best of all, there are absolutely no upfront out-of-pocket costs with this loan. rest easy, knowing you'll have cash in the bank during these unpredictable times. remember, your va benefit never expires. >> john: a bit of vindication for parents who say a school board chose going woke over the well-being of their children. a grand jury report confirming the cover-up in virginia's loudoun county and parents as you can imagine are fired up. >> sandra: we'll talk to a father who says the school board turned a blind eye to his daughter after she was viciously attacked in order to promote a woke agenda. he was previously arrested at a school board meeting while speaking out about his concerns. >> john: welcome back as

"america reports" rolls into hour two, john roberts in washington. happy friday each, sandra. here we go, john. sandra smith in new york. parents scott smith and ian pryor will join us, but first brittney griner exchanged. >> in this prisoner swap, why did russia get such a better deal? >> look, you know, i've talked about this and i'll say this again. here were our choices. choices was brittney or no one at all. bring home one american or no american at all. >> the white house defending negotiations last hour after the u.s. worked out a high level prisoner swap that many people are calling a bargain for moscow. >> sandra: the terms of the swap, russia will welcome back convicted arms dealer viktor bout, also known as the merchant of death, and the u.s. gets back

wnba player britteny griner, he's known to be a high priority for russia. >> john: not part of the deal, marine veteran paul whelan, serving out a 16 year sentence on espionage charges. >> sandra: the white house vowing to never give up on the american, but his family wonders whether there is leverage to negotiate his release. >> i think it's clear the u.s. does not have concessions that the russian government wants for paul and so i'm not really sure, i'm not really sure what the future holds. >> john: fox team coverage starts now with lieutenant general keith kellogg. >> sandra: but first, lucas tomlinson, what was the reaction we heard from the white house on all of this? >> that same white house press

briefing you just played, karine jean-pierre was asked if saudi arabia was involved in the negotiations to release britteny griner, here is her lengthy answer. >> the only countries that negotiated this deal were the united states and russia. and there was no mediation involved, we are grateful for the use as the president mentioned, i am mentioning now for facilitating the use of their territory for the exchange to take place. we are also grateful to other countries, including saudi arabia that released the issue of our wrongfully detained americans with russian government, that raised that issue. >> not on the flight with griner back to the u.s., american paul whelan, former marine, some say is being held hostage in russia, detained nearly four years. president biden said he tried to include him in the deal but the russians view the case differently, likely reference to the russians accusing whelan of being a spy.

he denies the charges of espionage. some lawmakers wonder if it took the convicted arms dealer, what would it take to free paul whelan. and one says it sets a dangerous precedent. >> appeasing terrorists or dictatorships never works, and russia, north korea, iran, taliban and others participate in hostage diplomacy is in the end, we always cave. >> other lawmakers wondering why was griner not whelan, the policies to get those who were held the longest. >> sandra: britteny griner is making her way back now. thank you. john. >> john: bring in lieutenant general keith kellogg, and so clearly, general, having britteny griner home is a very

good thing. but was this an unequal swap? britteny griner is a very good person. viktor bout is a very bad person. >> nobody will take it that we got her out of harm's way, great she's brought home but left paul whelan there. former marine, and 15 years as a law enforcement officer in michigan, and his parents are in the 80s, more to the story people need to look at, and the first is what was said a minute ago with, in the news conference. uae with mba and mbs, they reached out to putin. >> john: it was not just the u.s. >> no, you would have heard of the name roger carstones. and that's what robert o'brien did for the trump

administration, so now you have them working with viktor bout, the merchant of death. a movie in 2005, "the lords of war," and nicholas cage played a guy like this. and the reason why it's important and why the swap is so interesting, not only is the merchant of death, he knows where all the bodies are buried. he was the premier arms dealer with soviet equipment, russian equipment, second largest arms dealer in the world, and telling me look, there's a reason why we have not heard of this before, getting somebody who has been in jail for ten years now up in marion, illinois, because this guy is going to help putin get more russian equipment that they need to fight the war in ukraine. i think there is a huge connection here. he's going to turn this guy loose in all the countries in the world where the russians have sent equipment. >> john: and flow to russia -- >> and come back and fight the war in ukraine. makes sense what they did. >> john: call four number 2,

president biden insisted they tried to get paul whelan out but couldn't. >> russia is treating paul's case differently than brittney's. and we have not succeeded in securing paul's release, we are not giving up. >> john: clearly it's a talking point from the white house, we heard antony blinken say it, karine jean-pierre, it was one or none. people think if biden had not played hard ball he could have gotten whelan out, too. >> let's be honest about it. look at the politics of it and brittney griner, she was the easy hit. you know, president trump had a policy of leaving no american behind and god bless robert o'brien, robert o'brien was a chief negotiator and they got dozens out in the course of four years and we did not give anybody up. you didn't quit on that. brittney griner was the easy case. hard case is somebody like whelan and should have been very

insistent, it's a package deal. they wanted viktor bout for a reason, and i think they should have thought through it. why do they want this guy? >> john: now this they played the big card with viktor bout, what do we have left to negotiate paul whelan's release? >> we really don't, and the tragedy behind it, that biden has to do it, he has to go somewhere other than the united states. now you have to go to your allies. you have something there to help us out and make a trade for, you go to the u.k. or france to help us. right now we have no hold card to get whelan out. >> john: do you think there is somebody russia is eyeing in a trade for whelan? >> held in the u.k. or germany? >> they have to figure it out. it's not in the united states. the key guy, what's roger doing, figure out where they are at, and the intelligence community knows this. they gave up the grand bargain, went for the easy hit, got her

out for reasons other than that and left the case, unfortunately, the guy that's going to be in jail for 16 years, the hard case. >> john: great to get your thoughts on this, general. appreciate you coming in. interesting theory, sandra, putin wanted him sprung because he knows where the weapons are and can get them to the forces in eastern ukraine. >> sandra: interesting, and britteny griner is making her way home right now, and could be landing in a few hours. also, watching the white house for development as the president is set to speak on the economy any moment on his efforts to help union workers. but rail workers say not so fast, as many express frustration with the deal. what are the chances workers walk away? >> john: and the biden white house touting lowering gas

prices. the problem, still a lot higher than when the president took office. our panel is here coming up next. no matter how much i paid, it followed me everywhere. so i consolidated it into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. get a personal loan with no fees, low fixed rates, and borrow up to $100k. sofi. get your money right. >> tech: when you get a chip in your windshield... trust safelite. this couple was headed to the farmers market... when they got a chip. they drove to safelite for a same-day repair. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them. >> woman: really? >> tech: that's service the way you need it. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ i brought in ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. uhhhh... here, i'll take that. [woo hoo!] ensure max protein, with 30 grams of protein, one gram of sugar and nutrients for immune health.

your heart is the beat of life. if you have heart failure, entrust your heart to entresto. entresto helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto.

>> john: a live look at the white house we are waiting for president biden to speak on the economy and what he says he is doing to help union workers. meantime, many union rail workers are unhappy with the deal that the president and congress settled on last week. they did not get the sick days that they fought so hard for and now there is word that many of them may go ahead and walk. it's an industry that already has had major staffing problems. rich is here with more on all of this. so some might go on strike? >> they may decide to leave the industry all together, take jobs in trucking or other industries and talk about over the past six

years, major railroads have eliminated nearly a third of their jobs. that's according to the surface transportation board, independent government agency. we spoke with one train engineer in illinois who said she retired this year because of a lack of sick time. she says more of her former co-workers will likely follow her out of the business. >> i'm in contact virtually every day with former co-workers and co-workers from other railroads that i run into in the course of trying to get our story out, and it's the same. there is -- there are many people who do not see themselves long-term. >> brotherhood of maintenance of way employees voted to reject the deal. a spokesperson says i don't think it's an exaggeration some could quit the railroad. frustration of working for these bums is real. legitimate problems in the labor

management dynamic now that have not been addressed and are festering. 24% raises and $5,000 bonuses and the benefits and compensation packages are seeing historic increases through this deal, with average wages and compensation rising to 160,000 over the course of the contract. railroading is difficult work and our employees are commen indicated accordingly in recognition of that. railroads say their industry has lower attrition rates than many other industries and their train and engine workforce grew 8% january through october, john. >> john: $160,000. >> that's what the industry is saying. >> is that the top? >> that's what they average out that they are saying. a lot of different jobs and descriptions in the industry. >> john: a lot of money. >> sandra: as we mentioned, we are expecting president biden to speak any moment now. the white house says he's doing to tout his administration's progress on the american economy, the same economy where most people have been, many

people have been laid off left and right in recent weeks and they are still battling record high inflation. according to a new data point from van guard, the number of people who made hardship withdrawals from the 401(k)s, record high in october. welcome to both of you. elizabeth, first for you on this, thanks for coming in early, what does that tell you? to take a hardship withdrawal from a 401(k) you have to obviously get permission to do that. and that obviously says something about how people feel and where they are in this economy. >> it's an important question, it's a tough question and a decision to make. you can imagine the agony knowing they are going to get a double whammy of a penalty withdrawal and pay taxes on the withdrawal. and why are they doing it? inflation continues to eat into their consumer spending power,

up double digits for a lot of categories and so many more ceos are saying yes, we are going into a deeper recession come next year because consumer spending is two-thirds of the u.s. economy. >> sandra: what is all this talk of recession, two straight quarter of retraction, are we going to enter a deeper recession? it's being put to all these major ceos out there survey after survey shows they are growing more pessimistic about the economy. >> we had a relatively shallow, temporary recession in the last two quarters, and rebounded the most recent quarter and you have the business leaders coming out and saying a lot of them anticipate a double dip next year. and whether it's people taking out money of their 401(k) early, that goes to people living paycheck to paycheck and feeling like they are drowning. still a ton of people experiencings extreme economic

distress, and when we hear from the president coming up they need to be very careful at the white house. feeling themselves, a little triumphant because republicans under performed in the midterm elections by a number of standards but it's not because the american people endorsed the economic outcomes or policies of this administration. if you look at the exit polling and the voter data, the republicans led on those issues and underperformed despite that. the white house should not spike any footballs. >> they loaded into the u.s. economy, the equivalent of france and germany gdp, you are going to get rip roaring inflation. so the president, sort of like the rooster crowing and taking credit for the sun coming up when the shut downs destroyed $22 million and rebounds from the creation of the jobs coming back. they need to net it out what they pay for in terms of job

creation. >> sandra: i can tell you it's happening right now, they just stepped out, the president just stepped out, marty walsh from the white house stepped out there about to take a victory lap on what they are touting as progress for the american economy. in fact, a white house official passed along this about gas prices this morning. saying for the first time in almost two years, gas prices are lower than they were one year ago. the national average for retail price for gallon of gas 3.33, down 1.69 since june. the white house says that is saving american families, two cars an average of 180 per month. per touting bringing prices down on items like gasoline and oil that were run up because the record government spending in the first place, am i wrong? >> inflation remains a huge problem for american families. just put the graphic on the screen. we are looking at gas prices higher than when he took office, and i'm so old, sandra, that i remember when this exact same white house communications team was telling us every day they have no control over gas pricis, it's russia, it's the greedy

companies, did putin get nicer, the companies less greedy, or joe biden to thank. it's incoherent. >> sandra: not to mention the administration and the president and candidate promised he wanted to do away with the fossil fuel industry all together and in a statement from the white house this morning, they said the reason why things are going so great, the president released oil from the spr, strategic oil reserve, rallied international partners, turned to outside countries versus our own domestic production and calling on oil and gas companies to pass their savings on. input cost to consumers. >> i'll tell you something. even the obama white house never found price gouging by the mom and pop gas stations. this is demand destruction. you don't want to take credit for gas going down because recession is upon us. i mean, it's falling for the wrong reasons. gas prices went down during the shutdowns in the pandemic. so you know, and draining the

strategic reserves, that's taxpayer money. taxpayers have to pay for the build-up back up again. so, not an energy policy. like trying to follow a gnat in a hurricane. >> sandra: we'll enjoy it at the pump but pay for it other ways, credit card bills are going up, interest rates are up, mortgage rates are going up, costing more to own a home in this country. >> plus food and other goods, cynical politics, when things get better they want the credit, i think most people are smarter than that. >> sandra: appreciate both of you on. ♪ hallelujiah ♪

>> john: as if the holidays are not expensive enough, expect to pay more to light up your christmas display this year. some are calling it decoration inflation. everything is more expensive, including the electricity. grady trimble live in the suburbs of chicago, one house will have big energy bill. >> they are, john. 200,000 lights will cost you about $1,400 for the month of december. that's about $1,100 more for this house compared to the other months of the year when they don't have this whole display up. dominic is the mastermind as we have been calling him the mad man behind this ornate and elaborate display, and this year because of inflation, electricity costs are up about 14% so you are expecting to pay even more than you normally do to light up your house. >> i imagine the bill will be 17, $1,800 this year. >> a bracing for it. and not just the electricity, it's the decorations themselves,

whether it's christmas lights, wreaths, ornaments, candles inside the house. you have spent hundreds of thousands because you have been doing it so long and more this year. >> we have spent hundreds of thousands. every year, probably 8, 10,000 to keep this thing going. this year will probably cost another 2, $3,000 to keep it going. >> and talk about the upkeep. because you have 400 figurines. when you can't see with the wide shot is the zip ties you have. it's expensive. >> it is. you don't realize. 15,000 zip ties, 15,000 staples, gallons of paint, all kinds of stuff to keep it going. >> i don't want to be a total grinch, john, harping on the negative news. good news, this is for a good cause. donated hundreds of thousands to charity over the years as well. they collect from the people who

come by and see the spectacle every christmas. >> john: you would think the power company might be more charitable and kick in the cost of electricity. come on. >> i'll talk to con ed and see if they can handle it. >> john: what happened to community involvement. love to see that place at night. looks like your house, sandra. >> sandra: exactly. i won't lie, we did have our clark griswold moment when you are plugging in the lights. it's a great christmas movie, i don't know if it's kid friendly, not yet at least. >> john: maybe a little more so than "love actually," our favorite -- >> sandra: i know. a great movie. the school district that has grabbed lots of national headlines is finally making a change in leadership after a grand jury report confirmed a cover-up. we'll speak with a loudoun county father, says all the

board does is lie and spin. >> john: celine dion making a heartbreaking revelation to her fans. five-time grammy award winner fighting back tears saying she has been diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder, increasingly difficult for her to sing, even to walk. >> i miss you so much. i miss seeing all of you, being on the stage, i always give 100% when i do my shows. but my condition is not allowing me to give you that right now. >> john: she ended the message on a positive note saying she is optimistic that she will see her fans again soon. ♪♪

>> i was robbed of watching her grow up by a man that everyone was supposed to be able to trust to do just one simple task, deliver a christmas present and leave. >> sandra: the mother of 7-year-old athena paying tribute to her daughter after she was kidnapped and murdered by a delivery driver for fedex. the suspect, 31-year-old tanner lynn horner was in the area to deliver a package and is now under arrest. casey stegall has the breaking details from our dallas bureau on this. any new developments at today's press conference, casey? >> other than being a very tough press conference to watch, not a whole lot new. that was the mother of 7-year-old athena strand breaking down at times as she spoke to reporters alongside her lawyer who indicated he is conducting a full investigation

aside from the one that police are conducting and they are asking the public for help. the small community of paradise, texas, northwest of fort worth has been rocked since last week's tragic news broke and they have been pulling together as most communities do. whether a candlelight vigil to honor a life gone too soon or a public bike ride to raise money for a family broken and struggling for answers. >> i was supposed to bring athena back home to oklahoma after christmas break. now instead athena will be cremated and she will come home in an urn because i'm not even, i'm not anywhere close to being ready to let my baby go. >> investigators meantime remain fairly tight lipped about whether the suspect has yet to reveal his motive. the sheriff has confirmed he

will seek the death penalty against 31-year-old tanner horner who was working for a third party company hired by fedex to deliver packages, no prior criminal record. police said he did deliver a package to athena's house. her mother revealed the box that was delivered contained barbie dolls. christmas presents for her little girl. >> sandra: absolutely heartbreaking story. thank you. john. >> john: heartbreaking indeed. parents in loudoun county, virginia are celebrating today after the troubled school district fired its superintendent, scott ziegler, over the handling of two sexual assaults, both committed by the same transgender student in a girl's bathroom. there was a cover-up by the administration to push the woke agenda. scott smith's daughter was one

of the students sexual assaulted and ian prior. i want to get reaction to both of you from ziegler fired, scott, start with you. >> you know, my reaction is this. it's a year too late. he should have been fired a year ago. the school board had what they needed, you know, independent investigation, so-called, that was not released to the public, so the fact that they are hiding behind, you know, that ziegler did not release information to them and they are horrified, and voted unanimously to fire him, well, they are all responsible, too. so, unfortunately today we are not celebrating. he's just one of many that hurt my child and many others. >> john: in fact, the grand jury was scathing in the condemnation, not only of ziegler but the schools in general, saying we believe the administrators were looking out

for their own interests instead of the best interest of lcps, led to a stunning lack of openness, transparency and accountability to the public and the special grand jury. they failed at every juncture. key word in there is administrators. should more heads roll besides ziegler? >> i think they should. scott was right on the money. you know, this is a case of the school board doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. they had ample opportunity for the past year to do this. they know he lied to 400,000 plus loudoun county residents at the june 22nd school board meeting but did not do it until the pressure got too hot. as far as the other administrator, we are talking about the deputy superintendent, talking about the lawyer for the school division, talking about the director of safety and services down the list of people that not just failed, they failed with wreckless indifference. they knew about what was happening, they were disturbed was one quote yet did nothing. >> john: i want to go back to june 22nd of 2021, scott.

and replay that now infamous moment at that loudoun county public school board hearing. this is you being wrestled to the ground by the police here after you asked ziegler and other school board officials what the situation was with your daughter being sexual assaulted in the school. when you look at how you were treated, juxtapose what ziegler knew at the time and what he actually said, what goes through your mind? >> you know what goes through my mind is that you know, we did not need to be there, you know, there was 500 plus, you know, parents, moms and dads, you know, trying to make sense of their radical pervasion, they were trying to push in our schools. they are still trying to push it. you know, nothing -- you know, a year later i've been involved in this for 18 months now. nothing has changed. absolutely nothing has changed.

you know, it's -- it's time to change. so you know, the firing of ziegler is great, but he's just the first one that needs to go. >> john: going back in again to that infamous day, what ziegler said in response to scott's questions about the sexual assault. he said the predator transgender person or student simply does not exist. we don't have any record of assaults occurring in our restrooms. turned out that was a flat out lie. >> not only that, but when he answered that question, pulled out a "time" magazine article to back up the answer to that question. why do you have a "time" magazine article there, were these questions planned in advance during this meeting to help push a narrative. at that time what parents were talking about at those two school board meetings june 8th and june 22nd was bathroom safety. so they really needed to create a narrative that bathrooms were safe. this is an unconvenient,

inconvenient fact for them that scott ziegler lied about. >> john: ian, good to see you. scott, good to see you, too. i hope your daughter is doing ok. thanks so much for joining us. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> sandra: ok, thank you. thanks to all. oregon supreme court blocking a strict gun law that critics say challenges constitutional rights. >> john: we are digging into it with one of the lawyers helping to lead the legal challenge against it. >> effectively an oregonian will not be able to buy a firearm anywhere in the united states. that's a violation of the second amendment. to the farmers market... when they got a chip. they drove to safelite for a same-day repair. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them. >> woman: really? >> tech: that's service the way you need it. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

subject 1: on christmas day, we were in the hospital. it was her first christmas. it was our first christmas being parents.

i didn't know a lot about brain tumors, and what i had heard wasn't good. i certainly never dreamed that i would be fighting for her life. narrator: families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food, so they can focus on helping their child live. you can make a difference. please become a st jude partner in hope right now. subject 1: my dreams are to watch her grow up. subject 2: you going to do that one all by yourself? good job. subject 1: go! if we didn't come to st jude, i really feel that felicity wouldn't be with us. narrator: please go online right now and become a st jude partner in hope today. i brought in ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. uhhhh... here, i'll take that.

[woo hoo!] ensure max protein, with 30 grams of protein, one gram of sugar and nutrients for immune health. my name is joshua florence, and one thing i learned being a firefighter is plan ahead. you don't know what you're getting into, but at the end of the day, you know you have a team behind you that can help you. not having to worry about the future makes it possible to make the present as best as it can be for everybody.

i was injured in a car crash. i had no idea how much my case was worth. i called the barnes firm. when a truck hit my son, i had so many questions about his case. i called the barnes firm. it was the best call i could've made. your case is often worth more than insuran call the barnes firm to find out i could've made. what your case could be worth. we will help get you the best result possible. ♪ the barnes firm, injury attorneys ♪ call one eight hundred,est resul eight million ♪ ♪ twhen a truck hit my car, injury attorneys ♪ cthe insurance company est rewasn't fair.illion ♪ i didn't know what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. i was hit by a car and needed help. i called the barnes firm, that was the best call i could've made.

i'm rich barnes. it's hard for people to know how much their accident case is worth. let our injury attorneys help you get the best result possible. ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ the newly unsealed order from a judge to release the so-called merchant of death, viktor bout, in exchange for wnba star britteny griner. >> sandra: signing off on november 29th, more than a week ago, and a short time ago at the white house, peter doocy pressed the press secretary whether russia was getting a better deal with this swap. we are going to play out that exchange. >> in this prisoner swap, why did russia get such a better deal? >> look, you know, i've talked about this, and i'll say this

again. here were our choices. our choices was brittney or no one at all. bringing home one american or no american at all. and that's -- >> professional athlete, we gave up a prolific arms dealer convicted of trying to kill americans, called the merchant of death. >> the professional athlete is also an american citizen. so let's not forget that. who deserved -- and i have explained how the russians have illegally treated, totally illegitimately treated his situation. i've been very clear on that. we have laid that out for you. and again, the president felt that this was an opportunity to bring brittney home. he is going to continue to do everything he can to bring paul whelan home just like he did with trevor reed, able to secure trevor reed's release.

>> how will he do everything he can if he's not going to call vladimir putin until further notice? >> we were able to do this through different channel, different avenues of folks from the u.s. government that were able to make that negotiation, have those conversations and secure brittney's return. so, we have been able to do this. and the president has been committed to getting this done. we are still working to secure paul whelan at this time. we are not able to make that happen, but that does not stop us, that will not stop us in making sure that paul returns back home safely to his family. >> sandra: all right, it appears as she said that the president was faced with a choice, brittney or no american at all. they had the opportunity and they took it. >> john: well, as we talked about before, lieutenant general keith kellogg has a theory, the reason russia wanted to get

viktor bout back to russia, he knows where the weapons are around the world, and russia and the war in ukraine, they wanted to get him out and you would think if you've got that big bargaining chip you could have gotten out more than brittney griner. it's great she's coming back home, we love to see americans in captivity released, but a deal with whelan as well. >> sandra: and paul's family is cheering on the fact she is brought home but disappointed he was not. >> john: and britteny griner's family is sad paul whelan did not come home. california, regulators say they will most likely dim the solar industry, passed a proposal to reduce solar homeowner

subsidies. william, is there too much solar in california? >> yes, and no, john, depending who you ask. about how much nonsolar owners, rate payers, pay those who have it but the industry says it's a big success with more power now being generated from rooftops than 12 nuclear power plants. is too much of a good thing bad? this as california considers putting the brakes on rooftop solar. >> where california goes so goes the nation. if we make solar more expensive here, it's going to threaten the affordability and the availability throughout the united states. >> debate is about how much those who don't have solar subsidize those who do. >> those people without solar, now they are paying even higher rates essentially because we are subsidizing those with the panels on the roof. >> right now they pay $0.30 for

every kilowatt hour they generate, whether the grid needs it or not. a new proposal cuts it to $0.05. rooftop systems will be unaffordable, threatening some 70,000 jobs. >> monopoly utilities are trying every way to hurt rooftop solar, it threatens their profit. >> they say because solar is irregular, sometimes there is too much, others too little, risking a blackout. >> the motive behind this is to tamper down solar installations. the grid is so unreliable. >> both sides say it's up to governor newsom to step in. >> the governor is in a difficult position. he needs to appease the environmentals but cannot have the blackouts. >> stand up to the monopoly utilities and keep him from gutting the value to rooftop consumers. >> the decision will be made

next week. we believe they will make the cut, make the change, so it's going to be more expensive and increase that payout from maybe seven years to maybe 15 if they approve it. back to you. >> john: all right, william, thank you. >> sandra: oregon supreme court stepping in to temporarily block the state's new controversial gun control law. this coming after gun rights activists have vehemently argued in court this bill violates second amendment rights. bring in larry keen, general counsel for the national shooting sports foundation, his group is part of the legal challenge to the oregon gun law. welcome to you, sir. first of all, this did not go into effect. what is your -- what point are you trying to make about the law and how it restricts an american's second amendment rights? >> thank you for having us on. the national shooting sports foundation is the firearms trade

association brought this lawsuit with others. measure 114 in oregon violates the second amendment rights of oregonians by requiring a permit to purchase, got discretion and delay baked into it, and also measure 114 would ban the possession, sale, common ordinary size of detachable magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds of ammunition. perspective, over half a billion magazines in the united states capable of holding more than ten rounds and half of all gun owners in the united states own a magazine of that size capacity or greater. so it's clearly commonly owned for lawful purposes, including self-defense. on the permit to purchase, which has been delayed by the court until the 13th, and under the

federal court until january 6th, you know, it's impossible for the state to even implement this ridiculous scheme, where the state ran to court -- >> sandra: some local police departments, sorry to cut you off, get this in. we have found some local police departments in the state who are saying that even if this goes into effect they are not going to enforce the law, which will continue to follow that. this is the eugene police chief on the new law talking about just that, how they are going to be spread so thinly if they have to take this on. listen. >> we are all spread thin and we are working people harder than we have worked them before. one of the nuances of this ballot measure unclear to us is who is responsible to do that training, where is that going to happen, and where can it happen safely. i would suggest it can't happen safely in the front lobby of the police department. we have to figure out how it's going to work. >> sandra: and total chaos, we

spoke to a gun store owner, said the parking lots are flooded and lines are a mile long, people fear they will not be able to legally purchase a gun in that state. thought from you, sir. >> if this had gone into effect today as originally planned, it would have been a gun ban in the state of oregon. you have to take a course which the chief indicated does not exist. you have to fill out an application that doesn't exist. then you have to pay a fee of up to $65, you have to be fingerprinted and photographed like a criminal, then you have to undergo a background check and then if you do all that, the police can deny you a permit to purchase if they think you are too dangerous. and then if you show up at a gun store you have to give your card, prove it's valid, the dealer has to cross reference it against a database that does not exist. >> sandra: a lot to it. >> and fingerprinted again. a lot to it, can't be done.

>> sandra: a big debate in that state. john, jam packed show, and i believe that does it for us. >> john: a lot of pushback and opposition, interesting to see how it shakes out in the end. good to be with you on friday eve. looking forward to the actual friday tomorrow. >> sandra: absolutely. here we go into the end of the week. i'm sandra smith. >> john: i'm john roberts. to pay down high rate credit cards, personal loans, even car loans. veterans get more at newday.

>> martha: good afternoon. i'm martha maccallum. live in the nation's capitol. big show in dc. kevin mccarthy faces new hurdles to getting the gavel. he will joins us shortly as will jim jordan. in moments, i'll speak with john kirby at the white house where they're waiting for if arrival of wnba star brittney griner. now shortly on american soil. she was freed from a russian prison i