>> 22, 22 at my house. bill: a lot of pumpkin pie. >> martha: thanks everybody, see you tomorrow. tpr*urb flush. >> skwr*pb jen everybody, we start off with a fox news alert, we hope you're off to a good monday morning so far but in dearfield, florida, not necessarily the monday start these folks were hoping for. what you're looking at is a car that looks to have hit or run right into a dry cleaners, or cleaners of some sort, right in deerfield beach. we have very little information at this time, we're not sure about injuries or what exactly caused this accident. but as we wake tpwraoupbd new week, hopefully your week is starting off a little bit better than that, right jon? jon: that is not a good way to start your monday, that's for sure. hope you're having a better day than that guy, i'm jon scott, thank you for joining us. jen hi everybody, i'm jenna lee, in the fox newsroom, "happening now" a bunch of

new stories but patdown procedures, and body scanners, the tsa says it's open to changes and security procedures will be adapted, they say, as conditions weren't. -- warrant. jon: but as the don't touch my junk controversy escalates the obama administration says body scans and patdowns are needed to thwart attacks. steve centanni is at reagan national airport, any chance, steve, because of this pushback, the tsa will actually ease off the patdown? >> we have a sense of that today when john pistole, spokesperson for the tsa appeared on fox & friends and said they might adjust it for make it less intrusive, talking about patdowns, specifically possibly even the body scanners that made people so angry about their privacy, and the possibility of some small radiation exposure. so here's what john pistole said this morning. let's listen in. stkpwhraofplt what i agreed to do is to look at how we can do this type of

screening, if we can do it less invaseively, which has been the request, then i'm open to doing that. >> less invasively but didn't give any details on what kind of adjustments might be made. as for now the policy stays in place if you set off an alarm or refuse to go through the full body scanner you'll have to go through that patdown and wednesday, one of the busiest days of the year, passengers, if they disrupt or make protests at those security lines it would delay flights across the country, jon. jon: what exactly is a patdown supposed to protect against? >> this of course is in response to christmas day, you remember abdul farouk abdulmutallab, the guy who put explosives in his underwear. the patdown is not going to find anything like that, but if there are other incidents, of course, we had richard reid, the shoe bomber in '03, just recently, printer cartridges, so there are a

lot of threats and every day the tsa picks up a couple of guns and thousands of knives in the screening process, so a lot of people concerned. even hillary clinton was asked about it over the weekend, about the patdowns. here's what she had to say. >> everybody is trying to do the right thing. >> madam secretary -- and i understand how difficult it is and how offensive it must be for the people who are going through it. >> final question, my time is up, but would you submit to one of these patdown? >> not if i could avoid t. no! i mean, who would? >> and a lot of people feeling the same way, jon. jon: all right, steve centanni, i think we agree, thank you very much, steve. jenna: while the debate rages over airport security measures, there is now this reminder, the group behind the most recent airplane terror scare is now issuing a new threat. al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula, boosting or boasting its printer bomb plot that grounded cargo planes last month, only cost about $4200. they say the plot they've dubbed operation hemorrhage

is designed to bleed the enemy to death by a thousand cuts, a thousand attacks, smaller attacks. national correspondent catherine herridge is in our d.c. bureau. you've gone through the magazine this threat was first published in. tell us about the critical points here. >> reporter: jenna, i've spoken to an editor about the magazine and he points out there are three critical points. first and foremost, the new edition of inspire magazine, put out by al-qaeda in yemen is exposing the plot, because this magazine is specifically designed to recruit americans and other western operatives. it's kind of like al-qaeda's equivalent of martha stewart living or oprah's magazine, it's very western, and it says the cost of the bombs were less than $5000 al-qaeda in yemen is saying on the record its intent is to paralyze the transportation system by specifically targeting cargo, jenna. jenna: catherine, al-qaeda in yemen is promising more attacks like the cargo bombs

in the future? what are they saying about what is to come? >> >> reporter: what they're saying is they're going to spread this technology to more countries, countries they say are under the radar to try and launch similar attacks. it's questionable whether this technology can be transferred. it's questionable how effective it is, because there was no blast with the cargo bombs earlier this year. the magazine says our objective is not maximum kill but to cause a hemorrhage in the aviation industry, an industry that is so vital for trade and transportation between the u.s. and europe. and that's important, because one of the al-qaeda core is to hurt the u.s. economy and cripple the economy jenna. jenna: is that a shift in strategy? >> i think we are seeing a shift. recently i spoke with homeland security's michael chertoff and he said the most alarming thing about the cargo plot is they were not only saying they were would avoid the massive casualties in the future but

specifically targeting commerce and that's a recognition that al-qaeda understands and its affiliates, they understand it's much harder to get their praeuft i was -- operatives in the united states to launch a nine -- 9/11-style attack so they've shifted to smaller attacks and targeting as a primary objective the u.s. economy and also the international economy as well. jenna: catherine herridge, live from d.c., thank you for that. jon: warren buffet says the government should hike taxes for the richest americans. speaking on abc's "this week" buffet called for big tax cuts for middle class and lower income americans, he says high earners are making more than ever and should reach deep into their pockets to help the country. the treasury department is happy to take that, it's set all website that would collect the money to pay the national debt. jenna: maybe go online. jon i'm sure warren buffet would do a lot. jenna: pay down the debt there.

it's easy! jon: bill gates, he's not alone. jenna: 45 people signed a letter to president obama asking him to let bush tax expire, it's called the patriotic millionaires for fiscal strength and for the hiking tax on anyone making more than $250,000, they want it to hit anyone making more than $1 million. that's what senator schumer has brought up. the group claims there are only 375,000 americans over that threshold and they are asking them to recognize our country is in part responsible for their prosperity so they can go ahead and do their part. jon: all right. today's power play of the day comes courtesy of former alaska governor sarah palin. she's also, of course, a former vice presidential nominee and fox news contributor. she's hitting the road on her latest book tour, keeping a high profile on reality tv as well. in recent interviews, she says she is open to the possibility of a white house

run in 2012. so how close might sarah palin be to throwing her hat into the ring? chris stierwalt is fox news digital politics editor. i guess that is a guessing name that is keeping people occupied really across the country right now, huh chris? >> well, i tell you what, jon, the former governor may have a lot of disdain for what she calls washington tights and inside the beltway kind of thinking but what she's been up to lately has everybody inside the beltway increasingly thinking she may actually do this thing and she may really run for president. >> quinnipiac university took a poll and stacked the former alaska governor up against the sitting president and at least at the moment she doesn't do so well in that poll, president obama comes out 48 percent to 40 percent over sarah palin. >> well, she is much like about him. it's interesting. they're both polarizing figures and both draw their support exclusive, almost exclusive, from their respective parties, so what you see going on from

governor palin right now seems to be pretty clearly a reaching out to the middle in an effort to try to woo independents who are disfavorrably disposed towards her to her side and you see things like an interview with times magazine, the reality show, sarah palin's alaska, which is doing very well in the ratings, these are efforts to try to demonstrate a more acceptable sarah palin, sarah palin that independent and moderate voters can reach out to. jon: but didn't karl rove say he felt that she was overexposing herself in doing the tv show and all of these appearances? >> well, one of the things that really comes through with governor palin, again and again, is she likes doing the opposite of what people like karl rove have to say, is that when it comes to the perceived conventional wisdom of how you run a political campaign and run for president, she is fixed on doing the opposite, and that's why it's so hard for everybody

in washington to figure out what she's all about, will she or won't she. it's become this parlor game where people are obsessed -- obsessed with every work she makes. wen they are daughter's performances on "dancing with the stars" is a matter of political intrigue. right now the situation for sarah palin is she can be happy that she has everybody guessing. jon: she certainly has great name recognition and that's half the battle if you want to win the presidency, right? >> that's right, and if what she's trying to do now is test the waters with independent and moderate voters and say can i make a new approach to you that's going to be a less polarizing one, then she might be credible. look, power play odds for nomination, as we look at all the potential candidates, power play has sarah palin with mitt romney 5-1, she's got to be considered a frontrunner if she gets in this race. jon: chris stierwalt, digital politics.com editor, thank you. >> you bet. jon: happening now, breaking development necessary a horrible accident at the

staples stadium in los angeles. harris has that story, she's at the breaking news desk. >> reporter: they were hoping this little toddler who had fallen from the luxury suites right after the lakers golden warriors game would make it. witnesses say when paramedic s picked him up, he was moving around. we've learned the boy has just died and we're learning more about that fall. police in los angeles are saying he's believed to be two or three years old, they don't have a name to be released yet, he was taken to the los angeles county usc medical center and again, he's been pronounced dead. the luxury suites sit about 50 feet above where he landed last night. in what they call the lower bowl. that holds about two-thirds of all the seats in the arena. this happened just after midnight, lakers had just beat been the golden warriors, a lot of may lay in that area as this toddler fell. a tragic story and he didn't make it. jon: so sad. harris, thank you. this is not what you want to hear on one of the busiest travel weeks of the

year, three emergency landings in less than 48 hours, all from one airline. are these events connected? we'll take a look at what happened with a former air safety director. what are you working on jenna? jenna: we're definitely going to be talking about that job. i know you have insight on it being that you're a pilot as well. we're over at the board looking at t. some of the top trending stories on foxnews.com. always telling you to check it out because there are great stories on there. we have a couple about the president and martha maccallum's story about david axelrod, and the apple ipad, a new one may be coming next year. jump on foxnews.com and check out the top stories. we'll be right back.

jon: call it a trifecta of trouble for delta airline flights, three separate emergency landings in just 48 hours. saturday afternoon, a delta boeing 757, crossing the atlantic with more than 160 people on board had to make an emergency landing in ireland because of gin trouble. then yesterday a delta 767, wide body, heading on its way to moscow was force to return to jfk in new york after losing thrust from its left jen after takeoff. -- gen after takeoff. also another plane mad an emergency landing in atlanta, the tail scraping the ground when the aircraft touched down.

let's talk about it with peter gold of the transportation safety board. three airplanes, three airlines, the same 48 hours. is this a statistical anomaly or are there other stphrobs. >> we don't know. these were different aircraft types, different engines, but what it does raise a question on is whether the delta-northwest merger, particularly their maintenance operations, whether that's been as smooth as possible, and i'm sure the faa and the airline are going to be looking to see. it's a very difficult thing to merge operations. airlines maintain their planes differently, so this could be a red flag. you don't know yet. jon: and now you've got the largest airline flying in terms of number of planes in the sky, right? >> exactly right. and you've got to -- you know, you've got to make sure that you're doing things properly, and that your systems are in place to catch any oversight. so this is -- it's a little

concerning, but we'll see what each of the investigations point out. jon: where is the faa in all of this, aren't they supposed to be monitoring the maintenance procedures? >> they are indeed, and they are looking at this very carefully. you know, the issue is was there any connecting events. and right now, it doesn't appear to be, but they're going to look closely at it. jon: it all comes on the heels of that really frightening event involving that a380, that airbus, that gigantic airbus, the double decker plane that quantas airlines was flying and its gin basically blew nup mid air, turns out there were all kinds of failures in the cockpit as a result, lines what got cut, wires that got cut. those pilots did an amazing job of getting that plane back on the ground. here's some of the video as that thing landed. >> yeah, you are absolutely right. i mean, the more we learn about that event, the more potentially catastrophic it was.

i mean, these pilots did an extraordinary job, and the failure of that engine really is quite troubling because it's a new engine, it was recently certified. the question is did it really meet the certification requirements that are designed to prevent this kind of failure. jon: i guess to wrap it up, what do you say to people who are holding tickets right now on delta airlines? >> i think you're okay, i think the faa and delta are deeply concerned about this, they're going to be looking at t. but i think you can travel can confidence -- with confidence. jon: peter gold with the federal transportation safety board, thank you. jenna: "happening now", a new controversy over airport screenings that some people say really go too far, including our next guest. take a listen: >> i did not take the name of the person at the time because it was just so horrific of an experience. but it just blew my mind. i couldn't understand -- i

couldn't believe that somebody had done that to me

jenna: we have certainly talked a lot about the so-called enhanced screening at the nation's airports but our next story may surprise you, not only considering what happened but who it happened to. cathy bossey is a career flight attend and breast cancer surveyor and is sharing her story with us. this is back in august, before the so-called enhanced patdown procedures were put in place. you made it through the scanner, and then were taken to a private room to have a further patdown. what exactly happened? tell us about it. >> well, after i had gone through the screener, which i really didn't want to go

through, but i did, because i'm a good employee and did it, i'm worried about the radiation -- extra roidiation -- extra radiation that i receive from those, the agent told me that i didn't do it correctly, that i didn't listen to her, and when she took me into the room and then patted me down, when she came to the breast that had the prosthesis, she asked me what it was and i told her what it was and she said that i needed -- she needed to see it, and so then i took it out of my shirt and showed her, and then it was fine. but i just felt ashamed and embarrassed at having to do that. flight attendants are the very first victims of the terror attacks, and they were the last people on flight 93 that actually fought against the terrorists, and i don't believe that flight attendants should be scrutinized that way. jenna: so you had a prosthetic breast because you had breast cancer

surgery, three years ago, i believe, is that the time frame? >> yes, ma'am. jenna: have you ever been checked like this before or have been checked like that since? >> no, i have not. jenna: so how typical do you think these searches are? >> i don't know. i think because we may be flight crew members, we don't get that kind of a search, but i have seen since they've taken this new policy, people have been groped, i've seen things that i don't feel like is appropriate to be touching somebody's body that way. jenna: let's talk a little more about that because you've been a flight attendant for more than 30 years, so you certainly have seen different security procedures. a lot of people disagree with this, but a lot of people also think we need to have more security in our airports, so where do you stand on that about how we make everybody safe? >> well, first of all, i do believe, 100 percent, in security, but i also believe

that a terrorist is going to get away with whatever a terrorist is going to get away with. i would like to see more checking of the carry-on luggage. there's so much carry-on luggage nowadays that i don't see how it's possible for these agent toss be able to detect everything in these carry-on bags. cargo, for example, needs to be screened more thoroughly. i think it's with a lot of the peoples' carry-on bags and cargo that doesn't get screened, that we're going to have our most issues with. jenna: it's funny that you mentioned that, because i was talking to a flight attendant on the flight the other day, and she said that is the hardest part with being a flight attendant these days because airlines are charging for bags, everyone is bring sog much on the plane, it's causing a real problem. you know, one of the things that's come out over the weekend is that pilots don't have to go through some of these scanners anymore, they have to go through the metal detector, they do have to go through the line, but flight attendants are not immune from it, the union hasn't

been able to fight that. what do you think that's about? >> you know, i don't know. as a flight crew for an airline, we have been highly scrutinized by the fbi, we've had background check, we've been fingerprinted, we've had credit checks, so i don't understand. like i said, we're the front line against terrorism on the airline. i just don't understand why flight attendants are not exempt as well from the more secure po*utdown and the -- patdown and the new screening system. >> we certainly put our safety and security in your hands when we're on your flights, kathy, so we appreciate you joining us today. kathy bossi, thank you very much. >> thank you. jon: and a fox news alert, from south florida, in miami in particular, miami beach, a s.w.a.t. team is responding to reports of an officer-involved shooting. harris faulkner covering it from the breaking news desk >> reporter: this is a

famous area, ocean drive in south beach, florida and police responding to shots. there was a county police officer who was apparently involved in the shooting and when we first got this report moments ago we thought perhaps he had been injured. we're told no, he's fine, miami beach fire rescue loaded up what police are calling a subject. we don't know if that was a suspect or who that was, into the back of an ambulance. he's now enroute to the hospital. you see the video that's just come into fox news channel right now, that's the ambulance. there was a police officer, we're told, at his side and a police escort from behind and in front of this ambulance. so again, they're calling him, quote unquote, a subject in all of this, don't know what that means, but the officers in all of this are safe and accounted for at this point. this, again, is south beach, happening right now. just want to bring you the latest. jon and jenna. jon: harris, thanks the stay on it for us. new developments for the american hikers still sitting in an iranian prison. a trial date is set now. what does it mean? sarah shour did is -- shourd

is leer live. >> the cia considers changing the plan of attack in pakistan but the government there says no. what this could mean for the prosecution of the war on terror.

jenna: right now aruba prosecutor's office announcing its plans for revealing the forensic analysis results on that jawbone we've been talking so much about. we don't know for sure, some think it may have been belonging to missing teenager natalee holloway, they are saying they are mass e-mail the results tomorrow afternoon and make a statement afterwards, a story we're watching very closely and will bring you up to date as we hear more. a major budget shortfall has several states discussing the possibility of dropping out of medicaid. the government's insurance program for the poor. we'll bring up to date on those stories as we hear more.

jon: in the middle east, there is confusion. eleven days after a 7-hour meeting, israeli prime minister is looking for -- that's benjamin netanyahu, is looking for clarification on a u.s. proposal for reviving the peace talks, one that may include a fleet of k35 stealth fighter and support the united nations in exchange for a 90 day freeze on settlement construction in the territories. leland vitter, how are things going? >> reporter: it's really a mess right now, jon. the prime minister has essentially said to the united states, put up or shut up. we want all of these guarantees in writing before we're willing to put a settlement freeze to a vote. you talked about that meeting with secretary clinton. it went on for seven hours. it was 11 days ago. we still don't know what the deal is that actually came out of this. it's the diplomatic equivalent of stomp and whine, palestinians say

we're not coming back to the negotiating table to talk peace until there is a settlement freeze, and for the prime minister, he's saying look, it's very politically unpopular for me to put a settlement freeze in in israel. his hard line government doesn't really like it, the members that are very hard line don't like it, so he's saying i want all these guarantees in writing. jon: so why is the settlement freeze such a big deal? >> right now, the settlement freeze is the key actually to the peace talks, the palestinians have said we're not coming back to the table unless there is a new settlement freeze. about ten years ago israel put in a settlement freeze on building the west bank, that's where about 300,000 israeli jews live right now, however, that freeze expired in september, the palestinians and israeli cents have been talking for one month and that's when the palestinians walked away

from the table. to give you an idea of how far apart both sides are, israel saying even if we put in a new freeze it's not going to include east jerusalem, the palestinians are saying they won't even consider talking about a freeze unless it does include east jerusalem. jon: leland sr*or, reporting live from jerusalem, thanks. jenna: its a new setback for two american hikers in an iranian prison, iran pushing back the trial date to february 6th. it was the beginning of november. so it's quite a bit of november. they accuse josh fattal, shain bauer and sarah shourd with spying. sarah as you might remember was freed in september but iran says she must go back to face charges and she's here with us now and in an exclusive interview for us, she's also joined by alex fattal, pwrorb of josh fat testimony al, who is being held in iran. it must be really a trying time, considering you're back for the holidays and another holiday, alex,

without your brother. >> and if i had to pick the worst days, the last 16 months, it's hard because there's been so many terrible days. i think probably the sarah coming out without josh and shane and having that empty seat and wanting to be tobe. jenna: when was the last time, sarah, you heard from them? >> we were hope to go get a phone call a couple of weeks ago, and we were waiting by the phone, it didn't happen, so -- >> jenna: any letter? we talked last time that he were able to get and receive letters. >> i send letters, i write nearly every day but i won't know until they're released whether or not they received them. jenna: what about the lawyer, alex? we heard your lawyer in iran was having trouble actually seeing them face to face and knowing what their condition is like. >> he still hasn't had a private meetings with the clients. he saw them when they were indicted and sarah was being released but our lawyers are told things that don't quite come to fruition. what we are calling for more

urgently than ever, a humanitarian release for the holiday season. we hold out hopes that maybe we'll see them for thanksgiving but this is the holiday season in general and we would like to see the same compassion extend to josh and shane as was extend to sarah. jenna: when you were here last time there was talk about meeting with president mahmoud ama indad or maybe senior officials. has that happened? >> i met with president ak ma din jad and it was a very positive meeting. you know, as alex said, we are hoping and praying for a humanitarian release without a trial, and another thanksgiving for the families without shane and kwrorb is just going to be a horrible thing. jenna: i want to talk to you about that thanksgiving, the thanksgiving that you were in prison last year, in just a moment, but what did the iranian president say to you when you asked for your friend and your fiance to be released? >> well, he was very cordial and he congratulated my mother on my release, he congratulated me, and he

said he would intervene and give a recommendation to the judiciary for maximum leniency. jenna: you know alex, is it easier or harder having sarah back with you at home? >> well, it's great to have her back. i mean, she's to me a connection to josh. she feels like a sister i never had, but at the same time, it's a painful reminder, it actually tells me in more and more detail what it means to be confined, what it means to have to walk with a blindfold on your head, what it means to spend holidays and birthdays without your family and loved ones. so it's very bittersweet. jenna: talk to us about what it was like, last thanksgiving, you were in this prison. did you know it was thanksgiving, were you able to talk to each other? how did you spend that holiday? >> we knew it was thanksgiving and josh is particularly good at always knowing the date. >> is that right, alex? >> uh-huh, he has a mind for dates, and i saw them for 30 minutes that day and it was after two months of complete

solitary confinement, so it was one of the -- it was the first week i think that we had time together in the courtyard, 30 minutes, we sat down, we held hands, we just tried to imagine what our families were going through, and we talked to them. you know, that very same day, we talked to the investigators, and i remember my investigator saying sarah, i hope you're home by christmas. that was more than a year ago now, today, and i just can't believe it's still going on. i can't believe any rational reason why this should continue. it's not good for anyone. jen alex, i was reading your family's letter, your appeal, to have both shane and josh released, and correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems like it's even more raw than some of the previous statements that we read. tell us about this holiday and how your family intends to spend it. >> well, right now, it's just going to be me and my parents, and my poor parents, i don't know how they're coping, and people always ask me how is your mom dag, how is your dad

doing and the truth is they're fraying, everybody is having an extraordinarily difficult time with this. this is a campaign that's a grassroots campaign that's being run by three families and sarah and everybody is chiping in and doing what they can. we've got like banners and signs coming in from all over the world, we've got a facebook crew that's growing exponentially but to keep the struggle is live is difficult, we're exhausted. but we're going to keep at it and until they're home. jenna: ci only imagine what that's like. sir, we're going to have to run but tell us where our viewers can go for more information and maybe see some of the bappers coming in. >> go to free the hikers.org. i want to ask everyone, if you could take 15 minutes out of your week this week, leading up to thanksgiving, and go to free the hikers.org, sign a petition, there's a new documentary by jeff hoffman that tells our story brilliantly, it puts you right where we were, 479 days ago, the day that we were arrested, and you know,

look at the international banner week, almost more than 30 countries around the world have unfurled banners in support of shane and josh's innocence, with global support. we need everyone behind us right now. jenna: we appreciate you tag time out of the holiday week, travel to go see us and share your story, and i know a lot of our viewers will be paying attention and thinking of you all over the holidays. i thank you very much. >> appreciate it. jon: hope they can get that resolved. that's for sure jenna. pakistan is resisting u.s. pressure to expand cia drone attacks on the taliban and al-qaeda. but pakistani's government says the government is allowing larger presence in one military hot bed. what does it mean for the conflict across the border in afghanistan? dominic dinatali is streaming live from islamabad. >> it's the case of one small step forward but one very big step backwards for america. the pakistan government is saying no to more drone

strikes on pakistani soil, too many cases of civilian casualties and collateral damage as oppose to any really effect on cracking down on militants this side of the afghanistan border where many launch attacks on u.s. and nato troops back in afghanistan. the americans want to expand the number of drone attacks, increase the number of drone attacks, over a city called quetta in the west of the country, where it's believed that the afghan taliban have secret counsel's in hiding which coordinate many of the strikes against coalition forces, we so in -- we see in afghanistan, the pakistan government is saying no to that, but what they have said, if the united states can put more cia operatives on the ground here to work with the pakistani intelligence service necessary routeing out those militants actually on the ground, not using drones with civilling -- with missiles to target the insurgents and this particular taliban council the americans believe it's hiding in the west of the country.

now, what the pakistanis are most upset about is the consistent and constant invasion and violation of pakistani sovereignty which is causing a lot of civil unrest that could eventually topple the government here. america has got to pay a very balanced game in not destabilizing pakistan. arguably it's the biggest ally in fighting terrorism because so many terrorists use pakistan as a safe haven to launch attacks into afghanistan. so what happens now is america has to play a political game in actually sorting out whether it does stop its drone strikes and deal with the cia on the ground. jon: dominic live from islamabad, thank you. jenna: jon, some areas of the country, can you believe this he -- jon likes this, snow! i don't know is a skier. but white out conditions, blizzards -- >> jon: that's not fun. jenna: according to the calendar, janice dean, we're still in ought up. is that really the case? >> you are correct. where are we looking here,

guys? well, there's snow, and i'm guessing it's coming from the west. i know jon scott is just chomping at the bit. this is spokane, washington. jon: spokane. >> reporter: i knew that, i apologize? spokane, washington. thank you for correcting me, jon scott. and take a look at all these winter weather advisories across the west, guys. incredible amounts of snow, up to 2 feet in some of those ski resorts. i know jon is wishing he was in colorado right now during the show. let's look at the current temperatures. you can see the cooler air behind this front that's moving across the central u.s., ahead of the front, though, no, we're not talking about snow, we could actually be talking about the potential for severe weather today, areas i am concerned with for holiday travel across the northern plains, upper midwest, where we could see blizzard conditions. so we are going to be busy in the fox news weather center. back to you guys. jon, are you going to be skiing? >> jon: i am in a couple of weeks. >> awesome. i'm going to pretend to ski. jon: i got to get the

shoulder ready to go. >> reporter: get picture, we'll put it on the blog. jon: j.d., thank you! is america headed toward of possibility of a government shutdown? to avoid it lawmakers will need to balance the budget or raise the debt ceiling. which do you think is easier? it's turning into a big battle for the new congress. we'll take a look at what we can expect from both parties, and for under 5000 buck, al-qaeda may have just changed the way americans get screened.

jon: it is shaping up to be one of the biggest battles for the new session of congress to, raise the government's federal debt limit. few on capitol hill realistically believe lawmakers could actually balance the nation's budget in the next couple of months, so if that isn't done by april, it could lead to a government shutdown. the co-chairman of president obama's commission on decifit reduction is already predicting what he calls a blood bath. let's talk about it with former pennsylvania

congressman bob walker and elaine kaymark in charge of polices for reinventing government for president bill clinton. you either shut down the government or raise the debt ceiling, right? congressman walker, who is feeling most of the heat as to what happened? >> i think the republicans have a real heavy lift on capitol hill with a lot of the new members who are adamantly opposed to decifit and debt and the question is whether between now and april when this issue comes up whether or not the administration and congress can begin to arrive at compromises that satisfy those people on capitol hill and allow them to go ahead and raise the debt ceiling, because other concessions toward a balanced budget have actually been made. jon: a lot of those elected with tea party support especially is saying don't raise the debt ceiling, you're just feeding the monster. >> that's exactly right. they believe that, and rightfully so, that as long as we continue to raise the debt ceiling, we will continue to borrow our way into the future and what we

we proved back in 1995 is if you get to the point that you shut down the government and you get to the kind of compromise that is are necessary you could actually balance the budget in a fairly short period of time. jon: elaine, don't republicans remember what happened when in the clinton years, and you were in washington then, don't they remember what happened when they shut down the government? >> yeah, shutting down the government is really high stakes poker. the republicans thought that they were doing something that was going to benefit them. in fact, bill clinton pulled a jujitsu move on them and it reinvigorated clinton's presidency and from the time of the state of the union in 1996, on, bill clinton was solely -- solidly ahead in the race for the reelection. so it's really hard to say who this kind of activity could benefit. jon: so there's going to be some horse trading going on, right? i mean, elaine, one can't see us continuing to spend

our way the way we have been. >> no. look, it's clear that a big portion of the american people want us to do something on the decifit and on the debt, and so the question that both of democrats and republicans are going to have to grapple with is where can they each give. democrats don't want to seek spending cuts, presidents -- republicans don't want to see tax cuts, can they meet somewhere in the middle. the bowles-simpson plan is actually a good step for meeting in the middle and we'll see if the politicians can follow them. jon: we are going to have to continue to watch this issue and bring you back another time to talk about some possible answers here, because it's going to get intense. bob walker, elaine, thank you both. >> nice to you -- to be with you. >> thank you. jon: al-qaeda laying out its new plan to sculpt not only the way we fly but our entire economy as well, all for less money than it costs to buy a car. we have the brand new details just ahead.

jon: al-qaeda's branch in yemen is threatening the u.s. with what it calls death by a thousand cuts, the group promises more small scale attacks that a are -- that are cheap and easy to launch and could cost billions of dollars to limit. neil liveston six kp-bg -- of executive action, the point in this online magazine called inspire that comes from al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula, neil, they say they basically spent less than $5500 to launch that pack bomb plot and it's going to cost the u.s. billions of dollars in new security to say nothing of, you know, disrupted passengers that we see that at the airports. do they have a point? >> of course they have a point. it's been -- they spent # years trying to get something going in this

country but they were trying to get another home run like 9/11 and they figured out if they can just do lots of small attacks and they can jerk our chain on a regular basis, that it's going to not only -- not only are we going to spend millions for security but it's going to disrupt say the cargo freight system, it's going to disrupt other parts of the u.s. society, and they said ultimately the real target is our economy. jon: but i mean, isn't it going to -- well, for instance, yemen, you're not shipping air cargo out of yemen anymore. isn't that a bigger problem for yemen than it is for a country like the u.s.? >> well, it is a problem for yemen, and other countries that we may have to isolate and freeze out of the international transportation system. but we really have to go in and find these guys, because they'll find other places to put cargo on to planes and they're thinking of other things. remember a month ago or so they had another issue that said someone should just go

out and get a gun and start shooting up restaurants in washington during the noon hour, or go rent a pickup truck and drive into a crowd of people. again, those are the kinds of small attacks that would spread absolute hysteria throughout the united states. jon: so you say we should go after these guys, and certainly we're trying to find somebody like an anwar al-awlaki, but isn't it a little bit like chasing cockroaches, you turn on the light and they all scatter? >> well, i think that's one of the great myths of terrorism, that you destroy one terrorist, another -- and -- and others step town take his place. what we have found is when we got -- we have gotten about 80 percent of the top leadership of al-qaeda in pakistan, and afghanistan. and the people that have filled the voids where we've killed or captured major terrorists are not as good as the people that were there previously. and i think that's what we ought to be doing right now is isolate those countries

and go after the individual terrorists. >> that sounds good. neil livingston, thank you for your expertise. >> thank you. jenna: staying with international news, not a big surprise, very troubling, that's what u.s. officials are saying about north korea's nuclear revelation. but is that the way we really should be feeling about it? we're going to talk more about that just ahead. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp...

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jon: a fox news alert, it is a case that transfixed america for more than a year and cost a congressman his seat. now breaking news in is chandra lee i have case. harris faulkner is at the breaking news desk with more. >> reporter: yeah. the jury had been out for four days and now we're expecting -- this just happened like two minutes ago, jon -- now we're expecting to hear a verdict on an illegal here who is accused of killing chandra levy, charged

with her murder nearly a decade ago, as you said, and we should just be moments away from hearing the verdict against him. first-degree murder during a kidnapping or robbery, but this is after four day of deliberations. we knew they had gone back into the courtroom this morning, so we were expecting perhaps some word. it's come pretty quickly already. we'll stay on this and let everybody know. jon: so the verdict is in, we just don't know what it is yet. >> reporter: exactly. jon: all right, harris faulkner, get back to us. thanks. and this fox news alert, germany's seat of government under fear of attack. hello, i'm jon scott. it is straight up noon on the east coast. jenna: a lot of breaking news to watch, hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. all new on "happening now," terror threats by al-qaeda forcing germany to ban one of its most popular tourist destinations. jon: the parliament building in berlin off limits for anyone who doesn't have prior approved bookings until, quote, further

notice. greg burke is streaming live from rome with more on this. greg? >> reporter: hi, jon. that's right. all attention on germany in terms of terrorism these days. now, german authorities are trying to take sort of the middle of the road saying to their residents there, people visiting even be alert but be calm. that, of course, is not an easy combination, especially because they are taking this threat very seriously. german police taking no chances by closing down the reichstag, that is the parliament building, a super modern, beautiful dome-shaped building some three million visitor a year and closed down to visitor as of today. not clear when it will reopen. so they are taking these threats very seriously. it was just last wednesday when germany first went on alert. apparently, police got a series of phone calls from somebody they believe was connected to al-qaeda warning about a threat to the country. they've taken it seriously. first it was pretty generic, now it has gotten much more specific talking about the reichstag,

talking, apparently, also about a mumbai-style attack there. now, finally, guys, the german magazine did have this report over the weekend, and it was pretty clear talking about the reichstag. now, the interior minister has said today he's complained about irresponsible speculation on the part of the press. however, by closing down the reichstag, it's clear they're not trying to be irresponsible, they are just trying to be safe. jon? jon: greg burke reporting life for us. if anything happens, let us know. thanks. jenna: also another big international story, new reaction today to the report that north korea has a brand new reactor, potentially speeding up the rogue nation's ability to make nuclear weapons. now, u.s. special envoy stephen bosworth says the news is disappointing, but it's not a crisis. jennifer griffin live at the pentagon, what does he mean by that? this. >> reporter: well, the administration is considering whether to send tactical nuclear weapons to south korea, that's something they haven't done in

19 years, so that gives you an indication of how seriously they're taking this. we now have some new satellite images from geoeye, they show the facility that zig freed he canner, the american scientist who used to lead los alamos, saw. >> the assumption certainly is is ha they continue to head -- that they continue to head in the direction of additional nuclear weapons, and they also are known to proliferate this technology. >> reporter: the obama and bush administrations have long denied that north korea has had a uranium enrichment capability. listen to the interview secretary of state hillary hilly clinton did in 2009. >> i don't have any doubt they would try whatever they possibly could. have they? i don't know that and nobody else does either. >> reporter: but there is

increasing evidence that christopher hill who was the long-time envoy to korea did have evidence that they were pursuing uranium enrichment there. he had presented on capitol hill, in fact, some testimony showing some aluminum tubes that were bought in germany there typically used for uranium enrichment, but hill has long been a denier saying that north korea did not have a uranium enrichment program, so this really poses a big question for the administration, how are they going to move forward now that it's obvious that north korea has this second track for nuclear weapons? this. jenna: a still-developing story, jennifer griffin, thank you. jon: new stage in efforts to contain north korea. for more on the political fallout here, bret baier, the anchor of "special report." when the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff says as he did over the weekend, bret, that north korea is a very dangerous country, it tells you that the

administration is doing a lot behind the scenes to try to fix the problem here. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: yeah. i think this is a big, big deal, and despite the fact that the nuclear envoy to north korea, stephen bosworth the u.s. nuclear envoy, says it's not a crisis and it's disappointing, there is a lot of scrambling behind the scenes to deal with this because they have undervalued, underestimated the success that the north koreans have had on the uranium enrichment. we've known for a long time that their plutonium program was capable of possibly a dozen nuclear warheads. we don't know exactly how many they have, but u.s. intelligence estimates that they have more than one already, and the uranium enrichment that is described by this scientist who went over there, heckler, is pretty significant. and if they have 2,000 centrifuges spinning as admiral

mullen mentioned, they are a prolive ray to have. and getting the stuff out and about to ore places like -- other places like iran or elsewhere is a real, real concern to this administration. jon: relations with china are always a bit prickly, but the feeling is, as i understand it, that china's going to have to take the lead in doing something about the north korean threat. >> reporter: yeah. and this has been the problem from day one with these six-party talks. if you don't have china fully engaged, fully onboard, they're the ones with all of the muscle, all of the ability to put north korea back at the table and to get north korea to step down off of any program that they have because of the trade and, essentially, food, staples, everything from china. if china is not engaged in this particular effort, my hope of getting north korea to deal in any way, shape or form is pretty much lost. jon: but as i look at the achievements of the obama administration when it comes to foreign policy thus far, i don't

see a lot of attention having been paid to north korea unless there's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that we just don't see. >> reporter: i don't think so, jon. i think you have to look at this and say this is a big question mark for foreign policy for the obama administration. the envoy, bosworth, says that our policy is not a failure, but we still have to coordinate with other countries to make this come together. essentially, they don't have anything to tout with north korea, and can now with this new revelation it becomes another thorn in the side of the obama administration on foreign policy issues that is really going to dominate some time. jon: yeah. that is clearly going to be a thorny issue ahead for years. bret baier, thank you. >> reporter: sure. jenna: some problems in the sky for one specific airline portioned to make three emergency landings over the weekend. what federal safety experts are saying about this. also joy and then agony.

one country celebrating as 29 miners are rescued from a flash flood while dozens of miners in another country remain trapped underground as rescuers do everything possible. the world waits for news of their fate. >> [inaudible] it's that time of year. time for campbell's green bean casserole. you'll find the recipe at campbellskitchen.com. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™

john: yea, well, there you go. beth: yea, so what else is new? john: well, i just changed my medicare plan. beth: open enrollment? john: yup. i compared plans and found better coverage for me. beth: of course you noticed the new benefits we get under the new healthcare law. john: what? beth: well, like 50 percent off brand name prescription drugs for people who are in the donut hole. john: really? i didn't know that. beth: you have to keep up. john: come on. i'll keep up.

anncr: it's open enrollment. time to compare and review plans at medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare. jon: right now investigators are looking into a scare in the

skies over new york city. a delta jet liner carrying more than 200 people forced to make an emergency landing at jfk airport last night after one of the jet's engines failed just minutes after taking off. rick leventhal has more about what happened. >> reporter: a lot of people remember the miracle on the hudson when a double bird strike took out both of that plane's engines. fortunately, that didn't happen this time. a plane lost one of its two engines, and it might have been another bird strike. they're still investigating that, but the pilot was able to dump his fuel over the 90 minutes or so and then make a landing at jfk, but imagine taking off for moscow on a fully-loaded 767 and looking out the window and seeing sparks or flames, hearing the left engine is gone and circling the airport, how calm would you be? >> delta 30, we've declared an emergency. >> do you see anything, smoke

coming out of the number one engine? >> yeah. we did see some kind of flash. >> some people saw flashes, some people thought it was a bird, some people thought it was fire. we weren't quite sure what was going on, and then probably two minutes later the pilot announced that we had an engine failure. >> reporter: so those passengers were put on another delta flight, jon, and were able to go on to russia a couple hours later. jon: but it wasn't the only delta jet that had problem. >> reporter: another boeing 767 this time out of atlanta headed to los angeles also developed problems after takeoff. it had to turn around and head back to the airport because of this reported engine problem, and then the plane scraped its tail during landing. again, all the passengers were fine. and then there was actually a third delta flight, that was on saturday. a paris-bound 757 headed from philadelphia the to paris had another engine issue with more than 160 people onboard. it wound up landing in shannon,

ireland, because of difficulties with one of its engines, jon, and all those passengers were able to get off safely as the a? this. >> reporter: first of all, there was no initial evidence that the first incident was a bird strike, no passengers suffered any injuries, and also today want to stress that their in-flight engine problems are no higher this year than last year and well within the allowable amounts. also, the engine from england,s already being flown back to the states to be investigated. jon: i suppose you're going to have, statistically, more problems but pretty scary if you're one on of those flights. >> reporter: nobody wants to be on a plane that loses an engine. jon: that's for sure. rick leventhal, thanks. >> reporter: sure. jon: jenna? jenna: rescuers are saying 29 miners trapped by a blast in new zealand friday may not have survived. >> we still remain optimistic,

but we are planning for all outcomes, and this also part of this process we're planning for the possible loss of life as a result of what's occurred underground. jenna: well, the chilean miner story gave a lot of us hope about similar stories like this one. crews are drilling a hole into the shaft to test the air quality. toxic gases have prevented rescuers from entering the mine, and there's been no contact with the missing men. a build-up of methane gas is the suspected cause, but they're still looking into it. jon: to china where some trapped miners are going home. they were pulled out alive after a flood trapped them underground for about 24 hours. they found a dry space underneath to wait out rescue. the miners were brought to the surface with no serious injuries. wow. jenna: well, the story of what we're calling enhanced security

screenings of the nation's airports getting people really fired up and, harris, that's no exception, or there is no exception on our america's asking town hall chat today, is there? >> reporter: yeah. and actually america's asking has some questions for our guest that's coming up, congressman john mica. you've been hearing him talk about the tsa. he created the law that gave us the tsa, and now he's really a big critic of it. so people are asking directly on the live chat the truth -- and i don't think this is his birth name, but he says for mica, what are the pros and cons of using private firms instead of the tsa? bill says, what terrorist has gotten past airport security in the usa since 9/11? the underwear bomber boarded in amsterdam. passengers so far have been the only thing to take down terrorists on planes, want to know what the tsa thinks about that. interesting stuff going on right now. go to foxnews.com, look for jon and jenna's picture at the top center of the page, click on it. it'll take you to the "happening

now" page. go to the clickable portion to get on the live chat and giveves your thoughts. with millions of people traveling this week for the thanksgiving holiday, we want to know what you want to say. america is asking, and sometimes they're telling too. we'd love to include you, stay close. to keep in balance after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage has gingko for memory and concentration plus support for bone and breast health. a great addition to my routine. [ female announcer ] one a day women's.

jenna: we have a fox news alert. we're going to take you could do washington, d.c., hopefully, for some live shots outside the courtroom where the chandra levy case is in its fourth day of jury deliberations. we're hearing a variety of reports that there is a verdict, we just don't know what the verdict is. it's nearly ten years since the murder of this washington, d.c. intern. certain hi been a case -- certainly been a case full of a lot of twists and turns. as soon as we hear the verdict,

we will bring that to you. jon: well, you've heard the outrage all across the country over those intrusive airport screenings and patdowns, but the white house is standing behind the new tsa security measures. as the holiday travel season gets underway, members of the obama administration say they are sensitive to criticism that the measures go too far, but for now they insist the measures are justified by the risk to air travel. wendall goler live at the white house for more. >> reporter: jon, the president says he hasn't personally experience the patdown, no security for him on air force one. he is relying on the advice of transportation security administrator john pistole that the patdowns are both necessary and don't cross the line. pistole has undergone the patdown. he says they're thorough, and i can tell you as someone with a metal hip implant, i can personally tell you they are that. secretary of state hillary clinton says she would avoid the patdown if she could, but the

president says pistole has assured him there is no other way to catch people like the would-be christmas day bomber who had explosives scene into his -- sewn into his underwear. mr. obama said he has told his advisers, don't get complacent. >> what i've said to the tsa is that you have to constantly define and measure whether what we're doing is the only way to assure the american people's safety, and you also have o think through are there ways of doing it that are less intrusive. >> reporter: pistole says the tsa is doing that, but he says in the short term nothing's going to change. he says there's always going to be a trade-off between security and privacy. jon? jon: wendall goler outside the white house for us. thanks, wendall. jenna: for more, we're joined by florida congressman john mica, a critic on the tsa, but also we mentioned, congressman, part of

the group that created the tsa, so it gives you interesting insight on this story today. now, there's two sides. some think we don't have enough security measures, others think we have too much at this point. we're the united states of america. why can't we get this right? [laughter] >> well, unfortunately, since we created tsa we've let it go sort of amiss, and it now has 67,000 employees, it has incredible resources, 3,590 administrative personnel making 105,000 dollars on average in washington d.c. what we need to do is put the resources, the technology and, again, all the best security measures in place in a proper fashion that does the job, and we're not doing that. jenna: our viewers have a lot of questions about this, and susie

wrote us and wanted to know if your opinion s the tsa salvageable? should we keep parts of it, or now that you're looking back at the decision to create this agency, maybe we should just do away with it? >> well i think you probably need a transportation security administration, but it could be a lot smaller. jenna: how small specifically? i'm sorry, congressman, but let's talk specifics. >> i think it could easily be cut in half. that's what i'm told by the experts. but they're now a big personnel agency. they're trying to manage tens of thousands of people. when they implement things like the patdown and this new technology, it's been a disaster. everybody's complaining about it. and they never consulted congress, it wasn't properly done. but i think we can revisit the model and then focus on bad guys and actually be doing more security rather than sort of mundane personnel matters.

jenna: when you say focus on the bad guys, do you think we need to go more towards profiling? >> well, we have behavior observation officers which i helped get in place, but there again i think they flubbed the dub on that one. they didn't take the israeli model. you don't have the person that examines the documents looking for behavior issues. this is done with instead of, again, up close it's done with a standoff. i think those people, also, and i've thought about this, they should be able to make a determination whether you go further with, say, a child, with an individual who has some type of prosthetic device and it can be verified without the intrusiveness. again, the agency's out of control. it's huge, it has huge resources, we're spending a huge amount of money, and the results for me are not satisfactory.

jenna: final question about those results. to your knowledge with these new enhanced procedures, have we stopped any attacks? >> well, not to my knowledge, and even before this most of the attacks have started in some distant lands. again, i've got 3,500 people sitting in administrative offices. if i deployed some of them and some of that equipment to the departure points where richard reid or the pants bomber came from or the liquid bombers all originate, you have to put your resources where the threat is, and that's what people who pose a threat, not the average american. and somebody has to be able to think and differentiate. jenna: congressman mica, thank you so much for taking the time to join us today. >> good to be with you, thank you. jenna: in light of the new airport security procedures, will you change your thanksgiving travel plans? go to foxnews.com to weigh many

and see how others are voting in our you decide question. you might be surprised. a lot of folks feel like it's, you know, we have to be safe. jon: yeah, everybody wants to be safe, but haven't we gone overboard in the name of political correctness? 70-year-old grandmothers with gray hair are not the threat. jenna: very suspicious characters. jon: i've never seen them with underwear explosives. jenna: oh, my goodness. well, neither have i. jon: what ireland's new bailout means for the u.s. economy and your bottom line. president obama making a major announcement about the war in afghanistan, announcing a firm timeline to bring home our troops. does the announcement, though, match the realities on the ground? we'll get into that. also, the midterms may be in the rearview mirror for most of us, but a crucial house seat still undecided in upstate new york. the latest on that ballot battle next. @=h

jon: president obama making a major announcement about the war in afghanistan over the weekend saying he is confident that a u.s. troop withdrawal will begin in july with a full handover of security operations to afghan forces set for 2014. how realistic is that? joining us now, lieutenant colonel tony schafer with the center for advanced defense studies, author of the book "operation dark heart" and a veteran of the afghan conflict. we have been there for nearly ten years, we went in there to build a stable afghanistan that could no longer become a base of operations for attacks against our country. >> right. jon: have we achieved any of that? >> i think one of the notable things here, jon, is is we keep hitting turning points. i was just reviewing my notes about the same thing, a turning point looms for the u.s. in afghanistan for monday, august

31, 2009. so we're seeing a lot of turning points, but not a lot of turning. this is, i think, the fundamental problem. there's a lot of high expectations being built by the administration with the results and actions on the ground not bearing fruit. frankly, one of the things, jon, i think would have helped the current policy is had president obama said 2014 as part of his statement at west point last year, not today. it's almost like a doctor diagnosing cancer and then treating that cancer too late with the proper drugs. so i think what we need to look at here is what is realistically expected of the next two years and, frankly, one other quick point. the very people who are involved in the nato meetings in lisbon are now saying, well, 2014 may not be a hard date either. i was just reading that, so even there's ambiguity now on that policy. jon: part of the strategy that is part and parcel of the surge there is this clear hold and build thing concern. concern -- >> slug. jon: you say the clear and build

is good, we're just not holding. >> my sources are telling me there's problems with the whole build part. the government in the box apparently didn't work as well as they'd hoped it would, and i think there's some long-term issues relating to what will happen after we gain the initiative, after we hold territory? there's going to be a review due out this december, an afghan review, and i'm sure they're going to talk about the fact there have been gains at the local level. i have no doubt about that, that we've gained strength in the areas we deploy the troops. the problem is, jon, and we've talked about this numerous times, is that what happens when we begin the transfer process? will there be an afghan army and police adequately trained and able to sustain itself and sustain the central government? arguably, it's looking pretty dim at this point unless some dramatic game-changing things happen. jon: and for those viewers who aren't familiar with the terminology, government in a box

suggests when our troops would clear out an area, the afghans were supposed to come in with people who were ready to replace the taliban -- >> right. jon: you say that's not working. >> part of the problem is and where i think is a good example in iraq. when we had the sunni awakening. one of the things that happened is the local people once we cleared, the local people rose up and started doing their own security and golfer nance. governance. that awakening is what really helped us win that war. we've got to find the same thing here if there's going to be long-term success. right now all we're doing is referrefereing between the hatfields and mccoys. these folks have been fighting for a thousand years, long before the muslim faith showed up to be the overlay of this whole thing. so it's a very complex situation which i'm not sure we're on the right path on at this point. jon: lieutenant colonel tony schafer, thanks for the information. >> thank you, jon. jenna: you think the midterms are over? jon: i thought so.

jenna: think again. new york state still holding a battle nearly three weeks later. both democrats and republicans fighting over the votes and not giving in. eric shawn has more on this. so, eric, two close races, how close are they exactly? >> reporter: yeah, jenna. the closest race in the country, that race could be decided by people who don't even live there. full time. the first congressional district, eastern long island that stretches from monotalk point through east hampton, south ampton and some of the el el -- wealthy second home locations. the two candidates just 14 votes apart. democratic incumbent congressman tim bishop is is ahead by that hair over republican challenger. officials at the suffolk county board of elections are now counting all 10,000 absentee ballots. so far they've finished counting about half of those ballots. both campaigns, though, are

challenging the absentee ballots or hundreds of voters in this a race that will be decided by who gets more votes from those absentees. >> just want to make sure people filled out the application properly, signatures match, people live where they say they live. >> you just want to make sure that vote was cast by the person who it was supposed to be. so if signature is a little off, i think we all have off days, but if a signature is clearly different, then you want to raise an objection. >> reporter: well, another race in be upstate new york as anne marie burkle ahead of congressman dan behalf my by 567 votes. that's a lot more votes than, like, 14 or 15 votes that are separating the two candidates in long island. -and-a-half that they could pick straws, that race on long island, when do they expect to finish it? >> reporter: well, they hope

. jon: senate democrats running to keep their jobs in 2012 are now

worried they could be the next to go. shannon bream live in washington with a look at that story. just the sheer numbers here seem to be working against them. >> reporter: they do, jon. democrats have doubled the number of incumbents up for re-election in 2012. that's a total of the 23 of the 33 seats that will be up for grabs. the democrats statistically are going to have a lot more at stake. now, another sign that doesn't bode well for them, the fact that senate majority leader harry reid has yet to find anyone to take the reins of the democratic senatortorial committee, tasked with raising money and winning seats for 2012, and so far it doesn't seem anyone wants the job. jon: how likely are the democrats to break with the establishment? >> it's a fine line, but many democrats do quietly complain they believe president obama's policies hurt them in the midterms. here's political analyst larry

sabato. >> my guess is that some of these democrats from more republican-leaning states are either going to retire, or they're going to try to separate themselves from president obama. they're going to put some distance between themselves and the obama agenda. if they can, you know, they're already stuck with two years of it in this most cases. >> reporter: so it could really impact how we see them voting on the hill on some key pieces of legislation over the next couple of years. by the way, gop says we only need to net four seats in those next senate elections, and we're determined to do that so we can take control. jon: campaign 2010 is over a couple of weeks and 2012 has already begun, is that the thingsome. >> reporter: no rest for the weary. jon: all right. thank you very much. jenna? jenna: take a look at what's happening to our money on wall street, the dow's down more than 130 points right now, and a lot of this is happening because of concerns in europe and more debt woes and worries about bailout.

this time especially with ireland. ireland just got approved for a multibillion dollar bailout from the e.u. and ims. connell mcshane from the fox business network. that's an irish name. >> reporter: that's right. that makes me uniquely qualified. jenna: also because you talk today the prime minister many times in ireland about what was going on there, and now look at where they're at. what happened? >> reporter: well, i interviewed him a couple of times. the short back story is back -- at the height of the financial crisis when lehman brothers collapsed here in the united states back in 2008, what the irish did is they guaranteed all the money in their banks, and it was reassuring the markets at the time. hey, we got this, don't worry about it. the problem was they didn't quite have it. the losses at the banks were much worse than most people anticipated, then the irish cut their spending, they raised taxes again, and the prime minister told me about this when i interviewed him, markets were reassured. a few weeks ago the markets really turned against the irish.

interest rates started to go up. they were funded or still are funded into the middle of next year. the problem was people said when they have to borrow money the muddle of next year, they're not going to be able to afford to do it because the interest rates are so high. so now they get this loan, a little lower rate of interest. jenna: we're looking at the markets right now, not a whole lot of reassurance for other investors that are concerned other countries are going to follow greece and ireland now. >> reporter: yeah. talked to sources today who say the party in power is in deep trouble. there might be an election, one of the minority parties has called for an election the second half of january. see if that happens. but you're right. other countries, whether it's portugal, that's part of the concern. greece, ireland, then portugal, and the real big one, though, if it does, spain. if spain runs into these similar problems, it's a much bigger

deal because spain literally is is too big to fail. something would have to be done about that, and it's unclear whether europe can afford it or not. jenna: always the question for us back at home when you look at these countries and can you see them hit another -- well, it's not even a speed bump, it's a big crisis yet again. the question we all ask is, can that happen here? >> reporter: well, it could. obviously, anything could happen here, but we do have advantages. we can borrow money at a much lower rate of interest than these countries have, we have the reserve currency, so we're still seen as a much more stable investment. if you're just somebody going out and investing in a market anywhere, the united states is seen as a much more stable investment that one of these countries would be but, yeah, you're right, over time could that change? of course. jenna: as you mentioned, anything could happen. connell, thank you very much. great to see you. >> reporter: all right. jenna: jon? jon: a fox news alert, we have been waiting for the verdict in the chandra levy murder case. you might remember chandra levy,

the washington, d.c. intern who disappeared and eventually her body was found in a park, rock creek park in suburban washington d.c. we are getting indications from our affiliate, wttg, who is providing us this footage that there is a guilty verdict in that case. ink mar is the illegal immigrant from guatemala who was eventually arrested and charged long after congressman gary condit had been questioned and eventually, basically, drummed out of his congressional seat as a result of her murder. at any rate, we will get you more information and take you back there live. ♪ ♪

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jon: a fox news alert and guilty in the chandra levy case, the verdict against the illegal

immigrant from guatemala who was charged with assaulting her in rock creek park, the former washington, d.c. intern. we got the indications just a short time ago that after four days of deliberation he is guilty of first-degree murder for the murder of chandra levy, the former washington, d.c. intern whose association with former congressman gary condit wound up costing him his seat in congress. we're working on some more information, and harris, harris is is there at the breaking news desk. has some for us, harris? >> >> reporter: yeah. i'll tell you why this is kind of critical, what he was found guilty of, jon. the two counts of first-degree murder, the possible sentence for this is life without parole. jurors could have found him guilty of second-degree murder, that would have given him 20 years and parole possibility there, so he might have done even less. you see the two counts that he was found guilty of on the screen there. again, what's important about

this is that jurors found that there was enough evidence in this case to say that ingmar was guilty of murder intentionally, and that means that he will get at least life without parole which has more to do with time, you know, 40 years plus, that sort of thing, than he would have gotten with second degree. we're still waiting for details to come out of the courtroom. they were in their fourth day, as they entered the courtroom this morning, we knew there might be some announcement. they were entering their fourth day of deliberations, and a short time ago we were told that verdict had been reached, and now we know that illegal immigrant who was here has been found guilty of murdering d.c. intern chandra levy. back to you guys. i'm going to continue to collect more information on this. this is a huge story, obviously, in d.c. but even across the nation because people watched this so closely as it was breaking back in 2001. jon: and perhaps some answers that her parents have sought for

so long. harris faulkner, thanks. we'll check back in a bit. let's also talk with joey advantage jackson, a criminal defense attorney who is on the phone with us from manhattan. are you surprised that prosecutors got a conviction here? >> you know, it's not a surprise, but it certainly took a lot of work for the prosecution to get it. it was not a slam dunk at all, and i think, you know, you speak to the causative evidence, whenever you piece together a case that's largely circumstantial that's based on his activities in the past, remember, there were two other attacks, those victims, of course, very similar type of situation with chandra levy, and there's a very similar pattern. and i think what they did, what they pieced together like a puzzle were the various types of activities that he engaged in, and ultimately, you have to commend the prosecution for making it compelling enough to where a jury actually buys it.

by all means, it wasn't a slam dunk for them, and it was somewhat of of a surprise they were able to get a conviction of first-degree murder. jon: fred tice is also with us, a former federal prosecutor out of pennsylvania. in terms of potential penalties here, what are we looking at? >> well, given the conviction on the first-degree murder charges, jon, fortunately, we're looking at the rest of his natural life without parole. quite frankly, the guy ought to be under the jail than in it, and joey raises a good point. tough job for the prosecution in this case. not a lot of evidence, not a lot of direct evidence, circumstantial evidence although when i was a prosecutor, i always kind of liked circumstantial evidence, defense lawyers like to say, oh, it's only circumstantial, but ultimately the jury, i think, sifted through it. that's why you saw them wait four days. i think they carefully looked at the evidence and came to the conclusion that this guy

murdered chandra levy in the first degree. jon: well, there was some statements he made to fellow inmates -- >> correct. jon: how much weight can you put on those? >> well, i mean, you know, as a case where you don't have any dna or physical evidence, you've got to put a lot of weight on 'em. you know, every defendant has a fifth amendment right not to testify, and this guy chose not to testify, but joey can tell you when you're faced with something like that, the jury wants to know why you made those kind of statements. they can't make that assumption, and they're instructed not to, but, you know, sometimes you have to testify or you need to testify to kind of get by that stuff. plus i think the testimony of the other two women was compelling. jon: and i need to correct myself. i referred to him as a guatemalan immigrant. actually he's from salvadore. >> yes. jon: go ahead, joey. >> you know what's interesting, because as much as we talk to

the jury, you voir dire them on the defendant not testifying and not holding it against them and everything else, jurors are always left wondering specific chi when there's evidence that doesn't make sense why the defendant is not explaining away that evidence on his own behalf. they're always left wondering, and sometimes it's a catch 22, but sometimes you have to take the risk and put the defendant on the stand. jenna: we have, by the way, judge napolitano to talk about this case as we continue to hear the verdict. these two guilty verdicts for first-degree murder and, judge, you know, one of the reasons why we all know so much about this case really has nothing to do with the sentence right now was all of the national spectacle about this extramarital affair between the washington intern, chandra levy -- >> right. jenna: and congressman -- i'm sorry, congressman gary condit. >> took 9/11 to get it off the front pages. jenna: just as one who's looking at this -- someone who's looking at this case nearly ten years

later, was that just a complete side story altogether? >> you know, i don't know that they needed to put congressman condit on the witness stand. his political career was ruined, i don't know about his personal or professional life after he left congress. but he did state unequivocally, and no one challenged him in the courtroom, i had nothing to do with the death of her. putting him on the witness stand just brought back all these memories and all this scandal that we were fixated on in the spring and summer of 2001. but it didn't move the ball forward. she, unfortunately, was murdered by this guy for reasons, apparently, having nothing whatsoever to do with her relationship with the congressman. jenna: do you think it affected the jury in any way, though, just the overall talk, so much talk about this case? >> you know, having tried so many of these cases, you learn that you can never really get into the head of a jury except to say most juries do the right thing on the basis of the evidence that is before them. and the evidence of his guilt

was overwhelming, and the evidence pointing to congressman condit didn't exist. jon: well and, apparently, this jury was presented with a lot of evidence that her death fit a pattern of attacks in which he was implicated or convicted, attacks on other women who were jogging alone in that park. >> the courts in the district of columbia follow the federal rules, and the federal rules that govern federal courts permit you, jon, to introduce evidence of pattern behavior in order to show that the defendant's behavior in this case fits a pattern of what he did or is likely to have done in other cases. so it's an acceptable way to present evidence in a federal court against a criminal defendant. jenna: judge, we're going to get more information about what happened inside the courtroom. just want to bring in claudia cowan who's with us from california. obviously, congressman condit from a region of california, claudia, and you were covering this case very closely when it broke. the family, the local family there and congressman cop kit, any -- condit, any sort of

reaction or anything you feel you can add to this story based on some of the news we're hearing today? >> reporter: well, jenna, all i can think of is bob and sue levy, chandra's parents, who have been key stated back in the summer of 2001, and we were all covering this story very closely, made many trips to the levy home as well as to the condit home farther south of modesto. it was a very sad time there in modesto which, at the time, was also known as condit country. gary condit a longtime congressman, served from the 1989 to 2003, and it was called condit country because he was so popular and had such a reservoir of goodwill that did seem to evaporate during this time because, in the view of many, of how he handled this situation. he is reportedly now writing a book about this particular phase of his life. he did run for re-election, jenna, but was eventually unseated by his former protege,

dennis cardoza, who continues to serve in that seat in congress right now. but, hopefully, we'll be hearing from bob and sue levy, we know there was some dispute about whether susan levy was going to be allowed to be able to sit in the gallery there to watch the court proceedings because, i believe, she did testify as well. eventually, she was allowed to participate and to watch this conviction here today. back to you. jon: well and, judge, again, my thought, you know, again, is with her parents. chandra levy's parents, i thought, bore up extremely well given the intense attention and the, and just the nasty nature of some of the questioning. >> jon, we worked on this together in the summer of 2001. her father became a national figure for the professional, almost stoic manner in which he addressed this mystery that all of us were struggling with. that's it's over. jon: yeah. jenna: we say it's over, but the question always comes up, the appeal process.

do you see anything like that in the future? >> >> well, he will probably be entitled to a public defender who will file an appeal, and it will probably go nowhere. this is not a death penalty case -- jenna: and why is that anywaysome. >> the district of columbia doesn't have a -- jenna: that's it. >> this it's a just outcome. jenna: then to the parents, can they say this is it, this is the sentence? >> yes. jenna: a sigh of relief. it's hard to gauge with some of these stories when you actually can do that. >> the judge has no discretion as to what to do with respect to sentencing. the sentencing here will just be a formality. you should the law this defendant must be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of a parole which, because it's the district of columbia, will be in a federal institution which is a severe life in prison. jon: fred turks ice still on the phone with us. the defense argued throughout this case that he was,

essentially, the scapegoat for a botched investigation, that the investigators had focused so much on congressman condit that he turned out not to be the perpetrator, and they went out looking for anybody they could find. do you see a possible appeal here? >> no. not on that issue, jon, not at all. i think, you know, quite frankly, that was the defense but, first of all, they didn't present any evidence of that. they cross-examined the government's witnesses and, yeah, there were some issues about the way the evidence was collected but, ultimately, i don't think it really made a difference. you know, and they tried to make a big issue >> as the prosecutor, you have to make a decision: do i want to lend credence to that, give credibility by dressing it, or do i ignore it?

that's a judgment call, and in this case they made the decision to put the former representative on the stand, he got on and denied it, end of it. nothing for the jury to discuss when they get back in the deliberation room. jon: judge? >> he's right. condit didn't want to testify, but it tied a knot in the part of the government's case so nicely. jon: all right. jenna: final thought, though, a young girl lost her life. jon: at least her parents have some answers. >> yes. jon: thanks for joining us. jenna: more coverage on "america live" right now. megyn: thanks, guys. brand new reaction to a planned tsa patdown boycott expected to bring travel for more than 42 million americans this thanksgiving to a screaming halt. welcome to "america live" on a monday, everybody. i'm megyn kelly, and i'm back. department of homeland security secretary janet napolitano just wrapping up a news conference where she answered questions about public outrage.