the morning how many people were home at that time. martha: gas explosion, the fbi says that is very preliminarying take what happened here. terrorism does not appear to be issue. they're investigating that. bill: our discussion continues with our colleagues of "happening now." see you tomorrow everybody, here on fox. >> bill and martha, we start off with fox news alert from new york city. police and firefighters responding to a massive building explosion and fire in northern manhattan. welcome to "happening now." i'm jenna lee. >> i'm jon scott. multiple people reportedly injured. at least one of them seriously according to local reports. residents report hearing a large explosion in this apartment building in east harlem. it happened around 9:00 a.m. i've seen that building many times. i ride the metro-north commuter train past that site every single day. and i passed it this morning. a couple of hours before this explosion. the. it is a residential building

built in 1910, according to city building department records, built in about 1910. 25 feet of frontage, 90 feet deep. much of that building as you see right now is gone. >> interesting information coming by way of cbs news. cbs is apparently interviewing the church owner of the neighboring, building, jon. there are two building, correct, with a piano shop and church at the bottom. maybe one major building that had the two business that is were street level. but here's what the church owner says right now. she says after prayer last night, that she smelled gas. she thought it was coming from a nearby deli, the northwest corner of the street of the she asked them about it. they said they would look into that. it is consistent with other reports from people we heard from in and around the neighborhood, saying last night smell of gas is in the air. >> reports of that coming out this morning. jamie colby is on the ground near the site of this explosion.

that is still burning. the fire results is still burning. jamie, what can you tell jamie may not hear you. >> forgive me, jon. jon, can you hear me? jon: we can hear you now. >> jon, i can hear you. jon: go ahead, jamie. >> forgive us for the mask, jon. the air is bit dangerous right now. hopefully you can hear me. fdny is continuing to come. at this point it is considered a four-alarm fire. they have 11 injuries described as not necessarily serious. there is one person in the hospital that may be. what happened this morning these buildings, one or two buildings, does appear right now to be two, came to a complete collapse. the explosion heard by someone i know all the way in new jersey.

we have nypd emergency management crews saying is anybody trapped in building? it all happened quickly. the church is on the group floor. we had a chance to speak to many people in the area. all whom they said that the entire neighborhoods rocked. what other buildings buildings a need to be stablized and very concerned evacuations are continuing. right now i tell you and you can see smoke continues to billow up in the air. i sent video i did on walk and talk you will take a look at in a short while. meantime right now there is not as much information as we'd like. the fdny saying again four-alarm fire. bomb squad on scene. at least 168 firefighters responding very, very quickly of the storefront, the church, also there was a nearby day-care center. fox news has spoken to care givers at center said the children did hear the explosion

and those in charge immediately began to think about 9/11. but at this hour, we have no clarification of exactly what happened. and we'll bring you the latest details as we get, as close as we can to the scene, jon. we want to make sure all of our folks are safe. jon? jon: jamie, jamie colby reporting live there from the ground you see the metro-north commuter train tracks run from grand central. run essentially underground emerge at 110th street. so the metro north commuter trains are shutdown because there is debris on the track because of the force of the explosion. this is a brick building and pieces of brick, windows and timbers were scattered for hundreds of feet. i have seen a lot of debris on

the building immediatelyly to the right. the building with the blond brick top. i watched them put that building up over over the last couple years. what led to the problem that ultimately caused this one to go up in smoke and flames, that is yet to be determined. again there was a smell of gas reported by many residents. >> you have to be concerned for the firefighters there dealing with the debris and smoke and others in the neighborhood. we are getting an idea of how many blocks perimeter people are dealing with the smoke and debris. we will hopefully get you a map of where this happened. this explosion happened at 9 a.m. in harlem. the bomb squad is on the scene.

we are not hearing reports of a bomb is to blame. we are hearing reports of gas smell. the fbi is look more into a gas leak or explosion that could have caused this sort of damage. >> the metro north tracks that pass by the building, metro north goes to connecticut and they are shutdown right now. >> the ceo of risk consultants is here and pat, you have been watching the scene with us as it has developed, what are you thinking? what is going through your head as you look into this investigation. >> hats off, first of all, to all of the emergency response people from the personal to dop. they got the daycare evacuated,

the train stopped, the buildings around them contained with a perimeter. so good stuff all around. the fact is that the preliminary investigations based on several eye-witness or nose witness accounts noticed gas the previous evening. that is pointing in that direction as you can see. >> let me ask you about that. we have two buildings in involve. 1644 and 1646 park avenue. north manhattan and east harlem. we are seeing stillsho shots. it is just north of time square. how many people are affected in

the neighboring areas? how are they approaching this? >> it is challenge because there is debris shooting out east, north, west and south so it difficult to spetalk about the injuries. and i don't know how many apartment units there were. it is hard to say how many would be home. it was after the beginning of the work day. the hospital reports are showing it isn't overwhelming. >> on the right side of the screen is a shot of what the buildings looked like before the explosion. the blue awning was the piano store. on the left was the spanish christian church.

and above them four floors of rental apartments in harlem. this is a working-class neighborhood. buildings that are old and sandwiched between newer buildings. there have been teardowns of older buildings going on. teardowns and reconstruction of low, 4-5, story buildings. it isn't clear where the explosion was centered today. whether it is 1644, i believe on the left. and 1646 on the right. again, jenna mentioned reports of the smell of gas in the search at 1644 park avenue. and one of the buildings appears to be gone. 1646 appears to be virtually gone. 1644 pretty much as well. it is really tough to tell

because of the smoke still billowing in this 5-alarm fire situation >> how is the effort coordinated between everybody? >> the nypd bomb squad and the case detectives would work with the fire marshal hand-in-hand and also involved would be the emergency management personality, and fdi. >> and who is taking the lead, pat, in the investigation at this point? >> it is difficult to say for certain because we don't know if there is fatalities or degree of injuries. but my sense is the detective squad would be the lead investigator on that. >> pat, if you would standby for

a moment. we will continue the coverage. we have another guest here >> the former commissioner of the new york fire department is here. chief, what is the first job? i suppose they are working on getting the fire out? >> they are assuming it was a massive explosion. they will figure out what caused it. the first thing is reporting if there is anyone in there. the reports are saying there is no one. but i think they are treating it as a rescue operation for a while. there is heat and debris and they are not getting the fire out as quickly as they will like. they lost water in the building and it is blowing up the basement probably, hopefully running somewhere.

. it is difficult situation to get in there. that is the biggest concern in there. i am sure there is rescue collapse guy and the rescue specialist are trying get in there just to see if anybody needs help. >> is there a danger of a second explosion? or bigger danger is potential more collapse? >> i would think that is what they worry about. but with an explosion like this, i don't think so. i think it is gas. i don't think there is a second setup. with all of the water in there, i think it is negated. they are worried to get the fire out because you cannot function with the heat there. anybody in there, in that situation, where they have trouble breathing, they can only last so long. >> let me ask you about the picture on the screen, i will

describe it to the viewers, we have the live shot to the left of the screen and we have a photograph supplied by the fdny's twitter account that shows the firefighters at work. so you can see here what the firefighters are dealing with. this is being referenced as a 5-alarm fire. can you walk us through what determines a fire alarm fire and what is the biggest challenge? >> the biggest challenge is trying to get someone in there. five alarm is the first unit comes -- first is 30-40 people and the alarm is continuing on top of that and getting to five is well over 150 people. so that is for relief purposes. it is going on for a long time. some people are exhausted and

some are taking a seat. hazmat is out after 15 minutes because of the breathing. >> the former commissioner of the fire department here. thank you for in sight. back with more in a moment. back with more in a moment. save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.ould yep, everybody knows that. well, did you know the ancient pyramids

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a fox news alert. we are watching the breaking news from northern manhattan today. you see the picture from east harlem where there was a building explosion. two buildings destroyed, a fire still burning and many units fire and police responding to the area, that is still dealing with the fire and debris in the streets. we will stay on this story. we are getting reports of injuries and potentially more. but we will work to confirm that before we can share that. >> good questions on the viewers

on the west coast wondering how close it is to yankee state stadium. i would guess a mile or two miles away. as the mystery deepens in the hunt for the missing malaysia plane entering its fifth day of the search. dozens of planes are scouring the water on both sides of malaysia looking any trace of the missing bowing 777. the search area is covering 37,000 square miles. that is roughly the size of the state of indiana. malaysia is asking india for help now. we are getting new information about the possible path of the plane. malaysia is saying it may have turned back from its last known position and that could put it as far as 250 miles from where it was last known. radar should have picked that

up, unless the plane's electrical systems were knocked out or turned off. >> the vessels in the aircraft, so many countries to cordinate. and i am feeling the search and rescue is becoming a search. but we will never give up hope. this we owe to the families. >> joining us now is david galer who is the director of the special projects and worked on the air france crash investigation. the plane that went down over the atlantic. and scott brenner, former chief executive for the faa. you cannot go underwater and find this until you know where it went into the water and they

don't seem to have a clue. >> no, and i think that is the most troubling part about this. one day malaysia authorities say this is where we have the plane tracking. the next day is we have it turning and a radar track of it flying over malaysia and then we lose it again. and today malaysian authorities say we didn't say that. it is confusing. it is large area they could be looking at. focusing your resources on the most likely place is difficult because no one knows what happened to the aircraft. >> let's talk about transponders and maybe you can correct me if i have it wrong. but it is a device inside the airplane that went it gets swept by a radar beam, the radar beam turns on the transponder. tickles it and says you are a bowing 777 flying for malaysian

and at 30,000 feet. but if they are out of range, the transponder will not work, correct? >> correct. >> and it can be turned off by a pilot or hijacker so it could have been flying over the land with no transponder function at all? >> you are absolutely right. i was talking to an air traffic controller about this. i said if the transponder goes off, can you track the aircraft and he said if they are flying at a low altitude, no. he had reports with a plane without a transponder disappeared from the screen and turned up in another sector. so this aircraft would be anywhere within how far you can fly for 4-5 hours. >> it could be in the ocean. we will get back to you in a

moment after this break. >> one of the biggest story of the day is a courtroom demonstration contradicting accounts in the murder trial of oscar pistorius centering around a bullet-riddled bathroom door.

back to the discussion of the malaysian airline flight and the 239 souls own board who are missing to this day. david galler is here and david the black boxes on the plane are supposed to transmit if they go in the water. they put out a pinning noise and how far can that be detected under water?

>> it could be hundreds of miles, but in reality the ocean can play tricks with sounds especially with mountains and valleys mixed in. i don't have a lot of faith in the present day transponders. >> in the air france crash, they were 10,000 feet down and they never got a good location on where they were pinning from. >> that is exactly right. it seems the search ships earlier on were near the transponders but never heard them. >> in the malaysia situation it wouldn't pay to pick mick -- micrkcr

microphones -- under the water? >> we have to try something. there is very few facts to go by. we thought we had the last known position, and that was a starting point. there is not a thread of evidence that the plane went to the water. >> as we continue to follow the case of the missing malaysia plane and the 239 on board, one story is coming to mind, the jet that killed pane stuart. air traffic controllers lost all contact with the flight 29 minutes in at 39,000 feet. the plane flew around for four hours and air force and the national guard tried to int

intercept reporting the windshield was frosted over. the final report was unable to pinpoint the cause of the crash. you can see the crater in the field in the dakotas where the plane went down. the investigator said it was probably do a loss of cabin pressure that caused the pilots to lose consciousness. they don't know what sparked the drop in the pressure. scott brenner is still with us. there could be parallels, i suppose, if there had been an explosive decompression that pulled all of the air out of the aircraft it could have gone on its own ghost flight but that doesn't explain the transponders. >> exactly right. the pane stuart crash i remember

clearly. the faa told us what was going on. we had an idea of the flight path and all of the members along the flight path were saying is this going to crash into my city or town. there was discussion to encourage the military to take action to get the aircraft out of the air. but the faa let it run out of gas. we were able to track the stuart plane from takeoff until it crashed. for this aircraft, we have no idea what happens. the malaysia military is saying they have a track, but they don't know what they have. so until we get experts that know about radar, we will not know where the plane is. >> the similarity is you don't need a conscious pilot for a plane to go on for a long

distance and that could be what happened to air malaysia. we don't know. >> thanks, scott brenner. returning to the breaking news of the morning. a buildings explosion in northern manhattan. we are just getting conformation from the new york police department to fox news that we do have one person dead, 17 others injured, but they don't have more details and are saying the numbers could increase. we are waiting on a live news conference from the fdny. 5-alarm fire and many of the units trying to get the blaze under control. >> a dramatic testimony in south africa. you will recall that oscar pistorius said he thought there was a burglar in the bathroom and shot through the door. the prosecution hauled the door into court and what do the tracks of the bullet say about

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evidence and it contradicted the testimony saying he wasn't wearing his legs when he fought the door >> i had my hands down to get them in the natural position, holding the handle of the bat. >> criminal defense attorney and a former prosecutor here. whenever you get a reenactment, it makes us pay attention. but what is the point in the no prosthetic or the prosthetic legs being a point? >> oscar pistorius, the defendant, related events and investigations and the prosecution is breaking it down showing it isn't true. >> because oscar pistorius said

after realizing what he had done, he put on his prosthetic legs and went to break down the door. that is his account and for the most part his account seem plausible. this is the one part for this forensic expert say he is not telling the truth. how big of a deal is it to the defense? >> i don't think it is big deal. it is more helpful if he is not on his prosthetics. it shows he was hysterical and grabbed the bat to get her out of there. even if the report is not consistent, it is excusable to be inconsistent because the reality he was on stumps, not his legs, helps him. >> it doesn't fall on the center of the case which is the actual intent when he pulled the

trigger, or does it? how do you see it? >> it is interesting. lawyers have a tendency to get into this too deep. i know it is lawyer, not a judge, but step back and think of the story. i thought there was a burglar in the bathroom. check to see if the door is locked, if it is, call an emergency number and if so, look where your girlfriend is. the defendant's story is ridiculous. why would you pump shots into a bathroom if you are not sure who is in there or you think it may be an intruder? it makes no sense. >> what about the lingering questions? >> i think that helps. the fact he has been reckless in

the past helps the defense. he lacks judgment when it comes to firearms. but it doesn't show negative intent. just recklessness. so the fact he is reckless in previous events is going to his case saying he lacks judgment but it doesn't mean he intended to kill anything. he was trigger happy but doesn't mean he wanted to kill his girlfriend. >> that seem plausible. we are seeing two stark differences when it comes to oscar pistorius. one you paint which is this doesn't make sense. and then we are getting talk about reeva steenkamp eating close to when she died and there is questions because that doesn't fit in with the account.

but then you have eva saying he was reckless. >> ladies and gentlemen, he fired a gun recklessly in a car. he fired a gun recklessly in a restaurant. he was, to put it simply, an accident waiting to happen >> that is right. an accident waiting to happen. not a murder. >> not litterallliterally. a trudgeic accide-- tragic acci- of man who was so enraged he pumped four shots into the bathroom. maybe it will be homicide instead of premeditated murder. but he is not walking out. >> i agree. he should be liable of reckless conduct but that is doesn't mean he should be convicted of

murder. it was a republican victory and the president is sounding the alarm for democrats on the november election. is he right to do so? we will take a look.

the "washington post" reporting that the obama is sounding alarment -- alarms -- for democrats. he is saying people don't vote in the mid-term because we get tired and lazy. joining us now is jonah and i don't know what says sexy like the mid-terms. >> i guess obama is too sexy for his mid-term.

don't set that to music. he is absolutely right. the electorate is better for the republicans in the mid-term. the president is good at getting the minorities to turn out for him. but like the 2010 mid-terms, the electorate is older and whiter and like lato have their insurance canceled >> does that mean they don't have to work as hard? >> no. it has messed things up and left chips on the table by not following through. the lesson from the florida

election is the ground game the republicans had was enough to beat the democrats. if they don't apply that across the board, they could blow it. >> let me ask you about the race. when you look at it, between the republican and the democrat, it was a win for the republican, but it wasn't a huge win and there is a big question about how much you can take from that one race and apply to the rest of the mid-term about what worked. this was, by the way, a republican district for many years, a long running congressman that passed away. so does it really tell us something broader about the mid-terms or is this just a lucky win? >> everybody is spinning this.

if the results had been the reverse, they would be switching sides to the other way. if you look at what the liberal political analyst like charley cook and you look at what the democrats said two months ago, this is a big deal. this is the race the democrats had to win. obamacare carried the seat in the last two elections. but it was a republican seat. alex sink, and no offense to jolly, but she was a strong candidate. known state-wide and more money and solid polytit litically and should have don won. it doesn't matter what you or i

think. democrats are skittish creatures right now and when they hear a scary sound they are running whether it makes sense or not. this is saying obama, obamacare and the economy are bad for democrats. >> that is where the spin is going today. the chairwomen -- chairwoman -- of the dnc says it is small because the focus on repealing the campaign but now the other side it is the obamacare care focus. do you think it was obamacare in this election? you mentioned in other districts, you mentioned democrats are afraid? what was it woodland creatures? it is really the obamacare spin? >> i think it in disputable that

obamacare is part of it. it doesn't, people will argue about the data for years, at the political and psychological level the democrats are taking from this, they will say look at all of the money like americans for prosperity put into ads for obamacare, look at sink said she wanted to fix it, they made obamacare an issue and jolly still won. so debby shultz who spins like a top sometimes can say what she want, but at the end of the day, her argument boils down to everybody knowing that jolly was against obamacare and sink was against it. and jolly won. the story is more complicated than that. but if you look at the "washington journal" poll,

it matters. >> and jonah, great to talk to you about this. >> let's get into the nuts and bolts of the race. republicans are elated saying this could be a thing to come in november. for the 13th district jolly is the winner. our senior national correspondent john roberts is live in clear water with the resu resu results. >> reporter: this is the first test during the mid-term year and it appears it passed with flying colors. a lot of republicans complained jolly wasn't the strongest

candidate but he came from behind to beat alex sink through obamacare and local issues. the fact he won over a candidate that was better known and had more money and won the governor positive race has the republicans predicting big things. >> i think republicans are in a good position and i am certain we will hold the house and begins to mean we look at taking the senate for real. sfwl >> keeping the house and maybe taking the senate. the republican congressional committee is excited about what happened but saying history shows just because you win a special election doesn't mean you will run the general. >> a change of heart that could save a little boy's life. a live-saving drug given to this

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certified. international. d the mail man picks it up. i don't leave the shop anymore. [ male announcer ] get a 4 week trial plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/fox and never go to the post office again. >> a young boy might get a new chance at life after a drug manufacture is changing its mind about giving an unapproved but might be live-saving drug to josh hardy. they initially refused but after public backlash they came up with a way to help him. >> josh hardy is in the children's hospital in memphis. he is fighting a viral infection he got after after earlier bone marrow transplant.

his family begged for the experimental drug and now they are getting it. the mom is thrilled. here she is: >> he is still fragile and weak. but i really appear optimistic about the potential of this drug. i really feel like within a couple weeks we will see a turn around and get him going in the right direction. >> reporter: the company that makes the drug had originally told josh's family they could not make him a special case and wouldn't give him this new drug. but there was a huge social media campaign, including a facebook page and thousands upon thousands of tweets, the company changed its mind and backtracked saying he is going to start the drug study today. they still pointed out it is difficult making decisions on

individual cases. they said in the statement and i quote being unable to fill request for compassionate use is not easy and not a decision anyone wants to make. it is essential that each individual in a health crisis be treated with equal gravity and value. nonetheless, josh hardy is due to start getting this drug today and the family hopes it will make a difference in as short as a couple weeks >> it is unapproved because they have not done the trials? >> reporter: that is what they are saying. they said it can slow down the development, but changed their mind in this case. breaking news on the deadly explosion after two buildings collapse in harlem. we will have a live report from the scene in a moment. the scene in a moment. (knocking)

the scene in a moment. hello? 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: fox news alert now. we are expecting the news conference from the fire department any moment from now, on a deadly explosion that took place in new york city about three hours ago. the associated press are reporting that two people are known dead, 17 others are injured. the powerful blast leveled two buildings on park avenue in upper manhattan. emergency crews were handing out masks as smoke poured from the two collapsed apartment buildings. service on the metro-north commuter line that runs past the scene has been suspend. that brought its own form of chaos. we'll update you with the latest throughout our broadcast. well, president obama, bypassing congress yet again. he is about to issue another executive order. some controversy there. we'll tell you about it. hello, i'm jon scott. jenna: hope you're off to a great day so far. i'm jenna lee. the president is about to sign a

new executive action expanding number of people that will qualify for overtime pay. critics are describing the move as a job killer. chief white house correspondent ed henry joins us live from the north lawn. let's start with the critics first, ed. who will not be happy about this? >> reporter: republicans on the hill as well as business groups saying this, having the government force them to pay more overtime will come out of their pocket and moved oversomewhere elsewhere if one person is getting overtime, maybe they don't hire someone else. maybe someone else gets cut. bottom line what we're told about it white house officials the president will issue this executive order that will basically direct the labor department to change regulations so that various sort of midlevel managers, fast-food managers, for example, technicians and whatnot, characterized as executive employees and do not qualify for overtime will now qualify for overtime. speaker john boehner a few

moments ago said, this is going to kill jobs. >> if you don't have a job, you don't qualify for overtime. so what do you get out of it? you get nothing. the president's policies are making it difficult for employers to expand employment. and until the president's policies get out of the way, employers will continue to sit on their hands. >> reporter: now the regulation that would be changed currently, if you're making over $455 a week in one of those specific jobs that mentioned, you do not qualify for overtime. the president's going to change the levels with his executive order. so a lot more people will qualify for overtime. that could be billions of dollars in people's pockets, jenna. jenna: how does the white house respond to the criticism thus far? >> reporter: look the president yesterday before he signaled this move was again talking up a separate hike in the federal minimum wage. he decided to do it not too far from you in manhattan at a gap store, 42nd street and

third avenue. the president making a point that the gap on its own is deciding to lift its employee wages and he basically said other businesses can do the same. >> the gap made a recent announcement that it was going to raise the minimum wage for all its starting employees and this is going to mean for thousands of folks who work at gap stores all across the country a little more income, a little more money in their pockets. >> reporter: now republicans may not agree with that advice but the president did some shopping for his daughters and his wife. told the cameras, that it is a good idea when on a road trip to bring back something for your spouse and kids. that is probably advice democrats and republicans will agree on. jenna: ed, when you're on the road do you do the same? >> reporter: of course you have to do that. jenna: never had any doubt. thank you, ed. jon: for more on the fallout for president's impending executive order let's turn to a senior politics writer for "u.s.

news & world report." david, there's a real split here because some say this will kill jobs. others say it is going to create jobs. can you plain that? >> yeah, it is real interesting, you have liberal economists say this will actually enhance job creation because they won't want to pay overtime to the existing employees. so to do, to dot extra work they will be forced to hire new employees. obviously the critics on the right don't buy this. there is not really statistics either way that bear this out but look, this was also done in the reverse back in the george w. bush administration. they sort of changed the rules so you would have to pay less overtime to fewer workers. so now we're seeing a volley in a different direction, because look, president obama knows that his minimum wage hike, his proposed minimum wage hike is dead. so this is the route he is going to go through. executive orders working through

agencies with tailored specific rules. jon: there has been a lot of screaming on capitol hill about the president's executive actions. is there any question he has the authority to do this. >> i don't think so. i think that, you know, this is the sort of the power of the presidency. and again, this has been done in the past. this has been done by president bush in the past. but look, this will be another talking point for republicans to say look, this is president obama ruling by fiat, not working through congress. but the president says, look congress isn't going to work with me. they will not compromise with me. we're in election year. there is no incentive for republicans to work with him on the minimum wage. so this is the way the president's going to go. jon: well, and the president needs to do something to boost his poll numbers or so it would appear. he is not running again but democrats who are running in november can not be happy about these new numbers out from "the wall street journal." >> reporter: no. "the wall street journal" nbc poll numbers are terrible.

it shows that no one will be wanting to run with the president or few candidates will want to run with the president this year. he at a record low, in the low 40s. that is really troubling. obamacare looks like a loser on most level. even more troubling the numbers are even weaker in the south and midwest. if you look where the key 2014 senate races are, that's where they are. i don't think you will be seeing many democrats asking president obama to come on the campaign trail. they're probably happy with him at the white oust or the -- white house or the gap. >> you said there is something interesting about obamacare and how people are responding to it. they are likely to vote for someone who wants to repeal the law as for someone who wants to fix it. >> that is the glimmer of hope in that poll for democrats. really the only glimmer of hope i see. that it is about even, the public is wary of repealing the

entire law and there are, but they're open to candidate who says let's fix it. now that is a tricky, you know, line to walk for democrats because they voted for this legislation. they will have republicans pummeling them saying, why didn't you ask these questions back then when you passed the thing? that is going to be the tricky test for democrats. can some of these incumbents in key states like north carolina, louisiana, walk the fine line and say, hey, i will try to implement a fix? but it is worse if we repeal the whole thing and go back to the whole system. jon: democrats own it. they didn't get a single republican vote to get this thing passed. >> absolutely. they will own it. i think republicans are going to make them own it. that is why you see almost every ad that is run by republican groups or republican candidates so far this year, has the word obamacare in it. even in governors races. of course. jon: well, the president, it was originally coined as a derisive term as obamacare.

president came to embrace it. said it will be a great thing. i guess jury is still out on that. david, from "u.s. news & world report." thank you. >> thanks, jon. jenna: budget for the health and human services department is set to top a trillion dollars for the very first time as costs soar under the obamacare rollout. hhs secretary kathleen sebelius is testifying before a house commit tree and questioning fees insurers will pay for the rollout and how much taxpayers will fork over. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel from capitol hill. not surprising you have a lot of republicans asking a whole lot of questions here. >> reporter: that's right, jenna, you have a lot of republicans asking about two dozen or so tweaks of the president's health care law. secretary kathleen sebelius tried to reassure republicans there will not be delay of individual mandate part of the president's health care law. there will not be a delay of upcoming enrollment deadline. sebelius was also asked to define success.

>> madam secretary --, can i get you to answer that question what is now success because he only have three minutes. >> success looks like millions of people with affordable health coverage which we will have by the end of march. >> so you are changing their 6 your standard of 7 million by the end of march 31st. >> i said success looks like millions of people -- >> actually you said seven million. >> reporter: upcoming open enrollment deadline is march 31st. republicans are openly speculating with enrollment numbers lower than hoped or expected whether that would be delayed further. sebelius tried to reassure them that they were not planning another delay, jenna. jenna: what are democrats not say about health care, mike? >> reporter: you heard a mixed bag. some are supportive or expressing frustration of their constituents. for example, lloyd doggett from austin, texas, said he and his constituents are not getting answers. the issues are more than a website. meanwhile a connecticut democrat expressed support. >> the only thing that drags the

country down is this endless, mindless debate, instead of constructive criticism about how we can work together to improve the health and well-being of our, the american citizens. thank you for your service. >> amen. >> reporter: few moments ago there was gotcha moment where lawmaker asked sebelius to promise there would be no more delays regarding the health care law. she said there are no more planned delays. jenna. jenna: no promises. pinky swears, anything like that so far? >> reporter: that's right. she knows it could come back to haunt her. jenna: well we've seen certainly a several delays up to this point. we'll see what happens over next few weeks. mike, thank you. >> reporter: thank you, jenna. jon: so what happened to malaysia airlines flight 370? joining us now an investigator who gives us his take why it is taking so long to get answers. we'll talk to him in a minute. right now, i'm sorry, secretary

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♪ ♪ jenna: fox news alert. in east harlem where we're continuing to watch a developing story this morning that really has caught our attention, hopefully we can bring up that picture for you because what we're waiting on right now is a presser from the fdny. there was a massive building explosion, building collapse, in east harlem. two buildings involved. we now have confirmation from the new york police department, two confirmed dead, 17 others injured. but still a lot of questions about those numbers and whether or not those numbers will grow. we were told that the fd in y

will start speaking any moment. obviously we're working to get the camera shot there. a whole lot of media in that area but again, massive building explosion today in new york city. we expect a news conference that we're bringing you there when it happens. jon: right now secretary of state john kerry is testifying before the house appropriations committee, defending his budget request for the state department saying that the world looks to the united states in times of crisis. and american taxpayers are getting a great return, he says, on their investment. chief washington correspondent james rosen has the latest on that from d.c. james? >> reporter: jon, good afternoon. my colleague doug mckelway has been keeping us updated from ukraine, but secretary kerry's legacy as diplomat will be bound to two deals he and his staff negotiated with two of united states principle adversaries on the world stage. one is the seven-country nuclear deal with iran that they agreed

with limited sanctions release to halt enrichment of uranium to the 20% level around dilute its existing stockpiles of such tire. so far the international atomic energy agency iran adhered to the terms of the deal. that deal is however set to expire in late july if the parties haven't reached by then a final agreement on iran's nuclear program of the other major deal kerry has negotiated is the agreement with russia to supervise the removal and disposal of syria's chemical weapons arsenal. roughly 1,000 metric tons of chemical wear fare agents and precursors and munitions needed to deploy them are supposed to be the destroyed by end of june and by all accounts that is far behind schedule. that situation along with dire status of syrian civil war which has claimed 140,000 lives in three areas, led the top democrat on the house appropriations subcommittee today to ask the secretary of state whatn he has? >> with regard to syria, there seems to be a stalemate.

destruction of chemical weapons has not occurred per the agreed-upon schedule. the assad regime continues to commit despicable atrocities against innocent civilians. jordan, lebanon and turkey are burdened under the strain of refugees. >> syrian people, for lebanon, turkey, for jordan, coping with how to keep their societies running and keep extremists at bay while they host millions now refugees, our support is critical to that. we're the largest donor in the world and that helps us because it is critical to us that lebanon and jordan remain stable. >> reporter: now this is at root a budget hearing. the overall state and usaid budget request for fiscal year 2016 is 46.2 billion. that amounts to penny for taxpayer dollar spent on federal government. jon: james rosen, thank you. >> reporter: thank you. jenna: new questions about

whether the united states may be underestimating putin as the ukraine crisis continues. coming up we're going to speak with bret stevens from the ws who says vladmir putin is not playing by our rules and what the united states needs to do about it.

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jon: fox news alert. it was a little less than 3 1/2 hours ago a couple of buildings on the upper east side of manhattan, east harlem specifically, blew up. this is new york city's new mayor, bill de blasio, introducing some of the folks who will speak at this news conference about that explosion. we know at least two people have died. let's listen to the mayor. >> affected buildings around the two that were destroyed. very heavy impact on the surrounding buildings. a heavy fire has ensued as well.

fire is now up to five-alarm level of response. and, fdny is continuing its efforts to contain the fire and then in the coming hours to finally put the fire out. there was no warning in advance from the information we have now. i would like to emphasize everything that i'm telling you is based on preliminary information. this is the best information we have at this moment. it is by definition preliminary. but from what we know now the only indication of danger came about 15 minutes earlier when a gas leak was reported to con edison. con-ed dispatch ad team immediately to respond. the explosion occurred before that team could arrive. as soon as the explosion was called in, fdny responded within literally two minutes of the call for help.

fdny is now again in the process of putting out the fire. con-ed is in the process of shutting down all gas mains going into this building. but that is a detailed and complicated process that requires digging up the ground and a lot of manual labor to turn off all the different supplies of gas to the building. this is a tragedy of the worst kind because there was no indicationcation in time -- indication in time to save people. we know we lost two people already. we know at this moment, preliminarily, that 18 are injured, different levels of injury. we also know that there will be a search through the rubble of the building as soon as the fire is put out looking for those who are missing. there are a number of missing individuals. i emphasize those who were missing could well be safe in

just another location or just not contactable or reachable yet. with the number of missing individuals there will be a thorough search to try to find or locate each individual. this is going to be an extended operation. this will take quite a bit of time to fully address this issue. to achieve that we have on the scene 250 firefighters and dozens of pieces of equipment, including heavy equipment necessary to deal with the rubble from the building. i want to say that once again we have been shown what our first-responders are capable of doing under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. all of the agencies that responded, led by the fdny, immediately secured the

situation in the surrounding buildings, checked the surrounding buildings. made sure that everyone in those buildings was safe. made sure that the fire was not spreading to other buildings. extraordinary, fast, precise response by our first-responders i want to thank the police, oem, everyone who has been a part of this operation already. we have a lot of people in this community right now deeply concerned. a lot of people who have been negatively affected in their buildings surrounding. a lot of people from the buildings, the two that collapsed, wondering where their loved ones are. speaker has been talking to a number of families. i have spoken to the pastor of the church that was one of the storefronts in these buildings. there is a tremendous amount of anxiety but suffice it to say

every effort is being expended to locate each and everyone of these individuals. finally, for any relatives looking for information about their loved ones, a special hotline will be set up shortly but for now they can call 311. for relatives, family members looking for information about loved ones that might be in each much these buildings they can call 311. those calls can be taken in both english and spanish. with that let me bring forward fire commissioner sal casano. to give you more details of the situation and response. >> thank you. to reiterate a little bit what the mayor said. the call originally came in at 9:31. we had our first unit at 9:3. they were faced with a very heavy fire condition. two buildings collapsed. debris covering sidewalk and couple vehicles in the street. they quickly transmitted an alarm for major collapse

response. we have over 250 firefighters, dozens of pieces of equipment. dozens of pieces of special equipment with our special operations command. we have backhoes on the scene but we know we'll need cranes which we have planned coming on the way. our plan is to extinguish the fire. we have surface removal and clear the brick to make sure there was nobody on the sidewalk and the street. once the fire sunday control and extinguished we will start to do some surface removal, debris removal. we have to be very careful. the building is in very precarious position. we want to make sure everybody in there, as first-responders is safe. it has been a great interagency response between oem, police, fire, buildings but it will be a -- jon: that is sal casano, the fire commissioner of the city of new york, speaking about the terrible building explosion and collapse in the happened two hours ago in east harlem.

at least go people are known dead. as we get more information we'll monitor the news conference. as there is breaking news to report we'll bring it to you. jenna: more developments in the ukraine as cries escalates. the price of gold is hitting a six-month high. we'll have live report on effects there. malaysian officials facing criticism over the search for a missing airplane with 239 people on board. the search now expanding across land and sea. >> each hour pass i fear that the search-and-rescue becomes just a search but we will never give up hope. and this, this, we owe to the families. [ female announcer ] a classic macaroni & cheese from stouffer's

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jenna: right now we continue to watch the situation in ukraine amid continuing questions by critics as to whether the united states may be underestimating the russian president vladmir putin and implications of the u.s. reaction to russia's takeover of crimea. or crimea's own decision to annex themselves? we're not sure. we'll get into details of that. bret stevens writing there is connection to other foreign policy decisions in "the wall street journal" he says this. america is in retreat. in his speech last september on syria, mr. obama explicitly endorsed the view we should not be in the world's policeman. we're living in broken windows world of disorder. bret stephens, columnist from

"wall street journal." author of misunderstanding vladmir. >> misunderestimating. jenna: misunderestimating vladmir. apologies. sound like could be a dating ad. misunderestimating vladimir. be careful. >> you heard president obama say he didn't think putin's seizure, of the crimean peninsula was such a clever strateconomic move and john kerry our secretary of state said in 19th century behavior in 21st century world. jenna: we heard that they're dismissing it as very retro. >> so retro you would imagine in this course of action continues and putin take estonia or belarus we'll be winning that much more. that is ridiculous line of thought. whatever else one can say about what putin has done, it's a tremendous coup. he bloodlessly taken a strategically vital peninsula in the black sea, important to russian interests, historically.

good for putin politically. while paying no price for it diplomatically, much less militarily. jenna: you say in your article i of the strategies you see coming out of the foreign policy of this administration is world shame. when they say things like, this is, you know, 19th century foreign policy on behalf of vladmir putin, that, secretary kerry and president are trying to get the world to turn against russia. is that effective? >> the world isn't turning against russia. i haven't seen anyone pull their embassies or ambassadors from russia. the obama administration seems to think that ought to matter in the world is public opinion. vladmir putin thinks in a very different way. he think that is borders matter. geography matter. access to warm water ports matter. all the things that nations have traditionally fought over or tried to defend, historically that is what matters to vladmir putin there is something to that argument. we're living in this kind of virtual world where supposedly

barack obama's condemnation is enough to shame the putins of the world. jenna: let me show our viewers what is happening in crimea today. we actually just video in where we're seeing billboard go up in crimea. as you know there's a vote this weekend about what crimea is going to do. so the billboards are saying, here's the choice essentially between russia, and the nazis. the nazis i guess, being referred to as the demonstrators in kiev. it is interesting, bret. we heard the comparisons between vladmir putin and hitler. and do you think that is where this is coming from? is russia using our own criticism of vladmir putin against public opinion? >> this is soviet-style propaganda, that all the capitalists nations, free nations are fascists and nazis. that is what they're fighting against. this is the crudest propraganda. before russia or russian forces without insignias, seized the parliament in the regional parliament in the crimea, the party now controls the crimea

had achieved just three votes. you know, trying to demonize what has been achieved in kiev in the rest of ukraine is part of the strategy. what we saw in kiev was inspiring. it was the ukrainian people rising up against an autocratic leader who was tilting towards russia. so this is precisely the kind of crude propaganda dow expect from this regime. jenna: quick thought from you. in "the wall street journal" there are several articles quoting officials saying, look at work we put into russia over last several years. that could be destroyed in a moment. should we be pulling our ambassadors from russia like you have said? that would be a sign for other country that is public opinion is turning against putin. what is the risk to destroying whatever relationship we have tried? >> there is no relationship to begin with. obama was pressing a reset button which putin had no interest in pressing except when it came to his advantage. we should be kicking russia out of the g8. we should be, we should reverse our decision and put ballistic missile defenses in eastern

europe. we have to shore up defenses of states like the baltics. if we do nothing, those little baltic states, nato members, e.u. members are next. jenna: we're bound to defend them. >> by treaty, yes. jenna: that becomes a bigger issue. misunderestimating vladimir. bret, thank you very much. good to see you as always. jon? jon: "fox business alert" now. gold prices are going through the roof even as the stock markets seem a little bit shaky right now. could be that the crisis in ukraine is making gold such a strong player. liz claman joins us from the fox business network. liz? >> jon, let me just quickly check because this thing is moving all over the place but we just jumped another dollar. gold standing up about $21. that is a 1 1/2% gain right now. it has just continued to climb higher and higher throughout the morning. the question is why. first, gold is this kind of investment that is often called a safe haven. meaning when stocks are falling or the geopolitical landscape is

looking rocky or worrisome, investors tend to rush into gold. some have surmised that the tensions about which jenna was just speaking in some cases in ukraine turning to outright violence over russia's sort of ham fisted handling of trade issues between the two countries have perked up gold trading. no doubt when you see pictures of riots and troop movements in eastern europe that could add to the tension but you can not eliminate china as a driver of gold prices as well. china is the world's largest consumer of industrial metals. while gold is more safe haven metal with little industrial uses anytime china falters gold jumps. pick it, is it ukraine or is it china? they're tell me this time around it is way more china and growing economic weakness that is forcing the gold met-up as it is called in the markets, jon. jon: china shaky, for than a little shaky. why is gold grabbing the attention, because the stock

market in the u.s. is seen as a little bit overinplated? >> it faltered a bit. it had incredible year last year and year before. now we're not seeing such gigantic jumps in change. gold on the other side, gold lost 28% last year. so it was totally out of favor. in 2 1/2 months of 2014 gold jumping 13%. anytime, jon, what you're seeing today, which is a jump more than $20 per ounce, they call it the troy ounce, that really grabs a lot of people's attention. seems big institutional investors, hedge funds and mutual funds are jumping back into gold athlete for now. jon: liz claman, i'm not buying it because i don't have enough dollars to buy gold. thanks. >> sure. jon: frustration is growing over the search for a missing jet liner with 239 people on board. that search is entering its fifth day and being expanded to a wider area amid of conflicting reports from malaysia officials

with what is happening to their flight 370. with more on the investigation into the disappearance of this malaysian airlines plane, peter brookes, senior fellow of national security affairs at the heritage foundation. there was so much buzz early on about these two guys with fake passports apparently purchased by an iranian businessman. now the malaysians are saying, doesn't look like terrorism. do you accept that explanation, peter? >> no. it is not enough for me. i don't want to be alarmist but i don't want to rule out terrorism. we have so little evidence at this point, jon. and i know, you know, from my own studies and work we've done at heritage, southeast asia has a terrorist legacy. after 9/11, al qaeda was present there and group called. >> mao is la mia. bally bombing.

plot against the iranian embassy in bangkok and that came through kuala lumpur. state department says equal law lumper is transit point and operational planning point for terrorist operations in southeast asia. the philippines in that part of the world has an islamist insure againsy that has al qaeda roots in it. so there's a lot of reasons to be concerned. hezbollah is operating in that part of the world. so i don't want to rule it out. we just don't have enough evidence at this point. i think we have to include that in when we're looking what may have happened. jon: for all of the complaints we have in this country with the transportation security administration and onerous search that is we have to go through before we can board an airliner, they have done a pretty good job of keeping, you know, problems, keeping, you know, weaponry and so forth off planes in this country. there are places in the world where security is not so strict. what about malaysia? can you tell us anything about that? >> i haven't been through kuala lumpur, kla, as they call

it in a while. they had a terrorist problem and they went after it and i think they did a pretty good job with it. i think we could see another resurgence here. jon, if you rope in china, remember this was chinese aircraft. they have al qaeda linked organization called the east turkistan islamic movement that was responsible for terrible stabbings that killed 30 people recently. they have issues with the chinese government. they have not done mig this sophisticated but they could be a new actor in this. there are real challenges. obviously we had a lost terror plots here in the united states. more than 50 plots since 9/11. there are continual challenges to that. these professionallal terrorist organizations are looking to ways to get around security. it is, our security is earned day by day in very tough circumstances whether it is nights or malaysia. jon: and usama bin laden's original plan ahead of 9/11 was to blow up jetliners headed from that part of the world over towards the united states and --

>> bojika. the operation out of the philippines. jon: what about this? normally terrorist groups, if they, you know, manage to down an airliner they claim credit don't they? or would they? >> they claim credit less than you think. there are some studies out there that say actually the claims are in the minority after a terrorist act because they figure people no who did it. there is one group that did make a claim, jon, a few days ago. chinese martyrs' brigade. nobody ever heard of them before. it is possible they could have been involved with this perhaps it is, perhaps it is a hoax. being remember the attack in volgograd in russia best sochi game, that was by a group nobody ever heard of either. we have to keep everything in here. the intelligence directors said, at least latest i heard, they're not ruling out terrorism. we have to be we have to be cautious about this we also had all these warnings, jon. jon: right. >> toothpaste, liquids, shoes. so we got to be careful.

jon: could be terrorism. could be something else. >> that's right. jon: but all the possibilities are still out there. peter brookes, thank you. >> thank you, jon. jenna: emotional debate raging in utah. unmarried mothers can give their children up for adoption without letting the biological fathers know. raising a whole lot of questions about the rights of fathers. we'll get into it coming up. [ female announcer ] we'll cook all day today,

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lies, it is not enough to overturn the adoption. there is one legislative effort underway that would create an agreement to allow states to share information because women from across the country are going to utah to give birth and the dads don't know. but there is deep resistance to change. one legislator said plainly in recent committee meeting the policy of the state is to encourage marriage. >> our job is to look after the rights of the child primarily. what is best for the child. and it is not to look after the rights of the reckless, unwed father who, who fathered the child. our priority is the child, not the father. >> reporter: another bill to improve the rights of biological fathers was put on hold after some adoption agencies lobbied against it. now we talked to one of those agencies who told us one reason some women don't tell the father what they're doing is they have been abused.

this woman calls herself ashley. ashley is due to give birth this week and plans to give her baby up for adoption. she says she fled her home state out of fear. >> he beat me up and slammed me on my head and he kicked me in my mouth. then -- >> were you pregnant. >> uh-huh. two months. >> you were? did know you were pregnant? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: the other side of this issue is someone like army veteran chris carlton of pennsylvania. carlton searched for a burial site after his pregnant girlfriend returned from a trip saying the baby died. he later found out his daughter was adopted in utah. a recent state supreme court decision has given him more legal options for pursuing custody of his four-year-old daughter. he also part of a group of 30 fathers who are suing over utah's adoption laws in federal court. jenna? jenna: wow, fascinating cases. alicia, thank you.

jon: the murder trial of a socialite accused of hiring a hit man to kill her ex-husband in a car bombing. prosecutors say pamela phillips paid her ex-boyfriend $400,000 to commit murderer. an update on the case coming up. [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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jon: well the murder trial is about to resume for a former aspen, colorado, socialite. pamela phillips accused of hiring a hit man to kill her husband in a car bombing. a convicted felon testifying for the defense. he signed an affidavit years ago saying he worked with aryan brotherhood in connection with the car bombing. but he tells the jury he made up the whole story. joining us doug burns, criminal defense attorney and esther

panitche criminal defense attorney as well. thanks to both of you for being here. doug, so this guy is testifying for the defense. all right, let's go to esther first. >> sure. jon: she is, the guy is testifying for the defense but he is a hostile witness. why? >> because now he is recanting what he was originally supposed to say on behalf of the defendant. he was supposed to say that, yes, he signed an affidavit he was involved in the murder along with the aryan brotherhood years ago. now that he is on the stand or defense caught wind he is going to now deny that. so the defense lawyer has a right to cross-examine him. when someone is declared a hostile witness it allows the attorney examining him to go into cross-examination as opposed to direct examination. the difference being ask a question which leads to an answer and requires the yes or no response versus open-ended question. more strategic than anything else. jon: not only did this guy go to prison on number of charges he also managed to escape from

prison while he was there. he is really the cream of society. doug, you have prosecuted murder-for-hire cases before. they present their own problems. >> i prosecuted one, jon, and i have defended one. i've been on both sides of court. these can be very tricky cases and the reason they can be trick kirks first of all the normal fact pattern is not this one where an undercover comes in as supposed hit man and you have entrapment issues. that is the not allegation. the allegation is that the defendant's boyfriend was hired by her to do this as you pointed out somewhat comical reference not the best of society you have credibility problems with mr. young. what it boils down, esther i think would agree is corroboration. what can you do to back up what he is saying notwithstanding his flip-flop and there is a tape. jon: they have taped discussions of the supposed hit man and the accused here, right? >> yes. i mean -- >> yes they do. >> go ahead, esther. >> sorry, doug. it is going to be a problem for

the defendant in this case but i think what the defense is trying to do is put up a smorgasbord of people, saying anyone of these people could have been involved in the murder which means my client was not guilty of the murder. jon: we'll have to leave it there. we are keeping an eye on this case. fascinating testimony. esther panitche, doug burns, thank you both. >> my pleasure, jon. jenna: another big story today, the latest on the deadly explosion in new york city up next. óqoqúúñ@

denver this morning, a carjacker snatching a mini-van with a four year olded in. there was an amperalert. the police spotted the van and there was a high speed chase. the carjacker stole two more vehicles before getting in a poil up. the child was found safe but

skaury moments for the family. >> it was a crazy, crazy car chase. one of the craziest i have seen. thank you for joining us today. >> american news head quart ares starts right now. >> a rapidly developing story. 20 injured after a massive explosion. and i am bill hemmer. >> we'll look live at the aftermath of the massive explosion in east harlem. just a now hours ago, this was the scone here. sidewalks littered with broken glass and shattered store fronts and apartment windows and hundreds of people running for cover. >> we smelled gas last night in the building. when i was leaving to go to work, we smelled the gas and