martha: it's thursday, know what that means? bill you and doocy, mono au mono! >> yes. see you tomorrow. jon: good morning to you, i'm jon scott. jenna: eye everybody, i'm jenna lee and happening right now, let's take to you capitol hill where a big battle over the bush tax cuts is heating up, this as the president hits the road ahead of the midterm electricals. jon: in the middle new box, surprising new numbers on home foreclosures and they aren't good. even if you think your family's home is safe, could mean troubles for your home 's value and your neighborhood. jenna: shocking news on a fisherman that's missing and how a tiger shark is involved. we're here in the fox news room where breaking news is coming in from across the country and around the

world, the domestic desk covering the country's coverage jon: president obama is undertaking a transformation of sorts, turning into the campaigner in chief, he's stumping for democrats ahead of the midterm elections. today, he'll head to connecticut for a fund-raiser for senate condition date richard blumenthal but will the president help or hurt democrats at the poll? mike emanuel is live at the white house. first, mike, what is the reaction in connecticut, the president heading up there to work on behalf of richard pwhr*e munich thall? >> mr. blumenthal, jon, leads the race by about six points or so, he is considered a very popular politician in the state of connecticut, particularly popular with democrats. the question mark is the fight for the independent quote. as for the president's visit, here's the reaction from republican linda mcmahon: >> interesting for mr. blumenthal, who, you know, wants to be an outsider to washington, yet he's thoroughly embracing

the president coming in for two particular fund-raisers, one specifically for him and one for the democratic party, and so you know, it's a big bear hug and embrace. >> reporter: shy note that we reached out to mr. blumenthal for an interview, his campaign declined our q. so that's why you're only hearing from the republican side of the ticket, jon. jon: but i presume, you know, the blumenthal campaign thinks the president can help. the indications are the public is restless. what are the risks and rewards of bringing in the president? >> reporter: well, the big issue or the big dilemma for the blumenthal campaign is linda mcmahon is self-funded, the woman who held build -- helped build the world wrestling empire and can put her own money in the campaign, he's been on the road relentlessly. what blumenthal needs is for president obama to raise money and a sitting president can raise a great deal of money for a candidate, but analysts say they don't want a big rally with the president on stage

with blumenthal because mcmahon's campaign will use that against him, if you believe, to essentially say he's the washington insider, he's the establishment guy, i'm the outsider, vote for me. so there are risks and there are rewards with bringing a sitting president in, especially when you're fighting for the independent vote, jon. jon: he can raise that money. mike emanuel at the white house, thanks. jenna: in business news now, more americans lost their homes last month than any time in the entire crisis. that means the bank actually went in, took away the hole and kicked families out. on foreclosure news it's different. eric bolling is here at the business desk from the fox business network to help us work through some of the numbers. >> they're bad numbers, jenna. i brought my card. prices are down. let's stay on the foreclosure number real quick. in august, 95,358 homes were foreclosed on, the banks took them back. 3 percent jump from the prior month. doesn't sound like much but that's seven months in a row. but get this, 25 percent

jump from 2009, a year ago. so the trend continues. basically what it's telling you, if you hear people tell you we're out of the recession, we're definitely not out of the recession. jenna: especially when it comes to housing. >> right. jenna: what do we do? we hear about the help for homeowners. do we need more of that coming from the government? >> great question. it didn't work the first time, with have 2.3 million homes that have been foreclosed on since the recession began, another million will continue to be foreclosed on. by the end of this year. so it looks like this year, there will be another million foreclosed on. it's not helping. jenna: what do you do? >> one was 25 billion, and i think the other one was $50 billion, help for struggling homeowners. it's just not working. jenna: it's hard to stand by and wafpl. i mean, that's really it. is there anything we can do? >> it's happening because there is fear in america, there's fear of losing their jobs, not getting a job. buying a home is a long term commitment and when they're not sure what the tax structure is going to look

like or not going to have a job, they don't make that purchase. what you really need to do, get government out, let everyone know what their faxes -- taxes are going to looking like, preferably lower and get ut. get out of the way. let prices come down, inventories come down and let the home market fix itself. jenna: you've got a pretty good housing guest on tonight, big guest. host of "money rocks" is on with donald trump tonight. >> i'm looking forward to it. jenna: check it out. it's going to be fun. jon, over to you. jon: some new numbers out show weekly jobless claims at their lowest level in eight months, 450,000 americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, that's down a bit from a week ago. not nearly enough, though, to ease concerns. wendell goler, live at the white house, with more on that. wendell. >> reporter: you're right, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits fell by 3000, which is the right direction but not nearly enough. the number of people actually receiving benefits

last week fell by 84,000. and since people are receiving extended jobless benefits these days, that means folks have been out of work for a long time. the 450,000 figure sounds like a lot, but it's actually only about 50,000 more than filed for unemployment benefits every week in a healthy economy. the problem is, this economy isn't creating jobs nearly fast enough. only about 67,000 in the private sector over the past month. now, the president just wrapped up a meeting with his export council which is looking for a way to double u.s. exports over the next five years. more than half of the growth we've seen in the economy over the past year has been due to increased exports, and mr. obama says continuing that is a part of what's needed to lay the foundation for long term economic growth. >> reinvigorating our economy in the short run and rebuilding it over the long term is not a 1-step process. there are going to be many steps we have to take in the months and years ahead.

but this is a critically important one, and i'm grateful to those senators on the republican side of the aisle, willing to take this vote on behalf of america's small business owners. >> reporter: the president is saying he has ordered trade representative ron kirk to clear away the remaining obstacles to a free trade agreement with south korea in time for the president to sign it when he goes there in november. but signing the deal with south korea might be easier than actually getting it through congress. one member of his export council said about 30 minutes ago that there is so much opposition in russ belt states like iowa to nafta to passing a new trade agreement with korea might be more difficult than it seems, jon. jon: wendell goler at the white house, thanks. jenna: it's tough to put some of those jobless claims in context. it is better than the previous week, historically -- but it's historically so high and this morning we heard about more job cuts coming from fedex, it's

going to happen in january, 1700 people. fedex is that big shipping company base -- based in tennessee. businesses are saying hey, things are going to look up but we're still going to slim down our staff and run things mean and lean. however if you're out of work, one of the things that some economists are looking at are some of the temporary jobs, you know, for halloween shops or christmas and retail, some of that might pick up things at least temporarily going into the bad part of the year. so if there's a silver lining, that might be some good things coming out. jon: all right. this fox news alert. tropical storm karl in the gulf of mexico has become a hurricane. category one hurricane. you can see it there over the yucatan peninsula, just formed in the gulf and is already over land, not likely to get any stronger obviously because it's not drawing its energy source from the ocean. but it could exit the other side of mexico and still do some damage. we'll keep an eye on this one. hurricane karl, category one storm, as of right now.

jenna: well, new developments in the botched rescue attempt of tourists on this hijacked bus in the philippines last month. today the justice chief in manila says she'll recommend criminal charges against high level police officers and journalists for bungling the standoff. the drama aired for hours on live tv. police finally stormed the bus and killed the hostage taker, but a preliminary report shows that some of the eight hostages had died and may have been hit with friendly fire. jon: a cheerleading competition turns terrifying in the philippines, when a homemade fire work explodes. take a look: >> 46 people ended up in the hospital after that blast. most of those injured are students. police say someone lit a bottle filled with gun powder. that homemade device exploded, sending shrapnel

into the crowd. jenna: well, the pope meeting with the queen. the queen of england today. thousands gathered to watch as the british monarch welcomed the pope at her palas in edinburgh, scotland, she told the holy father that his visit remained all of their christian heritage and the queen isn't the only high profile brit welcoming the pope today. listen: >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ i dreamed a dream in times gone by. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ jenna: there she is, susan boyle, the brit's got talent reality star who shot to international fame last year, serenaded the pope at an open air mass in glasglow pwo*euls said she will sing "i dreamed a dream" but for the rest of the performance, she said you're going to have to wait and see. she rs -- performs next hour. jon: what a great voice, man. polls, and polls, and more polls with the midterm

elections 47 days away. there's a new one with republicans showing a 16-point lead over democrats but how much stock can you really put in polls? we'll get into that. hurricane igor, now an extremely dangerous category four storm, heading for land. we're going to tell you where the warnings are out right now. plus the latest on that brand new hurricane karl, swirling in the gulf. we know a lot of you are online as well when you're watching us on tv. if you want to check out igor's projected track or get the latest in your neighborhood, log on to foxnews.com/weather.

jon: tphorts bermuda are warning residents there to start preparing now for hurricane igor. it is expected to be the strongest storm to hit that island since 2003. the u.s. east coast also will be feeling the effects of igor next week. and just behind it in the atlantic is hurricane julia. meanwhile, mexico is bracing

for hurricane karl. karl already ripped across the yucatan peninsula with whipping winds and heavy rain, causing some serious flooding. we'll be talking with janice dean in our next hour, she'll get us the very latest track of all of these storms. a very busy time. jenna: you can call it a tsunami, you can call it a takeover, you could call it a crushing defeat, call it whatever you want, but many suggest republicans are going to take back one or both houses of congress after the mid terms, but i want to show you some of these new rolls. the new a.p. poll gives republicans a 16-point advantage this november, 55-39 among likely voters. while a new cbs-"new york times" survey gives the gop just a two-point edge, 40-38. let's put these numbers in context and talk politics with chris stierwalt, fox sr-rbl politics ved editor. both polls show basically the same outcome but they paint a very different picture. how do you make sense of those numbers?

>> the important thing to remember in every poll, jenna, is this. who are you sampling, and what are they going to do. and those two polls, they could both be accurate, but they look at two different things, and what the associated press poll is looking at is likely voters. these are people who their pollsters think are really going to show up on election day and actually vote. "the new york times" poll is looking at all reg extend voters. what the polls show us is the story of 2010, which is republicans are fired up, and when you get down to test whog is likely to go vote, republicans are likely to go vote and this year it looks like democrats are much less likely even than usual to go vote. jenna: let me paint a scenario for you and ask your opinion on this. everyone is talking about the gop takeover, we are, you see it all over the newspapers. could the scenario develop that everyone thinks the gop is going to take back one or both hows and the republicans that are so fired up don't go out and vote? >> well, that is a daily fear for republican

strategists that i talk to, what they're concerned about is not only that the voters will take it for granted, but that the people running for office will take it for granted, that they're already thinking about being in power, that they're not thinking about how to obtain power. and the real concern for republicans, and this is a tangible thing, is that as it gets closer and as it becomes a reality and democrats are concerned about the takeover, that they'll get more motivated. but right now, and this is a story line that hasn't changed for months and months and we kept waiting for the alteration, but it hasn't changed, anger at washington and displeasure with the polices of the democratic majority continue to drive this election into some strange territory that we've really never seen before. skwr*pb jen completely different topic but have to ask you this before we run, chris. we have a reagan getting involved in politics this time around? you've heard about it in the morning note. tell us about that. >> well, nancy reagan, the former first lady, has endorsed meg whitman for governor' california.

now, this is significant, only because nancy reagan so seldom gets involved in politics like this. you may remember when she endorsed john mccain, that was a big deal that she would actually come out because she's such a guardian of her husband's legacy. it's a stamp of approval for whitman because it puts -- anyone who thought she was too centrist or not conservative enough, it's a helpful moment for her and it's nice for everyone to see the former first lady get involved in politics a little bit. jenna: chris stierwalt, thank you. you can can get the latest developments with the brand new fox news america's election headquarters app, go to fox news.cole and find a link in the fox spotlight section of the home page and there you can find all the download details so you can be in the know, on the go, and see all of chris' work there, jon. jon: you know they have to be rejoicing in the whitman camp. jenna: that's a good

endorsement, right? jon: that's big. is the search for a missing oregon boy, kyron horman, is that a cold case now? more than three months after he disappeared from his school, the sheriff is making some big changes to the investigation. and the obama administration says the rich can afford to pay more taxes. but many of them run small businesses that employ millions of americans. so what could the end of the bush tax cuts mean to american jobs? that's ahead.

jenna: "happening now" in the crime blotter, court action in the case of the accused fort hood shooter, major nidal hasan, today, a military officer is set to decide whether to allow the public to hear testimony next month from the survivors of that rampage,

that happened just last year. in the middle box the deadly home invasion trial in connecticut where a doctor's wife and daughter were brutally murdered. dramatic 911 calls in the case. we have a live report for you next hour. changes in the investigation into the disappearance of this little boy, kyron horman in oregon, the sheriff, reorganizing the search team into a smaller task force. this comes more than three months after that little boy disappeared. jon: right now a raging debate over taxes is underway in washington. the big question, just how many small businesses would be affected by an obama administration proposal? the white house, as you probably know, wants to let the bush tax cuts expire on individuals making over $200,000 a year, and families who earn more than $250,000. jim angle is live for us in washington now. so what are the arguments in all of this, jim? are businesses going to be hurt or not? >> well, jon, the key is many privately owned

businesses pay taxes at the individual rate. democrats and republicans have a very different take on whether raises taxing on higher incomes will deter job creating businesses or not, with democrats saying only a tiny percentage would be affected. >> how many small business owners are in that category? 3 percent. it includes doctors, lawyers, and the like. >> how many people does it apply to? >> what are 3 percent of the people with this kind of income? of all those, 750,000 people >> reporter: and the irs data, jon, shows about half of all business income in the nation goes to those who would, in fact, be subject to tax increases under the democratic plan. jon. jon: so political debate aside, what else do we know about how private businesses end up being affected by what the president proposes? >> well, the national federation of independent businesses survey found that business owners who make more than $250,000 are precisely those that would face tax hikes. >> businesses employ between

20 and 250 workers, that accounts for a quarter of the american work force, those are business that is are most likely to be hiring, most likely to be making new investments. >> the tax foundation says irs figures show that about 40 percent of the increased taxes on those making over $200,000 would come from the pockets of business. >> well, these are clearly job creators. these are the healthy, thriving businesses that we're asking to revive the american economy from its doldrums and the last thing we would want to do is raise their taxes while asking them to create jobs and grow their businesses. >> reporter: and actually, jon, an increasing number of democrats in both the house and senate are making the same argument. thirty-one house democrats signed a letter calling for full extension of the tax cuts, one of them, representative michael mcmahon of new york, told hur sister publication, the "wall street journal," that in my head, i know it's not good policy to raise taxes in a recession and in my heart, i know it's bad

politicians to raise taxes at any time. jon. jon: jim angle, live for us in washington, thank you. >> you bet. jenna: an emotional debate heating up once again in washington, should your tax dollars fund stem cell research. we're going to take a closer look. also, sharks can really swallow the strangest things that license plates to rusted metal, but what one fisherman found in a predator almost frightened him to death. >> and how you could soon find yourself riding a brand new shuttle into space.

jon: we're keeping an eye right now on three powerful hurricanes, karl just reaching hurricane strength, it threatens the mexican coast. igor is now a very powerful category four storm barreling toward bermuda. the u.s. east coast will feel the effects of igor next week. also keeping an eye on the dow right now. it's down about 16 points. traders reacting to several new economic reports, including new jobless claims that unexpectedly fell by 3000. unemployment, though, still well above levels that would signal widespread new hiring in this country. jenna: back to d.c. now. lawmakers on capitol hill are working hard to get federal funding for stem cell research, and this is important because it puts our tax dollars into the research whether you agree with it or not and that can be very controversial. shannon bream is live in washington with this story.

shannon, some lawmakers are pointing to a recent court decision saying it has created an emergency situation? tell us a little about what they're proposing because of that. >> reporter: hi jenna. that is what they're calling it. back in august, a federal judge issued an injunction, it put a stop to government-funded embryonic stem cell research that violates law. there is now a temporary stay of that injunction for a few days while the case is playing out and lawmakers like senator arlen specter has long been involved in this issue and say scientists are left in limbo, scrambling to figure out if research is legal, putting key research projects on hold. he and his counterparts in the house side are introducing legislation that could override the recent court decisions. congresswoman diana dugette is calling this an emergency. here's what she told fox: >> all of this really puts all the researchers into a great deal of turmoil. they don't know what to do. they don't know if they can use federal funding for stem cell research or not. >> reporter: and what these bills on capitol hill

are aimed at is giving clarity to that issue. jenna: it's crowded on capitol hill. there are a lot of bills throating on the mid terms. what are the chances of actually getting something passed? >> they've got a full legislative plate. it's not going to happen without a fight. there are both members who say this is a moral and ethical issue, they believe that destroying embryos is immoral, especially when you're using taxpayer dollars to do that. here's congress -- congressman mike pens. >> i think that destroying an innocent human life is morally wrong but i also think it's morally wrong to take the take par dollars of prolife americans and use it to fund research that involves the destruction of a human embryo in the name of science. >> reporter: as you mentioned, they're very busy on the hill. we'll see in the very short time they have whether they get to this one, jenna. jenna: are we hearing anything from the scientific community on any parts of these issues? >> they're definitely

bubbling up. i've talked to scientists on both of this issue, dr. jane shirley says the public isn't being told the whole truth about the necessity of embryonic stem cell research, he workses with adult stem cells, he says they're not at -- all the same, we admit that, but you can get to important cures. there is a hearing on the hill, this is playing out in the senate and we heard from the national institutes -- institute of health on the other side who said it is essential, we must have the money for this embryonic stem cell research. they're arguing for it but there are folks that say because it is so controversial, if you are for it, why not let private dollars fund it. jenna: big story. thank you for bringing it to us, shannon. shannon bream in d.c., thank you. >> uh-huh. jon: right now, folks in one chinese town are living in fear of deadly cobras. one hundred sixty of those poisonous snakes, venomous, i guess i should say, escaped from an illegal

breeding facility and are turning up in peoples' streets and bathrooms, can you manage that? the government claims they have rounded up all but a few of the cobras and so far no one has been hurt but they're not taking any chances. they are teaching people how to treat cobra bites. sounds like a scene out of jaws, but the terror was all too real for a deep sea fisherman in the bahamas. he reels in a 12-foot tiger shark and when he gets it to the boat, a human leg pops out of its mouth. now tests done on the contents of that shark's stomach suggest the leg belonged to a missing fisherman. let's talk about it with george burgess, director of florida's program for shark research. i guess we shouldn't be surprised, tiger sharks are known to consume pretty much anything, right? >> the tiger sharks are the sort of typical thing that we think about as sharks. they will eat almost anything. most sharks are a lot more

particular. jon: they're classified as maneaters, right? >> yeah, tiger sharks are one of the big three, along with white and bull sharks, the three species we're most concerned about. jon: the mystery here is we don't know what happened with this fisherman. he was apparently out on his boat, the boat stalled and he and another guy jumped in the water, they were going to try to swim to shore, as i understand it. would a tiger shark necessarily go after, you know, an active moving, swimming swimmer? >> yeah, a tiger shark would, but of course, tiger sharks also go after dead human beings as well. so at this point, we don't have enough information to know whether the victim was either alive or dead at the time of meeting the shark. jon: i guess that's the question, and you know, if he's dead, he's dead, but if the guy drowned and the tiger shark went after him postmortem, that's a little different than going after a guy who's actively trying to

get to shore. >> yeah, that's right. of course, as nasty as it sounds, in the sea, we don't find dead animals. basically, anything that dies is recycled very quickly, not only by sharks but other fish and crabs and things like that. so human body or a dead shark, it receives the same treatment, unfortunately. jon: at least his family has answers as to what happened to him. it was a mystery there for a week or so. george burgess, thank you. >> this sort of underscores the business, if you go down, stay with your boat, you're a lot safer staying with the boat rather than trying to swim for it. jon: that's for sure. thanks. jenna. jenna: my goodness, jon! how did you get all those stories, cobras, sharks, taking peoples' legs! come on -- come on! jon: that's nature. jenna: all part of the job. now to ocean correctures, to temper that for you, we have great video of blue whales, seen swimming off the coast

of california. the whales were just a few miles from the beach and experts say it's very rare to see the whales so close. we'll continue our animal planet version of "happening now" next hour, jon. jon: and brand new, from earth to space now, jenna -- >> jenna: keep it going. jon: brand new adventure from boeing, outer space, there is a way you could get on board and get a view of earth from there. rick folbaum is live in the breaking news deck. whole new adventure. >> jon, my bag is packed, i'm ready to go. boeing getting into the space tourism business and looking for potential passengers, right now with the shuttle program winding down next year, the white house wants the private sector to pick up the slack and boeing's announcement could be one giant leap in that direction. here it is, that's the crew, space transportation 100, and this is designed for a space capsule that theoretically could begin taking space tourists, along

with astronauts, up into orbit in the next five years. the capsule refers to the 100-kilometers the shuttle could trave, that's only 52 miles up, and it's only low earth orbit but sounds cool, doesn't it? boeing and others have been working on this ever since getting federal award money as part of the economic stimulus package that was passed last year, so these are your tax dollars diverted from traditional nasa budgets and being awarded to the private sector. the president in his budget proposal for next year says he would like to continue with this game plan. congress still has to hash out all the details, and there are a lot of critics both in and out of nasa. but if this all takes flight, boeing says it could be ready to start launching people into space by 2015. no price tag yet, but the russians, who have been doing this for years, they charge about $40 million. so i'm starting to save right now. jon: yeah, pocket change for you, i know, rick! all right. thanks.

jenna: you don't have to go to outer space, the adds desert is looking more like the moon, and nasa scientists and engineers are gathering to test out the next generation of rovers and lunar robot there is. it's not just fun and games. they're actually simulating missions, hope to go recreate them someday on the surface of the moon. jon: well, even las vegas gam phrers might not want to bet on the nevada senate race right now. the latest polls show it is a virtual dead heat in the desert between democratic giant harry reid and his tea party-backed challenger sharron angle. how attack ads are playing a big role in this very important race.

jon: new next hour, the battle over legalizing marijuana that's dividing one community. a cartoonist now fears for her life. how she wound up on a terrorist hit list. plus, remember that dramatic camel rescue we watched right here on "happening now" yesterday?

well, we have an update on what happened to moses, and we will fill you in. that was a pretty good impression, jon! jon: working on my camel impressions. jenna: well, the nevada senate race is in a dead heat, majority leader harry reid taking back the momentum from sharron angle. back in june angle held a 11 percent lead and now the lead is gone. how did this happen when the tea party is on fire around the country? let's have john ralston, columnist for the las vegas sun. you're on the inside, working on the outside when it comes to the nevada race. give us an idea. why is this race so important and what does it tell us about the nature of politics right now in this country? >> well, as you pointed out, the tea party is on fire across the country, but the tea party is mostly on fire in these primaries in the republican party. they've taken over essentially the republican party in some key races and we saw the o'donnell race this week prove that.

sharron angle did the same thing, she beat the establishment candidate and that was june 8th and since that time harry reid has pounded her with ads as you mentioned earlier and using mostly her own words an her own record against her. sharron angle has made quite a few appearances in harry reid's ads and that's how he's gotten back into the race. jenna: let's look at some of the ads harry reid has put out and i'll get your opinion. >> sharron angle voted to prevent restraining orders from evidence in, it would have made nevada a safe have phone domestic abusers. >> what do you call a candidate that says the time may be coming for second amendment remedies and armed response to our government? >> you heard sharron angle wants to wipe out social security, now she says it's like welfare. jenna: so jon, in your article, you summed this up, you said that harry reid's ads have accused angle of doing everything from siding with domestic abusers to

inciting an armed revolt. has she actually down that? -- done that? >> i think the domestic abuse spot is a little overdone. she did vote that way, but she and about eight other, i believe, conservative republicans had some problems with how that was going to be executed, the a.g. and others supported it, but that is typical of sharron angle's antigovernment feel to her record. the other ones i think are legitimate issues. she did talk about second amendment remedies, she wacked off a little on what she was saying but clearly, that was careless rhetoric, and listen, her social security position is really -- has really, really hurt her because what she said in the primary, which is we need to phase it out, has generally changed and morphed into and i want to save it during the general election. we've seen candidates frequently in election cycles, democrats run to the left and republicans run to the right and try to come back to the middle. the problem that sharron angle has is she wants to stick with her position i

think and shall of -- some her handlers are saying you can't say that the way you said it in the primaries, say it different. jenna: she's also stuck to a few court issues when it comes to attacking harry reid. let's take a look at her ads and again i'll get your reaction. >> nevada's unemployment rate has jumped from 4 percent, to 14 percent. home values have dropped by half. worst of all, there are over 195,000 nevadans out of work today, with no sign of things getting better. so for nevada, how much further can we go. jenna: there it is, it's the economy and we know that nevada's economy is not doing well right now. you're in vegas, john. if you had to gamble, whose ads are most effective, who ends up pulling this out in the end? >> it's going to be very close. and those ads, about the economy, if sharron angle can keep doing that and american crossroads, karl rove's groups, has been helping her with complimentary ads, 70 percent of the polls say

economy is the number one issue and nevada's economy is maybe the worst economy in the country. most foreclosures, highest unemployment rate. they are blaming, people are blaming harry reid or at least enough people are blaming hay reid and sharron angle is reinforcing that. if they shallo she can keep the topic on the economy, she has a chance to win but the more she talks about what happened previously and the more hay reid can pound her on her record and what she said, he has a chance to win. it's going to be very close, it's going to come to turnout. reid has a slight edge because he's come back from the dead but they're both still in this race. jenna: it's an interesting one to watch, john. thank you very much for your insights, john ralston of the las vegas sun, thank you. jon: a fox news alert, breaking news out of baltimore. we're getting word of a shooting inside johns hopkins hospital. police there are saying one doctor has been shot, the suspect is supposedly holed

up somewhere inside johns hopkins medical center, which is a massive facility. they are evacuating the hospital right now. there is no word on the doctor's condition. obviously, no word about the status of the gunman, whether he is in custody right now or not. the only word we have is that a doctor has been shot inside johns hopkins medical center in baltimore. the suspect, believed to be holed up inside somewhere. can you imagine, it is a very chaotic scene. we're on top of it, we'll try to get you more information as it becomes available. in the meantime, hurricanes igor and julia get some company. karl has now reached hurricane strength. the latest on this tropical triple threat. we're live in the fox weather center. and the twilight movie series, a huge hit with teenagers, obviously, but the average pare films and books actually could be altering teen minds. we'll explore that in depth, ahead.

>> say it out loud. >> vampire. >> are you afraid? >> no. jon: -- jon: vampire books, all the rage now and that craze has translated into movies, especially among teens, but there are new concerns that this craze could actually be mind alter, for younger people whose brains are still developing. it's been the subject of a big conference. let's talk about it with karen coast, an english professor at illinois state university.

is there the fear that this could be harming teenage brains in some way? >> well, actually, no. the research is showing that reading, especially reading longer books, is actually beneficial, because at this point in the gene brain development, it enables them to focus more on sustained arguments and following longer narratives and really focusing on the consequences to -- consequences to actions so they can play emotionally with intense experiences without having to actually have those experiences. it's actually kind of -- >> jon: because one of the criticisms of what intertains teens and preteens these days is video games, text messaging, things that require very short attention spans. >> right. and they have the effect on the brain, what research is showing is what we already suspected, is that they have the effect on the brain to actually inhibit sustained

attention. so if kids are spending a lot of time texting and multi tasking, and grownups, too, you're affecting your brain, but it's more intense with kids because they haven't developed the patterns that they need to build conceptual models, so that they can follow longer arguments and follow longer narratives. jon: can't say i've read the twilight series. i know a lot of kids who have. but there is something in the theme about these books, i gather, with this bella, who's in love with an older vampire, a lot of parents find it a little disturbing. >> well, in that respect, it is disturbing, but they're responding to cultural trends. you know, we live in scary times, and the vampires that we have cooked up today, starting with this vampire, tend to be benevolent, they use their power to protect the people they love rather than acting as a predators,

so it's kind of a new meda for for vampire that is they're very, very powerful and they're very, very sexy and they promise eternal love rather than sort of a temporary relationship where they might put someone at risk. so it is kind of a myth that is answering a cultural fear. jon: karen coats from illinois state university, karen, thank you. jenna: updates now on that breaking story on johns hopkins hospital, there's a shooting there and we're piecing together local reports, as well as reports from the associated press. what we know now is there was a shooting at the hospital. the details that are coming in are a little bit sketchy and we're trying to confirm some of them. but according to the baltimore sun, this shooting actually shook place -- took place right after 11:00 eastern time, around 11:15 at the thoracic center. we're hearing that a man went in and there was a shooting of a doctor there, and that there could be a hostage situation taking place somewhere in the hospital there. we're taking you there, you can see it over the internet

, google map. it's a very big campus. johns hopkins hospital in baltimore. so again, a lot of breaking situations right now. a lot of things going on. and we're working hard to kind of find out some of these things happening inside the hospital. we have heard also additional reports that perhaps it was a surgeon that was shot and the surgeon is in critical condition. but again, a ton of reports flood going our newsroom. as we hear more, we'll bring you more details. jon: early reports indicate the gunman has barricaded himself in a room at the hospital. again, we're on top of it the best we can. the details are coming in a little bit slowly, as you can imagine in a situation like this. they have to be very, very careful, police do, in trying to figure out exactly what's going on. we're on it from our national desk and we'll try to bring you the latest information. jenna: real quick, the associated press, quoting the police department, in baltimore, saying that the -- there is a hostage, that

the gunman is holed up in a room there at the hospital. so we'll bring you more as we get it. we'll be right back with more news here on "happening now". let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. jenna: breaking news out of baltimore this hour where we're hearing of a shooting at john hopkins hospital. now reports that the gunman might have been subdued. rick folbaum has been working the story, what do we know? >> reporter: a lot of information coming in, we are trying to get through it as best we can and confirm as much as we can. there is a report on the associated press. we have not been able to confirm this independently, jenna, that the gunman at john hopkins hospital in baltimore, maryland has been subdued. this is a gunman who evidently made his way into the hospital, shot a doctor, according to local reports and then barricaded himself into one of the rooms in the hospital taking a hostage with him. swat s. w. a. t. teams arrives

at the hospital. we don't know the condition of the doctor who reportedly was shot. we don't know the condition of the hostage is that was taken. reports on the ap just crossing that the gunman has been subdued at this sprawling hospital, this is a giant hospital complex in the eastern part of town. one of the most well respected medical centers in the entire country. people coming to john hopkins from all over the world to see the professionals who work there. this particular event taking place at nelson 8 which is one of the buildings that houses the thoracic center there. police shut down a number of roads. the hospital was evacuated. we don't know yet whether they are allowing people to go back inside the hospital or what happened to patients and staff in the hospital, a lot of them

would be difficult to remove from the hospital especially those who are receiving serious medical care and treatment. a lot of reports coming in, we are working on confirming them all. the ap saying that the gunman, jenna has been subdued. hopefully this is a situation that is beginning to unwind and things will soon get back to normal at john hopkins. jenna: we are also confirming that it was indeed a doctor that was shot inside the hospital. no word on the condition. we'll continue to keep everybody updated. thank you very much to rick and we'll bring you more as we hear it. jenna: hi, everybody i'm jenna lee. thanks for starting off a new hour with us with breaking news. jon: we'll stay on top of the hospital situation and also covering partisan politics shaping a big tax battle on capitol hill. republicans here are riding a wave of discontent as democrats s worry about the mood of voters

come election day. james rosen is reporting live for us. >> reporter: midterm election politics in the air here on capitol hill where nonetheless president obama stands poised to win another round with the senate expected to approve a $30 billion measure that sets aside taxpayer funds for community banks to lend to small businesses. republicans had successfully fill bus terd -- filibustered this measure back in july. this week two republican senators, a senator from georgia and one from florida relented. president obama speaking at the white house thanked the two senators by name and urged the rest of the gop colleagues in the senate to quote stop playing games on the other matters that are pressing around here, that is whether to extend the gush era income tax cuts. they say they want an up or down

vote on all the taxes and he says it's the president that doesn't get it. >> the sooner we extend the current tax rates for all americans, the sooner some of the uncertainty that is clouding the picture for small businesses begins to clear up. it's important if we want the economy to get going again. >> reporter: a key figure to watch in all of this is senator ben nelson, democrat of nebraska, he is one of seven senate democrats that are said to favor the gop approach and wants the taxes extended to all income tax brackets including the wealthy. >> do you feel so strong about that that you would join republicans in a filibuster. >> i don't think it's going to come to that. >> if it tk- come to that. >> i do feel strong about it. i don't think we have to come t- a filibuster, i think we'll get

it done. >> do i get an answer? >> i don't think there is an answer when there is not an effort out there to do a filibuster who wants to invite one. >> reporter: there is movement on this subject in both houses of congress. a number of democrats, at least 31 have urged nancy pelosi the leader of the democrats there to consider extending the tax relief to all income brackets. jon: thank you. coming up politics and the housing market. is the administration doing the right thing to prevent home foreclosures? we had that report last hour about those home foreclosure numbers. the other side of the coin is should the feds butt out and let the market run its course all on its own. jenna: more information again, an update on the john hopkins hospital shooting. rick folbaum with more on this. >> reporter: i've been trying to get in touch with the administrators over at john hopkins medical center in baltimore. not surprisingly all the lines are busy. the associated press is

reporting and they are quoting gary stevenson a hospital spokesman as saying that the shooter has been subdued and detained. the hospital spokesman says the shooting was on the 8th floor of the main hospital building. he says that the floor remains locked down. we had heard earlier that the entire hospital was being evacuated that according to police in baltimore. no confirmation on that as we take a look at the pictures now from google maps. we also don't know the condition of the doctor who apparently was shot. whoever this person was, they were able to get up into the 8th floor of the main hospital building there, and this is a complex with many, many different buildings. they went into the main building, shot a doctor, and apparently then barricaded themselves inside of a room on the 8th floor, taking a hostage with them, and again reports now that the shooter has been subdued and detained, according to the hospital spokesman, gary stevenson. so we are working on trying to

confirm all of this ourselves so we don't have to rely on other sources but that's the word right now. the situation there remains obviously very perfectly less -- periless and the 8th floor remains locked down. streets in the surrounding area have been shut down by the police, apparently now, or perhaps now that this shooter has been detained, they might be able to start letting regular traffic flow again. again a very, very scary situation that we will i has just unfolded in the last hour at one of the most respected hospitals in the entire country. i'm still working on getting more information, as soon as i do i'll let you know. jenna: we'll continue to work it on our side to see if we can get someone on the phone or at the scene to give us context to what is happening down in baltimore. as we do we will bring it to you. now for a flip side of taxes. voters across america are speaking out loud and clear against government spending.

the growing concern over massive budgets and deeper deficits turning into really a broad, national movement. john fund is a columnist for the "wall street journal," he's joining us now and an interesting opp spayed ed, it's called "it's the spending stupid" why has this moved to a crisis level for the public. >> reporter: think about this, in 2007 when nancy pelosi and harry reid ushered in the democratic congress the ten-year budget projection of where we would be in terms of surplus or deficit for the federal budget was at the end of ten years we would be $300 billion in surplus. well, forget about that. now it's $3 trillion in deficit is the projection that we're going to be in in 2016. that is a million, million, that is a lot of money. i think people realize if we don't get a handle on spending and debt their grandchildren will be impoverished. jenna: the i shall you've spending is not looked at being

one that is only a democratic issue, it's also a republican issue. this issue of spending predates the obama administration. >> reporter: we know that independents actually cass the swing votes. ras muse even poll, 88% of republicans want a smaller government, lower taxes, fewer services. 74% of independents and here is the big news, 44% of democrats, we are almost achieving a national consensus that the government is growing too big and we have to live within our means. jenna: is it real possible for the government to cutback in a significant way? >> reporter: well, we have seen it happen overseas in places like new zealand and britain, we've seen it in the u.s. in new jersey where governor chris christie has tackled the bulge et. cetera. churchill said something really wise once, he said government will always do the right thing but first it must exhaust all other possibilities. we are getting close to that

point in this country. jenna: we appreciate john fund from the "wall street journal" today. a big issue if there ever was one. jon, over to you now. jon: jenna a cartoon sends its creator into hiding. now she is being forced into an entirely new identity. why? we'll get into that. plus, heart wrenching 911 calls play out in a gruesome murder trial, a bank manager frantically dials police before a mother and her daughters are killed after a night of unspeakable terror. >> it was a chrysler pacifica, and i agree it's amazing how come she was, but then again she could have been petrified i don't know. jon: what those calls say about a fight of a mother to save her family and the questions being raised right now about the police response. could cops have prevented this horrible tragedy?

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jenna: brand-new information on the john hopkins hospital shooting just into our newsroom, this from gary stevenson, he's a senior associate director at john hopkins, and here is what he has to tell us. the alleged shooter has been subdued, sequestered and disarmed. also a physician has been shot and injured and is now undergoing surgery in our or. so inside an operating room right now. he can see we are kind of pointing to that building, that is the building where we hear the shooting took place at the beginning of last hour. according to reports the suspect walked into the hospital. into the thoracic center there and apparently as we have confirmation shot a doctor in that hospital. also we were hearing different reports that the shooter hold himself up -- holed himself up in a patient's room. there are missing parts to these

stories, again coming to us from the hospital the shooter has been subdued, he is disarmed and that physician that has been shot is undergoing surgery right now in the operating room. we will keep you updated as we hear more on this. jon: and, jenna there is breaking news in some heart wrepwrenching details to sell ia sickening crime. sickening video as a connecticut mother pleads with a bank teller from the ordeal of torture, rape and eventually murder. it's a desperate attempt to satisfy two men who invaded her family's home. rick folbaum is following the trial and joins us now. >> reporter: this is a very, very difficult story to tell, because the crimes committed here are so graphic, and so disturbing. let's go back three years ago, july 07 two men follow jennifer pettite and her two daughters from the local supermarket to their home in connecticut and that began the horrific ordeal for the pettite family that as

you say involved torture, rape and murder. only the father, a doctor survived able to free himself from the basement where he was tied up by the two men. he escaped to a neighbor's house. the neighbor called 911, at that point it was too late, his wife and daughters were already dead. a 911 call released during the trial for one of the defendants shows what happened before the murders took place. this is when the killers drove jennifer pettite to the bank so that she could get money for them. the person whose voice you here, who called 911 is the bank teller. listen. >> there is no robbery here, but we have a lady who is in our bank right now who says that her husband and children are being held at their house. the people are in a car outside the bank, she is getting $15,000 to bring out to them. that if the police are told they will kill her children and the

husband. her name is jennifer pettite. she says they are being very nice, they have their faces covered. she is petrified. she wasn't going to call the police, but i came to my office and i did. >> okay she still is in the bank? >> yes she is. >> her husband and family -- >> yes, they are tied up she said. she is taking $15,000 out of a credit line. they told her they won't hurt anybody if she got back there with the money. she believes them. i think she is walking out now, she is walking out now. >> reporter: well they didn't keep that promise allegedly. after jennifer pettite gave the men that money they drove her back to the house and that's where the rest of the crimes were committed. police say that she was sexually assaulted and then strangled. her daughters hailey 17 in the back wearing the whitehouse and malay today 11 in the front also assaulted and then tied to their

beds and doused with gasoline and then the house was set on fire. police caught the defendants as they were trying to escape the scene in the pettite family car. steven hayes is on the right. it's his trial that is going on right now in new haven, the trial that was delayed after hayes tried to commit suicide in prison. the trial for his codefendant, a guy named joshua komiereski will start soon. the lawyers are trying to blame the cops for taking so long to get to the pettite house after receiving the initial 911 call from the bank . there was a 33-minute gap between the time they got the call and the time that they got to the house. the defense team is saying that the police were too late. if they had just got even there sooner their client would not have been able to commit the crimes. jon: observation, please, they are really arguing that thinks the cops fault that their

clients murdered these people? >> reporter: it's a nauseating tactic, i agree with you jon that is what is taking place now in a courtroom in new haven, connecticut. jon: unbelievable. rick folbaum, thanks. jenna: more developments from john hopkins hospital. you're seeing live pictures there. we'll bring you more developments in this case as we get it. we have another story coming up on the housing market and foreclosure crisis in this country. both of those stories coming up next now on "happening now." or ? was abe lincoln honest? mary: does this dress make my backside look big? abe: perhaps... save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really host: is having a snowball fight with pitching great randy johnson a bad idea? man: yeah, i'm thinking maybe this was a bad idea.

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jenna: breaking news from baltimore again we are monitoring this shooting at john hopkins hospital in pwauplt. you're seeing live pictures there -- in baltimore. you're seeing live pictures there as the scene develops. we told you moments ago that we heard from a hospital spokesman

that the shooter has been subdued. now they are correcting that, they say the shooter is sequestered or blocked off in an area we don't know much more than that. what we have heard coming in from local reports, including from the "baltimore sun" is that a shooter entered the building around 11:00 this morning and went up to the 8th floor. there are reports that that's where the shooter's mother was and he was unhappy of the treatment of his mother in the hospital. we don't know the connection to the doctor that was shot but we have heard from the hospital that a doctor is shot. he is in the operating room right now and obviously getting worked on. that is part of the story. so far the shooter has not been subdued, and we are having, again, some mixed reports about exactly what is going on with the shooter at this time. as we hear more we will bring it to you. jon: just imagine trying to evacuate a hospital. i mean you've got patients who are ill, patients who are on skwrurpb knees in -- guerneys, in their beds, it was a mess for police.

let's hope they can get the situation handled. in seattle a cartoonist is hiding, maybe she's gone somewhere else. she has a new name, new identity, a ghost to her pals and co-workers all because her work ignited a firestorm. she called for draw muhammad day. i guess she has been living in fear for quite some time. what is the latest now, dan. >> reporter: according to her colleagues she has gone ghost. this is molly norris who was a cartoonist for the seattle weekly. just yesterday they wrote that she has moved, changed her name and wiped out her identity all at the urging of the fbi. they are really taking this threat seriously. the threat came back early this summer from muslim cleric anwar al-awlaki who also happens to be the person the u.s. believes was

behind the failed bomb plot in times square. they urged her to take a lot of precautions. the colleague said basically she is in a witness protection program although the government is not paying for it. her last cartoon has appeared in that weekly, they will no longer put her at threat by having her run those cartoons and having her live here in seattle. she has left town, wiped out her identity apparently, jon. jon: there has been violence directed at cartoonists especially in europe, one of the cartoonists i guess was just given an award there. >> reporter: yeah, we know about the film maker theo vango who was killed after his criticism of muslims came out. a danish cartoonist was just honored for basically not necessarily what the cartoon did or said, but for being a symbol of the open and free press, and so he was just singled out.

this is surt westergaard last week he was singled out as kind of a beacon of a free press. jon: let's hope that woman can find some peace and one day resume her real identity. that would be nice, won't it. dan springer. >> reporter: sure would. jon: thank you. jenna: it certainly is a big problem, the number of homes that have been repossessed last month in august really the highest level we've seen ever during this crisis. that means the banks went in, they took the homes from the family because they were foreclosed upon. the feds are pumping money into these programs to stop foreclosures from happening and try to keep people in their homes. one side says we need to keep spending to fix this. critics say it's time to just leave the market alone and let it naturally repair itself. jonathan miller is president and ceo of miller. pat powell is here and they are

here to work out this housing crisis. i hope we can solve it in about four minutes or less, guys. why don't we start off with you jonathan. you aeu praise real estate you have your finger on the pulse of what is happening out there, where are we in this recovery. >> we shouldn't be calling it a recovery, that is part of the problem. what we had was a tax credit that pushed activity to abnormally high levels in the beginning of the year, so we were artificially high, now we are artificially low because the sales occurring in the first part of the year came in this period now. on top of that we are looking at rising foreclosures. the expectation is that we're not going to peak at least until the middle of next year, and in many ways i think there is not much the obama administration can do about that. jenna: the obama administration or even republicans. pat powell you know i was down in d.c. earlier this week and senator lindsey graham said to me he would like to have more tax credits for home buyers to try to again ignite that market.

what do you think about that? >> that may be a good political solution but it's not a good economic solution. you know, the programs probably have hurt as many people as they've helped along the way because it delayed them from taking the actions that they needed to take. these federal programs or the hope of a federal promise hasee phoeb hraoeuszed -- immobilized everybody. it's taking so long to get there. banks didn't want to for close in case the government was going to do something. people were staying in their homes rather than deal with the issue because well maybe the government is going to bail me out. they are much worse off today having waited two years than dealing with this two years ago. federal government programs or any government programs really don't work and they hurt people. jenna: at the same time it's tough to stand by and watch. you see people really affected by the housing crisis, you see them losing their jobs. how can the government just stand there and not do anything? >> well, you know, i think, pat and jonathan both make great

points. perhaps if they hadn't intervened to the degree that they did we might be further around in the rebound. it's all been about a soft landing, whether it's the economy, jobs or in this case housing. there is a certain amount of pain that was built into this market. there was a certain amount of -- home prices were high. the idea of perhaps letting it come down hard, although it would be brutal by the same token we might have been coming out of this earlier. for this housing market to really recover some of the things, some of the things that we talk about as being negative, for instance like people putting down 10% instead of 20%, maybe better tax credits, those things have been portrayed as risky, reckless, that myself be the only cure if we're going to hasten the recovery. jenna: pat the issue also is the labor market. if you're not for tax incentives

for home buyers, what about tax incentives to get people to hire. >> some tax incentives to get people to hire would help maybe get rid of theee mobilization that is going on. i love the idea of a payroll tax cut helping businesses bring some people on board. i think that works for the people hired and that works for businesses. and so if i had to pick one i would pick that one above all others. my preference is for the government to get out of the way. i think they've done more harm than good as they've worked their way through this and they've spent recklessly in many regards. trillions of dollars and what do we have to show for it? we have extraordinary unemployment with no relief in sight. extraordinary foreclosures and no relief in site. i think they need to get out of the way. it may be a brutal system we have but i can't find a better one. jenna: when does it get better? >> i think we are looking at two

to three years. we won't peak until next year. the focus has to be on job creation. and then we'll only be halfway. people have to have a job to get a mortgage unlike with the credit boom and we have to adjust to the new market. jenna: it sounds like a novel idea sometimes. pat, jonathan and charles we appreciate it so much. >> thank you for having me. jon: and in a somewhat related note the battle overextending the bush tax cuts, why the white house thinks it has voters on its side when it comes to taxing the rich. this, even as more and more congressional democrats are bailing on the president's plan. [ male announcer ] let's throw down some style.

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as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. jemma: an update now, bringing you some live pictures around johns hopkins hospital. johns hopkins hospital in baltimore. on the phone with us is a spokesman for the baltimore police monitoring this situation, this shooting very closely. sir, what can you tell us about this developing story? >> we are in the process of a tactical operation from the beginning. at 11:00, shortly after 11. we got a call that a doctor was shot at johns hopkins. the baltimore police did respond. we have a suspect contained within the hospital in a floor in the hospital. this is isolated containment. which means we evacuate ad small portion of the building and we are in the process of apprehending the suspect.

i can not confirm we have the suspect in custody. there were earlier me media reports that suggested that and that is not true at this point. jemma: is there anything you can tell us about the shooter? >> we don't know the relationship yet. there are lot of questions we want to ask him when we get him into custody. i do know the doctor is going to survive his injuries. quite frankly he is in the best place in the world he could be which is johns hopkins hospital. we're in the process again of apprehending that suspect. jemma: what about the hospital overall, is it still evacuated right now? how are you handling the situation with all the doctors and patients. >> very limited evacuation. one of the things i want to say the baltimore police department, johns hops skins hospital, truly professional agencies. we plan for situations like this. we practice for situations like this. we're encouraging anyone with business at hospital to come to the hospital. this is isolated to a small corner of the campus and it's even further isolated to one floor so. the situation is under control and we're just

waiting to get contact with the suspect. jemma: we'll continue to watch this developing story. anthony, thank you so much. the again, of the boss baltimore police. rick folbaum is watching the story. looks like conflicting information. looks like police are working on this the hospital telling us one thing that the suspect is sequestered and subdued. seems like the situation was under control. the police are telling us that they don't have clarity on that yet. >> reporter: subdued, sequestered and disarmed. that is the quote we got from gary stevenson the associate director of johns hopkins medical center in baltimore. that was the statement that came out a little while ago. i just spoke with a detective on the ground in baltimore, the detective kevin brown, who confirmed what the public information officer just told you, jenna, which is that the suspect is not in custody right now. so he has not been subdued, sequestered or disarmed. he is confined though to a

particular area of the hospital, according to the detective i just spoke with. he said that they are, they are trying to get to this particular suspect. he couldn't tell me if he was in a room or if he was detained on a certain floor but they know where he is. they just haven't been able to get him yet. but again, it is an active situation. i also got confirmation on the exact same point you did. that the doctor who was shot did not receive any life-threatening injuries and that he is in surgery right now. but again, a lot of confusion and conflicting information coming from the hospital. the police trying to set the record straight but still an active scene on the ground there at johns hopkins. back to you. >> 30,000 people on that campus. just employees. not even counting the patients. developing situation. we'll bring everybody updates as we hear more. jon: to the fight now over whether or not to extend the bush tax cuts. the white house is circulating a couple of memos that democratic pollsters put together. they're trying to bolster the case for staying the course, that means, raising

taxes on the rich come january 1st. according to these new polls they say a majority of americans actually favor the president's plan. let's bring in bob cusack, he is managing editor of "the hill." i guess a lot of these poll questions depend on how you ask the question but do democrats actually believe that most americans favor increasing taxes on the wealthiest? >> well, not enough democrats on capitol hill believe that because president obama's tax plan does not have the votes. the white house has accused republicans holding these tax breaks for the middle class hostage but they have not introduced a bill because, long and short of it is, they don't have the votes to pass the president's plan and the white mouse knows that but democratic pollsters are circulating these polls. they say, look at independents, look at even some republicans who want the tax cuts to expire. but this is a, traditionally a republican strong hold of an issue and democrats are a bit gun-shy right now. jon: the president is blaming republicans yet, he ought to look within his own

party. got senators like evan bayh, ben nelson, independent joe lieberman of connecticut who are all saying it is not the time to raise taxes on anybody. >> that's right. obama, speaker pelosi and majority leader harry reid tax cuts for people making over $250,000 a year should expire. but there are so many conservative democrats in both the house and senate don't want that, especially so close to the election. democrats had a long tile to deal with it. they waited until the last second. they expired december 31st. senate next we can deal with the defense bill, couple ed with immigration, coupled with don't ask, don't tell. they have not put it on the agenda for incomes week and unlikely to solve it before the elections. jon: the guy the president made his nemesis of late, john boehner, the minority leader. he has a challenge for speaker nancy pelosi. i want to play that for you. get your reaction. >> the speaker should pledge

to the american people, and when she stands before these cameras later on today, she ought to pledge there will be honest, up-or-down vote on stopping all of the coming tax hikes. anything less than that, is unacceptable. the speaker allows up-or-down vote. i'm confident that the american people will not see increases in their taxes. jon: does that grow to the point you were talk earlier, bob. democrats don't want to schedule a vote because they know what the result is going to be? >> they know if they did have the vote that boehner wants, republicans would win it because a lot of democrats would vote for that bill. boehner got into problems, if i had no choice and i have to vote for obama's tax plan i would vote for it. that caused a lot of republicans on capitol hill to cringe. republicans have the upper hand here. that's why a lot of democrats, you see that rising number of democrats who say this is not the time to raise taxes in a recession i know some some democrats are talking about taking number north or maybe

boost taxes or let the tax cuts expire on couples making over a million dollars, that kind of thing. what's the leakly out come here? look at your crystal ball. what do you see? >> that is interesting because speaker pelosi did raise, talking about health care reform and taxes for that, she trumped charlie rangel then the chairman of ways and means committee, a proposed tax 250,000 to millionaires. that would be a millionaires tax. that would be something make the message a little bit clearer and maybe get more votes for it. right now they haven't done that they're running out of time. people think they will have to deal with lame duck, likely more republicans who will be in congress next year. political winds will shift to the republicans. a lot of people are predicting the bush tax cuts will be extended for a year or maybe two. then deal with this potentially in the next presidential election year which would be a problem for president obama. jon: what goes around comes around, right. bob cusack. >> thanks, jon. jon: bob, thanks. jemma: as the battle to legalize marijuana heats up

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>> hi, everybody i'm megyn kelly. delaware gop senate nominee is nutty can date didn't pay school loans, lied about college education and quote, isn't electable. according to our gop detractors. is this sectionism? rush limbaugh asked. we'll try to answer. the plus top pollster doug schoen and scott rasmussen say we're seeing at the polls is one nation under revolt. why nancy pelosi got things

wrong, dead wrong about the tea party. shocking case in connecticut. a family is killed by two murders, who forced the mother to withdraw money from the bank. shocking videotape from the moments before the murder. this case has become a referendum on the death penalty. see you at the top of the hour. jon: "happening now" in california, the move to legalize marijuana is dividing the black community. the state's efforts to legalize post getting a boost from several minority organizations. this as studies show police arrest blacks for possession at higher rates than they do whites. claudia cowan live in san francisco with more. so why is the naacp involved here in endorsing proposition 19? >> reporter: well, because, jon, they believe legalizing marijuana will advance civil rights. the california naacp points to a recent study showing african-americans are two to three times as likely as whites to be arrested for marijuana-related offenses. they say their community is

being targeted and that that is discrimination. the state naacp is as well as the national black police officers association say that allowing counties to tax and regulate cannabis will reduce the number of black arrests bring in more in line with number of white people charged with similar crimes. jon. jon: what about the critics though in the black community, critics of this proposition. what are they saying? >> reporter: many say they are outraged and say that martin luther king would be rolling over in his grave if he knew the naacp was calling legalizing a marijuana a civil right. church leaders, like bishop ron allen who we went up in sacramento, s passage of proposition 19 would devastate the african-american community even if as supporters claim it raises revenue for the cash-strapped state. critics like bishop allen say any gains would be wiped out by increased social and public health care costs. things like car accidents when we have more people driving after getting legally high.

jon? jon: what about the polling on this? they must have done some, huh? >> reporter: a lot of polling right now. they're pretty mixed. but the important thing to remember, that off-year elections tend to be a bit more conservative, more older voters turn out than younger voters do. the latest california "field poll" shows by significant margins, older voters don't like the idea of legalizing marijuana. political experts say when an issue as controversial and clear-cut as this one is, voters in general tend to vote no to preserve the status quo regardless of the color of their skin. jon? jon: claudia cowan in san francisco for us, thanks. jemma: more breaking news on this johns hopkins shooting in baltimore. it's again, a developing situation. we know a doctor has been shot. the police just telling us that the shooter is isolated but we're not sure whether or not the shooter is in custody yet. we're going to follow this story, bring you brand new information after the break.

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jemma: the latest out of baltimore again, watching this situation at johns hopkins hospital, police, baltimore police confirming to fox news that they have not apprehended the suspect yet but they think, they think he is contained. obviously a very, kind of confusing and chaotic situation at this hospital that has, well, tens of thousands of people at the campus at any given time. you can see police are there full force. we hear not only local police are there but also the s.w.a.t. team. a lot really to this story as we heard earlier in our show around 11:00 the shooter entered a building, went up to the 8th floor, this is the thoracic center apparently and opened fire shooting a dr. we understand the doctor, does not have any life-threatening injuries but reports have been really mixed about this

and we have heard from the hospital that the doctor was in an operating room getting worked on. as far as the shooter, jon, again a lot of mixed reports what is actually happening. jon: "the baltimore sun" is reporting having spoken to a nurse on the 8th floor who said this shooter was upset about the medical treatment afforded his mother, and shot this surgeon as a result. we do know that the surgeon went into surgery immediately and as jenna said, at last report his injuries or perhaps her injuries not believed to be life-threatening. let's take a look at the weather. three hurricanes are churning now. carl just reached hurricane strength in the gulf of mexico. in the atlantic "igor", a category 4 a dangerous storm and julia a category 2. meteorologist janice dean is a very busy lady tracking those storms. >> there are a lot of names to remember. can we go to outer space,

jon scott. i know you always wanted to be a restaurant. jon: i love those pictures. >> mete mete. -- out of this world to go to pictures of hurricanes. earlier on today the international space station took pictures of julia and igor. look at that oh, my gosh. one of the astronauts wrote on his twitter, this just took his breath away. jon: you said, janice, this storm is what 1,000 miles across, something like that? >> it is over 1,000 miles. tropical storm force winds away from center of the storm extend almost 300 miles. igor will be a huge threat unfortunately to bermuda. i'm sure a lot of residents there are fearing for their lives and rightfully so. this is a category 4 storm. we'll watch that very carefully. real quick i want to say, tell you about our latest edition. hurricane karl across the bay of campechi. jon we think this could

potentially become a major hurricane as it make as second landfall across main land mexico. lots to talk about. this time next week we could talk about lisa and matthew, believe it or not. jon: janice dean, thank you. >> okay, jon. jemma: quickly just an alert from washington right now. the senate passing the small business lending bill. this bill, $30 billion, according to the white house is paid for and supposed to encourage small businesses or give them the accessability to more loans and hopefully help hiring. we'll bring you more breaking news in just a moment.

jon: we wanted to tell you with all of the breaking news today we could not bring you the update on the story of moses. remember moses? jenna: i do. how could you forget. jon: he's the 1500-pound camel who wound up stuck in a sinkhole in oregon. it took all night to get him out. his very relieved owner