martha: we'll see you right back here tomorrow, folks. jon: we begin "happening now" with this fox news alert. you're looking at a helicopter shot from marsh field massachusetts, near the plymouth area outside boston where police are searching for the suspect wanted in the murder of a woman in what appears to be a domestic situation. the guy they are looking for they say is 40-year-old marcelo almada. 5'5", 160-180 pounds, the chief suspect in the stabbing death of a 24-year-old woman who was taken to the hospital this morning and perished there. three schools in marshfield are in lockdown right now. the high school, the junior high school and daniel webster elementary school as the search goes on through this brushy area for the murder suspect.

it's all taking place right now. if we get an update for you we'll bring it to you live "happening now." jenna: breaking news internationally. hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee, so glad you are with us on a monday morning. jon: good to see you this morning. jenna: you too, jon. jon: fox news alert, a u.s. embassy spokesman saying an afghan employee opened fire inside a cia office in kabul killing one american and wounding another. jenna: dominique d-natali is live in southeastern afghanistan near the pakistani border. what can you tell us what happened here. >> reporter: at 9:00pm local time a u.s. employee went into the compound which is used by the cia for as officers and operations. he opened fire on colleagues is what we're being told. people scurried for cover.

one man ran right into the gunman and was killed immediately. another one injured injuries that are not life threatening. they have been removed to a military hospital for care. thinks the second attack on the cia we've seen in two years. it also comes just two weeks here in afghanistan after the attacks on the u.s. epl cast bee by embassy by the haqqani. this means the militants have insiders inside. what they are trying to do is show that they can do high profile-style attacks. the afghan authorities are supposed to have responsibility in kabul but not protecting just afghans but the other areas as

well. given the fact that there is anticipated heavy response against insurgents flowing in from pack son by the american-led in it tow forces this will add presents tour some sort of reaction both against the pakistanis who are believed to be supporting many of these militants and also the militants existing inside afghanistan who have been proven to be rye sill kwrepbt this particular past year. we are now into the second fighting season. we expect to see an up tic of fighting. there seems to be a push by nato forces to move what irsur gents are here before the winter starts and they go and hide in their caves and wait to fight next year, jenna. jenna: more details on the story to come.

dominique d-natali thank you. jon: some brand-new developments today in the race for the white house as mitt romney is about to become the latest republican presidential hopeful to meet with donald trump. rick perry, michelle bachmann and sarah palin who hasn't even announced whether she is running have all sat down with the donald fresh off his surprise win in the florida straw poll hoerpl and cane is also preparing for a meeting with the real estate mogul on tuesday. trump who himself was mulling a run for the presidency now seems to be enjoying his new role in the race as a king maker of sorts. >> i'm gulf coasting at different people. we'll see what happens. they have to make the right move. we have to get a president that is going to be a great president. our country is in very, very serious trouble. jon: well the democratic national committee is taking notice as well running this ad about rom no's upcoming meeting

with donned trump today. joining us now david drucker staff writer for role call. is donald trump the republican king make or is this just a publicity park loy on his point. >> i think he speaks for some of the populous elements within the republican party that are upset with the current administration and upset with many of the policies coming out of washington. i do think in that regard him saying nice things about a particular candidate could be somewhat helpful. alternate the end of the day no one will vote for a particular candidate because donald rum says so. jon: what about contributions? obviously he's a wealthy guy but individuals are limited as to how much they can contribute, right? >> that's correct, jon, however, donald trump as many people in his income basket probably knows a lot of people with this kind of money. if he puts the word out in his circle that he'd like a particular candidate to get his

help, both the donald and his friends could do some bundling for the eventual republican candidate. it didn't hurt to meet with somebody, although it was brief and fleeting was able to peak the interest of some voters. this is a man who definitely knows business and finance, even though he went through a rough patch at one point in his career. in terms of getting advice from him on what the economy needs for a turn around he clearly would have something intelligent to say. jon: is there a potential downside for some of the candidates, and i'm talking pwa -- we've seen the democratic national committee already trying to tie some of these candidates to donald trump, using, the you're fired line, that kind of thin. is there another downside in. >> i don't really think so. i think that we shouldn't inflate the up side. at the end of the day this is a nice news bite today. cane is in the news, this is helpful for him. mitt romney is in the news, never hurts. is donald trump going to move voters?

are you going to creep up in the polls? are you going to win the nomination, somehow have a new community of support because donald trump gives you his seal of approval? no, this is not his television show. there is nothing to win here if he says you're hired. if you meet with individuals who are knowledgeable and who can get media attention on their own, it can't hurt. jon: and with a meeting coming up next tuesday with herman cain it's clear he's not going to be announcing some kind of endorsement of mitt romney today. >> oh, no, clearly not. why would donald trump endorse somebody today? if he did would fox news and fox & friends call him ever monday and ask him what he his about the presidential campaign? by the way i'm not criticizing. as long as his endorsement is up for grabs then it's much more interesting to find out what he's thinking week to week about the race. jon: it's going to be fun to

watch, that is for sure. david drucker from role call, thank you. >> thanks a lot. jon: you can hear more from donald trupl. he will sit down with neil cavuto. that's 4:15 eastern time about five hours from now. right now on fnc. jenna: talking a little bit about politics now, new fears of a government shut down looming on capitol hill as lawmakers bicker over spending plans. sound familiar? yep, here we are again. at issue this time around a small part of the nearly $4 trillion budget ear mashed to help victims of natural disasters. if congress can't hammer out an agreement on this. how will they be able to strike a dole to cut $1.5 trillion in spending a new months from now. caught in the middle of all of this current uncertainty, folks in tornado calf srapbld missouri. the senate blocked the house bill that would have given aid

to disaster victims because it also called for $1.5 billion in spending cuts to offset that. the senate hoping to hold a vote today on a new bill that won't link the sending cuts to the disaster aid. the gop is looking to block it saying spending cuts are a must because of our skyrocketing national debt which stands at more than $14 trillion. the house is on recess right now. what happens if the senate passes this bill? can it go become to the house? is there anyone there to vote on it. jon: the piggy bank could run dry. jenna: we'll see. jon: as congress fights a avert that hut down world financial leaders are working on a plan to contain a debt crisis in kwraoerp. fears of a greek default and other countries have hit stock markets very hard in recent week. elizabeth mcdonald from the fox business network joins us live. this rescue plan, what are the down falls and is the u.s. involved in any particular way.

>> there are a number of down falls. this is essentially europe's plan c. timothy geithner has convinced europe leaders that they need to do a number of things, number one, force greek investors, investors in greasess bonds to take a haircut of up to 50%. that plan is in the parks. also the european rescue facility would possibly quadruple in size. there would also be back stopped the europe central bank and governments over there, including jeremy and france would have to do more to help possibly the european sent albank by bonds of portugal, italy, greece and spain. can that become europeans bad bank, that is the other issue. the question is will the u.s. be asked to step in. the u.s. during the financial crisis in 2008 gave $6 billion

in loans through the federal reserve in loans germany may balk at this new plan c, yet another rescue plan nor europe. back to you, jon. jon: and possible u.s. dollars in the works. >> that's right. jon: thank you. jenna: speaking of overseas, new video crossing our international desk. the hometown of moammar qaddafi coming under heavy attack. revolutionary forces firing into sirte one of the last remaining moammar qaddafi strongholds. nato is also helping out and warplanes are pounding military targets there. the heavy fighting forcing civilians to pack up their belongings and leave their home. jon: in independent kwrad 48 people have been killed by floodwater -t floodwaters, monsoon rains battle north and east indio. helicopters are dropping foot into hard to reach areas.

hundreds of boats are being used to ferry the stranded to safety. the rains are expected to continue there for at least another two days. jenna: police bust a massive animal ring in thailand. they seized nearly one hundred penguins being smuggled into asia. their meat can fetch up from $350 per kill a gram on the black market. there you go. jon: they are ugly but somebody likes them. amanda knox is back in an italian courtroom, the american stew tenth convicted of killing her roommate is in the final days of her appeals trial. she could spend the rest of her life in prison or walk out a free woman. we'll have a live report from rome. jenna: look to a conclusion for that case. you've heard the saying before, when pigs fly. guess what, that time is now.

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. jon: fox news alert and take a look at what is going on right now in seattle. a house exploded there, two people injured, it's amazing that they weren't killed if you look at what is going on there right now. they believe that some kind of a natural gas leak is the reason for this home explosion. we are working the phones, patti ann brown is at the breaking news desk today. she is making some calls. we are trying to get more information. once again in seattle a home explodes apparently as a result of a natural gas leak. when we get the info for you we'll bring it to you live on "happening now." jenna: fox news alert the roller coaster ride on the economy

continues today. we'll take a lock a look at stocks. we're seeing the dow up 128-plus. the dow lost 6.5% of its value, one of the worst weeks in the market since 2008 the height of the financial crisis. we are looking at the price of oil, gold, silver, copper, all down. what does that mean for the economy overall you will? what can we expect. mike santoli is associated today tore at barrons magazine. you wrote about the market retesting or relapsing, what is the difference. >> retesting is we go back to the low levels we saw in august which is a few percent below where we are right now, in terms of the dow. that often happens when investors have to see is this going to hold, are we going to have a quart quarter rally. and is there maybe a higher percentage of recession last

year. or is it like in 2008 when you had a global run on the banks, obviously the european debt crisis has people reminded of the way 2008 felt when you had these weekend meetings of the officials coming out on monday, maybe they had a deal, maybe the details had to be hammered out. maybe it was big enough for the market, maybe it wasn't maybe it was fast enough for investors maybe not. jenna: we had a meeting this weekend in europe. what is the worst case scenario. >> the worst case follows along the path of 2008 which did worse even significantly which was already a budding recession. europe is very likely i think to be evening tphoerg a recession for themselve engineering a recession for themselves. germany says no we don't want a bigger bail out fund and others are demanding this much bigger amount like timothy geithner, the chairman of the treasury secretary. jenna: you mentioned the treasury secretary there. again there's been pointing fingers at europe in general, as

this is the source of the problem even though we're still not great here stateside. how much is politics a factor in what we are seeing? >> i think internal european politics are more important in this instance than it is sort of the americans blaming europe for this. it really is just a phase two of the same over indebtedness that the entire world got into. banks have too much debt, governments have too much debt. we sold mostly the u.s. banking problem by injecting capitol by the government. europe is now reaching perhaps it's tarp moment when the markets throw enough of a tandem where they say fine, we will buy bad assets. jenna: comparisons are being made to 2008, we are three years later than that. should we expect to be in a deja vu moment when we reach 2014. >> i doubt it. we are probably not going to wait until it gets that bad i would hope. also the liquidity side of things. the federal reserve is out there flooding the whole globe with

cheap money and essentially willing to keep the wheels greased. i say that the fed can keep the oil in the engine, keep it from blowing, it can't provide the fuel to make it go forward, at least it will function while it's there. i don't think we'll have a similar kind of bank run this time. jenna: and september is historically the worst month, right? >> it's living up to its reputation so far. jenna: it is indeed. mike, thank you always nice to see you. jon: there is new fallout from america's top military officer charging that pakistan's spy agency has ties to a notorious terror network and it has been involved in attacks on the u.s. tough talk is putting that country on notice. what it means for our foreign policy and our fight against terrorism. plus, lock your doors and do not open up for strangers. that's what police are telling folks in one state after five people are found dead under

mysterious circumstances. the very latest on that investigation coming up. >> there were two males and few females at this location. at this time we have no idea if we have a single shooter or multiple shooters. we also do not know if the shooter or shooters is among the dead that we have in the iryeah. in the area.

jon: the top man in pakistan's army cancels a visit to britain as tenses rise between pakistan and the u.s. this after our top military officer, the chairman much the joints chiefs of staff admiral mike mullen accused pakistan's intelligence service of directly aiding insurgents responsible for a deadly attack on the u.s. embassy in kabul, afghanistan two weeks ago. senator lindsey graham is speaking out saying there is

support in washington for a very strong response. >> the sovereign nation of pack san is engaging in hostile acts against the united states and our ally afghanistan that must cease. i will leave it up to the experts. if the experts believe we need to elevate our response they will have a lot of bi-partisan support on capitol hill. jon: what should our response be? let's get some thoughts from peter brooks, a senior fellow from the heritage foundation that joins us now. peter a lot of people have been asking for a longtime is pakistan our friend or foe? can you answer that question? >> well it's certainly not an ally. i guess the most generic term you can use is a partner in fighting terrorism but that's certainly come under question based on what admiral mullen said last week. he was probably the right voice here. he's invested a lot in his relationship with the general in the pakistan-u.s. relationship and he's leaving his job and he came out and said that the isi,

pakistan's intelligence service is supporting the haqqani network who are responsible for two attacks in two weeks. jon: there is an tack just now inside the u.s. embassy compound that is also being attributed to the haqqani network. clearly they are trying to show that nothing that america does is secure, if they've got spicy sense alley inside our facilities, inside the embassy compound. >> well, we have to be concerned about any sort of intelligence penetration, people who try to get inside and then can undertake attacks from within. you know, plan a is not working for pakistan, the administration has to look at this very closely. it's time for plan b. we should be thinking about whether we should fully cut off aid or go to aid on a transactional basis. we should put the haqqani network on the foreign terrorist organization list which would allow us to go after their

finances. we should be stepping up our direct action, attacks against the haqqani network, and we should be considering our withdrawal plans from afghanistan at this point. these things are not going well. we have to find a way to work around pakistan. right now about half of our supplies of nato supplies guy through pakistan. we brought that down from 80 to 90%. we need to find a way to go around pakistan. they are obviously in the going to help us. this is a moment of truth for pakistan, but the words we are hearing out of pakistan are not promising. jon: they have nuclear weapons. there are some who speculate if the united states cracks down too hard on that country, oops, one of their nuclear weapons may find its way into the hands of a terrorist group. >> that is the interesting thing here, january. islamabad is under as much a threat as others are from these islamists group such as the taliban.

when will the h ashes qqani network turn on pakistan? if afghanistan falls will it be used as launching attacks into pakistan. it's a very dangerous neighborhood and the pakistanee government has to do the right things. we want the nuclear weapons to be secure, not to fall in the right hands, it's a nightmare scenario. at the same time we have brave young men and women fighting in the sand of afghanistan, or our national security, or the afghan people and to preventer advice eupl. jon: peter brooks. thank you. jenna: breaking news we are waiting autopsy results in the gruesome murder of five people. this mystery is unfolding in a small rural town southeast of indianapolis, police discovering five bodies in su two homes. in the meantime authorities are warning people in the area to keep their doors locked and their guard up. joining us on the phone with the very latest is mike selki.

he's news director at wife-fm radio. he's been in the area for about 50 years now. has anything happened like this there before? >> not that i'm wea aware of, not to this magnitude. jenna: have the police told anyone anything? >> a sergeant from the independent state police and franklin county sheriff kim murphy held a press conference last night and all that was disclosed last night was one identified -- unidentified male body was found at 24030stipshill road, and new male and two female bodies were discovered at

24025 stipshill road. no names or ages of the bodies were disclosed last night. there is an autopsy being conducted today in indianapolis. jenna: the way that authorities even found out about this is a little child was wandering on the road and some good samaritan stopped and waited with the child until police came. do we know if that child belongs to any of those murdered? >> according to sheriff ken murphy, all he had to say was that what you just said a good samaritan had discovered this child walking down the roadway and all he said was that the child was in a safe environment. jenna: real quick here, mike, are people nervous in the area? >> you know, that's hard for me to say. i would say people are taking precautions, you know, because the sergeant did tell people, because they have, you know,

limited information, just to be cautious and keep your doors locked, and any information the sergeant said people can call the indiana state police and any caller will remain anonymous. jenna: we have the number there, mike. thank you so much. mike selke. wise radio in the area jon, we really have no idea of whether or not one of the men killed in the group was the shooter or not. that's why there are ebbs tra precautions in the area. jon: all sorts of questions about that one. friend of jailed american exchange ste student amanda knox are concerned about her health. she can't eat or sleep, she is losing weight. lawyers are fighting for her freedom. will she get it?

also, online gamers, get this. they have cracked a code that supercomputers struggled with for a decade. how their passion for video games is helping in the fight to cure aids. [ male announcer ] you never know when,

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don't wait until you become the next victim. call now to try lifelock risk free for 2 full months. that's right, 60 days risk free. use promo code: norisk. if you're not completely satisfied, notify lifelock and you won't pay a cent. order now and also get this document shredder to keep your personal documents out of the wrong hands. a $29 value, free! get the protection you need right now. call or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock risk free for a full 60 days. use promo code: norisk. plus get this document shredder, free! but only if you act right now. call now! lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york. jon: a fox news alert, i'm jon scott in our acquisitions room here at fox and breaking news to bring you from the boston area, this is marshfield, massachusetts, police have now entered what appears to be the front yard of a home

where they say they have cornered the suspect in the shooting -- i'm sorry, the stabbing death we told you about at the top of the hour. marcello alameda is the guy they're looking for, he is inside that house, they say, they have put up that yellow crime scene tape,sy wanted in webgs a the knifing of a 25-year-old woman. here comes someone on a backboard. we don't absolutely know that that is the suspect but we believe that is him, marcello alameda in his 40s, wanted in connection with the stabbing death of a 24-year-old woman earlier today, she was hospitalized and died of her wounds. when we get more information about precisely what led to this and more information about the condition of the suspect, i mean, he wouldn't be on a backboard fe wasn't in some kind of physical trouble -- we will bring it to you, whether there was some kind of officer involved shooting or self-inflicted wound, we

don't know but we'll bring you that tph*plgs as soon as we can. jenna: right now amanda knox is inside an italian courtroom as she tries to get her murder conviction overturned, a close friend says she can't eat, sleep, she's losing a lot of weight over this and that definitely is something that we could all understand. she was sentenced to 26 years in prison for murdering her british roomate meredith kircher back in 2007, italian prosecutors are asking the judge to increase the sentence to life. we're going to be talking to a lawyer that represents akpwhrapbd knox, ted simon, in the next hour. in the meantime, agreeing burke is standing by in rome with the latest on this. greg, tell us a little more about amanda's condition right now. >> reporter: well jenna, you know, amanda, her friends are saying that she's having trouble sleeping, eating, and you can understand that because this is really crunch time. this has been a long ordeal, she's been in jail four years, and this appeals trial has gone on for a long

time and she's going to find out something supposedly within a week. there are civil suits, so she had to hear from the family of the victim, meredith kircher and also the man she was accusing falsely, her bar other than, patrick lamumba. amanda and her family say she only did that because she had been under heavy pressure from police when she was being questioned, jenna. jenna: throughout this latest appeal, greg, we've heard different things, we've heard the prosecution being optimistic about what's going on, we heard the defense team is positive about the new verdict. so what do you know and what's going on behind the scenes, perhaps? >> reporter: well, certainly, there's also a battle going on in the media and i think mediawise, certainly in the united states, it looks like things are going in amanda was favor and also the courtroom as well. there was this review of dna this is very important in the appeals, the judge allowed the review and it basically discredited much of the important dna

evidence from certain things so there is reason for the defense to be optimistic, however, it's not a done deal. there's a whole lot of evidence out there and that's what the prosecutors are pointing out, jenna. jenna: we'll see if we get that verdict, as we mentioned earlier, maybe on saturday. it's coming this week, hopefully, though. greg burke in rome, greg, thank you very much. jon: playing video games and conducting scientific research. seems like an unlikely combination. but online gamers who achieved an astonishing accomplishment, cracking the complex structure of an aids-like virus, it took them just three weeks to do it, and it was something that research scientists with high kpour dollars -- powero high-powered computers struggled to do for decades and hadn't succeeded. let's talk about how it happened, biochemistry lab researcher feris katib. so feris, the challenge here was to untangle how these proteins unfold in plain

english. do i have that right? >> that's correct. jon: and these look like -- when you're looking at them through a powerful microscope, they are described as looking like a plate of smashed spaghetti. >> actually, they're even so small that you could barely see anything with the microscope which is the problem, which is why our department tried to use computers to simulate them. jon: so the university of washington, where you are, came up with this game called fold it. take it from this. >> fold it is a multi-player, online scientific discovery game developed by the computer in the science department at the university of washington in collaboration with our lab, and basically, players are able to fold proteins in real time in this game, and they feed the energy function as their source, and -- >> jon: go ahead, i'm sorry,

i didn't mean to interrupt. >> and so basically, we post puzzled it to basically try to solve what would a protein look like and players compete to reach the highest score which is hopefully the native confirmation of that protein. jon: so all kinds of scientific experts had tried to do this, had tried to figure out how these aids proteins sort of mutate. they had worked on it, they couldn't figure it out, big, you know, heavy duty supercomputers had tried to figure it out, you gave it to a bunch of online gamers and they came up with the answer in three weeks? >> that is correct. all the state of the art computational messages had failed in this particular case so this was really a last ditch effort to see if we could actually solve the structure of this protein and we gave it to them for three weeks and actually looking back once we had the solution they had already solved it in less than ten days. it was remarkable.

jon: and bottom line, this could help find a cure for aids. >> so this is, you know, obviously one small piece of the puzzle and one step in the right direction, but the hope is that by being able to know the correct structure of this protein we'll be able to design better antiretro viral aids drugs. so i need to thank all the players around the world for donating their time, as well as the national science foundations who funded my research, and none of this would have been possible without their support. jon: it's a great story, one of the greatest of the day, dr. faris khabib. -- ktatib, thank you. jenna: we think they're all home playing supermario brothers, but no-no no. jon: they have skills that have unfold the sequence in the right order and that's why it works. jenna: did you ever play video games? >> jon: not that much. jen i think i just reference -- exposed myself when i referenced supermario brothers. jon: i'm still on pacman.

jenna: in seattle, the big explosion that happened this morning, it has truly rocked a neighborhood. we have the latest on the scene and what may have triggered this explosion, just ahead.

jenna: welcome back, everyone. some developing stories we're keeping an eye on in the newsroom and from our control room as well, let's start off with homes sales, they fell to 56 month low last month, congress reporting sales fell 2 percent, the fourth straight month of decline. it's not a good sign for the housing market overall. gop presidential candidate herman cain says his message was the reason why he won the florida straw poll, not voters' opposition to governor rick perry. you can see. tonight, 2:15 p.m. eastern time, on "america live". >> jennifer hawk-pettitte and her two daughters were killed when their home was set on fire in 2007.

joshua kamisarjesky is ready to go on trial. jon: a fox news alert, an early morning explosion and fire north seattle. we've shown you in of the video already. it leaves one home in rubble, two people clinging to life. patti ann brown is at the breaking news desk. >> reporter: it is very troubling because perhaps it could have been prevented. about 25 homes have been evacuated after a house explosion sent two people to the hospital. the fire department says it appears a natural gas leak was responsible for the blast. it sparked a massive fire that destroyed the home in north seattle. when firefighters arrived, the house was fully engulfed in flames. the man and woman in their 50s were badly burned. that woman has life threatening injuries, the man is in serious condition at harbor view medical center. utility crews from puget sound energy are making repairs at the scene of the blast, the utility also shutting off a feeder gas

line and nearby residents all told to leave. the fires department spokesman kyle moore says buses were being brought in to shelter these evacuated residents. the explosion happened around 6:00 this morning, local time. it could be heard more than a mile away. windows broke in the neighborhood, debris was raining down, it all happened in the 1-rbgs two -- 12300 block of fifth avenue northeast. and the blames were starting to reach nearby houses and that prompted a second callout, according to the fire department, for them to assist. now, here's the interesting thing. a natural gas leak had reportedly occurred in that neighborhood yesterday. that is according to a neighbor who lives about five blocks away. bob erics, telling the seattle times he and his wife were heading home from dinner when they saw something happening, they stopped and talked to a police officer and he confirmed that a gas leak was being investigated. jon. jon: patti ann brown at the breaking news desk, what an awful story.

thanks. jenna: courtroom drama about to begin in los angeles. opening arguments in the trial of michael jackson's doctor start this week. we have a preview coming up. plus, a texas-sized drought in the lone star state. one effect you might not have had much about, next.

jen it is being called the worst drought to hit the lop star staeurbgts texas suffering from tripet digit temperatures and very little rainfall, the epic dry spell causing a huge problem for ranchers and farmers. there's simply not enough hay to feed their animals. bob williams is the ceo of ranch hand rescue, he takes in neglected and abused farm animals and this drought has really affected you in so many ways. tell us a little about that. >> well, ranch and rescue,

what we do is we're known in the state of texas for absolutely taking the critical care cases. we run like a hospital and the critical care unit, we assist law enforcement, abuse and neglect case necessary texas, when people are about to be arrested for abuse and neglect and what's happened is we've got the worst drought in texas history so we're being forced to take surrenders. our decisions are pretty easy because we always do what's in the best interest of the animal, so right now, people are releasing their animals, you know, and law enforcement is finding them walking down county roads, and so we've just got major issues with a huge, huge horse problem in this state. jenna: we're looking at video of some horses that look pretty skinny, bob, quite frankly, and we understand that there is a big issue with hay, just for farmers, but also just with you, to help feed some of these animals. explain what the issue is as

far as the hay crop goes. >> well, you know, in the state of texas, first, i think we've had something like over 11,000 fires this year. it's the worst drought in texas history. if you fly over the state, you'll see that it's basically either burned up or it's completely brown because of the drought. i was in our pastures yesterday and i mean, they're just totally cracked and completely hard. so we have to import hay and the challenge we have is that it's the fuel cost. it's about -- it's running about $4 a mile and that's if you can find it, so hay is like gold. but we were paying $40 -- what we were paying for $40 in may, to ship it in is $120, so funding is really critical. then on top of that, the truckers need to have a load to go back to wherever they bring it in from. jenna: it's -- it just sounds like quite an issue and to wait for another crop to come up, more hay to come, it seems like there's not enough time. i see that you have

petitioned the governor, rick perry, to use the national guard to bring hay into the state of texas. we're going to put that information on our website. bob, we also have your website on the screen, ranchhandrescue.org. we patient your time and what you're doing for the state of texas, thank you very much. >> thank you jenna. jon: well, pink floyd's big is flying -- pig is flying again in the skies of london. if you went to college in the '70s or '80s, you'll remember this classic image of a 30-foot pig flying high over london's power station, a remake of the cover of pink floyd's album, animal farm, originally released in 1976. this stunt is to promote the rerelease of that album, along with pink floyd's catalog. no word on whether the band might be planning a reunion tour. jenna: we'll bring you that breaking news what we get it. in the meantime, let's take to you the markets, because it was such a rough

week last week. waoets take a look, the dow up 169 points. we're going to have more breaking news on all the happenings around the world today, right after a quick break.

jenna: jon is seriously typing away with our chatterers today. jon: one of the chatters is upset given that hay situation in texas we were talking about, that we're grinding up all this corn for ethanol. jenna: interesting. it's interesting to have that texas piece that we just did and listen to what's happening politically right now. the president is taking aim at republican cab date rick perry, governor of the texas and governor perry is firing back at the white house. glad you're with us as we start a whole new hour of "happening now", i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott, the president sparks a political firestorm, attack perry's views on climate change while running a state fighting severe wildfires.

the perry campaign is not happy about all this. let's talk about it with bret baier who anchors "special report". the president has been on west coast swing, doing a couple of things, raising money for his campaign, $8 million is the amount he's raising on this trip i've heard, but also sparking his base by going after the republicans, in particular, governor perry. here's what he had to say at one of these campaign events. he said something about, you know, did anybody hear about the -- they've got a governor whose state is on fire, denying claimat change pretty direct attack on an individual. you don't often see that from presidents who are holding office. rick perry's office fired back. here's the statement we got from them, governor perry's spokesman saying it's outrageous president obama would use the burning of 1500 homes and the worst fires in state history as a

political attack. but that's what i wanted you to address, the fact that it's awfully early for these kind of personal attacks in this campaign season, isn't it? >> it is. and it's a different take of president obama, now on the stump, campaigning, trying to fire up his base. clearly, just a matter of -- i'd say a few months ago, maybe three months ago, the most common word he used was compromise, consensus, coming to something to move forward. and he has largely abandoned that phraseology on the stump and is attacking as you mentioned, governor perry directly, he even mentioned the debate crowds in the republican debate, you know, for the cheering or remarking about that video of the gay soldier and his question and in our fox youtube-google debate, and

it's unique to hear the president on this push so early. you know, we are a long way away from the election. he said in that speech to the joint session of congress, you know, now is the time to get things done and not play politics. well, clearly, he's on the stump politically. jon: and he said over the weekend in seattle that the republican vision of government would fundamentally cripple america. i guess he has looked at his poll numbers, decided that if he's going to get those numbers up, he's got to go to his base, and his base doesn't like republicans, huh? >> arguably, a sitting president has not been in this dire a situation in a long time, as far as reelection is concerned. the economy is going to be a major drag on his ability to turn votes around, to be able to convince folks that he has the vision going forward because of the economic situation we're in and the one in which we're

projected to be in by november 2012. if you look at this, it is not a big play for the middle. there is largely -- i mean, any analyst you talk to says independents are not going to be attracted in droves to this kind of talk from president obama on the stump. so he's clearly trying to fire up the base, and go to the left, and then likely by the time you get a candidate for the republican side, that's a different scenario, and then he'll perhaps try to go to the middle, or it could be the ugliest election we have ever seen in our lifetime. jon: real quickly, bret, the president has been talking a lot about governor perry but take a look at the florida straw poll results. which candidate came in with 37 percent of the vote in herman cain, he won that florida straw poll over the weekend, governor perry came in with 15 percent and mitt romney with 14 percent. now, perry said this was a very important race for him to win. he didn't even do half as

well as herman cain. are you surprised? >> you know, i'm not surprised in one sense. i thought herman cain had a very strong debate, i said so that night, i do think that he attracts people in a plain spoken way and he's a businessman, and while he looks vulnerable at the beginning on foreign policy, he is still attracting big crowds, and a lot of attention. it's important to remember that these straw polls, sometimes we make a lot of them, you know, michele bachmann obviously won the iowa straw poll, ron paul won in california's straw poll, her man cain, the thing that's significant is governor perry did play in this straw poll, the perry folks say, you know, it's a significant loss for mitt romney, who has largely discounted straw polls across the country. that being said, herman cain is in the equation, and it's very early, and a lot can happen before the iowa caucus. jon: very true words spoken there.

bret baier, thank you. we'll see you tonight. >> sure. jenna: on the more immediate horizon, a showdown over disaster relief spend, threatening now to shut down our federal government. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is live on capitol hill with the very latest. >> reporter: there is pressure, because fema is due to run out of disaster relief money for the texas wildfires, for hurricane irene and others in the coming days. then our federal government itself is due to run out of money at the end of the week , at the end of september, and so pressure is building on lawmakers. senator lindsey graham, a republican from south carolina, says he does not believe there will be a government shutdown, and does believe the senate has been given a reasonable option. >> the house version says that a disaster has to be dealt with, we're going to help people benefit by disasters, but we're going to start cutting government in other places where the money is not so important and i support the idea of paying for this. >> reporter: now, republicans say they do not believe that senate majority heard harry reid has the #

on votes necessary to pass the piece of legislation. he's going to have the senate vote on it late today. senator reid insists that there is a way out of this standoff. >> the government is not shutting down. i spoke to mr. fugate himself, fema is not out of money. we'll come here monday, with a -- more reasonable heads will prevail and i would hope over the weekend that the four leaders can lead their troops in the right direction. >> reporter: and that is the question at this point, whether or not harry reid has the votes, and if not, what is his plan. the complicating factor in all this is, of course, the jewish holiday, rosh hashanah that happens wednesday evening, so the lawmakers are not only going to get this done for disaster relief but try to fund our government. jenna: is anyone in the house now, in the house of representatives, or are they on recess, so if anything gets passed in the senate, is anyone there to take it

up? >> they went home. we heard from steny hoyer, the whip in the house, he changed title, they essentially believe they can do this with unanimous consent if indeed something gets done with the united states senate but house members do not want to come basket from -- back from their distincts -- districts for this vote whenever it happens. jenna: thank you, mike emanuel in d.c. today. jon: if they can't come to some kind of solution to the budget problems, one of the biggest concerns that is the toll that it could take on our military budget and our armed forces. nearly $500 billion will be cut from the military budgets, making for the smallest army and marine force necessary more than a decade. and the smallest independent tactical air force since 1947. jennifer griffin has been crunching the numbers, live at the pentagon with the latest. >> house armed service committee republicans have prepared a memo about just how devastating they say the defense cuts would be if the

supercommittee fails by the thanksgiving and then december deadline. they say that nearly 200,000 soldiers and marines would be cut, expect at least 25 percent of the civilian work force to be furloughed, at least 200,000 jobs, large impacts will be felt in virginia, texas and california, the national unemployment rate is already 9 percent, unemployment rate for iraq and afghanistan is now at 22 percent, for wounded vets, 41 percent, such cuts to the defense budget would cause the national unemployment rate to rise significantly. the pentagon and even democratic members of the armed services committee say sequestration is a sort of lease hanging over the pentagon, the 2013 fiscal budget request is 10 percent lower than this year's budget. lears defense secretary's leon panetta's warning last week. >> if this supercommittee cannot find the $1.4 trillion they're charged in terms of savings

over the next decade there will be a trigger pulled to achieve that savings. and $600 billion will come out of the defense department. if we pull that trigger, would we be shooting ourselves in the foot? >> we'd be shooting ourselves in the head. >> [laughter] >> if this supercommittee fails, the number of army battalions will go from 100 to 6o. the number of navy ships will go from 288 to 238, a reduction of two aircraft carrier battle groups, the air force would lose more than 400 fighter jets and 34 strategic bombers. house armed service was committee chairman buck mckeo -- mckeon have said if these cuts go into effect we might have to consider reinstating the draft. jon: and we're talking about what's on the horizon if the supercommittee doesn't come to an agreement. there's the shorter term continuing resolution fight in washington over fema funding that's due at the end of the month. that's a different issue. >> that's a different issue,

but the skpr committee -- supercommittee has a deadline of thanksgiving, then christmas eve. remember, the senate and house armed services and the house have to vote on this. if they fail, that's when this punishment phase comes in and it would be about a trillion dollars in cuts to the defense budget over the next ten years. jenna: -- jon: jennifer griffin, thank you. jenna: this is a tough foreshadowing of what can come if we can't get an agreement short term what does that mean for the larger agreements in the weeks ahead. jon: it's hard to believe our political leaders might not be able to come up with something to avoid all of that automatic stuff. jenna: we'll follow it every move. in the meantime this is the kind of home coming every vet deserve, an entire town showing up to welcome home their hero. our hero, really. we'll show you this special escort he received and tell you the story just ahead. jon: the man who was in the room when michael jackson died goes to face a jury this week. could we finally hear what

happened that day? also, what kind of a threat does iran pose to the united states? the u.n. address by the iranian president, and the release of two american hiker, raising some new questions.

jenna: right now, the two americans held in an iranian prison for more than two years are spending their first full day on american soil, josh fattal and shane bauer are speaking freely for the very first time, sharing some personal stories of their 780 plus days behind bars at one of iran's most infamous prisons, but their first and only official statement had a political undertone as well. take a listen: >> from the very start, the only reason we have been held hostage is because we are americans. the iranian government has tied our case to its political disputes with the u.s. >> every time we complained

about our condition, the guards would immediately remind us of comparable conditions at guantanamo bay they would remind us of cia prisons in other parts of the world and the conditions that iranians and others experience in prisons in the u.s., however, we do believe that these actions on the part of the u.s. provide an excuse for other governments, including the government of iran to act in kind. jenna: afterwards i was able to speak first with the brother of josh fattal and i asked him whether or not his brother is blaming the united states in part for their detention. >> 32 years of mutual hostilities has, you know, the relationship has deteriorated, it's a nonrelationship and that nonrelationship is what has enabled a tragedy like this to unfold, so that's really the problem here. jenna: so is there blame on both sides? >> but the blame is on iran. iran should never take them in the first place. they knew they were innocent.

jenna: as of today the two young men are out of public eye connect w-g their families. the ordeal of these two americans underscores the fact that we have no diplomatic ties with iran and those were served 30 years ago during the iranian hostage crisis where americans were held for 444 days. just for context, shane and josh were held nearly a year longer than those americans. the question we're asking today is where do we stand with iran? do we truly understand the threat that is posed and we're asking that question in part because of these americans coming back after being held in prison. joining us is alicia disari who has covered iran strepbsively -- extensively. there are so many places we can go, but one of the questions we're asking, do we fully comprehend the problems that iran poses us? >> no, we don't. iran has 1000 missiles pointed at the u.s., throughout europe. they have enough enriched uranium for six nuclear bombs and they have all the

military necessary to deliver the ball and my sources tell me within 6-8 months are ready to do so. jenna: are we prepared for that, do we have the proper defenses in place? >> no, we don't. and it's not a defense type of issue. we should have been on the offensive. look, it's not a partisan issue, the iran issue, the nuclear threat that iran poses, the ideological threat that iran pose social security not going to differentiate between republican and democrat once a bomb hits. and basically, iran has been very clear about their nuclear ambition, they've been very clear about how they express their ideology through terrorism proxies, by supporting hezbollah, through supporting the afghani insurgency, through supporting the crackdown on its people, and we just sit back and let mem thraeu -- them play out the clock and become even more prepared to deliver the nuclear weapons. jenna: if all you're saying is true, why aren't we

listening, why aren't we hearing what's actually going on in iran right now? i -- >> i mean, the facts are there, the government has everything it needs to do to be prepared and do something, but we haven't done anything to support the people, and you know, nuclear bomb -- a nuclear bomb is not dangerous until you have a government crazy enough to push that button. it's like a car is not dangerous until you have a drunk driver behind the wheel, and in this case we definitely have that drunk driver. if you look in pakistan, israel, the u.s., they ul a have it, but the question is will iran deliver that weapon. they've been very clear about their intentions to take israel off the map, to destruct the u.s., they've been very clear about -- >> jenna: you mentioned some of that -- that list is almost overwhelm to go take in. >> right. jenna: we've heard this before, i've had these types of conversations before and you mentioned something

interesting about being on the offensive instead of the defense. it's interesting to hear young americans talk about our diplomatic ties and it seems to insinuate we're partially at fault for where we are with iran. >> it's really upsetting, it was very upsetting hearing them point fingers at our administration when in fact they should be so grateful. the fact that they're american is why they were freed. i talked to somebody who was in prison, i talked to him yesterday, and the only thing you can say is they're lucky they were americans. these hikers acknowledged yesterday, the crackdowns, the brew total that was going on at the prison, i mean, yesterday was a day of gratitude, and this naive ideology, this moral equivalency to say the iranian regime but we're bad, too, no. this wouldn't have happened to you if you were hiking at yosemite. you need to wake up and realize that. this naivete is what possessed them to go hiking in that area to begin with and it's so alarming to me that after two years, they did not realize that this is a difference in ideology,

and that's the american people and our administration, what they should understand. jenna: sorry to interrupt. one of the things they mentioned was -- the hikers mentioned hearing screams of torture from down the hall and it's interesting that you bring up that maybe if they weren't americans, that might have been something that they experienced in the prison. how can we be more offensive with iran, how can we be more direct with making sure that, number one, this doesn't happen again to our own citizens, but also to make sure that the fate of iran, which talks about the nuclear weapons, are actually not waged on our country? >> the biggest threat obviously is the nuclear stance, that's what we're worried about. if we take better action against this regime, we'll be more secure about them using these weapons against us. one of the things that we can do, we can enforce the sanctions better. they've worked but they can work better. we've been a bit lazy and sat back on enforcing the sanctions. the biggest thing we can do in the case of iran is support the people. we have 70 million people

that could be our allies, in 2009, we were naive again and instead of putting support behind the of iran, president obama sent a letter to try to negotiate with them and we've got to wake up and realize the word negotiate will not help us in this case. jenna: lisa, i know you're an award winning journalist, who has traveled extensively in that area and have covered it extensively. we appreciate your insights and look forward to having you back on. >> thank you. jon: there is new information about a deadly attack targeting americans in afghanistan. what investigators are learning about the government after a second attack on a u.s. facility in kabul in two weeks. plus, one marine's well-deserved home coming to a community that absolutely loves him. >> we're overwhelmed to have this many people turn out for the one hero. >> for a young man to come home in that condition, that's what he needs, he needs to know people still care for him.

jon: fox news is learning new details about a deadly overnight attack in kabul, it is the second high profile attack in that city in two weeks. an afghan employees, working inside an office used by our cia opened fire on american citizens. national correspondent catherine herridge is in our d.c. bureau with more information on what happened. catherine. >> reporter: a u.s. official confirms to fox an afghan who worked for the u.s. government was behind the shooting that killed one american and injured another in a building used by the cia. what we know is that at 8:00 local time last evening the afquan who was -- afgoon who was not authorized to carry a weapon opened fire on his colleagues. what's not clear is the motive and how he managed to get the dunn into -- the gun into the secured area, the haqqani network, the network

behind this assault on the 24-hour seige and headquarters in kabul is high on the list of suspects. the incident which left 20 afghans dead but no u.s. personnel has plunged the relations to new lows. the chairman of the joint chiefs applicably accusing pakistan's intelligence service of complicit. >> the haqqani network for one acts as a veritable arm of pakistan's internal services intelligence agency, with isi support, haqqani operatives planned and conducted that truck bomb attack, as well as the assault on our embassy. >> reporter: in prepared testimony for capitol hill, the outgoing chairman's drew connections between this attack on the intercontinental hotel in late june and haqqani network, as well as a truck bombing earlier this month that killed five afghans and injured 77 u.s. soldiers. the head of the powerful senate and intelligence committee senator dianne feinstein is asking the state department to list

haqqani network as a terrorist organization and now leading republican lindsey graham is calling for u.s. aid to pakistan to be cut or pulled all together, and the bottom line for folks at home is that what we're looking at now is the last three high profile attacks on u.s. or western interests in afghanistan have been led or supported by the haqqani network and that has been said publicly for the first time by senior u.s. officials, jon. jon: that is a very ominous situation. >> reporter: it is. jon: catherine, thank you. >> you're welcome. jenna: a bit of a lighter note here, a wounded warrior, getting a warm welcome from his virginia home town and as you're about to see, about everyone turned out for their local hero and hero for all of us, j.b.kerns lost limbs in afghanistan and when he came home, hundreds of bikers met him, leading past bridges and streets lined with american flags and emotional neighbors. kerns, simply overwhelmed by the massive show of support.

>> it feels really good to be home, and you know, it's an honor to come from a town like this, that gives such great support. i mean, you all don't know what it means to me. i know that everybody here is here for me. jenna: what a brave man. so far, the community has raised more than $50,000 to help kerns and his family with his medical bills. jon: it is absolutely great to see the town turn out like that, to support that young marine. jenna: so true. jon: wow. a satanic she devil, harsh words in an italian courtroom for amanda knox, the american convicted of killing her roomate. we'll get reaction from one of her lawyers and find out how these explosive words are affecting her chances of walking out of prison. that's what she hopes for. plus, still time to vote for today's must-see moment where you our viewers get to

choose. will it be the surfing dog's championship? some really big pumpkins. or babicy beeran tigers. stick around for today's winner. of offices, slashing service, and want to lay off over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it.

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he'lling a town hall meeting in silicon valley and later attending several fundraising events. ed henry is traveling with the president, he's live from mountain view, california right now. >> reporter: you come out to the west coast, you hobnob with celebrities a little bit. last night the president here in the san jose area met briefly with singer lady gaga who is a supporter of the president. in seattle before that the president was with nba legend bill russell raising a bit of money. aids say he'll bring in millions over the next couple of days here out on the west coast. also he's trying to test out his message for 2012 as he sells that jobs plan. bottom line is in recent weeks we've seen the president trying to bring back in some of those independent voters who have been fleeing from him, and he's doing that by trying to reach out to republicans saying he's working with them, try to bring in some moderate voters. now we see a bit of a shift out here over the last couple of days that the president has been

giving some of these speeches at fundraisers in trying to rally his liberal base, he did this saturday night in washington at the congressional black caucus dinner when he days i can lee said stop complaining, stop whining, in his words, take off the bedroom slippers and put on the marching shoes, get pinned him east pushes back against republicans. we heard the same theme ned in shuttle. >> i need you guys to shake off any doldrums. i need you to decide right here and right now, and i need you to talk to your friends and neighbors and coworkers. you need too tell them u kno you know what, we are not finished yet. we have more work to tkofrpblgts here at the computer history museum in a couple of hours the president will have a town hall meeting with the networking site

linkedin. last week the president was at since in the tee at that bridge, now here for the town hall meeting. no matter what the backdrop is the president is having a hard time in their estimation selling the jobs plan. in the state of california, unemployment in the state 12.1%, three points worse than the national average. greg: thee at tricks are always so important to this and any white house. we see the video of the president meeting with a basketball legend, bill russell but we don't see the president meeting with the lady who wears meat dresses in public, tpwa, lady gaga. >> reporter: we don't have the pictures because that fund-raiser was closed to cameras. we got a report she was wearing a black dress not a meat dress. greg: you don't want to hug the president when you're wearing a meat dress, i'm just guessing.

>> reporter: i don't think the secret service would like that either. martha: i like you and ed talking about gaga's fashion. greg: i don't spend a great deal of my time cataloguing her wardrobe. i did know about the meat dress. martha: that was good. as the president tries firing up his base in california, the gop rifles ar gopriva rivals are trying to get the top spot. >> reporter: herman cain got more votes than mitt romney and rick perry behind. perry and romney were in a close third. some are calling this a fluke. of course not cane he says it's time that people stop viewing this as a two-man race. >> in florida these were delegates making the call.

they were making the call based upon who they saw as the person with the most substance in their message. that's why i believe that i'm resonating, and the establishment and awful these other people, sooner or later they'll have to get out of denial and recognize that my message is what is resonating with the people who are going to actually cast the votes. >> reporter: today the perry campaign is on the attack put out a new web video pointing out romney's position on health insurance mandates and how romney changed the wording on that issue between the time that his book came out in hard copy and then in paperback. the romney campaign is busy going off perry on immigration. that issue seemed to be really tough for him during the debate thursday night. in fact some of the straw poll delegates, his position against a border fence, and in-state tuition for illegal immigrants cost him their vote in florida.

we hear next week herman cain will also sit down with the donald. trump met with perry a couple of weeks ago and reportedly said he was very impressed. martha: no lady gaga. >> reporter: we do not hear that she's going to meet with any of the gop candidates. martha: we'll take donald trump in the meantime. always nice to have you. greg: attorneys for amanda knox are about to make their closing arguments in her appeals trial and the stakes are higher than ever before. prosecutors are now asking the court to actually increase knox' sentence. right now she's been sentenced to 26 years or she is serving that sense. sentence. they want life for the murder of her roommate in tpwefp 2007. joining us now theodore simon one of amanda's attorneys. ted, give us some information about how the italian system

works. in this country you wouldn't see prosecutors pushing for an increase in a sentence after that sentence has already been handed down, would you? >> no you would -- normally you would not. it is theoretically possible in the u.s. for that to happen, that is only more recently with the advent of the federal sentencing guidelines. more importantly here i saw how you opened with the early part of the show in talking about the horrific adjectives that were being used against a manned today, anamanda, and i think that takes us back to an old lawyer's adage, when the facts are against you argue the law and when the law is against you argue the facts. but here the facts, the law, the science, and even the court appointed independent experts are squarely against the prosecution. so sadly the prosecution is now resorting to invoking inflammatory terms, and character assassination, all are

not an adequate substitute for the true facts of the case that are profoundly absent. greg: she was referred to by a devil by this guy who was a lawyer for one of the other people who has been convicted in the case, right? >> true. some of the characterization -rs not onls, but civil parties that are part of the criminal case get a chance to participate and argue and that has what been going on today. greg: what is the situation now, they are in closing arguments. when does she find out whether or not the court will agree to release her? >> well the court of course ultimately will make the final determination. today and tomorrow there will be further prosecution-type closing arguments from the civil parties. wednesday and thursday raphael's

lawyers will argue followed by amanda's argument, and there after the court will have opportunity for rebuttal argument, and a decision. but i think when we look at the evidence case it will only be fairly characterized as absent, nonexistent, unreliable, or just simply inaccurate, so we're hoping that the court, which has involved itself in a s searching inquiry into the facts of the case and the clear absence of facts will render a decision that will bring her home. you mentioned the prosecution's request for a life sentence. this is another example of what we think is overreaching and an unjustified attempt to vilify amanda. what you have here is no evidence. the prosecution has conceded there is no motive. so how does no evidence and no motive equate to a conviction, let alone a request for a life

sentence, and one to includ. greg: it's a strange and disturbing case. we'll continue to watch it as you await the final ruling of the court. theodore simon, thank you very much. martha: he was michael jackson's private doctor when the king of pop died. he is facing manslaughter charges in his death. we're going to head to los angeles where dr. murray's trial is about to get underway.

megyn: i'm megyn kelly. herman cane stunned when he won the florida straw poll. can he parlay his big win into something more? he joins me live at 2:15. they went to plea test the big banks on wall street. they wound up with mace in the face. 80 people are under arrest, it's

all caught on camera, we have the tape, but does that cape show the whole story in "kelly's court"? republican students at uc berkeley want to hold a bake sale charging different amounts depending on race. we'll discuss that at 1:00. martha: opening arguments in the manslaughter trial of dr. conrad murray begin tomorrow in los angeles. right now there is last-minute courtroom stuff going on. what is going on there today and what are we expecting for this week ahead? >> reporter: yeah, both sides in the courtroom as we speak, some pretrial motions are being filed right now, evidence that they want admitted into the trial. these are mainly some housekeeping issues that they want to get done today, because this judge is keeping a very tight schedule here.

as you said the opening statements set to begin tomorrow at 8:45, and the judge admonishing both sides this is going to start tomorrow. the jurors, which they were picked on friday, they will be reporting tomorrow very early in the morning. 80 perspective jurors were actually interviewed in the voir dire process, it was a one-on-one interview. get this this was completed in less than six hours. we have a panel of seven men and four women on this panel. they range in age from 32 to 57. different professions. they are a paralegal, a mail carrier, a bus driver just to name a few. the jury will be deciding whether dr. conrad murray is criminally negligent in this case, did he administer the lethal doze of propofol to michael jackson. he faces up to 4 years in prison in convicted. the attorneys say this could last up to five weeks. some 80 outlets from across the world have registered with the

county courts here to cover this trial. we expect this to be a very big case here in los angeles. back to you guys. martha: a big story and we're glad you're on it. bob decastro of kttv. greg: new controversy over religion as one of america's most present presents schools. a policy is picking up a major fuss on campus. john roerbts is live in our atlanta bureau. some are saying this is an assault on christiana taoefplt ichristianity. >> reporter: vanderbilt is threatening groups if they don't change their cons fusion. the christian league sal society has in its constitution, a provision that requires, here it is up on the screen.

each officer is expected to lead bible study, prayer and worship at chapter meetings. vanderbilt university says that language which requires certain believes among leaders is discriminatory and violates the school's nondiscrimination policy. the direct he shall says, quote vanderbilt policies do not allow this expectation, sraul tpaoeu indication for officers. this has given rise to accusations, some of them published in op ed pieces that vanderbilt is flirting with religious sue prison. according to the president of the christian legal society the policy is actually discriminatory against religious groups. here is what he told me. >> if the university says that christian organizations can't have bible studies and prayer meetings essentially it removes the core of what christian organizations do. >> reporter: he told me he is trying to work with vanderbilt university to change the constitution. he says he will not take out that provision about bible studies, prayer tkpwroups and

worship, jon. greg: what is the university's response to all this? >> reporter: we contacted the university, we wanted to speak with officials directly and on camera about the student organizations concerns. they refused, they gave us a written statement. here are a couple of pertinent things from the university. we are committed to making our campus a welcoming environment for all of our students. as to the 0 offending organizations that risk shut down we continue to work with them to achieve compliance. the catholic organization came into compliance by watering down the constitution where leaders have to be undergraduate students at vanderbilt university. the christian legal society says you can't go that far. greg: john roberts reporting live from atlanta, thank you. martha: made in america and then shipped to china. we'll tell you about a new problem fashion the farming industry right here in the u.s.

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martha: it is america's third largest crop by value, but hay is actually in short supply. we spoke about this a little earlier in the show when we talked about the massive drought in texas and what problems that is causing for the hay industry. one of the major problems is the cost of trucking hay across the country is more expensive than shipping it to china and it's leading to a big spike in overseas sales and a serious problem at home. casey stegall is live with more on this story. >> reporter: it's a complex issue but one that boils down to simple economics. and as it turns out exporting hay, particularly to asian markets is becoming a big business here in california,

really a double-edged sword. some are faring well, others not so much. the golden state is known for growing eye quality alfalfa hay. that is in extremely high demand for countries lack being the infrastructure to feed their dairy cows. simply put, think about all of the goods that we import from china, that country sends more things to us and we send to them, which is why exporters see this as a golden opportunity. >> it's partly driven by the imbalance of trade with asia where we have lots of empty containers going back to the asian ports. this makes it very cost effective to serve hay to asia. >> reporter: now while this is good news for the hay growers it's a big problem for dairy farmers. hay prices are at an all time high right now nearly doubling

in the past two years and dairy farmers used to spend half of what they earn on their feed. now that figure is nearly 70%, and some can barely afford to operate. >> for every one dollar worth of feed we would have a $2 income off the cow. that number has been sliced below a dollar 50 which is to break even. i don't think at this current time i'm making anything. >> reporter: this is having a big impact in california, this is the number-one dairy producing state in all of the koub country. because the dairy farmers are hemorrhaging they say they will not just eat the costs and eventually they could be passed along to the consumer. people like you and i could be paying higher prices for dairy at the supermarkets. that's why us city folk should care. martha: a lot of us city folk should care about that. good point, casey, and a very interesting story.

casey staoeg he will focasey staoeg hstegall in l.a. for us today. greg: we will be right back with more "happening now." at bayer, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief. with new extra-strength bayer advanc aspirin. it has microparticles, enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief to the site of pain. it's clinically proven to relieve pain ice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables

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