have a great easter. >> eric: happy easter, everybody. >> gretchen: log on for our after the show show and another tune from thompson square. bill: morning everybody, on a fox news alert. threats from north korea have gone to another level. that country putting its missiles on alert. north korea's leader warning his rockets at the ready to, quote settle accounts with the u.s. tens of thousands of marching in north korea, turning out for a rally in support of its leaders call to arm. that's where we start. good morning. i'm bill hemmer on a friday. welcome to "america's newsroom." welcome back to alis. alisyn: happy friday, good to be with you, i'm alisyn camerota in for martha maccallum. it is believed north korea is years away from developing nuclear missiles that could strike the united states but that is not a reason to ignore them. bill: new defense secretary

chuck hagel about how he is taking the latest threats out of pongyang seriously. >> you only need to be wrong once and i don't know what president or what chairman or what secretary of defense wants to be wrong once when it comes to nuclear threats. bill: liz about the pran leading our coverage out of washington. what is the latest now as we wake up this morning, elizabeth. >> reporter: new warning from kim jong untaking aim at u.s. and south korea. he will put his rockets on standby, the leader is quote ready to settle accounts on the u.s. post midnight meeting with senior generals. his rocket preparation plantar gets military bases in the u.s., including guam, hawaii as well as south korea. you see the large-scale map in the photograph with trajectory plans. this is one day after the u.s. dropped nuclear capable b-2 bombers with military

drills with south korea. the state department said the decision to send the bombs was part of a normal exercise but officials are not ignoring the provocative threats. >> when a country says the kinds of things that the dprk is saying you have to take it seriously and you have to take steps.sure when we say in response we can and will defend our own nation. >> obviously in our country we're building additional interceptors. i met with general therm man this morn hog handles our u.s. operations and they're prepared for anything that might take place. >> reporter: now many an -- analysts say the regime's missile are not capable of making landfall here in the u.s. military officials are watching closely for any planned at that time attacks on south korea or japan. the country is mindful drills could actually lead to an attack. bill: we referred to this a moment ago, elizabeth. how are the people in north korea reacting now?

>> reporter: they're showing support. hours after the emergency meeting, tens of thousands of north korean as showed up at the main square in pongyang. the protest lasted hour and a half and you could hear them chanting, death to the u.s. imperialists and south korea, let's rip the puppets traders to death. all wearing military uniform, showing support for the very young leader. >> i think they are very provocative actions and belligerent tone, has ratcheted up. the danger. and, and we have to understand that reality. >> reporter: now as you know there are u.n. sanctions barring the count from launching any ballistic missiles. bill: elizabeth. leading the coverage out of washington a reminder what melissa was referring to on the missiles, many believe that north koreans have missile technology that can at the moment reach certain

sectors of the united states, possibly anchorage, alaska, in the north and or san francisco or los angeles. they argue for sure the koreans could hit hawaii or guam possibly in the pacific ocean. advance it one time. we mentioned the b-2 bombers. they took off from a military training exercise from white man airbase in missouri. they flew 6500 miles, dropped inert from and returned home. b-2 bomber is fearsome as a flying force and something pongyang is quite afraid of. they give this machinery a lot of attention. here is your 38th parallel too. it is about a week ago the north cut off communications with south korea. down here in south korea it hits home especially because of the american military presence there. alisyn has a bit more on that now. alisyn: i sure do.

this makes this story bigger than threats and red i can. as bill mentioned we have 30,000 troops stationed in south korea stationed at a number of air force, army and navy bases. north korea wants removal of all u.s. forces in south korea and wants a formal peace treaty to end the korean war instead of armistice that essentially leaves the peninsula into a state of war. bill: so many branches on the tree to follow. it includes a reserve force of 6.3 million soldiers. north korea's army has about 4,000 tanks and its air force has more than 600 combat aircraft. more on this throughout the morning as we get developments. alisyn: mean while back at home here, business owners taking it on the chin here in new york city. the head of the city council reaching a deal with labor unions and activists on a proposed bill that would require businesses with 20 people or more to give

full-time workers five paid sick days starting next year. fox business network's charles payne joins to us explain all of this. again businesses in new york would have to provide five paid sick days. >> right. alisyn: what is up shot of this for businesses? >> there is no up shot for businesses unfortunately. particularly for small businesses. it is one of these things, and by the way, this is something maybe won't go through. mayor bloomberg said he is adamantly against this. in fact, the initial, the initial idea was make it five employees or fewer or more. here's the thing. small businesses are absolutely struggling, not just in new york city but across the country. in new york, of course we have something of a nanny situation. so the rules keep changing. we have new health care laws kicking in. it will be a real tough time. it is already real tough time for small businesses. the fact of the matter we'll be honest about this i own a small business, 90% of my employees take every sick day every day they're allowed off and even when

they're not sick. maybe it is just overarching feeling that, you know, it's an entitlement. they take it. but when you're a small is about, especially one that deals with the public, you deliver food, you pack bags that is a big hit to you and your ability to perform your service. >> yeah. you know, charles, you just referred to the nanny state. lots of people here in new york city joke about mayor bloomberg running something like a nanny state pause he, tried to take away the individual right to drink a big gulp and things like that with sugary treats and sodas but it should be said, and you noted this, he is against this move to give these five paid sick days because he says that it could actually crush new york's very sort of fragile economy right now? >> and he is absolutely right. we do have a very fragile economy. most new job growth comes from small businesses, people who take a shot and start a business or try to expand a business. and, you know, i don't think that a lot of people watching the show really

connect the dots. they may hear a business does a million dollars a year. that is the top line. after you pay for your expenses. after you pay insurance. after you pay employees. after you pay rent. after you pay for all the products and services, off then that means hardly nothing on the bottom line. so we're talking about very thin margins and reality if, you have this many sick days and people simply take them, maybe when things get tough there won't be any jobs for those same people. i don't think anyone understands how fragile it is. it is not a mean-spirited thing, alisyn. the one of the things where the small are businesses simply can to the afford it. alisyn: sure, of course. nobody wants somebody ill to come to work to spread it around. this may be going overboard. unless people think that this is just a new york city story. by the way, similar requirements are already either proposed or in place in portland, oregon, san francisco, seattle and washington. so this is, appears to be a nationwide thing.

>> well it's a nationwide thing because there is overarching narrative going on in this country, corporations, owners, shareholders, they're actually benefiting too much and somehow the profits that they generate should be part of a public domain. we've heard this a lot. we heard it through the election season, local campaigns. elizabeth warren, that kind of stuff no one ever made it on their own. therefore wharf whatever you have at end of the day, what belongs to you, belongs to everyone. spread the wealth. unfortunately these ideas backfire and there will be less wealth and less jobs to spread. alisyn: charles payne, thanks for breaking it down. bill: mayor michael bloomberg was fighting this thing for years and now he may have lost the battle. always interesting to hear. charles payne we bring him on for analysis but as small business owner he knows the issues. alisyn: he has his finger on the pulse. tough issue. we want to hear from you on twitter. bill: banks opening in cyprus for just the second day of normal business since

a last minute european bailout on monday saved the country from bankruptcy at least for now any way but people are allowed to withdraw about $400 a day. the government's preventing people from draining their accounts and causing another banking crisis. and a u.s. court giving argentina until midnight tonight. this is in another part of the world now, to pay back $1.4 billion in a loan the u.s. lent the south american country in a 2002 bailout when its banks were on the verge of collapse as well. this is video from the early 2000s showing riots in the street after the country defaulted on its debts. alisyn: good news to report from south africa. this hour former president nelson mandela set to make ready progress while being treated for a lung infection. the anti-a part thoid -- apartheid leader is in good spirits. president obama is sending

his thoughts and prayers and describing mandela as a hero and inspiration who gave everything for his people. bill: i imagine the whole country is hanging on so see what happens at age 94. alisyn: he is 94 but in good spirits. that is good to know. bill: it is good friday. do you feel good? alisyn: yes i do. bill: we'll go with that. just getting roll, everybody. why the price of gasoline might go even higher and what the government has to do with that decision. alisyn: and a major health alert. thousands of people treated by a dentist now being urged to get tested for hiv and hepatitis. bill: what a story that is, huh? there are new concerns yet again about syria's civil war and that regime's arsenal of chemical weapons.

alisyn: the united nations will be sending inspectors to syria next month to investigate conflicting reports of the alleged use of chemical weapons in the civil war there. today israel said it is ready to defend against any

chemical weapons attack. the u.s. state department urging the syrian regime to cooperate with the u.n. inspectors. >> our understanding from our u.n. contacts is that they intend to try to make their way into syria within the next week. it is incumbent on the assad regime who we would remind initially said they wanted this investigation to allow the group in on the timetable that it want wants, to allow them access to any site in syria they want, to any individual that they want to interview and to be able to pursue their work fully. alisyn: also new secretary of state john kerry will travel to paris next week for talks expected to focus on arming the syrian rebels. bill: meantime there are new concerns the obama administration plans to clean up car emissions could raise your gas prices. the epa program would impose california's pollution standards all across the country. that agency claiming the

increase in gas would likely be less than a penny a gallon. it would add $130 to the price of a new car. an i will oil industry study says the plan would send gas prices up nine cents a gallon. what's the truth? bob cusack, managing editor of "the hill". good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: why would the president want this and support it? >> well, president obama couldn't get climate change through a democratic congress a few years ago. the regulations on climate change are coming. everyone in washington is gearing up for us. people in congress, lobbyists. there could be court challenges, basically couldn't get it done through congress. so he will do it administratively through regulation. bill: environmentalists love this. >> yeah. bill: this is what they believe will reduce smog all over america. >> that's correct. bill: politically though, does it sell? >> i think it will be very difficult and here's why, bill. because there is some democrats from red states, also from oil and gas states, mary landrieu who is up for

re-election in 2014. mark begich from alaska will be outspoken on this. and there will be effort on any climate change regulations that republicans and democrats will team up and try to overturn these regulations. now, it could pass the house, probably not the senate. and obama would veto it, that will put pressure on the white house especially when the economy is so fragile. i think the obama administration is going to approve the keystone project. so they will have to throw something to the environmentalists and this could be it. bill: you think keystone is eventually approved? >> yes. bill: this is a bit of a tit-for-tat? >> yes. environmentalists will not like that. the white house has not signaled exactly where they will go. they're hinting they're going that that direction, saying it wouldn't hurt climate change but on other issues they will have to appease the left and this is, just one of many regulations. bill: i understand the point you're making there. give a little on that, you take a little on that and maybe, you don't make everybody happy. but three years ago we were

arguing cap-and-trade. now that has gone to the wayside. is this like cap-and-trade 2.0, bob? >> no, it is. that is something that democrats wanted to move. nancy pelosi moved it through the house with a very difficult vote. it lost, some democrats lost their seats because of that and obamacare. but it never got through the senate. harry reid did not call for a vote because it couldn't get you there the senate. so now, there is going to be a question of whether, how much power obama has to put out these policies, but through a different way, through epa, instead of through the congress. bill: these gas prices, they have gone up and they have not come down. look what they are paying in california, all across-country for that matter. national gas average of $3.64, for the cheap stuff. apparently there was meeting at white house a week ago. folks all across the industry talk about this. what i'm reading carmakers are okay with this. volkswagen, chrysler, toyota. does that make sense? >> you know, i don't know

what to make of that, bill just because when you get to the white house, obviously that is powerful meeting. just like, on health care, is that industry groups went into the white house and they decided to strike some deals because, well, let's take some deal as opposed to a deal that would could be worse. we don't know what the regulations are out but they're not out yet. we'll see. i find that a little puzzling. bill: bob, thank you. nine cents a gallon will not go over very well. we'll see who is right in the end nice to see you. >> thank you, bill. alisyn: bill, wait until you see this story a filthy dentist's office trigger a health scare. what was found in the office that prompted warnings to thousands of patients. bill: u.s. is testing its military muscle with good reason. the north korea is saying they will target u.s. cities for attack. how credible are the threats today. >> we are flying aircraft and looking at strengthening

missile defenses in the united states against the dprk threat. when a country says the kinds of things that the dprk is saying, you have to take it seriously and you have to take steps to insure that when we say in response, we can and will defend our own nation and we can and will defend our allies, that that is credible. [ alarm clock ringing ] [ female announcer ] if you have rheumatoid arthritis,

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bill: so police are searching for a thief apparently with some expensive tastes. someone broke into a warehouse. took off with 80 bottles of fine wine, more than, worth more than $100,000. investigators say they're not ruling out any suspects in that thing. >> when someone breaks into a place they never know what they're going to get. also the possibility that the police department always looks into is whether or not this place was cased. was it, just a random act

or -- >> inside job? >> inside job. that is something that the police department always looks at. bill: well they left behind some even more expensive cases worth more than $20,000 each. so they wean very good apparently. alisyn: they shouldn't have done that. we have to tell you about this frightening health scare for anyone going to the dentist. 7,000 oklahoma patients being urged to get tested now for hiv and help spits after -- hepatitis after investigators were shocked by a filthy dentist's office. >> it is unacceptable by the cdc that is major, major problem. the instruments we saw when we were out there, we went out and were interviewing one of the assistants and split them up into groups. the one i interviewed with the nurse and the health department, we made her pull out the actual instruments in the autoclave because i had her go through the regular procedures. the instruments that came out of the autoclave were horrible.

i won't let me nephews play in them in the dirt. they were horrible. they had rust on them. alisyn: dr. marc siegel, associate professor of medicine at nyu langone medical center. a member of the fox news medical a-team. you're sighing heavily because you're so grossed out about what you're hearing about this dr. harrington's office. >> this is not for the faint of heart and biggest thing imconcerned about and there were a lot of violations allegedly but inconcerned about the infectious disease rick. rusty instruments. instruments not sterilized. needles being reused. i want people to know the greatest risk is hepatitis-b and hepatitis-c. people say what about hiv? hiv is a less of a risk. you need a tiny bit of contaminant for hepatitis-b or c. countries where they don't screen for it, egypt, 15% of the country have hepatitis-c positive. we have 15.4 million in the united states have hepatitis-c and b and don't know it.

contaminated products is number one cause of spreading hepatitis-c. you could have it for years and not know you have it. alisyn: the way the investigation developed, there was a patient, which don't know if it was a man or woman, who developed, tested positive for hepatitis-c and hiv with know known risk factors. then investigators went back and tried to trace his or her steps. >> hepatitis-b? alisyn: hepatitis-c and tested positive for hepatitis-c according to associated press report and virus that causes aides. the aides one is -- aids one is confusing. we told for years you can't get it at the dentist's office? >> you could technically. 800,000 people every year in the united states get a needle stick from a health care worker, getting a needle stick. 1,000 of those cases are positive for hiv patients. in other words, you get a needle stick from an hiv patient, alisyn, i did as medical intern. four or five times i was

stuck by a needle taking care of hiv patient. alisyn: is that right? >> that's right. only 1 out of 250 get convert. that is not zero. it is way, way higher for hepatitis. the chances of getting hiv this way, very, very low. alisyn: let's talk about is there any way to extrapolate for what we're learning to people going to the dentist this week. do you need to ask your dentist, are you san tase things properly? >> i don't think so. this is more of a story, the headline and are feds and state health officials policing their dentists enough not do you or i have to worry. the chance of this happening close in the dentist's office is close to zero. i think it is really shocking this dentist evade the property authorities for all those years. i wonder what oklahoma is doing? i wonder what state health officials are doing this could happen to this degree. he had the wrong people

administering medications. he had reused medications. he had expired medications and instruments not sterilized. it is a big hepatitis risk. alisyn: we hope state inspectors are on top of these things. dr. mark siegel, thanks for being on top of this. >> thanks, alisyn. bill: so many people involved it makes you shake your head. marking good friday in the holy land. retracing the steps that jesus took on the way to the crucifix. look at the image from jerusalem. we'll take you there live to see it in a moment. alisyn. alisyn: chilling new details about the newtown shooting massacre. what newly-released search warrants revealed about the gunman and his mother. [ male announcer ] this is a reason to look twice. the stunning lexus es. get great values on your favorite lexus models during the command performance sales event. this is theursuit of perfection.

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bill: christians marking good friday in the holy land today and what a place to be on a moment like this, retracing the steps jesus took before his crucifix. conor powell is there live streaming from jerusalem's old city now. conor? >> reporter: bill, so often the middle east is plagued by conflict and violence. was a very different scene in jerusalem as thousands of christians followed in the steps of jesus of nazareth. christian pilgrims filled the cobblestone alleyways of jerusalem's old city, celebrating good friday, the most solemn day in the christian calendar. as they walked they read aloud passages from the bible telling the story of jesus's crucifix. >> it is amazing to see where jesus has been and everything so it is really

beautiful. >> reporter: security was tight around the villa dolorosa where christians believe he walked. there are is stations which in the latin mines the way of sorrow. begins with jesus receiving his cross and ends with his death and resurrection. this easter takes on special meaning for more than one billion roman catholics who recently elected the new pope, francis the first. he has stressed humility and service to the unfortunate. >> what is different about the pope this time he is really involved with poor people and charity work and everything and that will be really important to the work of the catholic church. >> reporter: following the example of jesus in "the last supper", pope francis traveled to a prison to wash feet of young inmates where he stresses the importance of reaching out to those in need. the vatican announced this week that pope francis will join bartholomew i with eastern orthodox trip in a

trip to the holy land later this year. they described the trip as a symbol of christian unity. bill? bill: what a trip that will be. conor powell live in jerusalem. alisyn: there are chilling new details about the sandy hook school mass sure. -- massacre. police releasing search warrants on the final moments of shooter adam lanza. his rampage lasted less than five minutes n that time he fired more than 150 shots. he was wearing bulletproof vest and military-style clothing what police found in his home shed new light on his life and mental state leading up to this tragedy. dr. michael stone, a professor of clinical psychiatry at columbia university of college of physicians and surgeons. thanks for being here. there is a lot to talk about. it was reported around the time, right after the newtown shooting that adam lanza, his brother, reportedly said he had as

berger's syndrome. with the rerelease books about asperger's syndrome were removed from the house. a high functioning form of autism. a lot of people are diagnosed with aspergers. we don't want to scare families but could there be any connection in your mind? >> let's put it this way asperger's syndrome is not associated with a high degree of violence no more than any other mental illness. there is a slight increase over the population average in mentally ill people committing violent crimes but not very much. but the point is about his particular variety of asperger's, it was rather extreme in the sense that not only did they have the typical preoccupation with one interest and in his case, these dangerous games and guns. alisyn: violent videogames, yeah. >> the violent videogames but, which is characteristic of asperger's and their

social awkwardness, inability to empathize and figure out what people are feeling and make small talk and like that but his was extreme. as he was in the barber chair and barber would ask him hey, how are you doing, he couldn't say anything, the mother would talk for him. alisyn: on that same note, it was reported by his brother at the time, adam lanza's brother said he had asperger's and a personality disorder. there is something else we don't know yet and the records don't shed much light on. we heard he couldn't feel physical pain. he had to wear protective clothing in chemistry class as not to get burned. do you know of any disorder like that? >> i heard of it. i don't know very much about it. but as far as the personality part he apparently had very tremendous paranoid feelings of and vengeful feelings, et cetera. that would be the other aspect. in other words the asperger's takes care of the social awkwardness but in addition he seemed to have a great deal of hatred and

resentment. that is the personality part. alisyn: people always speculated that he must have been an some sort of psychotropic drugs to treat some of this and unfortunately in the recor beeny found no evidence that he was on any sort of drugs. doesn't mean he wasn't but they haven't revealed anything like that. >> i'm not surprised because there are really no particular medications that would make a big difference with someone like that. in other words, paranoid personality and as perg -- asperger's are not something that can be remedieded by medication. alisyn: something out of the newly released operation, they found newspaper clippings of a similar school shooting. he saved a clippings of a shooting at northern illinois state. 26 victims it, just like the 26 victims in newtown, connecticut. with people, obviously police always fear copycat crimes and sounds like he may have been studying things like this. >> he apparently was

studying things like that. i study things like that too to be an expert in it but, he did look at a clippings from the killing in northern illinois, that you just mentioned and a lot of others. he had a big list of them. so it sound as if he was going to get his 15 minutes of fame that andy warhol promised us all through this multiple murder. alisyn: lawmakers are trying to figure out how to keep guns out of the hands of, you know, unhinged people, including mentally ill people. are you as a psychiatrist, comfortable with the notion that psychiatrists and doctors would have to report people who come into their offices with some sort of personality disorder, if they're a danger, they think to other people or themselves? >> i would only be comfortable if i heard from a patient that he intended or she intended, mostly a he, intended to hurt somebody. in which case, i have done it in the past, report that to either the intended

victim or the authorities if there was no named intended victim. apart from that, just as a person, i sized up as having a mental illness of some degree but showed no propensity at all to --. alisyn: violent tendency. >> i would certainly not report that to anyone. alisyn: that makes sense. dr. michael stone, thanks so much for your expertise. it is interesting to talk in light of this tragedy, thank you. bill: appears despite all we learned yesterday there is still so much left that we need to learn too. in a moment here it has happened yet again. a man walking blindly off a subway platform. he is okay because a quick-thinking witness who lept to save him. you will hear from that person in a moment. alisyn: plus, north korea, banging the war drum, threating the u.s. once again. we talked to a former state department advisor. when should the u.s. act on these threats? >> hopefully what will occur is cooler heads will prevail and this will deescalate and

hopefully we can have fruitful negotiations about the future.

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final days! sleep number. comfort individualized. alisyn: we have a great hero story to tell you about. a philadelphia man risking his own life to save a stranger who fell onto the subway tracks. he jumped onto the electfied tracks to help the man. he waited 11 minutes for paramedics, not knowing if trains were running. dozens of people watched but he was only one to jump into action saying he didn't think twice about it. >> i can't imagine not helping somebody in that situation. i can't imagine that. there are so many times where there have been people there for me, when i needed somebody. you know. and, these people, i can't pay back. so, next best thing would be to pay it forward. >> he is a hero. this is just, this is what philadelphia is all about. alisyn: what a great message

he has. there is no reason on why the man fell onto the tracks but his injuries are not reported to be serious. bill: well that's good news. alisyn: it is all good news. bill: like brotherly love redefined in the city of philadelphia. alisyn: the city of brotherly love. i like the official said that is what philadelphia all about. not always. not every day but here it was. bill: right on. well-done down there in philadelphia. get back now to our top story. north korea is ramping up rhetoric. kim jong-un is ordering rockets to be put on standby quote, to settle accounts with the united states of america. christian white, state department senior visor and sir good morning to you from los angeles. i want to touch on first of all, the u.s. troop involvement in south korea. we have some 30,000 troops there. when stories like these happen, what changes for them or what sort of posture would change for them when

this traps? >> well, bill, i haven't heard specifically that they have been put on alert or have elevated status if you will. when you have a crisis, our troops move, liberties are canceled. closer to their weapons. aircraft are loaded and ready for flight. incidentally though, this happens, this recent kefuffle with north korea goes on during the full eagle exercise where the u.s. and south korea mills terries have large joint exercises. our forces would be at an elevated status as a result of that. the recent b-2 announcement from north korea and counter pronouncements from washington and u.s. commanders would crank up thing a bit. bill: you have a new leader in north korea. you have you have a new leader in south korea. when pongyang acts like this, you say there's a history because they get away with it. explain. >> there is. just as recently as 2010

north korea sank a south korean naval ship, paid no consequence and also, north korea shelled a south korean island in 2010. again, no, real retaliation at all from south korea. so, you know you have just recently not only a new north korean leader but a new leader in south korea, a woman named park, the first woman president of south korea probably being tested to an extent. unfortunately because of past instances where north korea gotten away scott-free, there is big chance, not a big chance but reasonable chance that north korea may be underestimating the resolve of south korea and the united states. bill: that is an interesting point but you say the real threat here is not that north korea would attack south korea or try and launch a missile toward japan or beyond there. what is the real threat? >> i think the real threat posed by north korea, if you look throughout its history, it has proliferated virtually ever weapons system it ever produced. now that it is basically has a nuclear weapons capability

and has a you had abouting baistic missile capability you have that risk and look what they have done in the past. they helped syria build a plutonium-producing reactor a carbon copy of north korean pongyang reactor. israelis thankfully blew that up in 2007. there are reports that north koreans are present at iranian nuclear facilities and iranians are present at north korean nuclear tests. there is real threat that north korea does best which is to profit some of the world's most dangerous weapons to some of the world most odious people. bill: they make money off of that, too, don't they. >> they do. north korea survived from humanitarian aid, economic aid from countries like the u.s., south korea and japan. that test why it wants to get back on negotiating table it time and time again conned us for aid in returns for promises to disarm it never follows through on. beyond that aggregate level

of economic support it pursues a number of illicit activities, trafficking in people, illegal drugs, counter fit pharmaceuticals and weapons proliferation and how the regime really thrives. bill: i think this needs repeating almost every time we talk about the story. what the north koreans want they want to sit at table with the united states. one-on-one. no one else. not the chinese. not the jop meese, -- japanese, not the south koreans. they want to be seen on level of america. that is lot behind of the motivation going back years. when the leader quote, wants to settle accounts with the united states, are those hollow word or how do you tempt them? >> well you can't sort of presume them to be hollow because this is country with a real military and nuclear weapons capability and recent history of attacking allies and proliferating weapons, et cetera. so it does have to be taken seriously. we shouldn't cave into their demands. they crave ledgesy from like

most communist regimes. they love pagentry and sitting down with the united states and have a great track record getting a lot of goodies from us through democratic and republican governments here. the answer as with iran and north korea we have to look at these as long-term threats and we have to look at peaceful ways to undermined these governments over the long term, reprising some of the political warfare techniques we used peacefully during the cold war. bill: in 20 minutes we'll talk about the u.s. response and what should we do now. christian whiton, terrific guest, thank you from los angeles. >> thank you, bill. bill: been a headline every day this week. alisyn. alisyn: the economy is starting to show signs of a real turnaround in some parts of the u.s.. we'll tell you where things are looking up. bill: how about the madness, huh? alisyn: how about it. bill: this game lived up to the name last night. ohio state hitting a 3-pointer two seconds left defeating arizona, 73-70. the buck ayes advanced to the elite 8.

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bill: talk about your space race. the soyuz capsule traveling from earth to the international space station in record time. it made it in about six hours compared to the usual 48 hours. the russian capsule launched out the kazakhstan. they use ad shortcut using precision timing and rocket burns. that is pretty good, huh? the astronauts will spend six months, two cosmonauts and one american astronaut in the orbiting lab. six hours. alisyn: bouncing back from recession, hard-hit west coast cities are leading the nation in job growth and rebounding housing prices. so what's the secret sauce

here? what is fueling their comeback? william la jeunesse it is live in los angeles. hey, william. >> reporter: confidence is one reason, ali. that is helping to drive the rebound but also demography. tech jobs and new housing construction is turning the picture from bleak to boom around the west. that's the sound of an economic rebound. >> we definitely turned a corner. in october of 2011 we definitely turned around and definitely been going up. >> reporter: areas of the western u.s. hit hardest by the housing bust are now booming with home prices up more than 23% in phoenix, 15% in las vegas. 12% in last los angeles. the. >> rebound in the west is. they're still fighting foreclosures on the east side of the country. >> deeper the hole, in some sense the faster the trajectory of coming out. >> reporter: unemployment is also falling the nevada down 3% since last year, followed

by hawaii, arizona and california. >> gps insight tracks trucks for an hour for our customers. >> reporter: repound is not just construction. 400,000 job openings in 13 western states are fueled by the technology and software sector. gps in scottsdale, helps 1200 customers track commercial and government fleets. >> we had crazy growth. year. and we doubled sales year-over-year. >> reporter: success in one sector translates to more jobs in others. >> you get the great jobs in. you export products out. money comes into the region. that money swirls an and you take care of all those other, you know, pursuits that, people find employment in. >> reporter: investors are also pouring fuel on the fire and they're not just flipping homes, ali but they're renting them out. one southern california owns or manages 1700 homes. 200,000 homes in phoenix are owned by investors. one year return there is 36%. we're seeing bidding wars in

sacramento. they have only one month supply on the market, down 700%. alisyn: incredible. let's see if other cities around the country take a page from this report. thank you very much, william la jeunesse. bill: good news in the area. developing right now, a form are u.s. soldier accused of joining al qaeda in the fight in syria now arrested. new details in a moment what he is doing. we'll have that for you top of the hour. alisyn: plus, people's holes still at risk as the ground continues crumbling away there in washington state. can they be saved? >> i saw the flashing over the hill, which was actually the ground sliding off and taking the power lines and everything with it. and they were popping and transformers were blowing. load! i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. [ major nutrition ] ensure! nutrition in charge!

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bill: brand new hour, starting with a fox news alert because we have new details now emerging about a former american soldier accused of fighting alongside al qaeda in that civil war in syria. charged with conspiring to use a a weapon of mass

destruction. welcome to a brand new hour of "america's newsroom" on this good friday. i'm bill hemmer. welcome here. nice to see you. alisyn: nice to see you too, bill. thanks so much, i'm alisyn camerota in for martha maccallum today. this is confusing case. they arrested 30-year-old army veteran eric harroun. they arrested him in virginia plotting to use a rocket-propelled grenade against syrian president bashar al-assad. this could give him life in prison. doug, how did this army veteran end up in syria? >> reporter: good northerning. by all indications he wanted to join the fight and after he went. this is 30-year-old eric harroun who hails from arizona. he is charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. was in federal court outside of d.c. yesterday. this guy hasn't exactly made the secret of the fact he joined syrian rebels to overthrow syria's president bashar al-assad.

he shot this video and facebook page with images off fighting. federal prosecutors say he headed to the region back in november through turkey to link up with the rebel free syrian army. he may have been fighting with al basrah front. that is also known as al qaeda in iraq. back in arizona, he told them that his son is not a terrorist. >> allegations working alongside a group affiliated with al qaeda? >> no, i don't believe that. that is not true at all. absolutely not. he would never do that. >> reporter: in fact harroun is not charged with providing material support to a terrorist group. instead he is accused of conspiring to use a wmd, in this a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and federal law classifies that as a wmd. alisyn: what do we know about harroun's army service? >> reporter: alisyn we know

from prosecutors he served in the army from 2000 to 2003. he was released on a medical discharge after being in a car accident. his father said he had a head injury and suffers from depression. an army spokesman told the associated press do their knowledge he did not have any overseas deployments during that time. alisyn: all right. doug luzader, thanks so much for the update. just to let our viewers know, we'll have much more on this case against eric harroun. kelly simpson, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainees will be with us and whether or not he believes this ex-soldier will go to prison for the rest of his life. it is a complicated case because he is fighting against bashar al-assad which come would consider a good cause. so it's a tough one. bill: how increasing when you hear from this man's father? more coming up in a moment. there have been other americans associated with al qaeda. adam gadahn, remember that name, the first american charged with treason since the second world war. back in 2010 he released a

video urging muslims to attack london, paris and detroit. anwar al-awlaki, the first american citizen to be targeted and killed in a u.s. drone strike. he became involved with al qaeda in yemen advocating for holy war against the united states. and ahmed bim first known american suicide bomber after he blew himself up in somalia. that killed 20 people there. alisyn: let's look at bigger picture of al qaeda and extensive reach worldwide. al qaeda cells and associates have been located in more than 70 countries in the past several years the terror group has expanded its presence in at least 12 countries. at least since 2000 al qaeda and its affiliates carried out more than 600 attacks, killing more than 7250 people. bill: in the meantime there are more headlines this morning because there are fresh threats again from north korea. kim jong-un, the new leader there, saying his missiles are on standby ready to

strike targets for the united states. this latest warning now coming a day after our nation flew two stealth fighters over that region in a previously-planned military exercise. so how is a revamped obama administration including new secretaries of defense and state handling what are becoming these routine threats from the roek state? former cia officer peter brookes now with the heritage foundation. my guest now. peter, good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: it is difficult to know what is real and what is just bluster but how should the u.s. respond do you believe now? >> well, bill the way i characterize north korean threats they carry out their threats except when they don't. there are a lot things at play here, you're absolutely right. there is bluster it. development of cult of personality with the new leader with his internal audience. a show of strength to, ternnal audiences but i think this was a good move on the part of the administration to remind

north korea they're up against a formidable military force should they decide to do something provoke tiff. in 2010 they sunk a south korean warship and shelled a south korean island and plotting to assassinate the south korean defense minister. this is very dangerous animal we're dealing with in north korea. bill: the move you're referring to is b-2 stealth bomber? >> exactly. send bombers over south korea, not north cree to remind them of the strength they're up against. those b-2 stealth bombers carry bunker buster bombs, say that three times fast and it could, have a major effect on a campaign on the korean peninsula. bill: peter, you have chuck hagel, new defense secretary. john kerry, secretary of state. how do you rate this challenge for them new to the jobs? >> it's a big challenge. north korea is always a challenge. i mean many people feel that the obama administration's

policy toward north korea is failing. there has been no progress. there is a lot of calls in washington here, bill, to take tougher steps against north korea, especially going after the financial transactions. international financial transactions. the bush administration did this back in 2005 and 2006, with banco delta in macau. went after the way they moved money throughout the world. they still have to have some sort of international trade. it really hurt them. they came back to the negotiating table under the nuclear program. the problem we have a new leader. he is on a roll. successful ballistic missile test that basically can reach out and touch the united states. a new nuclear, successful nuclear test in february. and now this going on. i think they will do something but i'm not sure they really want a wider war on the korean peninsula i think they know they will lose. bill: but you believe they will do something. can you define that? >> yes. well, i mean it's hard to say. what did neal boortz say,

prediction is hard especially about the future? the fact i think this, the problem with making threats, bill, is that if you don't, if you don't fulfill them, they're useless. they lose their leverage. i don't know what it is going to be. whether it is going to be some sort of a, you know, act against south korea like they did in 2010. you know some artillery exchanges shooting at a south korean ship. i don't think they will start a wider war. as many people would be killed in korean war but they would ultimately loose against the american-south korean forces. they will do something. the part is build the cult of personality of this new leader with his people inturnly because he doesn't have the gravitas of his father, kim jong-il or his grandfather, the founder of north korea and the one who fought against the americans and united nations in south korea in the korean war. if you keep making threats and don't do anything the threats are useless. we have to take it very seriously. they're likely to do

something. bill: 30,000 u.s. troops are positioned and stationed there in south korea. peter brookes, thank you, live in washington. >> thank you. alisyn: we're getting new information this morning on the sheer size of that massive landslide in washington state. officials now say that the total amount of earth that gave way could have filled about 40,000 dump trucks. no injuries are reported from wednesday's landslide but 20 properties were damaged and 35 homes were evacuated. here's one person putting it all into prespective? >> we're really greatful we're safe and that all the rest of the stuff and, you know, everybody has crises and this is kind of ours at the moment. alisyn: well this happened on whidbey island, 50 miles senator of see at he will leaving -- seattle. leaving entire community uncertain. dan springer is live. what is the latest? dan. >> reporter: residents from whidbey island get welcome

break from the rain. that probably helped slow down the land movement. good news the forecast calls for several days in a row of dry weather. so much damage has already been done. one home destroyed. two others have dirt and debris pushed up against them. more than a dozen others lost part of their yauds and with it property values. one resident only half jokingly said he has $5 million vie achbt a $5 home. the residents always lived with the threat after landslide but they are surprised by this one. >> it has been moving hundreds or thousands of years. it will probably not stop in its entirety. as far as this particular slide the longer stays still and doesn't move the more likely it will not continue. >> reporter: and we're told 3.5 million square feet of land fell down that hill. alisyn? alisyn: oh, my goodness. so dan, are these homeowners going to be able to get back

into their homes? >> reporter: well, some are. the once who were on top of the bluff have no access issues at all. the only problem they have is the threat of the edge of cliff creeping closer to their homes and the threat their homes might come down the hill if there is lot more landslide. however the 17 people down below on the road you see behind me, they have no access right now pause that road has been destroyed. the only way they can get to their homes is to walk about a five minute walk down a path, to get to their houses. they can do that right now but there is not a lot of access. there is talk of eventually making that, a one lane gravel road. that of course is well down the road because they have so much debris that they have to get through and they have so much land they have to move. they have to really establish that this hillside is going to be stable enough for people to eventually come and live here, you know, beyond this. but the good news is most of these properties are vacation properties. people come here for weekend or during the summer.

so most of the 17 homes that are down this road are not occupied all year-round. alisyn: that is the good news. the bad news, rain exacerbates it and that is soggy part of the world. dan springer, thanks so much for giving us an update. >> you're right about that all the moisture off the ocean. alisyn: all the time. >> what an image that was. backyard gone behind so many homes. alisyn: very dramatic. bill: we're getting going on a second hour, right? it has been one month since the mandatory budget cuts started. did you notice, america, and if not why not. we'll debate it. plus this. >> [shouting] >> whose jobs. >> our jobs. >> whose city. our city. >> we shall not be moved. alisyn: union members are facing a battle in yet another state over their newly-passed right to work law. bill: new push for gun laws. can washington make a move or not? >> what happens so often is politicians just want to act

quickly. they want to do something and the president is into showmanship. he wants to show people he cares but in the end he is really not going to do anything that would have made the outcome different. ♪

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bill: they are protesting a right to work law that went into effect yesterday in detroit, rallying outside a forum where the michigan republican governor rick snyder was attending. for his part the governor says the new law will only help michigan's struggling economy. >> stepping up for hard-working michiganers. and bring job to our state and at the same time i want to respect the labor movement. bill: under the law the michigan workers can financially choose not to support unions as a condition for employment. alisyn: back to our top story this hour. a former u.s. soldier accused of taking up arms with al qaeda, against the syrian president bashar al-assad regime. the feds arrested 30-year-old eric harroun yesterday in virginia and have charged him with

conspiring to use a rocket-propelled grenade while fighting alongside al qaeda. kelsey stimson, former assistant secretary of defense for detainees an senior legal fellow at the heritage foundation. great to have you here. >> thanks. alisyn: this is curious case, because he is accused, this 30-year-old army vet is accused working with al qaeda affiliate but against the regime of bashar al-assad as we know is doing atrocious things. does this complicate things for prosecutor? >> i think it really does. on one hand as you point out he is with our enemy, al qaeda if he can prove we actually knew that, but also taking up arms against assad which in some circumstances some people would think that is a good thing. so i think the conspiracy charge which is right now the charge in place, is applies holder for other charges to come because that will be a tough one to prove. alisyn: you say that it is tough to prove because you say if he knew he was working with al qaeda, we just heard from his father a

couple moments ago where his father said he would never do that, he would never work with al qaeda. this group doesn't call it al qaeda. is it possible he was not aware of he was working with al qaeda against assad? >> we know he spoke to the fbi. they went into that during some interviews. we know that he knew this offshoot of al qaeda in iraq was part of al qaeda. we know that --. alisyn: we do know he knew it was part of the al qaeda? >> we don't know when he knew he knew it. if he knew it at the time he was doing it, that's a problem and conspiracy charge may be easy to prove. if he didn't he found out later, that could make it very difficult for prosecutors. alisyn:s because he fancies himself or identifies himself as freedom fighter. >> sure. this is a guy with big ego who outed himself on facebook. that is how the foreign policy reporters found this guy. he will be a nightmare for a defense attorney as a client. but the easier charge is, receiving, training from a

designated terrorist organization which is a ten-year felony. that is slam dunk. he already admitted he did that. alisyn: he admitted he received training but he didn't think it was a terrorist organization. he thought it was freedom fighters. i'm quoting what has come out against assad's regime we know is hideous in itself. >> right. alisyn: but that doesn't complicate it? >> here's the thing. conspiracy requires a specific intent to do the something here to aid the enemy. the, getting training from a designated terrorist organization only requires that there is a terrorist organization that is designated and he got training. he doesn't even have to know that they were. that could be easier one. the conspiracy of life top case, other charge is only 10-year felony. >> interesting. meanwhile he left the army on a medical discharge after a car accident. his father had described him as having a steel plate in his head and said that has exacerbated his medical condition i believe of depression. will all those be mitigating factors? >> could easily be

mitigating factors. there are a lot of folks who went to iraq and afghanistan who received a series of injuries including traumatic brain injury. this could be part and parcel of not only mitigation defense but also affirmative defense at time of trial. ultimately this will be resolved short of tile trial. there will be some sort of a deal. you will have all the conflicting information not only we're talking about but other information we don't know yet that the government has in their proposal. alisyn: can we look to the case of the so-called the american taliban, john walker lindh, i think i'm getting his name right as any sort of model what would happen here? >> i don't think so. i think this is much different. this guy was just terrible in his operational security. i mean he is basically outing himself on facebook like a 15-year-old teenage aer does on facebook. he didn't want not to be found. he wanted to be found. he is proud of what he did. he is complicated client. i don't think he is anything like johnny walker lindh or

other americans sophisticated in their planning. >> what is interesting, we new secretary of state john kerry will begin engaging in talks next week about arming the syrian rebels. >> right. alisyn: it is all part and parcel sound like of some of the same thing. great to see you. >> thanks for having me. alisyn: thanks. bill? bill: 20 minutes past the hour. in a moment two mortgage giants bingeing on your money and adding to our massive debt along the way. taxpayers may be able to cut the cord with fannie mae and freddie mac and that could save a ton of dough. alisyn: a middle school suspend a 13-year-old girl for carrying something that is found on any kitchen table. >> i understand policy but i think every child needs to be looked at individually. and, every case is different. not every child is the same. and in morgan's case i feel she should have just got a verbal warning.

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alisyn: list len to this story. a teenage girl suspended from school over a butter knife. the middle school student said she brought the knife to school and has braces and needs to cut up some of her food. the vice-principal saw her with the knife and later suspended her. the school says it was following rules in the handbook which did not allow kids to bring knives to school. the principal adds all parents are asked to sign that handbook with at the beginning of each school year. bill: with that? alisyn: not really. i think zero tolerance policies often don't take common sense into account. bill: what if it was a swiss army knife, would that have been cool? alisyn: i don't think she meant any harm cutting up her pair, you know? that doesn't semen nasing. bill: point taken.

--. bill: what to cut at end of the day. fannie mae and freddie mac certainly cost taxpayers money. there are moves to cut the losses here. doug mckelway is back on the story. why is the federal government in the home mortgage business anyway, doug? >> reporter: congress create fran fannie mae and freddie mac to allow the federal government to help finance mortgages through the taxpayer. after the housing collapse, gses they're called, government-sponsored enterprises are billions of dollars in the red. >> the biggest problem with fannie mae and freddie mac is that they are financial institutions with a social mission. lower income homes have a tougher time paying mortgages. and, when the housing market started to go under that was the first to go. >> reporter: fannie and freddie had traditionally been restricted what is known as prime loans and high quality loans. that began to change in 1992

when congress passed the safety and soundness act n 1995 the clinton administration department of housing and urban development create ad national homeownership strategy the cornerstone was to do away with down payments. >> you had now fannie and freddie instead of doing prime loans were doing progressively more risky and risky loans. >> reporter: ex-treasury secretary john snow warned financial oversight committees that fannie and freddie were on shaky financial ground early as 2001 but few heeded warnings. bill: is there a chance getting money back or is it just gone? >> reporter: there is real doubt about that. the many believe the government is making very same mistakes it has in the past. it distorts the mortgage market through not only fannie and freddie but federal home loan banks and federal housing administration, ginnie mae, department of agriculture and veterans administration provide mortgage assistants. private banks ordinarily have to eat their losses but when the government subsidizes bad loans it is

taxpayers who eat the losses. >> we may recover some of that money but we'll probably get closer to 200 billion before we get back to 80 or 90 billion of what it is actually going to cost the taxpayer all in the name of doing good but no oversight, no management and misdirected compassion for something that you couldn't actually accomplish. >> reporter: many in congress prefer the status quo. don't look for the privatization of fannie and freddie anytime soon, bill. bill: on we go. doug, thank you. interesting series too. what to cut. doug mckelway in washington. alisyn. alisyn: remember americans were warned for weeks of the severe consequences should the sequester kicked in. it has been a month since the mandatory budget cuts have been in effect so what is the real fallout? we'll debate that. bill: it is the most watched tv event this season. more than 10 million people tuning in. and that is cable. alisyn: wow. bill: what is the behind the show's enormous success of the bible? give you one word. we'll talk to the, one of

the star actors in the series coming up. ♪ . hey, this is challenger. i'll be waiting for you in stall 5. it confirms your reservation and the location your car is in, the moment you land. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

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spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd spiriva helps me breathe better. (blowing sou) ask your doctor about spiriva. bill: did you know it's been a month since theked in. one month since the warnings of all the dire consequences, america. we wonder one month later who

what is the fallout. we have doug schoen and mary kay ham. are you here to say we hold you so or not yet. >> not that. republicans always new there would be consequences to sequestration. some of the defense and intelligence people are going to be furniture load, that was always part of the equation. the sequestration was designed to hurt the g.o.p. more by taking out more defense cuts than other thing. there was not another solution on the table and frankly taking 2% out of the budget -- bill: what is your evaluation about where we are. >> my evaluation is this has hurt the president. the democrats engaged in scare tactics. they said sequestration was going to hurt the american people. they talked about airports closing, white house tours ending, and bottom line it's

business as usual. but it also raises the issue of how are we going to resolve the whole budgetary problems that we continue to face, the issue of the debt ceiling which we come up against in july, and bottom line we are no closer to a solution now than we were a year ago. bill: i think you raise an interesting point. let's debate that in a moment, mary kathrine. folks like dog say it's still coming because democrats would argue by memorial day you could have a thousand vacancies with the tsa. you could have the faa shutting down 150 control tours. but the facts are not a single person has been furniture load in the federal government to date, and the stock market is climbing to brand-new highs. >> not only that, i think it has invited scrutiny for the white house's spending and the federal government's spending in general. people are peak picking out the instances where the government is still hiring for folks while they are allegedly furniture hroeg other people. it doesn't look real great and

it looks like there are cuts that could have been made to make things easier for the public. frankly the white house allowed it to look like we are trying to cut what hurts the public most especially with the white house tours. that was not a good look for them for subject servants in general and i think that is what has hurt them most of all. would i say on making a larger sort of bigger deal coming down the road on entitlements i'm mildly encouraged that the american people have not freaked out over 2% of the budget. i think that might be encouraging. bill: to that point you wonder how it has contributed to the debate about future spending cuts. >> i think mary kathrine is right. the american people are willing to cut spending, they want to cut spending but they want an overall balanced plan that reigns in spending, reforms entitlements, reduces tax rates, limits deductions, bottom line gets our fiscal house in order. you say to people cut medicare,

medicaid they'll say no, give us a grand bargain where we all sacrifice my sense is they'll say yes. bill: isn't that the republican leaders have been saying for a longtime. they can say, hey you proved our point for us. >> the white house keeps saying it has to be balanced, everybody has to be shared. well republicans have given on the tax front and they've given on another saked cow which is defense cuts. i think it's fair of them to say, look we need to bulging on entitlements before we move on this. i think that is -- they'll have to come to the table with that. if the president wants a great legacy i think that is a prove he should make. i'm not confident on that. bill: the white house tours are still off limits. peter cotton tail will be on the south lawn come sunday. >> absolutely we'll have our easter egg roll. alisyn: pope francis is about to hold mass at st. peters basilica on this good friday.

once again the pontiff breaking vatican tradition becoming the first pope to wash the feet of women during the holy week ritual. as he's celebrating his first easter season of pope the catholic church is experiencing a resurrection of its loan. lauren green is live from st. patrick's cathedral in new york city. tell us what the scene is there. >> reporter: christians are flocking here for good friday services. last night's holy thursday mass was standing room only. there is sort of a new sense of enthusiasm that pope francis is bringing. there is a sense that what the church is going through is sort of seser recollection from the moment he appeared on the balcony of st. peters square in rome following his election he signaled a new direction for the catholic church and the catholics come home campaign is seeing renewed interest. >> we've heard from catholics who say they are excited about taking another look at the

church. we've heard from noncatholics saying they are excited about this new pope. he's a pope for the whole world. >> reporter: they also say that pope francis brings to the catholic church a charisma they have not seen since john paul paul the ii. alisyn: how you are the vatican officials feeling when he breaks with tradition like this. >> reporter: the church has gone through a lot in the last few decades. you have the costly sex-abuse scandals, the vatican government very corrupted. and pope benedict the xvi resigned. francis' hum pwhrer style and latin roots are breaking with tradition and it's scoring big with not just catholics but propert protestants and evangelicals. they say this is the similar bell of the catholic church

living out that part of the gospel message. >> every easter you can look around and see parallels to what the easter message is all about. in that sense you can say yes there is a joy that having a new pope is bringing to the church, and that joy is related to the fact that he's saying, remember, christ has risen. >> reporter: he also says this is part of god's plan that pope francis is the right man for this moment in time: alisyn: lauren, have a wonderful holiday weekend. that is a nice message. bill: francis has good timing, right? he certainly does. it is one of the better known religious relics of christianity, the shroud of turin, christ's burial cloth. new testing indicates the sheet dated back to the time when jesus hrao*eufd. it bears the image of a man with wounds similar to shows suffered

by jesus. for the first time in 40 years billions will be getting a televised glimpse of the garment because i will will air on italian state tv on holy saturday. alisyn: that will be exciting. bill: i tell you francis' timing is perfect. alisyn: or someone's timing up there. coming up a growing list of senators is promising to filibuster any new rerestrictions on gun ownership. two new republicans have signed on. we'll talk to one of them. alisyn: a burglary apparently did not go as planned. you have to hit it harder, i think.

bill: you're about to see a would be burglary. would be because he failed miss rally in his attempt to break

into a tkpoerb restore. of it its all caught on surveillance camera. a man dress ned pajama pants and a bright yellow coat walks up to the store and chucks something at the window. the window cracks, the alarm goes off and he trips twice in the parking lot as he kind of ran away. i don't know if he had the munchies at home. alisyn: back to a serious score re, two more republican senator, marco rubio of florida and games eupl hoff of oklahoma are threatening to filibuster any new restrictions on gun ownership adding their names to a letter previously sent to majority leader harry reid by three other republican senators, senator rand paul was one of them. he talked about this on hannity. >> we plan on making them have at least 60 votes to pass any legislation that may aeu bridge the second amendment. we will fight tooth and nail and use every parliamentary procedure to stop that from happening. alisyn: my next guest signed that letter as well, senator

mike lee of utah joins us now. good morning, senator. >> good morning. alisyn: why threaten this filibuster. why not just let the president's proposal or democrat's proposal on gun control live or die on their own merits. why filibuster them? >> because we think it's important that this vote pass, if at all, with substantial consensus, with at least some by partisan agreement on the fact that this is a worthwhile bargain. our concern is that as we look at the legislation moving through the senate, it would do far more to restrict the rights of law abiding americans than it would to reduce gun violence, and so we think that it needs a 60-vote threshold. alisyn: let's talk about one of the things that apparently, at least in national polls the public supports, and that is expanded -- those are expanded background checks particularly at gun shows. do you support those? >> well, you know, the concern with those is that background checks in and of themselves

aren't going to work unless they are accompanied by some sort of registration system. but the american people when asked about that are far less comfortable. they are not really comfortable with the idea of the government knowing exactly what firearm they purchase any more than they would be comfortable with the government nothing when or how often they go to church or ha they eat for breakfast or what books they are reading from the library. this is a concern to us, and i can't support that legislation either. alisyn: senator, on this week when we've learned so much more about the newtown massacre, because those documents have been released, and we've learned that adam lan today the shooter was able to fire 150 round in the space of less than five minutes, what do you think is the answer to prevent something like that from ever happening again? >> look that was an absolutely tragic event and none of us wants to see anything like that ever repeated in america. i wish it were possible through legislation for us to prevent that from happening. but the truth is that whenever

somebody does something awful like that they've always broken 10, 15, 20 of our most fundamental laws. only in washington is it considered acceptable wisdom to say that the solution to the violation of a law, or ten laws, or 15 or 20 is the creation of yet another law. most of the people in america obey the law, nearly all the time regardless of what the law says. the problem with these proposals, is that they would affect that group of americans, those who obey the law most of the time, while having little or no eup impact on those who will disregard the law almost regardless of what it says. alisyn: it sound like you're saying, these things just happen, sometimes people break the law and there is sort of nothing we can do if somebody is hell bent on breaking the law as it exists. it doesn't sound like the public agrees. it feels as though now is the moment that the public wants something more to happen in light of newtown. are you saying we just hold, we just live with what is already

on the books? >> i'm not saying nothing can be done. i am saying that you can't always fix things like this with legislation. we do need as a society to look seriously at why it is that we've got so much violent behavior going on. we also need to look at how we can encourage mental healthcare providers to communicate their concerns with family members and law enforcement personnel when they see warning signs. but i'm not sure that those things can be accomplished through legislation. alisyn: how about violent video games? would you be willing to have any more restrictions on those? >> well, there again, we've got to look at the constitutional interests at stake we've got to look at the first amendment. we also have to have an honest conversation with parents and with those who designed those games and ask whether they really ought to be doing those, or whether they really ought to be making them. whether we ought really to be buying those. there again that doesn't necessarily lend itself well to legislation. that's just going to fix everything with the stroke of a pen.

alisyn: senator mike lee we really appreciate your time this morning. thanks so much. >> thank new part of what is so fascinating, we heard from rand paul on this a bit earlier, is you know, what is being proposed that could or would have stopped what happened in newtown, connecticut? that's part of this whole debate right now. alisyn: hard to connect those. bill: jon scott standing by on this holy friday, happy easter to you, jon what is going on. jon: a good easter weekend to you as well, bill. there is more sabre rattling from the north korean as again as thousands gather to shout death to american eupl pearl lists. kim jong un says he's pointing missiles at the u.s. is he all bark and no bite or should we be worried. the dow and s&p hitting new highs. marty time on wall street, what about main street? ben stein joins us. we'll ask him about the fundamentals of the u.s. economy. it's been quite a week in the debate over gay marriage, two major cases before the supreme court, so how did the mainstream media do covering the story? we'll weigh in with our news

watch panel ahead "happening now." bill: looking forward to hearing from ben stein with that s&p up there. is he going to say run for the hills or get all in? jon: it's always hard to get something joyful out of ben stein. i'm sure he'll have something to say. bill: one of the hottest shows on television, the season finale hits on easter sunday and one of the stars of the bible miniseries will tell us something you never knew about him and his role. arigato! we are outta here! finding you the perfect place. hotels.com.

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bill: it is an absolutely norm must success, the mini serrie the bible. ten million people have tuned in per episode to watch the break out show since it premiered about four or five weeks ago. audiences gearing up for the final episode that heirs on easter sunday night. darwin shaw plays the role of peter and is with me in studio. your own english man by birth and living here in the u.s. >> yep. bill: when a role this is. did you think or did anyone think that ten million people would find a way to find your show on sunday nights for a month? >> i think we're thrilled a bit

at being picked up by so many people's hearts. we've had i think by tonight we'll have over a hundred million people watch the show, and that's just phenomenal figures. but we are just pleased that people are really connecting to it. we find that families are coming together and sitting around and watching these stories, and it's sort of the new, fresh life we've breathed into it. bill: it tells us a little something about the significance of religion and christianity in the lives of so many people. >> well america you know has 200 million christians, and this is the foundation of the country, the bible sort of the major -- the whole pilgrims came here with this. so to get a chance to tell these amazing stories, and to as i said bring it to life again i think is a wonderful thing. bill: you play the role of peter, and peter has a big role in sunday night's finale, because i think that's where the story picks up on sunday night. >> it picks up with peter's

denial and then we see the moving portrayal of the crucifixion and the stages towards that with the actor that brings in a stellar performance. following the resurrection the easter story we then follow peter and paul and continue all the way through revelations. >> i did not realize this but you're a doctor by trade. >> i know, yeah. bill: how in the world did you make that from the medical world into such a terrific performance in acting. >> i guess 10 years, 12 years of studying acting and working and developing my krafplt it all started actually here in new york. i moved over after my residence and found a wonderful acting teacher, and then he sort of changed my life. i got in the class and got the bug and gradually slowly made that transition. bill: you have enormous talent. that was quite evident here.

was this role any different because of the role you played, or was it acting just like you would act on any other job? >> i think you have to approach every role like you're just trying to find the truth and the humanity in the story, and in the character. obviously you have a huge tonight playing a figure like st. peter, but he's a wonderful man and he's so human, and he makes mistakes, and, yeah, i feel very much that he's the eyes and the ears of the audience, how we see jesus. bill: that is very well stated. thank you, dr. darwin shaw. looking forward to sunday night. congratulations. >> thank you very much. bill: to our viewers a reminder here the bible concludes on sunday night 8:00 eastern time only on the history channel. thank you, darren. >> thank you. alisyn: a new twist in the case of a deadly home explosion that rocked and entire neighborhood, the stunning new charges ahead. i'm over the hill.

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