martha: thanks for being here, gregg. see you back here tomorrow. "happening now" gets started right about now. four seconds away. see you tomorrow, everybody. jenna: we start off with this fox news alert. new information on the deadly shooting near texas a&m university. we're awaiting a police press conference in texas where we expect some fresh details. here is now the story stands now. police say at least two people plus the suspected shooter are dead. the alleged gunman reportedly opened fire when he was about to be served an eviction notice yesterday. we'll bring you the latest news. on the left hand part of your screen, police are just beginning to talk. we have brand new chilling cell phone video of the shooting all moments away. first brand new stories and breaking news this hour. jon: hardcore scrutiny of congressman paul ryan in full swing. the voting record of the republican vice-presidential pick shows flexibility when it comes to policy.

how will that play at the polls? a fair and balanced debate ahead. the attorney general held in contempt of congress for not turning over documents connected to the "fast and furious" botched gun-walking case. congress is now suing eric holder. judge napolitano weighs in. the worst outbreak of west nile virus in years. hundreds sickened. more than a dozen deaths in just one state. authorities planning something they haven't done in half a century. we'll tell you what and where. those stories plus breaking news all "happening now." jenna: hi, everybody. so glad to have you with us on this tuesday, i'm jenna lee and we are your election headquarters. the white house race is now in high gear. jon: very high gear. jenna: high gear now? jon: it has been in high gear for a couple of weeks but especially with that vice-presidential pick. jenna: we have a debate heating up across five swings states.

that's what we'll focus on as we get started here. jon: i'm jon scott. governor romney is wrapping up his bus tour in ohio. that key battleground state has 18 electoral votes up for grabs. his running mate paul ryan is courting voters in iowa and nevada. six electoral votes up for grabs there. vice president joe biden is set to campaign in virginia. president obama expected to call on congress to extend tax credits for wind power in iowa. the obama administration's push to regulate new power plants. governor romney also facing some new questions about his plans to keep medicare solvent. as democrats try to move the conversation away from the economy and jobs and focus instead on congressman ryan's budget plan. >> make no mistake about it. these republicans don't believe in medicare.

they want to turn it into a voucher program and slowly, all the burden will shift to seniors themselves. >> paul ryan has embraced an extremist proposal and goes not only too far but really, according to every independent economist asked, cuts so much that it would risk stalling or slowing or even stalling our recovery. jon: with us now political reporter for "real clear politics", erin mcpike. erin, sorry to butcher your name there. the democrats are saying extremist position on medicare. social darwinism that kind of thing. conveniently ignoring one of their own, oregon ron wyden is a cosponsor of the ryan plan. >> that's right. wyden is working with and worked with paul ryan on the recent proposal. don't forget paul ryan had a budge jet out four years

now. this gone through several iterations. he changed medicare proposal from what he initially proposed in 2009 and 2010. jon: why are democrats so focused on medicare? because it the single issue ryan is so tied to? >> it is but look specifically to the state of florida with its 29 electoral votes, that mitt romney has to win that state if he has any hopes of beating president obama this fall. of course florida has a very heavy population of seniors, many of whom depend on medicare. and the idea that a republican budget proposal could dismantle part of medicare is a very important part of this debate. jon: well, i guess the question is, does it dismantle it? where does the truth lie in terms of what are proposals that ryan has put forward? >> one of the things that you will continue to hear from mitt romney and paul ryan is that medicare as we know it wouldn't exist for people under the age of 55.

so there has to be a discussion about the future of it anyway. jon: wouldn't exist, meaning it is going bankrupt? >> that's correct. and they would, it would then force a discussion on the future of medicare in any case. what they try to say is that they, under their proposal, they would preserve medicare. and yet they say president obama with obamacare has taken $700 billion out of it. jon: well, and that is the question. i mean president obama hasn't really put forward a plan of his own, has he, to shore up medicare? >> that's right. but what republican strategists will tell you in the past, democrats have had the upper hand on medicare but they believe that throughout the 2010 campaign, they now can defend their own plan. it is hard to say. these questions haven't totally been answered yet but that is why we're going to have a debate over this for the next 80 some odd days. jon: i guess the republicans making a pick of paul ryan, governor romney is gambling that seniors can be taught,

if you will, that the ryan plan doesn't change anything for people who are, say, older than 54 right now, right? >> that's right. and the big thing that i heard from republican strategists yesterday that talked to, and we also heard from jeb bush, the former governor of florida, who has campaigned before on this issue, is that paul ryan is the most articulate republican on this issue and even though he has taken a beating in the past on this, he is the best person to put forward to talk about the future of medicare. jon: when he talks about his own grandmother in florida, he comes across as a pretty sympathetic figure? >> that is exactly right and then again, that's what we'll hear. now another big point that mitt romney is making, is that he is not particularly running on the ryan budget. he his running on his own budget. that begs the question, why did mitt romney pick paul ryan if he will not run exactly on paul ryan's

proposals? jon: if jobs and the economy are really issue number one for voters, has governor romney somehow diluted that focus by picking congressman ryan? >> oh, not at all. in fact it is quite the opposite. he has now by choosing someone who is so focused on the budget, which of course has an effect on the economy and jobs, he is making that issue number one. we'll hear more about policy, i would say from the obama campaign and from the romney campaign with this pick as opposed to more personal attacks that we've been hearing in the past couple of months. jon: erin mcpike from "real clear politics". thanks for coming in. >> thank you. jon: congressman ryan will sit down for his first solo interview as the presumptive republican vice-presidential nominee with fox news senior political analyst brit hume. be sure to catch that tonight, 6:00 eastern on "special report". we're also expecting announcement any moment now that new jersey governor chris christie will deliver the keynote address at the

republican national convention? christie's name was on the short list of potential running mates for governor romney. the outspoken new jersey governor often said publicly he wasn't interested in vice-presidential job. florida senator marco rubio expected to speak at the convention in his home state later this month. reports say he will introduce governor romney. rubio also frequently mentioned as a possible vp pick. jenna: we'll bring you now to texas. some dramatic new video in from deadly shooting near texas a & m university. a neighbor recording the scene on his cell phone just moments before police killed the gunman. take a listen. >> put your hands up where i can see them. hands where i can see him. no one move. do not move!. if you move you are dead!. do not move. do not move. jenna: dramatic video for sure. police say they were serving, this 35-year-old suspect on your screen an eviction

notice when he opened fire, killing a county official and another man. casey stiegel is live in dallas with more on this. casey, first talk about this video. who shot it and what were they doing in the bushes there? >> reporter: well, jenna, it really gives you chills. the guy who shot it actually lived directly next door to the home where this suspect lived. he is an army medic. he is clearly trained in situations like this. and when he heard the gunfire, he grabbed his smartphone and actually started rolling video because he also wanted to lend a helping hand. regal cisneros is his name. after the police officers told him to get down, you can hear them yelling you can hear him offing his first aid services well before paramedics got there. listen to more. >> you got an ambulance here yet? i'm a medic. >> it's coming. >> can i get to him.

>> i got a medic over here if we need help. >> hey, hey. wait until it is clear. >> reporter: now once it was clear he first tried to give cpr to the constable, this man who was shot but he said he did not have a pulse as he lay on the lawn. he moved to the suspect. the suspect by the way was conscious and breathing and talking at the seine. he tells us that he in fact apologized four -- for the shooting jenna. pretty incredible. jenna: we're getting information from the police press conference ongoing right now. casey, as we look at those headlines, what do we know about the other victims? >> reporter: some of that information is coming out from the press conference we're monitoring. even though the gunman was lucid at the scene we know by now he did not make it. he took gunfire from the responding officers and died at an area hospital. 35-year-old thomas caffall. his mother tells the "huffington post" her son had been struggling with his mental health recently.

41-year-old brian bachmann, again had been in law enforcement for 20 plus years. he is the constable who died. friends say that he had just finished a lunch at at barbecue restaurant and he left the restaurant to go serve those eviction papers. the sheriff of that county getting very emotional during an interview yesterday. >> in my first conversations with his wife this afternoon she said he was doing what he wanted to do and i know that was true. >> reporter: a 51-year-old victim, civilian was also killed. several other people were injured, jenna. jenna: our hearts and prayers go out to their families today. casey, thank you. jon: some brand new numbers just out on the auto bailout as the treasury department says it expects to lose more than 25 billion of your taxpayer dollars and it could get worse because the treasury report covered predicted losses through last may.

now back then, gm's stock was at more than $22 a share. it is trading now at a much lower price. doug mckelway is live in washington. the obama administration has been touting the auto bailout in recent campaign appearances, right, doug? >> reporter: that's right, jon. keep in mind many of the auto industry states are also very key swing states. the president again touted the bailout during an appearance at council bluffs, iowa, just yesterday. >> across the board there's a sharp contrast between me and mr. romney. you know when, when the auto industry was on the brink of collapse, more than a million jobs at stake, governor romney said, let detroit go bankrupt. i refused to turn my back on one of the great american industries. [applause] i bet on american workers. i bet on american manufacturing. three years later the american auto industry has

come roaring back. >> reporter: now new figures released by the treasury department shows the obama administration decision to bail out chrysler and gm is costing taxpayers much more than when the president said it would cost. on a friday the treasury department said the bailout would cost taxpayers $25.1 billion. that is up from 21.7 billion in the last quarterly projection. further as part of the bailout, remember 2200 dealerships were forced to shut down. 220 of those dealerships are suing the obama administration on the grounds that the cancellation of their franchise agreements was a violation of their constitutional rights. the romney campaign featured one such dealer in a recent ad that ran in ohio. >> i received a letter from general motors. they were suspending my credit line. but we had 30 some employees that were out of work. my wife and i were the last ones there. like the dream that we worked for and we worked so hard for was gone. >> reporter: look for the romney campaign to hone in

on the rising cost of the auto industry bailout in days to come, jon. jon: doug mckelway live from washington. thank you. jenna: everything is on the table when it comes to this election. auto bailouts and medicare and the record of congressman ryan. the new vice-presidential pick shows flex tablt -- flexibility on the a few hot-button issues. jon: the race to stop raging wildfires. fast-moving flames devouring dozens of homes and threatening hundreds of more. an update on that firefight. jenna: a tough summer as far as fires. jon: so hot. jenna: we have crash tests to show you. why spending more money may not buy you safety. we'll tell you more about that. next. ely. but because of business people like you, things are beginning to get rolling.

and regions is here to help. making it easier with the expertise and service to keep those wheels turning. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going. together. yeah, and i took on all the bigger, tougher ones. but now that mr. clean's got this new select-a-size magic eraser, i mean, he can take on any size job. look how easily he gets things cleaned. it's enough to make you cry. you, specifically. not me. i'm just happy we don't go near rex's mobile home as often. because it's hard to clean or because you're scared of an itty-bitty doggy? [ dog barks ] aah! oh! [ clears throat ] yeah, that was a sneeze. i think i sprayed myself. [ male announcer ] new mr. clean

select-a-size magic eraser. lets you pick the right size for every job.

jon: fox news alert. and the miami-dade fire rescue team is on standby right now at the that

airport you see on your screen, miami-dade international airport. they're awaiting inbound american airlines flight 1549. it has 189 people on board coming in from san juan, puerto rico. all we know that the pilot, the flight crew has told investigators they have a level 2 alert situation going on. a level 2 is a major emergency. it can be something like an engine fire. maybe landing gear that won't properly deploy. something like that is apparently plaguing an inbound american airlines 757. 189 people onboard. miami-dade has crash crews there ready to respond when this plane finally comes in for a landing. but again, we don't know what to expect. perhaps they know more about what specific problems this plane is having but when it touches down we'll certainly take you back there live to miami. 189 people on board this

inbound american airlines 757 that is having some kind of major problems. we'll tell you more when we learn more. jenna: well, from the skies now to the roads. some luxury cars like mercedes and lexus, these are big-time names, they cost you a little bit more money and you may think when you spend more money they're actually saver for you and your family but maybe you should think again on this. turns out some luxury cars performed poorly in a few of these new crash tests. we're getting results. steve centanni in washington with more on this. steve? >> reporter: the results of a newly designed crash test released by insurance institute for highway safety and some pricey mid-sized luxury cars. they call this small overlap frontal crash test. it is designed to see what happens when 25% of the car's front corner on the driver's side collides with a partial barrier while moving 40 miles an hour. it replicates the damage caused if a car hits a tree

or a utility pole. the institute says 10,000 people die in frontal crashes each year and the collision types of you see in the videos here are a major source of the fatalities. here are the winners and losers in the new round of testing. the cars that performed the best, acura tl and volvo s- 60 which had good ratings. inifiti g got acceptable rating. the losers? they got the same poor rating from the institute. mercedes-benz c-class. lexus is 250 and 350. the audi @4 and, lexus, es-350. this is first time a test of this particular type has been used in the u.s. the carmakers have not responded to the tests. mercedes says this is uncommon scenario and we have full confidence in the

protection the c-class. toyota seemed to accept the results telling ap, with this new test the institute has raised the bar again and we'll respond to this challenge as we design new vehicles. by the way all the cars tested were from the 2012 model year, jenna. jenna: interesting. making my husband's 10-year-old pickup truck look better and better. it is a chevy. love that you can interest. steve, thank you. jon: fox news alert, take you back to miami. this appears to be a 757, an american airlines 757. whether this is the plane that was inbound from puerto rico with major problems we were told, we don't yet know. sometimes the wsvn affiliate there may not know in particular which plane it is and they will shoot whatever american airlines flight is coming in. and there are a lot of them in miami. at any rate we've been told to expect that american airlines flight 1549 on its way in from san

juan, puerto rico is having some major problems with 189 people on board. onwe d't know what those problems are. again when we get more information. hopefully that is the plane and hopefully it is on the ground safe. we'll let you know more as soon as we find out hey, i love your cereal there --

it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way, right? lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one.

jon: right now a public health emergency in texas. 18 are dead from west nile virus. health officials are trying to contain a very serious outbreak. rick folbaum has details from our breaking news desk. >> reporter: jon, this is a major problem for people in one of the most populated areas for the state and for the health officials who are trying to keep everybody safe. public health emergencies as you mentioned have been declared. that really just allows local officials to tap into state resources as we look for ways to combat the threat of these mosquitos. this as a 10th person in dallas county alone died as

a result of one of these insects. the mosquitos carry the west nile virus. people in texas have been most at risk of anywhere in the country. 190 cases in dallas county alone. tarrant county reported another west nile death yesterday. >> this is a major outbreak. that's why we're declaring there is a disaster here. we need to make sure do all they can do to protect themselves. >> reporter: in some areas officials are spraying from the air and from the ground. a lot of people say that is not always the best line of defense. so what can people do? here are a few tips. use insect repellants. wear long sleeves and pants from dawn to dusk. don't leave standing water on your property like, flower pots and buckets and kiddie pools outside. install or repair any windows and door screens to keep the mosquitos out. use air-conditioning whenever possible. those most at risk, jon, are younger people, older people and people with compromised

immune systems. state officials say at this pace texas is looking what will probably be the worst west nile year ever. so everyone should take this very seriously. back to you. jon: scary, just an ordinary mosquito bike could lead to death. rick folbaum, thanks. the fast and furious investigation. it has been a month and 1/2 since the house voted to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress. he has still not turned over certain documents the house oversight committee would like to see. now they're suing holder and a federal judge invalidate the president's assertion of a executive privilege. >> executive privilege is a tactic in the final hours as we were voting for contempt. there was never any question they're trying to create this new deliberative privilege. but let's understand something, greta, and i think this is the important thing we all understand, they lied to con congress. they then covered it up for

ten months and that's what they're claiming privilege. jenna: that is congressman issa on the record. judge andrew napolitano. fox legal analyst. will it come down to one judge's decision. >> it will come down to one decision and whoever loses will go to panel of three and go to the supreme court. once the house held eric holder in contempt. it sent him the contempt citation. said cough up the documents. he refused. went to federal prosecutor of the district of columbia i can't, indict him for criminal contempt. he refused to indict his boss. so they filed this lawsuit against eric holder as the attorney general of the united states and in the lawsuit they asked a federal judge to invalidate the invocation of executive privilege and to look at the documents himself in private and decide which ones the house is entitled to receive and which ones should be kept confidential. jenna: you mentioned you

expect this to go as high as the supreme court. in the context of that ask you a little bit about the timeline. when does this first judge have to make a ruling on this? >> after election day. that is probably what's most key here because that will remove the politics from it. however, the complaint intimates if governor romney is elected president, the house of representatives, if it is still stays in control of the republicans will go to the new u.s. attorney for the district of columbia, the one that a president romney would appoint, and they will ask that person to seek the indictment of eric holder. if that is when eric holder will no longer be the attorney general. jenna: not specific to the individual? it is specific to the office of attorney general to happened over these documents? >> yes. meaning these documents could fall into the hands of a republican attorney general in six months, who would presumably share them with republicans in the house of representatives. jenna: why does it take so long? why is it going to take a couple months? why are we waiting until past election day? >> it takes so long because

this has to get in line with other cases assigned to the same judge. the jenna, the real reason it will take so long, there are 75,000 documents many of which are more than one page. a federal district judge will have to sit in a windowless room and look at each one. jenna: come on. judges are not that busy. they have a lot of free times in your hand. not like you're ruling on anything important. >> rawls a america sure. jenna: you're following this bit by bit and step by step. jon? jon: jenna, we'll take you back to miami for this fox news alert. in fact that was the airplane, we saw it live just a couple minutes ago. american airlines flight 1549. it was on its way in from san juan, puerto rico, supposed to land in dallas, texas, apparently a the pilot noted a light on in the cockpit that indicated a mechanical difficulty. i'm guessing a problems with the landing gear. they decided out of abundance of caution, land

in miami, shorten the trip to dallas. the plane came in safely. nothing happened. all 189 people on board are said to be okay. they're going to check this thing out. assuming it all checks out okay, they say they will take off soon and continue the flight to dallas. but there it is, just a couple minutes ago, american airlines flight 1549 touching down safely in miami despite the warnings there was a level two emergency on that flight which generally constitutes a major problem like a hydraulic leak or engine fire, something like that. you can see it there, it touched down beautifully. everybody is okay. so as congressman paul ryan hits the campaign trail today democrats are looking to try to redefine the fiscal conservative as a compromising moderate. the impact of all of this is having on the race for the white house in a fair and balanced debate just ahead. plus, big unions stood to shoulder with democrats in the recall effort to unseat wisconsin governor scott walker. why they might be sitting on

the sidelines in the lead-up to the presidential election coming up at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of energies. that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go.

>> announcer: meet mary. she loves to shop online with her debit card, and so does bill, an identity thief who stole mary's identity, took over her bank accounts and stole her hard-earned money. now meet jack. after 40 years, he finally saved enough to enjoy retirement. angie, the waitress at jack's favorite diner, is also enjoying his retirement. with just a little information, she's opened up a credit line,

draining the equity in jack's home. unfortunately, millions of americans just like you learn all it may take is a little misplaced information to wreak havoc on your life. this is identity theft, and no one helps stop it better than lifelock. see, ordinary credit monitoring services tell you after your identity has been stolen. they may take 30 days to alert you-- too late for jack. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. if mary had lifelock's bank account alerts, she may have been notified in time to help stop it. if jack had lifelock's 24/7 proactive protection, he could have been alerted by phone or e-mail as soon as they noticed an attack on their network, before it was too late. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available, guarding your social security number, your money, your credit, even the equity in your home. while identity theft can't be completely stopped, no one works harder to protect you than lifelock. you even get a $1 million service guarantee.

that's security no one can beat. you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you call lifelock right now and get 60 days of identity theft protection risk free-- that's right, 60 days risk free-- use promo code: notme. order now and get this document shredder to keep sensitive documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 value, free. call the number on your screen. [♪...] jon: fox news alert for you now. fast-moving wildfires are destroying hundreds of homes and threatening dozens more across the central u.s. flames have sent people running for their lives. fire could commanders estimate the fire burned

16,000 acres since monday. firefighter in hide dough has killed on sunday by a falling tree. adam housley will take you to the front lines of this fire coming up. jenna: now we'll turn back to politics. governor romney's new running mate wasting no time taking on unions. paul ryan in his home state of wisconsin reminding voters already about governor walker's big win in a union-led recall election earlier this year. so one of the questions we're asking today, what role will the big labor unions play in this campaign for either party? shannon bream from washington with more on this. shannon? >> reporter: let's talk about the conventions. as the two parties gear up for the big meetsings to. public records show unions contributed $8.5 million to the 2008 democratic convention in denver but this time, many say they're taking a pass. in a july memo to members,

afl-cio president richard trumka wrote this, quote, this year we will not be making monetary contributions to the convention or the host committee. we won't be buying skyboxes, hosting events. in fact, union leaders spent millions to stage their own so-called, shadow convention in philadelphia this weekend. that event was apparently organized in response to the democratic party's announcement that the dnc convention in september would be held in north carolina. that is the least unionized state in the country. charlotte has zero unionized hotels. big labor reportedly isn't happy that the president is scheduled to accept his party's nomination, bank of america stadium built by nonunion labor. in philly the tone sounded less than solidly partisan. >> this election isn't about whether a candidate has a d or an r after his or her name. this isn't about building one political party or hurting another. it's about other vision for

the future. >> reporter: union leaders say, don't read too much into the situation involving charlotte saying that unions simply have less money on hand to donate this year and leaders say they would rather focus their resources on grassroots efforts and plan to make voter registrations the top priority. jenna? jenna: interesting. we'll have to wait and see how that potentially could affect the results. we'll have a few more weeks for that. shannon, thank you. >> reporter: you got it. jon: congressman paul ryan is spending his second day out on the campaign trail solo ever since he became the vice-presidential nominee as top democrats dig into his congressional record. although he is well-known as author of a groundbreaking federal budget blueprint his record over the last 14 years shows flexibility on hot-button issues. his votes in favor of the tarp program, the troubled asset relief program. the bush era medicare prescription drug benefit. and an early version of the auto industry bailout. so the question we're asking, does congressman ryan,'s

record show too much flexibility for the gop base? joining us now, for a fair and balanced debate. debbie dingell, democratic national committee member. matt shapp former white house political director under president george w. bush. matt, all the indications so far the addition of the paul ryan to the ticket really excited republicans. are there some of these votes in his past they simply don't know about? >> well, look, people across this country will learn more about paul ryan. the more they learn the more they're going to like him including conservatives. if you can sit down and have a beer with paul ryan you will learn a lot. he is a really smart guy who understands all the downsides of what the federal government is trying to do. one of the main things you would learn about him he has a core, he has a conscience. he knows what he beliefs. he believes we have to work across the aisle with democrats to do the most important thing on the plate politically for us as a country and that is balance the budget. and you think what weir seeing across the country,

you see in denver today, is that message being received very postively. jon: debbie, he voted no on president obama's stimulus program. he called that bill, a monstrosity. but he also voted yes on some things like the tarp bill that some conservatives, i mean pure conservatives would say, you know, that is the wrong vote. >> well, first of all i think he made the right votes on those. it shows that he, was a pragmatist and that things in washington can't just be voted along pure principles that he would call for. he knows what would have happened had not tarp been not supported and auto bailout would not have been supported. he didn't support his boss on saying let autos go bankrupt. he knows what the mick impact would have been. he didn't support programs that would give billionaires and millionaires a $250,000 cut and increase taxes to the middle class that is straightforward things

people can understand. we all have to reduce the budget. we know the budget has to be reduced but sometimes you have to invest to get the economy going again, to create jobs so that the middle class has jobs. i think that is what president obama is fighting for and you can see that paul ryan has been pragmatic when he has to but is not preachchy what he had to vote. jon: matt, shows difficulty from jumping to a congressional race or a congressional district where you're trying to represent folks in a small geographic area and then apply the same principles to a nationwide race? >> yeah, jon. i don't look at it that way. the way i look at it paul ryan is a listener. he is an intellectual conservative who thinks we have to understand markets in order to pass legislation that can help markets. when it came to tarp and i think he listened to the economist and secretary of the treasury and as a leader he made a tough vote.

i bet there was a ton in the bill he hated wish he had the ability to amend it n the house you don't have that choice. as somebody from wisconsin, you know what he is guilty of? guilty of loving his state and understanding the entrepreneurs battling away in his state and willing to stand up and advocate for them. when he is vice president of the united states he will stand up and advocate for entrepreneurs across america as we compete on the world stage. jon: debbie, should we expect president obama to stand up and say hey this is courageous guy when he voted for tarp? >> i think he did right thing when he voted for tarp and auto bailout. what we'll see, paul ryan is a decent man who believes in civil discussion but what he really put out there and what i like about it, is the choices are stark this fall. are you going to support someone that will gut medicaid, turn it into a voucher program, increase costs to seniors of more than $6,000 a year, ore are you going to give millionaires a tax cut of

$250,000? i like being able to talk about that. i like about the facts. jon: republicans say the president has already gutted medicare with the health care budget. >> that's right. jon: which have to leave it there. >> that's right, jon, matt, debbie, thank you both. >> thank you. jenna: next some incredible new images from you from mars. we'll show you a panoramic look at a martian crater you have never seen before. why is a group of nobel peace prize winners taking on a new reality tv show? we have the details on that straight ahead. this man is about to be the millionth customer. would you mind if i go ahead of you? instead we had someone go ahead of him and wifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't li to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase

if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank mes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. well another great thing about all this walking i've been doing is that it's given me time to reflect on some of life's biggest questions. like, if you could save hundreds on car insurance by making one simple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. well hello, welcome to hotels.com. summer road trip, huh? uhuh yep uch let's find you a room. at hotels.com, you'll always find the perfect hotel. because we only do hotels. wow. i like that. nice no. laugh... awe uch ooh, yeah hmm nice huh

book it! oh boy call me... this summer, we're finding you the perfect place - plus giving you up to $100 at hotels.com

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. jenna: new next hour, the tea party reaction to governor romney's vice president deposition pick and the roll it will now play in the convention. we'll talk a little bit about that. charges of racial profiling at a major us air port. the tsa is now investigating. we're live with that story. critical medical testimony now center stage at the drew

peterson murder trial. what this means for the case against the former cop. our legal roundtable weighs in. >> the muck is so thick even crawling through it is exhausting. explosions are going off. absolute chaos. i looked over at tom and stopping was not an option for him. >> keep going. >> go, go, go. jon: that's from nbc's new show, "stars earn stripes". a group of nobel peace prize winners are protesting the reality tv program. they say producers are glorifying war. more from dennis kneale at the fox business network. dennis? >> reporter: this just in from the department of who asked your opinion? nobel peace prize winner desmond tutu and eight nobel larry rats written a open letter to the nbc network protesting the reality showed that aired last night. they pair actors, and

celebrities with military veterans, run through obstacle courses, jump out of helicopters navy seal style and training them to fire long range weapons. fun stuff. the nobel peace prize winners have a problem with that. their open letter sent even before the show premiered last night, called on nbc to cancel, "stars earn stripes". says in part that program pays homage to no one anywhere and expands on inglorious tradition of glorifying war and armed violence. but nbc and the show's host retired army general and former presidential candidate, wesley clark they aim to honor and salute those who serve. so a couple of interesting points pop up here. first, unclear how nine nobel laureates were so clued in so early to an nbc show before it even premiered. i'm still trying to figure that one out and who put them up to this. second, it is unclear why the nobel peacemakers were not similarly upset by the

new g.i. joe film and battleship the movie which glorify war even more than "stars earn stripes" does. the letter's nine nobel signers don't include one of their own, president obama himself. no word yet on how they view the nobel peace president's practice celebrating his own success in the kill mission that took out usama bin laden. i'm just saying, jon. back to you. jon: sometimes forget he won that prize. >> reporter: yeah. jon: dennis kneale, fox business network. thank you. jenna: we'll turn now to a startling spike in the death of children. what is behind a record number of kids dying after being left inside cars in recent weeks. we'll tell you more about that. also brand new poles on congressman ryan. how folks feel about the new vp pick and the impact he could have on the race for the white house.

jenna: one of the topics we talked a lot about is this record-breaking heat this summer but we've also had some record-breaking tragedies as well. a record number of children dying of heatstroke because they were left inside of a car either on purpose or unintentionally. in fact during the first week of august eight children died. that's why we wanted to talk to kate carr, president of safe kids worldwide. this is group trying to draw more tension to this happening. kate, why is this happening? we all know we shouldn't do this. why is it still happening? >> it happens for three reasons. as you mentioned, parents, or caregivers can forget they have their child in the car as they go about their very stressful and busy day and that happens a lot when routines change. secondly, kids can get into cars on their own. kids love to imitate what adults do. they get into cars and can't get out of on their own.

you may be running aner ran and think i may be in there a minute and leave the car intentionally in a vehicle. jenna: stop there. that is good example unfortunately what happened to one child. their great grandparents went into a store. did a little shopping. we can see how easy that would be. the kid sleeping in the back seat. not too hot out. if we lower the window a little bit they will be fine. we're going to be 10 minutes. why isn't that okay? >> well you never want to leave your child alone in a car, not even for a minute. the temperature inside of a vehicle can heat up 20 degrees in as little as 10 minutes. and if we're starting on a day like we've had recently where temperatures are at 100 above or almost at 100, the inside of that vehicle is going to heat up very, very quickly. children can't tolerate that. their bodies heat up three to five times faster than an adults putting them at great risk. jenna: that is remarkable to think it could go up that much, 20 degrees in 10 minutes. one scenario, in fact

several scenarios during the first week of august when we saw so many deaths, you had a mother in one circumstance forget to drop her baby off at day care. the baby was still in the car. it happened to a father as well. it happened to a couple of parents in the situation. do you have a trick? you think how could that happen? as the schedule changes and you're busy sometimes things can happen, so is there a trick to make sure it doesn't? >> well, what you can do, particularly important if your routine is different, if you're taking the baby instead of your spouse, put something in the back seat that you need at your destination. it could be a purse, briefcase. better yet your cell phone so i won't be distracted by your cell phone and take a call when you're driving. something that you absolutely need to serve as a reminder. and there's a big tip for people who are, who see a child alone. if you see a child alone in a car, call 911. emergency responders are trained to help you. they want you to make that call. jenna: some good tips. we saw eight children died

again in the first week of august. which knew we wanted to talk a little more about this. this is a good reminder for us, kate. thank you so much. >> thank you, jenna, some new concerns about russia after several incidents seem to show growing military aggression on the part of that nation. wait until you hear what happened near american shores that could have put you and your family at risk. plus deadly wildfires threatening hundreds of homes across the west. crews doing everything they can to try to contain the flames. we're live on the front lines coming up. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way, right? lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one.

>> reporter: hi, everybody, rick folbaum in the "happening now" control room. brand new stories coming your way, including a a brand new strategy against a growing epidemic with one in three adults at a serious risk of developing diabetes, doctors trying to turn that tide. we'll tell you what it is. also, have you heard about tsa chatdowns? they're supposed to target airline passengers that are

thought to be most threatening. but is it also leading to racial profiling? some say yes. we'll explore. and the nasa rover curiosity, you won't believe what's being beamed back from mars all the way to earth. we'll show you. we'll have all that and breaking news. the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. jon: and as we kick off this second hour, the race for the white house is kicking into high gear. golf romney's new running mate hitting the trail in some key battleground states. i'm jon scott. jenna: i'm jenna lee, and we're waiting to hear from congressman be paul ryan. he's in colorado, in fact. there just hours after trying to move voters in iowa, so it's been a busy time for mr. ryan. james rosen has been everywhere ryan has been. we expect to see paul ryan soon, james. what else do we expect?

>> reporter: well, jenna and jon, good afternoon. midway through congressman ryan's first week on the gop ticket. we expect that he will here tackle today an issue with which he is not usually instantly associated, energy policy. but colorado here is a leading producer of natural gas in the united states, and the unemployment rate in this state effectively stands tied with the high national average of 8.3%. representative ryan's first two events following his arrival in colorado yesterday were both fundraisers at private homes. the first such events for the vice presidential candidate. in today's remarks, look for ryan to talk about president obama's record on cap and trade, energy production on federal lands, epa regulations and the keystone oil pipeline project. now, in his first solo campaign rally before a boisterous crowd of several thousand at the iowa state fair yesterday, ryan served up some red meat, but he also found time for some discussion of the area that is

ryan's wheelhouse, namely the country's $16 trillion debt. >> what we also need to do? we need to stop spending money we don't have. [cheers and applause] president obama has given us four years of trillion dollar plus deficits. he is making matters worse, and he is spending our children into a diminished future. we don't have to stand for that. we're not going to stand for that. and on november the 6th, we're going to change that. >> reporter: this coming weekend representative ryan heads to central florida to confront directly the fears that some, perhaps many, seniors may have about his plans to reform medicare, fears, of course, eagerly stoked by the democrats. to that end, the romney campaign today released an aides say will get wide play across the country in which they link the issue of medicare to obamacare. >> you pay into medicare for

years. every paycheck. now when you need it, obama has cut $716 billion from medicare. why? to pay for obamacare. so now the money you paid for your guaranteed health care is going to a massive new government program. >> reporter: now, the obama/biden campaign calls that ad dishonest because, they say, obamacare doesn't cut any money from the benefits that medicare recipients receive, it only cuts money from insurance companies. they also point out the ryan budget plan preserves those very cuts, though the romney campaign accuses the obama team of dishonesty for its false claim that the ryan plan would do anything to touch the medicare benefits of people 55 and over which it does not. can you imagine, jon and jenna, the idea that both campaigns think the other is being dishonest? shocking. jenna: that is so strange, james. the sarcasm just is overwhelming at this point. thank you very much. james in colorado following paul ryan. we'll be back to james as news

warrants. in the meantime, we're going to talk a little bit about the tea party. if the romney/ryan ticket wins in november, it'll put a tea party member just a heartbeat away from the oval office. we saw what happened in 2010. matt kibbe is the author of "hostile take over," he's also the president and ceo of freedomworks. so, matt, you know paul ryan relatively well. you met about 20 years ago on capitol hill? >> yeah. we worked together as associates on the house budget committee when john kasich was first getting his start. jenna: you like him personally? >> yes. he's exactly what you see on the stage. he's easy going, he's thoughtful. he's a bit of a wonk, but he's passionate about these issues, and he's been willing to talk about things as a legislator that a lot of politicians haven't been willing to touch. and i think that's why tea partiers and activists, people that care about the size of government, are really attracted

to him. jenna: let's talk a little bit more about that. we understand the tea party's not like the republican party, it's more like a grassroots movement, and you're one of the voices, matt. but how is the romney/ryan ticket resonating now? from one week to a another, how has this changed some that are part of this movement view the republican ticket this time around? >> yeah, i was underestimating the impact that choosing the right vice presidential candidate would have for the romney ticket, but the energy since saturday morning has been quite astounding. and you saw it on the stump. i'm seeing it through our social networks. people are excited about the idea that we're going to have an honest debate between the principles of limited government on the republican ticket -- particularly from paul ryan -- and the big government policies of barack obama. jenna: you know, "the new york times" is taking a look at this today, and this is the way "the new york times" describes tea party lawmakers, calling them stubborn barbarians at the gate that are refusing to compromise on spending taxes, debt or

social policy. that's "the new york times." now paul ryan, matt, has been known to compromise, to talk to folks across the aisle. he voted for the bank bailout, he's been in washington for a long time, so some could call him an insider being that he's been there for so long. so why does the tea party movement, again, identify with someone like paul ryan? >> well, we've definitely had our differences, and certainly freedomworks fought with paul on a number of these votes that you've already mentioned. but it's that principle, it's that willingness to actually tackle the elephant in the room which is $16 trillion in debt, an entitlement system that is not going to be there for our kids and grandkids, and a willingness to actually put a balanced budget on the table, something that harry reid and the democrats have failed to do. that's what attracts paul ryan and tea partiers, that's what connects us. jenna: sounds like you disagree but respect him, and that seems to be a takeaway we've seen over the last couple of days. >> absolutely.

jenna: i'd like to talk to you about the election overall. in 2008 the slogan for the president was hope and change. in 2010 the tea party defined a lot of the conversation as well. and you could almost put the tea party as, i don't know, a slogan or something like that when you think about the 2010 campaign. what do you think 2012 is all about, and when you think about how to define the republican slogan, if you will, you know, what would you say it is? >> you know, i really think that in 2012 the same issues that animated the tea party in 2010, you heard paul ryan just said it. the government is spending too much money it doesn't have. the government is involved in too many things like our health care. these are still the issues that not only animate tea partiers, but the very center of the american electorate. and if you look at states like florida, ohio, wisconsin, pennsylvania, these are all battlegrounds that the tea party won in 2010, probably going to decide who is president and who controls the senate in 2012. jenna: just a real quick

question, matt, you said you're very active on these congressional races, and some suggest that some of these primaries are putting out candidates that won't win in the general election. number one, what do you think about that and, number two, will you now jump more into this general election for the president and become more active for the presidency as well as some of these local races? >> most of the fights for who's going to be the republican candidate are over as of today. so we immediately shift all of our firepower, all of our focus on who is going to control the senate. my sense is that we're not going to have any of these misfires that we had in 2010 in states like delaware because the tea party got very active very early and got behind candidates with the skills and the talents and the principles that will get them elected in november. jenna: that's very interesting, matt. nice to have you with us, we appreciate it. look forward to checking in over the next couple weeks. >> appreciate it. jenna: congressman ryan has a big interview coming up, in just a couple hours. he's going to sit down for his

first solo interview as the presumptive gop vice presidential nominee with brit hume. you can see that tonight, 6:00 eastern time on "special report." you will not want to miss that. jon: can't you imagine how his life has changed. jenna: remarkably, yeah. jon: president obama hitting the campaign trail hard today, kicking off his second straight day of events in the swing state of iowa, set to speak just a few minutes from now at a rally in the small town of oskaloosa. ed henry is there, so the president already has had a steady drum beat of attacks on paul ryan, i guess today he has a new topic of criticism? >> reporter: that's right, jon. hitting the trail and also hitting the republican ticket. today it's about wind energy. you see a lot of windmills dotting the cornfields in iowa, and the president's going to talk about a wind energy tax credit that mitt romney opposes, and the president is going to say that's a sharp difference on energy policy. while we know that mitt romney will be at a coal plant in another battleground state

today, ohio, charging that he believes the president's government regulations are choking off and killing the coal industry. there you see a sharp difference on energy. the president on this trip, bus tour through iowa, also trying the to suggest there's a sharp difference between these two tickets on the issue of relief to hard-hit farmers here because of the worst drought in 50 years. the president charging yesterday that paul ryan and other congressional republicans are holding up drought relief. and he suggested this is a big difference. take a listen. >> now, look, over the weekend my opponent chose as his running mate the ideological leader of the republicans in congress. and i've gotten to know congressman ryan. he's a good man, he's a family man. he's a very articulate spokesperson for governor romney's vision. the problem is, it's the wrong vision for america. >> reporter: now, the problem with that charge, though, is that house republicans have actually passed a drought relief bill about 12 days ago. senate democrats haven't acted

on that. both sides have, obviously, gone home for an august break. so i think the bottom line is the president's just going to keep firing away, as you suggested, at both sides, both the number one and number two on the republican ticket, and can try to suggest that adding paul ryan here suggests that, you know, he's going to be able to tie the republican hit to an unpopular house republican caucus, jon. jon: so this is the president of the united states in the middle of a three-day swing. what's behind the strategy of spending so much time in one state? >> reporter: it's a good away because there's only six electoral votes here, a lot less than some of the other big prizes. bottom line is there's a special place in the president's heart for iowa. this is where it all started for him. he won the caucuses in a surprise on the democratic side, then won the general election by a healthy margin as well. right now he's locked in basically a 50-50 battle with mitt romney, and that's why the president was at the state fair last night trying to show, look, he's going to fight for every electoral vote. if this is a tight race, bottom line is getting to that magic

number of 270 electoral votes. it means fighting for the small states. the president bought a round of bud lights, and it led to a chant of four more beers. i think he wants four more years as well if it means having to buy a few more rounds, i think the president will open o up his wallet. jon: four more beers, that's hard to distinguish between beers and years. ed henry with the president. jenna: i guess you can have both, right? jon: why not? [laughter] jenna: this headline caught our attention. a staggering amount of us here in the united states are prediabetic. did you even know you could be pre-diabetic? the new calls for testing that could prevent us from developing the full-blown disease. also, there's some allegations of racial propiling at major u.s. airports. who tsa agents were allegedly targeting and how they were doing i. when you have diabetes...

your doctor will say get smart about your weight. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have six grams of sugars. with fifteen grams of protein to help manage hunger... look who's getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes.

like the elephant on my chest... he thought he was having a heart attack. she said, "take an aspirin, we need to go to the hospital." i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm very grateful to be alive. aspirin really made a difference.

jenna: right now a look at some economic news making headlines today. well, jon scott, we all shopped a little bit more. jon: oh, that's a good thing. jenna: it wasn't just me, you had to as well. the first improvement in four months, all major categories showing gains. a sign, maybe, that consumers might be willing to start spending again. so that could be a good thing. notice the disclaimers there. what's not so good though? gas prices rising nationwide. the national average surge in the past week to $3.72 according to a government survey. an eight cent jump in a week certainly will effect your bottom line, so we're keeping an eye on that. and also some new fallout from the tough economy. the national birthrate falling to its lowest point in 25 years, and guess what? an annual survey found more couples are putting off having kids until the economy approves. that's something you might not

have thought of. jon: and you've got to buy a lot of stuff for kids, so -- jenna: there you go. >> fewer kids, less stuff to purchase. right now firefighters are racing to prevent two massive wildfires from merging into one, already destroying more than 5,000 acres. they are part of a bigger wildfire threat across several western states. adam houseley is live in california, what's going on where you are, adam? >> reporter: yeah, jon. new numbers from those two fires, the wide fire and the walker fire. 7,000 acres have been burned so far. some homeowners were allowed to go back to their homes this morning, there are still others, though, that are still threatened and not allowed back in. those two fires, firefighters believe they've kept them separate and believe they can do that throughout the course of these fires burning, but it's extremely difficult conditions in california. there's a third major fire burn anything the foothills of the sierra, so fires here and the fire situation is extremely difficult, jon. the fire season has just begun

here and, as we know, we've already seen the fire situation difficult in states like colorado, wyoming, montana and now the western area starting to get it as well. jon: because there are fires burning in other states as well, right? >> reporter: yeah. you know, again, we talked about colorado, wyoming and montana got it earlier on, but now california, again, three fires here, oregon's got a major fire, washington has major fire as well as nevada. we do have one firefighter that was killed in idaho on sunday, a tree fell. what they call those, firefighters call them widow makers. a lot of those trees are still smoldering, and there's no roots. one of those trees came down and, unfortunately, killed a 20-year-old firefighter. another one in oregon had to deploy one of those fire shelters, and basically the flames raced over the top of him. he survived, but the situation in california very difficult. the next couple of months are going to continue to be busy. jon: a lot of firefighters die every year. so sad. thanks very much, adam houseley.

>> reporter: yeah. jenna: the tsa is now investigating claims of racial profiling at boston's logan international airport. at least 30 tsa officers have now come forward against this so-called chatdown program. what is a chatdown program? rick knows. >> reporter: let me explain it to you, jenna. these chatdowns have been in use for a couple of -- rather, the last year in a couple different airports. they're part of the tsa's overall effort to weed out the passengers who are the biggest potential security threats while being a little less intrusive with everybody else. but with according to some tsa officers, as you've mentioned, these chatdowns are leading to racial profiling which is against the law, of course. reports are that middle easterners, hispanics and blacks are much more targeted, much more frequently than other passengers, and now the tsa's inspector general is looking into this. the chatdown as opposed to the patdown program is being used in boston and detroit. passengers are asked simple,

casual questions, and people who come across as being evasive in their answers or who don't make eye contact with the tsa officer are then given a more thorough search, their carry-ons are searched. the agency says its officers follow all the laws. as for this investigation, the tsa says, quote, if any of these claims prove accurate, we will take immediate and decisive action to insure there are consequences to such activity. profiling is not only vim that toition story, it's also an ineffective way to identify someone intent on doing harm. the chatdown program has critics on both sides of the aisle, jenna, from those who are worried about the possibility of profiling to others who are just not convinced that this is the most effective way of fighting terrorism. and one lawmaker in washington has actually called for hearings on the issue, so we'll see whether or not the chatdown programs are here to stay. back to you. jenna: interesting. we'll continue to watch that, rick. thank you. jon: conflicting autopsy results raised some new questions about

how drew peterson's third wife died. we'll break down the key testimony in the former police officer's murder trial in illinois. plus, new polls on how governor romney's new running mate will effect the race for the white house. so how do americans feel about congressman paul ryan? we have some new numbers to share with you. managing my diabetes is part of my life, between taking insulin and testing mylood sugar... is this part of your life? freestyle lite test strips? why, are they any... beep! wow, that hardly needs any blood! yeah... and the unique zipwik tab targets the blood and pulls it in. so easy. freestyle lite needs just a third the blood of onetouch ultra. really? yep, which is great for people who use insulin and test a lot. max and i are gonna run out and get themht rig now. or you can call or click today and get strips and a meter free. test easy.

seems they haven't been moving much lately. but things are starting to turn around because of business people like you. and regions is here to help. with the experience and service to keep things rolling. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going. together.

jon: if you have a full-sized 8 or 9-year-old gmogmc van, you may be getting a recall notice in the mail. gm is recalling about 10,000 full-size savannah gmc vans or chevrolet express vans because the fuel be filler neck can

corode under certain circumstances, especially in states, about 20 states and the district of columbia, where salt and chemicals are used to clear snow from roads. it gets into that fuel filler neck, it can cause corrosion. apparently fuel can spill and, obviously, you've got a fire situation. gm says it will -- it does not know of any fires or injuries that have resulted from the corrosion, but about 10,000 of those to be recalled. gm says it will fix the problem free of charge. jenna: well, now we're going to move back to the drew peterson case. he's back in the courtroom today. the former police officer's murder trial now focusing on critical medical testimony from experts who examined the remains of peterson's third wife. peterson is accused of killi kathleen savio. investigators initially ruled her death an accidental death, there's been multiple stages to this. her body was found in an empty

bathtub, and there was a gash on the back of her head. doug burns, former federal prosecutor is with us, joseph -- joe, it's okay to call you joe, right? >> of course. jenna: criminal defense attorney. nice to have you both. >> thank you. jenna: as we continue to see this case, doug, move from the hair say part where the -- hearsay part where the prosecution was introducing a lot of she told me this to now medical testimony. what is key here for the prosecution? >> they need two things to sort of align absolutely perfectly in order to prevail in this case, and it is possible that this is going to happen. the first thing that they need to align is you have what lawyers call a battle of the experts, one expert, excuse me, says it's an accident, right? and that's the way it was ruled the first time around. they then exhumed the body, now they say it is a homicide, and they have pretty potent experts, including dr. baden, who say it's a homicide. that gets you past step one. step two, obviously, i'm not

being sarcastic is who did it. wait a minute, it's in the house that he has access the -- jenna: and it goes back to the hearsay evidence. >> and then you couple it, yeah, the second alignment is statements like she was afraid, and he said i can kill you and make it look like an accident. they could prevail. jenna: joe, is it enough? >> this is a case, to me, that i'm not making a judgment as to whether or not he's actually innocent or guilty, but to me this case screams not guilty. there's not enough here, there's zero physical evidence. what this judge has allowed in my way of hearsay, to me, is quite disturbing. this is, this is a case that is wrought for on appeal. if there is a conviction, this will come back on appeal with a reversal. jenna: doug, you mentioned the two experts, including dr. baden. what's interesting is the jurors will not hear from the first medical examiner because he died a couple years ago. so they won't get to hear from him his original findings of why

he said this was an accidental death. how big of a blow is this? >> well, they may not hear from him in terms of testimony, but i do believe they'll have his conclusions and his findings before them. but what's interesting, and i've seen this many, many times in trials is that, you know, the defense side always wants to latch onto something that seems appealing, and here it's aha, they ruled it an accident, case closed. but jurors are a lot smarter than that, and can they turn around and say that's fine and well, but now they've taken a closer examination and determined that it's a homicide. but i've heard experts say, real quick and i return it to joseph, is that the first one was in more detail even, so that's a hard argument. jenna: and this'll be interesting to get both of your perspectives, with the shows like csi and law and order, everyone thinks they're an expert because they've seen medical examiners reenacted. so in your opinion, how powerful will this testimony be for the jurors that really want the details of this case, and, you know, some of these medical

examiners are connecting the dots to it being a homicide. >> it's as powerful as the attorneys make it. what we have to put in context here is there's a an origin medical examiner's report where they're investigating and looking, and there's a finding that it's an accident. now, prosecutors are making these new forensic pathologists on the stand that, listen, we're looking to prosecute somebody here. so we're looking for a different cause of death. and is it coincidence, these forensic pathologists are paid by the state? is it coincidence that they'll now say that this is a homicide? i don't think so. jenna: interesting. and one of the questions that remains is what is the evidence that ties drew peterson to the crime scene right now? >> yeah. but the 800-pound gorilla in the room and the trickiest tap dance of all is that the reason they reowned it, because the fourth wife went missing. but, of course, that's not before this jury. jenna: i didn't know you tap danced, doug. >> occasionally. jenna: every lawyer does once in

a while. [laughter] we'll continue to watch this case as we have been. jon? jon: and he wears a white hat and tails. [laughter] what voters think about governor mitt romney's running mate and what congressman paul ryan brings to the ticket. the latest poll numbers to share with you. plus, we'll take you to deadly fighting in syria and new signs that the regime is losing its grip. what does russia have to do with all of this? that's coming up. copd makes it hard to breathe,

but with advair, i'm breathing better.

so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com.

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. @ 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge!

jenna: we have this fox news alert. want to bring you what is "happening now" in iowa. that is the president. he is speaking today to a crowd. he has a couple day bus tour out there. we expect him to talk a little more about alternative energy, specifically wind energy which has been particularly important in the swing state of iowa. that is where paul ryan was yesterday. paul ryan is in colorado. if you're following everybody today, mitt romney is in ohio on all of this. so there's a lot of swing states in play, and you could see there, rob portman is about to introduce mitt romney in ohio. so there will be a quiz on that later. if you would like to follow all of these comments that are happ being live, the campaign trail is heating up. foxnews.com. it is all streaming there. watch those comments live. jon: voters seem to be warming up to mitt romney's choice for a running mate, congressman paul ryan, of wisconsin. "the washington post"

conducting polls immediately before and after saturday's announcement. ryan getting an immediate bump in his favorability rating, jumping from 23 to 38% after the announcement. and if recent election trends are any guide the announcement also might give romney a boost in the polls. let's talk about it with david drucker, associate politics editor for "roll call". the ryan announcement, especially among conservative republicans seems to have boosted mitt romney's fortunes among republicans, david. >> this is one of the hopeful picks from many conservatives or activists they were looking for a signal that romney wasn't just running to win but running to do something. i think this will lend credibility to mitt romney among those in his party particularly because he has been saying things for the past few months that they liked and i think they wanted to see something from him that told them that what he has been saying is what

he is all about, when it comes to conservative governance and the ryan pick does that. jon: it is kind of funny. when you read various media outlets you can read all kinds of things into these polls. "usa today" and gallop took a poll and said, here is how "usa today" wrote it up, americans don't believe mitt romney hit a homerun with a choice of paul ryan as his running mate, with more of the public giving lower marks than higher ones. a lot has to do with the fact that paul ryan was fairly unknown on a national stage before this weekend. >> that's true. in washington, in new york, a lot of people know who the house budget chairman is. most americans have never heard of him. maybe they have heard about this ryan plan but they never met paul ryan and, although it could go any number of ways for the romney campaign, the one thing i can it will you about paul ryan having covered him, while his ideas and his policy agenda is grounded in conservatism and

rather ideological, the way he talks about what he believes in is rather nonpartisan and in a sense, he approaches things rhetorically from a common sense perspective. so, he has an opportunity here to define his candidacy. the romney team has an opportunity to define him in a way that voters might actually find appealing. jon: let's take a look at the a bar graph from "the washington post" and its polling outfit. it shows favorable impressions of paul ryan jumped 15%. he had a 23% favorable rating preannouncement. and then 38% after the announcement of his choice, as vice-presidential nominee. so, you know, pretty good numbers there for ryan. then when you look at favorable ratings by party i.d., this is interesting because it indicates the second set of numbers there on the left, it indicates that among republicans

favorable ratings jumped from 48 to 62%. if mitt romney had a problem and some say he did, had a problem selling himself as a true conservative, to hardcore republicans, david, this choice seems to have helped him a lot? >> yeah, and it gets back to something we were discussing earlier, jon. ironically mitt romney over the course of the summer and in the latter stages of the presidential primary was talking in ways that, at least on its face, many conservatives found appealing. the issue was could they trust romney to govern as a conservative if he won. going with ryan, somebody known for his plans to overoverhaul entitlement programs and tax reform and cutting the budget gives them confidence that romney sim 78 simply is running just to win and do nothing. that choice in that regard

was good. one thing we have to remember with paul ryan, we don't know how the rest of the campaign is going to go. the obama administration and the campaign may be successful defining the medicare plan as something voters don't want and may not be working out but paul s notwon re-election to ruby red, gerrymandered district that republican can win. they vote for people statewide even for president. he created and established a relationship with swing voters and democrats not just republicans. he knows how to talk to voters like that. that could prove to be an asset. jon: the district that elected him last time, voted for president obama, i should say in 2008. david drucker, thank you. >> thanks a lot. jenna: as fighting rages in syria we'll look how a small group of regime loyalists may be working with russia to bypass international sanctions. what is happening with russia these days?

why are they involved so much in iran and syria alike? we'll talk more about that. doctors say one in three americans has a condition called pre-diabetes. next we'll talk about how you can avoid being one of the millions at risk. summer road trip, huh?

as the hotel experts, finding you the perfect place is all we do. this summer, save up to 30%, plus get up to $100 on us. welcome to hotels.com.

jon: a reckless move on a highway in china lands two people in the hospital. take a look at the left of your screen. a driver makes a last-minute dash for the exit abruptly cutting across four lanes of traffic. the suv almost makes it until that fully loaded truck behind it, slams right into the thing. the passengers inside the suv, they suffered minor injuries. no one else was hurt. man, it is a vote for a little more driver education in china, huh? jenna: reminder not to make it too close, right? a string of suspicious activities by russia lately including allegations that moskow is working with syrian officials to sidestep

international sanctions. that is on the cover of "the wall street journal." we have the president of the american foreign policy council. he also consulted with the department of defense and the cia. russia comes up a lot when we talk about syria. comes up a lot when we talk about iran. one of the questions we would like to ask today, and it's a broad one, what is russia up to these days? >> i think it is a very good question because if you look at the syria front, if you look at iran and if you look more broadly at the middle east it is very clear that the russians are carrying out much more aggressive, more assertive and frankly much more unconstructive policy today than they were just a few years ago. the bear is back in a real way in the middle east. russia is trying to balance u.s. power. it is also trying to reemerge as a geopolitical player in its own right in the middle east. a lot of its policies reflexively are policies that don't coincide with american interests. russia is building up its own sphere of influence in the middle east, really at

the experience of the united states. jenna: why now? why is this happening now and it didn't happen a couple years ago as you just mentioned? >> i think russia has been through, russian foreign policy tends to ebb and flow depending on a number of variables but increasing i you see in russia a consolidated government. vladmir putin, although he never left the reins of power has reemerged as the unquestionable public face of russian foreign policy. russia has had a string of successes in foreign policy terms in recent years, including a political victory and military one over georgia in 2008. i think the russian government is increasingly sensing that the disorder in the middle east, it plays to the fact that the countries in the region, elements in the region are looking for external backers. there is change in the middle east and russia is trying to exploit it. jenna: we had someone on our air on friday said one of the consequences of the arab spring ironically could be a

return to cold war politics between the united states and russia which is something we don't think about when we think about the middle east because of the geography of it all. would you agree with that? >> no, i think that is exactly right. but for the russians in particular who see their foreign policy in the middle east as a representation, as a manifestation of their prestige, their position as a great power, the change that has swept over the middle east over the last year-and-a-half has created a tremendous amount of opportunity. opportunity to build bonds to new regimes. opportunities to sell additional arms. opportunity to jockey for position in a way that could dilute the power of the united states. it could increase the kremlin's own prestige. jenna: interesting. up to some mischief if you will, if you can characterize it that way. some people say foreign policy is heavily nuanced. you can't have black and white but i will ask you a question that is pretty black and white, elon, is russia a friend or is russia

an enemy at this point? >> i think it is somewhere between the two but what is clear the russian government is pursuing a policy that is very different from that than being pursued by the white house the white house since taking office in 2009 has staked a lot on this idea of a reset of relations with russia. kinder, gentler reconciliation. increasingly from the way russians are behaving, the way they're treating with american diplomats and interacting with us the reset tends to be mostly one-sided. jenna: i have to run to commercial. how are they being a friend in any way? >> no. i think the they are areas of tactical cooperation. resupplying in afghanistan. counterterrorism initiatives but broader strategically, geopolitically i think russia still sees itself juxtaposed with the united states. jenna: interesting. we'll have you back to talk about how we re-engage with russia at this point. if we're resetting in 2009, what defines 2012 and the years beyond as far as the

relationship. nice to have you as always. thank you. >> thank you. jon: there is a new push to prevent diabetes in patients at high-risk for the disease. what you can do now before it is too late. plus, a brain transplant on mars? what nasa has planned for the rover curiosity and the latest amazing pictures from the red planet to share with you

jenna: news out of nasa today. nasa is apparently tippingering a bit with its mars rover today. nothing is wrong. rick is here. he will tell us a little bit about the process. we might recognize it, rick, from our own home electronics? this is a little different. >> reporter: true, jenna. you ever get a message from the computer you can get new software and update is available?

that is what is going on up in space as the mars rover curiosity as nasa scientists are basically doing a brain transplant. a software upgrade that started over the weekend t should wrap up later on today. as you said, no problem. this is what they plan to do all along. we should find out more during a nasa briefing set to take place within the hour. the agency will give a status update on the curiosity's mission so far which started august the fifth when it landed. the rover is able to send back pretty cool pictures even during the upgrade. look at this 360 degree view of the red planet. this is interactive. if you go online and find this at nasa's website and you decide whether you look left or right or up and down. you can zoom in and out. it is very, very cool. curiosity, the most significant, most expensive attempt to learn more about mars and the potential of life there. the mission's price tag about, $2.5 billion. a lot at stake. people want to see return on

that investment. the mission just getting started. we'll have to wait and see. at this early stage according to the pictures we showed you, so far so good, right? jenna: a good reminder when my computer says would you like to update, you should hit yes. if they're doing it on mars they should do it -- >> make sure from a trusted source. absolutely. jenna: a good tip. rick, thank you. jon: nice to see nasa having some success out there. jenna: sure. jon: they have had a rough go of it. jenna: $2.5 billion. it is worth it, right? jon: hey, some new calls for wider testing to prevent diabetes. medical experts are warning about the importance of detecting symptoms before the full-blown disease hits. according to the national institutes of health, one in three adults have something called pre-diabetes. breaking that down as many as 79 million americans are affected ages 20 and older. here now, dr. martin cary, physician and professor of public health at johns hopkins. pre-diabetes, what does that

mean, doctor? >> that means you will probably turn into someone who has diabetes in the short term. now people don't think of diabetes as a disease that is increasing rapidly but if smoking was the great public health crisis of the last generation, diabetes from obesity is the crisis of this generation. you don't need to be obese. you need to be a little overweight to be prone to type-2 diabetes. jon: is it dangerous? is pre-diabetes, does it come with the same symptoms as the full-blown disease? >> many people with pre-diabetes have no symptoms at all. or they may have early signs of some of the symptoms like blurry vision or feeling thirsty a lot or fatigued or frequent urination. but it is the beginning of a progress to diabetes and jon, 10 or 20 years down the road, diabetes is a serious health condition that results in dialysis, heart attacks, joint replacements, loss of sensation. some say in its late stages it is one the worst diseases

in the entire medical field t have. so it is very serious and one in three, some say, one in four americans is prediabetic. jon: well we can control that, right? the good news it is really just a matter of diet and exercise primarily, huh? >> it is essentially an entirely cureable and preventable disease. and this incidence has been skyrocketing lately as overweight and obesity has been skyrocketing. it follows that parallel. there has is test that has been around actually since the '60s. recently in the last two or three years associations have been endorsing it as a way to screen for pre-diabetes to see if you're one of those, one in four or some say one in three that has this condition. jon: you ask your doctor for that test? is that where you get it? >> absolutely. heem globe lynn a-1-c. what your blood sugar level is last few months, if it is high, 5 1/2 or so, you need

to cut sugars out of the diets and sugary drinks and processed food, based on sugar and processed food. jon: doctor, thank you. >> thank you. jenna: well the cia just now making public a 40-year-old secret. what was in this spy satellite and how did it end up in the bottom of the ocean? a cold war mystery finally solved anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. 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.

jon: cool stuff we were talking about during the break here. we were learning for the first time about a cold war era top secret rescue mission at the very bottom of the ocean. apparently, 40 years ago the cia is declassifying details of what happened here. the hexagon spy satellite program. 972 we're talking about -- 1972, a spy satellite took some pictures and then ejected the film back to earth only to have it sink to the very bottom of the pacific ocean. it launched the most