heat comes out you get mid slides. >> reporter: that's right and a lot of the ash on a popular ski resort we are told as well. jenna: barbie is not involved there is she. >> reporter: not that we know of. we'll check it out. thanks for voting on that. jon: thank you for joining us. jenna: "america live" starts right now. martha: we start with this fox news alert on a blockbuster new report that says that one-third of american workers will lose their health insurance over the next three years. welcome to "america live" this afternoon, everybody i'm martha maccallum in for megyn kelly. this is a really stunning survey that is getting a lot of attention at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. the survey and the data comes from mckenzie and company which is a highly respected survey group. 30% of u.s. companies say when it comes time for obamacare to kick in they will likely not offer health insurance to their employees any more, once those provisions under that healthcare

overall take effect and that's just two short years from now. in fact they say they are more likely to consider alternative to employer-sponsored plans. the survey has got even a huge amount of push back almost immediately from the white house. let's call to john fund who has covered the overal overhaul fore better part of two years. what was your reaction. >> there are other studies that disagree in part witness. this was a study of actual employers. we have to take what they say seriously. what they say is the benefit of dropping coverage and dumping your employees into these exchanges where the employees will have to get government-run healthcare are so great that it makes economic sense for them to drop their coverage. remember, right now employers pay 15, $20,000 a year, and that's a lot of money for healthcare coverage for employees. so what this shows is president obama said when we pass

obamacare you can keep the healthcare coverage that you have now. but not apparently if the survey is right if the employer decides it's in his best interest to drop the coverage. martha: let's show everybody what the white house is saying. it comes from a senior white house official. he says this report is at odds with the congressional budget office, the rand corporation and the urban institute and history. history has shown that reform motivates more businesses to offer insurance. massachusetts uses a similar structure with an exchange, a personal responsibility requirement and and employer responsibility and a number of employers in massachusetts has increased. what do you say to that? they say when you point to the plan that throughout the selection is going to be called the romney-care plan, they say in that case most employers did not dump their employees. >> the subsidy strubgt in your massachusetts is different.

massachusetts also has the highest health insurance costs in the nation. it has increasing waiting times to see a general practitioner. i'm not sure how relevant that direct comparison is. we are talking obamacare not romney care. look, i know that we aren't sure what is going to happen when obamacare kicks in. what i do know there are enormous subsidies that will lead some employers, i talked to one from kentucky just the other day, they are preparing to dump their coverage because they can get rid of the problem. it makes life a lot simpler for them and the employees are going to have to be put into a government program. and remember, a lot of these government programs are going to be very narrowly focused. they won't have a lot of choices and ultimately i thought obamacare is going to be about more choices for consumers. if these employers dump their employees there will be fewer choices. jenna: it also said that 70% of the employees would stay with their insurers if their insurer says to them look your employer is not going to cover them any

more we'll cover offer you this private coverage plan, most people would check that box and say i'm going to stay with the program i'm used to except i'll buy it directly from the insurer. >> i'm not sure the 70% of employees who have said that are exactly sure how much their health insurance would cost them as individuals. remember, as an employer you get a tax-free benefit. you can offer insurance to your employees and you get to not pay any taxes on it. if you're an individual you have to keep that same coverage, you have to pay taxes on it. martha: and it's also interesting that 85% of the employees said they would stay at their job fenn that job provider didn't give them insurance any more, and that i think really says something about the kind of economy we are in. >> no one wants to leave their job right now because they are not sure there is anyone else who would require them. martha: john fund thank you very much. a fascinating study. worth taking a look at. the employers said they were keenly aware of the provisions. these are people who have been looking at this very closely. we are less than 24 hours away now from a key hearing on a

lawsuit that challenges president obama's healthcare law. that case has been brought by 26 states in our country. they say it is unconstitutional to force americans to buy health insurance. the 11th circuit court of appeals in atlanta is going to hear those arguments tomorrow. this is a huge moment in the healthcare battle. it happens tomorrow and we will bring it to you right here on "america live." one attorney general says that the lawsuit is about protecting individual liberty and expects that the case will make it all the way to the supreme court. this would be the last stop before the supreme court. much has been said about what the battle would look like at the supremes. we'll be following that closely. there is brand-new fallout in the anthony weiner this afternoon. he is facing calls for his resignation hours after his own party has requested an ethics investigation into his conduct. as you know, in rare form weiner thaoer fletearfully admitted sed

photos and sexting, to multiple women online. doug mcelway has been looking into this. he joins us live in washington with more. >> reporter: the latest call from weiner resignation comes from the rnc chairman. he says his abgs and deseplgs are unacceptable and thaactionso resign. all it takes for a formal investigation to commence in the ethics committee is a referral from a member. we apparently have that from minority leader nancy pelosi. she said in her statement i am deeply disappointed and saddened about this situation for anthony's-huma, his staff and constituents. i am calling for an ethics committee investigation to determine if any resources were

used or any violation of house rules occurred. what happens in the ethics committee is secret. it will take its time and we won't hear much about what is happening if it does meet. the panel would issue a report. if it recommends punishment the entire house would vote on whether to punish him. one of the potential liabilities for weiner is as nancy pelosi wants to know, were official resources used? here is what weiner said last night in the press conference about that. >> i'm going to try to tell you everything that i can remember was my blackberry is not a government blackberry. my home computer is usually where i did these things. >> usually? >> i don't have a knowledge of every last communication but i don't believe that i used any government resources. >> now there are some key passages in the house ethics committee manual which could come into play here. it reads in quart, quote, anything supported with official funds is an official resource,

including congressional offices. there have been reports by online news bites that quote a woman with whom weiner conversed indicating that he spoke from his office phone. if true that would seem to constitute a misuse of an official resource. but, martha, this is a very murky area. any member who uses a government phone for a personal call would technically be in violation of haas rules. these are the kinds of things that the house ethics committee will have to examine if the investigation proceeds p. martha: thanks, doug. if you watched the congressman's news conference yesterday you might have heard one reporter ask, what were you thinking? remember that moment? weiner said basically it was a bad decision. now there is a debate going on about how i'd spread this whole use of sexting is and internet hook ups. it's a whole new world out there in many ways.

we will speak to victoria wilson a few minutes from now. if you're talking to your friends about how strange this whole phenomena is, send me a tweet at martha maccallum. we are going to talk to her in a few moments from now. now to this. this is fierce questioning going on today in the casey anthony murder trial as the focus now turns to a critical piece of evidence in the case. defense attorneys went after the police this morning talking about a trash bag that they pulled from casey's car, it comes as a growing number of legal experts are questioning, is the prosecution starting to find itself in a bit of trouble on this case, in terms of how they are proceeding here? phil keating is watching all this play out for us, he's live in our miami bureau with more on this. phil. >> reporter: we are at a major transition point as far as the strategy of prosecutors. after two weeks of highly

charged emotional tear-drenching testimony, we are now in the second straight day of highly technical forensic science and evidence. and this jury is going right along with it. they are taking a lot of notes. right at 1:30 this afternoon after the lunch break ends we expect to return to the stand a sheriff's department cadaver dog handler whose dog scented human death in casey anthony's trunk about three years ago. the prosecutors are taking the jury through everything that was found in the trunk. an empty aluminum foil box, an empty pizza box and various other things. cindy anthony said there was a rotting pizza in the trunk that's what made it smell like death, no pizza. a forensic scientist testified as to what he found on the carpet sample from casey

anthony's trunk. >> what was the result of your examination of that island? >> that residues of chloroform were identified on that specimen. >> reporter: the chloroform found on the trunk liner and carpet, actually crucial to the state's case, because the state contends casey anthony wanted to go out partying and live child free so she allegedly uses chloroform to then induce unconsciousness on 2-year-old caylee. that puts her to sleep. then she puts duct tape over her nose and math to suffocate her. put her in the trunk for 11 days until it started to small so bad according to the prosecution that they shaod to dump her in the woods. what we will find out is whether prosecutors will be able to take an air sample canister and pass it around the jury box so they

can smell the smell that was captured in the trunk. jenna: thanmartha: thank you wed a growing number of questions the last few days about how this prosecution is going about handling the case and whether or not they are blowing it, frankly. just ahead we'll talk to one of the anthony family's former defense attorney who is currently consulting with the defense team on this. that's coming up moments from now. in the meantime not long after president obama took office he ordered daily briefings. he said he wanted to be updated daily on the state of the u.s. economy. now those briefings are not happening any more and the question is why have those gone away? >> he felt it was important that each day he receive the most up to date information as it relates to the economy. >> it sort of happens occasionally, doesn't happen all the time. martha: how about that. a new look at how the white house is handling the latest

challenges on jobs and housing and what voters think about his performance. that's coming up. an 8-year-old student is told to write this letter to her north carolina congressman appealing for more school funding. turns out that the congressman is her dad. wait until you see his reaction to that. anthony weiner claims that his wife knew about his twitter escapades. does that make it owe aeu? new questions on this right after th break. ♪ wondering who is cheating who, who is being true, it makes you wonder who is doing right with someone torpbgts and whose car r is parked next door. ♪ like our hearty new england clam chowder. then enjoy a fresh salad with unlimited cheddar bay biscuits, followed by your choice of one of seven entrees, like new shrimp & scallops alfredo, spicy coconut & citrus shrimp, or wood-grilled fresh tilapia. then finish with something sweet,

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martha: brand-new polls on exactly where we stand in the 2012 match up at this point. new numbers from an abc news "washington post" poll show president obama and former governor mitt romney in a dead heat 47-47 if the election were held today. romney as you know formerly

lawn. his election campaign last week. other numbers show americans very concerned about the u.s. economy and how the white house is handling what could be the most important issue in this election. we'll get to the numbers and show you how they are very dramatic actually. that is coming up in a few minutes from now. back to this story now, because it is just so much on everybody's minds over the past couple of days, the twitter escapades are married congressman anthony weiner has touched off a new nation-wide debate. why are we seeing more and more of these online sexting scandals, you think will congressman chris lee taking a picture of himself in amirer and sending it. that ended his time in the capitol. what does all this sta this sayt relationships and where we are. we have the author of the 30 day sex solution, a relationship expert. i've heard so many people say, what is going on? they say, you know, i don't send

pictures of myself to people. most folks that you know don't either. is this something that is pervasive in our country right now. >> i think it's very pervasive. humans have always engaged in various sorts of erotic communication. humans are exa pweugall it takef impulse control and you're out there for everyone to see. martha: with this internet culture you have this little computer, laptop sitting right in front of you, and for somebody who is willing to go that route it's very tempting, and inch dull gent. thindulgent. >> it's like an adolescent thrill of getting away with it. it appeals to the naughty human nature. martha: i thought it was interesting that anthony weiner

said in the press conference, i didn't know any of these women, i didn't have sexual relations with any of these women w. there is that, but it's a violation of a relationship is it not. >> it is cheating. when you violate our partner's trust and it's all about secrets and lies. i say if you feel like sexting. sext your partner. it's the best way to keep your marriage alive and your relationship is by sexting your partner. have an a fair with your own spouse. martha: think about that folks at hope. good idea. so when you think about how this all plays out, what are the telltale signs? now so many people say, you know, this lovely woman works for hillary clinton did she know this was going on? he claims that she was aware of some of it in his past. what are the telltale signs? what do you -- how do you know if maybe your spouse is into this kind of thin. >> first of all we are talking

about politicians. they are very narcissistic. that's who goes into politics. martha: it's happening in other parts of the culture no doubt. >> they are men with high testosterone, and are thrill seekers, they are more likely to engage in this type of activities. it's a personality constellation you have to look at. the telltale signs, if the person feels unsatisfied sexually there is a greater chance that they will act out on the internet or elsewhere. making sure your spouse is sexually satisfied, making sure the passion is there is critical for them not to stray. martha: that's how you proceed convenient it but how do you tell that they are not doing it. >> if somebody is hiding something, if they are secretive, if they are in the gym every day and tanning salon obviously. martha: and taking pictures of

themselves. >> people that are not in sake are less likely to take pictures of themselves. if they are obsessing over how they look. not paying attention to you. martha: there is a big red flag. doctor, thank you very much. good to see you. haven't seen you in a while. thanks for coming in. a new report is out today as we turn to foreign affairs and national security, and it says that iran will have the capacity to build nuclear weapons in just two months. just ahead we're going to show what the options are out there for stopping that nuclear threat. new fallout after a north carolina school has a third day class write letters to lawmakers and protest budget cuts to the stool system. while one congressman is furious, because he says this whole thing hit too close to home. >> anger shot through me. i was trying to hold myself together to know that aniess indicatioanyeducation system woa

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martha: new concerns today about iran's nuclear program. a researcher with the rand corporation, a global policy think tank says aeu ran could be within two months of being able to build a nuclear weapon. this report confirms an earlier assessment by the u.n. watchdog the iaea. they say in order to stop the process ground forces would have to be sent in. air strikes would no longer be sufficient. iran denies that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons saying that their atomic program is intended for energy purposes only. and there are new concerns of violence breaking out in syria in this case it is something we have not seen there in decades. right now residents of one town are scrambling to get out. the syrian government is

promising a brutal military crackdown saying that it is retaliation for the 120 security forces killed there over the weekend. leland vittert is following all of the developments live from our middle east bureau in what is becoming an increasingly tense and dangerous situation. leland. >> reporter: for sure, martha, bashar al-assad and his regime has shown no mercy on the protestors. a number of people are getting ready for the beauty t-l crackdown. nothing invites revenge than the ambush killing of 120 policemen. we are hearing from some of the opposition groups that they are trying to move civilians out of the town where the syrian army is expected to come n. what we are expecting now is not simply the police, but the army has before come in, did not only terrorize a number of protests groups but also kill a number of the civilians. it's very difficult to get reliable information out of syria because foreign journalists are not allowed

inside. the violence has been getting worse not better over the past couple of weeks. in the continuing days it seems it will get worse once again as bashar al-assad says he's holding onto power the opposition groups says they are not leaving the streets. even today we had more funerals. this is having an effect on syria's border with israel where we are right now. there are reports that the syrian regime through their state newspaper is saying they want even more protesters to go to the syrian border with israel to try and perhaps divert the focus from what's happening in their country here onto the jewish state. martha back to you. martha: thank you very much. the white house on defense today after a string of bad economic news. up next why some of the president's economic team is leaving the field as things start to get rough. and this billboard is sparking controversy and major debate over free speech and privacy. the man you see there lashing out at his ex-girlfriend for

having an abortion. is that right? a crime scene investigator grilled on the stand today in casey anthony's murder trial. we'll hear what he said about some crucial evidence. this time it is the chloroform, very significant moment in all of this. >> do you have an opinion as to whether it was a decomposing human body in the trunk of that car at some point? >> i do have an opinion. >> what is that opinion. >> i can find no other plausible explanation other than that to explain all the results we found. [ male announcer ] this is james. the morning after the big move starts with back pain... and a choice. take advilow... and maybe up to 4 in a day. or, choose aleve and 2 pills for a day free of pain. smarmove. ♪ or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

martha: all right, this is quite a story, forget a north carolina lawmaker is an unhappy man today after he saefd political letter from his own eight-year-old child that was written as a school assignment. republican congressman mike stone says the school district at his daughter's third grade class, come on, everybody, get out your pencils and write a letter to our elected officials, protesting the budget cuts. you can see in that letter, where she wrote, "dad,", right? and the teacher says the -- the dad says in this case the teacher crossed the line. trace gallagher joins us from our west coast newsroom. trace, this is a good one! >> reporter: it is, martha. you should know the budget in north carolina has been on the desk of the democratic governor, beverly pur due, she has gone head to head with republican lawmakers over this in recent months 57bd one of those republican lawmakers

is mike stone, so he gets this batch of letters from elementary school students, including, as you said, his third grade daughter, they're protesting the budge cuts. keep in mind, these kids are not studying this in school, right? they're not studies the numbers, the politics, the constraints, so the teacher tells them what to write. she outlines what the letter should say, including the loss of teachers' assistance, the loss of field trips, the loss of science experiments, his daughter ends the letter, you see right there, with the quote, "please put the budget higher, dad". sincerely, his daughter. dad was not happy. listen: >> i don't know that any time we should use our third grade classroom students as lobbyists. as i read through this, anger completely shot through me and i was trying to hold myself together, to know that any education system would use a daughter against a father. >> reporter: but the lead county superintendent, jeff moss, has no problem with

the letter, he calls it a valid writing assignment, he says they weren't sending the letter to father mike stone, they were sending it to representative mike stone and he says and i'm quoting here, if you're not interested in reviewing letters or receiving letters from people in your district, don't run for public office. again, very important to note, these letters were an assignment where the content was predetermined, the teacher told them what to write. not exactly random letters to your congressman. martha: and no doubt everyone in class knows that that little child's father is the representative mike stone, that they're all writing to, and that's what -- that puts the child in an awful position in that classroom, which i think is unfair of that teacher. on a lot of levels. and spelling is needed in that concludes, too! maybe they should focus on that. >> that's what i said! i said let's talk about spelling first, then go on to writing letters! exactly. martha: as parents of third graders, trace, we can understand sometimes those spelling gaps happen.

trace, thank you very much. all right, well, there are brand new questions today concerning president obama's handling of the u.s. economy. just days after a string of bad economic news, the president today said, as he was speaking with angela merkel, he says he is not worried about a double-dip recession for our country, doesn't think it's going to happen. his comments came after word that his top economic adviser has decided to go back to his teaching job, and after we found out that he stopped receiving detail eeconomic briefings, which he had asked to receive, every single day. not happening anymore. he requested those back in 2009. take a listen to what the press secretary said about this, back then, and now: >> the president asked this be added each day to his schedule, as the country is in the midst of an economic crisis and an economic emergency. and he felt that it was important that each day, he receive the most up to date information, as it relates

to the economy. >> when did the president stop doing the daily -- presidential economic daily brief stph-gs. >> i think it happens periodically ? >> i think it happens periodically. >> i'm curious when it stopped being a daily thing. >> i'll have to go check. again, it's sort of -- it happens occasionally, it doesn't happen all the time, and i think that was always the case, but i can check. i don't have any scheduling changes to announce. martha: very awkward press secretary moment there. let's bring in our panelists and talk about this, hr-fpt arz larson, syndicated radio host and rob, nice for you all to be here. this is a tricky one. larz, first of all, the answer should have been we talk about the economy on such -- you know, several times a day given what's going on in the world, right? >> yes, but the problem is the president has taken the

hear no evil approach to the economy. i mean, this is the guy who stands there and tells people who can't afford gasoline go out and buy yourselves a new hybrid van. he's about as disconnected from reality as it comes. i'm sure that to the president when he drives by in his economic limo and runs over the fate of americans who are out there looking for jobs and trying to pay the bills it probably does feel like bumps in the road when he runs over millions of unemployed americans and people who can't make their mortgages. but he's not solving the problem, and there are some clear things he could be doing, martha. martha: you know, it's interesting that austan goolsbee, who was very outspoken on behalf of the president, been with him a long time advising him on the economy at the white house, rob, there's really only one man standing, timothy geithner is the only one left on the economic team. what does this say about how the president thinks this team is doing? >> obviously, things aren't as well as could be hoped, but certainly, there is transition in any presidential staff.

as in the past, emanuel left, so has assistan. what we are facing is something as easy as let's give it some time to work. now, as we hear pundits say things are going wrong, let's hear some answers from the other side. if i hear liming running every downemployed people, let's talk about what the states have actually had to deal with, slash and burn for every state, not allowing funding for those unemployed, not helping the middle class, keeping the tax cuts for the oil companies to make sure that they can continue to drill for oil at a lower rate and continue to charge the gas much higher than we can afford. let's not talk about the democrats waiting for something to happen. come up with some answers on the right side of the aisle, and we'll see what can be done. >> i'll give you some answers, listen. martha: wait, wait, ways, larz, go ahead. >> give it some time? how about more? one more term? is that enough time to get the economy working again? i'll give you answers, mark. let's start drilling for more oil. let's have the president

clear the regulatory hurdles and start drilling. almost all the land out there that has great potential for drilling for oil is on federal land. that's within the president's control. that would spur economic activity. he could act on those trade agreements with south america and central america which he could push the congress to finish acting on those. he could do that. he could tell the regulatory agencies to back off. there's an estimate that $1 -- 1.07 of the u.s. economy is spent on regulation and the president is proposing more regulation, and as he pushes energy prices higher, remember, they will necessarily skyrocket. >> martha: wait a minute. i want to show you a quote from july 17th, 2009, i believe it's found on tape. let's listen to what the president had to say about the prior administration and about his handling of the economy back then in '09. >> now, my administration has a job to do as well. and that job is to get this economy back on its feet.

that's my job. [applause] and it's a job i gladly accept. i love these folks who help get us in this mess and then say it's obama's economy. that's fine. give it to me. martha: give it to me, he said, and since '09, since that statement, we've added 3.7 trillion to our debt, and lost 2.8 million jobs. so rob, i ask you, are you satisfied with the job that the president has done in the last two years? >> well, you could say we've lost whatever number of jobs you want, depending upon whatever study you want to find and i can find my own study that says we've added upwards of 5.5 to 5.6 million jobs. >> baloney. >> depends on the study you look at. let's talk about the regulatory situation, let's talk about what happened with the financial markets and whether we should streamline regulations. let's talk about the oil industry and the regulation

there. the last time we kind of eased up on that, i believe we tkpwhrud dollars -- flooded the gulf. there are regulations to be taken care of, those need to stay in place. i think most americans are ready for that. >> i'll cite a stat he can't refute, bureau of labor statistics in the obama administration says total employment today is 2 million jobs lower than total employment two years ago, when the president took over. that's a stat you can't refute because it came from obama. obama would be fired for doing his job. if this is his job, he deserves to be fired. martha: and the president wants to turn around and needs to turn it around. >> no he doesn't. >> oh yes he does. be american. you're saying the president doesn't want to turn the economy around? >> martha: it's a question of how you do it and whether or not what they're doing is working. maybe we're getting a switch in gears and maybe that's the reason austan goolsbee is not there. >>

we also have some pretty ugly numbers that are just out on americans' confidence in the economy. a live report on that, coming up at the top of the hour. these numbers came from "the washington post" poll and they are stunning today. and high drama is unfolding in the casey anthony murder trial. the latest testimony, and what it could mean for the case. a consultant for casey's defense team will be with us to talk about how it's going in three minutes from now. you don't want to miss that. we'll be right back. >> what do you recognize that odor to be? >> i would recognize it as a human decomposition odor. >> that you smelled many, many times before? >> 20 years' worth.

martha: all right. we've got some new insight into the casey anthony murder trial, a growing number of experts have been asking if the prosecution is

blowing this case by taking too many legal chances. jennifer ber inger is a consultant for the casey anthony defense team. it's very good to have you here. a lot of attention is being given to this trial, a lot of people watching what's going on in there, and one of the biggest things that i think came out today is this discussion of the finding of chloroform in the trunk. now, since the very beginning, there was speculation that she may have chloroformed this child and that that may have led to an accidental death or intentional death. how does that impact the defense? >> i think chloroform out of everything that happened today is the most damaging. however, i think it was dr. richembach who was on the stand was unable to say anything other than it was consistent with chloroform, which frankly is the worst word a scientist can use, because it basically means nothing. it means maybe, maybe not. and he was also unable to tell us whether or not the chloroform could have been masked as -- chlorine could

have been masking as chloroform, soda pop. martha: but he said it was a surprise to see the presence of that in the car, that that was not something you would expect to find in the car. so you know, the gir, according to the reports we're seeing, took a lot of -- it took a lot of attention. they were taking notes to that. so that may be a significant moment that we look back on in this trial at some point. what do you say about the accusation that the prosecution is blowing it. we talked to greta van u.s.ern yesterday, she said they're throwing stuff in there that's completely unnecessary to the case. >> i have to agree with her. i think it's not they're blowing it but fail to go fill the gaping homes they need to address like how did this baby die, why all these things like that, so what they're doing is parading a bunch of scientists on the stand of none of which is in dispute by the defense, and they're kind of destroying their credibility because a lot of these scientists are untested, they're not reliable, so it's maybe coming up on appeal, if we

were to lose, or even with the jury, i think the jury has to question whether or not these science tests are valid. martha: because the basic bottom line in this case is why would -- why did tka*eusy -- kassy went her dead if indeed she did and how did she kill her. we're not leaving that addressed which leaves a door wide open for you guys. >> absolutely. i don't know how you can get beyond a reasonable doubt without answering those questions and so far they haven't touched them. it's almost as if they haven't heard mr. byers' opening. martha: that struck me as very odd, too, because he came out there with this story that came out of thin air, which it turn out this little girl drowned in the pool and father and daughter decided they needed to conspire to cover it up. why has that completely gone by the wayside, why is that not being addressed as a theory? >> frankly, i think they should be addressing it as a theory. i'm shocked they seem to be ignoring. it's not something that was a surprise to me, obviously,

and we were very careful with the press, just to keep a low profile at the time, and -- >> martha: you believe this is an accidental death? >> exactly. and it's something that happened -- i don't think that the story that there's an accidental death that was -- >> martha: and not only are we supposed to believe that the baby was put in the trunk in the car. >> could be, but so far they didn't proved decomp in the car. i think it was saturday, they had somebody testify that it could have been breakage, it might be de comp, it might not, this is a science that's never been used in the criminal courts. martha: what did she do with the body if it wasn't in the trunk? >> what jose was she helped for help from her father and that's all he said so far. we don't have to say much more and unfortunately they haven't given another story and i'm a little surprised they haven't addressed it. martha: it's very interesting to have you here, a lot of people watching this case, thank you very much, good to be with you. >> thank you. martha: when one pennsylvania town took a hard line on businesses that employ illegal immigrants,

it saw huge, angry backlash, big protests, a major protest. up next, how this little town may have won this big fight. a 20-year-old was supposed to start a summer internship, now she is gone. where is she? when we come back.

martha: all right, here's a story for you, an update on that happy story from kansas city, remember this 1a. soldier's surprise proposal to his girl friend with help from the baseball team. eddie proposed to his girlfriend khely last monday , though she thought he was overseas, the whole time i was in the digout, he came out, they had this huge, big, beautiful hug, it was all amazing. they hadn't seen each other

in over a year, then they plan to get married in the fall, but they wanted to move in together first and their parents didn't want that to happen so guess what, they got married! they're married already. they got married last thursday and they're planning to have a bigger party with everybody, family and friends, in the fall, so congratulations. what a cute couple they are. we like that story. there's something to tell you about in pennsylvania over a heated immigration battle, the u.s. supreme court has just given the city of hazelton another chance to resurrect its 2006 ordinance that cracks down on illegal immigrants in their town. trace gallagher has more live from our west coast newsroom. >> reporter: martha, this is very significant, because the case of hazelton, pennsylvania could be the first of many to come. and it's all because the supreme court said that arizona does, in fact, have the right to punish businesses in its state that hires illegal, in essence, look, arizona gives out business licenses, they have the power to retract them.

hazelton has a population of 30,000, that population has grown by 10,000 over the past decade, 33 percent mostly hispanic. the city leaders say those people contradicted to pushing up the cost of government services and the crime rate, they passed two ordinances, one, cracking down on businesses that hire illegals, and two, cracking down on landlords that rent to illegals. they were big time protestors. you can see the picture, a lot of friction in the town. look at one of the signs in the town during the protests, it said, and i'm quoting, "all legals serve". you see that there? the aclu on behalf of hispanic groups won in federal court, they won again in the third district court of appeals. it went to the supreme court and the supreme court has now kicked it back to the third district saying hey, there's now precedent from the ruling from arizona. this is very important, because for contest, we focus so much on arizona over the past year, but look at the numbers here. over the past 15 months, in

this country, there have been 2958 bills and resolutions introduced, 486 of those bills and resolutions have been enacted in just a 15 minute period of time, and the supreme court ruling, as it pertains to arizona, could open the flood gate to a lot more of these types of laws. and ordinances. martha: very interesting. a town taking on the issue on their own and getting backed up for it. trace, thank you very much. >> yeah, okay. martha: here's sort of a big question we've been thinking about. can america recover if we were to be in another depression? the troubling data that shows that it may be harder to recover a second time around. we're going to talk about that. radio talk show host mike gallagher with us live on that. major controversy over a big board in mexico which shows a man with the outline of a baby saying this would have been a picture of my two month old baby if the

mother had not decided to kill our child. very dramatic. is that free speech or does it cross the line? an intense search is underway for this missing 20-year-old in indiana, the latest breaking news on that search, straight ahead.

martha: a fox news alert, ugly new polling numbers on american confidence and the u.s. economy and that's we start a brand new hour of "america live", good to have you with us, i'm martha maccallum in for megyn khely. take a look at these fresh polls from "the washington post", front page today, it says obama hits new lows on the economy, asking americans how they would describe the state of the economy these days, 89 percent said not so good or poor. 89 percent. do you feel that the economy has begun to was the next question -- to recover was the next question, 57 percent say no, 42 percent say yes. for only the second time

since this president's election, "the washington post" poll showing people trusting republicans to do a better job on the u.s. economy. this is not a happy newspaper headline for folks in the white house to wake up to this morning. mike emanuel is live at the white house. the president sounded a bit frustrated earlier mike. >> reporter: martha, he did. i think the number that almost six in ten americans even believe we're inra recovery at this point has to be particularly striking to this white house, where they recognize they will be graded on the economy in next year's election, as important of an issue as any, when it comes to the reelection bid. here is the president earlier today on the economy: >> i'm not concerned about a double-dip recession. i am concerned about the fact that the recovery that we're on is not producing jobs as quickly as i want it to happen. this month, you still saw job growth in the private sector, but it's slowing down. we don't know yet whether this is a one-month episode or a longer trend.

>> reporter: you'd better believe it, this white house, there will be great anxiety on the tpeubs friday of july when these jobs number come out, hoping this may number that came out that only created some 54,000 jobs, or added 54,000 jobs, was only a bump in the road as they phrased it in hoping that the june number will be much more positive. the president says we're on a path to recovery, but it must accelerate, and so that is the message that he is relaying to the american people, but also to his economic team, martha. martha: i think we can all get on board with that. mike, just yesterday, we talked about austan goolsbee and a quote he had over the weekend where he said that he believed the growth had to come from the private sector. a lot of folks saw that as a pretty big departure from the way the economic team has been working in the white house over the past couple of years, now we get the news he's gone. >> reporter: that's right, austan goolsbee has been with president obama since he first ran for senator, they go back to the university of chicago together, he announced that

he is leaving to go back to his teaching position as professor at the university of chicago. for the next school year. but this guy is well known, and an identifiable face with this administration, somebody who's been effective on television explaining the message of this administration, so you have to get somebody with tremendous street cred knit terms of economics but someone who can explain the message to the american people. martha: thank you very much, mike. it's been a pretty slippery slope for president obama's approval ratings on the economy, "washington post" polling from june 2009 shows the president getting about 56 percent of approval on how he is handling the economy. the same poll a year later, down to 50 percent, revealed -- that poll two years later, that poll number is at 40 percent, so that's got to get some attention as they look ahead to 2012, a 16 percent drop in the handling of the u.s. economy in the course of two years, as unemployment hangs above

9 percent. a tough picture, and one that they hope will turn around in the coming year. all right. let's get to this story that is unavoidable, really, over the course of the last few days. congressman annny weiner under seige at this point as calls are growing on the right and the left for the new york democrat to step down. as more intimate pictures and texts and stories from these women are emerging pretty much everywhere in terms of his online relationships. eric shawn, live in our newsroom, watched this whole crazy scene unfold over at the press conference over across the street here yesterday and eric, now there is much more. >> reporter: that was at the sheraton a few blocks from the fox news quarters and as you said, there was much more, tmz reporting today a disgraced congressman anthony weiner sent e-mails to former porn star ginger lee allegedly coaching her to lie about their long time sexual

messaging and there are others, radar online reports 40-year-old blackjack dealer hrao*eusa weiss has 200 sexually explicit messages from weiner including many sexually graphic sexual references. weiss admitted she started contact with him, sending him a facebook message that she fell in love with him because he yelled at republicans, meanwhile, magian broussard says weiner sent these photographs of him bare chested and last night, she spoke with sean hannity: >> i just felt at the time, there's got to be something, there's way more girls out there, this is not just me, there's nothing like oh, this is so special about me. >> in new york there are calls in the newspapers for weiner to quit congress right now, but in his district in brooklyn and queens, opinions are mixed: >> no one i know who i respect does such a thing. >> he lied to the public. if he would have told the truth and said you know what, i did this, admitted

his faults, then maybe he could have gotten reelected but it shows we can't trust him. >> they're making too big a thing of this. it's a sad thing that people in his position make mistakes like that, but don't make it bigger than it is. >> i don't think he should resign. >> reporter: well, the republican candidate who ran against weiner last fall and got 41 percent of the vote, well, he's also calling on weiner to resign. businessman bob turner told me that weiner, quote, has accepted responsibility, after being caught. but does not want to accept the consequences. back to you. martha: very interesting responses from the folks on the street there, eric. thank you very much. weiner had been considered a likely candidate for mayor of new york, when mayor michael bloomberg finally steps down. that led reporters to ask the current mayor what he thinks about anthony weiner's new admission: >> mayor, you know anthony weiner is a pretty smart guy. do you think he can continue to run for this -- >> it's up to the

constituents. look, this is time to get back to the serious business in this country. we have problems with our budget, with immigration, the world around us has a lot of wars going on and revolutions. time to get back and focus on the serious things. martha: and again, that texas woman you heard from in eric's report, the one who revealed her own steamy online relationship with weina, forced his mea culpa yesterday. skwro*eupb sean hannity, eastern time on fox. a showdown is heating up between a close political aleye of president obama and the federal government. massachusetts governor duval patrick is refusing to endorse the secure communities program which we've talked about here quite a bit. it's meant to help identify and deport violent illegal immigrants when they have been charged with a crime. opponents complain that this program snags too many minor offenders, and massachusetts, not the only

state that is looking to opt out of the secure communities program which was started by the obama administration. william la jeunesse is live on this for us in los angeles. hey william. >> reporter: martha, if an illegal immigrant is arrested for even a misdemeanor, drunken, disorderly, driving without a license, should they be deported, the administration is saying yes and it's mandatory, no exception, but some states now, with large immigrant populations and democratic governors, are saying no. that is the mutiny now confronting the president. >> under security communities a suspect's fingerprints are run not just with the fbi, but also, homeland security. which can automatically put a hold on any criminal alien. allowing the feds to pick him up for deportation before they are released from jail. >> if you're in this country illegally committing crimes, you should be held accountable. >> since 2008, police nationwide submitted almost 8 million fingerprints, some 500,000 were immigrants, mostly illegal. feds have taken custody of

some 200,000 to be deported. about 3/4 were criminals from homicide to shoplifting. the rest were arrested for traffic violations or a misdemeanor, but had no prior criminal conviction. it's this group some states don't want the feds to know about. >> it's pretty clear to me it's voluntary and i was told it was voluntary by the head of secure communities. >> san francisco, new york, illinois, now massachusetts want out of the program, claiming minor crimes don't justify deportation. but others say even nonfellons can be dangerous. this man released twice from jail after five misdemeanors, allegedly killed a houston cop while driving drunk, san francisco arrested this illegal after doing drugs but released him and the city filed no charges, later he reportedly murdered a man he mistook as a gang member. >> committing a crime is committing a crime. whether it's a miss kphaoepbor or a felony, it's criminal behavior.

>> reporter: the big unknown is this, what is going to happen when dhs files a hold on illegal in custody and some states say we're not going -- we're going to ignore it, are they going to take them to court or turn the other way for political reasons. back to you. martha: thank you william. our top story last hour concerned a blockbuster new report that says one third of american companies will drop health care coverage for their employees when omabacare kicks in. just ahead, what workers need to know, coming up. plus, a passionate defense of the right to life. but does this antiabortion billboard go too far? we'll debate. from the depths of depression, a new nation was born, america became better and stronger in the wake of world war ii. why it may be the fall of an empire

martha: a new search today in new york for more bodies in a suspected serial killer case on long island. they're now focusing this latest effort on several areas identified in recent aerial photographs taken by the fbi. now, since december, police have found the remains of ten bodies. investigators say that this may be the work of more than one killer. as the world watches our new economic challenges, an essay in a prominent british paper is getting a lot of attention today. it is pointing out that while america emerged from the great depression as an economic powerhouse, there's a lot of reasons why this country may never be able to do that again. joining us to talk about this, what could be more serious than this topic, joined by mike gallagher,

radio talk show host, and chip, good to have you both here today. the thing that fascinates me in this piece in the guardian, they outline what the circumstances were before the fall of rome, and i just want to list a few of them for folks at home to just take this in. here's what was going on in homerome when it was in decline, military overstretch, a gulf between rich and poor, debt, people living in debt beyond their means, crime, obesity, addiction to pornography, you know, maybe some reference to some of the things we've been talking about in the news the past couple of days, and excessive use of energy. mike, is there a parallel? >> well, i think there is. i mean, these are the concerns that americans are expressing right now, and the world is watching us. you know, the world is seeing what's happening, and even people who have been loyal to the direction of the -- the leaders of this country over the last couple of years are starting to

question the direction in a profound way. i had lunch with a democrat, a friend of mine, and even he was stunned that the president, president obama, has said he's not really concerned about any kind of -- our economic future in peril, that we can't panic, we've got to not react. listen, we're in dire straits here, on sunday, the president's economic adviser makes the rounds and says everything is not so bad and resigned the next day, austan goolsbee out yesterday, so i think the guardian's piece is a great reflection is where we are as a country and the civilization going forward. martha: the polls, 89 percent have a negative feeling about the u.s. economy. i've never seen numbers like that in my lifetime, and there is an underlying feeling in this country that we may never get back to where we were. what do you think? >> well, it's natural to have that, after you have a banking collapse that we just went through, and people weren't really happy in the depression era, in

the 30s and '40s and we only came out as an economic perpower after world war ii. it is a bad bet to bet against the united states of america. we've had these panic attacks previously, and it's right or concerned about them but to give up is something that has been going on for a long time, we can always expect economical a.m. me and -- calamity, i agree with warren buffet, betting against the sundays a bad economic bet. martha: and every one of us wants to say that because we are all americans, and it's an incredibly optimistic society, america is exceptional in so many ways and we want to stay that way. the question is, when you look at sort of, you know, the debackry and one in six on food stamps and all this de -- the decaying issues it feels like it's going to take a major shift, a major wake up, a major realization to get us back to who we are. >> and i --

>> chip -- >> i agree. martha: mike? >> go ahead. i totally agree with chip's spirit, but i do think it's going to take a seed change from a political perspective in our leadership in washington and in states all throughout the country. i mean, the direction of the country is the wrong headed direction right now, and until we replace people who are willing to continue to spend, and listen, in the past, that's been republicans, too, this isn't necessarily a left-right argument. but until we replace the direction, we got leadership in this country that reminds us of the ronald reagan era and shining city on the the hill, we're going to be fine. right now we're in a quagmire of leadership that is drifting at sea. martha: what do you think of president obama in terms of his ability to inspire that kind of rebirth in the country and the kind of dramatic reevaluation that i think a lot of people believe that they are looking for in terms of leadership, searching for? >> well, certainly our leaders have got to

communicate and be very transparent and honest with the americans about where our economy is, where we're headed to, and how we're going to get there. that is the absolute role of the -- martha: do you think that's happening? >> ronald reagan -- >> it's not working so far. >> people forget about 1982, how bad inflation was at the time, and he took us through that era, and then got reelected, but he was a great communicator about it. what president obama has got to do if he's to maintain his position as president of the united states is come across like ronald reagan did 20 years ago. martha: we've heard he was reading reagan biographies and things like that. chip, i want to end with you, do you see an indication, do you think the president is disconnected from the issue we're discussing route notice or is he really at his heart connected to it? last thought. >> he can't be disconnected from this. he's getting all kinds of advice, and one of the best advises is not to panic nor overreact with respect to the situation. we went through the worst financial calamity, a true

banking scare that was only brought out from a bailout. had we had had the bailout, god knows where we'd be now. martha: hopefully you're right, it did work and we are on the way back, as a nation. we all can be completely on the same page on that. chip and mike, thank you very much. good to talk to you guys. >> okay martha. martha: well, there is a startling report that is sure to stir up once again the debate over health care in this country. it's a max kentuckyie report, well respected business consulting firm, says one in three american companies could drop health care coverage for their employees when this new law kicks in, meaning there could be less than two years left of health care coverage from these companies. the white house is responding to this in a very strong way. that is just ahead. plus, there is a desperate search going on right for you for yet another -- right now for yet another college student, missing for four days. what police are saying about a person of interest in this case. we'll tell you about that coming up. and hundreds of miles

burned. as one state tackles the worst wildfire that it has seen in years. the new threat that is now making things worse. >> when they tell us to leave, we have to leave. we don't want to leave. i'm going to cry. we don't want to leave. but we know it's for safety 's sake, we have to.

martha: fox extreme weather alert now in arizona, fire crews there battling a massive wildfire. four days it's been going ofpblt they've got high winds, dry conditions which, of course, fuel these flames that you're seeing, as several towns are just basically hoping for thest best. they are preparing for the worst. listen to this: >> we think we've got 24-48

hours, but the way this thing is working, you may not have that much time. so please, get ready now. >> we packed up everything that we could. >> memories, and -- >> memory and clothes. i don't know if i'm going to have to start over again or not. >> this is our life lihood. this is our life. martha: very sad listen to go these folks. it's a tough situation. anita vogel is looking into this from our west coast newsroom. >> reporter: hi there martha. mother nature is not helping this situation. weather conditions are hazardous now and they're expected to continue that way for the next couple of days. it was late yesterday that governor jan brewer declared a state of emergency for eastern parts of arizona. the flames have scorched close to 240,000 acres, making this one of the largest fires in arizona history. it's concentrated in a sparsely populated pine forest gutted by small pacific esp towns. so far, four buildings have burned. they could be homes or

outhouses. right now, authorities just don't know. fortunately, no injuries have been reported, but the blaze has prompted more than 2000 people to evacuate. >> i don't have a lot of hope right now. i mean, that fire was heading right towards me and the wind is blowing right that way. it's just a bad situation. >> this has caused a lot of people a lot of hardship. i have nowhere else to go. >> reporter: 2500 fire personnel are on the fire lines from as far away as oregon and new york. nearly 350 structures are being threatened right now. our red flag alert has been issued for the area which meanness k*pbs for a wildfire are very high, also, an entire national forest, almost 2 million acres of the coronado national forest, has been closed for safety purposes. now martha, there isn't any great news on the horizon there. warm temperatures and gusty winds, up to 40-60 miles per hour, are expected for the

next couple of days, and we've been watching the containment numbers on this fire, and they haven't moved. they're still at zero. back to you. martha: that is awful, anita, thank you very much. to put this in a better context for you, check this out, video from denver, you can see the smoke from the monster fire in arizona is causing major visibility problems in denver. in fact, the colorado health department is issuing a warning for those of the state because of the smoke conditions. colorado is not alone. the smoke is causing major problems in new mexico, wyoming, nebraska, kansas, iowa, south dakota, even minnesota. look at that. it's feeling the effects of the smoke from the fires in arizona. for more on this story, check out our website, log on to foxnews.com, we have a slide show that shows you the incredible pictures and scope of what's happening to our friends in arizona, and also has up to the minute coverage of the battle against this massive, massive natural disaster. our hearts go out to the folks there, and we hope they can get it under

control very soon. and a disturbing billboard has sparked a new controversy in new mexico. how far is too far in the fight against abortion? we'll talk about that. and the white house is firing back now against a new survey that says that one third of american companies will block health care coverage before and during the early stages of omabacare. both sides on this critical issue, right after the break. stay with us.

martha: folks in new mexico are wondering if a jilted ex-boyfriend went too far by doing this, putting up a billboard saying that his ex aborted their baby. the big sign shows the guy with the outline of a baby, and it says, quote, this would have been a picture of my two month old baby if the mother had not decided to kill our child. that billboard, of course, has touched off a lot of controversy and now a courtroom fight. trace gallagher is here with more on that. >> reporter: the argument, martha, becomes is this now freedom of speech, or is it a right to privacy? the man at the center of this is 35-year-old greg fault. i want to put the billboard up because it has now changed. there are two versions of this billboard. this is the first one. see in the center there where it says right to life? new mexico, right to life, first approved of this, then they didn't, so now greg has

changed the bill 3w50rd and he's taking the -- billboard and he's taking the center out. i'll tell you why in a second. he claims he did this, i'll quet up a quote, because i wanted to get out this message. i felt it was important and powerful enough to maybe sway one person's mind from having an abortion. that's his reasoning. okay? now his ex-girlfriend has taken him to court, and she says that he's harassing her, that he's violating her right to privacy and she also claims that she did not have an abortion, that she miscarried and now greg fultz isn't really sure so he sent us an e-mail a few minutes ago with this statement on there and again i'm quoting, he says kaorbgding to the billboard, i'm merely portraying a character in the billboard, not myself, because i never got any answers on what happened to my unborn child. i was refused any explanation or reason. so he does go on to say he still believes his ex-girlfriend got an

abortion. the court said take the billboard down. his attorney said i'm not going to. and his attorney points to this. this is, of course, the west borough baptist church, they've been called a gay hate group, they have protested military funerals and the supreme court in this case ruled that what their protests are are unpopular, offensive and protected, so he is equating this billboard to freedom of speech that the west borough baptist church also got in this, but the bottom line is now he's not really sure if his ex-girlfriend got the abortion or not. martha: very strange. trace, thank you very much. we've been talking about this since the beginning of "america live" today, and this is some new research and a study that says at least one in three employers say they will stop offering health care insurance once the president's overhaul of health care takes full effect. that is according to a new survey, they talked to about 1300 employers across the

country, and it's a frightening forecast, really, for 2014 when affordable care act kick necessary of the david webb joins me, host of the david webb show on sirius xm patriot and tamra holder, defense attorney and fox news contributor. welcome to you both, good to have you here. >> hi martha. martha: we've heard inklings of this from the early stages of this health care plan, we got it from at&t, mcdonald's, verizon, caterpillar, saying basically business is a business, we're going to run our numbers and see if it makes sense for us to continue to provide this kind of care and now these are shocking numbers from mckenzie & company. david, what's your take? >> this is what we expected. obama set up this plan, and all the waivers and everything they've given to protect their friends, but the goal has always been to get more people under omabacare, under a centralized government health care program. they want to see the same failures, and we will, rather, see the same failures as we did with romneycare in massachusetts. the fact is, this is their goal, employers, you're

right, have nothing but the bottom line to look at, and if it's cheaper to pay the fine, than it is to pay for the health care program, this will continue to grow and more people will go on to it. also, we'll see a lessening of health care access, more doctors dropping out, more hospitals dropping out, medicare payments going down as they did in massachusetts, costs go up, and it's pushed back it to the taxpayer. martha: let's get tamra also reaction. the white house has said that this is one study, and that other studies say quite the contrary. >> right. well, i think regardless of what study you're looking at, martha, this is really tragic, because i don't think it's about the failure of omabacare or affordable health care. whatever you want to call it. it's about the failure to give health care to americans. we have 10 percent of children that are not -- that do not have health care in this country. that's going to be a

problem. we are going to see a long term effect in immunizations, preventative health care, all of these things, and if the employers do not provide it to the people that are working for them, where are employees going to get health care? martha: you know, that raises the question, and one of the things that they've been discussing, is to basically, you know, compensate people more, to increase their salaries, so that they can pay for their health care insurance out of the same pocket. they say for them that turns out to be a much more equalized cost in a world where health care costs continue to change so dramatically. let's take a look at this. we want to get the white house's side of this story, and here's what they say about this from a senior administration official, this report, referring to the mckenzie company report that we talked about, is at odds with the experts from the congressional budget office, the rand corporation, the urban institute, and history. history has shown that reform motivates more businesses to offer insurance, health reform in massachusetts uses a similar structure with an exchange

of personal -- exchange, a personal responsibility reurt, an employer responsibility requirement and a number of individuals with employer-sponsored insurance in massachusetts has increased. david webb, what do you say to that? >> i just want to go with the numbers, and let's talk about massachusetts. where the uninsured rate dropped to 2 percent from 6 percent, but the cost, spending in the state has grown from 16 percent to 30 percent, 40 percent today and the national state average, 25 percent. subsidy, about $830 million in 2011, which by the way are not being paid back by the states. the problem with this plan, martha, is that it is a -- it makes it sound good if you drop the numbers but if you increase the costs you lessen the access to health care and that is the key here, when you have a lack of doctors, when you have hospitals being closed, when you have the lack of access for those 10 percent of kids who now can't even get to it, it's going to grow in the numbers. martha: you know, one other

point that i would just raise and get your thoughts on is this: when all of this began, when the omabacare movement began, there was a lot of question about whether or not in these economic times this was a good time to do this, that the focus should be on jobs and the economy, and that really wasn't the moment in history to try to push through this massive health care reform, and when you look at it in that light, tamra, and ask yourself would these companies be making these decisions if they weren't so forced to hang so closely to the bottom line right now, it begs the question, does the administration, and i -- did the administration make a mistake in pursuing this at this particular moment in economic history? >> well, i think that obama add his administration definitely are going to question that as they go into 20, but not only is it a problem with the health care issue that he's facing, but parallel to that, we are now looking at unemployment numbers that are going now up, an they were down, they're very unstable, and more and more people don't have health care. so it's not just that issue

alone. and i don't think when obama rushed through this -- pressed through this first issue on this agenda he realized the unemployment issue that he was going to have in this country. martha: david? >> well, if his focus had been on the economy and jobs, then he would have a record to run on that might have been better or successful. unemployment ticks back up to 9.1% recent, we see growth in federal government sectors but not a growth in private sectors and we see 50,000 less than projected in the last report. looking omabacare was a giant mistake for the country, it's taken over 1100 waivers to their friends to get it through, it's been bought, and if we -- and we are the ones that are going to pay for it and in 2014, america is in indeed trouble. martha: in closing, in these reports, what's going to happen on behalf of the employers and what action we'll take, we'll start to see it over the next 12 months to be sure as these corporations and smaller businesses start to put into their financial plan whether it makes more sense for them

to continue to cover or whether to take the fine, take that initial payment and move on. and let their employees fend for themselves. we will see. tamra holder, david webb, thank you very much, always good to see you both, thanks a lot. >> thanks martha. martha: well, this question for a family who has not seen or heard from their daughter in four days. what police are now saying about a person of interest in the disappearance of this young college student. and then there is this: anthony weiner's fight for political survival. and that is just among democrats at this point. what he did when he sent lewd pictures of himself that could bounce him from office. >> my blackberry is not a government blackberry, my home computer is usually where i did these things. i don't have the knowledge of every last communication, but i don't believe that i used any government resources.

martha: all right. no dice on a plea deal that would have sent john edwards to the slammer. we are now learning that federal prosecutors wanted the former senator to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge, but along with that deal, they wanted six months behind bars. that in exchange for dropping the felony charge in the campaign finance -- and the campaign finance charges, apparently john edwards refused the jail time, he did not want to take that as part of the deal and said he's going to go ahead and fight this thing out in court. he is accused of illegally using campaign funds to conceal and pay off his mistress, rielle hunter, last year he admitted to fathering a child with rielle hunter while his late wife was battling with cancer. this is just crossing the wires, this is very big news with regard to anthony weiner and facing ethics charges. we are now learning that minority leader nancy pelosi has now formally sent the weiner investigation to the

house ethics committee, and also, moments ago, listen to this. this is what senator -- senate majority leader harry reid is now saying about all this. he said, quote, i know congressman weiner, i wish that there was some way that i could defend him, but i cannot. so these are the biggest guns in the democratic party, now seepingly aimed at anthony weiner, and the big question now is can he survive this if his own party has started to turn on him. scott sa inform dal, former deputy secretary under george w. bush joins me to talk about this. no support clearly from harry reid, the we're question asked of harry reid is should he resign and he said i'm not here to defend. the next question after that, if he were to ask you for advice, what would you say, and he said i would say call somebody else. scott, what's your response? >> my response is that the

answers and responses by senator reid and nancy pelosi, the leaders of the democratic party in congress, are very telling, because they're stopping short of purging their own rank. house ethics manual says that members should comport themselves in a manner that is bee pitting -- bee fitting their office, and they have a leading spokesman for their party who lied for ten days, using his office, using his staff, inviting people like bret baier into his office, to lie to their face, and essentially lie to the world, for ten days, about what he had done wrong. in fact, even in his so called apology yesterday, he lied if when -- lied in that, saying sending the picture to the woman out here in seattle was a joke. well, we all know that wasn't a joke. so nancy pelosi and harry reid are showing very clearly that they have wide lat feud in terms of what is bee fitting conduct of somebody in their party. martha: or you could look at

it as they're starting the ball rolling in what will be a multi-stage process that perhaps they expect will reach the conclusions that you're talking about and they want him to have the fair process of going through that. this is the first step, according to our capitol hill producers, in this process. the next thing to watch for is whether the ethics committee will impanel an investigative subcommittee on this to probe him. would you expect that they will do that? >> i think there will be tremendous pressure to do that. i don't think they could get away without doing that. my question to the democratic leadership and even the dnc chairwoman, who has been silent on this issue, is is this the type of person that you want in your caucus, and representative chris lee, a republican, when he had a scandal that of a similar nature to this, he met with speaker boehner, and was out by the end of the day. so there's a different standard of conduct for republicans than there is for democrats. martha: i guess we'll never know whether that was chris

lee's decision, whether he said i'm not going to drag my family through this and i know if i stay here, perhaps, as we've seen happen in many cases, more and more of this stuff is going to come out, anthony weiner as we all know from having interviewed him personally and many of the rest of us, he's a very head strong guy, i think that's a very fair statement, and he is not somebody who's going to go quietly into the night, he's decided to fight it. if he can keep in office and if his constituents reelect him, are we not to say whether or not they should have the person they want in that office? >> but there's a difference here, martha. representative boehner said there is a zero tolerance policy for misconduct and this type of thing that is not bee fitting the actions of a member of congress. he put tremendous pressure on representative chris lee. that is not pressure that democratic leaders are putting on representative weiner in this case. so he has a lot of support in the media, he has a lot of support among his own caulks -- caucus, i think they're all taking a step

back to see if well, maybe this thing will blow over. the first headline of the "new york times" yesterday indicated that -- it said representative weiner acknowledges online communications with women. well, that's a pretty moderate and pretty okay headline to get out of what was him admitting to very bizarre behavior and lying about it to the world for a week. martha: the behavior is bizarre, i think he would admit that the bee have improper is bizarre. there have been people who have had affairs. maybe this is -- if you would equivocate an affair with this situation, who managed to survive. so clearly weiner looked at this and said with the support of his family, we're going to stand by you, you try to hang in there. >> well, and it will be very interesting to see if his family does stand by him, as it's been well noted his wife is the aide of secretary clinton, bill clinton oofficiated their wedding, and obviously, bill clinton has had his own

scandals in this regard. martha: and certainly survived them in the end. >> he did, and it seems to me maybe birds of a feather flock together, and ultimately the voters of new york will decide this question. martha: i've got to go. i pushed us route up to the break but i wanted to lot you finish. thank you, scott, we'll take a quick break and be right back.

martha: police in indiana now say that they do suspect foul play in the disappearance of 20-year-old lauren spire but investigators say they have little information on what happened to the indiana university student after she was last spotted walking toward home early friday morning. julie banderas has the latest update for us. >> reporter: that's right, martha. lauren spire was out late partying at a bar with friends, nothing unusual for a sophomore college student, after leaving the bar, she then stopped by a couple of

her friends' apartments before walking home alone. according to one of her male buddies that saw her at 4:30 in the morning, from that point on her whereabouts is a complete mystery. her purse was later found with her keys inside in a nearby alley she frequently takes. surveillance video from lauren's apartment complex less than three blocks away shows she never made it home, all these factors leading police to believe that she didn't walk away on her own. >> at 4:30 in the morning, no shoes, and has earlier been drinking, goes out and just disappears off a street corner, and you know, we feel like there certainly could be foul play involved. >> reporter: hundreds of volunteers spent yesterday searching downtown bloomington near spire's apartment, and in the woods, construction sites, and around lakes in the area, including her own family who traveled over the weekend from their home in westchester in here, in new york, to join in the search.

her dad says that he and his wife usually get a phone call from her every day and adds his daughter also has a medical condition, making the days looking for her especially stressful. at just 4-foot, 11, and 90 pounds, lauren has a heart defect that can cause dangerous arrhythmias, her father says it's every parent's nightmare as he made this plea for the public's help. >> we'd like anyone who has seen her to please contact the bloomington police immediately. she does have a heart condition. she takes medicine daily. so it's important that we get ahold of her as soon as possible. >> reporter: lauren's dad said his daughter is a compassionate and loving person very close to her mother, her classmates describe her as a promising and smart person who would never put herself in a dangerous situation. all are hoping and praying she is found safe. martha: indeed. julie, thank you very much. there's new testimony in the casey anthony murder trial as the defense grills

a crime seen investigator about a bargain -- garbage bag found in the car, how the prosecution is trying to blow a hole in the defense. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

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