a big surprise when mark wahlberg stopped by the local fox affiliate. he was promoting "broken city." this is how he explained the city of philadelphia. >> look at this congestion here. we are expecting about 45 minute delays if you're coming eastbound on the 676 ire going to have serious problems. stop yourself and get yourself a hoagie. >> might as well. >> 95 is moving nice both ways. >> now we need you to toss it to jen. >> jen i'll toss it back to you. do it. bill: "broken city" opens on the 18th of january. martha: he's funny. you know i saw "ted" on the plane prince william and his wife the dutchess of came rage attending the unveiling of her first official portrait of which there will be many. the couple got a private viewing

at the national portrait gallery in london. it has a dark background with a smile. but, man, she is prettier than that, don't you think? bill: she said she loved it. martha: she's being polite. they were both being polite. she looks way older than she is. more on that later. bill: we leave you with that. have a great weekend. martha: happening start. martha: "happening now" starts right now. jon: an announcement from jay rockefeller today that he will not run for re-election in 2014. the west virginia democrat saying it is time to haeupbgt hang it up after a long career in the u.s. senate as well as terms of governor in that state. this is a prime pickup activity for republicans. shelly capito announced she would run for the seat whether he was in the race or not. she is considered a prime republican pick up opportunity.

republicans control the senate 2545: it looks like a potential pickup there for republicans. other republicans as well talking about entering the race. jay rockefeller the longtime democratic senator from west virginia is announcing he will retire. that announcement scheduled to officially come any minute now in west virginia. jenna: also this other fox news alert out of colorado now. accused colorado shooter james holmes is back in court today after the judge ruled there is enough evidence to put him on trial. holmes is set to attend his arraignment today in the movie theater massacre. 12 people were murdered in that massacre, dozens more wounded in aurora last year. holmes faces more than 160 charges, including murder, and attempted murder. we are going to keep an eye on the situation in centennial, colorado, bring you the latest as we get it, plus our legal panel weighs in on the case a little later this hour. first we have brand-new stories

and breaking news. jon: gun sales on the rise. the white house working to curbing gun violence as one voice in the debate is getting much stronger. america's future in afghanistan on the agenda at a high-level meet -lg at the white hous meeting at the white house today. president obama and hamid karzai sit down together, these are meeting now in washington. the latest in the trial of a woman who killed her boyfriend, denied she did it and then claimed it was really self-defense. why her lawyers asked for a mistrial. and the judge's decision. all "happening now." also new developments in the major flu outbreak that is gripping much of the country. the centers for disease control now saying 47 states are reporting wide-spread activity. good morning we hope you're not afflicted, i'm jon scott. jenna: i'm jenna lee. the c dc is also saying that the number of cases is decreasing in

some states. maybe a little silver lining there. decreasing numbers is a good thing. but the earlier than usual flu season is taking a toll on millions as new vaccine shortages raise some tkerp concern that those who need it could miss-out on getting it. jonathan serrie is live with more on all of this. >> reporter: we are anticipating a cdc tell louisiana briefing in about half an hour. while 47 states are now reporting wide-spread flu activity cdc officials are expected to balance this with some early indication that in some parts of the country, particularly the south that was hit hard by the flu very early in the season, that there are some early indications that flu activity is actually decreasing in some of these parts of the country. still, concerns over this year's moderate to severe flu season have prompted many patients to seek vaccination within the past couple weeks. listen. >> we are keeping up with the demands, we certainly have seen

a much higher need for it this year versus last year, but we are doing our very best to keep all the clinics with all the age-appropriate flu vaccine dozes available to the population. >> also some perspective to give you on the reporting. cdc gathers data from the various state health departments. there is a one-week lag in the reporting, which is why often the numbers will not match some of the antidotal stories that you're hearing from around the country. again we expect to hear more data from the c dc in this tell louisiana briefing coming up within the hour. jenna: in general, jonathan how effective is the vaccine. we mentioned there are shortages in some parts of the country. what does it look like now? >> reporter: this morning the cdc released some new data on their estimates on this season's vaccine effectiveness. they believe this year's vaccine is 62% effective. in other words, if you get this

year's flu shot the chances are 62% you will not get sick with the flu. that figure is actually within the normal effectiveness range of vaccines from previous flu seasons. listen. >> it's not perfect yet, but we don't want to wait for perfection and get that in the way of doing good now. >> reporter: public health officials say flu vaccination remains the the best way to reduce your chances of getting the flu. jenna: you have your flu shot, jonathan? >> reporter: i got it late in the season. you know i was holding out for it in the building, i missed that day. jenna: i did taofrpblgts i continued to holdout and based on last week's reporting, seeing the numbers i got scared and went out and got my shot last friday. jenna: just check. i know we are separated by a few states but you never know. well that is good news. it's an interesting and ta dole. i know a lot of folks are in between doing it and not doing it and i am one of those.

it's nice for you to share that with us. thank you very much. we'll continue to watch what the cdc says. jon: the virus is not transmit eud by satellite. jenna: that's true. i care about our people, though, jon, i want to make sure everybody is doing so way. jon: that's good. i got my flu shot. jenna: there we go. i'm covered on a couple different sides here. jon: gun sales are surging in states across the country as the white house considers now gun control proposals and as buyers flood trade shows. the growing gun control debate is giving rise to a new generation of gas roots progun groups. carl cameron live in bark ton. the vice president has been meeting with representatives of the nra, the entertainment and video industry more recently. what can you tell us about the outcome? >> reporter: well, jon he met with entertainment industry leaders last night and today he'll meet with the video game industry. there is not a lot of concern about new regulations of any consequence being imposed on their industries or the first amendment on the entertainment side of that. by contrast you talk about the

grassroots battle that is growing overt second amendment and the right to bear arms there is a growing concern in washington on the gun control side that the ban on semi-automatic military-style assault weapons might be really hard to achieve for the obama administration despite mr. biden's task force efforts going on for three days in the summit. dianne feinstein the senator from california has the pweurblgs there may not be enougbill. there may not be enough votes to pass that. the idea that high capacity military ammunition magazines could actually be limited, that seems to have some currency and momentum as does the background checks. but this eupl mass on the actual ban on guns that could really be a problem for the gun control lobby has them finally trying to sort of catch up to the nra which has a huge organizational advantage when it comes to the grassroots battle on both side of this. jon: the grassroots groups, break down their roles for us.

>> reporter: on the left side of this. on the gun control side, there hasn't been a great deal, as a matter of fact. if you look at last year's spending comparing just the national rifle association, never mind dozens of other prosecond amendment groups and compare its donations in the 2012 campaign to awful the collective gun control groups across the country it's kind of astounding. the nra spent about $20 million on the 2012 campaign, just them. $4,000 total from all the gun control advocacy groups around the country. a huge disparity. the white house working with a variety of organizations is trying to get a grass roots momentum going. they are talking to church leaders, cops, unions, teachers, community organizations, mayor, state government officials trying to do all they can to build it. and gabby giffords the former congresswoman from arizona who almost was killed in one of these rampage shooting has established a political action committee with the goal of

raising $20 million to country are the national rifle association. it's probably not going to be anywhere near as fast as the president had wanted. mr. biden will make his proposals next tuesday to the president. they were hoping for a legislative initiative that could be going soon. they said the debt and deficit go first. we won't see this being worked on if at all until spring. jon: yes that is a real window behind him with a real view of the capitol, and yes those windows need to be cleaned once in a whaoeufrpblgts every once in a while we have to clean the house. jon: window washers are doing their work today. jenna: they don't make carl do it? jon: i guess not. maybe he does the inside. carl has a lot of work to do. >> reporter: i have a sqeegie ready. jenna: we are going to stay down in d.c. for this next story. serious new questions about the outgoing epa chief lisa

jackson. congressional republicans are now waiting on a key rorbgts and tha key report, and the results could pose a serious challenge to her success ses or. james rosen is live in d.c. with the latest. >> reporter: as lisa jackson's four-year tenure comes to a close she is dogged by an inspector general investigation and a lawsuit filed pwhaoeu a conservative think tank both of which center around her use of an aeu lee always. alias. richard windsor. environmentalist say that should not detract from her accomplishments apartment the epa. >> these are big pumps to fill. lisa jackson had a very successful tenure as environmental protection agency administrator. she negotiated landmark accords with automakers that are going to double our gas mileage within the next ten years or so. she got some of the soot and mercury out of the air we

breathe. she saved miles and miles of appalachian streams from coal mining. and she was the face of the administration in the gulf of mexico after the bp oil disaster there. >> reporter: epa officials say jackson's use of a private email account with a persona based on a family pet and former relatives isn't unusual. her public account drew almost 2 hill emails and was impractical for her to use. the emails are subject to the freedom of information act. and some 3,000 of them are set to be released on monday pursuant to a request filed by chris horner of the competitive enterprise institute. >> already with three emails that i've found we have lisa jackson's named acting replacement on the correspondence with the false identity. we have at least three lawyers. we are going to find i suggest a very interesting list of correspondents who were going

along with saying nothing about, not a secondary email account but a false identity created for help federal recordkeeping purposes. >> reporter: they say they are cooperating with the ig's investigation. by way of full disclosure as you did that with carl i want to point out that this is not a -- this is not a window, this is a plasma screen and the people that you see in the back here, like this guy, you don't know if you could see him, he was fired like in 2009. jenna: oeuts only 11:12 eastern time and you're exposing all of our secrets. >> reporter: the day is young indeed. jenna: what else is there to tell. >> reporter: plenty, plenty. jenna: keep our viewers watching. all the secrets out there. james rosen, thank you very much for that. we also have this fox news alert out of colorado. this is something really important that we are watching. the rainment of the accused colorado shooter james holmes is delayed until march. we thought that was going to happen, that the defense was going to ask for a delay. but we didn't know exactly what

the timeline would look like on this as well. now we are just hearing from inside the courtroom that it is going to be delayed until march. the prosecution has apparently pulled the victims' families to find out whether or not they wanted the rainment today or wanted to wait. 84 wanted to go ahead today, others wanted to wait. these from our producers inside the courtroom. we'll put that in context for you as we get more information. they said, jon potentially this case could be dragged on for a longtime. one has to wonder what this means for the timeline for justice, whatever justice could be. jon: and for the families of those who were killed and wounded and there are still many terribly wounded people result -lg fro resulting from ta attack. the delay has to be frustrating, even agonizing. a young mother accused of packing a lot more than diapers in her baby's bag. what police found inside that bag during a routine security screening at a philadelphia high school that has her under arrest. nearly two decades after this five-year-old boy was abducted his mother has something to

celebrate, where her son was found, and how police finally tracked him down alive. ♪ [ male announcer ] some day, your life will flash before your eyes. make it worth watcng. introducing the 2013 lexus ls. an entirely new pursuit. of green giant vegetables it's easy to eat like a giant... ♪ and feel like a green giant. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant

jon: right now new information on crime stories we are keeping an eye on. a woman in philadelphia is accused of bringing a loaded gun into a high school. police say they found the weapon inside the diaper bag that 21-year-old mother was carrying. she had gone to the school with her baby to enroll in an evening high school diploma program. oplg statements are he can expecteopening statements are going to begin. a jury trial is underway for a man who attempted to ignite a weapon of mass destruction at a holiday tree lighting ceremony. the defendant is pleading not guilty. and authorities in california are investigating reports that the tina cues eud o teen teen accused of opening fire at taft union high school threatened to kill students last year. the suspect apparently also had

complained about being bullied. a 16-year-old student was critically wounded when police say his classmate opened fire yesterday at that school. jenna: new information on truly an incredible story. an abduction that happened nearly two decades ago, now with the victim alive and well. richard wayne landers jr. was only five years old when he was kidnapped from indiana. he's now 24 and living in minnesota. david lee miller is following this story live from the new york city newsroom. david lee it's so infrequent that we hear about these kidnappings being solved. what do we need to know about this one. >> reporter: in this case, jenna, authorities traced a social security number and a cold trail suddenly turned red-hot. resolving this mystery took almost two decades. authorities say that richard wayne landers jr. was abducted by his paternal grandparents back in skwrufl 1994. they raised him since he was born. the boy's father was never a part of his wife.

his mother who was developmentally disabled wanted him back. on the very day a court gave her custody the grandparents disappeared without a trace from their indiana home. they didn't feel the mother was capable of raising her son. years of searching turned up nothing, but in september everything changed when the boy's stepfather gave the boy a social security card to the indiana state police. that led to the discovery of a man with the same social security number living 567 miles away in long prairie, minnesota. the search was finally over. >> he's got a family out there that's really been grieving nonstop for the last 18 years, and they've not given up hope, they've not given upbringing in any tidbits of information to investigators. we want to be able to close those case files. i can tell i right now that there are a lot of happy law enforcement officials right now. >> reporter: the grandparents who authorities say abducted the boy were located living in minnesota. criminal charges against them were dropped years ago when the

case went cold. jenna. jenna: see if that maybe changes in all of this. what is the reaction so far to finally locating this missing boy who is now a man? >> reporter: for everyone involved this is really bittersweet. the indiana state police sergeant who worked the case says at this point there are no plans in the works for a reunion. in his words a bombshell was just dropped on this young man in the last few days. as for his motherer attorney says she ways thrilled but scared. the son she never knew is 24 years old and he is married now, and although living under an assumed name, he eventually did give authorities the last name landers, and that suggests he might have known his true identity, possibly knew it all along. jenna. jenna: mighting more t might be more to this story. we'll continue to watch it. jon: press hosting afghan president hamid karzai at the white house right now. we'll take a look at the key issues they are discussing. also terrifying moments for

employees at a high-end clothing store in los angeles after armed robbers take 14 people hostage. the latest on this developing story. [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego. prego?! but i've bought ragu for years. [ thinking ] wonder what other questionable choices i've made? i choose date number 2! whooo! [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego.

jon: right now police in southern california on the hunt for at least two armed robbers, on the run after taking 14 people hostage inside a clothing store. harris faulkner is following the story from our breaking news desk. >> reporter: let's catch everybody up first, jon. this was a long ordeal for these 14 people. they were hiding first in the back room. l.a.p.d. got a call, a 911 call that there were armed men inside that nordstorm rack clothing store. that was around 11:00pm local time last night. then around 3:00 in the morning swats teams moved in and this is

all happening now at the howard hughes center near the los angeles international airport. there are movie theaters at that complex and late shows going on. people had to shelter in place first and they they were told to evacuate while police tried to free the hostages inside that nordstorm rack store. now we are learning that some of those hostages were harmed. at least one of them very badly, stabbed, now hospitalized. another was sexually assaulted. we are just now learning details of that. and then everybody else we're told is physically okay, jon, but you can just imagine they are traumatized by all of this. the man hundred as you mentioned for at least two robbers are gone. police in neighboring culver city found the car, what they believed was the get away vehicle. this late detail too, a white suv was seen leaving the scene. we don't know if that was related to any of this. but they are working on it, back to you. jon: keep us updated. jenna: breaking now the president is meeting with afghan

president hamid karzai at the white house as we speak. the two leaders are discussing a range of issues, including the future role for u.s. troops in afghanistan after the war formally ends in 2014. u.s. commanders have proposed keeping anywhere from a few thousand troops to upwards of 20,000 after that date. but the president is reportedly also considering a so-called zero option, leaving no troops. michael hanlon is a senior fellow and foreign policy studies at the brookings insurance taoufplgts he's traveled to afghanistan nine times has met several times with hamid karzai. michael if you you would, because of your experiences specially with president hamid karzai how do you think this conversation is going right now? >> hi, jenna, i like the way you put the war is to formally end in 2014. at least our role formally ends. as you know the war may continue and that gets to the real essence of the meeting today. there is a lot of work to do. there is a question of how nass we drawdown our forces between now and the end of 2014.

as you mentioned, how many forces stay after that. and whether it has to be achieved right away or maybe we can drawdown in 2015, 2016, 2017, a little more gradually which is what i favor so you don't have to necessarily get to the quote unquote permanent or steady state presence right away at the end of next year. there are other questions too. is there a better strategy for peace talks with the taliban? that could actually produce a formal end to the war, our departure really can't. jenna: if you would, michael, because the last time you were in afghanistan i remember reading some of your notes from that trip. you said at that time you said the taliban are not winning now, but that that could change, and so when we're looking at a war and finishing it and who won and who lost if the taliban are negotiated with is that a win for us? is it a win for the american people and our security? >> i think our core security goal is to make sure that the government in afghanistan is in control of its own territory to the point where terrorists

sanctuaries cannot spring up again. that is the core american national security goal. we'd like to be able to also keep an eye on pakistan's western provincess from that area as well and continue some of the operations that as you know we've been conducting from afghanistan to go after terrorists there too. those are our core interests. everything else is in the category of nice to v. unfortunately you can't necessarily go after a terrorist unless you help the afghan government stay on its feet and that means you've got to help them politically, economically, with their own army, and if you're trying to rush out by 2014, by the end of next year, and pull out everybody except, you know, a few seals and delta force commandos the afghans may not have the help they need to hold their own country together and your ultimate goals may not be achievable. that is where there are a lot of issues that wind up getting brought here. one last one is the afghan presidential elections next year. hamid karzai is supposed to step down in about 15 months. i think he will. but there is a big question about who is going to replace

him, how much he will try to influence that process, how legitimate the process will wind up being, whether we get somebody who is as good as he is, better or worse. i think those will be huge questions. the international community has at least some role and support in those elections. i stheu we have to tal think we have to talk about that too. jenna: you brought up important things including pakistan. i'd i'd like to focus on that briefly if we could. we have to think about the geography of pakistan, the safe havens that are in pakistan and how that is truly the problem when we look at terrorist threats to our country. geographically it's tough to reach those regions and we have a lot of headlines that talk about drone attacks there. one other article today suggests that we need troops on the ground and we need bases in afghanistan because we need to get to some of these other areas that will remain a problem, in these tribal areas. how does that kind of figure into this conversation as well? again, coming back to our national security and keeping our country safe, where does

that fit in? >> right. well in theory, jenna, if you just had a few hundred american commandos in maybe three different place necessary afghanistan you could do a lot of what you needed. but how do you sustain those three bases of a few hundred commandos each? you've got to have support for them. you have to keep the afghan army and police strong enough so they can hold their country together and not have it over thrown by the taliban. you've got to give them air support and resupply capability they don't have yet at least for a little while after 2014, maybe not indefinitely. all that leads to requests i think from command tkers in the field for up to 20,000 u.s. traofplts the good news is even if you accept the logic of that, and i do, you don't necessarily need to stay at 20,000 indefinitely. you may need to stay around there in 2015. you start drawing down a little more in 2016. five years from now at least have a few thousand people in afghanistan. i can live with that compared to the alternative. but it's not clear yet if mr. obama and mr. karzai can come up with a deal they both

like in that regard. jenna: sure it's an important reminder that the numbers are flex arblgs estimates, what is fact right now is that we still have troops on the ground very much fighting the war. we can't forget that while this conversation is happening back at home. michael -- >> 66,000 still. jenna: it's a lot. a lot of families affected here. it's great to have you and your expertise as always. always look forward to having you and the program. thank you. >> thank you, jenna. jon: support the troops. major flooding and a a serious winter storm on the move. going to be a rough weekend for wide parts of the country. we'll tell you who is in for the worst of it coming up. also, a judge delays the arraignment of james holmes on murder charges until march after ruling the accused colorado shooter will go on trial. our legal panel weighs in with a look ahead at this case. our legal panel weighs in with a look ahead on this case

jon: fox weather alert on a major winter storm spreading over parts of the country, bringing snow, freezing rain and very strong winds. meteorologist janice dean is keeping tabs on it. she is live in the fox weather center. jd. >> that cold front associated with that western storm will bring more rain to some of the rain totals we saw this time yesterday across louisiana, work its way up toward the ohio valley now. look at some of these rainfall totals. over a foot of rain in parts of louisiana. i want to focus on that because this next storm system coming from the west, or at least the trailing

cold front will bring more rain to already saturated ground. that system across louisiana, pushing up towards the north and east bringing rain, freezing rain as john mentioned, even ice storm warnings to portions of wisconsin and minnesota. then we have our blizzard, potential blizzard across the northern tier of the country with a upper level low spinning across the rockies, bringing winter storm advisories, states under some winter weather advisory across winter warnings across the upper plains and midwest, winds exceed 40 miles per hour, these are ice storm warnings across northern minnesota and freezing rain advisories. so the roads could be coated with ice. it could be next to impossible to travel. i want to show you the future radar as we go further out in time. the storm system moves up northward. trailing cold front bringing more rain to the area that is saturated. could get more snow on the backside for chicago. john scott, we have not seen

an inch of snow in chicago this year, if you can believe it. >> we haven't seen much in new york. >> no. it is out west where the ski slopes are. jon: i would like that but would like a little more snow if you could deliver it. >> it is still wintertime. jon: janice dean, thank you. >> thank you. jenna: we have breaking news from centennial, colorado, where the court is for this case for the aurora movie massacre. there is the live shot there. the judge granting a defense motion to delay the a rainment of james holmes until march after ruling there is enough evidence to put him on trial. holmes faces more than 160 counts of murder and as well as attempted murder in the shooting deaths of 12 people in the shooting in july. we'll tell what the case means with arthur eye dallas, former defense attorney and prosecutor and jason friedman. former prosecutor. arthur, march, we have to wait until march to know if the defense will enter a plea. what is going on here?

>> here is what is happening. this is technically what is called the arraignment on the felony charges. the judge determined there is enough evidence for these 166 counts to go forward. they have to meet a minimal threshold there is enough to go forward. once that happens in any felony case the defendant is entitled to hear about it. so basically the judge says, okay, there is enough evidence to go on murder, murder, murder, 12 times, attempted murder, all these times, how do you plead, guilty or not guilty? 99.9% of the tile you say not guilty. here the judge granted a continuance to march. this is the opportunity for the defense to sit down with the prosecutor, how about we figure out a way to have a nondeath penalty disposition where this guy spends the rest of his life in jail? jenna: why did they put it off to march? why that date is reasonable expectation of a period of time for a plea agreement to come together? they have then the circumstances of this case for so long. >> all the evidence aired in

public and open court and for the defense they have a lot to work out. will they figure out a plea agreement before entering a plea, will they plead not guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity? will they claim he is incompetent to stand trial. jenna: what would you be arguing? >> this is obviously not a who dunn knit case. you're left with the mental case of defendant. only way you can legitimately go it was insanity defense. he did not know right from wrong. jenna: if you didn't get a plea agreement, that is the direction you would go? >> absolutely. >> that works about 10% of the time. when it works people like, oh, he got off. you don't get off. the guy who shot reagan, president reagan, he won on the insanity defense he is still incarcerated. jenna: yes, but he comes up every now and then if he would be able to rejoin society. >> that is 38 years, something like that. jenna: colorado is different though. in some states you have to prove insanity. in colorado you have to prove, on the lawyers to

prove that you're sane. >> once the burden shifts in colorado. if you claim an insanity defense the prosecution has the burden of proof to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he is sane. however with all the evidence we just saw, all the methodical planning, i think very difficult burden for the defense to meet. i think prosecution could meet. jenna: their job as defense attorneys is to get the death penalty off the table, if that is what their client wants. their client could say, hey, i want to be a martyr. kill me in front of everybody. jenna: let me ask you about the victims and families affected by this, how much of a say do they get whether or not -- >> usually a lot. usually prosecutors take the family's thoughts, feelings heavily into consideration. if you have these many victims fall on both side. some families i don't want to hear anymore. i don't know what to know what happened if you lock nim in a closet rest of his life i'm fine. other people do whatever you do to execute. >> the prosecutor reached

out to a lost victim as families to get their opinion whether they wanted this delay or not. jenna: real quick as lawyers, but as people watching this case, is justice going to be done here? is this a system working? >> he is not going anywhere. he is not going anywhere. either he will be spend the rest of his life in a box with very, very little contact with the outside world. or he is going to get a needle and go to sleep. >> a different kind of box. >> yeah. that is good. jenna: some would think that is too good for him. >> i think it is too good for him to get a needle to go to sleep. that is my opinion. jenna: a really tough case. thanks for working through that. a lot happening behind the scenes. we'll continue to watch the case. >> thank you. jenna: john? jon: in some states some senior citizens are losing certain benefits older americans have enjoyed for years. a look at how and why things are changing and why where you live makes a huge difference. plus, new developments in the jodi arias murder trial. we've been covering this. her lawyers asked for a

mistrial. why? we'll have to tell but the judge's ruling coming up. hi. i'm henry winkler.

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♪ jon: well, if you consider yourself a senior citizen pay attention. for decades many seniors have enjoyed special tax treatment in many states but now a lot of those states are looking for cash. they want more revenue and some key tax breaks that seniors get now could be in danger. take a look at this map. it shows states that are now limiting certain deductions for seniors. those states are in yellow. the states in green meantime are enacting more tax breaks for seniors. and as you can see in iowa, well, there is a little bit of both happening right now. let's talk about it with paul gigot, editoral page editor for "the wall street journal" the salad days for seniors are over in some places. why? >> why? because what milton friedman the great economist called

law of the few. easy to give tax breaks when a group is relatively small because it is affordable. but as we baby boomers age and there are a lot more of us, that is where the money is. and of course the politicians are coming after where the money is. that's what you're seeing. jon: but seniors also vote. can't they, you know, undo some of this at the ballot box? >> well, they could. there is no question about it. but on the other hand, you know, there is, there will be that tension. in some states they may end up voting against this sort of thing. but meanwhile the politicians will go where the money is. you will see them limiting certain exemptions. for example. the amount of money some states exempt from income tax. to some degree the amount of money, income you get from the 401(k)s or ira's, which remember have been saving up tax-free over the decades. then when you're 70 1/2 to begin to pay those down. jon: what about social security? there are slightly more than half the states that exempt social security from state

taxes, right? >> from taxes. those benefits are taxable at the federal level. i think you will see more and more of those states stop exempting social security benefits, at least for upper income people. and that will gradually go down. look, a lot of these states, unless you will see economic growth really return fast enough to be able for the states to be able to balance their budgets, they have huge pension obligations. they're paying enormous sums to government employees. the money has to come from somewhere. i'm not endorsing it. i'm saying this is political reality what will happen. jon: there are a lot of people in the mid to late 50s, who lost their jobs during the economic downturn. they will take social security benefits as soon as they can get them because they can't find a job. >> you can take reduced benefits at age 62. a lot of people are doing that, even though their lifespan, remember is increasing. so, but this is, this is the tension we're going to see fiscally, in a lot of these

states. particularly the states that do have very, have he generous public employee pensions. they have to get the money from somewhere. there is lot more of us baby boomers retiring. there is a huge bulge. jon: yeah. >> if we all think, oh, boy, we'll coast into retirement just getting benefits we've got another thing coming. jon: there is no free lunch, right? >> that is the oldest lesson in economics. jon: first rule of economics. paul, thank you. you can catch more of paul this weekend when he hosts the "journal editorial report". that is tomorrow, 2:00 p.m. eastern here on fox news channel. jenna. jenna: new developments in the case of that arizona woman accused of stabbing her boyfriend 27 times and killing him. she claims it was self-defense. the judge is weighing a request to throw out the trial completely. we'll tell you about that. also the marines known and respected worldwide. that always the case. we'll talk to the author of

a new book about how the military crafted the marine corps. some interesting insight straight ahead. for over 60,000 california foster children,

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jon: hard to believe but prior to world war ii the u.s. marine corps had just 50,000 men. despite a well-earned reputation on battlefield was regarded as nothing more than an offshoot of the navy. according to a new book, titled, the "under dogs, the making of the modern marinerps"s fighting force was carefully crafted by marine leaders who enlisted journalists, movie makers as noncommissioned officers. giving them insider look at the corps and creating a compelling story for the civilians back home that

boosted the image of the marine corps. aaron o'connell, the author of that back and assistant professor of history at the u.s. naval academy and member of u.s. naval reserve and a veteran of afghanistan. thanks for coming in to share your thoughts with us. i was actually kind of surprised because i guess i grew up in the era when the marines were considered an elite fighting force. they weren't always that way, huh? >> that is exactly right. an opinion poll taken just before pearl harbor showed that the marines were the least prestigious and least popular service. of course over the last 12 years they have been rated routinely the most popular service. that is not just luck. the marines played an active interventionist role in facilitating that rise. jon: you say marine culture has something to do with it. there is always kind of an us against them feeling in the marine corps. how did that play into the way the reputation has developed? >> yes. that really is the crux of the matter and the reason i

titled the book, underdogs. really the whole book is elaborate proof of dr. sam sewell johnson statement that when a man knows he is will be hanged in the morning it concentrates his mind. as a result of that they had had a great deal of experience knowing what it feels like to think you have only a week to live. as a result, when they came home, they had a great deal of cohesion and loyalty to each other and reacted very nim billy to threats to their institution from the other services and that helped them facilitate their current position. jon: i think of the iconic photograph of the marines raising the flag on iwo jima. probably the most famous photograph that came out of world war ii i would think. did that kind of thing go a long way to cement the marines reputation? >> yes it did. it is the most reproduced photograph in american history. but the thing that is not well-known about that photograph is that it was taken by a civilian. this is really important

because when people talk about the growth of military power in society, they usually focus on the military's role in facilitating its public image. in fact the marines were very successful creating civil military alliances, enlisting congressman, newspaper editors and other business leaders to help the marine corps and help sort of establish their reputation. they created the toys fors to the program. they created something called the devil citizenship project which is fascinating story. all of these things helped them create their reputation. jon: jenna and i have this battle. her husband attended the naval academy, where my son attended west point where i think is the nation's premier service academy. you teach at the naval academy. you want to settle that argument for me? >> i do teach at the naval academy because i have dual loyalties. my grandfather and great-grandfather, my great grandfather taught at west

point and both attended. both were killed in world war ii i have fondness of west point today. jenna: that is best possible answer anyone could have given. aaron, way to go. jon: very good answer. jenna: we'll go back to some wrestling over that one. jon: there you go. the book is called "underdogs", a fascinating read about the history of the marine corps and how it got to its place today. we didn't get to the part your thoughts on the future of marine corps. you think they may have trouble maintaining that kind of position, huh? >> i think they will do just fine in the future. i think the marine corps is in the best position of the four major armed services in the coming era. jon: all right. i mistook something i read. we'll get into that another time. aaron, thanks very much for being with us. >> thank you for having me. jenna: add the book to your reading list. jon: i got it. jenna: that image, we all remember that image coming from world war ii. most reproduced photograph. i didn't know that. there are some serious

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i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. jon: from bad to worse, the centers for disease control say nearly every state in the country are reporting cases of flu. we're live in one hard-hit city. the vice president continues his meetings on gun violence, today talking to video game makers. yesterday's meeting with the nra not going so great, at least from the standpoint of that organization. what the gun rights group is saying now. plus, millions of people use ambien to help them sleep at night, but it's what happens after you wake up that is bringing some big changes to the way that popular drug is disspenced. the doctor is in. it's all new, "happening now."

♪ jon: high noon on the east coast and a severe and sometimes deadly strain of flu is spreading like wildfire across the u.s. welcome to our second hour of "happening now," i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. it's a lot of red. the flu season striking early and hitting early as well. the cdc reporting very high levels of the flu in 47 states, and just for some context, you know, last week at the same time it was 43 states had had that high level, but now we're at 47. the cdc saying the only states really without widespread flu are california, hawaii and mississippi. how do you figure that? i guess maybe it's the luck of the draw there. many schools are taking extra precaution to keep everyone healthy. in ohio there's a special machine that they're using in schools, in classrooms and bathrooms and locker rooms, to disinfect them once a week to try to keep the flu from

spreading. rick leavening that is in pennsylvania at a hospital in allentown. one of the reasons why you're there is because they've set up tents outside the main building to deal with the overflow of flu patients. how is that going? >> reporter: well, jenna, as you said, pennsylvania one of the many states with a widespread flu virus. they have dozens of extra people now walking into the emergency room every day with flu-like symptoms, and today just don't have high school to -- they just don't have room to treat them all. everyone who comes here is evaluated first. if their symptoms are severe, they are treated in the hospital, and those with less severe symptoms are brought out to that mobile surge tent. >> the capacity was overwhelming. not only with patients being seen, but also patients needing a bed to be admitted. so this was an attempt to decrease those who are otherwise healthy, have milder flu symptoms. we can see them, treat them and discharge them effectively and

efficiently from the tent. >> reporter: they don't think it's peaked here yet, by the way. more than 4,000 of the 11,000 cases statewide happened in the last week, 18 of the 22 deaths confirmed were in the last week. the last time they set up this tent for flu, jenna, was many 2009 for the swine flu epidemic. jenna: rick, what about the doctors, you know, the folks that we're depending on treating all these patients? what are they doing to protect themselves and make sure they have enough on staff? >> reporter: well, all of the staff here got the flu vaccination. they also all wear these masks when they're treating patients who have flu symptoms, and they're encouraging everyone to get those flu shots, by the way. they say you should absolutely get that vaccination. they say it's 60% effective this time around. but if your symptoms are mild and typical like fever, cough, fatigue, aches and pains, you probably don't need to go to the hospital. >> if you are sick, please, stay

at home. if you, um, please use proper cough etiquette. washing your hands, covering your cough, these are important things that every person can do. >> reporter: now, the children, the elderly people with pre-existing conditions, these people are more vulnerable. if you have chest pains or shortness of breath or if your symptoms take a significant turn for the worse, definitely see a doctor. jenna: good advice. rick, a big story we're continuing to watch. thank you very much. jon: well, it is meant to be the future of air travel, but today the faa is ordering a comprehensive review of boeing's new 787 dreamliner jets. today the cockpit window cracked in mid flight while over japan. another dreamliner reported an oil leak. on wednesday a 787 flight was canceled after crews found a

glitch in the computer-controlled braking system. and there were two incidents involving japan airlines dreamliners this week. one plane spilled 40 gallons of fuel on the runway, fairly minor incident, obviously. on monday another suffered damage from a battery fire. dan springer is live in seattle. the transportation secretary held a press conference today, does he think it's safe? is. >> reporter: yeah, he does, but you've got to convince the public too. from design all the way through the manufacturing process. it was triggered by a series of electrical problems, the most recent and by far the most serious was a battery fire this week on a 787 that was parked at logan international airport in boston. a lithium ion battery that is used to power the plane when the engines are off apparently overheated. nobody was hurt. it followed three different

electrical problems on dreamliners in december. those issues involved electrical panels and generators. during the review 787s will continue to fly, and officials insisted the public should not worry about the plane's safety. take a listen. >> there's nothing that the data, in the data that we have seen that would suggest this airplane is not safe. as we've talked about, what we want to insure is that what we have is a comprehensive look at the in-service issues that we have seen, and we're going to focus on those and make every effort to address them and to insure that they don't happen again. >> reporter: there are currently 49 dreamliners in service with another 800 ordered. jon? jon: took 'em a long time to get that plane flying. it must be a huge problem for them now that it's having these problems. >> reporter: well, it's a challenge. boeing will have to continue to reassure the public and the airlines that have bought and ordered these planes that they are safe and reliable. analysts say every plane has what they call birthing issues

that get ironed out by tweaking a design or changing some production. but a fire is always a major concern, and the 787 requires a lot more power to be generated onboard than any other plane ever made. so the electrical system is more heavily taxed and critical to the operation. boeing's stock is down slightly today, about 2.5% at last check, but the company as a whole is very profitable. sales are strong, they have $20 billion in cash on hand. but the 787 is a huge investment and may not break even for many years to come. and, of course, if they don't iron out these problems, a lot locker. jon: dan springer, thank you. jenna: the vice president is reaching out today to representatives of the video game industry for ideas on how to reduce gun violence. this is the day after he met with members of the nra. they were not very happy with the outcome or the tone of the meeting, the nra saying the talk was more about attacking the second amendment.

rich edson is with us now for more on all of this. so, rich, for today what is the expectation from these meetings? >> reporter: good afternoon, jenna. we should know the specifics on the recommendations tuesday, that's when vice president joe biden says he will deliver those recommendations on gun violence to president obama's desk. now, whether they include executive orders or something that would have to pass through congress remains to be seen, though, as far as what will be in these recommendations, the vice president did offer a preview. >> there's an emerging set of recommendations not coming from me, but coming from the groups we've met with. and i'm going to focus on the ones that relate primarily to gun ownership and the type of weapons tack be owned. that can be owned. one is there's a surprising -- so far -- a surprising recurrence of suggestions that we have universal background checks. >> reporter: the vice

president met with the national rifle association yesterday. in that statement from the nra saying this task force spent most of its time on proposed restrictions on lawful firearms owners; honest, taxpayering, ard working americanings. this afternoon's meeting include video manufacturers. yesterday were retailers and representatives from the entertainment industry. jenna: not the only important meeting that's happening at the white house today. we know that the president's also meeting with the afghan president, in fact, they're doing that right now. joint news conference, press conference, if you will, coming up in just about an hour. what's the priority of this meeting? >> reporter: oh, this is all about troop levels in afghanistan. the schedule says the president and the president of afghanistan are having lunch right now. that joint press conference expected at 1:15. the nato mission ends in afghanistan next year. as for what kind of legal protections u.s. troops will receive if they remain, how many u.s. troops, what their missions will be, all that needs to be decided by next year, and that conversation continues here at

the white house today. jenna: big stories for us, rich. thank you. jon: right now danger down under on two fronts. crews in australia are battling raging brush fires and record-breaking heat. nearly 100 wildfires are burning there, some of them out of control putting much of the country under a total outdoor fire ban. and making matters worse, the soaring heat. david piper streaming live for us from nearby bangkok, thailand. david? >> reporter: hi, jon, yes. australian firefighters have been thankful over the last couple of days because they've had cool weather, it's given them a chance to get some of those fires out. but as you said, the heat and the wind has returned now, and there's real fears that the situation could get out of control. now, this unprecedented heat wave has already caused out-of-control fires in several parts of the country, five out of the six states havembating ws catastrophic fires because they just can't control them.

worst hit so far has been tasmania, the island state in the south. far east of the state capital engulfed an estimated 50,000 acres of land. nearly a hundred homes were destroyed. now, the latest reports say there's still numerous fires there. thankfully, so far there's been no reports of any loss of life, but fires in australia in the past have been deadly. back in 2009 173 people were killed in victoria, and over 2,000 homes were destroyed. these latest fires have been dead hi to livestock though. in one incident 10,000 sheep perished. now, the fires have also been ripping through parts of gnu south wales -- new south wales. the latest reports say 130 bush fires continue to burn there, and 15 of them remain out of control. fire crews have been using water-bombing planes to try to protect homes, and the record heat wave has forced the

australian bureau of meteorologies to extend its extreme temperature limit to forecast maps to allow for temperatures of above 129 degrees. now, as i said, there has been some respite from the heat over the last couple of days, but as i said, the heat, the heat and the wind is returning now. they're talking about 120 degrees over the weekend. there's real concerns, jon, of more fires breaking out down under. back to you. jon: summertime if australia right now, and it sounds like a hot one. david, thanks. jenna: we just talked a little bit about the meetings that the vice president is having with our very own rich edson down in d.c., but we're going to talk more about the gun debate. it's certainly been getting a lot of air time, plenty of ink, and it's all over the internet. is the media coverage fair and balanced? our news watch panel weighs in on that information. also, the flu outbreak a top story for us. emergency rooms are turning people away, schools closing down. will it get worse before it gets

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jon: flu season's starting early this winter with a strain that tends to make people more sick. right now health officials are forecasting a very busy flu season overall. 47 states reporting widespread activity. the city of boston declaring a public health emergency because of the flu. some schools in oklahoma closing down today to try to stop the illnesses from spreading. they've canceled classes after nearly 25% of the students became sick. let's talk about it with dr. kevin campbell based in raleigh, north carolina. dr. campbell, the flu started earlier this season, as i understand it. is that why we're seeing such a bad, such a bad outbreak? >> absolutely. there's really two reasons we see bad outbreaks. one is the early onset of the flu season, and the second reason is that we have a

particularly virulent or severe strain of flu that we are seeing this year as well. jon: but i heard the cdc saying the vaccine that's out is a pretty good match for the strain that's out. >> fortunately, it is a very good match for the strain that's out this year. it just happens to be that the folks that aren't getting the flu shot that get this disease can be quite severe and have some potentially life threatening complications. jon: there has been so much coverage of it, i understand there are vaccine shortages in some places because people are running out to get the vaccine, but what about where you are? >> so we do have some shortages of the vaccine, but if you go to enough places, they are available. you may not be able to get away with one-stop shopping, but they're out there. we have vaccinated lots and lots of people, and we continue to encourage folks to get vaccinated now. jon: so it's not too late. >> absolutely not. once you receive the vaccine, your immune system can work to

develop antibodies to the virus as quickly as 7-10 days. jon all right. i know that -- well, there are 20 children who have actually been killed nationwide this year by the flu. that seems like an unusually high number, especially because kids generally aren't that susceptible, are they? >> well, what we know is there's two groups of people who are very susceptible to complications of flu. one is the elderly and, two, is children under the age of 5. and the reason for that is their immune systems are not quite as developed under the age 5 as an adult's immune system. and the elderly typically have trouble with the immune system not being as responsive as it once were. jon: i'm curious about one thing, we were looking at the map earlier, and maybe we can put it back up here. yeah. there you have mississippi, california and hawaii as the only states that are not reporting major outbreaks. why is that? i mean, why does one state get hit hard and the neighboring

state not so much? >> sometimes that's difficult to predict. this virus is transmitted potential -- person to person, as we all foe, and often some areas may not be reporting it as accurately as others. folks may not be coming to the doctor, may be treating this at home. it's difficult to predict. i suspect that all states are having cases, maybe not at the same levels that we're seeing in boston and chicago and some of the other metropolitan areas. jon wash the hands and get a flu shot. that's your advice. dr. kevin campbell, thanks for joining us. >> thank you so much. jenna: sounds easy enough. jon: sure. jenna: just got to do it, that's the thing. another big story, headlines about a major change in a sleep aid used by millions of americans. we've heard about ambien's strange side effects over the years, sleep walking and hallucinations, even sleep eating. now a new warning to help avoid another side effect that regulators say could put you in

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♪ jenna: well, a new warning for women taking one of the most widely-used sleep drugs on the market. the fda finding ambien could impair driving the morning after taking it, among other things. the drug is already associated with sleep walking and hallucinations. the fda just found out women metabolize this drug more slowly than men and recommend women with cut their dose in half. dr. marty makary is a professor

at johns hopkins. doctor, some women will hear this and think one of two things, one, i'm going to cut my dose in half right away or, two, this drug has been helping me for years, and i'm not chaiging a thing. you know, what are people supposed to do with tease headlines? what's your recommendation? >> well, taking less, that's good. you know, people are on too many sleep medications. it's addictive, and many people don't need to be on it. there are other reasons why sleep is problematic with people. people don't sleep well because of stress and caffeine, sleep apnea, sometimes the conditions of the room are not ideal. and medicating the problem can worsen some of those issues and, actually, make something like sleep apnea worse, and you wake up more tired. jenna: as a doctor, i know you went through some gruelg medical school, and you probably know what sleep deprivation is like. they're worried about women driving after taking it at night, but if you're sleep

deprived, there's a lot of side effects of that as well. >> absolutely. jenna: so what's worse? >> well, you know, the fda got many reports that people were having car accidents in the morning on ambien, and it turns out some of those levels linger. and this association has made people wonder is the daytime/morning sleepiness contributing to the need for ambien, and it becomes a vicious cycle. that's one of the reasons they're cutting this dose down. jenna: does that surprise you? this drug has been on the market for a long time. women metabolize it slower than men, just a regular person seems like kind of an obvious thing. why do you think it took so long to find this out? >> well, we used to think that one dose would be appropriate for everybody in the world. we now know everybody's different. metabolism is different, certain medications are weight-based, and there is no ideal dose. it's just sort of a dote to effect. so cutting those doses down, i

think, is a good move by the fda. jenna: i know this is focusing mainly on women. should men think about anything related to their dose in this drug? >> absolutely. i would use the same relations for men -- recommendations for men. in general the most common cause of sleeping is sleep apnea, or you take a gas p for -- gasp for air every few minutes or seconds. this makes it worse, it's an airway problem, not a sedation problem. jenna: doctor, thank you as always. nice to have you on the program. jon: right now a judge denying a mistrial motion in the trial of an arizona woman. harris faulkner is following this for us from our new york newsroom. >> reporter: defense attorney for jodi wanted the murder case thrown out because they say testimony by one of the detectives made their client sound especially cruel during the killing. in fact, that detective has admitted he made a grave mistake in his testimony. even so, today the judge said no way to the defense request to

declare a mistrial. jodi is accused of killing her ex-boyfriend and leaving behind an awful scene which police found. i'll skip the worst of the details because of the lunch hour or for many viewers or right now, but police found 30-year-old travis alexander stabbed 27 times and shot in the head much more. prosecutors allege jodi did this because alexander had told her he wanted to date other women. character witnesses so far in this trial, though, have said she was a devoutly religious woman with, timid about sex. why is that important? the prosecution says she seduced alexander and had wild sex with him and was viciously jealous of other women around him. if she's found guilty, she could become the fourth woman on arizona's death row. although just today legal experts are saying she could possibly avoid the death penalty now because of the detective's error in testimony. so no mistrial declared, but

maybe taking the death penalty off the table in those experts' opinions. apparently, though, there were some strong feelings about what might happen to her. we have reported she boldly said in a national television interview that a jury would never convict her of murder. and in that interview she said, mark my words, it won't happen. well, just yesterday jurors watched that interview and saw her words that she would never be found guilty. be we'll follow the case, we'll let you know what happens, jon. jon: that's a wild one. harris, thank you. >> reporter: sure. jenna: another trial we're watching closely or potentially we'll watch because this is the pathway to an official trial. the judge in this case has delayed the rainment of james holmes on murder charges until march after ruling that the accused colorado shooter will go to trial unless they reach some sort of plea agreement in the meantime. we're live at the courthouse with the latest in that case. plus, the school shoot anything newtown, connecticut,

reigniting a national debate about guns. vice president biden preparing to recommend policy changes to the president. has the mainstream media coverage on this issue been fair and? our news watch panel weighs in the next. why let constipation slow you down? try miralax. mirlax worksdifferently than other laxatives. it dws water into your colon to unblock your system naturally. don't wait to fe great. miralax.

. >> the district attorney made a brief statement after court, take a listen. >> i want you to understand and i want to emphasize that despite those findings by this court, the charges in this case that this office has brought remain mere accusations and that the defendant is entitled to that presumption of incense in our

criminal justice process, until such time as he's proven otherwise. >> reporter: our producer in the courtroom who heard the outburst said there was no reaction from james holmes as he was walking out at the time. holmes faces 166 charges of murder and attempted murder. one of the charges is called extreme indifference murder. in order to prove that the judge wrote in his decision that the prosecution must show holmes' conduct demonstrates his lack of care and concern for the value of human life is extreme, and that the circumstances of his actions evidence aggravated recklessness or cold-bloodedness which has come to be known as universal malice. the way the charge list comes to 166, jenna, i wanted to show you this is that holmes is charged twice for each person who was killed or injured inside that theater. our producer made up this list that i want to show you. it has the names, each count, and just a little something of where they were in the theater,

whether they were married and who they were with. i printed this list out, it came to ten pages printed out. only people listed who were injured or killed inside that theater on july 20th, 2012. jenna: some important perspective for us today, thank you. we'll continue to watch this case. jon: vice president joe biden all over the news this week in a push to reduce gun violence. the topic is getting a lot of attention after the deadly shaol shooting i shooting in newtown, connecticut and the theater massacre this summer. has coverage by the news media been fair? piers morgan got into a shouting match with alex jones during a heated debate on the second amountment. gabrielle giffords and her husband retired astronaut mark kelly sitting down with a lot of air time, launching a new group aimed at fighting the gun lobby. the des moines register published an opinion column endorsing the death of gun owners, quote if some people

refuse to give up their guns then prying the guns from their cold, dead hands thing, that works for me. the writer of that piece claims he was being satirical. one website published a list of licensed gun owners in new york city. on top of that the headline called the gun owners an expletive, which was crossed out and replaced with handsome law abiding citizens that own guns. judith miller joins us, and kristen powers joins us. kristen you grew up in alaska, you have some familiarity with guns but you both think there ought to be more control on weapons. do i have that right? kirstin to you first. >> i think there should be a comprehensive approach that looks at all the different aspects of it and most important of all would be mental health issues and how we deal with the mentally ill. one of the issues that i don't think is getting enough

discussion is the fact that we already have 300 million guns that are owned in this country. so the horse has kind of left the barn. because we only have 300-mile people in the country. and the guns are already out there, and so we have to figure out different ways to address this problem, rather than just demonizing people who are legal gun owners. you know, there is nothing wrong with owning a gun. these are not criminals, and people who own guns should not be treated as criminals. jon: yeah, well with full disclosure, judy i've talked with you about this before, i'm one of those people that owns handguns. publishing my name or that kind of thing what does that do to advance gun safety in this country? >> i think it provides fellow americans with a list of people who feel that it is their right to own a weapon, and the second amendment gives them that right, at least as of two years ago, the last interpretation by the supreme court. i think, jon, what i have

trouble with are the allegedly neutral journalists who are actually taking a side in this debate. i think if you're piers morgan or kirstin or me, we are commentators, we are entitled to have a point of view, we make no bones about it. people who pretend to be neutral anchors who then weigh in on one side or the other and don't let the american viewers or readers know that they have a by as, i think that is what bothers me about the coverage so far. jon: the pier morgan thing with alex jones got a lot of coverage, you know, on television and on the internet and so forth. alex jones is a bit out there, and to put him on television as a representative of the average gun owner, kirstin, i think most average gun owners would find that a little bit unfair. >> i think that's the point. you know, is to make it look like if you're a gun owner you're some sort of crazy lunatic when in fact there are a lot of people who own guns, some

people are gun enthusiasts, some people have them for selfprotection. we want people to own them legally, and to go through a process, and a background check, and have a permit and all those things. and i don't think that people like piers morgan are actually open even to that idea. he doesn't seem to respect our constitution. he referred to it as our "little book." i think we do have a constitutional right to bare arms in this country. that doesn't mean it's an unlimited right that can't have restraits put on it. i think it can. jon: the nra, judy said that they had their time with vice president biden, who has been tasked with writing up some of the recommendations that he plans to protect to president obama. they said that essentially the meeting was all about controlling guns and not about controlling, you know, some of the violent images, the movies, the video games, that kind of thing, that might sort of tend to push people to want to use the real thing.

>> right, well the nra clearly is an organization that has a stated agenda. they have opposed most restrictions. they continue to try and gut them cons they are eve once they are approved in law. it's not surprising that they won't like what joe biden had to say. i think there is consensus beginning to grow in this country in the wake of these horrible shootings, column pwaoeurpbgcolumbine, the aurora massacre, and newtown that something needs to be done. that 123,500 gun murders a year, 80 a day, seven of whom involve children is simply unacceptable and that we must do something, and therefore i'm disappointed but not surprised that the nra is choosing not to work with joe biden on this. jon: kirstin, the journal news centered in white plains got a lot of coverage for publishing this list, thin tere active map of gun owners, putting their addresses out there, and so

forth. let's just say that they had done that two weeks before newtown. would that have accomplished anything? >> no. i mean because they are not illegally owned, right? they are not doing anything wrong. would i say i guess if you're somebody who wants to start burglarizing homes you now know which ones don't have guns, so it's probably very helpful in that manner. and also, what about people who have stalkers? what about people who have violent e husbands who feel they need to protect themselves. there are a loot of different reasons that people own guns. like i said you're publishing this like they are criminals, i just don't think that's appropriate. that was the tone of it. it was you're a jerk if you own a gun. and i don't agree with that, and i'm not sure exactly what they were trying to prove by doing that. jon: well some thorny questions yet to be wrestled with. we'll see what happens, what the vice president comes up with in

his recommendations to the president. thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. jon: you can catch more of these great guests and me as we cover the coverage of all the week's big news stories tune into fox news watch, tomorrow, start, 2pm eastern time. jenna: the costa concordia, remember that ship sinking off the coast of italy one year ago this weekend? we'll take a look back at the deadly disaster at sea and why the ship is still submerged. the new and next generation of aircraft, it doubles as a work horse for the military or it can bring lifesaving supplies when disaster strikes. we'll show you more coming up next. [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. ok. [ voice of dennis ] silence. are you in good hands? your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly

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jenna: the unveiling of quite a marvel. the next generation airship that looks a lot like a blimp but can carry tons of cargo or the military or to disaster areas when folks need help. adam house lie joins us live

from our l.a. bureau with more on this. pwhreufpl -p or not a blimp or something completely different. >> reporter: it sure does look like a blimp. one of the viewers says it looked like that pill in chicago in the air. it is an airship that might throwback to the 1930s when the big zeplins were up in the air. it's different. a company in southern california along with nasa and the department of defense funds have created something entirely new all together. inside a southern california hangar built during world wards ii floats a craft that could revolutionize airtrans port. >> it's very single, takes off, lands vertically and goes everywhere with no infrastructure. >> reporter: it's not a pwhrupl -p or a balloon but a next generation aircraft made of aluminum and carbon fiber. it can hold more than 60-tons of cargo has a raining of 3200 miles and doesn't need a

landing strip. >> this vehicle could go there, not have to touchdown, off-load the cargo and go on. with the internal compartment of this vehicle there is no itemizing the load. we can rearrange the load internal to the vehicle while it's moving. >> reporter: this version is called a proof of design, roughly half the size of what the eventual rigid structure will be. dryt 36,000 pounds, but when you add helium to it it means a 218-pound man can push around a 2260-foot airship. funded in part by the department of defense the craft operates at one-third the cost of a traditional cargo plane and with the ability to descend vertically and cruise at 120 miles per hour engineers believe the possibilities are endless. >> from the conversion perspective as much as from the military perspective it's going to fill up the gap that exists right now. >> reporter: there are really three applications for this. when we were in haiti or in japan and there are no landing

strips this could come in and set right down. anything that would be need, supplies, even pick people back up. secondarily it could change cargo in the cargo industry and finally it could be used as kind of like a airship into space, almost like a cruise ship if you will for people to go around the world and see other sights. there are a lot of applications for this and potentially you could see it in the sky around the world in three years. jenna: it's not a ufo. this is a good heads up. >> reporter: and it's not the pill in chicago. jenna: it's really funny looking. it is quite a marvel. jon: i want one, can i get on the order list, adam? >> reporter: well, jon, you could probably fly it. you should contact them. a good sideline job. jon: that would be great. jenna: adam thanks for that great look. appreciate it. jon: the fox news semiblimp. jenna: very cool looking. jon: love it. crazy weather making its way across the country right now, snow causing miles and miles of traffic back ups in one state. we'll show you some of the areas hardest hit, and we'll check in with meteorologist rick weymouth

next.

jon: international stories we're watching right now. massive protests erupt in pakistan. shiites in a city recently hit by violence are refusing to bury their dead. they are demanding the government do more to protect them from a barrage of bombings and shootings. in syria rebels reportedly taking full control of a strategic air base after heavy fighting with government sources. activists say they have seized several helicopters, tanks and multiple rocket launchers. almost a year after the sinking of the coast ta concordia cruise liner off the italian coast the wreckage of the ship is still visible sticking out of the ocean. the crews' captain is accused of manslaughter in the accident that killed 32 people.

lawyers are preparing their arguments for a possible trial. jenna: now to the weather. residents in southern california are really -- not southern california, southern louisiana are cleaning up after a possible tornado strike. families are trying to salvage personal items as power crews work to restore electricity there. just west of in acadia parish they are seeing the worst floods in 20 years. heavy rains are causing three to four feet of flooding and inundating hundreds of homes and businesses. in the meantime getting to california now there are some cold temperatures creating a lot of problems in southern california. the area getting so much snow, snow out in california, that authorities had to close interstate 5, a key highway linking northern and southern california. take a look at that. jon: what else can we expect? rick weymouth is live in the fox news extreme floyd mayweather center. we should be looking for a playing of frogs or location custs or something. >> reporter: maybe, it's

certainly worth keeping an eye out for it after all the stuff that's been happening. heavy rainfall across southern louisiana. some of the totals over a foot of rain falling with this batch of precipitation, and there is more on the way. it will be hef years just a little bit north of louisiana. this is a storm that was yesterday down here across louisiana. you can still see some more rain falling there. this rain will exit parts ever the eastern sea beard. expect to see a cloudy glooming day with light showers moving through. out in the west we have very cold air. you can't see it on the radar picture. when you see this kind of a motion on the radar with storms headed to the south that means very cold air is sink nothing here. with that now the moisture is up across parts of the dakotas and wyoming and areas of colorado. they are seeing the heaviest of the snow. heaviest snow will be around rapid city to the tpar fargo area, a foot of snow falling for these folks. blizzard conditions. very, very windy and it will be icing. the roads will be incredibly slippery. the cold air coming in will change things very quickly for people. you see omaha this afternoon

51. north platte 41. take a look what happens overnight. the temps really plummet and it gets very windy. by tomorrow morning your temps are well below freezing and it's going to feel like well below zero because it will be windy with this incredibly cold temperatures there. big changes in the temperatures over the last 24 hours. a lot of people here about 35 degrees, 30 to 35 degrees below where we were and that makes your air temperatures incredibly cold. the big impact here is the cold temps you see across the west it's only 47 degrees in phoenix right now. tonight you'll be dropping down to 31 testing. it looks like these kind of low temperatures overnight will be with us for problem bleat next five days. it will be very cold for a while for folks out west. they will not be happy about that. jon: that is a long cold snap. rick weymouth thank you. jenna: airline passengers getting unexpected -- well something unexpected on their flight. i don't want to categorize it in anyway. what is that on the wing? on the outside of the plane there? we'll tell you next.

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