money going for a win, win, win. bill: u.s. turnout -- one great statement, after washington, what do you do. "happening now" starts now. martha: see you tomorrow everybody. jenna: we begin with a fox news alert, the man who plotted to kill americans in times square is sentenced to life in prison. hi everybody, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott, faisal shahzhad learning his fate in federal court this after the self-proclaimed muslim soldier pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in june. he also made a statement just now, among the many shockers, quote, this is my whole life and i will sacrifice it for allah, and we only believe in sharia law. how can i be judged by a judge that doesn't understand my people and my country? he went on to say we don't accept your democracy or your freedom, and the war with muslims has just begun, the defeat of the u.s. is

imminent. he also, when asked by the judge why he had taken an oath to america, said, i lied. much more to come on this developing story. faisal shahzhad, to spend the rest of his life in a u.s. prison. jenna: jon, this just in as well, french police arresting 12 suspected islamic militant necessary an antiterror sweep. three of those arrested being linked to a suspected al-qaeda figure. the other nine, accused of trying to obtain guns and explosives. greg palkot is live in london on this story. greg, what do we know? >> jenna, in the wake of that u.s. terror alert, there are important developments in europe and beyond on a couple of fronts. first, let's go to france. france has been on its own high alert, amid threats against its landmarks, train stations, airports. police are now telling fox news, confirming they've arrested 12 overnight in raids across the southern part of that country, three linked to a ring facilitating french

nationals going into afghanistan to fight among others americans. the other nine reportedly tied to islamic groups running guns, heavy weapons were seized in those raids. the police are not saying that these arrests -- actually, no comment to us, that these arrests are linked to that plot against landmarks that the u.s. has been so concerned about the past couple of days. france does have its own concerns with another al qaeda chapter in northern africa, jenna. jenna: some reports that have come into our newsroom are about the cia drone strikes, reportedly they killed several german terror suspect, wee heard about the suspects or reference to some terror suspects, mixed up with these reports, these suspected plots. is there a connection between those drone attacks and these dead militants and the plot to attack european capitols? >> that's what they're looking at now. we're getting more information about two drone strikes that happened late last night on the border between pakistan and

afghanistan, pakistani officials now telling fox news that five german nationals, presumably training with al-qaeda, were killed, the u.s. isn't confirming it but there have been reports that the drone attacks are aimed at breaking up the plot, hitting at individuals there, aiming to target landmarks in europe, landmarks where americans could freeient and it's -- frequent and it's reported that germans were at the center of this plot and we, jen, have come across a very eery video, we might have a freeze frame of it, made two years an by german jihadi in which they're telling the german government get out of afghanistan or guess what, we're going to blow up landmarks in germany, and maybe not an operational video but maybe inspirational for folks in germany, planning to go to pakistan to train up for al-qaeda and maybe do nasty stuff back here in europe. jenna: thank you greg palkot on own of our top stories,

thank you. jon: all this is bringing stepped up security here in the u.s. am track, the biggest mass transit system, ramping up uniformed officer patrols on its national routes, all part of a major security exercise called operation rail safe. steph centanni, live at union station in washington, d.c. so for amtrak passengers, steve, what can they expect from this security exercise? >> reporter: jon, they will notice some changes. i'm at union station in washington, d.c., one of the biggest hubs in the northeast corridor. this operation is called a rail -- called rail safe and it's an opportunity in the words of am trak to surge its capability, that means extra uniformed police officers on the platforms and on the trains, and this could be happening here or anywhere across the country. they're also going to be -- well, they won't see them but there will also be undercover police officers, more than unusual. you will not notice them. more bomb sniffing dogs on the platforms, check your

bags, make sure there's nothing inside or random searching where they can stop you and open up your bags and look inside. it's a coordinated effort with federal, local, and local agencies and it will be starting on friday. jon: and this is or is not connected to the europe terror plot? >> it's not directly connected with it. homeland security and amtrak stressed this was long plan and they often do this, especially on busy travel weekends. the last time they did it was in chicago just before the anniversary of 9/11, so they do this periodically just to make sure everything is working as far as security goes and normally, they do not announce it to the public until after its underway because they like the element of surprise in case they're able to catch any bad guys on the trains or in the train stations, but this time, word got out and so they now are confirming it's going to take place as scheduled on friday, and it will coincide with a train day, a national train day in europe, where of course there is a direct terror threat right now.

but here, there is not. jon: steve centanni, union station in d.c., thank you steve. jenna: well, now to politics. exactly four weeks from today, voters go to the polls, and democrats worry about a shift in the balance of power at the state level. specifically, the loss of six or more governor seats. james rosen is live in washington with more on this story. so james, why are these governor races so important this time around? >> reporter: well, this isn't just any midterm election cycle, jenna. it's one whose year ends in '10, meaning it unfolds concurrently with the census, and therefore the outcome in these 37 gubernatorial contests being decided this fall will in turn play a huge role in shaping the outcome of next year's process for redrawing the congressional map known as redistricting. so take a close look at a governor's race like the one in california, where indeed the race is close between attorney general jerry brown, he maintains a small

statistically insignificant lead over former ebay executive meg whitman, it's in a state that has 53 seats in congress and where the state legislature may be able to add a seat and redraw the districts to suit the party there. the chair of the governor's association told fox news that race is in play and so are a lot of others. >> the massachusetts, ohio, along with the rest of the industrial midwest, those are really big targets for us, because if you take pennsylvania, ohio, michigan, wisconsin, illinois, iowa, they all have democratic governors today and in every one, either the republican is ahead or the race is too close to call. >> right now, the website real clear politics.com sees the republicans capturing 27 governor seats. governor barber puts the figure at 30. jenna: so we're seeing that

sort of surge from the gop. what are the democrats doing to counter that? >> they are echoing the line put forward by the white house, really by all white houses facing the midterm election and that is emphasizing the concept of choice over that of referendum. let's look at another governor's race, georgia, the governor's race, nathan diel has opened an average of a seven-point lead over democratic candidate roy barnes according to real clear politics and its compilation of the poll necessary that state. the chair of the democratic governor's association told reporters at the national press club this morning that if the republicans seek to, quote, nationalize this election and tie local candidates to unpopular democrats on the national stage, they will undermine their own cause: >> as we get closer and closer to voters understanding that this is not simply a referendum on a party in power, a referendum on accounts, but actually, a choice between, you know, two candidates, and just as importantly, two pretty

divergent approaches, we like the way that that shakes out. >> by way of full disclosure, newscorp, parent of this network, has contributed $1 million to the republican governors association, jenna. jenna: race toss watch, james. james rosen, thank you very much. >> thank you. jon: a connecticut governor's race in particular now getting lots of attention, polls show a tight race between democrat dan malloy and republican tom foley in this very blue state, with the two facing off tonight in a crucial debate. our chief political correspondent carl cameron is live in hartford, connecticut. what should we expect tonight and as butch cassidy so famously said, what are these guys? >> reporter: tom foley is the republican nominee, he's a former bush administration appointed official, served as ambassador to iowa, as well as an official in the coalition provisional authority in iraq. he's a former bush fund-raiser, raised a lot of money, and a businessman, quite successful, and he's running on a typically

republican, conservative, common sense fiscal agenda, saying that spending has to be reduced, taxes have to be reduced in connecticut, and he wants to restore jobs in the economy here. the democrat is the mayor of stan forward, dan malloy, well known, been in office for 15 years in stam forward andsy arguing that his record in stam forward shows his ability to create jobs. on that the air, the battle suggests that from the attack ads from foley that's a contested question because the net growth of jobs in stam forward has been a negative, they've lost 13,000 jobs in the 15 years he's been around. so as you would expect in this 2010 election cycle across the country, the top issue is jobs and the economy, that's what it is here, and that's what this republican and democrat are going at one another over. right now the democrat has a lead of about five or six points in the polls. jon: i know this year, republicans are hoping to pick up democratic seats all over the place but i guess in this race it's more of a defense strategy? >> oh sure. listen, this is a seat that has been occupied by republicans for the last 18 years. the current republican

incumbent is joy rale, she won in 2006 but said at the same time she wouldn't seek reelection. it's an open seat. it's been in open seat fog a long time and the gop is looking at knocking off half a dozen democratic governors across the country but this would be one against the trend, against the overall antidemocratic mood, because the democratic candidate is leaving and could potentially pick up a republican seat, so it would be the exception to the rule, that rule, presumably being it's a gop year. jon: going to be interesting to watch. carl cameron in connecticut, thank you. that governor's race in debate in connecticut tonight to be moderated by carl cameron, it kicks off, 7:00 p.m. eastern time, we'll have it streaming live for those of you who would like to watch it on foxnews.com. for a preview of tonight's connecticut debate, check out carl's blog, foxnews.com/aehq, america's election headquarters. it's your front row seat for

politics. jenna: just a shout out, i was watching that debate with bret baier, between mcmahon and blumenthal, great debate, it was something to watch. if you have questions on today's hot topics, we have someone who's going to answer them for you a little later on in the -- in the show, go to our dot com site to do this. today we're putting former white house adviser karl rove in the hot seat. send us your questions about the most pressing topics, anything from the terror alert to politics, and send it to us at happening now, foxnews.com or leave a message on the blog, foxnews.com/happening now or on twitter, twitter, on happening now. we'll ask karl some of your questions later in the show. onjon guess what? it's cold and flu season right around the corner, but long-held natural remedies, thing like downing vitamin c, they might actually be doing you more harm than

good. we'll get into why. we'll also debunk some other cold myths. that's coming up.

jen runny noses, sore throats that, fever feeling. jon: hate that. jenna: we all do. all signs that cold season is approaching but it turns out, pumping your body full of vitamin c may not be the answer to curing your cold. jon: mr. maury mccarty is

with johns hopkins university and joins us now. dr. mccarthy yes, we've learned interesting things about ways to fight off colds that everybody thinks works but aren't necessarily helpful, things like taking vitamin c? >> there's a lot of millionaires out there in the world, jon, from all these remedies and gimmicks, convincing people that extra vitamins or supplements beyond the recommended daily allowance of a normal diet can actually prevent or fight a common cold, and now we know, we've studied this thing to death, a common cold is a very humbling thing for a doctor because we've got all this amazing new stuff in modern medicine and we cannot treat this darn thing. we've studied it to death and none of these supplements or vitamins seem to help. jenna: i'm feeling a little sheepish because our entire production team had colds last week so i thought it was a really great idea to bring in the vitamin c packets to our morning meetings, but apparently that probably doesn't do any good, right? >> [laughter]

>> there is an interesting study jenna at the university of copenhagen, a classic study, where they found the virus only affects a small part of the mucous in the nose. it's actually the body's response to the virus that gives you all those symptoms, the runny nose and stuff iness, and remember, some people just tend to have day to day rhinitis, the people that need to clear their sinuses every morning? they just blow their nose or puff it out? when a virus hits them, they get hit particularly hard. that's why only one in four that get the cold get the symptoms. jenna: how is this season going to compare to the last two years? >> today withipods and blackberries, and you know, you see more people in the course of the day because we're all busier, the common cold is getting worse and worse, every year, because remember, it is a drop let-spread infection. it really has little to do with who you are, and more to do with whether or not you tend to touch your face and your eyes and your nose and door nobodies that's got

a drop let on it, so one common myth is that it's airborne in the room. the reality is it's from a water droplet that usually gets on your hand and then you're touching your eye, your nose, your mouth, and it's the face touchers that get a lot. jon: i know a lot of people that run to tkr-t and say give me antibotics, i've got a cold. your response? >> yeah, please don't come running to us anymore! [laughter] >> antibiotics do not work for the common cold. in fact, they may increase your resistance and you could get another infection or it will just increase the community resistance, and it's a bad idea, it's got side effects, it's hard on your stomach sometimes. no antibiotics for the common cold. you've got to tough it out. the only thing that's been shown to maybe help is soup or comfort, some kind of warm fluid. jenna: i'll bring that next time for the team. in the meantime, keep your hands off your face, no face touching as the doctor says. >> no face touching. jenna: doctor, thank you

very much, from johns hopkins, appreciate it very much. jon: do you make a mean chicken soup? >> jenna: not bad. >> i'll look forward to that. europe on the alert for the potential terror atracks, and amtrak is stepping up security in the u.s. is there a credible threat to our railways? how might added security affect you as you travel? >> and the extreme court, to hear arguments concerning background checks at nasa. you might think it doesn't affect you, but their ruling could affect other government agencies and the personal privacy of government employees. whrafrpbg blank blank pwhr-frpbg

jenna: "happening now" in the crime blotter, throughout the united states, let's go to the west coast, loss earnings a former bart police officer

found guilty of shooting an unarmed passenger, once his conviction -- wants his conviction thrown out, his lawyer asking for a new manslaughter trial because he says new evidence of a similar shooting in connecticut under-- in kentucky undercuts the case. >> a brutal home invasion trial, a jury deliberate phos a second day whether stephen hayes is guilty of murder, arson, and sexual assault in the killings of those three members of that petit family you just saw. in new jersey, prosecutors say there may not be enough evidence to upgrade charges against two rutgers university students accused of broadcasting another student's entry -- intimate encounter. that student, tyler clemente, kills himself shortly after. jon: in france a accident suspects rounded up, accused of targeting landmarks like

the eiffel tower, and amtrak is stepping up security along its national routes. as you heard steve centanni say, the two are unrelated. joining us, secretary of the department of homeland security. hats off to france, stuart, for making this roundup, huh? >> well, they obviously are on top of the situation in europe. they've had to deal with these types of things for many years for al-qaeda but this have a sweep underway and congratulations to them, as you say. jon: but protecting a train is a lot more difficult than protecting airliners. first of aurblgs because there are so many more of them. >> there's the quantity and also, they're designed to be open access points, whether they're amtrak trains or mass transit, these types of things. we can really only do so much. i will say, people ask all the spending on homeland security, has it done any good and most of the mass transit facilities have a lot of good equipment, videocameras, they've got well trained officers and other things, but you know,

it is only so much somebody can do when you want to be able to get on a train on very short notice. >> i've said this time and time again but terrorism by its very nature is trying to scare us into changing our behavior. does this suggest that americans shouldn't get on trains or subways? >> i think most americans understand there's inherent risk in an open society, whether it's getting on a train or going to a mall or going to a game and they've made their peace with it. i think they expect the police are going to do what they can overseas, disrupt plots as they've done in your and they're going to do what they can on the security side, but it's up to the passengers to look for suspicious bags, activity and the like and part of it is the inherent risk of these types of activities unfortunately. jon: because that's what happened in the london metro bombings, for instance, they left pak backs -- backpacks on the trains are explosives loaded in them and nobody noticed. >> that's right. we've had a number of incidents where people have noticed suspicious things and people have done the right thing and again, people have a common understanding that there's inherent risk here, but

there has been a lot of good done over the last nine years on security on mass transit, on buses and the homeland security department is on the case here, and you know, i think we've invested well, but again, once people are in this country, if we haven't stopped them overseas, it is tough to secure everything you way you would in an aviation environment and i don't think people want that. jon: and also, you know, hats off to the united states and the department of homeland security for having protected us this long since 9/11. i moon, doubtless there have been a lot of attempts to pull something off like this in this country. >> it's a very good record, but as every secretary of homeland security has said, my old boss, tom ridge, we have to be every day and they only need to be right once. it is a good record as we come up on the ten of year anniversary of 9/11 but clearly with the new threat intelligence, it's not time to rest on our laurels by any stretch. >> stu rart, thank you. >> thank you very much. jenna: another story we're going to be watching very closely is this breaking news on a horrific, horrific story, "happening now" has

been following closely, the connecticut home invasion, rape and murder of an innocent family. we could get a verdict in this trial at any moment. we have details ahead on that. plus, what on earth is this guy doing? he's standing just feet away from hrafrba. why is he doing that? stay tuned. because we're taking you inside an active volcano, just ahead.

jenna: right now in california, police locating an eight-year-old girl after issuing a statewide amber alert. harris faulkner that is story breaking at our news desk. hey harris. >> reporter: jenna, if you ever want to know how effective these amber alerts can be, this is perhaps one of the best examplees, the highway state patrol said they started getting

spottings of this guy who they say took her at dawn this morning and it took just a couple of short hours, because it is earlier out there than on the east coast for this little girl to be found. get this, the guy driving that pickup truck that they were looking for dropped her off, dumped her basically in the yard of a home about 3 miles away from where she had been taken. she was outside her ome home, playing and a stranger picked her up last night, the little girl there, and now this picture just coming in from fox 26, our affiliate who is working very closely with us on this story, this is just outside the home where the little eight-year-old child from fresno was found this morning, elisa cardenas, she just arrived with her mom and what the fox affiliate is saying is they think she's going to be okay. the guy they picked up, in his 20s. we're waiting for the news conference as planned, from the california highway patrol and the fresno police officers.

this is a good ending, the amber alert made a huge difference, people paid attention and they spotted this little girl, putting pressure on the guy to drop her off. that's how the story is playing out. we'll find out more in the next 30, 40 minutes or so when they're scheduled to hold a news conference. jenna: took the words right out of my mouth. it's nice to have a good ending. harris, thank you ever so much. >> sure. jon: with exactly four weeks until the midterm elections, brand new fox news poll shows republicans gaining ground in state races across the country. two very interesting races we're keeping an eye on are in west virginia and connecticut. molly henneberg is live for nous washington. a surprising lead for the republicans in west virginia, huh molly? >> yes, this is the race for the seat held for decades by the late democratic senator robert byrd but now it seems to be leaning toward the republican in our fox news latest poll u. democratic

governor joe manchin is trailing raese, but it's not because voters hropbt like manchin. look at his job approval as governor, 66 percent of west virginians like what manchin has done in that position. west virginia voters in a state where coal is king don't like president obama's environmental policy, 55 percent say it's hurt the state and look at this question, when it comes to the administration's polices, 60 percent of voters say their 2010 senate vote will express opposition to the president's polices. that likely has been hurting manchin and helping raese, jon. jon skwrao*pbd democrats may be able to hold on to the senate seat in connecticut, huh? >> yes, the democrat in this race is ahead by ten points in our fox news poll, a seat held by retiring democratic senator chris dodd, state attorney general richard pwhr*e men thall is leading republican challenger linda

mcmahon, 52-42 percent. voters seem to have concerns about mcmahon who built a professional wrestling empire with her husband vince. if you look at the polling, 55 percent say they have a favorable opinion of blumenthal but 56 percent have an unfavorable opinion of mcmahon. in connecticut, 50 percent approval of the job president obama is doing. jon: as we've seen before, four weeks is a lifetime in politics, isn't it molly? >> it certainly is. jon: molly henneberg, thanks jenna: for more political context, chris stierwalt is a digital politics yesterday to, he joins us to talk about these races and jon is right, chris, four weeks is a lifetime in politics. let's talk a little about these senate races. what are republicans' chances really of taking back the senate? >> well, it depends on who

you ask. germ -- journal jenna the republicans are trying to play up their chances to get it at least very, very close. so when you look at the fox news polls, it's hard not to think that they at least have something to be said on that their behalf. you got five races there, and currently, republicans are leading in four, so this is a situation where republicans certainly think that they can get it if not -- if not control of the senate that they can get close, they can get clear enough. jenna: let's pick up on that point as well. everyone is looking at those numbers, right, are they going to have the ten seats, and trying to kind of handicap this race, but they don't actually need to get a true majority, the republicans in the senate to, effect change. you wrote in power play a little about the independents or some of the conservative democrats that could actually shift the senate and the way that it operates post mid-term. >> yeah, we forget, you know, we've been in an era of strong democratic control of the senate for these two

years. for a period of time, they even had the 60 votes until the republicans pulled off the upset win in massachusetts with scott brown and took it back under. but the interesting thing, in all of this, is that if you get close, if the republicans pick up, let's say, six or seven seats, maybe they don't win in connecticut but they do win some place like west virginia, they win in wisconsin, maybe they win either california or washington, the next thing you know, the republicans are at 48 seats. now, what that means is that they can start trying to woo conservative democrats. that's where we talk about guys like joe lieberman who's technically an independent but caucuses with the democratic party, that's when you talk about guys like ben nelson from nebraska who has voted against the president on so many of his initiatives so far that you say your real home is with the republican party, senator, and you need to come over here, so that's why, for republicans, it would be great for them if they picked up ten but from their way of looking at things if they can even get

it close they can really start a conversation with democrats who are unhappy about the direction of their party. jenna: some of our viewers have asked us about some of these polls saying we're making a lot about the republicans' moves but they're still behind, they might be in a close race but they're several points off the democratic con terpbd. give us context about polling and something that we should keep in mind when it comes to republicans and how their polls versus the democrats. >> that's a great question, and i think the point here is you look at what we call the generic ballot test that you ask americans across the country, poll 1000 americans, who do you plan to vote for for congress, for a member of the house of representatives, democrat or republican, and when you look at that, you'll see, perhaps, a tie or a three-point or maybe a six-point lead for republicans. that doesn't always tell you the story of election day, because what history tells us, as we look back over the decade, is that republicans vote more frequently than

democrats. so republicans tend to outpoll, especially on that national generic ballot that everybody worries about in washington every day, republicans tend to outpoll that 3-5 points, so if republicans are running even, that's good, if they're three or five points up, that's when democrats are spending more time at the bar. jenna: well, that could be productive, too, i guess. we're not here to judge! >> no, ma'am, nothing wrong with that. jenna: chris, thank you very much. chris stierwalt, again, fox news digital politics editor, and you can get politically powered up every day until the midterm with the fox news power play, you definitely want to check this out, go to foxnews.com to get the app unload details. it's your shortcut to american politics. jon: i spent some time recently with some of the finest men in america, the recipients of the medal of honor. and now president obama is about to restow the country's highest military honor on yet another fallen

hero. as a grateful nation remembers the courage of this man, staff sergeant robert miller. that story ahead. plus, one man pushing the limits of human endurance, all for? well? wait until you hear. why is he doing this? and the amazing pictures from inside a boiling volcano. just ahead.

jenna: new next hour, judgment day for the times square bomber, what the self-proclaimed muslim soldier said at his sentencing, we're live with that story. new questions about a suspected pirate attack on a lake straddling the mexican border, why some are now doubting an american woman's story. and with the midterm elections just four weeks away, we've got karl rove on the hot seat. saw him earlier today. he's been warned. we're going to ask the former white house adviser your questions. go to foxnews.com/happening now, to send us those questions and we'll get them on the air. jon: a war hero who made the ultimate sacrifice in afghanistan, army staff sar -- sergeant robert miller gave his life during a predawn ambush with the taliban. now his parents are getting ready to accept the medal of honor for his actions of -- for his acts of courage. tell us about staff sergeant

miller and what happened. >> reporter: he was one of eight kids, he was born in harrisburg, pennsylvania, he went to high school in wheaton, illinois. he went for one year to university of iowa, then he joined the military after 9/11 in 2003, he became a green beret in 2005, he was the captain of his gymnastics teal and loved to teach gymnastics, he was a linguist, english, french, and his parents said he loved sitting with the locals and talking pashtun. he was the youngest of his squad at age 24, they were ambushed on the kunar province, they started taking heavy fire and even though he was the youngest, he stepped up and provided cover so that essentially 22 men were saved that day. seven of his special forces, comrades, as well as 15 afghans, he died with a rifle in his hand, he threw

his last grenade, he had been shot twice and still continued shooting for 25 minutes i'm told, jon. jon: and you spoke to his parents? >> reporter: dispeak to his parents, and again, we also spoke to some of those whom he saved the lives of, he saved 22 men that day. listen to how his parents recalled the say of -- the day of january 22, 2008. >> as they got near the structure, there was an ambush, they were attacked by over 100 insurgents, they had hidden behind boulders. it was a very intense situation. >> essentially he stayed in the kill zone to keep control of the situation, and allowed everybody else to get out of the kill zone and basically gave them a chance to reorganize, regroup and take command of the situation afterwards. >> reporter: again, he saved of lives of those 22 other men that day. he had been honored -- he willer honored at the white house tomorrow, president obama awarded him the highest medal for valor. jon: it is so, so sad and so

inspirational, these stories that we hear. thank you very much, jennifer griffin at the pentagon. >> thank you jon. jenna: the terror threat overseas, just the latest security concern in this post 9/11 world and the supreme court is now today taking up a case related to our highest security measures. it concerns background checks at government agencies, and in this case, nasa, and the question for the courts, are additional background checks a violation of personal privacy, something that's guaranteed by the constitution. joining us now is fox news judicial analyst, judge andrew napolitano, also host of freedom watch. so judge, how would you break down this case? >> all right. it's a complicated case, involving contractual obligations and who works for whom. the bottom line is during the bush years the bush administration said to nas kwrarbgs people that send the missiles -- not missiles but satellites into space, you have to tighten up on your security, you have to know what's working for you so start doing background

checks. if you're going to get a job with nas kwrarbgs you get a background agent, if you're going to be an fbi agent, a judge, you expect that people are going to investigate your background. you don't expect that that will happen after you're already on the job. that's what happened when nasa employees sued and said you've already hired us, in the case of one plaintiff, he's been there 25 years. >> if you have nothing to hide, why do you care? >> you have a right to privacy under the constitution. the constitution regulates the government. >> some of these background checks, they've been defined differently. some define them as investigation, the justice department says they're minimally intrusive. they talk about medical records, drug history and your finances. so there a line that let's say that you're already an employee, that the background checks should not cross? >> ordinarily, your employer, after your employer -- after you're employed would not be entitled to this information. >> no matter what. >> correct, so the supreme court is going to decide whether or not they can learn this midstream. to make it more complicated these are not just federal employees, these are also

contract workers, some of whom are professors, from caltech, professors at caltech are members of a labor union, the labor union, collective bargaining agreement says the backgrounds can't be investigated without their consent or the union's consent. it's a good case for the courts to take. jenna: it's very complicated. it's interesting, when we tackle these security threats now, but this is the comment from dennis byrne, some of the men that are part of this case and this is what he had to said, he wrote a piece in the times, he said neither i nor any of the 34r-6s have anything to hide, i care nothing for my personal privacy, i care for the terrible damage being done to the guarantees of our constitution, i fear that carried to its natural end this process with its false promise of national security at the expense of freedom will forever damage our country. the question, judge, is it our right right now, protecting the people that threaten our system? >> the job that does he and the job that the plaintiffs do, the people who filed

this lawsuit, does not involve national security. they don't have national security clearances, they don't see classified documents. they are on the bottom half of the people that work at nasa. so their argument is why are you doing this to us, we've already been here for so long. this is just harassment. the fear that this person has, i share, whether you work for the government or whether you work for private industry, and because this is a blending of both, those professors at caltech and the full-time federal employees, and because different courts have gone different ways, the supreme court said we'd better resolve this. >> how do you think they're going to dual? stkpwhraoeu think they'll rule against the right to privacy. the right to privacy, though it is in the constitution and though we all naturally deserve privacy is being sort of pushed away by the government in its zeal for national security. that will come back to bite the government. jenna: that's something i'm sure you tackle on your show. >> we do! jenna: freedom watch. thank you, judge.

freedom watch is on the fox business network, it airs saturday and sunday. can't get enough of the judge. >> thank you jen gentleman. jon: all rise! >> terrified about you asking me these questions. jenna: rove is nervous! you can ask the judge these questions. he's going to be on the hot seat coming up in the next few weeks as well. jon: we're going to rise as the judge de parts the newsroom. they look like mini blimps but they are spy balloons, what do they do, how do they work and what is the military using them for to accomplish in afghanistan? you might be surprised, straight ahead.

jon: a real life daredevil captures never before seen

video inside a boiling volcano. these pictures taken by 44-year-old jeff my and his crew, his nickname is danger man, and he's earned his title and he joins us more from the phone on this deaf defying expedition. what are you trying to accomplish there, jeff? >> reporter: -- >> this is what i've been doing for the last 20 years, traveling around the world, filming volcanic eruptions, but i've been trying to get into this volcano for years and we fought it, and here is the video, of course. jon: this one is in the south pacific, right? >> that's right. jon: how do you know when you get up this close that the thing is not going to all of the sudden belch a big bubble of magma and roast you alive? >> good question, you don't. you take a calculated guess. you get in and get your pictures and get the hell

out of it, before something bad happens. jon: what do you do with those pictures? >> well, as an independent filmmaker, i long ago realized there was a market around the world for extreme -- extremely good video of not just volcanos but hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, everything like that. so i just decided to change my job from news cameraman to, you know, various emergencies and hurricanes and things around the world, and now it's sort of become a full-time career. jon: i notice, we see you in some of the shots there, in fact, you're on the extreme right of the screen -- well, now it's extreme left of the screen in the image we're looking at now, you've got the fire retardant suit on. how much protection does that give you? >> well, pretty good. i mean, this is sort of well-made by somebody in the fire brigade in new zealand,

along with a breathing apparatus, what the fire brigade would use to fight a fire, so it gives pretty good protection. those suits are used normally by people who put out a plane crash. jon: what is the ambient temperature in that fire resistent suit, what is the fire temperature? >> it's hard to tell. anyone who is a fireman would know about rant heat, or anyone who's seen a big building or a factory on fire, you can feel that heat from a distance, so that's -- in this case, a lot of that was actually going straight up, and you just were hit by waves of heat from time to time. jon: i know there have been case necessary which volcanologists climb up to the edge of a caldera and all of the sudden the winds shift and all kinds of knox

use gas get blown at them and from time to time, scientists have lost their lives doing that. have you ever had that kind of close call? >> no. and in this case, to get those pictures, you must understand, the -- this volcano, the views, out of a 2-week trip, you might only see that for a couple of hours, the rest of the time you're hanging on a rope, 1000 feet above the ground, for the gas and everything to clear, so we all had breathing apparatuses, the same thing a firefighter would wear or like tanks, we were pretty well equipped. jon: it looks amazing, you have really given the world some phenomenal pictures. jeff mackley, stay sife and -- stay safe and congratulations for doing this. >> thank you. jon: thank you very much. jen is that what you were doing, climbing inside a volcano when this sort of

thing happened? >> should we tell people? jen we definitely need to explain that. jon: we were having an arm wrestling match to interview karl rove and jenna won. jenna: yes, he's right. that's not real. that's not the truth. jon: i'll tell you about it, end the hour. jenna: tell us now! we need to stay. jon: i have younger boys, and as far as i know, they are quite a bit younger than i am and when i try to keep up i hurt myself, so i had a little rotator cuff surgery. jenna: there it is, we have the close-up shot, he's going to be okay. jon: i will be fine, but i wore -- i did not wear it for yesterday's hour or two hours, and it hurt. jen so we're not going to high five or do anything like that. jon: high five the left hand. jenna: jon scott, he's still mobile, he's going to be all right. cities story -- his story reads like a hollywood script, why americans say he's behind this

abduction-style arrest. a remarkable story. two people killed, five wounded during a shooting spree in northern florida. police say this is no random crime. we have brand new information, next. credit card rewards are always good in theory. sometimes i would get rewards, sometimes i wouldn't. this one card i had -- there were all these rules. rules and restrictions. oh, and limits. [ scoffs ] forget abo it. but i love this card. bankamericard cash rewar creditard. 1% cash back on everything i buy. period. limit to the amount of cash back i can get.

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to driving an explosive laden suv into times square last may. countless lives spared when an alert new yorker spotted that vehicle. david lee miller is live outside the courthouse. what happened inside, david. >> reporter: jon, faisal shahzad was sentenced to not just one, two or three life sentences, you sort of get the idea, he was sentenced to a total of six life sentences, this after pleading guilty to ten criminal charges in connection with trying to explode a car bomb in new york's times square. he entered the courtroom with longhair and a beard. he was wearing blue prison clothing, he had a brown t-shirt on and wearing a muslim skull cap. we have the full screen graphic for this, he told the court, this is my whole life and i will sacrifice it for allah, phuzs

don't abide by any other law, how can i be judged by a judge that doesn't understand my people and my country. he then went onto say the defeat of the united states is imminent. there was an interesting exchange between shahzad and the judge. the judge interrupted him to say, quote but when you became a naturalized american when. shahzad says april of last year. did you swear allegiance. she said you took a false oath shahzad replied simply yes. during the sentence he actually shouted out, allah akbar at one point, praise god. then he went onto say in his words, i am so happy with what he referred to as the deal. he will spend the rest of his life in prison. jon. jon: looks pretty quiet there house the courthouse. what's the reaction been? >> reporter: we are waiting for a news conference to take place

behind me. so far no one has spoken publicly outside this building. interestingly new york city's police commissioner was at a news conference with other new york city police officials and security officials and when news of the life sentence was announced the room burst into applause. new york city's police commissioner ray kelly issued a brief statement, it said it's only right that shahzad forfeit his freedom for life for having tried to forfeit the life of new yorkers. jon you might recall that law enforcement here was able to take him into custody 53 hours after that failed car bomb was left in new york's times square. jon: no expressions of remorse at all from this guy? >> reporter: that's absolutely right. there was never any remorse. he was actually prideful about what he had done, and it's also worth noting, here, jon that there was never any plea

agreement. yes he pled guilty to ten criminal counts in connection with this, but for making that deal he received nothing in exchange. there was mandatory life in prison and that's exactly what he received today. jon. jon: for or dar dar four or five life terms sounds good to me. thank you very much, david lee miller. jenna: day two of jury deliberations in the horrific trial. the lone survivor william petit heading into the courthouse as he has every day for one of the men charged with killing his entire family. his wife and daughters murdered after an unthinkable night of mayhem and horror. laura ingle is live with more on the story in connecticut. >> reporter: we've had no word yesterday from jurors on their second day of deliberations, no notes i should say. we've only heard that they wanted to particular a very small break from deliberations, that happened just a few minutes ago and now they are back in the

deliberations room. yesterday they did send out a couple of notes, they had some questions for the judge. one of them was to ask if they could see a transcript of the coconfession that steven hayes reportedly gave to a police detective about his deadly role in the crime in 2007. they said -- the judge said there was not a transcript but the court reporter could read back the testimony from the detective about it. they declined because they learned it would take 45 minutes. there was also questions about the fire that killed the two daughters. jurors asked whether pouring gasoline was considered starting a fire. the judge said no. during the trial you might remember a state corrections officer testified that he over heard steven petit in jail tell an inch math that he poured the gasoline in the house but didn't light the match that started the deadly inferno. there has been a debate over which suspect ignited the blaze.

steven hayes attorney says the other defendant started the fire, and that he also sexually assaulted the daughter before the house was engulfed in flames. this could bring him the death penalty if convicted. the capital offenses include murder, kidnapping, sexual assault of the mother, jennifer hawke-petit, among others. the jurors have to be unanimous on each and every count for the count to stick. we wait outside the courtroom. once we get any word of what is going on in the jury tkeub ration room we'll bring it to you live. jenna: we've been following it now with our "happening now" twitter feed minute by minute as you get the information from the courtroom. our viewers can follow you as well for up to the date information. that is laura ingle in

connecticut with us today. as the verdict comes down we will bring it to you as soon as it breaks. megyn: megyn: jon: election 2010, we are 28 days and counting until judgment day for the house of representatives, and thousands of miles away from washington the tea party is making waves in alaska. senator lisa murkowski is fighting to hang onto a seat as a write-in candidate. a recent poll says she is gaining on her rival but they say there is doubt about the numbers. dan springer streaming live for us from anchorage. you've seen the ads, dan, what do they claim? >> reporter: there are two points that the lisa murkowski campaign are taking exception to, one is that lisa murkowski tried to influence the absentee

vote count. there was a very close race in the primary between joe miller and lisa murkowski, he was holding onto a couple thousand vote lead. then the battle over the absentee ballots. yes indeed lisa murkowski had lawyers here and volunteers and there were some questionable things but she says in no way did they try to influence the final outcome of that primary vote count. she says it's nothing more than lies and political posturing. the other point is she tried to manipulate the ask yan libertarian party to giving up the spot to her. we know she did in fact and talk to the libertarian candidate. we know he did not give up his position on the ballot. jon: how is the tea party express responding. the senator claims they are lying about her, right? >> reporter: well, yeah, they say that they stand by their ad.

they say there is no doubt that she did try to get her way on the ballot through the libertarian pathway and she did have people on her behalf working inside of election offices, doing things they shouldn't have been doing. they stand by the ad and they are not backing down one bit. this is a political action committee out of sacramento, california. that is throwing their weight around. they say they had 400,000 supporters around the country. they were on a local radio station for two hours last night raising money. they had people calling in with donations from all over the country, they raised about $30,000 after investing about a thousand dollars to get the radio station for the two hours. they are not backing down. they say they are in this thing to win it and it's very important to them, this is one of three races that they are going to be spending a lot of money on. they say they'll spend at least six figures on the general election. they are not looking at scott

mcadams at all, they dismiss him. they say this is between miller and lisa murkowski, round two. jon: i have a feeling you'll be spending a lot of time in anchorage over the next few weeks. >> reporter: i think you're right. jon: get nonstop updates from our reporters in the fields and producers click on the follow fox link at foxnews.com/politics. jenna: a shocking report of lax security. how a member of al-qaida gained access to nuclear power plants and what needs to happen to keep it from happening it again. a florida man goes on a rampage hunting down six victims at different locations. >> we received a barrage of calls saying, got someone shot here, got someone shot here. jenna: who he went after as

police search for a motive. karl rove will be in the hot seat. he'll be answering questions sent in by you. you can send your questions for carl by email at hospitals now, or twitter, we'll see you in two minutes. megyn: megyn: [ male announcer ] if you've had a heart attack caused by a completely blocked artery,

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jenna: a new warning that terrorists could be getting jobs in nuclear power plants. new york senator chuck schumer saying more has to be done to stop them before it's too late. al-qaida suspect worked at six nuclear power plants before his arrest earlier this year in yemen. he spoke openly about his militant views to fellow workers, and his lawyers admit he was in contact with anwar al-awlaki, a radical cleric in yemen linked to several terrorist attacks. ralph larson is a senior fellow

at the kennedy school belfer center as well. thank you for joining us. shocking to know that one of these employees at a power plant could be linked to terrorists. talk to us a little bit about how vulnerable power plants are. >> fortunately we don't hear about it very often that is the good news. this was clearly a break down in security. the good news there is people recognized it. i've read the inspector general audit from the nuclear regulatory commission, it took it very seriously and enacted a number of recommendations that are going to be enacted to hopefully improve security. i would stress here that security is like anything else, there is no such thing as perfect security and the most important thing is to recognize that we have very strong security in our nuclear facilities but it's not perfect. jenna: you know, we talk about the different threats to our nation and we should mention that senator schumer is running for re-election. he did put this out back in march as well, but he's

definitely following up now and of course it's election time. we want to make sure our viewers know that as well. can you describe to us what a nuclear terrorist attack would look like? >> well a nuclear terrorist attack really requires three major failures to occur in order for it to be a realistic possibility and i would stress to the viewers that there is a very, very low probability threat with a huge impact, and we can prevent this from happening. no one is hyping this threat. first if al-qaida was trying to do something in one of these facilities they would need an insider. sharif mobley wouldn't have been adequate. they need someone who could get in the inner core. you need the person on the outside to get in touch with terrorist. you need physical deficiencies

and inadequate security and things. all three of those things have to go wrong. it can happen it's a very low possibility. the type of things that are being done in response to this incident will it less likely in the future. namely, improving background checks on people, insuring that there is better security screening. get other employees at the facility to be observant and to report suspicious incidents, and finally possibly to report things like travel, if that is consistent with privacy issues so that people have an obligation, that there is better screening of people who might in fact be in touch with terrorist groups. jenna: it's interesting we were just talking to judge janet napolitano shall napolitano about background checks and whether an individual's privacy can be abused if more serious background checks take place in certain areas, whether it's a private business or government agency. when we talk about being more vigilant you mention some of the

things we need to do. there always seems to be some sort of hole. everyone says, we have to be more vigilant. what does that really look like? >> well, that's a great question. vigilance is continual. you have to first of all accep the fact there are holes and you're always try to plug the holes before someone else finds out that they exist. that's the essence of the counter terrorist struggle that we're in. we have a free society we want to maintain our privacy and other issues, and the answer to terrorism is not to curtail our individual liberties. we can do this say in the case of nuclear facilities without putting major inch trugss on people's privacy. many of the people in these facilities have very high clearances. there are certain obligations that go with the clearances, certain reporting and contact with foreigners. but not if you're going to hold a clearance and work in a nuclear facility, for example. jenna: ralph larson, former

department of energy official on intelligence. we did get a statement from the nuclear regulatory commission. they said they had already begun working on issues we recognized needing enhancing even before the office of inspector general started its review and we expect to implement additional enhancements in the future. it's important to recognize that the nrc's access authorization requirements are already quite robust. the recommendations in the report are considered enhancements to existing processes and procedures. we'll keep you all updated as the story develops. jon: the latest on a bizarre story of violence along the u.s.-mexican border. american tiffany hartley says her husband was shot dead while she were jetskiing a lake straddling the border. mexican authorities are questioning the story as she pleads for help to find her husband's body.

>> were you shot at. >> yes. >> on the mexican side. >> yes. >> you were on the mexican side. >> yes. >> did you see anybody. >> three boats.

jenna: i want to take you out to l.a. now. these pictures are coming to us from kttv our affiliate in los angeles. you can see the robot is out there. we are getting word of a poe ten albomb threat investigation that is on going in this downtown area. the pictures that are coming in, you're seeing just along with us as well. you can see right behind it it looks almost like a bus sign or that advertisement stand right there that there is an object. we can't get a great look at it right now. i've been told it looks something like a backpack but we're still trying to figure that part out. to give you the location it's on 9th street and olympic, in

downtown los angeles. a major street there. and, again, all we're hearing right now from police is that this is a bomb threat investigation in downtown los angeles. obviously just putting it in the broader context we've talked a lot about different terrorist threats, oftentimes these stories end up to be nothing but in an area and time like we are in right now obviously any lead is always checked out. we are not getting too much information coming to us by l.a.p.d. at this time. as you can tell these live pictures just coming to us from kttv, again our affiliate there. the robot not even moving at this point. we'll continue to watch this scene. as we hear more we'll bring it to you. but again a potential bomb threat investigation in downtown los angeles between 9th street and olympic. again, more information as we get it. jon: investigators from mexico

are calling into question and american woman's claim that pirates killed her husband on a border lake that straddles the texas-mexico border. tiffany hartley says mexicans in three boats chased down and shot and killed her husband on thursday. the couple was jetskiing on lake falcon, quite a large lake that straddles the border, an area u.s. law enforcement -- it's an area i should say that u.s. law enforcement says high school a reputation for dangerous pirate activity. here is the 911 call that tiffany made. >> hello. >> yes. okay are you sure that your husband got shot? >> yes, in his head, yeah. jon: joining us now on the phone texas state representative aaron pena he serves on the committee on emergency preparedness. as we said, mr. pena the mexican authorities are calling into question her story.

do you have any doubts about what she has told police? >> i have no doubts, jon. first of all the people that i know and trust who know her quite well tell me that she is quite credible. the circumstances are such that it appears as though she was in fear. there was a witness, an eyewitness who saw it occur. this is not something that is out of the ordinary. i mean, we've had these sort of violent attacks on the border for a while now, so i find her to be very credible. jon: well and the mexican authorities have not been able to find his body, and you get the impression that they haven't really looked all that hard. >> that is the impression that we're getting on this side of the river. we are imploring the mexican government, or the people involved to hand over the body to this young widow so that she can bury her husband and they can mourn. jon: because he was jetskiing

with his wife, help were said to be wearing life preservers. if he was shot in the back of the head as she says he was, it ought to be pretty easy to find his body. is it possible that the pirates might have taken it to look for any valuables he might have been carrying. >> i will say this there's been times in the past when cartel individuals have gonna little far in what they've done and have actually been assassinated by the higher ups in the organization. so i can see lower cartel members hiding the body so that they can make this allegation that it simply didn't happen for their self be protection. jon: and what would have been the motive here do you think? do these cartel members, or pirates, whatever you want to call them h are they simply out for robbery, are they trying to steal the jet key or any jewelry they might have been wearing. >> every inch of the border is controlled by cartel members.

anybody who passes within their territory, much like a dog that barks when you come near his territory, they will take action. so if you're in the area, and they see you, you are simply going to become a victim. it's either one our entering their territory, and you may be competition, or they simply want to attack you for what they can get from you. jon: what would you like to see happen? >> i would like to see mexico take control of their country. i would like the citizens of our country to be personally responsible and stop using drugs. now both those things are easy to say but they are not necessarily going to happen. in the old days when we had problems like this on the border, where we had bodies on one side of the other usually leaders from the other community and our community would get together and we'd solve the problem. unfortunately that is no longer the border that exists today. jon: aaron pena the texas state representative. thank you for being with us. >> thank you, jon. jenna: i want to take you back

to this developing scene in los angeles. you can see right there that we have a robot on scene in downtown los angeles. this is at olympic and main streets in downtown los angeles. the l.a.p.d. is telling us that a citizen called in a suspicious package report around 8:00 pacific time, and that is what they are checking out. you can see right there in the center of your screen, it's hard to phaeupbg out -- make out but it looks like a backpack of some sort. i'm being told by our l.a. bureau that this is not too far from the staples center, the convention center in downtown los angeles. police say they are blocking traffic to this area, an area that is also known as the garment district down there. they are trying to continue to figure out what is going on here. no evacuations to tell you about at this time, just a developing story that we are going to continue to watch. harris faulkner as well as our desk here are continuing to watch these stories and developments. harris, what else do we know. >> reporter: we know that there

are actually two bags. you're watching this robot as we have been watching over the last few minutes take apart these two objects. what we are told and l.a.p.d. always says that it takes about 30 minutes for them to figure out exactly what they are looking for. the robot is doing more than poking at it. it was poking at the backpack and the attached second bag of lighter color for quite sometime. it pulled out which looks to be in the middle center of your screen to your left almost like a diaper. that's what it's doing now. it's trying to ascertain what it is that they are dealing with. this is typical for l.a.p.d. most of the time as you said these things turn out to be nothing. but if you see something, say something and we'll follow it back to you. jenna: normally it turns out to be nothing, considering the time and the news flow, the news cycle we've been in it's certainly something we'll be watching very closely, bringing you developments as it happens. jon: going to take you very quickly to the white house. there is the president, he is

with dr. jill biden's the vice president's house as the white house's first summit on community college. they are stressing the importance of community colleges in this country in training our workforce. if you'd like to hear more about what the president has to say we will have it streaming for you live on foxnews.com. jenna: the shooting rampage in a college town. take a listen to this. >> the gainesville police department would respond to the scene of a report of a shooting as did the sheriff's office, and he was then traveling to the next location. jenna: what we know about the victims, the man behind the shooting spree, and a motive just ahead. plus there is still time to send your questions to karl rove, he's here in the wings waiting anxiously to answer them. email us at "happening now" at foxnews.com or on our blog by going to foxnews.com/"happening now" or if our on twitter, twitter..com "happening now."

spying on the taliban the high-tech weapon using the low tech way of getting around. a story you don't want to miss, just ahead. [ woman ] alright, so this tylenol 8 hour lasts 8 hours.

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jon: some new developments out of florida after a deadly shooting rampage in a college town there. lasted more than ten terrifying minutes. police say a mentally disturbed man killed his father, then shot five other people before turning the gun on himself. phil keating is live in miami with more. do we know what the motive

is yet, phil? >> reporter: hi jon. still no motive at this point, the best thing we have to go with, 24-year-old clifford miller, jr., the shooter who killed himself in the end of this 13-minute rampage did have a history of mental illness. for 13 chaotic minutes yesterday afternoon in gainesville, florida where of course the university of florida is, it's a campus town, there were 131 911 calls -- sorry, we'll get back to this. breaking news now. >> phil keating, thank you. jenna: we do have breaking news, we're hearing a verdict in the connecticut case, laura ingle is outside the courtroom. laura. >> reporter: we have just heard that there was a lot of activity inside of the courtroom here at the stephen hayes trial. we've heard that the jurors sent out a note, the judge went to talk to the marshals, seven marshals have just been brought into the courtroom, we know that's a sign that something is happening and the judge has just announced there is a verdict in this case. the family has been brought

in, dr. william petit, the lone survivor of this home invasion trial was asked to return to the courtroom, he stepped out briefly, his sister is with him, the entire family has been seated, again, the security has increased, and we are waiting for word right now from the judge to find out when and how they are going to read the verdict in this case. again, there are 17 counts that stephen hayes is facing, six of them are capital felony counts that could bring him the death penalty. there won't be sentencing today, that will be coming at a separate time, and again, the other suspect in this case, joshua, will be tried at a later date by the beginning for this family of finding out about justice in this case is near. we will let you know as soon as that judge tells us if that verdict is going to be read inside the courtroom. we have the producer inside, kathleen foster, she is sending out messages as fast as the information is coming. we'll bring it to you as soon as we get it. jon: typically in a case like this, laura, the judge

will announce that okay, we have a verdict, the verdict is to be read in 60 minutes or # on minutes or something like that, they usually want to set up extraordinary amounts of security. have you heard anything like that? >> reporter: yes. we've heard that the marshals came in, there were six of them, now there are seven, i'm hearing nine, one producer is telling me the jury is being brought into the courtroom, so we could be hearing a verdict being read in court in the next few minutes, they could take a break and collect themselves or this could be it. we'll have to wait and see. jenna: you've been there watching this case and inside the courtroom. right now we're looking at the two pictures of the gentlemen involved, steven hayes is there now and joshua kamisarjevsky will go on trial we believe sometime next year. talk to us about what it was like inside the courtroom and what you've been able to sue, just as someone covering this case on a daily basis. >> i've covered a lot of murder case and this one has

been an extremely difficult one to get through because of the young age of the victims, especially of makayla petit and the images of the burned out bed and hearing how the fire was set and what happened in that home on the night of july 7, 2007. i'm being told in my ear, the judge has said to them, the members who are in the courtroom right now, not to express any emotion. that sounds like we could be hearing a verdict being read any time now. we'll let you know as we continue to monitor these messages coming in. the jury is taking their seats, i'm being told. jon: we should point out that this guy who is on trial, steven hayes, steven hayes basically tried to sell out the accused accomplice in this crime, tried to say it's really kam arsavesky's fought, it was not supposed to be a murder, is was possessed to be simply a robbery. >> that's correct.

he gave one of the police detectives in this case, when he was brought into custody, he sat down and laid out a lot of the facts. again, he has confessed according to one of the police detectives to a majority of the charges against him, he admits they broke into the home, he admits he took jennifer hawk petit to the bank to withdraw $15,000 out of her bank account, when they realized there was not a safe inside of the house, they went through the purses, her jewelry box, they didn't get a lot, when they saw her bank book, they said things are changing now, we're going to go to the bank, and the idea was, according to the two suspects, accord -- suspect ed the idea was to keep the family members at the home, go to the bank, get the money, when they brought back the mother they was going to put the family in the car, thefrpb torch the house to try to get rid of any evidence of them being in the house. nobody was supposed to die, according to steven hayes, and joshua kamisarjevsky

that, they told police officers in 2007. i'm also hearing in my ear, the jury is about to rise. as soon as we get the word, the jury is -- is standing right now, so as soon as we get that word, again, 17 counts of what we're going to be hearing about today. jon: we are already -- >> and guilty. >> we are getting word, guilty, at least one guilty engineered. >> reporter: one guilty verdict on count one, guilty on count two, these are flying in from our producer inside the courtroom, kathleen foster is listen to go this as they come through. the defense has said if the jury convinced on count two or three, that is the murder of 17-year-old haley and 11-year-old makayla, the defense wants to poll the jurors to find out if they think hayes is the principal or the accomplice, the judge denied that motion. jon: guilty on -- >> >> reporter: you can repeat that? >> jenna: let me fill you in, guilty on count one, two, three, and 4-rbgs so we have four guilty counts right now, coming into us by

the jury. laura, what, again, is at stake for steven hayes? >> reporter: i'm also hearing guilty on count five as well. what is at stake here, jenna, this is a death penalty case and what that means, with the capital felony counts against him, which there are six of the 17, murders of multiple victims inside the home, murder of a person under the age of 16, murder with a sexual assault involved, that of jennifer hawk petit, the mother in this case, which steven hayes has admitted to, there were a lot of admissions -- guilty of kidnapping count six, i apologize for the sporadic way the news is coming in, i'm getting if from producers inside. jon: you know what, laura, i eo. >> >> reporter: they're going through the list now. jon: i think we can kind of keep tabs on that because they are also sending that information to us here in the newsroom, but maybe you could explain for our viewers why it is there are no cameras in the courtroom. we are so accustomed in this

day and age, especially this day and age in court, to get these brings brought to us live on camera. we're having to do it sort of the old fashioned way by sending messages out of the courtroom, why is that? >> this was the judge's decision, that there would only be allowed sketch artists. so when you see the sketches, that is the only real images we can bring you day to day. one of the nice things for us as reporters in this case is we've been allowed to bring in our laptops and blackberries, so that's why the messages are coming out so fast and furious, we are allowed -- allowed to do that. some judges won't allow that. in the michael jackson case, we weren't allowed to have the black ber kwr-s -- blackberries inside the courtroom. we're guilty on count nine, and we'll go over those, we're town nine now. we can go over them once we get the readings on the verdicts, on what each and every one of these are. but again, this family that has been coming in here into court, the lone surveyor,

william petit, his sisters, parents, the family of jennifer hawk petit, all the family members that have had to relive the horror of what happened inside that home that night, that all of them were held hostage, they were tied up and to relive all of this tkpwefr and -- over and over again that is been heartbreaking to watch inside the courtroom, the images have been absolutely devastating of the crime scene, and again, this family is going to have to go through it again next year, hearing guilty on 11 and 12 as well. they are rolling through the list. one of the things that we talked about yesterday was there was a change in one of the charges, and we're going to get to that on the last part of the list, which is the assault of dr. petit. you'll remember that as the story goes, the two men broke into the petit home and badly beat dr. petit within an inch of his life with a baseball bat and that charge was downgraded to a second degree assault, so it will be interesting to hear what the jury finds on that, but that charge won't matter as far as whether or not

he's going to get the death penalty for this, if the jury chooses to give him that. and we're continuing. jenna: let's give a little more context as well. the reason why we're going through count one, two, three, four, is that there's actually 17 different counts, just want to remind viewers of that, that are all involved in this horrific crime. so as it looks like, you said there were probably up to 11 or 12 or so, all have been guilty so far. walk us through, again, we'll continue to -- continue to keep us up to date on the guilty charges come in and we can hear your black ber he pinging as well. our viewers are experiencing this as we are as well. but what happens to hayes? once these guilty verdicts are read, you know, what's the next step? you mentioned, of course, the family has to go and face this second suspect, next year, but for hayes, when does the sentencing happen, and what happens when the jurors read it? do they get to go home and talk to the rest of us?

>> reporter: well, that will be up to the judge. the judge, after the verdicts are being read in this court, as it happens, it sounds like we're almost down to the very last one here, again, 17 counts, and there were so many things that he was accused of, and that we went through with the evidence in this case, the sexual assault, the breaking in, the robbery, the murders, and the arson. that was another big thing, you know. he had told a state corrections officer who had testified in this trial, had told jurors he overherd steven hayes said that he had poured the gasoline inside of the home but that he didn't strike the match, and he was hoping that he wouldn't be found guilty of the arson charge in this case. that fire is what killed the 2petit daughters, 17-year-old haley and 11-year-old makayla, the medical examiner testified they both died from smoke inhalation, the fire was so hot and so severe that they could not get to them, i'm being told that the petit family is in tears inside of

the courtroom, more color from the courtroom and details of the verdicts, most of them guilty, at the stevens hayes trial. jenna: and 17 counts, there is a not guilty verdict on the arson part. but the rest of the counts, 16 counts, guilty, for steven hayes. lisa weile is on the phone with us, a fox news legal analyst for us, and you've been following this case closely. what do you think so far from what you've heard? >> i'm so grateful, really, that they came back with a guilty verdict. you know, if we're going to have a death penalty, if we're going to go all the way with the death penalty in this country, these two people, i mean, can you imagine the scene where they go in, home invasion, they bring out the mother, they goes -- she goes to the bank, we have her visiting the bank, pulling out the $15,000, then they go back and they set fire to the house, meanwhile, the father, the doctor, is bound

up and going to die as well as he gets out, i mean, it's just -- it's despicable and i'm so happy -- not happy, that's not the right word but i'm so glad the jury came back with the verdict they did. jon: there must be a huge sense of relief among the hawk-petit family members. >> yes. jon: one not guilty count, a lot of people might not be surprised by i got -- but i got to give it to this jury, i suppose it's not exactly possible to know who lit the match or the lighter or whatever. >> exactly. jon: during the conflagration and that is probably why they gave one not guilty count out of 17. >> yeah, you're right, jon. but the problem with that is, i'm surprised the prosecutors didn't argue this, there's a felony murder count they didn't argue, in other words, if i go into a store with you and we're going to rob the clerk and unbee knownst to me you got a gun and kill the clerk, i'm still charged with felony murder, it doesn't matter who lit the match or who fired the shot. that's my point.

i'm kind of surprised the prosecution didn't go with that but look, they've got so many counts already, that i guess that's good. jon: under connecticut law, obviously, this has been a death penalty case from the beginning. >> yes. jon: but they have enough convictions here they can cecoo they can seek the death penalty. >> that's right. now they have to do the sentencing stage, and as i've said before, i mean, if we're going to have the death penalty, it's not -- if not for these people, if we want to call them people, then for whom? >> jon: it is hard to imagine a more depraved crime than this one sarbgs. >> no, horrible, horrible, and this man, you've seen the pictures of him, of his family and three, four, five years ago and of him today? and it's amazing that he can put one step in front of the other and he does, and he does it for his children and his dead children and dead wife. i really believe that. jon: lisa wiele, fox news analyst, former federal prosecutor who's been watching this case closely, lisa, thank you. >> you got it. jon: 16 guilty verdicts

against steven hayes in the murders of three member of this beautiful connecticut family. we'll be back with more in just a moment.

megyn: hey everybody i'm megyn kelly, more on the petit trial, including possibly a statement from dr. petit when he exits the courthouse. mexican authorities say they doubt the claims of the woman who says her husband was shot to death by pirates along the border. the victim's mother is here live to respond to that. a cheerleader refuses to cheer for the boy who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her, instead of support thank cheer lead every, the school throws her off the squad n. today's kelly's court, top of the hour. jen time now for the hot

seat segment where some of the biggest names answer questions for you the viewer. today we've got the hot seat warmed up for karl rove, he was a senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to president george work bush, was a fox news contributor -- george w. bush and a fox news contributor. >> why did you say i was going to be anxious about it? i'm relaxed! jenna: here's a question from waldorf, maryland, if asked, were you ever work for the obama administration? >> i'll never be asked, the president says unkind things about me, so i'll never be asked. but look, if a president asks you to serve, of course you have to consider it. you'd have to be comfortable with the administration and the tasks that you're given. i doubt they would be and i know they'd never ask me. >> it seems that people are awakening to politics like never before, we're informed and active. do you think this lab new behavior going forward, even beyond the elections? >> i hope so. we've actually finish a

secular period where participation has increased. if you look at the 2000 presidential election, it had a greater turnout than 1996, 2004 that's greater than 2008, and 2008 had greater turnout than 2004. i think this year we will probably have as much as 90 million people vote in the races for the u.s. house. four years ago it was 28 million. jenna: gabe, his question, he's out in california, what does that mean for republicans, though, what does that mean for the gop, is that a good thing for the turnout? >> absolutely. look, we won the 2004 presidential election, which is 25 percent more people vote second 004 than in 2000. it gets down to which party works better and harder and this year the independents and republicans are going to trump the democrats in the fall election, so it's good for the republicans. jenna: you were on fox and friends. >> i was. jenna: you know who else was on there, donald trump. >> there we go. >> stuart says this from cincinnati, it was first reported on fox news that donald trump is considering a run for the presidency in 2012, do you feelna mr. trump is a viable candidate for president? he says he's a republican. >> he's a republican, and

look, this is a big turned -- undertaking and nobody ought to jump into it without an understanding and appreciation of how hard it is. if mr. trump wants to spend a year slogging around south carolina, iowa, new hampshire, then he might be a serious candidate. >> would you work for him? >> look, i'm working for fox! i'm analyzing the coverage, exactly. >> it wasn't that bad, right? >> hey, i wasn't nervous! i wasn't nervous! come on! -- come on! jenna: i was i was making that up. that means you'll be back for another hot seat. >> you bet. jenna: jon? >> jon: a fox news alert, jenna. for those just tuning in, the jury has reached a verdict in that vicious connecticut home invasion and murder trial. the man you see on the left of your screen there, stephen hayes, guilty, on 16 of the 17 charges against him in this capital murder case. he is now eligible for the death penalty. back in a moment.