she is over the hudson river. it appears to me right now i could be wrong, that body of water looks like the hudson to me, but not enough of a view to be absolutely sure. as you've seen laura ingle is waiting for her to land at jfk airport. that is expected at any time now. jenna: jon, one of the things we've been talking a little bit about this morning is the wind at jfk airport. and jfk is known for some of those elements to happen. you were saying yesterday wind sometimes can help you land but there is a fine line. jon: wind is your friend when you're flying a fixed wing aircraft. all you need is air flow over the wings. if you have the wind coming down the runway you can make a slower approach, and a softer landing. so wind is your friend. they have a lot of runways at jfk. i'm sure wind will not be a problem today. jenna: laura ingle is at jfk. you had a surprise guest a few

moments ago. what is it like at airport right now? >> it's windy. [laughter] jon: that's a good thing. >> reporter: we've had winds all morning long, over 30 miles an hour. i've got all kinds of people pointing just behind our camera. i think that people are starting to get it in sight right now. leonard nimoy, what an exciting treat that was, the man who played spock on star trek, who was here to celebrate this entrance of enterprise just came onto fox news channel to talk about his excitement and his participation. we have of course we are on runway 31l right now at jfk where you can see there is a lot of other activity going on. rich our cameraman is going to pan around and show you right after it lands it's going to go over to that hangar, hangar number 12. you can see the crowd that has gathered here in the stands. we have local and state dignitaries, along with leonard nimoy, and a lot of people from schools are here from the local area. once enterprise lands it's going

to taxi right in back of the stage. there will be a bit of a press conference, a ceremony, then it's going to be pulled over into that hangar. once it is in that hangar it will stay there for a while and as we know it's not going to be making it over to the intrepid in the near future, but in a little while it will. it's going to take a while to demate while taking the shuttle off of the jumbo jet. once that happens it will be put on a barge, floated up through hudson to the intrepid, a water crane will take it and pull it off and put it up on the top flight deck. that is when construction begins. there will have to be a pavilion that will be built around it. nasa needs -- the requirements is that shuttle has to be enclosed. once that happens it will be open to the public somewhere around july 19th. that is the hope. and once people are able to go in and see it you'll be able to go under it. they are allowing ten feet under the shuttle so people can cruise around and they going to build a

ramp so people can walk over it. the question a lot of people have had is are we going to get to go inside. as of right now the intrepid is telling us you will not be able to go inside it when it first opens. but you will be able to get up close and very personal with it once it happens in the intrepid. very exciting out here at jfk as we all anticipate the arrival. jenna: we will be so excited to see that happen on the press r-r. back to laura in a moment at jfk as we wait and weather watcher for the land -lg of the enterprise. i was actually just on the intrepid last week, jon and they showed me around the area where they are going to place the enterprise and told us a little bit about how it's going to go down. we have that story coming up on "happening now," a preview, if you will of what the public will actually get to see. jon: getting a little crowded on the flight deck there at the enterprise. jenna: they were sitting in a

barge on the enterprise when we were there. you can imagine how big this thing is and what an immense feat it will be to lift it right up and put it on the enterprise deck. jon: it's history repeating itself in a sense. i'm old enough to remember when the intrepid was an active duty ship back in 1965 gemini 3 the first manned flight of the gemini program, and as i understand it nasa's first controlled re-entry flight, made its splash down in the pacific. we were a bunch of school kid watching as the intrepid plucked gus grisham and john young out of the pacific. intrepid had an early role in this nation's space program, and now the first flyable orbitor, the orbitor that so many astronauts used to test fly the shuttle enterprise is going to be sitting on intrepid's deck.

we are joined by scott horowitz, a former nasa astronaut. i want to start, scott, with a picture of you next to enterprise. this goes back to what, 1978? >> yeah, morning, jon, yes that picture was taken back in 1978. jon: we'll get it on our screen here in a second, i hope. but you provided this picture. tell us the history behind this particular photo. >> i was going to be a senior in college out at cal state university northridge in southern california, and the approach and landing test which enterprise flew were done at edwards air force base where nasa drieden is. i talked to my best friend and said we need to drive out there and take a look at this space shuttle because i'd like to fly it some day. we drove out to the middle of the desert and drove up to the gate and said we'd like to go see the space shuttle. jon: the figure in bell bottoms

at the bottom of that shot. you're a little hard to see there, but that was you. >> that was me a little bit embarrassing, but that was the style of the day, the bell bottom blue jeans, 1978. jon: hey, i had it too. and you went onto fly as an astronaut. did you quit a chance to fly enterprise in the landing tests? >> no, the approach and landing tests were all done when that picture was taken. they were all completed in 1977, and nasa learned everything it needed to to proceed with the shuttle program to build the orbitors that we eventually fly to space and land at edwards air force base and the kenny space center. the approach and landing tests were important to check out the control built and the ability to fly this ship back to the ground like a glider, albeit a pretty lousy glider, it glide like a brick. jon: it doesn't have a lot of wing-surface area does it?

>> no. jon: it's a combination of spacecraft and earth atmosphere flying machine and as you say it does glide, but pretty steep approach angles in that thing, huh? >> right, yeah standard airliners about 3 degrees on final, we come down at about 20 degrees at 300 knots when you land a space shuttle. it's an amazing, amazing vehicle. jon: what is going through your mind now, well as the shuttle program has ended, and as these shuttles that have served so long and so well are being distributed to sr-r various places around the country? >> it's obviously really nice that, for example, discovery went into the smithsonian last week. i was there for that event. we now have enterprise going into new york. a lot of people are getting to see the shuttles. the problem we have is that we were going to retire the shuttles, and we had a replacement program, which was the constellation program to go on to the moon and mars and

astroids and beyond. and unfortunately the administration canceled the follow-on program. when i met with people at the smithsonian last week they were excited to see a shuttle but they were pretty distressed that our nation has given up basically on its manned space program for the foreseeable future. it's pretty much a national disgrace. jon: given up on a government-run, government-sponsored manned space program but there are all kind of exciting things happening in terms of private space ventures. >> well, there is a work being done in the commercial sector, but first of all the capabilities aren't there yet. we won't see anything from the commercial space sector until at least 2015 or 16 as far as manned space flight. and it's like the difference in a commercial world, you can use the airlines, for example, you can go buy a seat on an airliner

and go fly, but you don't just go off commercially and go buy yourself airplanes to serve the government's purpose like for military fighters or tankers or things we need to do things that are strategically important to the united states. and the commercial world is nowhere near having a manned space flight capability that could even think of going onto the moon or mars or do any of those really, really hard thing. even getting to low earth orbit is extremely difficult as commercial firms are finding out. jon: i should have asked, are you in a position where you're able to see the monitor and the views of enterprise as she comes in aboard this 747? >> i don't have a monitor in front of me right now, but i can imagine what it looks like when i used to be a test pilot out at edwards they were still transporting space shuttles to and from and so we'd see the 747 with a space shuttle on its back taxi by and take off, returning the shuttles back to florida

after they had landed out at edwards. it's an amazing sight, an incredible feat of ero engineering. my hats off to the pilots landing that beast because it's quite a challenge to land that combination of 747 with a space shuttle on its back. jon: that's what i wanted to ask you back. i'm rated to fly a single engine light plane with a propeller spinning out front. i would love to be the pilot of that big 747 but that has got to be -- well and it appears that it's making sort of a final pass over the runway at jfk. i'm not sure which runway they are using today. but it appears they are going to be making another go around and then probably come in for a landing at jfk. that as you say has to be a very delicate operation. >> well, what you basically have is a 747, which is, you know, a very large aircraft with basically another small airliner on its back.

so it's fairly heavy for one thing. an empty shuttle weighs about 180,000-pound. of course it's very drage draggy with all that surface area in the breeze on top of the 747 there. i'm just getting a view of the monitor here, and it's quite a spectacular scene to see that thing flying around. jon: we are going to see it come back to earth in just a moment at jfk. scott horowitz stay with us if you will. we'll take a quick break. be back with the landing in just a moment. 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.

jenna: taking you live back to new york city and jfk airport where we are awaiting a very special delivery to new york city today. the space shuttle enterprise. it never got into space, jon, but certainly getting a first class flight into jfk where it will make it its new home, a retirement home of sorts on the deck of the

aircraft carrier intrepid. jon: 90 tons of space shuttle specially mounted to, that specially-adapted 747 bringing enterprise home for, really the final landing you might say. leonard nimoy, one of the stars obviously of the first "star trek" television series is on the ground awaiting to watch enterprise land. as you might have heard before during the earlier coverage on fox news channel, originally this craft was to be named constitution. jenna: constitution. jon: but after a write-in campaign, what happened, jenna? jenna: after viewers of the "popular science" fiction show got word of that, they streeted this write-in campaign to the white house. they wrote all the letters to the white house to change the name to enterprise. that is how we have the name enterprise for this special craft instead of the constitution. it does, haves a different ring to it, doesn't it, jon.

jon: didn't fly into space as jenna mentioned but they needed the craft to be able to practice and test the landing capabilities of this highly-complex spacecraft. it was, come back to earth to land as a kblider. nasa astronauts and nasa engineers needed to test the thing and see whether it would fly. it doesn't have a whole lot of wing space, a lot of wing area considering its weight. they had to be able to test it. that's what enterprise was built to do. jenna: talk about embracing risk for invention and discovery and everything really the space shuttle program stands for. if you're joining us what we've been watching over the last several hours, you saw on your split screen a few moments ago the space shuttle taking off from dulles airport in washington, d.c. it moved out its home in the smithsonian. it got to the airport at 9:30 or so to dulles. it is doing a second round, if you will, jon.

we do know the elements of jfk are windy. whether or not that is a huge factor here we have yet to know. we did see this by the way when we saw the endeavour land at dulles airport the last time we saw this piggyback ride into washington, d.c. they had to do a few flights to get the right situation to land and they safely landed in washington, d.c. this is tricky. this is not your typical flight. 180,000 pounds on the back after 747 is not what we normally see and not what pilots normally fly. jon: that's right. winds at jfk are at 21 knots, gusting to 28 knots but they're just about in line with runway 31-r, 31-r. that is war laura ingle is right now. it should be an easy landing. actually that, well i say easy. jenna: air quote it is easy? jon: what i'm saying they will not have a lot of

crosswind to deal with. those gusts won't be exactly helpful but it does actually help the pilot just a bit to have some wind in your face because it adds to the wind speed over the wing so it gifts you lift that the engines don't from to provide if i put it that way. jenna: for someone not a pilot good explanation, jon. jon: all you need is air flow, flowing over the wings. let's bring in scott horowitz. a guy who knows a lot more than i do about flying. he is a former nasa astronaut and i think is able to see enterprise as she sets up for what i think is going to be the final landing here at jfk. so, scott, just imagine that you are the pilot of that 747 with 90 tons of space shuttle on board. what are you doing, what are you thinking? >> well, what you're thinking is everybody in the world is watching you right now and you sure don't want to mess this one up. jon: that's for sure. you mentioned the drag of

the, just the aeronautical drag of having the shuttle onboard that big 747. it's a pretty fine touch on the throttles i imagine as you try to bring this thing in for the last time? >> well, yeah, the pilots, of course they have done this a few times. they don't get to do it very often because we haven't moved the shuttles around the country like we used to when the program was active. but, you know, they know the right power settings to use, to keep their airspeed just where they want it so they can go fly the approach but when they do pull the throttles back with all that extra drag the aircraft will slow down significantly faster than a clean 747. jon: you've got 14,500 feet of runway ahead so plenty of time for a nice slow approach and rollout. it just looks almost like it is hovering there, this thing. it's going to be a fairly slow approach. there it is.

with the trees in the foreground you get a little better idea of how quickly or how slowly this thing is moving. it's been a slow fly-by and very inspiring one for all kind of new yorkers. i mean people who, people are rushing to office building windows and so forth to catch this thing fly-by. now it appears it is setting up for its final approach to jfk airport runway 31-r. it is really kind of the end of an era not only for enterprise but for the shuttle program, right, scott? >> yes, it's, the shuttle program has been phenomenal if you think where it has come from for the last 30 years. it's a beautiful sight. it reminds us what people can do when they have challenges. all the people that supported the shuttle over the years, thousands of people that made this possible really put a lot into this program. it's a real, you know

indication of american ingenuity if you will and it's, it is bittersweet. beautiful to see this amazing thing that we have in the space shuttles but of course it's sad that the follow-on program has been canceled and delayed, you know, to get on to do exploration that americans would like us to do. jon: here it is on final approach. it appears that the 747 bringing enterprise to new york's jfk airport will be touching down momentarily littlely. let's just take it in.

main gear has touched down and the nose gear will be touching down any moment now. probably has already. as our camera position takes you behind that hangar. it looks like enterprise has come to its final home, new york city. beautiful landing. a little reverse thrust i suppose on the big jet engines there and that 747 is just about stopped and enterprise is home. jenna: enterprise is home for now. for a couple weeks it will have its temporary home at jfk airport and then its journey continues. it will be loaded onto a barge and taken to the hudson river where it will be lifted from that barge onto the aircraft carrier the intrepid. that will happen in a couple weeks time. jon: think of the symbolism. the hudson river named after

henry hudson who did so much exploring of this continent really before the nation was here. before, well, before we had an america, henry hudson was looking around, poking around in his ship, the half moon. now enterprise, a craft, that didn't, as jenna said, didn't make it into space but provided so much information about shuttles that followed on. enterprise will be sitting on board the carrier there in the intrepid in the hudson river. jenna: will be amazing to see. i want to correct something. we have a lot of different space shuttles going a few different areas in the country. i misspoke a few moments ago that the space shuttle endeavour is in the smithsonian. that is not the case. the space shuttle columbia is in smithsonian. people will look at the endeavour in a couple weeks as it goes out to los angeles. a lot of different space shuttles going around the

country so we all get a up-close look really at our space program and a vantage point, obviously we don't get to see every day now. see the little american flag on the tip top of the plane? jon: right. jenna: what a sight. jon: probably right out of the cockpit. i'm guessing that the pilots have, have mounted that right outside their cockpit window which some of the cockpit windows are able to open and that is probably where that american flag is coming from. jenna: you don't think they had that window open the entire flight for fresh air? that is not how it goes? not like a comfortable? quite a sight. we'll take a little bit of time to dismount this plane because it take a little time to get it up on the 747. it is really remarkable to see what attaches it to the 747. you would imagine it would be more than that. obviously didn't go anywhere throughout the flight. jon: i am always amazed at the engineering, when you think about it, we went from the mercury and gemini and apollo programs with a

cone-shaped capsule on top of those big atlas rockets, well in the case of the apollo program it was the atlas rocket. we went from that to this, sometimes ungainly-looking ship attached to a couple of solid rocket boosters and that external fuel tank. if scott horowitz is still with us, maybe he can comment on that. but the engineering and thinking that went into putting this glider really into space and then back to earth, that was a radical departure from what we had seen to that point in the mercury, gemini and poll low programs, right, scott? >> that is correct. the, one thing that make it possible for us to use winged vehicles like the shuttle we're going to low earth orbit where the reentry speeds are about 18,000 miles-an-hour. so they could build a vehicle with thermal

protection system that would actually protect the wings during reentry and it was a pretty big technological step if you think about doing this in the '70s. in fact you talked about the shuttle being bolted on top of the 747. you have to remember in the approach and landing tests it actually released from those attach points and glided back to earth after separated from the 747 in the test flight. that was pretty phenomenal to watch. jon: absolutely amazing the engineering. scott, thanks so much for your expertise and your insights. >> thanks. jenna: final home will be on board the uss intrepid on manhattan's west side as we've been telling you over the last few hours. the historic aircraft carrier is a museum in the hudson river. we had a chance to speak to the curator of aviation there. we started by talking about the enormous task of bringing this shuttle you see your screen to the intrepid. >> only a few blocks away from times square, right in the middle of manhattan,

we're on the hutson river, and you have a space shuttle that is coming here. how big of a deal is that? >> life is good. what more could you ask for in new york city is to add a space shuttle. jenna: when you first found out the enterprise was going to come here, what did you think? >> i was really jazzed the enterprise especially being prototype space shuttle and background in aviation and history, enterprise, that is the mum. jenna: did you have to do any kind of rearranging, massive furniture arranging to get the shuttle on deck? >> are you kidding me? there were planes in this whole area. we had to rearrange the entire flight deck and repositioned. sadly we had to decide which ones haed to go. three airplanes had to be removed. we did that just yesterday. jenna: you didn't throw them away? >> no, no. they're going to another museum in new york. jenna: how big of a deal to get the space shuttle on the deck of this ship. >> probably taking every single employee here.

it is a giant team effort. jenna: it is quite a process to get it here. first, i thought it will fly and land, the on the intrepid. that was probably a little too simple. >> that is a little simple. she will make a really wonderful fly-by, land at jfk after a few weeks we'll bring her around by barge and people will be able to see her again. jenna: how long will it take to get her off the barge and onto the deck? >> literally moments, really. all the planning going into it has taken a year. jenna: she will not sit outside? >> no. if you look around there are steel beams that have been welded down to the deck and that is actually the foundation of an air-supported structure. this air-supported structure will completely seal her in and she will be protected in that. jenna: you have all the other planes, they're exposed to elements. why can't you have the shuttle outside? >> the shuttle is too fragile. this is really now a national treasure. jenna: the intrepid has such an interesting history with the space program.

what can you tell us about that? >> most people don't realize that but ininterpret -- intrepid has been a combat ship a long time and served in world war ii. most people don't realize her history through the cold war and the space race, very important role. she recovered scott carpenter's mercury mission when he splashed down in the ocean and also gemini mission of gus grissom and john young. so we do have some space history here. jenna: if i come and visited it the intrepid, what kind of access to the shuttle will i have? >> you will walk into the building where we are right now. you can walk right underneath her. we will prop her up 10 feet high. you will be able to get underneath and walk around and really get a sense of the size. most people don't realize how big this thing is? jenna: can i sit on the driver's seat? >> no, we won't allow anybody inside. i have to go back to the national treasure we have to preserve. no inside access allowed. jenna: no inside rides or anything like that. what does this mean to you

as someone that loves history and aware of very ages and military history to have the shuttle under your watch? >> i'm so jazzed it is a dream come true. jenna: you get to sit in the driver's seat, come on? >> for certain maintenance issues i may have to get inside there but we'll see. jenna: i knew there was something. what do you guys think? i think he will get a look inside. right. jon: i imagine he will sneak --. jenna: rest of us will not and get an up close and personal look to the enterprise a few weeks from now. we hope to be there by the way on "happening now" for you. there is a look at enterprise at jfk airport. we'll be right back with more. but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you.

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as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. jenna: well you often see some of those double-decker tour buses around new york city on daily basis but often you don't see this. this is different double-decker of sorts right in the center of your screen is the space shuttle enterprise. right on top of that 747. is just landed and just stopped. what a sight to see on friday. we're glad you're with us on fox news for this incredible moment. you will see a few more flights as space shuttles that are left will make their way around the country to different museums where we get a close look at them. we say the space shuttle flying around the city of new york and around the statue of liberty something we probably will only see once in a lifetime. jon: exactly right, jeanne

that. beautiful sight there on the ground at jfk. let's turn now to the race for president with newt gingrich about to bow out. mitt romney is scarely focused on the general election and president obama. but "the wall street journal" says the romney campaign will face, quote, the temptation to assume the public has decided to fire the incumbent and so can run a campaign to become the safe alternative, take no policy risks. stress mr. romney's biography, his attractive family and the seven habits of highly effective businessmen and then hammer away on the economy. but that may not be enough to win according to the paper. let's talk about it with paul gigot, the editorial page editor of "the wall street journal." you're saying mitt romney should not play it safe this election? >> i'm notting be reckless. i'm saying he needs a

positive agenda. he needs his own case to be made for voters. not just saying things are bad. president obama has messed up and therefore just fire him. he need to say, okay, here's what i'm going to do on my first day. here's what i'm going to do if you elect me. you can give him all the bad news but got to give him a vision how you get out of it. jon: voters tend to want to give president as second term in this country. >> they certainly do because look, they voted for him, right? so in a way when you're asking voters to not give a president a second term, what you're saying is, we made a mistake. people don't like to admit they made a mistake and they also don't like to reject presidents because it is an implicit sign the country is not doing as well as we hoped. jon: president obama, whatever his faults may be, remains personally popular among voters. >> i think that's right. i think one of the reasons for mitt romney to make a campaign of biography, i'm a businessman, i'm somebody

who has that resume', that is playing to president obama's strength. he has been in the oval office. he has experience and also has that likeability that you just mentioned. jon: i love this line in your editorial. more than any president we've seen, this incumbent is willing to say things that aren't in the area code of the truth. >> well, i think he has made the case in a lot of areas. he just asserts, for example, that green jobs are going to multiply across the landscape and save the economy. well we haven't even any of these green jobs. jon: solyndra didn't exactly help. >> no but if you look across the board on wind energy and biofuels, solar energy were promised us as saviors. you know where the real jobs are coming from? natural gas. jon: oil and gas. >> that is where they come from the last four years. now the president is saying i had something to do with it. he almost never talked about it. one of the things romney has to do is be able to say, not

to be nasty or personal but say, there he goes again. jon: it is hard for a challenger to take on an incumbent president and not be seen as challenging the authority or the dignity, i guess of the office of the president. >> that's why i think you can't be personal. you basically, you have to be good humored. you have to way of putting it, you have to sound presidential yourself because you're auditioning for a job which people want to respect and look up to. you have to have that stature. you have to balance criticism with a sense of optimism about the american future and also about, you know, the why you deserve the job. jon: and the rate of growth in the economy seems to be slowing down at least according to the latest numbers. >> yeah, 2.2% versus three in the fourth quarter. so we're still stumbling along. we're not at takeoff speed at all. jon: paul gigot, editorial page editor of "the wall street journal." paul, thank you very much. you can see paul this saturday.

he will host the "journal editorial report", tomorrow 2:00 p.m. eastern on fox news channel. stick around right after that you can join me and my excellent panel for "fox news watch." we'll cover the coverage of this week's top news events. jenna: john, what you were talking about with paul, the economy is a major theme with ahead over next couple months. a scene for what we're seeing at jfk airport. we'll take you back there for a look at the enterprise. this is the landing we just saw moments ago as the enterprise made its way right back into jfk where its final retirement home will be on the deck of the intrepid museum. we stopped the shuttle program because of reasons having to do with the economy. tom jones will join us top of next hour to talk more about what is ahead for us in space, how he feels like on a day like this and the historic nature what we were able to see today together. we're so glad you're with us here on "happening now." we'll be right back with more

jon: a fox news alert. shuttle enterprise is back on the ground after a quite a flight from dulles airport in washington, d.c. landed just a couple minutes ago at jfk airport here in new york city. jenna: very beautiful. laura ingle has been out at jfk for the last couple hours and is with us to tell us more what is happening at this very moment. laura? >> reporter: hi, you guys. what an exciting moment here at jfk as we stand along this runway where you can see endeavour behind me, enterprise behind me, excuse me. it is so amazing to see this sight. i will get out of the way so our cameraman can push in to show you just how beautiful enterprise sits atop that jumbo jet. it just landed here moments ago to the delight of the hundreds that are here on hand. new york senator chuck schumer taking the podium just a few moments ago,

telling people here that new york has the right stuff as we won the right to have enterprise here in this city. he said of course we will always complete our mission. enterprise shows us what america, what american success to get a goal we succeed and live long and prosper in your final resting place. the words he said as this aircraft is being towed around. of course we know that leonard nimoy is here because he appeared with us on fox news channel a short while ago. the man who played spock on "star trek" has been in this crowd. we can pan around and show you the large crowd that is gathered right here watching this press conference. the hangar you see behind us, hangar 12, is where it will be towed into in just a little while after today's celebration where it will be demated from the craft which it came on today and then, eventually make the process of getting aboard a barge

and making its way to the intrepid. so a lot more celebration going on here at jfk airport as we celebrate this amazing day. back to you guys. jenna: great reporting from our own laura ingle at jfk. she will be it us through the the day to take in amazing sight. laura, thank you very much. jon: the whole nation loves to see that thank but the pilot in me is very excited. from the heavens, let's go down-to-earth and even underwater muck. an invasive species of catfish is wreaking havoc on south florida. the so-called armored catfish is not native to that state of the it is a south american fish but oh, it is making its presence felt in this country, causing erosion and sometimes dangerous conditions inside some of the lakes of florida. jeff hill is an assistant professor of the university of florida's institute for food and agricultural sciences. he is joining us live from tampa. jeff, aquarium owners might know this fish, right?

>> oh, absolutely. this is well-known in the aquarium trade. it is well-traded in the u.s. and other countries. florida raises about 20 to 30 million of these every year and they're shipped to home aquarium known as plikos. jon: yeah they don't call them armored catfish but they are basically armored, right? >> they are armored. would you like to see one? jon: i would love to see one. jenna: i would too. jon: you brought one in a cooler and people should know you're not necessarily being cruel to this fish because they're pretty hardy. >> they're very hardy. this is a fish that breathes air so there is no problem being out of the water. don't have a mucous layer you take off. this is very, very tough fish. has got this underneath, this sucker mouth and that's how it feeds. and that's how it breathes air. jon: people are used to seeing them cleaning algae off aquarium, aquarium walls

and bottoms, right? >> that is exactly what they're used for. they eat algae. they eat organic material on bottom of lakes or pond or in your aquarium. that's why people have them here in this country. jon: so they're great for cleaning an aquarium but not so great when they wind up in a florida pond. tell us why. >> well, the, the big issue in terms of the impacts of this species is really an economic issue. they bureau nests. the males do into the banks of ponds or canals. they make that bureau. the lay eggs. females guard them. the burrows can be a couple feet long or four or five feet long. they kansaser bait erosion and cause erosion in local spots. you have a lot of expensive real estate in south florida, there are some spots localized but some important spots where the fish cause erosion and you lose some property. jon: jeff hill, if you're walking along the edge of one of those lakes you don't

want to wind up sticking an ankle or breaking an ankle in one of those burrows. jeff hill, we'll let you get the thing back in the water now. >> okay. jon: what a, what a shot. and, don't let those things bo. if you have an aquarium down in florida don't let them go in the pond because it is not good for the environment. okay? thanks, jeff. jenna: do you think that fish knows it is now a tv star? [laughter] well-based. jon: will demand some residuals. jenna: there is major development in the campaign for the gop nomination this week. mitt romney winning five states in these primaries but his big victory so to say didn't get much coverage on some of the major broadcast networks. coming up our news watch panel will talk about that just ahead. okay... is this where we're at now? we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea

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jenna: some new information on a story we've been following for you here on "happening now" this week. the obama administration is now dropping a controversial plan restricting children from doing what it considered to be hazardous work on farms owned by anyone else than the child's parents. that included banning anyone younger than 16 from using a tractor, for example, or anyone younger than 18 from working in feed lots and stockyards. but that is not happening anymore because of a decision just made by the labor department late yesterday. here is a statement coming out of the labor department. quote, the decision to withdraw this rule was made in response to thousands of comments expressing concerns about the effects of the proposed rules on small family-owned farms. to be clear, this regulation will not be pursued for the duration of the obama administration. republican senator jerry moran of kansas was with us yesterday and you were leading the charge on this, senator, to make sure if this regulation went into

effect there would be another option or congress would take action. when did you learn that now the administration is abandoning its pursuit of this? >> well, only a few hours after i talked to you on fox news yesterday, the department of labor's announcement, press release was sent to us by the congressional affairs folks and that was met with great surprise and great joy in the sense that i just firmly believe, as do many, particularly those involved in agriculture but many across the country this was a broad overreach that lacked common sense and good judgment and certainly everyone is interested in the safety of our young people but for the department of labor to intervene in a family situation where moms and dads and 4-h and ffa are better able to protect kids than an agency, a department in washington, d.c., this is a real victory. and i'm in kansas today. yesterday when we visited i

was in washington, d.c. but here in our state and across the country, farming is a family operation. so to remove a young person from having the opportunity to experience working on a farm, changes the nature of that family farming operation but also changes the opportunities that we've had to educate our kids and give them a sense of value of work and work ethic and, this is a, it doesn't happen very often that you have a victory like this, not my success but 18,000 americans commented to the department of labor. jenna: that's for sure. i only have a minute left. i want to ask you something supporters of this regulation or restriction said, listen, we actually have to update some of the older regulations that we have when it comes to farms and farm work. do you see any truth to that? do you see that maybe the government in some areas could actually work with farmers to do, to improve upon what is actually in place now? >> i would encourage the department of labor, as they pursue this topic, to sit

down with, come to kansas, accept my invitation and sit down with a family farm. meet a 4-h group. go to high school and see an ffa chapter. sit down with farm bureau and farm commodity and other farm organizations and if you're going to pursue this topic of child safety we're all in agreement about the need to make certain our children are safe but let's have that dialogue. let's make certain the department of labor has an understanding and appreciation of a way of life that has been pretty important in our country and certainly important to us here in rural america. jenna: hope you let us know if they accept your invitation. we would like to be there as well, senator. appreciate it very much. >> great. jenna: there you go, that proposed regulation is no longer happening and certainly a lot of our viewers responded to that story yesterday. jon: yeah. jenna: your kids can still drive the tractor on your grandparents farm. jon: my uncle farmed in nebraska. we used to have a blast driving tractors out there. doing all kinds of like

that. a former commander-in-chief on a mission with american servicemembers seriously wounded in iraq and afghanistan. their goal? to complete a 100-k mountain bike ride. we talked with former president george w. bush and some of these wounded warriors about their inspiring journey. also continuing coverage of space shuttle enterprise now on the ground in new york city. heading to its final home at the intrepid sea-airspace museum on the west side of manhattan. beautiful pictures and more coverage ahead. (bell rings)

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jenna: brand new stories and breaking news all coming up on this hour of "happening now," including this one: the search for a missing arizona girl expanding today. details on where police are focusing their investigation. plus, what one neighbor said she heard outside isabel solis' home the morning she was reported

missing. and marking one year since a deadly tornado outbreak down south. coming up, a look at one of the hardest-hit areas, how are things today? plus, mitt romney closing in on clinching the republican nomination, but barely any mention of it in the mainstream media. why? hour two of "happening now" starts right now. we start this hour with new fallout in the secret service prostitution scandal. we're glad you're with us on this friday, i'm jenna lee. jon: it is friday. jenna: feels good, doesn't it? jon: yes, it does. i'm jon scott. reportedly revealing agent conduct as far back as ten years ago and as far away as moscow. >> reporter: i have spoken to a lot of people who either worked for the secret service or who are closely associated with it, and what is emerge rg polar opposite views.

in one camp i hear that the secret service is a highly ethical agency where any type of shenanigans is frowned upon, and that agents take great pains to protect one another from any behavior that could damage the agency or president. but in another camp i hear there is a culture of risky behavior that manifests itself when supervisors are away. listen to this security consultant whose firm has worked closely with the secret service. >> an ongoing thing, it's been going on for decades where when someone is out of the country, when a team is out of the country, it is out of sight, out of mind, and it's almost a what happens in vegas, stays in vegas mentality as applied to an overseas environment. >> reporter: new allegations, one that agents patronized prostitutes in 2011, the secret service has told congressional investigators that there is nothing credible to that. but they continue to investigate

many leads. in regards to newer allegations of partying at strip clubs in moscow and buenos aires, the secret service says this statement still applies. it was issued yesterday, and it says: >> reporter: one source tells me the farther back these rumors go, the more difficult they are to investigate, jon. jon: that's got to be true. doug mckelway in washington for us, thanks. jenna: we have some new signs today that some suggest show that the u.s. economy is tapping the brakes. the gdp or gross domestic product, the first reading for the first quarter, shows a growth rate of 2.2%, that's less than expected. the white house calls today's report encouraging but says more growth is needed to get the economy back on track. charlie hurt is a columnist for the washington times here to talk about the politics of all of this. hi, charlie. >> hi, jenna.

jenna: it is showing growth. we are not in recession. so numbers like this, are they high enough to not really be a liability for the president as he goes into the election season? >> well, they're certainly not as high as i think the president would like to see right now, but i would actually argue that these numbers kind of don't really help the argument of either side. it does show improvement which is good and which even wants, but it's not the kind of improvement that president obama needs to bring down unemployment and pull us out of the doldrums that we've been in for some time now. but at the same time, it is going in the right direction. so it doesn't really help mitt romney make the argument that this is, you know, that we're sliding backwards or something like that. but mitt romney has been making the argument that the recovery has been anemic and that they haven't, and that president obama hasn't done enough. and the real numbers at the end of the day will be unemployment and real unemployment and whether people are fully

employed because, you know, come november, you know, if people are -- if we're still looking at nearly double-digit unemployment and perhaps even higher than that in terms of people who are not fully employed or of people who have just given up looking, then that will be reflected as a very, as steep dissatisfaction with the current administration and it will be very bad news for president obama's -- jenna: it's an interesting observation, that it doesn't help both sides. let's expand on that, charlie. does it surprise you at this point that we don't see more adepress e ideas out of either camp, some new job plans or new ideas to help the economy? is that surprising to you that there seems to not be that pitch at this moment? >> well, as you know, jenna, in washington there's sort of, one of the biggest, truest truisms is nothing dramatic ever really happens in an election year because nobody wants to do anything that's risky. jenna: what are we going to do,

charlie? we have a lot to talk about in the next couple months, huh? >> i know, i know. politicians get very risk-averse in an election year, so i think what we're going to wind up having is this continued argument by president obama that, you know, that it would have been so much worse if he hadn't taken the steps that he's taken: and the argument by mitt romney that says, you know, he should have done so many other things and so much more, that the reason this recovery is so anemic is because obama hasn't done the right things. and neither argument, in my book, puts it off of the -- out of the park, but the onus is on president obama because people get tired of this argument, oh, you don't know how much worse it would have been -- jenna: let me challenge you on that a little bit. at this point the american people know, more or less, what the president's plan is for the economy because he's been president for a couple years. and as far as mitt romney, we

haven't seen him as president. so people have -- >> fear of the unknown. jenna: right, he's part of the unknown. and sometimes when there's not a lot of confidence in the economy, you go with what's known simply because it's less scary than the unknown. how do you think that factors into the election this time around? >> i think that's a great point, but i would actually argue in a case like this where you have, mitt romney has nothing going for him. he's not a cool guy, he's not a sexy guy, he's not, you know, the one, he's not like barack obama in 2008. the only thing he has is his business record, and that is the only campaign he is running. and i would actually argue he's doing a very good job of just sort of staying with the nuts and bolts, the unexciting, i can do something with the economy. and i think that that contrast -- and it is an excellent point that you make, but i think that if he is able to make that contrast and carry it all the way to november and have people just sort of plausibly trust him but mainly

associate him with his successes as bain capital and with the olympics and things like that, then president obama will have a very hard time sort of vilifying him as the unknown. jenna: well, maybe the definition of cool will change as well. it does shift on a regular basis, charlie. we do know that. >> so i hear. i'm never involved in any of that. [laughter] jenna: charlie hurt, nice to see you as always. >> good to see you. jon welcome back we are awaiting a special intelligence briefing on the state of al-qaeda. the director of national intelligence set to brief the media on where the terror network is today as a federal court blocks the release of photos and video from the raid ha killed the terror leader. catherine herridge is live with more on that from washington. catherine? >> reporter: thank you, jon. in this 29-page ruling late last night, a federal judge has sided with the obama administration. they're releasing the 52 images including at least one video of

the usama bin laden raid does pose a threat to national security. the decision reads in part, quote: in finish >> reporter: after the raid in may last year, the cia and defense department authorized the release of a limited group of videos pulled from the bin laden compound. the screen grabs you see here show the al-qaeda leader sometimes watching television, but often times isolated and detached, planning for an attack on the scale of 9/11. judicial watch, the government watchdog that sued for the actual pictures and video of the raid, said to fox in a statement: >> reporter: they're not seeking to identify the seals on the raid or compromise their methods. >> we think the court's wrong, and we obviously think the obama administration's wrong. frankly, if obama administration

was so concerned about bin laden's killing offending the terrorists, why are they making it a centerpiece of their campaign? >> reporter: there will be a rare briefing by the office of the director of national intelligence, some of the intelligence officials there. this is the office where the top intelligence officer in the country. we've got some recent video from yemen where al-qaeda has strengthened its base of operations, and as we approach the one-year anniversary, u.s. officials concede that some of al-qaeda's affiliates, including north africa, have been able to leverage the arab spring and expand their base of operations, jon. jon: really hard to believe it's been a year since that successful raid. >> reporter: it is. jon: cat catherine herridge, thank you. jenna: john ed wads' mistress just lost a major court battle. we'll tell you about that, also share some explosive new testimony from the prosecution's star witness. and can a spectacular sight in the skies above the big apple

today. former astronaut tom jones on the end of an era in american space exploration. c'mon dad! i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i g heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilos isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw!

jon: checking up on some of the crime stories happening right now, the search for a missing arizona girl moving to nearby bodies of water. police in tucson say they're checking local lakes and streams looking for any sign of this girl, 6-year-old isabel solis. her parents say she vanished from her bedroom last friday night. a hostage standoff shutting down parts of central london. police say an armed man took several people hostage for hours after throwing computers out of fifth floor windows at a truck-licensing office. john edwards' mistress, rielle hunter, losing a battle over a sex tape. a judge overseeing the case denying hunter's bid to restrict what the public will be allow today learn about her legal effort to keep that tape

private. jenna: also, one of the big stories this week, the epa administrator, lisa jackson, just wrapping up a town hall meeting in if washington, and she spoke exclusively with fox news about controversial remarks by a top agency official. jim angle is live in washington with more. >> reporter: hello, jenna. after speaking at american university, fox asked administrator jackson about the controversy over a regional administrator who had described the epa's enforcement philosophy as being like the ancient romans going into a town and crucifying the first five people they find in order to make the town easier to manage. jackson noted the department has apologized and more. >> the doctor has apologized, he's acknowledged that his comments were wrong, frankly, they were inflammatory, but they were also wrong, and they don't comport with either this administration's policies on energy, um, our policy at epa on

environmental enforcement, nor do they comport with our record as well. >> reporter: senator james inhofe of oklahoma, though, who brought the matter to light, told fox this is not about going after people who break the law, but rather an effort to intimidate the industry. listen. >> what they're trying to do, the obama administration, is to kill fossil fuels in america. and using this technique to try to stop hydraulic fracturing. it's kind of, i guess it's kind of clever of him to do this because he can act like he's promoting oil and gas at the same time doing away and damaging the process of hydraulic fracturing. >> reporter: now, that's a process also known as fracking which is responsible for a lot of the recent gains in oil and gas production on private lands. jackson did concede to fox today there are no instances proven contamination from fracking, though the epa has accused companies of exactly that in the past. those in the oil and gas industry were not surprised by the "crucify" remarks, five

refineries on the east coast have closed in the last 18 months or so because of overregulation. listen. >> we've asked the epa in particular to reconsider a virtual blizzard of new poorly-thought-out or unnecessary rules affecting our center. >> with we have to look at governmental policies across the nation, and heretofore what we've been looking at is the avalanche of overregulation, sometimes conflicting where you have different goals coming out of different regulations, and they just don't, they just don't work together. >> reporter: now, administrator jackson this morning also criticized house republicans for what she termed "voting against environmental protection." though critics say they're voting against an overzealous industry bent on making life hard for oil and gas producers. jenna? jenna: jim angle in washington, thank you. jon: a simply awesome sight

today over the new york skyline, shuttle enterprise hitching a ride on a modified 747. the space shuttle prototype making several passes around the city of new york before finally landing at kennedy airport. it eventually will go on display at the intrepid sea, air and space museum. the old intrepid aircraft carrier on the west side of manhattan. former -- i'm sorry, fox news contributor tom jones is a former nasa astronaut, he's flown four missions on three different shuttles, endeavor, columbia and atlanta dis. he joins us now. so much excitement at seeing this ship come to new york city, tom, and other shuttles are going to other cities around the country, and yet i have to remind myself what this really means is the end of an era, the shuttle program is done. that's kind of sad, isn't it? >> well, i've felt sad, jon, since last summer when the last

shuttle atlantis threw. it's the end of a 30-year era of achievement, and i think we should have built more rapidly on that foundation. i think the problem is the lack of acceleration of the shuttle's successor, so it's not coming along as fast, the commercial cargo and transport rockets are behind schedule, and so is nasa's deep spacecraft x that's all due to budget slowdowns by the president and congress. jon: what happened to the orion program in. >> they're testing the capsule on the ground, but again, it's got a very slow schedule. it won't fly unmanned until 2014 and not with astronauts until the very end of this decade. and that should be accelerated. that's a change that we can make. jon: but you yourself know, i mean, as an astronaut there were those who horrific problems, accidents with columbia and challenger, and, you know, a lot of people said it's just a matter of time before it happens again with another one of the shuttles, that the program had to be retired. what do you say to that? >> well, they're right in terms

of the cost of the shuttle. it was chewing up a lot of nasa's budget, and the safety risk to the crews was high because it lacked an escape system. so i'm all in favor of retiring the shuttle when we had a successor onboard, but to give it away was premature and unwise. jon: so here we are the nation that won the space race, and now we're hitch b rides with the russians to get to the international space station. >> it's embarrassing, and i think we can do better. and i think we should ask our congressmen and presidents to accelerate the space station. there's no reason we can't move the debut of the commercial transport rockets and the orion up, maybe six-tenths of 1% of the whole federal budget, that would do the job. jon: we're looking at the shuttle enterprise as it sits at jfk. for those who might have missed the coverage earlier, this was the test vehicle, this was the vehicle they would take up onboard probably that same 747

that it's sitting on now and release it at about 40,000 feet and just test its flying characteristics. really it doesn't fly all that well, does it? >> it flies like a brick, jon, and it's meant to do that. it's got very stubby rings, it falls out of the sky rapidly. it cannot glide with the same efficiency as a jet liner, but it can handle landing at kennedy space center, so it proved that you could actually guide this unpowerred, 100-ton machine to a safe and precise landing. jon: just so our viewers get some idea of the scale of it, i mean, they look kind of small sometimes. it almost looks like a toy on that 747, but you could basically park a bus in the cargo bay of the space shuttles. they are enormous vehicles, and it's going to be really exciting for millions of tourists to get to see this one in new york. tom jones, a fox news contributor, thank you. >> you're welcome.

jenna: well, one year later, and the scars are still very visible from a deadly outbreak of twisters. walking the path to recovery a year after one of the worst clusters in history. we have that for you next. plus, just about three years -- three years -- since the senate passed the last budget. the gloves are off again. a ranking member of the senate budget committee joins us to respond to claims the deadlock is all personal. senator sessions is here next. 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. enough plastic water bottles to stretch around the earth over 190 times.

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jon: one year later you can still sea the destruction left over from a massive outbreak of tornadoes across the u.s.

a record 208 twisters killed more than 300 people across the country and leaving staggering damage behind, making it one of the worst weather days in history. chief meteorologist rick reichmuth is on the ground in tuscaloosa. >> reporter: hey, jon. 250 of those fatalities were in alabama, and 53 happened here in tuscaloosa. we were here on the ground last year, and when you're covering these kinds of stories, you find that everybody has their story and their experience from the storm, and they're not always ready to talk about it just yet. we've been down here the last couple of days and have had the opportunity to talk with some of the people impacted by this storm, and i want to take a look at some pictures here and show you this is one home that was destroyed in the tornado, and it was inhabitatted by three college students, three girls. one of those girls was at school studying at the time, but her two roommates, lauren and

danielle, were in the home at the time. they were very frightened, they called their friend will to come over, and will and the girls got together in the bathroom of the home and huddled together, and they all died. and the family now and the family as well as kelly, the surviving roommate, are kind of ready to talk. we have some pictures here of lauren, they want to kind of pay tribute to them, there's lauren and there's danielle, and there's tim. tim's sister really wanted to talk about how special her brother is. take a listen to what taylor had to say. >> he wanted to protect his friends. he didn't care, he was a big chicken, but that day he put all that aside and laid on top of them girls and tried to take his own life instead of theirs. he wanted them to be okay, not him. >> reporter: yeah. and that's will, not tim, excuse me. so the home was destroyed, obviously, you can see by those pictures, and the daughter

kelly, kelly's the one who lived in the home, now you can see the pictures of the home, and they've rebuilt the home. her brothers own it, it's a home all of her brothers lived in if as they went through college. she was the last one in college, and she had kind of a life-altering experience because of this, and she married her sweetheart that she was with because she realized life was short. take a listen to what kelly had to say. >> we were actually going to be getting married or, i guess, around right now, but we pushed it up about half a year, eight months. um, just because we didn't -- not every day's promised, and we knew we wanted to be together, and so be if anything was to happen, we could at least have taken this chapter together. >> reporter: yeah together. and that's what they are and happy. they got married six months earlier because they thought we want to be together. he also told a story as he was sifting through the debris that night, he looked down on the ground, and there was a card.

he picked up that card, and it was the queen of hearts, and he knew he was to marry kelli at that point and proposed. you hear these stories, jon, and people ready at this time to tell their story. but the town certainly in much better shape. obviously, a long ways to go as well. jon: some glimmers of good news in that awful story from a year ago. rick reichmuth, thank you. jenna: well, keep an eye on your mailbox for a check. who may be getting them and why. you're not getting your tax refund, it's something else. we'll tell you about it after the break. plus, mitt romney made a clean sweep in five primary states on tuesday, coming closer to clinching the republican nomination, but you might not know if you watched other mainstream media outlets. jon is going to take on this issue with his "newswatch" panel coming up in just a few minutes. if you're one of those folks who gets heartburn

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>> republicans have had numerous opportunities the work with president obama, and they have repeatedly demonstrated that they have no interest in doing that. jenna: debbie wasserman-schultz, head of the democratic national committee, blaming republicans for the senate's failure to pass a budget even though democrats, by the way, control the senate. it's three years since anyone passed a budget. sunday is the anniversary, making it three years exactly. and senate majority leader harry reid says there is no need to bring a budget to the floor this year. senator jeff sessions of alabama is a ranking republican on the budget committee and joins us

now. >> thank you, jenna. jenna: to senator reid's point, budgets are not binding, so even if they're passed, there's nothing that says you have to follow them. the real spending is in appropriations. so why are we even talking about the budget? why not just spend all the time on the appropriations, where the money's actually goingsome. >> well, before you start appropriating money, before you start spending money, you need to know how much money you have and how much you're going to spend and set limits on it, and budgets control the amount that would be spent. and they do have power. if someone spends more than the budgeted amount, it would take a supermajority of 60 votes. but it durant take 6 -- doesn't take 60 votes to pass a budge. the budget control act of 1974 that requires a committee to move a budget out by april 1st, that budget control act allows it to be passed with only 50, 51 votes. so the democrats have plenty of votes to pass a budget if they

have a vision for america. the problem we have is that when you lay out a budget for ten years, you say how much you're going to tax, how much you're going to spend and how much debt is going to be accumulated on the american people, and that's what they don't want to be responsible for. jenna: well, the head of the dnc has a different theory that she was telling to bret baier just a few days ago. let's take a listen to her. >> the republicans have an interest in one job; his. and they don't want him to be successful, and that's why we haven't been able to work together. jenna: "his" being the president, senator sessions. is this personal? >> a budget has nothing to do with getting along with the president. you can't have a budget in the united states senate until the chairman of the committee calls a hearing and lays out his plan, and then it's all -- you have a chance to amend it. and then it goes to the floor, and you have a chance to amend it. what they've refused to do for three years is bring a budget up

and lay one out. and it's because they don't want the american people to see, i think, what their view is and how divided they are and how unable they are to provide a vision for how to put america on a prosperous course, and that's what we need. jenna: senator sessions, i ask you this question with this disclaimer, but this is something we go through every time we talk about budget and money when it comes to congress, you know, there doesn't seem to be a feeling of compromise. and i wonder for the american people, is the message simply that we have to vote everybody out and put in new people that are principled but can compromise, that can figure this out in some way? >> well, we do have a difference of view, and i like my colleagues that have different views. there is a view that we need more government, more spending and more taxes. there just is.

and there's a group that i believe in that believes in limited government and lower taxes and be -- individual responsibity in the private sector. so there is a conflict there. and in some sense that's what elections are about, and we'll have a big one this fall. more than most, i think it will help answer that question. but it's hard to reach a compromise on a budget if you won't lay one out and actually bring one to the floor. you can't have one. jenna: it'll be interesting to see what the people decide with their votes when it comes to the house as well. all those elections are happening along with the president. i know you're headed home to alabama, we appreciate it very much. >> thank you. jon: republican mitt romney rolls to victory in five states this week wiping out any doubt he will be the gop nominee for president. it's a major development in the 2012 campaign, but you might not have known it if you were tuned in the next morning to some of

the major broadcast networks. nbc glossed over the story with a couple of brief dimensions. on abc there's very little. only cbs had extensive coverage of mitt romney's wins. let's talk about it with part of our news watch panel. judith miller is an investigative reporter, kirsten powers is a columnist for the daily beast, both are fox news contributors. kirsten, you don't seem to think that this is an event that deserved a lot of coverage. why? >> well, i think we already know who the nominee's going to be, and honestly, i just don't think there's really that much news in it anymore. i think it's not getting covered that much because, a, it's boring, no tension whatsoever, it's going to be romney and, you know, and there's really not much more to say about it than that. jon: well, judy, the media loves a horse race, so when the horse race is over, does that mean that the coverage ends? >> i have to agree with sir ten on this. the coverage hasn't ended, it's just shifted.

i mean, this story is being very well covered on cable news, and i think when, for example, mitt romney gave the speech that got everyone's attention because it was an economic speech, and it was on message, everybody paid attention, and even the networks covered the shift in content and in tone of mr. romney. so i think we are, actually, getting quite a bit of coverage, and i agree, you know, it's been pretty much a foregone conclusion that mitt romney's going to be nominee for some time, and, you know, it's just not news. jon: but compare that, kirsten, with the coverage of president obama. i mean, there are some media outlets that have pointed out that this university tour he's been on of late doesn't contain a whole lot of, you know, substantive material. he's basically making campaign speeches, and yet he gets all kinds of coverage. is that fair? if mitt romney is delivering substantive speeches? >> look, one of the benefits of being the incumbent president is that you get covered pretty much

whatever you do. and so whether he was just going out and giving the speech bees for, you know, substancive reasons or for political reasons, it doesn't really matter. you tend to get covered, you have the bully pulpit, it's the power of incumbency that comes with being president. and i also think, you know, that he is campaigning, his campaigning is also news. i mean, unless a campaign of obama versus romney, so i think it's newsworthy to see how the president is positioning himself. jon: but why not, judy, spend more time covering some of these substantive issues like the romney campaign speech where he's trying to lay out his vision for the future versus the president's, and yet what we get is a lot of coverage of the colorado student who spilled yogurt on the president. [laughter] >> yes, jon, but actually a recent pew survey showed that only 12% of the coverage was actually that kind of fluff stuff, that there has been an enormous amount of attention on romney and the candidates as

people and also on their views. so i think the impression that we're getting is not accurate and, also, president obama may not be as happy as we might think he would like to be with this coverage because the pew survey also showed that more than half of the stories about him were negative. jon: well, we have seven months of coverage to go before the election. [laughter] >> yes, we do. jon: we'll have you there to watch it along with us, judy miller, kirsten powers. >> thank you. jon: fox news watch tomorrow 2:30 p.m. eastern time hosted by yours truly. please, tune in. a good show. jenna: millions of americans could soon receive some unexpected cash in the mail thanks to their health insurance companies. hmm. some of the country's biggest insurers failed to meet standards in the new health care law, and that's, apparently, the reason for all of this. charles payne is with us from fox business. wait a minute, charles, my health insurance company's going to mail me back money? can you explain that? >> you know when they said you

might like obamacare once you got to know it, i think this was a part they were talking about. these insurance companies have to apply 80% to claims or some sort of improvement. if they don't use 80%, they have to refund that money, and apparently, maybe at least 15, perhaps more million americans are going to get some sort of a rebate or a check anywhere from a dollar to $500. now, before you get too excited -- jenna: yeah, it sounds too good to be true. is this a catchesome. >> the only catch might be the supreme court verdict, the decision on obamacare itself if it says the whole thing is unconstitutional, then maybe this doesn't happen. otherwise around august 1st they tally up the numbers, and you'll either get a check depending on what state you live in or some sort of discount on -- jenna: charles, real quick, a slippery slope at all for the government telling companies how they have to use their money? >> absolutely. jenna: and refunding consumers?

is. >> absolutely. when you tell a company or industry just how much money they can make, that sucks out all of the premium, the incentives, and it also doesn't leave you a lot of wiggle room for improving things. it's really an extraordinarily slippery slope, and it's a dangerous one that, perhaps, the supreme court will have a decision on. jenna: we'll try to keep that in mind when we get the free money in the mail. >> we don't care then! jenna: very interesting. charles, thank you very much. >> see ya, jenna. jon: they suffered life-changing injuries on the battlefield. today former president bush riding a hog with some of our brave americans. plus, a big old bear on campus, and we're not be talking a school mascot. when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes.

jon: a fox news alert, fort stewart, georgia, the president and first lady flew down there earlier this morning. they are going to make some remarks to military members and their families who are gathered

there in hinesville, georgia. when the president takes to the microphones, we're going to take you back there live. jenna: well, president bush is giving back to the men and women who sacrifice so much for our country, and he's hosting his second annual warrior 100k mountain bike ride with seriously-wounded vets from iraq and afghanistan. along for the ride is our own dr. marc siegel, a member of the fox news medical a-team. you're holding up okay, doc? >> i'm doing okay. today's conditions are a little easier, jenna. they got hart pack from the rain, the temperature's down to 85 degrees. yesterday i saw an ambulance, i was wondering who they were following, today i'm really doing well. and, you know, president bush has said this is about the veterans, not about him and not about anyone else. and as you know from being married to a former navy seal, the veterans have a tough time coming back, especially if they're injured. and they're communing together with this kind of event to share similar injuries, helping each

other along the trail. let's have a look at what they said to us yesterday. [laughter] >> if i fall down -- >> chris. >> how you doing? mice to meet you. >> heroes in the wars, severely wounded, and heroes yet again as they courageously return to civilian life, all personally invited by president george w. bush to take part in his bush center warrior 100-kilometer ride. the president fully aware it was his decision to send the vets to war resulting in their injuries. >> it's an opportunity for me to say to our vets i care for you, i thank ya, i honor ya. it's a way to herald the groups that support the vets. >> twenty injured veterans of the iraq and afghanistan campaigns riding in 100-degree heat all inspired by him and by each other. >> i think it sends out a positive be, you know, a positive view, a positive outlook to everybody who's been injured right now or everybody that's going through a tough

time. it shows that, um, no matter what happens to us, you know, we always get back up and keep on fighting. >> no matter what their condition, the president is confident that the ride is a great prescription for healing of body and spirit. >> it's really cool. it's really cool. i mean, just the momentum and how inspiring it is and how motivating it is. >> leading by example because our vets get inspiration from you, president bush. >> well, i get inspiration from them. >> reporter: you know, jenna, this is actually about a spiritual and physical healing, and president bush is right in the middle of it. he empathizes with the troops. he brought them to war, he's bringing them back as best he can. this is a powerful story. jenna: well, we're getting i said separation from all of you, dr. siegel. thank you very much. we want to bring you an update on the condition of travis mills, and we've been telling you about his recovery since we learned of his story. mills is a quadruple amputee. he lost both of his arms and

both legs when an ied explosion happened when he was on patrol. he was on his third tour in afghanistan with the 82nd airborne. travis' family tells us he's making progress. he's upside going a series of surgeries. he's at walter reed right now, and he's also experiencing a lot of pain, phantom pain when one loses limbs. we have to remember that he's lost all four, so there's an incredible amount of pain he's dealing with. doctors are placing experiment aleck toads in if his spine. he also reminds us, by the way, that we have to think about his guys that are still out there. if you want to help the mills family, head over to travismills.org, get updates on travis' condition. jon: we wish him well as he continues his recovery. take you now to fort stewart, georgia. the president and first lady are there speaking about some of the concerns of the military and their families. let's listen now to the president as he gets ready to speak. [cheers and applause]

>> hello, fort stewart! [cheers and applause] >> how can the first lady, michelle obama? hoo-ah! [cheers and applause] she is a tough act to follow be. gentlemen -- for the gentlemen out there who are not yet married, let me just explain to you; your goal is to improve your gene pool by marrying somebody who is superior to you. [cheers and applause] isn't that right, general? [laughter] as you just heard, when it comes to all of you, when it comes to our military, our veterans, your

families, michelle obama and jill biden have your back. they are working tirelessly to make sure that our military families are treated with the honor and respect and support that they deserve, and i could not be prouder of all the efforts they've been making on their behalf. [cheers and applause] it's a privilege to hang out with some of america's finest, the dog face soldiers of the third infantry division. [cheers and applause] rock of the mar. we've got a lot of folks in the house. we've got the raider brigade, we we've got the spartan brigade, we've got the vanguard brigade, we've got the provider brigade, and we've got the falcon brigade. met me thank major general

abrams and his beautiful wife, connie, for welcoming us. abe is doing an incredible job carrying on his family's incredible tradition of service to our country, so we are grateful for him. give him a big round of applause. [cheers and applause] i want to thank command sergeant major, ed watson, and his beautiful wife, sharon. i want to thank someone who's made it her life's mission to stand up for the financial security of you and your families, somebody who knows a little bit about military families and military service and, actually, this is a homecoming for her because she spent over three years when they were posted down here, holly petraeus is in the house, i want you guys to give her a big round of applause. [cheers and applause]

but most importantly, i want to thank all of you. i want to thank you for your service, want to thank you for your sacrifice, i want to thank you for your unshakable commitment to our country. you have worn the uniform with honor. you've performed heroically in some of the most dangerous places on earth. you have done everything that has been asked of you and more, and can you have earned -- and you have earned a special place in our nation's history. future generations will speak of your achievements. they'll speak of how the third infantry division's thunder run into baghdad signaled the end of a dictatorship. >> hoo-ah. >> and how you brought iraq back from the brink of civil war. they'll speak of you and your service in afghanistan and in the fight against al-qaeda which you have put on the path to defeat.

and to the members of the special operations forces community, while the american people may never know the full extent of your service, they will surely speak of how you kept our country safe and strong and how you delivered justice to our enemies. so history will remember what you did, and so will we. we will remember the profound be sacrifices that you've made in these wars. michelle and i just had a few moments at the warriors' walk paying tribute to 441 of your fallen comrades. men and women who gave their last full measure of devotion to keep our nation safe. and we will remember them. we honor them. -- we will honor them, always. and our thoughts and prayers also go out to the troops from fort stewart who are serving so

bravely right now, as we speak, in afghanistan. [cheers and applause] and i know many of you will be deploying there, too, so you know you're going to be in the our thoughts and prayers. your generation, the 9/11 generation, has written one of the greatest chapters of military service that america has ever seen. but i know that for many of you, a new chapter is unfolding. the war in iraq is over. the transition in afghanistan is underway. many of our troops are coming home. back to civilian life. and as you return, i know that you're looking for new jobs. and new opportunities. and new ways to serve this great country of ours. # years ago, i made your

generation a promise. i said that when your tour comes to an end, when you see our flag, when you touch down on our soil, you'll be coming home to an america that will forever fight for you, just as you fought for us. for me as president, it's been a top priority. it's something i worked on as a senator, when i served on veterans affair committee, it's something i continue to this day. since i took office, we've hired over 200,000 veterans to serve in the federal government. >> [applause] >> we've made it easier for veterans to access all sorts of employment services. you just heard how michelle

and jill have worked with businesses to secure tens of thousands of jobs for veterans and their families. and with support from democrats and republicans, we've put in place new tax credits for companies that hire veterans. we want every veteran who wants a job to get a job. that's the goal. and those of you who want to pursue a higher education and learn new skills, you deserve that opportunity as well. like general abrams, my grandfather, the man who helped raise me, served in patton's army, and when he came home, he went to school on the g.i. bill. because america decided that every returning veteran of world war ii should be able to afford it. we owe that same commitment

to all of you. so as president, i've made sure to champion the post-9/11 g.i. bill, and with that bill and tuition assistance program, last year, we supported more than 550,000 veterans and 325,000 service members who are pursuing a higher education. >> [applause] >> because higher education is the clear path to the middle class and that's progress. when we've got more to -- but we've got more to do. we can't be satisfied with what we've already done. we've got more to do. we've got to make sure you've got every tool you need to make an informed decision when it comes to picking a school. that's why michelle and i are here today. right now, it's not that easy. i've heard the stories. some of you guys can relate. you may have experienced it

yourselves. you go online to try and find the best school for military members or your spouses or other family members, you end up on a website that looks official, they ask you for your e-mail, they ask you for your phone number, they promise to link you up with a program that fits your goals, almost immediately after you've typed in that information your phone starts ringing. your in box starts filling up. you've never been more popular in your life. all these schools want you to enroll with them. and it sounds good. every school and every business should be out there compete fog your skills and your talent and your leadership. everything that you've shown in uniform. but as some of your comrades have discovered, sometimes you're dealing with folks who aren't interested in helping you. they're not interested in helping you find the best program. they are interested in getting the m