>> good to be here republican candidates are trying to crisscross the state to get the voters. steve brown is live in des moines with a look at that. so what are we talking about ground game, steve, what does that mean? >> reporter: jon, traditionally when you talk about a contest, a nomination contest it usually is a primary you have all days or several days or weeks to cast a vote. you have to be all in one place at one time for a caucus. 7:00 on january 3rd at almost 1800 different locations around the state. if you have troubling gathering your three kids like my three kids to get them going in one direction try to do with a couple of thousand or tens of thousands. you get an idea how difficult it is to coordinate. by acclamation the ron paul

campaign has got the best ground game out there. they have been at it for a very long time and it is kind of unglamorous sort of stuff. signing up people at events. maintaining contact. urging them to reach out to the friends and neighbors to show up on caucus night. it is very labor intensive sort of thing. the good news, campaigns without a lot of money, if they have got time they can compete here. jon? jon: does that mean ron paul is likely to see the most voters out if he has the good ground game, he has done a good job positioning himself that way? >> reporter: he has a base of support and poll numbers suggest that is growing. you have a good ground name out here. and he has money actually to run television ads. they have been very slick out here. he has been out here doing it for months with all these sorts of things. he is positioned really well to run in the caucuses. i haven't run across the iowa that suggests that ron paul will fall out of the top three. some folks believe if

turnout is low he is a winner on caucus night. jon: steve brown in iowa. thank you very much. >> reporter: you're welcome. julie: right now in syria arab league observers wrapping up their very first day on of the ground prompting the withdrawal of government tanks from the city of olms. site of deadliest violence in the nine-month long uprising. activists say four people were killed in early morning violence. there is a new report of a massive protest in that city. leland vitter is live in jerusalem with the latest. leland, what is going on right now? >> reporter: julie the very good news coming out of today appierce syrian government is using tear gas instead o artillery which is an improvement albeit small one. earlier today the syrian tanks headed out of the city where the revolution began ad the site of the biggest protests. the tanks and armored person until carriers pulling out which had been attacking

entire neighborhoods and indiscrimminantly killing people was certainly a welcome sight in the country. 70,000 people took to the streets so celebrate. only couple days ago 70,000 people on the streets would have been shelled from high top hills with heavy artillery. this is something that is positive. we're told the arab league observe. >> made their way into there and people are talking to them the who are -- horrors of what they endured during the syrian army siege. julie: anyone think these observers can accomplish anything, leland? >> reporter: so far the proof is the fact that the tanks are pulling out. observers are unarmed and they don't have any power to stop the violence. they can't tell the syrian army, no, i'm sorry you can't do that. they can be independent arbiters of information. since foreign journalists are banned from inside syria that is something new and will be very welcome there.

according to the arab league there will be about 500 of these observers that will go in. we're hearing already they're being overwhelmed with stories of people what is going on inside the country but the bad news is they may only be able to stay there a month because they are at the guests of the syrian government. julie, back to you. julie: leland vittert, thank you very much. we appreciate it. jon: from the violence in syria to political turmoil in yemen and questions whether washington will allow yemen's outgoing president into the united states for medical treatment. president ali abdul raw saleh made the request after injuries he received during the an attack on his compound in june. kelly wright is in washington. what does the white house say about saleh's request to come to america? >> reporter: so far on this matter concerning yemen's president, ali abdullah saleh, we heard from the deputy white house press secretary joshen heft.

i'm quoting him. they are considering president saleh's address entering the country for the sole purpose of seeking medical treatment. initial reports the permission has already been granted are not true. for the obama administration there is lot to consider here. do they accept the request of a leader who is embroiled in a political crisis which has brought his government to the brink of collapse? the white house could receive a lot of criticism if they choose to allow saleh to come here even for medical reasons,. jon: what's the extent of his medical condition. why does he need to come to the u.s.? he was already treated in saudi arabia right? >> reporter: you're exactly right. he went to riyadh to be treated for injuries. a report in the "new york times" says saleh is still dealing with physical problems from the previous attack on his life. he has lingering injuries from a bomb blast that caused shrapnel wounds and extensive burns. plus the major medical problem he appears to be having according to this report is inner ear damage

that makes it hard for him to keep his equalibrium and his balance. saleh was injured in a near-fatal bomb blast in june at a mosque at his presidential compound. saleh has been another arab leader that has been under fire since thousands of protesters filled the streets request violence and bloodly clashes with security forces there. demonstrators have been demanding that he step down. for the obama administration as we mentioned there is still so much to consider here, jon. jon: kelly wright, live in washington. thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. julie: russian prime minister vladmir putin speaking out for the very first time since massive protest over the weekend in a speech for supporters putin says the protesters lack clear goals rather than implementing concrete ideas. putin also saying it was impossible to overturn recent parliamentary elections but promised more transparencisy in march's presidential election which he is running. jon: the trial of an alleged

cia spy begins in iran today. this according to iranian state television. he is accused of trying it infiltrate iran's intelligence services. he was born in arizona but is of iranian origin. his father, who lives in michigan, says he is not a spy and was in iran visiting his grandparents when he was arrested. the u.s. government says he was falsely accused. julie: well the u.n. and iraqi government starting relocation of 3,000 iranian exiles from a camp in northeastern iraq to camp liberty a former military base near baghdad international airport. the people known as mek or the people's mujahadeen organization is committed to overthrow the iranian government. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is live in washington. jennifer, the state department and others welcomed this agreement but there is still one major problem, right? >> reporter: that's right. the biggest problem they're still on the state

department's foreign terrorist organization list, placed there by president bill clinton at the time the state department and the white house were trying to engage iran. even condoleezza rice worried about taking them off for fear of agitating iran. >> in order to keep them on that list you have to demonstrate a desire and capability to harm u.s., u.s. citizens, u.s. interests and that doesn't exist. and by the way, when we disarmed them in 2003 and 2004, the department of justice and the fbi interviewed each and everyone of them. that is before we gave them the guarantee for protection and said they're not terrorists. >> reporter: if they remain on the state department terror list they can't be resettled in the u.s. or europe even if they are moved to camp liberty and offered resettlement by the u.n., julie. >> jennifer, are they terrorists?. >> reporter: not according to those who have retired from national security positions since 9/11. >> i've watched the mek and

its activities on iran's nuclear weapons program when i served in the bush administration and they had had considerable information about that program that was important to get out publicly. now i don't think that justifies removing them from the terrorism list. >> reporter: the mek is on the list because their members carry you had out some bombings in the 1970s against the u.s. embassy and reportedly killed u.s. diplomats during the period of the shah. that was more than 30 years ago. they have not threatened americans or western interests in more than 30 years. some argue they are the best weapon the u.s. has against iran. they revealed the natanz iranianian enrichment facility in 2004 and iranians have accused them behind the assassination of iran's nuclear scientists that are killed with package bombs that keep mysteriously blowing up outside their homes. julie? julie: jennifer griffin, thanks so much.

jon: there are new details to bring you about a christmas tragedy in connecticut. that raging fire that killed three little girls and their grandparents. we have new details what authorities think might have caused it. budget battles between congress and the white house. think merely shout down government three times during 2011. where are the spending cuts both sides say they wanted? we'll take a closer look coming up. 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.

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julie: fox news alert. we have brand new information on the cause of a christmas tragedy in connecticut. the mayor of stamford is speaking out about the fire that killed five family members. rick folbaum has the very latest. hi, rick. >> hi, julie. folks in the new york city tristate area still grappling with the christmas tragedy. five family members killed in the fire. three sisters and their grandparents visiting for the holidays unable to escape when flames suddenly ripped through the house. two people managed to get out.

the mother of the girls who is also the daughter of the older couple killed and someone who is described as her male acquaintance. there is a sad irony also regarding the grandfather who died, lomar johnson. he spent his entire career as safety and security chief for a big liquor company in kentucky. it was his job to plan fire drills and make sure everyone at the company knew what to do in case of an imagine emergency. the terrible fate for this family. you mentioned new developments. we're getting word from the mayor and fire officials in stamford, connecticut, that a problem with the fireplace in the house led to the deadly flames. foul play has been ruled out. that house, by the way, as you can see from these pictures, has been torn down. the mayor says, with all the people coming to the site, to pay their respects the house because considered to be too dangerous to be allowed to remain standing. back to you. julie: such a sad story. rick folbaum. thank you so much. jon? jon: this year now, drawing to a close was marked by a series of budget battles

between congress and the white house. we covered them thoroughly. you know about them but as the dust settles on 2011 the big question is now what happened to the spending cuts? it turns out there weren't any. the federal government is expected to grow, the federal budget i should say is expected to grow in 2012. so how did this happen? let's bring in steve moore the senior economics writer for "the wall street journal" the piece you wrote, steve, was astounding. all of this battling over the budget and the cuts we're going to make and threatening to shut down the government and you say we didn't cut a dime from the federal budget? >> yeah. it's an amazing story, jon. it has really been overshadowed the last few weeks by the payroll tax controversy but i think this is the big story of 2011 is that, as you correctly said, we had two near-government shutdowns. we had the downgrading of the u.s. debt. remember that happened in august. we had, remember, jon, the super-committee that was supposed to cut a trillion dollars out of the budget.

don't forget a year ago we had an election where republicans said they would cut $100 billion out of the budget. here we are at the end of the year, by my calculations backed up by the senate budget committee looks like we didn't cut one penny of the budget. looks like we're going to have 50 to $100 billion increase in government spending in 2012 which you asked the right question, what happened? jon: well, what did happen? you say there are a couple of players who you might ask that question of? >> well, first of all what happened was that neither side wanted to cut, especially the obama administration, didn't want to make any of those cuts in the big programs, jon. medicare, medicaid, social security, what i call the big boulders of the budget which are really the engine of this huge deficit we have. but then they couldn't reach a agreement on the super-committee. so that was a trillion dollars of savings we didn't realize. when it came down to it the republicans didn't cut any spending programs. they didn't cut the corporation for public broadcasting.

they didn't cut the department of energy. they didn't cut the department of education. they didn't cut virtually any programs. what i was astounded finding, jon, out of thousands of programs in the federal budget which is three inches thick, there were only 20 small programs that were terminated out of thousands of programs. so it was budget business as usual in washington this year. jon: how long has it been since the senate passed a budget? >> well, that's the other amazing story, jon. we're getting close to three years since the united states senate passed a budget. when you think about it, this is the one thing the congress is constitutionally responsible for doing is passing a budget. the senate has done that in i think it is over 800 days. the house did, as you recall, jon, pass the paul ryan budget back in april. the senate never acted which means, if you're not going to pass a budget, how can you prioritize what spending, what money you will spend things for and what you're going to cut. jon: is thomas jefferson

rolling over in his grave right now? seems astounding that this country hasn't even passed a budget in almost three years? >> it is especially astounding, jon, when you consider 2012, according to my calculations again, backed up by the senate budget committee, we are going to borrow another one trillion dollars in 2012. so that means in four years, jon, federal deficits will equal $5 trillion. when i came to washington by the way, jon, in the early 1980s, the entire federal debt was only 2 or $3 trillion. we have added $5 trillion in the last four years. that is amazing when you think about it. more borrowing in four years than the united states government borrowed from 1776 through the year 2,000. jon: harry reid barely hung on to his job last time around. he did squeak by to win re-election. he is still the senate majority leader. you say his strategy all along was to play defense against the fiscal revolutionaries who came

into office? >> i think that's exactly right, jon. it is what i call a prevent defense. from the football. that is exactly what harry reid was trying to do. resist any spending cuts. when the tea party fervor was at its greatest, kind of resist this, delay it as much as possible. here we are a year later. no cuts. it is interesting, jon, i think you're going to have a lot of very frustrated tea party people. i think you will have a very frustrated people who are just taxpayers, who think this debt is a real crisis. this is one reason, jon, there is more and more talk about a third party candidate, possibly in these 2012 elections, taking up the mantle of debt reduction and government downsizing which is something that has not happened in a long time in washington. jon: a lot of anger out there directed at the so-called professional politicians who spend decade after decade in office and not getting the job done. >> that's that's exactly why we've we need term limits.

i've been for term limits for 20 years. the longer they serve in washington the less likely they are to take on the spending constituencies in washington. that is the title of my piece. washington fought a war against spending and spending won. jon: i'm sorry to be laughing. it is just unbelievable. an eye-opening piece in "the wall street journal." steve moore, senior economics writer there. >> thank you so much, jon. julie: a search for a missing 9-year-old girl ends in tragedy. police find the body of aliahna lemmon. news on a subject that had close ties to the girl's family. >> this is the individual she was living with for the last week. he was friends of the family. many different interviews. we can't say too much more. i can say it was the third interview and detectives and fbi did an excellent job talking to him and getting him to work with them and bring us to the conclusion we've come to. so compelling?

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julie: just in. the man accused in the death of a 9-year-old indiana girl in court this morning. little aliahna lemmon was staying with a family friend days before christmas. now that man is in custody and facing murder charges, gruesome murder charges after the missing girl's body was found on monday. david lee miller is following this heartbreaking story from our new york newsroom. david, what is happening in court this morning? >> reporter: well this is indeed a gruesome story. the man accused of aliahna's murder, 39-year-old michael plumadore was in court this morning for an initial appearance. he will be back in court within 72 hours. he is being held without bond. the police had an affidavit and it said that plumadore admitted to killing 9-year-old aliahna, beating her to death with a brick,

stuffing her in trash bags. he hid her in the freezer in his trailer where he lived. he then chopped up her body with a hacksaw and this is where the story becomes particularly gruesome. according to the affidavit he hid parts of her body, head and feet in a freezer in his home. other remains were hidden nearby. the allen county sheriff's department talked last night with reporters shortly after plumadore was taken into does it did i. >> this is the individual she was living with last week. she was friends of the family. many different interviews. i can't say much more now but i can tell you it was third interview detectives and the fbi did an excellent job talking to him and getting him to work with them and bring us to the conclusion we've come to. >> reporter: aliahna's grandmother defended plumadore before the discovery of her body saying she didn't think he was capable of this type of

crime. julie, we should add while he was allegedly dismembering the little girl's body, aliahna's two 6-year-old sisters, a sister and half-sister, reportedly in his care. he was taking care of them as well as aliahna when he allegedly murdered the 9-year-old girl. julie: doesn't get sicker than that. we're also hearing more disturbing information where this little girl lived. >> reporter: that's right. the little girl and the man now accused with her murder lived in a trailer park in fort wayne. there were about 42 single-wide trailers at this location. and there are reports now that in the trailer park there were 15 registered sex offenders. according to one report, one of the individuals on that sex offender list was recently deceased grandfather of 9-year-old alley unn there are reports that the recently deceased grandfather who had a conviction of child molestation was friends with plumadore, the individual

now charged with the 9-year-old's murder. julie? julie: david lee miller, thank you so much. jon. jon: just an awful, awful story. all right, coming up, forget the gulf, forget alaska. you could be seeing your next great oil frontier in, get this, ohio. getting all that liquid gold out of the ground could be tough. why some people want to stop oil companies from making the attempt. and millions of americans are hitting the road heading home after their holiday celebrations. the travel forecast coming up on fox. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. jon: wow, you can tell it is the week after christmas because there are a lot of color bars on the board here in acquisitions. this is the room where we take in satellite feeds from all over the country, all over the world, frankly not a lot going on. remote 209 there is a rick perry meet and greet we call it. he is in council bluffs, iowa. all of the republican candidates scrambling across the state trying to shake as many hands as they possibly can. rick perry getting ready to do it there. on remote 260 there is shot of the u.s. capitol building under gray skies.

rain will be factor in the northeast. maybe snow heading for new york, pennsylvania and other parts of the northeast. maria molina will be taking a look at the that from the fox weather center. julie: jon -- >> jon, that's right. we have a little rainmaker in the northeast. a little snow possible as we head into the dinner hour across portions of the northeast but primarily not a lot of snow. this will be a rain event and wind event. winds sustained 20 to 30 miles per hour later on tonight and wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour. this is not good news anyone trying to head into the northeast for to see the ball drop in new york city. trying to make it in time before new year's eve. we're not looking good today. we'll look at some travel delays. on the backside of the system we're seeing snow coming down across portions of the city of detroit. along portions of indiana as colder air push the rain into snow. that is what is happening in the northeast. you will see the precipitation start off as

rain. it is not raining in new york city but it is quickly heading in your direction. we'll see interior portions the northeast and start to see snow later on tonight by 6:00 p.m. tuesday. as the system quickly heads towards the northeast we'll expect most of rain to be done across the d.c., new york city area by midnight tonight. the known coming down across interior portions of the northeast. quickly heading out by wednesday afternoon. we expect most of the precipitation to be done in the northeast. pacific northwest if you're doing traveling out there today, tomorrow even as we head into thursday you're looking at big-time travel delays out there with rain and snow. how much are we talking about? two to four inches along interior portions of the northeast there is one little spot that could see up to more snow, up to eight inches right off lake erie. keep an eye on that that could be posing travel difficulties. like we mentioned mostly a rainmaker from the northeast down into florida. jon?

jon: so, maria, if my daughter has to make an appearance in upstate new york this evenings, i probably better make sure the snow tires are in good shape? >> or get a poncho, some rain boots, yep. jon: i'll come by your office later and check on the exact forecast for that county. thanks, maria. >> sounds good. julie: campaign blitzes all across iowa exactly one week before the all-important caucus, the very first contest of course in the presidential race. gop candidates flooding the airwaves spending millions of dollars on ads and zipping around the hawkeye state by bus trying to drum up support. the editor of campaigns and elections magazine. shane, thank you very much for talking to us. so i guess that's the answer. what's going to drive candidates to success in iowa this election year? money? >> yeah, it is really interesting because this is such a different campaign in iowa than we've seen in

cycles past. typically the conventional wisdom you win iowa by spending the most time on the ground, shaking the most hands, doing the most campaign appearances. you know, that narrative is really flipped on its head this cycle. the candidates who have spent the most time in iowa, folks like rick santorum and michele bachmann, who have been on the ground really a great deal have not had the sort of traction that you might expect for candidates who have spent the most time there. so, this has been driven by televised debates. it has been driven by a lot of television ads and money on the airwaves. it is such a different dynamic and will be fascinating to see what wins out come caucus night. julie: gop presidential candidates and political action committees that back them together have spent more than $10 million in advertising in radio and television. in iowa this month alone. seems it doesn't really matter if you spend time there or not because mitt romney really hasn't invested too much time in iowa.

he spent $2.85 million and he seems to be doing pretty well there. in fact the front runner. >> yeah, you know, it's interesting because i think this is precursor to what we'll see throughout the primary season in the sense that the super pacs that you mentioned that have come in, ones that are supporting specific candidates, and then candidates who are dumping a lot of money on the airwaves themselves. i think that's going to continue to drive the narrative. it will continue to do that through new hampshire and south carolina. as long as this primary goes. in terms of romney and iowa and new hampshire, the key for mitt romney, hey, if he wins the iowa caucus, great. he is really very much on his way to winning the nomination and perhaps wrapping it up quickly if he does but the key is not to see victory by somebody like newt gingrich. mitt romney would love nothing more if ron paul won the caucuses if he can't win them. julie: actually you mentioned newt gingrich. i got to bring him up because he has pretty much thrown out all traditional practices when it comes to campaigning. boy the amount of money he

spent compared to the rest of the gop candidates is a measely amount. $476,000 he has spent so far. this campaigning strategy of newt gingrich's, what do you think? >> i think it very much remains to be seen whether or not it's going to pay off. i mean newt gingrich is somebody who makes no secret of the fact he does not like the political consulting class. he does not like the, hired guns as he has called them. and he wants to run this campaign his own way and he has run this campaign his own way. i think he has made a lot of mistakes along the way. i think if you get into a long and drawn out primary fight where it could be a slugfest between him and mitt romney and ron paul and perhaps another candidate for three, four states, that's where organization is really key. and newt gingrich simply doesn't have the organization. you go down to a state like virginia, he couldn't even get on the ballot. >> in some polls actually they have ron paul on top there in iowa. a lot of people are believing that the weather will have a lot to do whether people go out or not.

perhaps his young followers will go out there and trek in the cold conditions and they don't mind that but what about rick santorum and michele bachmann? they have both actually spent a lot of time there, as so has ron paul. seems they can't get any traction there. why is that? what is rick santorum and michele bachmann doing wrong in iowa? >> you know what i think it is? i think, rick santorum, michele bachmann and also rick perry to a certain extent at this point, they're trying to coalesce the evangelical support in iowa. that support was in 2008 unified behind mike huckabee and that was obviously key to his victory there. so far this cycle there just hasn't been a candidate who is really excited the evangelical base of the party in iowa and you know, some folks look at santorum, bachmann, perry, see some decent choices but they haven't coalesced around anyone. nobody is engendering that sort of passion that mike huckabee did in 2008. so i think they're splitting that vote, which if it was united behind one candidate

would be very powerful in iowa. julie: i want to jump ahead to the new hampshire primary since i have you here and talk about the strategy that's going on there. newt gingrich in particular because we're talking about, i don't know, a different sort of campaign style. in new hampshire mitt romney seems to be the clear winner. in fact, you know, gnutti point, it was unclear as to whether he was going to have nearly enough backing to romney. he is sending five more leaders in new hampshire to do work in the next week or some what do you make of his move in new hampshire and does even stand a chance up against mitt romney. >> what happens in new hampshire julie, depends on what happens in iowa. if mitt romney can somehow win the caucuses or come a very close second or possibly a tie with somebody like a ron paul he goes into new hampshire, a state where he has led for months and months now very, very strong and i don't see a scenario where he loses new

hampshire. if he comes really close in iowa and wins in iowa and goes on to win in new hampshire this thing could be wrapped up pretty quickly. if something crazy happens in iowa, which could, all of sudden, new hampshire, romney's supremacy in new hampshire could be threatened and we have an interesting primary down to south carolina. julie: we have to look for third to that. shane, thanks very much. >> thanks, julie, there is new hope for ohio. that state's rust belt as it's known hit hard by the downturn in the economy. guess what? the shale oil industry is developing there. that could lead to a lot of jobs but clearly there's a downside. mike tobin following the story from our chicago bureau. how big of a development could oil shale be there in ohio, mike? >> jon, there are two massive deposits of oil shale underneath ohio, west virgina and pennsylvania. as you mentioned we're talking about areas that have been pretty much impoverished since the heyday of coal and steel industry have passed.

proponents of exploitation of shale oil says a new technology allows to get at so much fossil fuel it promises to be a game-changer, not just for those areas but for the entire u.s.. >> we're the saudi arabia of natural gas. this single-handedly can change the u.s. economy. >> reporter: now the figures they're throwing around say that as many as 200,000 direct jobs will be created over the next five years. six to seven times as many indirect jobs. people doing everything from making the pipe to transportation, jon. jon: so what's the downside here? >> reporter: well the downside to get at that shale oil you have got to use a process called fracking. that involves drilling pipe thousands of feet down into the ground, injecting water at high pressure. that breaks up the shale and releases the oil and natural gas. environmentalists hate it. they claim it does everything from polluting groundwater to causing earthquakes. they claim the oil companies will come in exploit the land, ruin the land and then

leave once all of the oil is gone. for the record the epa has done its own independent report and determined the risk to groundwater is minimal. there has never been a direct link between fracking and earthquakes, jon. jon: mike tobin, live in chicago for us. mike, thank you. >> reporter: you got it. julie: apparently there just wasn't enough christmas shopping to save a lot of sears stores over the holiday. we'll tell you how much this chain is actually cutting back. plus, violent mexican drug cartels going high-tech to stay one step ahead of the law. we'll tell you how they're doing it coming up. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind.

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julie: some developing stories we're working for you this here in the newsroom and from our control room. online shopping surging by more than 16% on christmas. ibm which tracks shopping on web sites, says a record 7% of all online purchase this is christmas were made on an

ipad. sears not faring nearly as well though, announcing today they are closing more than 100 sears and kmart stores nationwide after reporting a 6% drop in holiday sales. we'll have more on that in the next hour. and the colorado man returning $10,000 he found while he was boarding a flight in las vegas. the man gave the cash back to the person who reported it missing saying, he wanted to set a good example for his children. jon: good people in colorado. julie: yeah. jon: in mebs co's army stepping up attack on key weapon of drug cartel's complex radio system which allows them to coordinate drug delivers kidnapping extortion and other crimes pretty much with military precision. with us the former head of u.s. immigration and customs and president of immigration and customs solutions llc, julie meyers wood. this radio system essentially stretched the length of mexico. it allowed encrypted

cooperation, such encrypted communications i should say such that, you know, if the army was getting ready to conduct a raid, the bad guys knew they were coming. >> that's exactly right. this sound like a very sophisticated network that stretched all the way from the u.s. border, in some reports down to guatemala. these cartels are operating like a business. they showed a lot of forethought to build this network all the way down there. that has to be very troublesome to u.s. law enforcement and mexico law enforcement a alike. jon: they have a lot of money to spend on the equipment and can hire some of the best personnel, right? >> absolutely, jon. they are always thinking a couple steps ahead. the challenge for law enforcement is, are we doing the same thing? are we looking to not just do piecemeal raids, grab an antenna here or there but frankly put the whole network down and put heads of cartels in jail for a very long time. jon: in any organization the key is communications. you have to be able to issue

orders from the top down, let everybody know what it is that you're trying to do and in drug smuggling this kind of a radio network apparently is crucial. >> absolutely. if you know that law enforcement's coming you can take another route, you can divert, you can act in a way that will throw law enforcement off. so if the mexican cartels have the ability to do this over such a large portion of mexico it's very, very troubling and u.s. law enforcement needs to work with mexican law enforcement and not only, you know, do raids to kind of pick up these items but also to intercept, to have informants, have operatives to get on the inside of this network ultimately to shut it down. jon: one would think, repeaters and antennas and base stations things like that, even the fact that you're transmitting a signal, one would think that kind of thing would be pretty easy to intercept and locate and maybe tear down? >> that's exactly right except that, you know, if they're encrypted or using

sophisticated encryption it can be trickier. u.s. law enforcement has to know which network they're looking for and going after and have to focus on that. i think we spent a lot of time over the past year kind of worrying about is u.s. law enforcement kind of cooperating and working together effectively. this network, and frankly the tunnels, the very sophisticated tunnels show that the cartels are getting ahead of us. we have to put everything else down and really attack them. jon: julie meyers wood. julie, some ominous information there. >> absolutely. thanks, jon. julie: parents, listen up. there is a new strategy when it comes to vaccinations for infants. why they won't actually be getting the shots but you may be. we'll look at controversy over a method called cocooning. it took marti mcfly "back to the future.". you remember this car? this is one of my favorite movies, "back to the future.". this famous car could be all yours, jon. it doesn't fly but comes

close. a live report next. ♪ .

jon: it is one of the the most famous automobiles in movie history. it carried marty mcfly and doc brown "back to the future." now the famous delorean could be yours. rick folbaum has more. >> jon, the back to the future movies of 1980s turned michael j. fox into a global superstar. if you were a teenage boy growing up in south jersey into cool gadgets and automobiles you are probably mostly psyched about the car, the delorean dmc-12.

gull wing time machine built by character doc which takes fox back in time to when his parents were in high school. we knew the cast was not really a time machine but the movie made it so cool it became an iconic piece of pop culture. now as we said it can be yours. one of the last remaining deloreans built specifically for the "back to the future" movies. seven were made in all. only three were thought to be around. one was auctioned off this month went for 440,000. -- 540 grand. it was go to the michael j. fox foundation. i would like to offer a to purchase a ride from whoever buys it. that would be more in my budget. back to you. jon: we'll send a camera along in case the thing can fly. >> absolutely. jon: rick. julie: why justine age boys, rick? why not teenage girls.

i want this car. i wasn't a boy but. jon: we'll get julie a ride. julie: can i buy a ride from you? can i ride in the passenger seat after you buy your ride? great. >> you got it. julie: thanks. well the doctor is in and newly approved vaccine strategy for babies causing some controversy. listen to this. it is called cocooning. it is where doctors immunize close family members of an infant too young to get the shots themselves in an effort to shield or cocoon the baby from the life-threatening diseases. it is backed by the centers for disease control and prevention but, and there is a but here. researchers in canada are questioning cocooning efficiency and hefty price tag as well. cathleen london is family practice physician and from cornell medical college new york, presbyterian hospital. thanksor coming in. first of all does cocooning actually work? >> we have in other circumstances with herd

immunity. in population where people can't get immunized or can't are protected by us that are immunized. with small infants that is critical. if in the last five or so years we've seen a really big resurgence in pertussis or whooping cough. that is one of the vaccines we give infants but not until eight years old. that is important because the very tiny kids are very much at risk. they are harder to treat. those are ones who end up if you look back in history that died. julie: these are worldwide infectious disease we're talking about? >> correct. julie: in the wintertime especially there is uptick in massachusetts as well. this is a very serious concern that all parents should be aware of especially if we have newborns in the house. >> absolutely. we have newborns are at risk. so are older patients. so elderly people are at risk. anyone with a lung condition of any sort who have weaknesses from that. that is when i practiced in massachusetts we see the big resurgences we started looking to give adult as booster. that is what is going on now.

that is what the cdc is recommending, that all adults receive a booster. julie: how old does the baby have to be to get the first vaccination? >> starts at two months old. that is the first one but series. julie: you're not immune until you're finished with the series? >> you will have partial immunity. you will get partial protection from mom if she is i am mup mine niced. we're now asking pregnant women to be reimmunized. we immunized pregnant woman and all the household contacts. julie: there is question of efficiency. in quebec and in british columbia, at least one million parents would actually have to be immunized in order for this to take effect. >> to prevent one death. julie: to prevent one death. one death, 20 million people have to be vaccinated. >> many kids are hospitalize and in intensive care unit those numbers are -- it is worth the cost. also not just infants. talking about anyone at risk in the population.

people undergoing cancer treatment. people with lung issues. julie: i have to bring up the flu because the flu vaccine isings us. h1n1 was concern last year. not so much this year. you can't give flu vaccine to newborn. should parents get flu vaccine to protect their babis. >> pregnant women. parents, the other kids, grandparents. that is really big one that we see. again we're looking to try to protect the other end. population. if we can get that from immunizing and protecting children then we're getting a room boon here. julie: dr. london, thank you very much for coming in. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. jon: more ahead, julie on a story we told you about yesterday. a critical intel website is hacked. information from clients like apple, the u.s. military and major credit card companies stolen. it could affect your bottom line, we'll get into that. police in texas searching for clues after a guy dressed as santa opened fire

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julie: a big day for bus tours an attack ads with one week left before the iowa caucuses. hell low, everybody i'm julie banderas in for jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. welcome to america's election headquarters, your front row seat to politics. topping in, an all new hour of "happening now." trying to firm up support as voters start to make up their minds now. chief political correspondent carl cameron live in demoines, iowa for us. it is really the battle of the bus tours this week. >> reporter: this is crunch time now. it looks like it's sort of the final way candidates will be making their way across the hawk

way state looking for last minute caucus support. rick perry is in counsel bluffs, a conservative region that hasn't had a lot of attention throughout this campaign. most of the candidates are bringing in buses decked out, lots of granola bars and energy drinks for all this: name, phone number email address in order to make sure they keep their commitments to come to the caucus' a wepb week from now. folks have to listen to an hour's worth of speeches. they get to cast write in ballots, only 120 to 150,000 will turn out. buses help, because it really does matter how many people they get to see and how many hands they get to shake and how many

they get to fill out those cards so they can get lots of calls to remind them to show up on time. jon: newt gingrich launches his bus tour today. >> reporter: just today. his new bus fully festooned will begin winding its way across iowa for the final push. mr. gingrich has a challenge with his ground game as well as air support. the amount of spent in ads pales in comparison to his rifles. rick perry spent about $4 million of ads by the campaign or by an independent group supporting him. newt gingrich only about a half a million dollars. enron paul who has been on the air very aggressively has spent a million and a half bucks in the last four or five weeks. all of them with ground games competing aggressively and air wars leave newt gingrich in terms of his caucus organization and his commercials seeming a little bit behind the curve and

a week to restore some of his momentum. the former frontrunner in a three way race. jon: the "wall street journal" reports a new find today, some analysis from newt gingrich called newt notes. it says this newsletter from 2006 shows mr. gingrich was fairly enthusiastic about mitt romney's healthcare law in massachusetts. the gingrich camp says this should not be considered an endorsement. susan is chief congressional correspondent for the washington examiner and has been looking this over. so, the journal did one of those searches online where you can go back and look at web pages that have been expired, or erased, and so forth. they found those newt notes where he applauds mitt romney for the healthcare law that he has been criticizing, right? >> this is the trouble with the internet, some of the stuff

never goes away. gingrich indeed talked about, favorably about the massachusetts healthcare law. but it's not only thing that really hurts him in iowa when it comes to healthcare. he has talked about supporting the idea of an individual mandate before. he has supported it very enthusiastic leave. there is a problem in iowa where all the voters are really looking for the conservative candidate, and gingrich argues that he is that. however, there are all kinds of things coming out that make voters worry or question really how loyal a conservative he is. don't forget you mentioned ron paul in your previous segment, ron paul has been putting on really serious attack ads against newt gingrich. one of them depicting him sitting on a couch next to nancy pelosi talking about climate change. this piles onto that. that we are in a three way try here. anyone can go after gingrich on this. and it could really hurt him.

it takes away a weapon. if he can't go after romney on healthcare when he has been endorsing it himself. the person this helps is michelle bachmann. she is campaigning on repealing the healthcare law. she is saying she alone is the candidate who has the will and ability to oppose and to overturn the national healthcare law that passed under president obama. and she argues that neither romney nor beginning riches enthusiastic enough about it as she is, and this is evidence of that. and surely she'll be able to use that to help get voters on her side, which she desperately needs, because if she doesn't do well in iowa she is really hurting. jon: this newsletter we are talking about is more than 5 years old published in april of 2006, published by the center for health transformation which was a consulting company that newt gingrich fronted. among the lines in there that the journal found, we agree entirely with governor romney and massachusetts legislators that our goal should be 100% insurance coverage for all

americans. now the interesting thing, susan, is that newt did not personally write this. apparently it was written by some kind of a staff member. does that give him cover? >> that's right. i still think it's under his name, it adds to already a whole kind of litany of things that i think voters in iowa question him over. they question really how loyal a conservative is he? when i was in iowa talking to voters, the reason why they kind of hold their noses when they talk about mitt romney and newt gingrich is they feel they are not conservative enough. this is part of the reason, things like this that keep surfacing for both candidates. that's why i hear a lot of voters in iowa talking about other candidates, like rick santorum, rick perry, because they think they match them more politically in iowa than gingrich. you'll see santorum perform better than i has been just for

reasons like that. people look at gingrich and hear the reports and say they can't vote for him. this could hurt him. jon: i think the goal -- it's written in the line, the goal should be 100% insurance coverage for all americans. even ardent conservatives would agree with that. the question is how do you achieve that? do you make people, do you force them to go on some kind of a government plan? do you force them to buy health insurance under a government mandate? that is really the issue, isn't it? >> it is, and gingrich has already said you could pair that with other comments that gingrich has made in the past about supporting an individual mandate. he said a lot of things over the years, and, you know, it all turns up and the internet, and audio and videotape of him talking about these things. he has talked about supporting the individual mandate in the past, so there certainly is an argument to be made by candidates like michelle bachmann, rick santorum, that neither romney nor gingrich is the candidate that conservatives can rely onto try and really go

after and overturn this healthcare reform law. jon: the chief congressional correspondent for the examiner, sue, thank you. julie: home prices taking a hit falling in most major u.s. cities, but consumer confidence is actually surging. doug mcelway with the details live in washington d.c. doug, what should we make of the new numbers? >> reporter: it's a good news, bad news situation with the economic numbers. let's start with the bad news the decline in hoping prices, the housing slump remains a major inch pedestrian amount to a robust economic recovery. here is the key number that came out just this morning. the case-schiller index that standard & poors uses to measure the health of home prices designed 1.1% in ten major metropolitan markets in october from a month earlier. atlanta, though, down 5%, that is the highest, the steepest decline month to month while chicago, cleveland, detroit and minneapolis all posted monthly declines of 1% or more. steve moore, senior economics

writer of the "wall street journal" says this is not a good sign. >> what these new housing statistics indicate is basically that this is now a four-year depression in housing. we still have not found the bottom in the housing market. it's very distressing for americans, if for no other reason is that the principle assett that americans own is their home. >> reporter: americans are feeling poorer and it means they will not be spending as much money. julie. julie: isn't that piece of bad news softened by the up tick in consumer confidence? >> reporter: indeed that is the case. a month monthly survey those consumer conference surged to the highest level in april. the new york-based conference board says tuesday, that is today, that it's consumer confidence index rose almost 10 points to 64.5 in november, a level of 90 indicates a solid

economy. steve moore says that this scenario is indicative of a hurky-jerky economy. while consumer confidence is on the rise sears announced today that it is closing a hundred stores, all signs that the economy may still be incapable of a sustained recovery. julie. julie: thank you very much. meanwhile employees in one city are actually getting a raise despite the struggling economy. in fact san francisco's minimum wage set to become the highest in the nation, clocking in at $10.24 an hour, that is well above the california minimum of $8. and nearly $3 an hour higher than the federal figure which is $7.25. workers are pleased with the bump in pay but employers say it will lead to less jobs. jon: there is new info as north korea makes final preparations for a funeral fit for a dictator. greg palkot is streaming live

from seoul, south korea. we understand you are getting more information on kim jong-il's funeral plans. >> reporter: yeah, exactly, jon. just in the past hour or so we've got even some details of the funeral tomorrow for kim jong-il, the late north korean dictator. it looks like deja vu all over again. it's looking very much like the 1994 funeral of his father, kim-il s u.n. g. it all starts come morning korean time, 10:00am, 8:00pm tuesday, eastern time. it starts in the mausoleum where the body is now currently on display, ceremonies there go on for about an hour, including the son and successor kim jong-il, kim jong un, and then the body gets placed in a hearse which is a part of a motorcade which will include another car displaying an oversized portrait of kim jong-il, and then this motorcade will roam its way around the rather strange landscape,

hundreds of thousands of spectators are set to be there until it winds its way back and ends up back again in the mausoleum. jon, having spent a couple of visits in yeongpyeong i can tell you the regime can get the people out and we can promise a very well coreographed and disciplined event tomorrow. jon: there was also a south korean delegation today there, greg, what is the significance of that? >> reporter: yeah, exactly. kim jong un in the past two days or so has been ordained by the state media as the head of the military, the head of the workers, or communist party. now we can call him diplomat. he hosted a former first lady from south korea, a south korean business woman, both with some ties to bettering relations between north and south korea. this unofficial delegation, jon is about as far as south corey ace going tsouth korea is going

to go in marking kim jong-il's passion. we saw anti-north korean activists do one of their classic demonstrations out in the streets, tearing up banners, and portraits of the regime. we can pretty much count on this kind of activity for the next days to come while the ceremonies occur up in yeongpyeong, we'll see more of this kind of thing in seoul i am sure. jon: thank you, greg. julie: this just in "happening now," police in texas investigating a christmas day blood bath. a man dressed as santa apparently killing six of his relatives as they were opening presidents before turning the gun on himself. rick is here with more. hey, rick. >> reporter: hi, julie. why? that is what investigators are still trying to piece together. why would a man, as you say, put on a santa suit and then burst into a room full of people, relatives, opening presents on christmas morning, killing them and then himself.

police got a 911 call christmas morning from the apartment where the shootings took place. there was no one on the other end. so they went to the residence and they arrived at the scene to find all seven of them, four women and three men ages 15 to 60. police are working on a family history to try to figure out how everybody was connected. the apartment was rented by a woman and her two sons. she was estranged from her husband, who was apparently still living in the family's former house, which was sold last year in a foreclosure auction. police say the other victims in the shooting appear to have been visiting for the holidays. the identities of all of the victims could be released later on today along with the results of the police investigation, and the coroner's investigation, so if we learn more, julie overt next 45 minutes or so that we are on the air we'll pass it along to you. julie: thanks, jon. jon: al-qaida returns with a vengeance unleashing a wave of deadly terrorist attacks in iraq now that u.s. troops are gone.

new details in the search for a missing toddler who disappeared from her father's home in maine. what police are saying now about her disappearance. when you have tough pain, do you want fast relief? try bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream fast and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin.

jon: right now california police have in custody a suspect in the shooting of a u.s. soldier at his homecoming party. police say 19-year-old ruben ray jurado turned himself in after the victim ended up paralyzed by multiple gunshot wounds. the soldier had survived a homicide bombing in afghanistan. new developments in a detroit murder investigation. police now say three of four dead women promoted themselves as escorts on an online site. investigators say the murders might be connected. britain's prince philip left the hospital today after undergoing treatment for a blocked coronary artery. buckingham palace says the queen's 90-year-old husband is very much looking forward to

rejoining his family at their country estate. julie: police in maine offering a $30,000 reward for any information leading to this little girl, the disappearance of 2-year-old ayla reynolds on many people's minds there. this little girl hasn't been seen in ten days. rick learick leventhal has more. >> reporter: she says she didn't leave her father's house on her own, they are not saying how they know or who they believe is responsible for her disappearance. she was reported missing a week ago by her father. he said he put the 20-month-old friday night and when he went to check on her the next morning she was gone. police wouldn't speculate as to whether she was taken by a family friend or in trueder. he reportedly had house guests that saturday night. police seized two vehicles from the driveway, one belonging to

the father and one to a family friend. >> we believe someone was involved in taking her out of the house and that is where the focus of this investigation has turned. >> reporter: her mother, trita reynolds filed for custody of the girl the day before she disappeared but she says she doesn't think the father knew about the legal challenge. she thinks the father should have kept a closer eye on the girl. she lost custody of ayla when she checked into rehab in october. authorities have announced a $30,000 reward offered for information leading to the location of this missing girl, the money raised by several businesses is believed to be the largest reward in a missing person's case in maine's history. >> i ask and i plead that the person or persons who have young ayla reynolds, that they please keep her safe and return her safely to us. >> reporter: authorities say they will continue searching for the little girl outside the microscope of national media attention, meaning we probably

won't learn much more until there is some kind of significant develop tph-plt this case, julie. julie in this case. julie. julie: thank you. jon: utter chaos at one of americ america's largest mall and it wasn't holiday shopping. police pull their weapons after a crowd goes wild. we'll tell you what went down there. plus, new accusations that the obama administration is giving into union pressure after 40,000tsa screeners are granted new collective bargaining rights. our legal panel is here to debate that.

julie: a heart transplant on hold after a helicopter crash that killed three people in florida. among the dead a mayo clinic surgeon on his way to get the heart, and a hospital

technician. >> we'll be on the scene all night long. our command post is coming out. the faa will conduct an entire investigation. we'll assist them in any way we can. julie: the mayo clinic saying the heart they were going to pick up could not be used in another transplant because it's viability expired. federal investigators now looking into that crash. jon: al-qaida in iraq now claims responsibility for a deadly wave of attacks that ripped through baghdad last week. nearly 70 people killed in one day in a series of coordinated blasts, sparking more concerns about security in the withdrawal of all u.s. troops. senior foreign affairs correspondent amy kellogg live in london with more, amy. >> reporter: this is really soaking fears that al-qaida maybe on the a send tkapbt again, exploiting a power vacuum. a lot of fears that sectarian violence in iraq may be experiencing an up surge again.

in it's online statement its claim of responsibility, this groom the islamic state of iraq which is really an umbrella group for all the al-qaida-affiliated groups in that country says the attacks were out of sympathy for sunni prisoners. they said the new jersey ne the mujahideen will not sit back with his hands tied. some say the shiite government is under iran's control. the attacks have been dramatic. 14 in one morning last week apparently coordinated all around the city, politically motivated, but they impacted ordinary citizens as well. in one of the attacks an ambulance full of explosives blew up in front of a hospital. in another attack targeted a line of workers outside waiting for jobs. and then one attack hit an organization that was fighting corruption, that is very important to the iraqi people, and a separate attack hit the ministry of the interior.

that killed seven. the claim of responsibility by al-qaida does not mention the u.s. troop withdrawal, but observers are, of course, linking the two. also, this triggers the great worry that sectarian sections may be boiling over again in iraq. the shiite prime minister last week put out an arrest warrant for the sunni vice president a cushion him of running a death squad. that accusation has been decide by the vice president. sunni politicians increasingly vocal speaking out against this shiite-led government. some of them threatening to pull out of the shiite-led government. this does raise the concern that the very fragile power sharing deal among the ethnic groups in iraq may be falling apart. that is the latest from london, back to you, jon. jon: amy kellogg, thank you. julie: for more on the future security of iraq let's bring in christian whiten a former state department senior adviser. thanks so much for talking to us. the problem that many experts

forecasted for the months or even years following u.s. troop withdrawal has instead begun in days. what is this latest attack killing nearly 70 people in one day in iraq confirm to you? >> i think it confirms, julie that president sunni militants will not peacefully accept a power grab by prime minister nouri al-maliki. he has done a number of power plays against sunni politicians. by insight his own vice president who was the senior sunni politician in iraq who has now fled and other moves that will bring shiite back into complete power and push aside any sunni power presence in the country you have basically an unacceptable position to sunni, the militants stirring things up. it's important to remember back in the insurgency before our 2007 surge that was a proximate see fight between saudi arabia

and iran. iran backing the shiite, saudi arabia back the sunni. you're seeing sparks of that many cog back. iran has been busy at work inside of iraq. you're seeing s u.n. n militants pushing back. julie: u.s. commander's on the ground had actually wanted some kind of a presence left in the country for security contingencies. president obama apparently hasn't felt it was necessary to extend some sort of small u.s. presence in the country. do you think he should be rethinking that right now? >> i think it's too late for that, skwraul lee, but julie, but the commander's wanted them there for security reasons, but also for political affairs. having troops in country just add muscles to our diplomats or trapbg frankl frankly to our military officers who had involved themselves in trying to create a balance of power, that included sunni and shiite leaders. it was always understood that

there would be some sort of deal that kept u.s. forces in the country after the pull-out date, which has just passed. that didn't happen. president obama, some say never really wanted it to happen, that he wanted to get out and as these problems as a result of coming to the fore a lot faster than people retkeupbgted. a predicted. at this point i think the american people and our congress are probably done with iraq. we are now back to trying to influence political matters in the country with very little must toll do it with. julie: what is going to happen as long as iran continues to stir up trouble in iraq with the saudi backing the sunni militants, is there any chance for peace in the future? >> there is a chance. i think it's unlike leave. if you look at the main iranian pwhrorbgs it' block, it's not so much nouri al-maliki.

he did quite well in elections from tunisia around the region. he sees the moderating of u.s. forcers gone. he wants to consolidate his power and now is the chance to do that. so iran clearly feeling it has an opportunity here, and nouri al-maliki frankly having to make a deal with the bad actors in his presence, with u.s. forces gone you're seeing this in afghanistan with hamid karzai and elsewhere. these people feel they have to make deals with the bad actors. julie: they are trying to break up political movement in the country. in the saardists believe that violence is a way to enhance its power, what is democracy moving forward and can they have a stable government moving forward without the united state's presents threpbs? >> i think the iraqi government will have to evolve if it will have any chance of surviving.

we evolved considerably after we started with our articles of federation. they have to go through some sort of evolutionary process. saadr is an example. we've done this with the muslim brotherhood in egypt and hezbollah in lebanon, we accept the notion if you bring the people into the political process it will tame them. it just doesn't. they are committed to violence, they are not interested in democracy and it just doesn't work. julie: thank you very much. jon: tsa screeners, those folks who keep us safe at airports, they are getting some key union rights after an almost ten-year battle. but should they have them? a fair & balanced debate on that coming up.

julie: right now president obama, well he may be on vacation in hawaii but it seems politics never takes a rest. now some lawmakers are worried the president may try to get around congress while they take off for the holidays. doug luzader live in honolulu. what is the president planning to do, doug? >> reporter: julie this could spark a whole legal battler. the president wants to make appointments that republicans are blocking. he has to get somebody at the helm of new consumer financial bureau and head of

labor relations board. a five-member board will be down to two members heading into 2012. that means that board will not be able to legally operate unless the president does what is called a recess appointment. right now the white house is not ruling it out. >> do you have any announcements to make or speculation to engage in on that front. we're not relinquishing any rights here. that is certainly the case. >> reporter: when you look at those nlrb positions the white house is under a lot of pressure right now from union groups, labor groups, to try to get a friendly members on this board. so the white house has a very tough decision to make here, julie. julie: doug, this has republicans just furious. what are they going to do to prevent it or try to anyway? >> reporter: well they're trying to stop it, the reasoning being here behind their actions, if you don't have a recess you can not have recess appointments. every three days or so the senate actual gavel into

session. the thinking they won't give the president the opportunity to make these kind of appointments. even one republican strategist thinks that the president will be tough to stop on this. >> i can't see any reason or any leverage that the congress would have to that would prevent the president from exercising his executive capacity to make recess appointments. so i think he is going to do it. there isn't any reason politically were he shouldn't. >> reporter: take a look at the reasons. there are potentially legal conflicts here. a lot of this has to do with the definition of a recess. if the senate leaves for two or three days, is that considered a recess? or do you need something more like two weeks or so? and that is something that folks have to delve into their history books to find out and it could get awfully ugly before it is all set and done. julie: doug, thank you so much. jon: and here's something else the obama administration has decided to do, grant more than 40,000 tsa screeners, you know those folks who check

you out at the airport, it is giving them limited union organizing rights. so does that enhance the security of the flying public or is it a political hug for unions? nicole deborg is former prosecutor. duane gates is a former criminal defense attorney. nicole, you like this idea. why? >> if you have a happy employees and fell like they have a voice they will do better work and if they feel they have a problem and come to the union and have collective voice to complain about it without repercussions. it could have positive impact on working group of people who are employed checking our security. jon: duane, i've got to say i would not want to be one of those two tsa agents. i think it is kind of a miserable job and maybe a thankless one but at the same time i don't know why nicing in a union is going to make the job any better? >> well, probably not going to make the job any better. it's a tough job but in today's day and age it is a

john. these tsa workers right now have better health insurance i've got being self-employed. they already get good benefits. they already have a job. you know, the fbi, the cia, other law enforcement, quasi-law enforcement officers can't unionize. and they can't for a reason because they're, they may need to be called on to do extraordinarily things to protech the public. and you know, they need to be able, management needs to be free to deploy them at any time and a union is just going to get in the way. jon: well, they're not allowed to strike under these new union organizing rights. they can negotiate, well, go ahead, nicole. >> it is foot in the door. they're getting their foot in the door. they're -- >> actually law enforcement does unionize. most police officers belong to a member after union and doesn't affect their ability to provide security and to provide the services that law enforcement, police

officers provide. so if law enforcement can have a union and be successful at it and still provide the public with a measure of protection that the public expects, i don't see why the tsa should be any different. jon: the hid of the union that wants to represent these tsa screeners, and i guess they will vote exactly who is going to represent them, but one union head said this. he said today marks the recognition of a fundamental human right for 40,000 patriotic federal employees who have been disenfranchised since the inception of the agency? disenfranchised how, john? >> they haven't been disenfranchised. they're being treated the same as fbi agents, cia agents, dea agent. that same official said that this is is a foot in the door. you're saying they don't have the right to strike. just because they don't have a right to strike doesn't mean that they're not going to strike. that doesn't mean, like in canada, when their workers

were disgruntled, they did a slowdown. they decided to search every bag individually and they virtually stopped aircraft in canada in 2006. just because, this was a political promise. it doesn't stop them from making a new political promise to give the unions more and more power as it goes along. the union boss himself said this is a foot in the door. jon: and duane, is your name. the boss is john. that is why i got that confused. i apologize for that. nicole, is this really about the safety of the flying public? i mean are all of sudden airplanes going to be safer because of this, or is this more of a political payoff to the president's union supporters? >> well, it is hard to say whether or not the public will be safer but certainly if you have a union and union gets a lot of complaints from the employees, about, we're feeling like we have to work extensive hours or too many hours. it makes it hard for us to pay attention and focus on things we would like to

focus on and it they get a lot of complaints like that, they can go with collective voice we need to make amendments how long the shift is and how long the person works in a row without a break. you have a happier person standing there at the gate. it sounds trite but it can matter when the person is focused on inspecting the bags and making sure passengers are safe. jon: duane, do you have a problem with that? >> happy workers right now are workers that have a job. these people have jobs. not only do they have jobs have a government job with full government benefit. these are not bad jobs. i mean it is not, it is not great. i mean being a tsa agent isn't going to be, probably isn't a real fun job but you know what? they get full government benefits. like i said, they get more benefits than i get being self-employed. jon: nicole, what is to prevent them from saying hey, there are only 40,000 of us and we're working way too hard, we need 80,000 and taxpayers should pay for it and that makings our union

all that much bigger and gives us less to do? >> just because they ask doesn't mean they get. but at least if they have a collective voice they can say this is why we want what we want and the person who is asking doesn't suffer the repercussions because there's a group asking. because you're not going to single out a particular person who is complaining because they feel like they are overworked or perhaps reporting that the other employees are not paying enough attention because they're overtired. they're not going to face repercussions. you will be able to hear from a union representative to say, look, this is a problem. for example, in law enforcement when police officers have things they deal with through the union the union representative can help to make sure union members are all treated equally by administration, for example. and so you have people who feel like they have a little power. jon: here's the thing this. tsa was created under the bush administration but the bush administration would not allow this organization to unionize. now under the obama

administration it is going to be allowed to do that. it's not like a subsequent president is going to be able to dismantle the union, is it? >> well probably not and under bush this was a i about partisan vote when they created the tsa. it was bipartisan decision that they couldn't collectively bargain. they tried to make them in the form of the cia, the fbi. they tried to make it so that, you know, this is a security agency. you know, historically unions only benefit the union members. it is not going to benefit the taxpayers. it is no the going to benefit the flying public. the only thing that this is going to benefit are president obama because he is going to be getting more union votes and the union workers themselves. that is the only people that are going to benefit from this. jon: we'll have to leave it at that. duane and nicole, good discussion. thank you both. >> thanks, jon. >> thanks. julie: now that many of our

war veterans are coming home there is a new effort underway to help them find jobs when they do. alicia acuna is live in denver to tell us more about the program. hi, alicia? >> reporter: hi, julie. senator michael bennet of colorado has introduced legislation to create a national veterans foundation and at its heart it will make it easier for veterans to find jobs. if passed it will insure communities and businesses and organization work together to help vets with employment. members of our military make up 1% of the u.s. population yet their unemployment rate is higher than the national average. >> the idea of really came from the vets themselves who were saying that we know better than anybody else. that there are plenty of people that want to help our vets but we're not very well-coordinated and we would like structures that don't reinvent the wheel here but would allow us to coordinate ourselves better. that is what we'll try to do at the federal level.

>> reporter: senator bennet pointed out that many returning vets have specialized skills. however when it comes to transferring those to the job market here it is not so easy. this program could address that. julie? julie: we hear a lot about these type of programs. employers have different incentives that they get tax breaks if they hire veterans. this program is different than others to help vets. how so? >> reporter: it is. it is at the federal level. it takes all the organizations and businesses and programs that you mentioned and pus them all in one place. it doesn't actually compete with these other programs and what they do but what it does for the vets is cut down on the red tape this proposal is modeled after a fairly new program in colorado springs, a city home to five major military installations. theirs is a web-based resource for military families. >> this is an important issue for colorado springs particularly but for the

state of colorado and a national problem as well. you just have to work with these young men and will right now. that is really our bottom line target problem is the young men and women who are on the three, four, five deployments and they're returning and bringing a lot of problems back with them and they need help. their families need help. their children need help. >> reporter: and the families, julie, who have used this program so far tell us they love it. back to you. >> oh absolutely. what is not to love? alicia acuna, thank you so much. jon. jon: coming up, brawl at the mall. violence so bad police had to draw their weapons in a place packed with shoppers. you can imagine the pandemonium that resulted. call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider an aarp...

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they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. julie: new information on some stories following across the u.s. and around the world from inside our control room. first we go to texas. a 70-foot docked party boat explodes on christmas. fire investigators ruling arson as the cause of the blaze. no one though, luckily was hurt in the fire. officials now saying nearly 1500 people were killed in the philippines after flash floods wiped out entire villages earlier this month. hundreds of thousands there were left homeless. plus, russia, announcing it is completely been rocked by iraqi test program for its new ballistic missile after a string of failures. there are new doubts about the future of the most successful project in post-soviet history. jon: happening now, a

frightening scene. police are investigating a brawl so big 50 people were involved at least. it broke out in one of america's biggest shopping malls, packed with folks trying to check out deals on the day after christmas. rick is with us. >> jon, one of the busiest shopping days of the year became one of the busiest days for security officers at minnesota's mall of america yesterday. billion 50 kids, off from school for the winter break and hanging out in the mall's food court, getting into a massive brawl. you can see police officers with their guns drawn, working to break up the action. it took them over an hour to get things back under control. a spokeswoman for the mall says the fight began in the food court but then started to spread out to other parts of the sprawling shopping center as dozens of teenagers ran through the mall while shoppers ran into stores to get out of the way. the mall was never put into a lockdown. apparently, no weapons were involved other than those used by the police and security officers.

thankfully, nobody was seriously hurt but if you were at the mall looking for some after-christmas deals yesterday you definitely got a little more than you bargained for, jon. >> crazy stuff. rick, thank you. julie: another reason to stay out of the malls after and before christmas. jon: gives whole new meaning for braving the shopping mall. julie: don't have to worry about that online in the comfort of your own home. struggling u.s. economy forces a popular american company to start closing storgs stores nationwide is her, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer.

julie: right now we're learning more about the hacking of a top security think tank on christmas. it could end up being one of the most serious breaches ever. fox business network shibani joshi joins us. shibani, what happened here? >> reporter: julie, i'm having trouble hearing but i

will go ahead and tell you what's going on with stratfor. we know cyber hacking was a huge issue in 2011. expected to be a huger issue going into 2012. usually business slows down this time of year but business is booming if you're in the cyber-hacking business. the hacking group, "anonymous" claiming it sold thousands of private details for corporations as well as individuals over the weekend, private data including credit card numbers, e-mail passwords and home addresses, breaking into the big security consulting firm called stratfor. this is a huge behemoth firm that represents firms including barclays, apple and even the us air force. we don't know for sure in "anonymous" is actually behind the hacking attempt but it is believed that it is. they say they will use the bad deeds for good. they will take the information and actually donate, use the credit cards to donate a million dollars to different charitable organizations. already the red cross, save

the children have said they have received unauthorized money and just to let you know, if you're questioning out there whether or not you're impacted, a natural question out there for our viewers, their are expert security experts you should say you should know as late as tomorrow, december 28th, if you are in fact impacted and get information on protect shin services and ways to monitor your credit accounts going forward. big issues last year and certainly big issues going into the new year as well. julie: unfortunate timing. shibani, thank you very much. the key advice, check your bank statements at least for a little while. jon. jon: a sharp drop in holiday saleses one major american company to shut down more than 100 of its stores nationwide. sears announcing it will close both sears and kmart shops the same company owns both store chains. gerri willis, is the anchor of "the willis report" at the fox business network. what went wrong here? >> well, look at the numbers. that tells a big story.

sales in the christmas season down 5.2% year-over-year. they will close up to 120 stores. and what happened? analysts are saying that the retail environment, the stores themselves not that attractive. they haven't reinvested in them very much. the company saying layaway sales and particularly electronic sales down this year. i've got to tell you it came as a surprise because the broader environment was much better than these two stores would indicate. jon: it internet hurt everybody. online shopping but stores like target and wal-mart, they're doing pretty well, aren't they? >> target and wal-mart are doing pretty well but they have robust web sites used by a lot of people. at the end of the day we'll see 470 billion worth of holiday sales. holiday sales will be up 3.8%. get this. from the national retail federation. when you carve out just online sales, on fire. christmas alone, sales up 16% that is a very big number. very good news for online retailers. some of the biggest, aol --, pardon me, amazon doing

quite well, the leader in this category. they have two advantages here. you don't pay sales tax to a large extent and prices are lower because you're not paying for shipping. jon: gerri willis from "the willis report." thank you. >> my pleasure. jon: julie. julie: jon, coming up, football like you have never seen it played before. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement 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. yeah, i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth!

jon: as a scuba diver and a pilot, this story feeds both of

my passions. a charter diver makes an amazing discovery, a world war ii airplane just sitting on the bottom nearly 200 feet down. julie: wow. jon: randy jordan discovered that plane upside down on a sandy bit of ocean floor. plane's in pretty good shape, the tail and the wings still intact. he sent this video to experts to try to identify what kind of plane it is. they say it looks like a curtis helldiver which flew in the early 1940s. julie: what do you think? what say you? [laughter] jon: well, it looks covered in coral, but it's still a cool plane. julie: eight elephants training their whole lives for big event. this is no joke, jon. two teams of four young elephants and their handlers play inside a 40-minute soccer match as a crowd of 15,000 people lined the field. have you ever ridden an elephant,by the way? it's quite an experience. jon: i