>> the world watched and north korea failed. new reaction what is being called an embarrassing first show of defiance from north korea's brand new leader kim jong-un. ending with the rocket splintering into pieces over the ocean. good morning, everyone. i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer here at america's news room. >> i'm heather childers in for martha maccallum who is on assignment. united states calling it a provocative act that will lead north korea as further isolated. world leaders describing it as a direct violation of international law. gregg: north korea left to picks up literally the piece of a launch the regime touted as a major technological advance. we have team fox coverage. we'll hear from greg palkot live from pongyang. first we turn to chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge live in washington. what do we know about this

response? >> reporter: thank you, gregg, good morning. north american aerospace defense command known as norad, tracked the missile after its launch on 6:40 eastern thursday. first stage fell into the sea 100 miles west of seoul and remainder also falling into the sea. at no time it was deem ad threat according to norad. white house spokesman jay carney said despite the missile launch. is it threatens regional security violates international law and contravenes its own recent commitments a senior intelligence official a failed launch allows north korea to learn from mistakes as it develops dual-use technology, in this case a delivery system for nuclear weapons, gregg. gregg: while this may be an embarassment for the north koreans is it in some way an embarassment for u.s. policy? >> reporter: it is important to lay out the timeline here. in february north korea agreed to a deal with the

united states it would apparently halt nuclear and long-range missile tests in exchange for food aid and in advance of the launch the secretary of state sent a warning. >> pongyang has a clear choice t can pursue peace and reap the benefits of closer ties with the international community including the united states, or it can continue face pressure and isolation. >> reporter: and a senior republican saying in a statement quote, once again pongyang has demonstrated its complete disregard for international sanctions and its proclivity for worthless commitments. the administration should abandon its naive negotiations with north korea and with iran. the administration's position today these acts just further isolate the leadership in north korea, reducing any likelihood for constructive negotiations in the future. gregg: catherine herridge live in washington. catherine, thanks. now that the launch failed what is the diplomatic fallout from this.

some intelligence analysts say the launch is a propaganda failure for the regime itself. coming up we'll talk to a former state department official who worked very extensively on north korean issues for george w. bush's administration. he says the rogue nation's next move could be a nuclear heather: in other news a disturbing story. drug raid turning into a fatal shootout. five cops caught in the cross fire one shot dead. police chief, michael maloney one week from his retirement. david lee miller live in the newsroom. david, what do we know about the shooting? >> reporter: let's start with this. this was in greenland, new hampshire. this is hour's drive north of boston. this was not the first time the police were called to the home of 29-year-old, colin mutry the police arrived last night, members of a drug traffic force to

serve a search warrant. among the officers was greenland police chief michael maloney. they believe some type of drug deal was taking place. shots were fired within the home. chief maloney was killed. according to one report he was shot in the head. four officers from other departments were wounded. a s.w.a.t. team arrived on the scene including a armored vehicle. those in the home barricaded themselves inside. authorities briefly communicated with mutry then things went eerily silent. listen. >> negotiators at that time were attempting to make contact with him inside the residence but were unsuccessful to do so, were unable to do so. at approximately 2:00 a.m. a decision was made to place a robot and to breach the door to get inside the residence. >> reporter: when authorities finally did enter the residence they found him inside dead. a female companion was also dead. what happened here was

either a murder suicide or double suicide. we know for certainty hour the beloved police chief of that community was killed. heather? heather: the chief as we mentioned was just days away from retirement. what is the reaction from the town? >> reporter: the police chief, was eight days away to be precise. and as you would expect the entire community there is in shock. this is a very small knit community. only 3500 people lived there. the chief served in that capacity for 12 years. almost everyone in town knew him. one resident said he was just the greatest guy, kind hearted. always visible in the community. to put in perspective how devastating this, there are only seven full-time officers in greenland. as for officers part of this nearby department, two were wounded, we're told had gunshots and treated and released of the two others shot in the chest. much more serious injuries.

they are now in intensive care. new hampshire's governor called what happened trage quick and -- tragic and underscored how upsetting it is to the community there. the local elementary school is closed as the entire community begins the process of mourning and grieving for the chief to died eight days to go before his retirement. heather: our prays definitely go out to that community and the families involved. thank you very much. david lee miller live from our new york city newsroom. thank you. gregg: trayvon martin's mother speaking out following the charges slapped against her son's accused murderer. sybria fulton sitting down with bill o'reilly saying she wants justice to run its course. >> i believe he can get a judicial system and a fair trial. >> so much a burden for you. i don't know how you're going to get through that. how are you going to sit there and through that.

>> how do i get through this my son being murdered and the person walked free for 44 days. i believe in the judicial system and get his day in court. gregg: trayvon's family believe that the nationwide protests led to george zimmerman's arrest. he was charged with second-degree murder charges. trayvon was unarmed. heather: he is being held in florida's seminole county jail in quote administrative confinement. all alone for his own protection because of a bounty on his head. prison guards say he can not be the near the other 1300 inmates. zimmerman will only be allowed out an hour a day for exercise. so where does this case go from here? in our next hour, our legal panel will weigh in on that. gregg: a glimmer of hope at the pump this week. gas prices trickling down a

bit. dropping for seven straight days the national average for a regular gallon is now at $3.90 but it is not all good news. unfortunately the recent spike in prices actually softened the economy. stuart varney, anchor of "varney & company" on the fox business network joins us. it always has a long-lasting ripple effect. not just consumers paying at pump but you have inflation for consumer goods because of all the inflations costs right? >> gregg, this is a good news-bad news here. you're right the recent trend the last seven days we've many come down a little bit. we're down 4 1/2 cents on the week. not much but the trend is down. unfortunately the other side of the coin for the last three months gas prices have gone straight up and that has had a bad effect on the economy. the money in your pocket which is already sinking is now being eaten away more by higher food and gas prices.

that has eaten into the employment situation, fewer new jobs being created and that has eaten into the overall growth rate of the economy. we are slowing down. i have a good news, but lon long-term bad news report for you. gas prices down at the moment but because they're up so much in the past the economy is turning around and heading south. gregg: you know, everybody's summer vacation is coming up. that will really hurt an industry that relies on that sort of thing but where do you think gas prices will be going from here, stu? >> a lot depend on what happens in iran and the supply of oil coming out of the persian gulf. a lot depends how much extra we drive this summer. in other words, demand for gasoline. a lot despends how much we'll refine. at couple of big refine remembers scheduled to close. that will not be good for prices. talk to experts, they think we'll be around $4 a gallon for much of the rest of it spring and summer eww, four

bucks. stuart you're generally right but i hope you're wrong this one time. >> i will take that, gregg. heather: just this once he can be wrong. those are just a few of the many stories we're following this morning in "america's newsroom" as the general election essentially gets underway. brand new fox polls are showing a switch-up in the lead. the latest in the match hp between -- matchup between president obama and mitt romney. gregg: more on north korea's embarrassing missile launch. we're live from pongyang with reaction from inside the country. heather: it is the first city to ban using cell phones while driving. we'll tell you where it will cost you if you get busted. ♪ 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.

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gregg: brand new fox polls show that republican front-runner mitt romney with a slight edge over president obama. check it out now. 46-44%. that is 2% lead, basically a tie but a swing for romney. he is up 4% from just last month. meantime president obama's job approval is also dropping. 42% approve of the job he is doing, that is down 5% since march. ed rollins, former deputy chief of staff to president ronald reagan. he managed the campaign for reagan's landslide re-election in 1984. he has had major rolls in nine other presidential campaigns. he looks so young. he is also a fox news contributor. thankfully for us. thanks for being with us today. >> thank you. gregg: all right, the drop in the president's approval ratings now actually a net negative corresponds with a swing in favor of romney

versus obama. why is that? >> well, first romney is now viewed as the nominee and i think he has nothing but good news for the last week. the president nothing but bad news. equally as important, i think the president's class warfare campaign is not going to work. i think most americans realize taxing billionaires and millionaires is not going to solve the economic problems facing in this country. gregg: independents are swinging for romney, 43 to obama's 37. >> which are very critical. independents will decide this election. key thing here it is perfect time for romney. romney basically won the primaries because people thought he was stronger candidate against the president. that proves that. gregg: let me put another poll up on the screen. more voters think president obama's policies have hurt rather than helped the economy. three in 10 say his policies have not made much difference either way. together that is 68% when you add them up. that is not giving him very good reviews on the one issue that matters the most to a lot of americans. gregg:. >> i take the top three

issues in the poll, it is the economy, the budget deficit and health care, those are negatives for the president. he can't take credit for any of those things. he hasn't had a budget since he has been in office. the economy is not getting any better by the day. so i think it is a bad poll for the president. i think the, i think people still like him but i think at end of the day i don't think he has been very strong. gregg: he is campaigning on the economy. >> he is campaigning on the economy. he will just not win on that issue. gregg: take a look at another poll. almost 70% of the americans are unhappy with the direction of the country. normally if the national mood is neither positive or moving in a positive direction that is seen as good news for the incumbent president. do these negative poll numbers bode poorly for the president. >> they certainly do. romney is putting his campaign together. bringing the party together. the president has been running nonstop against romney for six months now. and i think at the end of the day here we'll have a very, very close election. this is one poll, very

important poll for romney. gregg: yeah. our final poll shows that more voters prioritize the economy than any other tested issue. that seems to make sense. and by a seven-point margin, more voters think romney has the best experience to fix it among independents. romney's margin widens, 41-28%. his business background must be the reason. >> it is. he was very successful businessman. had 20 plus years obviously where the president was community organizer, part-time state senator and part-time law professor. the experience to settle the economy and basically move this country forward, romney has the advantage there. gregg: much has been talked about of a gender gap and how president obama seems to be substantially in the lead among women. do you envision that changing? >> it will change. you know, 25 years ago when i did reagan's we had the same kind of problem. we started the campaign.

it closed up. it was dead-even by the time we finished. obviously romney campaign has to focus on women and hispanic voters and they will. gregg: hillary rosen comments, does that long term hurt the president or not? >> it is a one barb mistake on hillary's part. it was a good, tough operative. i've been on many times opposite but it was a mistake on her part obviously. gregg: ed rollins, many thanks. >> my pleasure. thank you very much. have a wonderful weekend. gregg: heather? heather: we'll talk a little more about hillary rosen's comments and more on the wore on -- war on women later on. doctors say childhood obesity is on the rise. how many calories your child would need to cut out of their die yet to achieve a healthy wait. gregg: two lottery tickets sold at one gas station. we'll tell you where the lucky numbers about were drawn. >> who would have thought someone had them and next day you hear two people,

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gregg: developing right now in "america's newsroom", smoke, ash and lava exploding out of europe's most active volcano today. sicily's mount aetna. nobody injured in that eruption. lady luck striking a gas station in louisiana, two lottery tickets worth $3 million each sold at the same location. but so far one. winners has claimed their prize. former yankees pitcher roger clemens begins his retrial next week. he is accused of lying about steroid use.

his trial lasted only two days because of an arecord on the prosecution side. coincidence, yankees opening day here in new york. that is good news, friday the 13th, yeah. heather: thank you very much, gregg. childhood obesity at an all-time high. a new study putting the spotlight on why waistlines are expanding and how much less kids should be eating. take a look at this. the number of obese children has doubled. that is since the 1970s. one in six, now officially obese. to bring that number down though, children would have had to cut an average of 120 calories a day for teenagers, that would mean, jogging at least 30 minutes a day or at least, cutting out that 16-ounce soft drink. dr. steven garner with new york met difficult -- methodist hospital joins us with more. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. heather: this is a problem

we've not heard of before. the question is what are we not doing right? why do waistlines continue to expand? >> we're overweight even up to triple obesity we have now compared to previously but we haven't done anything about it. we've done a few things at school. add a physical education class which doesn't do very much. you talk about jogging. kids in hour of exercise only do 60 calories. it is not that much. we talked about taking vending machines out. we did minor things. what about limiting kids access to food and sodas, equal to 20 tee stoons of sugar and calories keep adding up. there is food natured things here and there. heather: it is not just all about what they're eating that is not going to make the difference? >> more about what they're eating than anything else to tell you the truth. heather: okay. >> people try to lose weight by exercising. it is not an effective way to lose weight. helps the heart but best way

to lose weight is stop eating. heather: stop eating bad food. >> you want to take in fewer calories than you expend. that it problem we're not. we go to the movies, look what you get. you get a popcorn like this. what do we do about it? does the government have to legislate and tax things? we don't like that. heather: what is the solution? >> i think it starts with the family. once you start a kid on fruit juice, don't expect them to start on water. you have to raise the kids with the right dooit so the kid is used to that diet. once the diet is established in the child does very little good at school we'll cut out sugar, candy and dessert box or something. not going to work. i think it starts with the parents. that's the key. heather: you also say that you think physical education that should be an actual school subject? >> why is it voluntary? why is it after school? fourth period i would have an hour of exercise. then you know kids are getting it. becomes voluntary

after-school program to lose 30 calories? what dent will that make on a problem? one in six kids is overweight and the problem is, the kids who are sick, as obese as children are going to be obese adults. they will get diabetes, a type we usually don't see in children, a type-2 diabetes. we used to only see in adults. their bones will have wear and tear and have arthritis where they have pain in both joints. they will have heart attacks at early age. the problem is nip it in the bud. heather: because it translates into health care costs long term down the road. let's go back to americans are drinking more 20% more diet soda than they were just 15 years ago. mentioned fruit juice. not going back to water. does that translate into sodas down the road as you become teenagers and adults? >> regular sodas. fruit juice must be good because it is juice. it has sam bad calories as a can of soda or coke.

diet coke, people drinking i'm diet coke. heather: you weren't supposed to mention that. >> it stimulates the pancreas as though drinking in regular quote. the body gets fooled. has the sam processes that occur if you took in regular coke. heather: how do you stop that habit though? for teenagers, parents say we'll not give you diet soda or soda in general anymore. how do you wean them off of that? >> i think it will be advertising. we'll need to partner with industry develop soda that tastes good that not necessarily filled with sugar. have advertisers make it not so cool to drink sugar. maybe show it uncool to show you what you are doing with the body. it is a tricky problem. adults haven't been able to lose weight how do we expect kids to do it? heather: not good drinking diet soda for breakfast. >> vitamin pill will not help. have a balanced meal, eggs.

heather: gregg. gregg: i had two dr. brown's black cherry diet soda for breakfast this morning. >> with the corned beef? gregg: i should have had it with corned beef. now you're making me hungry, doc. lavish celebrations taking place in north korea. the communist regime unveiling statues of various leaders and trying to move past its failed rocket launch. why that failure could lead to an even more dangerous test. a former special envoy to the regime joining us live. [sirens] gregg: whoa, police going into action, busting a bunch of crooks who stole a masterpiece that the police recovered that is worth more than $100 million.

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gregg: back to our top story, a major embarassment for north korea, the economist regime defying world leaders launching a long range rocket into space but moments after takeoff it splintered into pieces and fell into the ocean. greg palkot live on the ground in pongyang, north korea. greg? >> reporter: gregg, it was the launch that wasn't. the controversial north korea rocket lifting off early friday morning from a launch sight 100 miles from where we are and promptly broke up in the yellow sea 100 miles west of seoul, south korea.

it was so bad a failure that north korea did something unusual for the regime it admitted it on state television. it said the satellite failed to make orbit and scientist were looking into it. international media were not told in person although we tried to press very hard a spokesperson here. no comment from him. washington was talking about it though. despite the failure described the launch as provocative and in a knock on proliferation from north korea it suggested that it might not be a good advertisement for north korean military products. suggested possibly that there would be a suspension in planned food aid. the regime however is not letting this spoil their party. they're marking these days centenary of the birth of the north korean founder, kim il-song. another statue of the son of that founder, the late former leader, kim jong-il. hundreds of thousands of people were in attendance. that is one thing the people

here still know how to do. officiating the son and grandson of those portrayed in the statutes. kim jong-un, as the embarassment of that launch failure. folks are worried that he might decide to act out again. there have been south korean intelligence reports that there are preparations for another test of a nuclear device. it is not over yet. back to you, gregg. gregg: greg palkot providing some terrific coverage live from pongyang, north korea. greg, thanks so much. heather: to sir kbra now. the sees fire facing a major test with thousands of activists pouring into the streets. these pictures reportedly show new violence erupting in the rebel stronghold of homs. gunfire crackling across the embattled city. one activist describes the fragile state of the troops. >> the army is still in place. only the cease-fire. the snipers are still in their places. certain parts. city where people can not go out but they actually people were out in demonstration

against the government and children, women and everybody went out during the cease-fire. heather: leland vittert is live in our middle east bureau in jerusalem. leland, is the cease-firing holding? >> reporter: heather, it is way to early to call this cease-fire anything close to a success. activists on the ground inside syria tell us at least three more of their people were killed by government forces today. and state television just put out this video. they say it is of a roadside bomb attack on one of their police buses carrying about 25 people. this fits with what the opposition has been say which is that they will not stop their attacks against government forces. the government here could be using this to try to build the case to return to the brutal crackdowns that had been going on. they called this, a quote, terrorist attack. in the past the syrian government said no matter what the cease-fire situation is they reserve

the right to respond to such attacks. the syrian government has got a lot of options on the ground right now despite an agreement with the u.n. to the otherwise, the syrian government still has all of their army tanks, armored personnel carriers and snipers in place in the city. so we could return to those battlefield-like artillery barrages against homs and hama in very short order if that is what damascus decides to do. heather. heather: leland, what does this demonstration mean? >> reporter: well, right now you have about 10 to 20,000 demonstrators on the streets in syria and in all sorts of different towns. anti-assad activists are very shrewd. they are testing right now this cease-fire. many of the people you see right now, all of them, are putting their lives on the line because in the past the syrian government used snipers against them, big police roundups against these kind of protests but this is something that really gets under the skin of the assad government there in damascus.

the question is going to be, are you going to return to the kind of crackdowns and begin the cycle of violence we had starting six months ago, or is president assad going to continue to hold back? this does not take a lot of time to get out of control. remember, a number about opposition groups, including people demonstrating right now say they're not going to leave streets, they're not going to stop until president assad leaves office. back to you. heather: thank you very much. leland vittert reporting live for us from jerusalem. thank you. gregg: president obama heavily pitching his buffett rule tax plan. critics say the rule is about redistributing wealth and will not make even a dent in the debt. the president says it goes beyond just being fair. >> so this is not only a matter of fairness but it's also one part of a broader effort that we're going to have to embark on to reduce the deficit. gregg: reduce the deficit.

all right. juan williams, fox news political analyst, brad blakeman, former deputy assistant to president george w. bush. thanks for being with us today. brad, let me start with you. the vast majority of americans would never be affected by this. they know that. forget the economics of this for the moment. isn't it unwise politically in an election year for republicans to oppose the buffett rule and be branded therefore as protecting the rich? aren't you just handing to the president and democrats a very effective weapon? >> not at all. we're going to point out the fact you could tax the rich at 100% of their income you're still not going to make a dent in what obama has done to this country and government spending, waste, fraud, abuse, like solyndra and ener-1. and the fact that his investment, quote, unquote, in america, that stimulus was an utter failure by his own standards. no, gregg, we're not protecting the rich. what we're doing is we're

exposing the fact that obama is blaming somebody else for his own incompetence. let me tell you something, if buffett really wanted to contribute to america, pay your back taxes mr. buffett. you owe a billion dollars in back taxes. not paying enough, write a check. gregg: that is in contest with the irs he is allowed to do that legally. juan, when the president first proposed the buffett rule he said it would, and i'm looking at his very words, raise enough money so we stablize our debt and deficits for the next decade. well, now his own treasury department confirms that that is utterly untrue. at best it will raise $5 billion a year, when you do the math that is less than 1% of our 1.2 trillion dollar deficit. so, i mean, come on, isn't the president being deceptive? >> well, i think that's why you heard the president, gregg, say this goes beyond fairness. when he says that this is beyond fairness, i think he is indicating this is the first step from his perspective. gregg: but he used word deficit again yesterday, juan. you heard the clip we played

in the intro. >> that is what he is getting at, gregg. you have to start looking at things like the bush tax cuts. you have to start to look at social security, the payroll tax cuts. then you have to also then, say that's a first down payment in terms of going and making a deal on major entitlement spending cuts which is really the heart and soul of the debt in this country. i think that, for us to be kind and to try to understand what he is going after because you're exactly right, i mean it is not a lot of money in terms of trying to reduce the size of the debt. gregg: right. you know, brad, the president claims it's about fairness as juan pointed out but irs data, and we checked this, shows that middle class workers on average pay just under 15% in federal taxes. the richest .1% pay almost twice as high a rate on average, 26%. so isn't the fairness argument being made by the president here belied by his own statistics?

>> absolutely. the top 10% earners in america pay for everybody else, basically. vast majority of americans don't pay any taxes at all though they may small state tax. they don't pay any federal tax. gregg: right. >> this idea of creating a straw man, a bogey man, to shift the blame like he did with bush in 2008. in to 12, it is somebody else's problem? no, mr. president, it is your problem. gregg: i have to squeeze in another question for juan. "the wall street journal" editorial saying nothing more than a sneaky way for the president to justify doubling the capital gains and dividend rate from 30% to 15. let me quote their editorial. the problem is this is a tax on capital needed for firms to grow and hire more workers. how will investment be spurred by doubling the tax on it? is that a pair point, juan? would it cause less growth and fewer jobs? >> i don't think so. it's a fair point because they're exactly right. it could be a sneaky way to double the tax on he is

states and the like. the fact is america is a great place to invest your money. if you look at europe, look overseas. people say what about china, what about brazil? i think still america ranks as one of the top investments. look at our credit rating. to get back to your earlier point about the difference in taxes on rich and workers in this country, look at loopholes, look attacks shelters available to the rich. those are tremendous benefits and you don't count that when you just simply look at the absolute tax rate. gregg: brad blakeman, juan williams, great to see you guys. thanks very much. have a terrific weekend. >> you too. heather: coming up, a masterpiece stolen at gunpoint from a swiss museum four years ago recovered in a raid. [sirens] we will tell you where the thieves hid the painting and what it's worth. gregg: and a new jersey mayor hailed a hero today. his amazing actions that went well beyond the duties of his office.

>> found the woman in the bed. and the mayor immediately, initially being held back by detectives, responded look, we've got to save her, she may die. she may die. went in and grabbed the woman out of the bed and carried her through the fire and, with the assistance of his detectives downstairs. 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.

gregg: stolen painting worth more than $100 million recovered in serbia during a stunning raid. [sirens] the masterpiece by paul cezanne was stolen by from a private swiss museum in 2008 in one of the biggest art thefts in europe at the time. the painting called, the boy in the red waste coat, was found in belgrade. police seized vehicles, weapons and ammunition. heather: they claim reledge

just liberty is under attack at home and abroad. now u.s. bishops are issuing a call to action to defend those liberties. the campaign they say goes far beyond the birth control debate sparked by the obama administration. father jonathan morris, fox news contributor and author of, god wants you happy, i agree with that. joins us now to talk a little more about this. thank you for joining us this morning. this is an unprecedented effort. >> you're exactly right, unprecedented. very often the bishops issue documents about one or another moral or religious issues, right? usually they're generalities. they talk in principles. they talk, but in this document, it is a 12-page document, it is called, our first, most cherished liberty. i invite people to go to the internet in the and find it, our first and most cherished liberty, the bush hops -- bishops write this letter not only call bishops and priests to action but invite lay people to say, what

we're talking about here a violation of the hhs mandate. there are six other issues they bring up are violations against not only the natural law for religious liberty but a violation of our constitution. they're saying this is not just a catholic issue. this is an american issue. heather: to be clear, as you just mentioned, this is not just involve the mandate requiring coverage of birth control. this involves, at least six other issues. seven total. one of which, involves the inability to minister to illegal immigrants and also as you mentioned, some noncatholic issues as well. >> they very specificallyly violations against religious liberty. not only against catholics. the immigration law or in alabama would prohibit relidge just organizations ministering to people without checking their legal status. bishops give here in example of new york city, there is law against church

organizations from renting public schools for church services. they allow any other secular organization to do just that. they list very specific things. they call for what they're saying a for the night for freedom. two weeks leading up to july 4th they're inviting all catholics and all christians and all americans who agree with them this is an important issue, to have two weeks of prayer, which is also a protest against these egregious laws. heather: i have to wrap-up at that. this is a very important issue. people can go online, learn more bit, read for yourself these seven different issues involved. >> that's right. >> gregg? gregg: hang it up. it is the first town to ban all cell phone use while driving. why some are very worried that it will cost them more than just a fine. and don't mess with this cop. the wild ride making headlines. wait until you hear why he was hanging from a moving

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heather: not going to believe this one. a couple of suspected car thieves making headlines after accidentally pocket dialing 911. the dispatchers could not believe their ears when they heard the guys searching for cars to steal. listen to this. >> blue suv on the side. see the next car in front. gray or silver [bleep] rx-7. pull up next to it. i will [bleep]. you'll sit there till i drive away. heather: suspects stayed on the line 45 minutes. seattle police one of them down when he pocket dialed police again, the next day, gregg.

gregg: you are being so polite. we don't call it pocket dialing. we call it something else. in case kids are watching i better not say. one nation in north carolina becoming the first-in-the-nation to completely ban talking on the cell phone while driving. that includes hands-free device, bluetooth you name it. although some are happy with the change, the ban is not welcome by all. jonathan serrie explains why from chapel hill. jonathan? >> reporter: hi, gregg. some residents who work out of their vehicles say the new law is overreaching but town officials insist it's about safety. they say it's not the phone that's dangerous, it's the conversation. >> good afternoon, dave. >> reporter: running a busy disaster restoration and cleaning business, dave cotton is always on the go and on the phone. >> basically my office is my car. we start out at 7:00 in the morning and, i go until whenever at night. >> reporter: as with many multitasking drivers, cotton use as bluetooth device so

he can keep both hands on the wheel. starting june 1st, that won't be good enough in chapel hill, north carolina. >> all those in favor raise your hand. >> reporter: the town banned all cell phones within city limits. even using a speaker phone or bluetooth device can get you $25 fine. >> potential customer calls me, i don't answer the phone they will call somebody else. >> reporter: dave cotton worries about business, but town councilwoman says she drives a lot for personal chef service. >> pull off the street. have the conversation consider for two minutes. have your conversation and get back on the road. >> reporter: this is second offense violation. meaning an officer can only ticket you for talking on the phone if he or she catches you making some other traffic violation. town officials are saying they're more interested in promoting safety and awareness an generating any ticket revenue. gregg? gregg: jonathan serrie, in

chapel hill. jonathan, thanks very much. i was wondering how is that any different from talking to a passenger and our very brilliant senior producer christine burke had the answer. she said studies show if you're talking to a passenger that passenger is still a second set of eyes for you. so that gives you greater advantage than bluetooth. heather: i say depends who that passenger is for sure. because i've had had a couple in my car that are not a second set of eyes. gregg: okay. heather: the white house weighing in on the firestorm involving ann romney and hillary rosen. we'll tell you what the president and the first lady say about motherhood and work today. gregg: and a law enforcement officer going the extra mile. why this cop felt he had to jump on a bus, yeah, there he is. such an unconventional angle. hmm. ♪ . [ grandfather ] that a boy!

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martha: more lavish spending by the gsa, just now coming to light, the agency's vegas blowout just one apparently of a growing list of over the top events paid for with your tax dollars. welcome to a brand new hour of ""america's newsroom"", i'm heather childer in for martha mcical -- mcical up on so assign lent. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett, we are learning this isn't just agent employees who have something to sing about. heather: jim angle is live for us in washington with the latest. so a house committee opens hearings on all of this monday and now there's really a new wrinkle, trips to palm springs for interns? >> >> reporter: you got it. investigators found that interns of the gsa had a conference at the palm springs rivera resort and spa which included a catered awards ceremony but the gsa still paid the employees a

per diem allowance for food by classifying a $75, to $100 buffet as light free reshments. some who attended conference reportedly stayed a suite which the resorts describes as opu lent. john mica of florida says, quote, gsa has been spreading the taxpayers' wealth, providing luxurious junkets not only for high level executives but interns as well. he noted that congressional inteshes often work out of storage areas or hallways and do not get sent to resorts and spas for a week on the taxpayers' dime. another congressman, jeff denim, offers that intern retreats added to the taxpayers' tab demand serious action for what he calls a blatant waste of taxpayer dollars. listen: >> we certainly want to call in all of the individuals that have already been fired or on administrative leave, but we want to go much deeper. we want the new acting director to come in and explain how he's made the changes so that this will never happen again.

>> reporter: now, denham says the way it looks, the use by the gsa appears to have no end. heather. heather: man, when i was an intern, i was living off ramen noodles and maybe a pizza every now and then! at first the obama administration tried to make it sound like the bush administration had also spent lavishly. >> reporter: that's right. the white house has first claimed that spending on one such conference during the bush years had increased enormously by 248 percent over the previous conference, suggesting lavish spending was well underway before mr. obama came to office. new numbers show the 248 percent increase is not accurate, that the conference in question actually declined by 19 percent. the white house has been forced to acknowledge that the recent spending was inappropriate, so heather, there will be lots and lots of fodder for those hearings on monday when they start looking into these things in detail. heather: we'll see what else comes out, thank you very

much for the latest. jim angle, thank you. >> reporter: you bet. gregg: north korea's controversial missile launch ended in a major failure on thursday, the united nations security council holding an emergency meeting right now to decide how to react to a launch that many consider a direct breach of u.n. resolutions. eric shawn, live in the united nations in new york. what's the council plan at this point? >> reporter: hey gregg. the diplomats here at the united nations say this north korean missile launch is provocative, a violation of international security and certainly a violation of the two previous united nations security council resolutions. let's take a live look now, you can see the microphone where the diplomats will step up to after the closed door security council meeting is finished. they will be discussing their response to the north korean missile test, so far, the security council has slapped north korea with two rounds of resolutions, back in 2006 and 2009, that after previous long range missile tests and two nuclear tests

and the two previous tests conducted with plutonium devices is a worry and concern that north korea may try a third test, perhaps with a uranium-enriched device, though they'll have to see. susan rice, ambassador to the united nations, says the security council must respond in her words, credibly. secretary general bondi -- ban ki-moon saying the action is deplorable. that meeting underway momentarily. we will bring you the latest of course, gregg, when it is completed. gregg: north korea defied two previous u.n. resolutions. what sort of actions could the united nations take now? >> reporter: that's the question of the morning and it all depends on what china has to do. china through the many years even prevented the discussion of the north korean issue from reaching the security council, the chinese u.n. ambassador saying there must be restraint. it's believed that beijing will not support any new sanctions, so basically, gregg, you may see just a slap on the wrist. strong words, but something

that really isn't meaningingful to the north koreans. gregg: eric shawn, live at the united nations, thanks. now that the launch has failed what's the diplomatic fallout in all of this? some intelligence analysts say this launch is also a propaganda failure for the regime. coming up we're going to be talking to a former state department official who handled issues on north korea for george w. bush's administration. he says the rogue nation's next move could be a nuclear test. heather: gregg, another from the north korea to iran, u.s. diplomats are returning to negotiations with tehran over its uranium enrichment program. israel has said military action may be the only way to keep nuclear weapons out of iran. tehran insists that its nuke program is 23409 a -- not a weapons program. gregg: the facts would appear to suggest choice. iran has at -- otherwise. iran has at least 27 known nuclear sites across the country and have successfully kept the enrichment program hidden

from the world for the better part 18 years. iran activated its first commercial nuclear power plant in september of last year. heather: to pakistan now, demanding the u.s. stop its drone attacks immediately and cease all covert operations on its soil. otherwise, supply routes into afghanistan will stay closed. those routes have been closed since last november. after u.s. forces mistakenly killed 24 pakistani troops in a firefight. world affairs correspondent dominic di-natale streaming live for us from kabul. dominic. >> reporter: heather, it's a lot for the pakistani toss demand. after all, drones are the best tool that america has in targeting militants that hide inside the pakistani tribal areas, and two, according to many of the pakistanis are believed to be protecting. however, listen to the list of what they really want from the united states in order for relationships to resume normality, an

immediate end to the drone strikes, and hot pursuit of militants by u.s. forces here in afghanistan, as the militants often make a hasty effort across the border for safe havens there. they also want no covert operations by either the u.s. military or the cia, including any private security companies the cia may use or their operatives and finally they want unconditionable supply for that killing, however inadvertent it was of the 24 pakistani soldiers back in november of last year. as a result of the closure of the supply convoy, it's costing the u.s. taxpayer about $87 million a month. that's so far almost $350 million. it's critical to the supply route, that it open as soon as possible but it's so expensive. so the real issue is how the united states is really going to act to this demand. we've seen a drop in the number of drone attacks so far this year but there's been one key area where militants do hide and have the safe havens, in

comparison to the hundreds that they had a couple of years ago. the u.s. state department yesterday was saying it does want to resume normal relations in pakistan as soon as possible but there is a rally going on on this very day, of whose authority it is to open it, is it the government, the military or parliament. until they can di, it's not going to happen at all. back to you. heather: dominic, streaming live from kabul, thank you. gregg: a swipe at romney setting off a firestorm. >> i will tell you that mitt said to me, more times than you would imagine, ann, your job is more important than mine. gregg: -- gregg: and now, president obama is weighing in on the controversy surrounding democratic political consultant hillary rosen, what he had to say, plus a fair and balanced debate. heather: george zimmerman is behind bars. trayvon martin's family spoke to fox news about the arrest. we'll take a look at what wo

to expect next in the case. gregg: a traffic stop gone very wrong. we're going to tell you how this happened, and how it ended. ses did gregg: trag i think

story out of ohio, three people killed at a shooting rampage at a cracker barrel restaurant in what may have been a domestic dispute gone wrong, among the dead, a teenage girl and shooter shot and killed by police, another girl was rushed to the hospital with injuries. a police say they called 911 from the restaurant, the woman saying her husband was upset because she told him she was leaving him. heather: president obama, now weighing in on the controversy surrounding comments made by a democratic strategist about mitt romney's wife, ann. hillary rosen setting off a

firestorm after saying that mrs. romney, quote, never worked a day in her life. mr. obama called those remarks ill advised, adding his appreciation for stay at home moms. >> here's what i know. that there's no tougher job than being a mom. and you know, when i think about what michelle had to do, when i think about my own mom, a single mother raising me and my sister, that's work. so anybody who would argue otherwise, i think, probably needs to rethink their statement. heather: hillary rosen has since apologized for those comments, saying that she used a poor choice of words. sally cohen is a community activist and political blogger and tammy bruce is a former los angeles chapter president of the national organization for women. she's also a radio talk show host. both are fox news contributors.

thank you both for joining us this morning. >> good morning. heather: sally, i'm going to start with you. did hillary rosen make a mistake? >> without question. her words were stupidly chosen. if i were on television, i might choose harsher words. look, i'm a mom, i know that being a mom is the hardest job i've ever had. certainly harder than sitting here, talking to you guys right now. it's without question a hard job, and needs to be respected as work. i think the larger point that hillary was inartfully trying to make is look, mitt romney shouldn't just be looking to his wife as this quote unquote economic adviser on women's issues, but more importantly, if the republicans want to receipt oricly stand behind moments, whether they work at home or out of the home, then they shouldn't just say it, that they care, they should put polices where their mouths are. talk about, you know, paid family leave, talk about the earned income tax credit, talk about why the

republican budget is cutting public education and head start and child care. that's what moments and women of all -- wherever they're working, want to hear from republicans. heather: tammy, is this just rhetoric for the republicans as sally says? >> well, you know, even this discussion, this is not what they planned on. the fact of the matter is the obama white house and hillary rosen are smart, disciplined people. this is not a mistake by hillary. this is an indication of the obama campaign. this is about the division of americans. they had no intention of wanting to talk about polices as sally knows. this is about they started with class division, then they went to race division, and obama is winning, single women, by dujt dives and losing married women by the same amount. i think this is a deliberate strategy to try to divide women at this point. clearly it backfired. they feel that they've had some success on the other two issues, but i think americans are tired of it.

and here's the issue when it comes to rhetoric and strategy. the obamas really feel that this is something that they can't talk about the record, that this is going to help them be another distraction. but the romneys clearly, this is a boon for them. it's like a little black swan. they've needed americans to be able to see them, and ann romney on this program yesterday said it perfectly, she was pitch perfect, she noted that americans haven't gotten to know us yet. so for them, it is a terrific benefit, and look, let's favor the prepared, the romney campaign was prepared and they're doing a good job with this. heather: sally, this is something we talked about over the weekend on the power panel, this con -- conquer, divide strategy, and women, should we be offended and do you think that is the strategy? >> you know, here's where i disagree with tammy, strongly. what this actually is, we look at the context of this debate, the republicans had tried to wage a war against

democrats through the lens of this war on women around the issues of going after contraception and reproductive choice and health care for women. that backfired. and because of that, women are now overwhelmingly, by a 2-1 margin, favoring president obama over candidate romney. so the republicans have been scrambling to do anything they could to try and get women back to their camp, and i do agree with tay, this was a gift that hillary rosen, on her own, accidentally gave to the romney camp. but it doesn't foreclose the fact that women want to hear polices that republicans are going to do. >> if i may, i think we can both admit that the obama campaign isn't stiewmed, that hillary rosen is a disciplined woman, she is not some rogue, loose-lipped pundit. this was a strategy that failed. and what it should tell everyone in this country is that the white house is in chaos, that this is not the discussion they wanted to have, but it also tells you

the disregard that the obama white house has, not only for the american people, but for women in general, that they think that women are going to be dragged around with a ring in their nose on these issues. americans have responded to ann romney. ann romney is going to -- >> heather: on that note, sally, i know you want to say something, tammy, have to wrap it. thank you very much. we appreciate you joining us today. >> thank you ladies. >> always a pleasure. heather: thanks. gregg gregg ring in the nose! wow! coming up, why u.s. schools may be taking a toll on national security. we're going to tell you why a new report suggests that american students may be ill prepared to protect and serve. heather: and no, that is not a shot from the movie, "speed", what exactly caused this bus stop to go -- yeah, this is very, very, very wrong! and why the daredevil driver, he refused to stop. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ i can't drive 55!

>> ♪ >> ♪

gregg: all right, did you happen to see this one? this is a traffic cop in vietnam getting a ride he's not going to soon forget. he tried to pull over a bus driver, the driver apparently had other ideas, plowing along down the road while the traffic cop is holding on for dear life. the officer can be heard on the videotape shouting call the police, call the police! that's a good idea. the bus driver eventually pulled over. turns out he was released from prison not long ago, serving four years for, get this, a fatal traffic accident. good thing there wasn't another one! heather: can you imagine seeing that on the streets in new york city. a new report warns a major threat to u.s.

security that begins in our public schools. the u.s. education system is apparently failing to provide students with critical skills like math, technology, foreign languages, and if things don't change, experts fear that we could lose more than just our competitive edge. here now senior editor of the american spectator, john fund. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. heather: so you say this begins the trend, it's caused by several things, fluffy subjects being one of them. >> if you don't focus on the basics, reading, writing, math, science, you're going to eventually lose touch with them because you're focusing on fluffy subjects. not that they aren't important, but if you spend an awful lot of time on global warming, if you spend an awful lot of time on diversity, those are good things, but if you -- you have to get the basics right first. heather: so get back to the basics. union work rules are affecting our education. >> our education system is

bu -- burratized. the unions make it impossible to update schools and provide the framework in which people can do their best. things are so bad now, only 26 percent of high school seniors are proficient in math and only 21 percent in science. heather: so what about grade inflation? that's another issue you brought up. >> we have had both in colleges and in high schools a lot of people being passed on. they go on from grade to grade, they get bs where they should get cs, as where they should get bs. they have too much self-esteem, they don't have a real sense of how much they know, where the other companies that are trading competitors, they sure know an awful lot about what our kids don't know because they're eating our lunch in several areas, semiconductors, science projects, basic manufacturing. china and india are doing a whole lot more to educate

their kids in math and science than we are. we are going to need 1 million scientists and math mat -- be 1 million short from the next decade. heather: how does it translate beyond the classroom into the threat to the u.s.? >> well, we cannot the world's leader in any field if we have a whole bunch of people who can't understand basic math and science concepts. in iraq, they found out of 250 intelligence officers, that they had brought in to iraq to study antiterrorism methods, the vast majority of them couldn't figure out complex problems, as to how to go in and find out where the terrorists were and how best to track them. they lacked the basic skills heather: back to basics, that's the one number -- number one issue. i would add my sister is a teacher so i would say more support for the teachers across the country as well. >> they need more freedom from the work rules, too, they need to be able to do their best and they can't do it now.

heather: thank you very much for joining us, we appreciate it. gregg: north korea's controversial rocket launch ends in an embarrassing failure for the regime. so what can we expect now from the leaders in pyongyang and the future of their nuclear program? we'll take a much closer look. and mother nature, putting on quite a show in the skies. look at that. we're going to tell you which city got the front row seat. in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college. retire how they want to. ameriprise. the strength of america's largest financial planning company. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you, one-to-one. together, for your future.

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gregg: north korea, defying the international community with yesterday's botched rocket launch. the foulup forcing the country's leaders to make a rare and embarrassing admission of failure and now the world is watching the reclusive regime which many predict is plotting an even more provocative move. christian whiten is a form state department senior adviser, he worked extensively on north korean issues under president george w. bush, he's now a principal with d.c. international advisory. christian, good to see you. before we get to their next move, a couple of subjects i want to hit. it appears the west will once again go to the security council for censure, maybe more sanctions. look, you know better than anybody, the previous sanctions have done nothing. they're ignored with impunity by north korea. how is it going to be any

different this time? >> you know gregg, i don't think it will be different at all. mainly because china doesn't do anything really to enforce these sanctions. it's the one government that's in a position to turn the screws on north korea. it's only north korea's trading partner, provides them with aid, fuel, oil, other support. but after three rounds of u.n. security council resolutions, the first two in 2006 after north korea had ballistic missile tests and first nuclear test and in 2009 after north korea's second nuclear shot, what looked like strong sanctions were passed, they just weren't enforced and not only is china not complying, we don't hold them to account for not complying. gregg: only weeks ago the obama administration agreed to give food aid to north korea in return for that country's pledge to, among other things, stop all long range missile tests. for some reason, the united states did not get it in writing. and immediately, of course, pyongyang violated the

agreement. senator jon k qulvment said the administration was naive. do you think he's right? did the president get suckered here? >> yeah, i think the administration was naive. like its predecessor. the kim family is in competition with yasser arafat for selling the same thing over and over again and never delivering. once again, you have food aid being offered to come back to talks. north korea, actually, that doesn't ever make it to people in need in north korea. they get -- food assistance gets diverted to the regime late and it can be sold on the black market. so it's another way of really giving cash, giving support to the jeem. it pocket it is and never delivers the goods. gregg: satellite images on the opposite side of the country appear to show efforts at tunneling to create a space for an underground nuclear device to be tested and it could happen sometime soon, only this time, it may be a uranium bomb instead of plutonium. will they do it in your judgment, and what then?

>> it's impossible to know for certain but yes, it looks pretty likely, the way this usually comes out, south korean intelligence starts leaking information to the south korean press. that has happened. it looks like preparations are underway. the uranium bomb is a little scarier of a prospect because it's the simpler design of pru tonium bombs that north korea has tested before with mixed results. our first bomb was a uranium wuks the first one we dropped in combat so you likely have the evolution of the north korean program, so we step look at this and it looks like a failure by northie contraof its rocket --o north korea of its rocket but it's power by the jeem. gregg: and engineers always learn from the failures in terms of tell emmettry and so forth -- telemetry, in terms of advancement of the program. given that, should president obama consider changing course and restoring investments in missile defenses as many members of congress have urged him to do? >> i think that's right.

you know, the one takeaway from this, and particularly from our ally, japan, is it cannot count on the u.s. to be a tough negotiating with north korea. what it can count on is its own missile defense capability. i think you'll see a lot of governments around the world and of course the supplies to iran and the situation as well that we need to invest in missile defense but also look at per teshing the jeem. doesn't mean we need to go to war or act belligerently but hold back defectors, who want to help the refugees, things like that. gregg: bottom lining north korea has a long history in playing diplomatic ping pong with the west, they've lied, cheated on previous agreements, did it again yesterday. do you think in the end deterrence and containment are the only way to deal with north korea? >> we should contain them but you need to go farther. unfortunately there's a cost to doing nothing because they proliferate almost every weapons system it has or has developed.

in 20071 reason the last round of talks fell apart was because we caught north korea helping the syrians build a carbon copy of the reactor, they were building it in syria with the north koreans on the site. there's a cost to treading water here. we should be looking for ways to per tesh this regime and help the north korean free themselves. that's how you got security in northeast asia. gregg: christian whiten, thank you very much for being with us today. >> great to be here. heather: the politics of capital gains taxes. president obama has been campaigning for the buffet rule, suggesting that republicans don't care about fairness, but the facts on who cut what taxes over the years may actually contradict some of his claims. william la jeunesse live from los angeles. >> reporter: heather, there is a big debate on the wealth gap even among the growing list of millionaires on capitol hill but democrats did not make this an issue when john kerry ran

for president nor did the democrats pass a buffet rule when they controlled the house and senate two years ago, partially because even economists cannot agree on the optimal capital gains rate. but today, it makes for good politics. >> we just need some of the republicans politicians here in washington to get on board with where the country is. >> president obama blames republicans for a tax code he calls unfair. he doesn't mention the role played by democrats in writing it. in 1979, president jimmy carter and a democratic house and house and senaterous reduced the capital gains tax rate from 40 to 28 percent. later, ronald reagan reduced it further to 20 percent. before increasing it. in 1997, bill clinton lowered the rate again, to 21 percent. followed by president bush, in 2003, who 16 percent. thanks to democratic support in the house and senate. president obama now proposes a return to 20 percent for some, and 30 percent for millionaires.

>> while many millionaires do pay fair their -- their fair share, some take advantage of loopholes and shelters that let them get away with paying no income taxes whatsoever. >> while number the true is tiny and loopholes legal, put there by congress where ironically almost 50 percent with millionaires. seven of the top ten richests are democrats, including dianne feinstein, jay rockefeller, and john kerry. he paid a lower tax rate, just 13 percent, when he ran for president, than mitt romney pays now. george bush paid 28 percent, but democrats make an issue of tax fairness in that race. >> there's always this sort of hypocrisy going on, and it's really nothing new, but is is the hot issue today, and this is what people are focusing on, and the white house is going to drive this issue all the way until november. >> reporter: so the president's message is that the wealthy of course pay a lower rate than the middle class but the white house's own numbers released yesterday show on average

that is not accurate, heather. the middle of the middle class pay a 14 -- 14 percent tax rate whereas the top 1 percent pay almost double, 26 percent. heather: always very interesting how they can always spin those numbers. thank you very much, william la jeunesse, live for us in l.a., thank you. gregg: trayvon martin's family says they believe the justice system will work in the case against accused shooter george zimmerman. but after a month of media frenzy over the unarmed teenager's death, will zimmerman be able to get a fair trial? >> it's almost a burden on you, though. i don't know how you're going to get through that. i don't know how you're going to sit there and do that. >> how do i get through my son being murdered and the person walk for 44 days? unders. so to make sure people get every word of the geico savings message i've been practicing how to talk like a true chicagoan.

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heather: mother nature putting on a spectacular but very dangerous light show in california. check this out, lightning over san francisco, massive bolts simply shattering the

night sky, as the fast moving storm brought rain and a few fireworks, too. one flight out of the city had to turn around after it was apparently struck by a lightning bolt. no injuries, though, reported. spectacular. gregg: trayvon martin's family now speaking out on the second degree murder charges filed against the shooter, george zimmerman. trayvon's mother, sabrina multion, says she has faith in the judicial system. here's how she said it on bill o'reilly: >> i believe in the judicial system and i believe that he can get a fair trial. >> so it's almost a burden on you, though. i don't know how you're going to get through that. i don't know how you're going to sit there and do that. >> how did i get through my son being murdered and the person walk for 44 days? >> i know but you're going to have to relive this through this trial. >> well, i believe in the judicial system and i believe that he will get his day in court, and he will

complete his case. gregg: mark iglar is a former prosecutor, ket sullivan is a defense attorney. mark, under florida's stand your ground law, zimmerman can seek dismissal of all of the charges in advance by going before a judge to claim that he didn't instigate the fight an feared for his life and here's the key. he only has to prove it to the judge by a preponderance of the evidence. that's much lower threshold than in a burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. what's the likelihood of success on that? >> very, very low. this judge essentially has only been practicing on the bench for 16 months, would have to essentially commit political suicide by saying you know what, i on my own will just simply get rid of this case. i don't see it happening. i also don't see it happening now the facts are not clear-cut. they're murky. he is the only one who can

testify that he allegedly turned his back, and then was confronted by trayvon, which is what i think he's going to allege, which is the only thing that would get him into the immunity ground so i don't see it happening, i think this case is going to go to trial. gregg if it goes to trial in front of a jury the burden shifts to the prosecution beyond a reasonable doubt and if the defendant invokes self-defense and we anticipate he would, he would maybe get the -- take the witness stand and say look, i subjectively had a reasonable belief of imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death. that's tough for prosecutors to disprove, isn't it? >> that's going to be very difficult in this case and i think mark is probably right that the judge is not going to get rid of this case at the preliminary hearing stage but the defense always has the opportunity to renew the self-defense argument before the jury and if you're the defense attorney, what you have to do is separate out and create two scenarios. the first, which is the initial pursuit of

zimmerman, from zimmerman to martin, and then a line of de demarcation between that and the actual incident. if you alone to zimmerman's father last week on this network, he described that his son had lost sight of martin and turned around and came back towards the vehicle and then martin essentially jumped him from the left side in creating this horrific situation. gregg: mark, let's assume that zimmerman takes the witness stand and says that i left, i got jumped from behind, and my head was beaten into the ground. isn't that a fear of serious bodily injury or death that merits using a gun? >> well, let me, it may be. let's assume, and we really are assuming the facts, let's say that zimmerman was the initial aggressor, experts or legal experts as they claim are dead wrong when they say that the aggressor doesn't get immunity. the aggressor can still get immunity if he turns away

from physical contact with the victim and the victim then becomes the aggressor and zimmerman allegedly is punched, broken his nose, slammed on the ground, then yes, he used every reasonable means to escape the harm, but he's on his back and he shoots. that could be a theory, assuming they credit zimmerman's testimony. gregg: you know keith, i was reading through some of the papers released yesterday, the affidavit, incidental to the first appearance of george zimmerman. it portrays him as profiling trayvon martin, falsely assuming things, following him and confronting him. so prosecutors, i mean, have to believe that they have some substantial evidence in that regard that martin was the victim here and zimmerman was the aggressor. what do you think? >> gregg, i hope that there's more than what we already know, because if we're going based on just what's already out in the public domain, it's not enough for second degree murder, let alone manslaughter.

gregg: and that's the question to both of you. you suspect they'll plead this down to manslaughter? >> which may be why the prosecutor went for second degree murder as opposed to manslaughter to begin with. >> i would say yes, only if the number of years that a company has a plea offer with a reduction on manslaughter is reasonable. if it's still 15 years, 17 years, they'll go to trial. gregg: -- >> i agree, if it's going to be ten plus, go to trial and run the risk. gregg: gentlemen, we'll wait and see what happens. thank you very much, mark and keith, good to see you. heather: a fox news alert for you now. the white house just releasing information from president obama's 2011 filed taxes. the president, reporting just under $790,000 in income, and on that income, he reportedly paid just over $162,000 in total taxes. that means that he paid just

over 20 percent in taxes. gregg: the military is bracing for sweeping budget cuts, but it isn't just our men and women in uniform feeling the impact. we're going to tell you how communities across the country are bracing for a change in a live report. heather: and a leopard in their midst. we'll tell you how some folks dealt with a very dangerous test. [ female announcer ] last year, the u.s. used enough plastic water bottles to stretch around the earth over 190 times. each brita filter can take up to 300 of those bottles out of the equation.

gregg: just learning now that the white house has announced it will revoke the planned food aid to north korea. they also say they are considering other measures such as more sanctions. there, of course, is the map where last night's launch, daytime, north korea time, failed in less than a minute

after the missile was launched carrying a satellite. there is some videotape and apparently in less than a minute, it broke up and it disintegrated, so it was a complete failure. unusually, though, this time around. they admitted the failure. normally, they deny it and say things went successfully heather: which they did not. gregg: no. heather: well, major cut backs for the military are in the works. it isn't just service members who will feel their impact, though. entire communities may soon need to make big changes. molly line is live for us at otis national guard base in massachusetts. so molly, what do the cuts mean for otis fair force base and the rest of the state? >> right, the cuts are actually impacting numerous bases all across the commonwealth. there are some 300 military positions being cut statewide and otis is getting hit hard. this is base that's tried to readjust. there's a big f15 behind me.

this used to be a major fighting location, a major place where the jets would fly overhead and how they focus on the intelligence aspect of things but getting hard hit with numerous cuts, about 150 positions have been cut from the guard base here. most of the jobs in the air operations group, including 33 full-time positions, we had a chance to speak with colonel anthony sciavi, the intelligence wing commander, and here's what he had to say. >> as we deal with structure cuts, everybody realizes that sort of everybody has to be part of the solution as we try to get our national debt down. we look to make sure we take care of air men and their families in whatever way we can, as well as continuing to have dialogue about other missions we can be well executed -- suited for that the air force says we still need capability. >> reporter: scott brown, who served in the national guard in massachusetts for over 30 years has been adamant from the mission here needs to be protected, the safety and security of the commonwealth and the nation, then right thaind

are the fiscal concerns, because the bases across massachusetts bring in hundreds of millions of dollars across the economy, as far as the economic impact is concerned and communities across the country are actually facing a similar situation. the air force making cuts across the nation. some 9900 positions expected to be cut by the end of september next year. heather. heather: molly, speaking specifically to that surrounding community, how are they taking the news? >> reporter: yeah, just as one snapshot is concerned, the cape cod community is very supportive of the otis air national guard base camp, all of the military aspects that are held in this area, the coast guard, and they're very concerned about the cut of any positions. this means a lot to the economy in this wn. -- region. we had a chance to speak with a pizza shop owner and he talked about what the military means to him and how they helped him get through the economic slowdown of the last couple of years. >> they've been huge. those days where we don't

have a lot of customers other than the guys from the base and we say thank god for the military. >> reporter: in recent month the, the pentagon leaders have also tried to speak about br a -- brac, but they're getting pushback from congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle as to whether or not we may see that in the upcoming three, four, five years of the yet to be determined. heather: there's something we haven't heard about in a while, brac. thank you very much molly, we appreciate it. thank you. gregg: a potential big turnaround in the race for president. why new fox news polls could spell trouble for the president's reelection efforts. karl rove will be here with his insights. last season was the gulf's best tourism season in years.

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this year we're out to do even better... and now's a great time to start. the sun's out and the beaches are even more relaxing. you can go deep sea fishing or enjoy our world-class restaurants... our hotels and rentals have special deals for the whole family. go golfing, kite boarding, or build the worlds biggest sand sculpture... with the world's best sand. so come on down to mississippi... get yourself down to louisiana... we'll see you in florida... you know you want to come to alabama. the gulf is america's get-a-way... and we're 100 percent ready to see you. come on down and help make 2012 an even better year for the gulf. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. shannon: incredible video to show you out of india after villagers capture a dangerous predator targeting their livestock. this leopard apparently was attack being goats and bulls for months. after the government failed to

act, villagers said they were forced to take matters into their own hands. armed with kanes and sticks they cornered the cat and turned it over to forest officials. gregg: i can beat you on this next story. this is a lesson on why you ought to leave capturing alligators to the experts. a 6-foot gator biting a guess at a super 8 motel in louisiana after a reptile shows up outside of a motel lobby. the guest thought it would be a good idea to catch the gator before animal control officers arrived. >> i think a lot of people don't realize what an alligator can do to them. once you aggregate them how far they can jump at you. gregg: the gator released back into the wild. we ao hear the motel guest is doing okay, but clearly has been watching too many episodes of swamp people, isn't that the name of it, swamp people? shannon: i don't know. i just know it's not a good idea, right. gregg: right. "happening now" begins right now, bye-bye. shannon: have