfire erupted. >> i continue see him cull the trigger, i knew i had walked in at the sale end of them shooting, and there was smoke everywhere. and they were yelling, get back, get back, get back, get back, it was kind of scary to me, i didn't know what was going on. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people

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the state of maryland now a suspicious package, an investigation underway now. suburban washington d.c., that's columbia, maryland. the picture is dark for the moment. we've been watching this for the past several minutes. law enforcement establishing a perimeter. an a da abandoned suitcase, they are not sure what is inside of it. we were given indication they would blow this up, it hasn't happened yet. unified command has been notified, an abandoned suitcase outside of an interfaith center which has and active daycare center too the concern is understandable there. we are watching the video now. we'll get you back to the live picture in a moment and we'll see whether or not they can figure out what is inside the suitcase. columbia, maryland. patti ann: now fox news is on the job hunt and the search for a paycheck still rough going. the new jobs report out this morning shows the unemployment

rate going up last month to 8.3%, but there is at least one bright stop, the big apple creating technology jobs in a big way. anna quinman is live with that story. >> yes, over a thousand new tech companies popping up in new york in just the last five years. they are building new web sites and mobile apps and the best news is most of them are hiring. that's according to the center for an urban future. the start ups are mainly in manhattan buranching out to brooklyn. the reason hundreds are clustered in small areas is thanks to coworking spaces where dozens of small teams work side-by-side in a single room for as little as $400 per month, they get a work space, wi-fi, and a new york address. the idea, give them a place to hatch ideas and grow until they are big enough to get an office

on their own. >> when we started off it was three of us. we doubled to six in the first couple of months, and we are going to probably add another six in the next three months. so we'll probably double again in that time period. >> it's not just a start up. this year the company quick key moved from san francisco soho to be closed to media and publishing clients and a more diverse client pool. >> in san francisco you're sroeupbd by just technology. here in new york you have media people, artists, scientists, obviously finance. you get to leverage all the industries to create great technology. >> quicky has added eleven employees since moving to new york in february. they do have plans to hire even more. back to you. patti ann: thanks. bill: we'll take you to the white house in matter of moments here. fox news alert where the president will be talking about taxes. we should hear more about that jobs number.

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bill: watching the olympics have you? so has conan o'brien as a matter of fact. >> olympic champion ryan lochte says the best way to pick up a woman is to wink at her. this is article entitled things that only work for ryan lochte [laughing] i tried winking many times. i get pepper sprayed. [laughter] bill: try that one on. there you go from the pool. >> i wonder who he is winking at there. bill: how are you doing? have you been watching the gales? >> they're exciting. i like the women's volleyball. bill: cool. mo