could be a girl. bill: the evidence is in. martha: the evidence is in. bye everybody. "happening now" starts right now. >> she needs a foam finger. right now, brand new stories and breaking news here. jon: just three days before the debt ceiling comes crashing down on the u.s. economy, can washington get its act together? a teenager disappears on her way home from school. now the fbi is involved as authorities search for the girl by land, water and air. this woman left holding on for her life, dangling from a drawbridge that went up. video of her daring rescue and why she could now face charges. it's all "happening now." jon: well the government shutdown entering the third

week. nation days away from default. still no deal. welcome to "happening now." i'm jon scott. good morning. >> good morning, everybody, i'm arthel neville. i'm in for jenna lee today. democrats and republicans remain far apart despite on going talks this weekend and anxiety growing on wall street. markets are in negative territory as we get closer to thursday's deadline to raise the debt ceiling. jon: illinois senator, dick durbin, the number two democrat in the senate, the two sides are roughly $70 billion apart. that is big money to most people. but on capitol hill they're looking to spend one trillion dollars give or take a bill. that is a million dollars a minute, every minute for a whole year. they're unable to agree on a deal to raise the debt limit, allowing the nation to pay its bills. a bipartisan group of 12 senators led by republican susan collins of maine and democrat joe manchin of west virginia is pushing a proposal to reopen the

government and fund it for current levels for six months while raising the debt limit through january 31st. >> when you have six democrats and six republicans that come from different backgrounds, come together to put the country first and say, listen, we're considering where our friends are, our colleagues would be, how difficult after position, the politics of it, the good of the country this, is a good template. i think it is the basis of what's going to happen. jon: republican senator bob corker today seeing signs a deal could be reached as early as today. >> finally we may be on the right page today. i think we're moving there late last night and early this morning. maybe, maybe we'll move beyond this. we do node to move beyond it. >> nina easton, senior editor, washington columnist at "fortune" magazine, fox news contributor. jamie weinstein a senior editor at "the daily caller." to you first, nina, this susan collins, joe manchin proposal,

why did it not go anywhere? there were a lot of high hopes for that program? >> it still may go somewhere, jon. the big hang-up right now is that the democrats are kind of playing politics i think the same way the right part of the house republicans are playing politics earlier which is that they are afraid that the sequester cuts and there's going to be a second round of them that come in in january, they don't want those to come in. so now they're playing a bit of politics. you know i think it is really important for us to remember and concentrate our brains right now. the global finance ministers of the world battered in washington this week. what were they worried about? politics on capitol hill. imf director christine lagarde said it would be massive disruption to the economic global markets if the debt ceiling is not raised and she worries about us tipping back into recession. that is big stuff and should concentrate the minds of both sides in this ongoing saga.

jon: jamie, the president has been essentially bragging in some of his news conferences how the federal deficit has been shrinking each of the last two years. isn't that in large part because of the sequester, and now they're talking about shrinking the sequester? >> well he has been bragging about it, but really democrats didn't like the sequester and they want to reverse some of its effects. the democrats are pressing what they see as their lead. they're looking at polls while they're not great, they're much better compared to republicans. in fact during the shutdown period, one poll even shows obamacare has increased seven points in popularity. what we've seen from the house and the senate are i think, at this point from republicans, pretty much concession proposals willing to give up almost everything in exchange for small reverses and democrats are trying to get more now by reversing the sequester because they see themselves as in the driver's seat. but you know, i think there will be a deal by thursday when they say that the debt ceiling will

need to be lifted but the risk is not zero. there could be no agreement. that five to 10 to 15% risk should scare some people. jon: well, nina, is this a case of lucy pulling away the football? have republicans essentially handed the football to democrats wanted and now they say they want more? >> to some extent they're changing the goalposts. they injected question of sequestration cuts. that is definitely the case. going back to the question of what is going to happen by thursday, if you take the long-term view, that is one piece of the question because it beings like any deal they're going to come up with will push back the problem another few months. so what happens to our economy? it means we'll operate under this cloud of uncertainty for another several months until we come up to another crisis again, crisis deadline. so you know, it is too bad that the sides can't come together and come up with a solution that is going to raise the sense of uncertainty, this cloud over the

economy because, it is just not going away at this point. jon: well, james mixer you don't get much farther apart on, you know, economic matters than you do with some of the tea party republicans in the house and the man who occupies the oval office. pretty hard for them to come together. >> it is hard but you know paul ryan had i think a very fair proposal that he offered the white house that the white house rejected. basically they would extend the debt ceiling and the cr for a given period of time, come together to exchange sequesters cuts or fixes to our long-term entitlement problem which by and far is our greatest domestic challenge. we have somewhere in the neighborhood of $80 trillion in unfunded liability. paul ryan is trying to be the adult in the room and white house rejected his plan out of hand. seems like the white house now is playing politics. they feel like they're in the position of strength according to the polls and they're just, i think, being reasonable at this point. jon: well, that seamed to be, nina, what you were saying

earlier, that, i'm sorry republicans have essentially given up on, you know, the changes to obamacare funding and that kind of thing that started this battle. now that they have given in on most of the things that democrats said they wanted the democrats are back now saying okay, let's shrink the sequester as well? >> keep in mind, this president's goal going into all of this was to, what he calls break the fever, which is to stop this kind of last-minute negotiating, demand on both sides, particularly from republicans. you know he didn't want to play this game anymore and, you know, yet on the other hand as jamie rightly points out this president has not come to the table to talk about the issues that are really driving this debt and that is entitlement reform and that would require him to stand up to his liberal base and a very powerful interest groups like the aarp and he didn't feel like he has to do that at this point. jon: all right. nina easton, jamie weinstein, thank you. >> thank you.

jenna: >> states are taking a financial hit with attractions like national parks and museums shut down. now some states are taking action. for instance, new york has reopened the statue of liberty paying more than $60,000 a day to do it. governor andrew cuomo says it is in the state's best interest to keep it open. three million people visit lady liberty, they do it every year in fact, pulling in $200 million. jon: arizona is reopening the grand canyon for a week. the state getting federal approval to temporarily open the massive tourist attraction on its own dime. that is more than $650 million a week, some business owners say it might be too late -- $650,000. some people may not plan one because they may not know if the park will still be open. >> thousands of our nation's bravest marched on washington this weekend demanding the

monuments reopen pour the people. veterans tore down the barricades surrounding the world war ii memorial and dumped them in front of the white house, calling on lawmakers to, get their act together. >> these memorials belong to the people. they belong to the people that fought and died for them, that earned them with their blood, sweat and tears. >> we've had enough. we're out here for a multitude of reasons but you shutting down the veterans memorial, was the straw that broke the camel's back. >> peter doocy was on the national mall for yesterday's protest. he joins us live in washington. you see the frustration there, peter. what would you think got the crowd in washington most fired up yesterday? >> reporter: arthel, it is when the barricades came down first thing in the morning. when that happened there was cheering and chanting and applause. one veteran reminded me of those memorials are where the living go to talk to the dead and when the memorials are closed, they can't do that. many of the veterans that showed up in d.c. were also really

upset about the potential cuts to benefits that servicemen and women and their families have been promised. they arrived in large numbers because active duty troops aren't able to. >> there is no place to go past america! they shut these things down and if the veterans are quiet, the last bastion of americanism that this country has! >> that's right. >> this place goes to the ash heap of history. do not let that happen. >> we need to watch out for the vets that have fallen, especially the ones that came back from afghanistan. that really hit home. >> we're mad as hell that they would shut down our memorials, to the very people these things were elect -- erected for. >> reporter: when the barricades surrounding the world war ii memorial were broken down the park police stood across the street and watched as veterans piled them high near the sidewalks. some protesters carried the

barricades to the white house. others headed up the mall to open up the nearby lincoln memorial. >> we need to protect our veterans and symbolism as well. peter, tell us about some of the other protests that took place. >> reporter: arthel we've seen photos on twitter and facebook of similar-sized gathers in florida, south caroled line, washington state, and texas and pennsylvania and at gettysburg at another closed park, valley forge. >> feel like this is the boston tea party all over again for valley forge park. >> people shied died and shed blood here hundreds of years ago to keep something like this. now the government wants to keep everybody out. >> reporter: organizers said veterans rallied in more than 60 locations coast to coast. we saw one man in d.c. bottom arrested for having a gun in his bag. we don't know if he was connected any way to the rally. arthel? >> peter doocey, thanks so much for the report. >> now this fox news weather alert. forecasters say snow could be

heading for parts of the central u.s. this columbus day. more than a foot possible in some areas. meteorologist maria molina has details from the fox weather center. maria. >> hey, jon, you're absolutely right. we're looking at significant snowfall in areas that just set records for october snowfall across the center of the country. first i want to show you how widespread the storm system is. the center is across parts of rockies and exiting that area. it will be producing of areas of rain from parts of texas all the way up to parts of north dakota. again a very widespread storm system. on cold side you have snow across parts of the rockies. up to a foot in sections of colorado and wyoming. i want to focus into right here parts of north and south dakota and extreme northwestern parts of nebraska. this is where we could be looking at significant snowfall yet again. in rapid city, early october you picked up about two feet of snow. that little bull's-eye right there? that is more than a foot. about 18 inches, maybe even

another two feet just north and west of the center the city out there. so looking at incredible amounts of snowfall focusing in on the same city, rapid city. otherwise severe weather is possible on the warm side of the storm system with thunderstorms across parts of nebraska and also parts of kansas. you're looking at damaging winds in excess of 60 miles per hour, large hail and isolated tornadoes possible. so, jon, i hope everyone out here has a way to get warnings throughout the day today. jon: maria molina, what an unusual situation for this time of october. thank you. >> thank you. jenna: while lawmakers in washington figure out how to fund the government businesses are dealing with another problem. whether they can afford obamacare. now, some are siding to pay the fine instead. we'll talk about the effects that could have. a desperate search for a missing teen. emergency teams searching by land, water and air. we'll have the latest on this case. plus riot police are calling in to stop a soccer brawl. we'll tell you why officers were

forced to take on fans at their home stadium. whoa. [shouting] (knochello? hey, i notice your car is not in the driveway. yeah. it's in the shop. it's going to cost me an arm and a leg. that's hilarious. sorry. you shoulda taken it to midas. get some of that midas touch. they tell you what stuff needs fixing, and what stuff can wait. next time i'm going to midas. high-five! arg! i did not see that coming. trust the midas touch. for brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling)

jon: some international headlines we're watching right now. chaos at a soccer match in brazil. fans of the home team clashing with riot police. the brawl began when someone moved into an empty part of the stand that were supposed to separate fans of rival teams. more than 100 people are killed in a stampede in central indyaw. thousands of pilgrims were heading to a temple during a festival when a rumor spread a bridge was going to collapse. it is not clear how many people were on the bridge at the time. cleanup begins in eastern indyaw. more than a dozen people are killed in a cyclone that made landfall over the weekend. hundreds of homes were crushed. nearly $400 million worth of crops may have been ruined

there. arthel: turning now to obamacare. as the bumpy rollout of the federal exchange continues many businesses are now facing some tough choices despite the delay of the employer mandate. some are now saying they won't be able to afford insurance for their workers. they are instead cutting their benefits and opting to pay the penalty. john roberts live in atlanta with more. hi, john. >> reporter: arthel, good morning to you. this is a classic example of unintended consequences of new obamacare law. debbie and larry built abu teak staffing agency in the heart of the economic downturn. they now have 18 full-time employees that they provide generous benefits for. 400 or so temporary workers they manage can buy into a separate program. when obamacare kicks it counts all hours but all employees including all the temps. the effective full-time staff will instantly go from 18 to 200. under the rules they will either to have to provide health

insurance for all of them or pay a fine of $2,000 per employee. they say there is no way to pay the insurance so they will pay the fine instead. >> typical single coverage plan is about $800. typical family coverage plan is about close to a thousand dollars a month. so the fine which will be only $166 a month, is way below the cost of the program itself. >> reporter: another effect of obamacare on their business. they can no longer have a separate benefits program for their full-time office staff. so everyone of those employees will lose their current benefits and be thrown into georgia's federally-run health care exchange. >> we feel we have very good employees and want to take very good care of them. that is part of what we're doing for them is offering them, good, affordable health care and it is going to be going away. it is very frustrating.

>> reporter: they say they are angry they worked hard to built build a business from the ground up that finds jobs for hundreds of people and the government is telling them to change the way they do business and having negative impact on some of their valuable employees. arthel? arthel: john roberts, thank you very much for that detailed report. jon: senate democrats are raising the stakes in budget talks, calling for a new look at the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester. we'll talk with a top republican in the senate about the democrats latest strategy. an explosion delays flights at a major airport. wait until you hear what happened inside of an airport bathroom. so, this board gives me rates for progressive direct and other car insurance companies? yes. but you're progressive, and they're them. yes. but they're here. yes. are you...? there? yes. no.

are you them? i'm me. but those rates are for... them. so them are here. yes! you want to run through it again? no, i'm good. you got it? yes. rates for us and them -- now that's progressive. call or click today.

jon: right now the reuters news agency is reporting senate leaders are making progress in talks to resolve washington's latest fiscal crisis after budget talks with the house failed. action turned to the senate and senate majority leader harry reid sounded upbeat yesterday after a phone call with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. >> i've had a productive conversation with republican leader this afternoon. our discussions were substantive and we'll continue those discussions. i'm optimistic about process for positive conclusion. jon: the bottom line, time is now a big factor with just three days to get any compromise through the house and senate. joining us republican senator john barosso of wyoming. are you optimistic, senator, that this deal can be reached? >> i am optimistic. it's important that we stop this shutdown. that we get the government open and that we get people back to work. fundamentally though we can not

continue on this spending binge that we have in washington and now it looks like the spend a who licks here, the president and the democrats in congress want another new credit card without any limits how they can spend the money. jon: do you think that the president is winning? >> well, we met with the president on friday. i don't think anyone wins. the american people certainly aren't winning. it is important that we get the government open again. the situation is that the american people know that we can not continue to spend at the rate that we're spending or the country is going to be bankrupt. we have a $17 trillion debt and what harry reid and the president have asked for is a new credit card. this would be the sixth time in just five years that the president wants a debt ceiling increase and the amount they want is a million dollars a minute for the next year, way beyond the 2014 elections.

a million dollars a minute unchecked. >> but i don't have to tell you, senator, the supposition in the press and elsewhere is that democrats feel that they have republicans over a barrel right now because not only are they not budging on republican demand, now they're also saying, hey, those sequester cuts we all agreed to earlier this year, we want to shrink those, we want to spend more money. >> and the american people know that families can't spend that way and our government can't spend that way either. the american people, are overwhelmingly with, with us, who say, you can not just continue to borrow more and more money and put this on the backs of our children and our grandchildren when there are problems with getting them jobs, getting careers, getting opportunities for these next generations. that is where the real concern is. and, when the markets look at where we are, it is not so much

the fact that we have not approved the debt ceiling increase. it is that we don't have a credible, solution, a real plan, to deal with our long-term debt and spending. jon: but you have seen the polls and the polls indicate that, at least, republicans are getting the majority of the blame for this government shutdown. as long as that is the case, are you going to be able to make these points and, and somehow leverage the president and the democrats to try to fix some of the spending issues? >> we need to get the government opened. we need to stop the shutdown. we need too get people back to work. people agree to that. we also need to keep spending under control and that is my focus now, with this president's request to raise the debt ceiling by a million dollars a minute, for well over the next year. jon: senator john barrasso, republican from wyoming. we wish you well getting this thing solved.

senator, thank you. arthel: right now an investigation into an explosion at los angeles international airport. the fbi is trying to find out how a bottle containing dry ice ended up in an employee bathroom. investigators say a chemical reaction caused it to explode. the security screening area was closed temporarily delaying several flights but schedule is now back to normal. jon: we are also following new developments in that motorcycle gang attack in new york city. why one undercover police officer riding with the gang might soon testify in front of a grand jury. we will break down the latest in a very complicated case. also, last week the dow was surging when it looked like washington was close to a deal on the shutdown and the debt ceiling. now three days before a big deadline with nothing really on the table, we'll look at what it all means to the markets and your bottom line. the dow is down about 64 points as you can see there.

fox business network's lauren simonetti is here to fill us in. she's live.

arthel: this just in. we have new video here of the carnival cruise line which a little boy drowned in the pool on the ship there he is identified as 10-year-old quentin hunter from winter garden. he is six years old.

his 10-year-old brother who was at pool at the time. he is safe and sound. passengers immediately pulled the boy from the water. they began cpr but to no a veil. the child is pronounced dead at the scene. this carnival cruise line this was the last leg after four-day caribbean cruise. this happened unfortunately when the boy drowned. no foul play seems to be at issue at this point. very sad. jon: right now, markets are reacting and not in a good way to the government shutdown and concerns about the debt ceiling. take a live look at the big board, down 55 points right now. this comes after the market picked up steam last week, closing up more than 300 points on thursday and more than 100 points on friday. now with the deadline for the debt ceiling just three days away there is growing concern over the impact on investors. lauren simonetti from the fox business network has the latest for us. lauren. >> good to see you again. it is kind of crazy on

wall street. we have a standoff on washington and a we have a selloff on wall street. stocks are down this columbus day reversing last week's gains. thursday and friday the dow surged a combined 434 points on those two days alone on a hope for deal to avoid default on government borrowing that optimism turning into pessimism today as the weekend negotiations in congress stalled. the dow as you can see giving up another 58 points. in just three days from now the government will likely deplete its ability to borrow money and focus shifting to the senate to stop that from happening. leaders harry reid and must have mitch are trying to craft a compromise. both the house and session are in session this columbus day. wall street is watching but sees no guaranties and unprecedented debt default will be devoided -- avoided. nothing will be market or wallet friendly if the u.s. does in fact default. we will start to see the

pressure on the bond market. it is closed today for the holiday but stay tuned tomorrow. it is also worth pointing out that markets are not only very resilient but very patient. if you look at price of gold, it is up a little bit by $12 but the yellow the metal has not seen a lot of safe buying last two weeks that the government has been partially shut down. that is the polar opposite two years ago when we saw tensions rise over the debt limit and gold then hit record highs. we're not seeing that this time. you could argue that hope is still alive for an 11th hour deal and some hope is alive for the fed to cushion the blow if there is not a deal with more money printing of course. markets react in very strange ways. futures were looking at triple-digit move to the downside at the open. we haven't seen that we have four out of six days with triple digit moves f you read tape, the read the markets you see what happens. jon: wall street likes certainty. nobody seems to know what will happen come wednesday.

>> clock is ticking. >> lauren simonetti. arthel: thanks, lauren. there are new details emerging from that biker attack on an suv driver in new york. an undercover police officer who was riding with the motorcyclists during the assault will reportedly testify before a grand jury. now he is one of the seven bikers charged so far in the attack. each suspect facing charges ranging from unlawful imprisonment to bank assault. meanwhile some of the bikers are now claiming that the suv driver actually, he instigated the whole chase and attack by clipping one of the motorcycles on a new york city highway. that driver has not been charged as you may know. one of the bikers was badly hurt. doctors say edwin meese sees, jr., may never walk again. joining me are heather hanson, trial attorney and john man well. good to see you both this morning. >> good morning, arthel. arthel: heather, we'll talk about the undercover police

officer first. accused of being one of the key players in the attack. i heard he didn't see the assault. then we had later video surfacing where he punched out the back window of the suv. heather, where do the prosecutors go with that? >> they have charged him with gang assault, arthel. i think what will happen here when he testifies in front of the grand jury he will have to use the information he has as a negotiating tool to try to get immunity, the assault, the gang assault charge is a little bit overcharging. there is no evidence that we've seen he actually struck the driver of the suv. so as a tradeoff they may lessen that charge and he may give them a huge amount of information he has from his years riding with this gang. arthel: but, john, that is where we talk to you now, how does that work in his defense? he is saying yeah i was there. maybe i did, if he confesses to this, video shows me punch out the window but i did not come in contact with the family, the wife, baby or the driver? >> well only defense that see at

this point in time for the undercover officer he could say he was following the suv in order to solidify evidence against him for the hit-and-run. remember the suv claimed to hit one of the motorcycles. if the officer could show he was following the suv for purposes of investigating and gathering and collecting evidence that may be a defense but he has the problem of explaining to the prosecutors why he waited three days to report this incident. so in my opinion there's high-risks cooperating with the prosecution at this point. arthel: heather, are there any special circumstances involved or prosecutions involved because he is an under cover officer? >> there is separate internal affairs investigation. likelihood of him keeping his job i think is slim to none. that is something separate from the grand jury investigation. remember the police consistently said they're continuing to investigate and they're continuing to arrest. i agree with john he is in a tenuous position but i think he has a good teal to negotiate because he has a lot of information on these bikers he

can use in exchange for his freedom. arthel: john, let's talk about the driver. some of the bikers claim he instigated this whole ordeal by clipping one of the motorcyclists. how does that play in the favor of this driver, perhaps against this driver? will he ever see any criminal charges? >> that all depends on whether or not there is enough evidence to support a finding to have a criminal case filed against him. if there is not enough evidence or probable cause to arrest this driver, there won't be any charges filed. again it all depend if there is independent evidence, corroborating evidence showing that he did clip one of the bicyclists in advance. without that it will be very difficult to file criminal charges. arthel: you both have seen the horrific video of the guy smashing the helmet and driver's window of the suv we've seen it here. here is comes right now. this is reginald chance, 37 years old. he, this is right before the driver was dragged and beaten out of his car.

chance's lawyers say they will hotly contest those allegations, that he was not involved. the video shows a lot there. heather, any hidden roadblocks for the prosecution? >> i don't think so. the proof is in the video. as john said with regard to the suv driver, if he clipped him don't you think there would be video of that? these bikers were riding with video cameras on the helmets. you have video of showing chance breaking the window. i don't know how you possibly say i din do that. it will be a tough road for him to hoe. arthel: john, quick final 10 seconds. >> he could say he broke the window to stop him from getting away because a crime was commit. chance may have been trying to apprehend a criminal at this point. arthel: john, heather, thank you very much. i'm sure there are many more layers to peel back on this case. thanks, guys. >> thank you. jon: another crime to tell you about. right now a new hampshire mom is pleading for her daughter's safe

return. the girl disappeared last week after leaving school. laura engel with the latest in the fox news alert. laura? >> reporter: fbi special agent in charge of this case that the new hampshire fish and game department is using five k-9 search-and-rescue teams to search for abigail hernandez today. we want to look at this surveillance photo. this is the last known confirmed sighting of hernandez wednesday afternoon after she left her high school in conway, new hampshire. please are looking closely at the cell phone records. the last call she made was 6:30 that night in the area. her phone has not been found. abby, as she is known, turned 15 on saturday. her mother held the news conference the day after her birthday begging her to come home. investigators have received roughly 200 tips but they need locals to remain vigilant. >> in your own property, looking around your own house, the residence that you're in, any

outbuildings there. again there is no effort that is wasted here in making sure that we continue searching for young abigail. >> reporter: abigail's mother is also asking her daughter's friends to come forward if there were any recent changes in her behavior. local, state, federal agents are searching for abigail by land and air and also looking at local rivers and ponds. the fbi using its child abduction rapid deployment team and pulling agents as far as away from virginia on that. the medical examiner's office was called twice to the scene on saturday but for two unrelated cases. police are handing out posters with photos of abigail and stopping traffic to spread the word. there are billboards up with abigail's image and number to report tips. that number, 1-800-call-fbi. jon? jon: no sign of her since she walked out of high school? >> reporter: now sign of her. that was the last confirmed sighting. jon: laura engel, thank you. arthel: a san francisco man is

home and safe after being lost in the national forest for 18 days. hear his amazing story of survival. plus her idea of a shortcut, well it didn't work out too well. how a woman got trapped on a raised railroad bridge and what could happen to her now. >> hold on. ♪

(train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

>> welcome back. new next hour, concerns that the government shutdown could help illegal immigrants get jobs in the u.s. we'll tell you how some people may be able to slip past federal regulations. some business owners are enjoying the sweet smell of success. how honeybees are creating big bucks. listen up. a new study says something sweet could help you shed pound and keep them off. why chocolate could actually help with weight loss. jon: well, what started as part of a walk to aid breast cancer

ended in a harrowing ordeal for one florida woman after she wound up stuck on a railroad bridge a drawbridge that raised, leaving her dangling more than 20 feet in the air. the video quickly went viral but her story isn't over yet. steve harrigan tells it from miami. steve? >> reporter: jon, this railroad bridge goes over a river in fort lauderdale. ordinarily the bridge is straight up. only lowered as trains go by. it is marked by no trespassing signs and loud horns go off before the bridge goes up. this woman was coming from a 5-k charity event. she decided to take a shortcut to go over the bridge despite the signs and despite the horn and slowly she began to rise 22 feet in the air. >> they were telling her to stay on to the bridge and hold on and not to jump. not to lock her knees. >> it was really upsetting. people were really concerned. so it was a great relief that we found out she was okay.

>> reporter: the brigitte self is operated by remote control from tallahassee. operators offered firefighters to lower the bridge. instead firefighters on the scene very quickly use ad 24-foot ladder to help get the woman down. the entire operation took 20 minutes with a big crowd watching and sending out video. now likely the women will face charges of trespassing. jon. jon: so the bridge operators because they are remote had no idea sheer on the thing? >> reporter: they were informed pretty quickly. this happened on a saturday morning. they knew and could have lowered it in minutes. firefighters thought it would be safer to go up and get her. jon: steve harrigan. what a story, thank you. arthel: another amazing story now, talking about survival story, jon. 72-year-old san francisco man is home after being lost in the men today seen know national forest for 18 days. a group of hunters found him over the weekend. his son says the man used basic instincts to survive.

listen. >> he ate, squirrels, which he could catch. he ate lizards. he ate a couple of frogs and snakes and survival mode kicked in. if you have no food for 18 days, whatever protein he could get he did. arthel: snakes. jon: frogs. arthel: snakes, no. bugs, fine. leaves, yes. snakes. i might have to just check out. jon: you're hungry, you're desperate. arthel: i might have to check out at that point. good for the man. we're glad he is safe. jon: good for him. could have happened to you. arthel: no. jon: secretary of state john kerry now calling for a peace conference on syria saying a transition government is needed to replace the current regime. plus, a high-tech future for the u.s. military but will it be practical on the battlefield? we'll tell you about "iron man" come together army.

arthel: right now researchers are developing new military gear that sound like it comes straight it of an "iron man" movie. the army is saying that the high-tech armor will make soldiers nearly invincible, giving them superhuman strength, complete awareness of their surroundings and enhanced communications. it is expected to have 360-degree cameras, censors, listen to this, that can tell if the soldiers are wounded and patch them up. and a bullet-proof ex-owe skeleton. there is one problem, the big problem. the power to keep it all running. joining us is retired marine lieutenant colonel bill cowan, now a fox news military analyst. good to see you this morning. >> good to be with you, arthel. arthel: absolutely. tell us a little more before we get into the power issue a little more about the suits if they're built for efficiency, more safety? >> well look, the number one issues the soldiers will look at when they see a suit like this,

not how better it prepares me but how much to weigh carry around on battle feed. that is a where scientists and engineers have to focus a lot of attention. power is important. great situational awareness, superhuman strength, better communication, you can have all the things, but put can't move because you have this great big suit on you, we're really talking about the difficulty to operate in tactical situations. arthel: we're showing some video there. so do you know how much this thing weighs at this point? >> i don't think they have announced any of that. i noticed in the name they have for this, they do call it the light operator system. there may be a reason they're using word light because trying to get everybody thinking out there it will be light. arthel, when we look at your young men and women who are tramping hills and fields of iraq or afghanistan or wherever else we may be they're carrying enormous loads with them. to add a lot more stuff, it looks good, sounds good on

paper. may look good in laboratory or demonstrations but reality is, it may indeed work in some situations but certainly will not work in all situations. arthel: we saw the shot of the soldier on the treadmill with the light pack on is what they're calling it. do we know how much, they really tested it on the soldiers both male and female sold officers. >> i haven't seen anything that tells us what they have done. i'm sure they have done some testing. scientists, engineers, i know from experience they tell a good story and get people all fired up but reality this program, this suit, whatever it comes out of this may be many, many years out there we have we see it fielded. we may see bits and pieces fielded incrementally. the f-35 joint strike fighter, first contract, i realize exactly the same, it is a high-tech system, the first contract for that was let out in 1995. it won't be fully operational for a few more years. that is 20 plus years. this sill, i think we're still in the earliest stages. we have a long way to go before it is really out there and

fielded. some pieces of it may be fielded. i wouldn't argue that everything is not necessary but but i would argue from the perspective of somebody who spent a lot of time hiking mountains and fields and hills and what have you. every little pound that is added to what i had to carry or what the future soldiers, men and women will have to carry makes a big difference when you're out there engaged in battle. >> no doubt. we certainly don't want to rush anything. we don't want to do anything that would hamper the efforts of the folks on the ground there. before i let you go, colonel, tell me though, wouldn't you say technology is a key component in war? i'm sorry to do this, i have like 20 seconds. >> no question about it, arthel. i take no exception to them trying to develop these kinds of technologies. the reality is, if this entire system or any components of it save one american man or woman's life on the battlefield, it is worth whatever we had to pay for it. arthel: absolutely, colonel, thank you very much. >> thank you. jon: just getting word out of

the white house that three hours from now leaders of both parties in the house and senate will head to that building to meet with the president and the vice president, joe biden, who has been all but invisible on this debt ceiling negotiation. jackie: there are plenty of things i prefer to do on my own. but when it comes to investing, i just think it's better to work with someone. someone you feel you can really partner with. unfortunately, i've found that some brokerage firms don't always encourage that ki.

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arthel: right now, some big developments on our top stories and breaking news this hour. jon: the white house and lawmakers on capitol hill working through the holiday to solve the budget crisis. we just got word they will be headed to the white house at 3:00 p.m. eastern. that is a few hours away. we'll have all of the latest news as we get closer to a debt ceiling deadline. one group taking advantage of the partial government shutdown, people here illegally looking for work. we'll tell you why. also, one tasty treat thought to pack on the pounds could actually help die dieters lose weight. the doctor is in with your prescription of for chocolate. it is all "happening now." fox news alert.

and as the government shutdown drags on, i'm jon scott, we're learning that the big four congressional leaders will go to the white house 3:00 p.m. eastern, three hours from now, to meet with president obama and vice president biden. arthel: i'm arthel neville. the president will beholding another beating today with bipartisan congressional leaders with no deal yet to get the full government running again and avoid hiting a debt ceiling deadline just three days away. senator john barrasso told us earlier raising the limit will not help us pay our bills. we need to control our spending. >> we can not continue to spend at the rate that we're spending or the country is going to be bankrupt. we have a $17 trillion debt and what harry reid and the president have asked for is a new credit card. arthel: chief white house correspondent ed henry is live at the white house. so, ed, what's the latest where these talks stand? >> reporter: well, arthel, what you just mentioned is the most

important piece here, it is columbus day. it is very quiet at white house. the president's schedule has been wide open with nothing on it. in fact now, 3:00 p.m. eastern time, calling over these four key congressional leaders of both parties, harry reid, mitch mcconnell, nancy pelosi, as well as speaker boehner, suggests they're trying to force some sort of action here. what is significant the talks right now seem to be dead in the house. all the action in the senate between reid and mcconnell. what we're told by our colleague mike emanuel, our chief congressional correspondent, they're still bickering how long will they reopen the government? how long will the debt ceiling be lifted before we have to be back in these kinds of negotiations again? will it be six weeks, six months, a year, et cetera? you still have republicans wondering what kinds of concessions they may get for doing those two things. bottom line, is democratic senator joe manchin was on fox today. he suggested that they're pretty close to a deal but the details are fuzzy. >> we're still all alive. we got wounded but we didn't get

shot completely or killed. basically they're looking and seeing this is a bipartisan group that worked very good, i think in the best interests of our country how we get the country back open, the to serve the people we came here to do and get a long-term or bigger deal basically and get into a conference. >> reporter: one other sign we might be getting closer to a deal is what you mentioned moments ago which is vice president biden will be at the meeting with president obama. he has been largely absent from these talks because we're told senate majority leader harry reid did not want to be there because he previously cut deals democrats in the end didn't like. yesterday republican senator john mccain said on cbs, we need to get in his words, joe biden out of the witness protection program. apparently he is coming back, arthel. arthel: with the vice president getting more involved does this mean there is a new sense of urgency to cut a deal? >> perhaps. like i said, it is very quiet here at the white house, beyond that meeting at 3:00 p.m.

they buy by the way had meetings like this recently and they have gone nowhere, we should point out. over in the senate, very little action over the weekend. they're just coming back into session today at two p.m. we're three days away from potentially going into default. people in both parties in washington right now operating in slow motion. senator bob corker, a republican, a little while ago was saying that time is running out. take a listen. >> after you reach an agreement which hasn't been done yet, it can take as many as four days to move a bill across the senate floor. then you have the house. i mean they're going to want to weigh into this. so i still think it's dicey. >> reporter: so that is the bottom line. even if they were to cut a deal this afternoon at the white house, 3:00 p.m. eastern time, you would still have to get that through the senate floor, deal with potential filibusters and the like, and then get it through the house. as bob corker points out, house republicans have not suggested yet they're willing to give in

on these things. so we're still very far from a deal right now, arthel. arthel: boy, you know what smh means? shaking my head. you know that, ed henry. thank you very much. >> reporter: probably some other acronyms people are pointing to we can't repeat. >> i bet. thank you, ed. jon: so we won't. while the shutdown drags on with another big meeting set at the white house this afternoon it looks like president obama is beth the gop will blink first, keeping obamacare intact while reopening the government and raising the debt ceiling. is president right? or will republicans call his bluff? joining us now, our own bret baier, anchor of "special report." all indications, bret, thepy thinks he is winning this battle? >> definitely, jon and senate majority leader harry reid thinks he is winning this battle as well. and if he looks at the polls, depending which polls he looks at, clearly republicans took the brunt of the negative feelings at the beginning of this.

i would argue that all parties took a pretty big hit though and are taking a hit as this continues on. i will say senate majority leader reid, seems like the senate democrats and the leadership were trying to make a stand here to go back to presequester numbers. in other words, funding that was above the sequester. that was the last debt ceiling deal. senator joe manchin, you heard him, earlier saying, listen that might be a little bit of an overreach. we could be getting into this gamesmanship up against the backboard of thursday's time when the treasury secretary says he has run out of options to moving money around. jon: so susan collins, republican of maine, came forward with a deal that would have funded the government through mid-march, as i understand it, raised the debt ceiling through january. she also tacked on a proposal that would have eliminated, eliminated from obamacare that

tax on medical devices but democrats did not bite. why not? >> well, again, i think they feel empowered and i think they want to get as many scalps on the republican side as they can. this is what they believe an environment where they're winning. i will say, and i think senator manchin mentioned this, and i think senator collins talked about it may come back to that kind of a deal to get through this negotiation and, from everything we're hearing from mike emanuel up on the hill and our producers up there that senator reid and senator mcconnell are talking and the only difference is about the time frame, of how long to do the continuing resolution to fund the government and how long to do the debt ceiling increase. each one wants a different result because senator reid would like to argue against the sequester and go back to those presequester numbers. senator mcconnell would like to fight the deal on the debt

ceiling earlier and sooner because that's a winning hand for republicans. most people get their head around the country can't keep spending at $17 trillion in debt. jon: well the president has said we have had reduced government spending for the last couple of years. that's part of the sequester, right? >> sure. part of the sequester. part of the administration's effort and, you know, whatever you, however you put down the deficit reduction, you're still looking into the future if you look at the congressional budget office and other estimates of about one trillion dollars deficit for a long time and that adds up, you know, in the national debt. then you add the equation of possible inflation if interest rates go up. suddenly you're paying, if interest rates go up just two points, you're paying more on interest on the national debt than you are for defense and those are numbers that are hard

to calculate but they're factored into people's thinking. jon: we have some big, long-term fiscal problems and, bigger than just getting this current budget fight figured out over the next month or six months, whatever they decide to extend it to. bret baier, thank you. >> thank you, for more on the news from the nation's capitol, you can catch bret, he hosts "special report", every night at 6:00 p.m. eastern right here on fox news channel. >> meantime secretary of state john kerry is wading into the issue of the bloody civil war in syria, calling for an international peace conference to set up a transitional government, calling the issue quote, imperative. >> president assad has lost the legitimacy necessary to be able to be a cohesive force that could bring people together. and that it is clear that in implementing geneva one, which

is the only purpose for having the geneva conference now, that there has to be a transition government. there has to be a new governing entity in syria in order to permit the possibility of peace. arthel: steve centanni is live in washington now with the latest. hi, steve. >> reporter: hi, arthel. yeah, john kerry turning up the heat on syria now, insisting that there needs to be this international peace conference as soon as possible. now planning for a peace conference has been underway since last year in geneva but the urgency is you know lined by recent car bomb attacks. another car bomb exploding in the rebel-held northern part of the country killing a dozen people. this comes after two car bomb attacks yesterday in the capitol city of damascus. this is the third year of the syrian civil war and it already has killed 100,000 people. kerry is in london on the last stop of an extended two week-overseas trip that takes him into japan,.

he met with the envoy with syria and kerry says it is imperative to get the so-called general navy have ii conference organized by the november 2 target the united nations has set. >> moving toward an inclusive conference that will offer the best opportunity to end the violence, to provide for a new syria, to deal with the humanitarian catastrophe that is only getting worse by the day, and ultimately to try to find a way to have peace and stability, not just in syria but in the region. >> reporter: meantime the syrian opposition said today in turkey that syrian president bashar al-assad needs to leave office before any peace process begins. the international group trying to destroy syria's chemical weapons, says they need a series of local cease fires to accomplish their goal.

the fighting is preventing access to important rebel-held areas. arthel: steve centanni, thank you very much. >> reporter: you bet. jon: illegal immigrants are finding it easier to get jobs in this country thanks to the government shutdown. we'll tell you how they might be exploiting it to find work. plus an alarming new study danger of earthquakes in california. why los angeles could be very vulnerable when the next big one hits. you really love, what would you do?" ♪ [ woman ] i'd be a writer. [ man ] i'd be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker.

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jon: there are new concerns that illegal immigrants can exploit the government shutdown to get a job because the online system that allows epployers to verify whether newly-hired workers are here legally is not available. alicia acuna is live in denver with that. alicia? >> reporter: jon, he, e-verify is a federal program that

employers can use for vetting employees, perspective employees, to check the name, date of birth, social security and citizenship and during the government shutdown it is not considered essential. there are critics talking about this and talking about their concerns that since october 1st, there are people all over the country who have been hired who have not really been checked. e-verify is an automated system that went off-line. meantime businesses can use employment eligibility form, also known as the i-9. >> i-9 is a piece of paper you fill out. you send in and put them in boxes in a cave near kansas city. there is no feedback to an employer to tell you, yeah, you did good. this person really is legally allowed to work here. >> reporter: now, the center for immigration studies tells fox news the i-9 form is basically the old way of doing things. it is susceptible to false documents, false claims of citizenship and identity fraud.

its deficiencies are a big part of why we now have e-verify. >> for those businesses whose business plan it is to use illegal workers they now have this window of opportunity in which they can skirt federal law and take on illegal employers, employees and nobody will know the difference. >> i talked to the owner of bailey's moving and storage here in denver area. he said he stopped hiring when e-verify went down and hopes to wait until the government shutdown is over. he is working with the chief financial officer and corporate tern to figure out the next step. he and others told us they believe the i-9 system can be gained. we talked to immigration and services about the criticism people could take advantage. e-verify being done. we were told, quote, we won't respond to that a human resources person said employers can not discriminate against people they are hiring. while e-verify is down and they have to hire and wait until the system is back up before they can check their backgrounds.

jon? jon: alicia acuna in denver. thanks. arthel: coming up, bipartisan congressional leaders set to meet with president obama again today but the last white house meeting didn't go very well. is the media, are the media doing a good job keeping lawmakers on point about the shutdown? plus, it is not unusual to feel the ground shake in california. safety officials say lots of buildings in los angeles aren't as earthquake-proof as you might think. when you have diabetes like i do, you want a way to help minimize blood sugar spikes. support heart health. and your immune system. now there's new glucerna advance with three benefits in one. [ male announcer ] new glucerna advance. from the brand doctors recommend most. [ male announcer ] new glucerna advance. fby eating healthier, drinking plenty of water, but still not getting relief? try dulcolax laxative tablets. dulcolax is comfort-coated for gentle, over-night relief. dulcolax. predictable over-night relief you can count on.

arthel: right now chilling new research revealing previously unknown potential dappinger in california. according to an exhaustive study by "the los angeles times", more than 1,000 older concrete buildings in l.a. may be at risk

of collapse in a major earthquake. california is way overdue for another big quake and just to remind our viewers of a few of the most devastating quakes in the golden state, the northridge quake in southern california, damaged about 4,000 buildings and killed about 60 people. that was in 1994. in 1998 the loma quake centered in santa cruz killed more than 60 people. collapsed part of the bay bridge, remember that, and caused big fires in san francisco and caused about $6 billion in property damage. of course the most famous, the massive san francisco earthquake and fire that killed thousands back in 1906 and caused almost complete devastation. john ebel is a seismologist and director of the westin observatory, department of earth and environmental sciences at boston college. good to see you, sir, this morning. >> good day. arthel: i want to start, first of all, are you surprised by the

relatively large number of buildings in los angeles area are not earthquake, if you will or in major danger in the event of a big one? >> well, i'm not surprised. los angeles is a very large city. of course we have buildings that have been built in modern times and many buildings have been built says the 19 '20s, '40s, '50s, before modern seismic building codes took effect. arthel: we're talking about buildings that don't have enough steel reinforcement, is that right? >> that's right. in the early part of the 20th century, especially earthquakes like the 1933 long beach earthquake emphasized how vulnerable brick buildings were in the cities, especially los angeles. many of those buildings have been either replaced or retrofitted. now engineers are looking at another class of vulnerable buildings, ones made of con cleat that have relatively steel in them.

concrete can crack and break in strong earthquake shaking and potentially the buildings can come down. arthel: if you have or own one of those buildings is there any way to reinforce them without having to completely tear down the buildings? >> there are ways to reinforce them. the difficulties are if the buildings exist and are okay paid, it's very expensive both to dot retrofit and of course to lose the economic capacity of the building while the building is being retrofitted. so we have a cost versus safety issue here that really is being debated right now. arthel: of course, i mean we know safety is important. you're right, there is a cost there and the cost to get a structural analysis on your building definitely is not cheap. >> it's not cheap and not only that but engineers can't just look at the outside of a building and know whether it has been built properly and reinforced properly or not. they have to go into the

interior of the building. sometimes they have to core into walls to figure out how much steel is in some older buildings because the building plans don't even exist anymore. arthel: i believe some of the cost for the structural analysis can get up to like $100,000. a lot of money for someone who is owning property out there. let me move on because you're a seismologist. i have you here. sir, is there any way to predict when that next big one that everybody has been hearing about for years might hit california? >> boy, i wish i knew. no seismologist anywhere in the world, either in the united states or japan or china or anywhere, anywhere can predict earthquakes at the present time. the, the best research right now is actually going toward early warning. having sensors out that detect an earthquake when it occurs and then give a few to several seconds to maybe a couple of tens of seconds warning to urban area that seismic waves are about to strike.

there are elements of that kind of system operating in japan, for example, and california is now talking about building such a system. it will take a while but that will help some. arthel: yeah. of course any help is definitely needed but when you hear 10-second warning for a major earthquake, i mean you really, what could you do in those 10 seconds to protect yourself or your loved one? >> well, for example, schools, if a 10-second warning could be given to schools, and you can get the students to do a standard duck, cover and hold, potentially you can save awful lot of injuries in a situation like that. you can get, heavy machinery stopped. in japan the train system, the bullet trains are actually stopped when there are warnings that come in. they only need a few seconds to do that. so we don't save the whole population with early warning systems but they help safety in some instances. arthel: indeed.

dr. john ebel, thank you very much for your time this morning. >> you're welcome. jon: normally we would look ahead to the october jobs report due this friday but because of the shutdown this is all we've got. what it means to possibly lose a key economic information forever? we've been reporting for the past several years on a disturbing trend as well. colony collapse disorder. honeybees getting sick and dieing in huge numbers. scientists say they're not sure what causes it but new evidence suggests several factors may be at play including pollution, habitat loss and pesticides but some beekeepers are fighting back. phil keating surrounded by bees for us in florida. phil? >> jon, we're amongst 40 very strong beehives. lee is holding up one of the trays, producing a whole lot of nectar and eventually a whole lot of honey. there is a lot of money not in

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arthel: "happening now," the labor depat employees would normally be collecting jobs data for october this week, but because of the shutdown, this is the most current information we have. the august jobs report showing the unemployment rate at 7.3%.

so what does this mean that this key economic indicator just might be gone forever? fox business network's senior washington correspondent peter barnes is life at the white house. so, peter, what does this mean for policymakers there at the white house, the federal reserve as well as congress? >> reporter: well, right now they're kind of flying blind, is the bottom line, and this important jobs report for the month of september was supposed to come out on october 1st, released by the labor department, but it did not past october 4th, rather, it did not come out on october 4th because the department was closed because of the government shutdown, and it looks like the shutdown is going to delay the next report, the monthly report for the month of october to that's due to be released on november 1st. not only are there no economists and analysts at the labor department to analyze the data, there are no labor department workers or census workers around

to collect the data this week. the labor department's methodology is to collect the data by phone, by person and by survey each month the week after the so-called reference week, and that reference week is the day that the 12th -- the week that the 12th day of the month falls in. so the reference week for october was last week. the data collection week is this week. so this delay means that policymakers will be making important, multibillion dollar decisions on the part of taxpayers that impact the economy but with less information about the economy. in. >> certainly, right now the economic data is as important as it ever is. there are a lot of policy decisions going on not only at the federal level, but the state and local level. the state is really important. and something that i think is underappreciated, it really is used directly by businesses and

households. >> reporter: now, other government reports that are going to be delayed or at least are at risk include the consumer price index, the import/export price report, the producer price, the wholesale price report that comes out every month, retail sales and the monthly treasury statement which shows us how much the government is taking in and spending. shows us what the monthly deficits are. arthel: so, peter, does all of this have any impact on ordinary people? >> reporter: it sure does. for example, the consumer price index report, this one, the one that is delayed, would be used to buy the government -- by the government to calculate the annual cost of living adjustments for social security checks. and so because that report is delayed, the final number for the amount that those checks will be increased for about 60 million social security recipients looks like it will be delayed as well. back to you guys.

arthel: peter barnes, thank you very much. jon: well, a fox news alert now, there may be some movement over this budget stalemate on capitol hill. senate democratic leader harry reid says we are getting closer to a deal on the debt limit and reopening the government. they hope to present it to president obama at 3 p.m. eastern today when they meet at the white house with leaders of both parties and both houses of congress. that's about two and a half hours from now. also getting word that he says we're getting very close to that deal. what's in it? we don't know. perhaps we'll find out after that white house meeting, again, two and a half hours from now. so as we get closer to the debt ceiling deadline, the nation's debt continues to go up, and the political rhetoric is heating up. republicans and democrats slamming each other on the airwaves, taking an almost biblical eye for an eye approach

to the budget battle. so are the media doing a job of keeping the coverage balanced? let's talk about it with jim pinkerton, contributing editor and writer for the american conservative magazine, alan colmes is author of "thank the liberals for saving america." >> you're welcome, by the way. jon: what do you think about the coverage so far, alan. >> >> first of all, there's not equivalency. we have to cover the democrats' responsibility for this equality to the republicans' responsibility for this. as john mccain said on fox news, this is a republican issue. it's their strategy that did this, so i don't see that we have to give equal time to who caused it to each side because it's not equivalent. jon: all right. >> the republicans did it. jon: jim, what do you think about that? >> the question i'd be asking is whose idea was it to cancel the death benefit for our service people in iraq and afghanistan? whose idea was it to close down

the world war ii memorial? to shut down the bureau of labor statistics while camp david stays open? the media narrative has been unbelievably anti-republican. brian williams and nbc news two nights in a row led with their own poll, turning it into news, that the columnists for "the new york times" and washington post are busy making fun of ted cruz's name as if that's a good idea. the media are remarkably uncurious about, for example, what the washington times reports a national park service employee says our orders are to make things worse. why isn't the secretary of interior being called up to say, listen, exactly what procedures and protocols did you use to decide to -- >> you're talking about one e-mail from some errant bureaucrat. you know what's not reported in all of this? and, again, i go back to what john mccain said, he gets it. hardly reported is the fact that there already was a negotiation and that the president agreed to

2008 spending levels, that's ardly gotten -- hardly gotten any press, and also the fact that speaker boehner and republicans snuck in -- this was nowhere in the mainstream media -- a rule change just before the 30th that previously anybody could bring the reopening of the government up for a vote, they changed it so only the speaker could do it, and that hardly got any attention in the mainstream media. jon: let me read you a quote from "the washington post." they say republicans have no one but themselves to blame for how the public perceives their actions on the shutdown. the decision to link keeping the government open with defunding or delaying obamacare was clearly a strategic misstep that allowed obama to paint republicans as idealogues bent on achieving their political ends no matter the consequences for the country. i guess that depends on how it's reported, jim? >> right. i mean, the washington post has its view.

they do a couple stories a day on the front page and another two or three op eds inside denouncing republicans at every opportunity. look, there's no question they're winning, you know, the media spin war here because, of course, the media are on their side. that's what it was always two against one. however, meanwhile, the fact is that the train wreck of the obamacare, you know, sign-up operation has been known for months, back in march the held of the information technology part of the obamacare operations said, look, i'm nervous about this, i hope we can just avoid what he called, quote, a third world experience, unquote, signing up. that was seven months ago, of course, and he was completely right, and yet the media don't seem to be interested in calling him up. >> you're talking about something -- you're talking about an i.t. problem. you're right. and if republicans had just sat back and said it's not going to work,ed that hay not overshot by holding the government hostage to trying to overturn an already-settled law and affirmed

by the supreme court, they could have talked about how terrible it was and had some credibility. by the way, almost every poll shows -- this is not media spin -- almost every poll shows that americans really are blaming the republicans for this. it's not spin that a they did what they did. it is a fact. jon: but, again, i guess it comes down to how their actions are reported, and, you know -- >> actually, it comes down to facts. jon: what the people are reading in their morning papers. alan, jim, good to have you on. >> thank you. arthel: growing concerns about bees in this country. you've heard about it, it could lead to huge economic losses. the population of bee colonies is collapsing. recently hitting a 50-year low. now, scientists aren't exactly sure what's wrong, but they believe pollution, pesticides and habitat loss is playing a role. but it's not all bad news for the bees. the beekeeping business is booming. newly-enlisted beekeeper phil keating is live now from miami

with more. hey, phil. >> reporter: hi. we are surrounded by about two million honeybees right now, and they're absolutely critical not only to the nation's economy, but also our food supply because they say one out of every three or four bites of food you put into your mouth is there thanks to the honeybee. >> well, it's been said it's one of the hardest occupations in america. >> reporter: lee is a bee man. >> the nectar stimulates the queen to lay eggs. >> reporter:he and his beekeepers maintain 3,000 hives constantly surrounded by stingers. is that just part of the job for you? >> well, it's an occupational hazard. >> reporter: florida's bee economy is surging right now as seven people per day are registering to become beekeepers. there's profits to be made, but i recommend wearing gloves. >> liquid gold. >> reporter: and most of the money's not in the honey, it's in pollination. florida beekeepers lease their

hives all over the country -- especially california -- for six week pollination turns. >> bees turn flowers into fruits and vegetables. >> reporter: of course, most of us think of bees as painful pests. >> we try to save as many bees as we can. >> reporter: leo gosser also extracts problem hives from people's houses but always keeping the bees alive. >> we eat honey every day. we love honey. >> reporter: life is sweet. >> life so sweet. >> reporter: now, you see this is a very strong, healthy hive. this frame here has a whole lot of honey, but as i mentioned, you could get maybe $400 in some farmlands in california to lease out your beehives for that pollination tour. and most of the people that are registering as beekeepers nationwide and here in florida, most of them are doing it right in their backyards, backyard beekeepers in the neighborhood, maybe eight or ten hives in the backyard. primarily, it's for the honey, but for commercial beekeepers,

they're seeing a thursday of the beehive colonies collapse every year, so it certainly is very critical that more and more people get enthusiastic and get over their fear of the stinger. arthel: that's right. very good reporting. thank you, phil keating. jon: not your story. arthel: no. i don't kill bees, i know better, but i'm not trying to be around them. just saying. jon: we leave that to keating. a big shakeup for a widely-anticipated film. 50 shades of grey, why the producers of the movie version are once again looking for a leading man. and the undead taking over the streets for the eighth annual zombie walk. as a zombie hit returns to the small screen, julie banderas has the 411. [ coughs, sneezes ]

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>> thanks for visiting me here in the hair chair. >> i just wanted to let you know there are curlers in your chair.

>> i'm going to take those out. meanwhile, we have chris stirewalt coming on. he believes senate democrats are trying to run out the clock. he'll explain. >> also tomorrow is two weeks since obamacare started, and could the glitches doom the entire law? coming up. >> i'm going to take out the curlers, and we're going to see you at the top of the hour. >> please do. [laughter] jon: 50 shades of grey producers in search of a leading man again, and a zombie lover's delight returns to the small screen. julie banderas has the fox 411. arthel: do tell. >> reporter: yes, i will. first, to the box office for what scored big this weekend, the out of this world 3-d sci-fi blockbuster gravity starring sandra bullock and george clooney topped the box office with an estimated $44 million. the film broke a record its first weekend out last week banking more than $55 million, making it the biggest october

opening in history. in second place was the intense-based on real life thriller captain phillips with tom hanks. while the family-friendly animated flick cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2 rounded out the top three. and speaking of films, one that should do pretty well when it comes out is actually without its lead star. sons of an archie's charlie hunnam who won the coveted role of christian grey in 50 shades of grey has suddenly quit. turns out his busy tv schedule is not allowing him enough time to prepare for the role of christian grey according to the film makers who put out a statement. so now producers are back to the drawing board, and they are searching for a new star to play opposite dakota johnson who will be playing anastasia steele. e.l. james tweeted after the announcement i wish charlie all the best. shooting of the film is set to begin in november. and now on to the small screen following a very long wait for zombie lovers. last night the walking dead

returned for a fourth season with anticipation of it being bigger and better than previous years. the most successful cable drama delivered scenes like walkers raining down on survivors through a hole in the ceiling during a supply run. it likely also delivered in ratings. it doesn't hurt, though, that the show premiered on the final day of new york comiccon for all those geeks out there watching where they dressed up and attended the event. every single year i have a good friend that attends one of these, i don't quite understand, but apparently it does prove the loyalty of this fan base. either of you a fan? jon: i'm not, i'm not a fan, but -- >> there's no fly fishing in it, jon. jon: my daughter visited comicon. arthel: i bumped into batman literally this weekend. thanks, julie. hey, are you trying to lose weight? put away the guilt can and pick up that chocolate. up next, a study that's turning the diet world on its

chocolatety head. jon: yum. [ male announcer ] hurry in to red lobster's crabfest, with three entrées under $20. like our new snow cb and crab butter shrimp, just $14.99. only at red lobster where we sea food differently. [ male announcer ] now try 7 lunch choices at $7.99. sandwiches, sals, and more. [ male announcer ] now try 7 lunch choices at $7.99. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one's around, it does make a sound? ohhh...ohhh...oh boy! i'm falling. everybody look out! ahhhhh...ugh. little help here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you...well, you know.

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♪ ♪ arthel: here we go, chocolate lovers may now have the best of both worlds, indulging a sweet tooth and shedding pounds. a new study finds that dieters who keep on enjoying their favorite foods are more likely to lose weight. too good to be true? let's ask dr. ken campbell, assistant professor of medicine at the university of north carolina. docker let's get right to it. a lot of people are like, great, i can munch on my m and ms, true or not true? >> not true. this is a study that looked at using small amounts of chocolate. when you diet, if you exclude items, you're doomed to failure.

arthel: yeah, because you're going to crave it. >> exactly. everything in moderation. exercise has to be a part of this. it's still calories in versus calories out. now, i will say chocolate does help, it helps you burn more calories because it has caffeine, it has some fat that makes you feel more pull and not craving something as soon as you finish the chocolate. arthel: i keep the 60% dark chocolate mint balls, i keep one of those in my desk, and if i feel the need, i pop one of those. >> very smart. it was even shown in one study to extend life span by one month in a group of men that were studied. arthel: so i have no control when it comes to chocolate, but most people really love it. how much can they really have? >> you know, i think reasonable amounts like a little block of chocolate every day rather than depriving yourself and then gorging on something. and that's going to force you to eat more than you would have normally.

so just everything in moderation. arthel: but a lot of the companies are getting onboard with the dark chocolate, even hershey's kisses come in the dark chocolate. >> and that's really important, because i think every company is trying to market chocolate for its health benefits, and giving it in smaller portions rather than the typical american large everything is very good for your health. arthel: and so you say we eat that little ball or block of chocolate per day, but is that enough to get the antioxidants that we are benefiting from eating the chocolate? >> it really is, and you're going to get those this other things as well, a glass of red wine can provide as well, and wine and cock late pair nicely -- chocolate pair nicely together. arthel: sounds good to me. i like you. [laughter] dr. campbell, really important information. a little piece of dark chocolate a day, and you're good to go. thank you. >> will thank you. arthel: jon, do you like chocolate? jon: love it. lots of it going to be given out on halloween which, of course,

is fast approaching, and when it comes to pumpkins, it's go big or go home. so how big was the greatest gourd of all? we'll show you this competition, next. when you have diabetes like i do,

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here's the good news story of the day. it involves an american soldier's dog to save the cat by the coyote. it happen in tampa, florida. a brave pit bull jumped in to rescue the kit from the cantors. the pack ran off after the putt bill intervened. she had injuries and her put bull buddy is not eving her side. >> a packed farm pumpkins. this group taking part in the giant pumpkin growers.

and weighing inn an astounding 1076 pounds. that is a big pumpkin. >> bring it in with a forklift. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you, guys, we start with a fox news alert. is that a deal on the horizon. a make or break meeting in the white house. i am allyson camerota. >> and i am bill hemmer. >> we are getting closer to a deal. >> president obama asked the big four from the congress to come over at 3 o'clock today. one major difference we are hearing about today. mike is on the hill. what is the difference? >> reporter: the big four is senator harry reid.