numbers. that lays out the landscape. good morning, everybody, i'm bill hem e. -- hemmer. martha: you're going to get your skateboard and go into the water, moments from now. i'm martha maccallum. we just showed you those numbers and despite those, new fox polls show that president obama is in the lead now, 46 percent of the vote and there's mitt romney, the con extender at 39 percent. bill: let's analyze -- analyze it, steve hayes, weekly standard, what do you see in the numbers? >> good morning, bill. look, the app toeupb, the white house will be happy with. any time you have the president up seven points on mitt romney, particularly when some other polls are pointing in another direction, when other polls suggest the race is tightening as romney as emerged from this bloody primary in a virtual tie, i think the white house will be very happy with that top line number. bill: how about this number, best thing president obama

has done to help the economy and this number sticks out, the bottom of the screen. forty-six say done nothing to help. >> beyond that, beyond the 43 percent who say he's done nothing, only 7 percent point to the stimulus bill. remember that was the signature domestic policy achievement of this administration's first year in office. it's the first thing that they got to business doing, congress passed it right away, it was going to jump start the recovery. remember 2010 was going to be the summer of recovery, the white house had an entire team set to go around the country, including cabinet secretaries, a campaign to promote the summer recovery in 2010 and today, only 7 percent name the stimulus as something that the president has done to help the economic recovery. not a good number. bill: hold on to that number because you know mitt romney's business record is what the white house is running against at the moment. you're going to hear joe

biden hitting that hard and here's what we found, who would do a better job at creating new jobs, mitt romney, 43, barack obama, 41. that's essentially a tie steve. >> it is a tie. there were other questions where we asked whether you'd have mitt romney as a business partner or barack obama and which you'd prefer as a hraoeufp cove and romney did better as a business partner than obama did. clearly mitt romney's team has done a good job in making the case that he is the one who would do better on the economy and that's true, not only in our fox poll, but in other polls we've seen over the past several weeks. bill: i think you can find good news for the president in our polling, i think you can find good news for mitt romney in this polling, depending upon what number you're looking at. this number is difficult to overcome. economic conditions, are they fair or poor, 88 percent say yes. when you're an incumbent, how do you argue against that? >> that is the difficult number for the white house. i mean, that's got to be an

alarming number for the white house and again, it's consistent with what we've seen when pollsters ask is the country on the right track, is the country on the wrong track, the right track, wrong track numbers, many pollsters will tell you are the single best determinant of who's going to win the election ultimately in november and the more people say that we're on the wrong track the worse it is and when you have people, 88 percent of people asked saying the economy is only fair or poor, that's not the track that the country wants to be on. bill: that's the argument the romney team will make and that's what he'll talk about based on his own business record, too. steve, thank you, good to see you this morning, in washington. here's martha. martha: we want to know what you think about all that, is mitt romney's private business record, is that part of his career important to you? go to foxnews.com/america's tphaoul -- newsroom, take our skwaopb line newsroom, or send me a tweet, martha mcical him, we'll show you results of that coming up later in the show. how about this, hiking

taxes to try to fix the economy in your state. does that work? well, maryland is going to be a test study because they're trying that plan now. they will raise taxes, the state of maryland, on the so-called rich, you can see the numbers to determine if you think that's the case. does rich mean $100,000, in maryland? apparently it does. let's pull thank you very much graphic and show whrau the unless look like. the state senate there has approved a tax hike, up 4.75 percent, to 5 percent. this is going to exact single filers who make between $100,000, and $12,000 a year and joint filers who other than between $150,000, and $175,000 a year. fox business network's stuart varney joins me now. stuart, i would imagine a lot of folks in that bracket who have a few kids would not feel like they fall into the category of rich necessarily. >> i think you're exactly right. the maryland move does three things. number one, it redefines and lowers the point at which

people are considered rich. all the way down to $100,000 a year. that puts the rich -- that means reaching into the rich, firmly into america's middle class. second, maryland that's made this rec row active to january 1st, so all employers will start taking much more out of paychecks immediately. and third, this tax hike on $100,000 people will go to pay for a 2 percent pay increase for state workers. all over the country, state workers' pay is being stabilized or reduced. in maryland, it's going up, paid for by $100,000 people. it's got national significance. but president obama, he defines rich at $250,000 or more. how would he define it in a second term? would he lower it all the way down to the middle class at $100,000? we don't know. martha: boy, that's a good question, and will other states follow suit for maryland. a couple of things come to mind, stuart. one is whether or not this will hurt the economy that

it's trying to turn around in maryland. i would imagine a number of people in that tax bracket are small business owners. >> yes it will hurt maryland at left the business peoples' opinion i've talked to in maryland, they say look, we can move, we can move to neighboring virginia where tax rates are lowerror and alsoure going to take money out of the economy of maryland because employers will immediately start to charge more, withhold more, in taxes at the state level. that's an immediate bite out of the state's economy. what governor o'malley, democrat governor of maryland, has done here, he's raised the stakes andies raised the profile of state finance and made it into a national story. martha: stuart, thank you, very much. we'll watch for you on the business channel coming up. stuart varney with us today. bill: got more on the economy, breaking news moments, u.s. weekly jobs report holding steady from a week ago, they are unchanged from a week ago, 370,000 americans file fog first time jobless benefits. we are not adding a big

number of jobs to bring down the overall employment number, but based on some of these numbers now, it doesn't appear that that number could get much worse at the moment. we'll watch that every thursday morning here. closing arguments now said to be begin ino on set to begin in the john edwards corruption trial. just in, video of edwards and his daughter arriving in court. she, his daughter, was not there yesterday, his defense team wrapping up its case without calling former mistress rielle hunter or john edwards himself. already this morning a crowd of people waiting in line for what are expected to be pretty powerful closing arguments. jonathan serrie is live at the courthouse there and good morning, what do we expect in the closing argument? >> yeah good morning, bill. closing arguments should begin in about ten minutes. the judge has allotted about two hours or exactly two hours to each side. the prosecution will remind jurors of its contention that john edwards not only knew about the secret money that helped hide his pregnant mistress, rielle

hunter, but that his main intent was to protect his political aspirations. the defense will argue the money represented private gifts to spare edwards' cancer-stricken wife from finding out about the child her husband had fathered. legal experts say the defense may have actually improved john edwards' prospects by not putting him on the witness stand. >> by john edwards not testifying, they've taken away what would have been a strong closing argument for the government and that is, hra*epbl of the jury, he lied in so many different circumstances before he came into this control and he got on the stand again and lied to you. >> incidentally a lot of the people you saw lined up outside of the courthouse wanting to hear today's closing arguments are actually lawyers, wanting to get ideas, because they expect this will be -- these will be some very dramatic closing statements, bill. bill: as we try and boil this down, does the case come down to how you define what a campaign contribution

is in the end? >> it really does. that's going to be a major part of the instructions that the judge gives the jury this afternoon. the prosecution does not have to prove that the only purpose of the secret money that helped hide rielle hunter was to influence the election. however, the political influence must be direct. in a meeting with the lawyers, without the jury present yesterday, judge catherine eagles explained, quote, it can't be a side benefit to the campaign, it can't be tanning evening shall. if you -- tangential. if you find the reason was personal it can't be considered a contribution. so those will be the instructions that she gives the jury this afternoon and that the jury will have to take into consideration while weighing the evidence when they go into deliberations -- deliberations on friday. bill: thank you, jonathan serrie, in tkpwrao*epbs bore greensboro, north carolina. martha: sadly yet another

tragedy for the kennedy family, an autopsy scheduled for mary richardson kennedy, the estranged wife of robert f. kennedy, jr., found dead at the family's estate in new york yesterday. there are reports she took her own life and that a housekeeper discovered her body. the couple separated two years ago, and they were in the process of getting a divorce. it was not finalized yet. mary kennedy, who was a life-long friend of the kennedy family, had struggled with alcohol and drug abuse for some time. she and robert kennedy have four children. mary kennedy was 52 years old. bill: that is such a tough break for the family. our thoughts go out to our colleague here, douglas kennedy, and our best to them. and get over yet again a very difficult time. we are just getting started. in a moment, police and parents and school kids, they are on alert after a gunman aims a rifle at a school bus. we'll tell you where that

happened and what police found near the scene that has folks nervous today. martha: a showdown on spending in washington once again. president obama says he wants to continue to borrow money to continue the budget. speaker boehner says no way, unless we have serious cuts, as the nation's debt inches towards $16 trillion. there's the big number. bill: big indeed. >> is the white house pushing class warfare? what vice president joe biden is now screaming that has people talking. >> they don't get us! they don't get who we are! [ banker ] mike and brenda found a house that they really wanted.

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bill: this is a big deal with a lot on the line, house republicans not only trying to stop cuts that could gut our military, they're pushing for more for our armed forces, pushing ahead with a defense bill that both boosts military spending and slows down reductions in our troop levels. the white house says it will veto that bill.

republican buck mckeon out of california, chair of the house armed service was committee, on our program now. welcome back. welcome to americas newsroom. your plan is to, a, fight the defense cuts, add to the defense budget at a time when everybody is talking about the debt and spending, which could be a difficult sell, we'll get to that in a moment, but your idea is to get rid of mandatory spending programs that are, quote, dysfunctional in the u.s. government. what would you get rid of in order to keep the defense budget where you want it? >> well, this goes back to when we passed the decifit reduction act last year and we saved about $900 billion out of spending. half of that came out of the military, even though they only account for less than 20 percent of the budget. half of the savings came out of the military. and then on top of that, the supercommittee -- the special committee, supercommittee, was supposed to find savings on the

mandatory side of spending because if you eliminated all of the discretionary spending, we would still be running a decifit of about a half trillion dollars a year. so the real problem that we have to address is reforms in the mandatory spending programs. bill: let me just pick up on the point you're making. you say that troops make up 20 percent of our budget but they're going to pay 50 percent of the cuts. now, why would washington want that deal? >> well, a lot of us in washington don't. you know, if you keep trying to solve the decifit problem on the backs of our troops, who's going to have our backs the next time we're attacked? bill: secretary panetta says the house and folks like you are just inviting more gridlock. what do you say to that? >> no. we pass the dollars decifit reduction act which will take us on a glide path to

start cutting our overall spending, on top of the $487 billion that we cut from defense already in this budget, we have another 5- $600 billion that kicks in in january, sequestration, which means over the next ten years, we're taking $100 billion a year out of defense. that's at a time when we're in war. you know, in history, we have taken down our military after every war, so that we won't be prepared for the next one. this is the first time i've seen this have decifit reduction like this on the backs of our troops while they're still fighting over in afghanistan. bill: i mentioned a veto threat by the president. what do you say to that? >> well, you know, if he wants to veto the things that we're doing to try to help the troops, that's up to him. he increased the budget for defense $4 billion. we increased it #, just a little more than the president. i mean, that's a lot of

money, $4 billion. but the things that we do with that are to try to keep the -- promises were made to the troops, when they signed up for the military, that they'll be given health care. the president wanted to increase the cost of their health care. we take the difference by -- an keep their costs in line with the promises that we've made. we also, they want to retire three ships before they've even had their useful lifetime, we keep those ships in the fleet, so we're spending money to keep our ability to defend the common defense for the nation, our allies, in place. and we just think that that's a very high priority for us. bill bill buck mckeon, it's a battle royale as you know. thank you for your time. we'll keep in touch with you and follow what happens. thank you sir. >> thank you very much, bill. martha: parents and students are on edge after a gunman was seen taking aim at a school bus. why he reportedly left

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bill: this happened last night at a ballpark, scary moment. just watch here on this pitch. >> look out, -- bill: 95 miles an hour, tampa bay rays second baseman, trying to walk it off, then collapsed in the arms of the first base coach down the line, then the entire stadium just watching and holding their breath to see whether or not he would be okay. tamperra beat the red sox in the end, 2-1, but that was a sharey moment during the

game last night. martha: well to this now, parents and kids are on alert as police are searching for a man who witnesses say aimed a rifle at a school bus. federal agents have start add door to door hunt in atlanta. witnesses who saw the gunman reportedly yelled at him. that caused him to run and he reportedly dropped the gun and notebook which contained more bus numbers. very eery situation for these families and police are extremely concerned. >> we are very concerned, very watchful. >> the school system put something together, we were communicate w-g the school system and sheriff's department. there was information provided to the parents that afternoon by the school system. martha: live in atlanta. any arrests in this case? >> no, martha, officially it's a man hunt like you said. police are going door to door, looking for a man that aimed a rifle at a school bus monday monday. reportedly children were

inside. witnesses tell police he was crouched behind a fence, aiming toward an intersection when witnesses ran after the man, he dropped the rifle, as well as the notebook, but he did shoot at a witness with a pistol so this man is carrying more than one weapon. residents now here with very much on edge. >> have you heard anything lately in the neighborhood? >> it's causing the kids to be nervous about it. they think about it, you know? it's a little stressful. >> reporter: now, clayton county police are shadowing buses to and from school, a lot of things like field trips and outdoor activities have been canceled. martha: they've got to find this guy. so what do police think the motive may stph-b. >> they say it's still too early to tell. i just got off the phone with major johnny robinson, he says he wouldn't confirm the numbers inside the notebook were necessarily bus numbers, nor would he confirm it was someone who

was perhaps target ago student or maybe a driver which would hint towards a motive of someone targeting the school. he says it's simply too early to it will. they have dulled down on controls -- on patrols. they are working with sheriff's deputy, police officers and school officials to try to keep that neighborhood safe and get this man in custody as soon as possible. martha: that's the goal, elizabeth, thanks. we'll stay on of it -- stay on top of it. bill: that was my big fear, playing baseball, getting beaned in the head! martha: or football, it's having people tackle you. but baseball -- >> bill: at least you have a helmet on! he said the lights went out. martha: he's going to be okay. very good news bill: another college considering dropping its health care for students. are young americans the victims of the new health care law? we'll have a look at it for you. martha: and washington is at

war now on a deal over the debt ceiling with the debt creeping close to $16 trillion right now, five budget plans have been shot down by congress. john boehner, not happy. >> it's time for us to deal with the big issues that are affecting our country and our society. we've spent enough time playing small ball.

martha: well, the white house clashing with republicans once again over whether to raise the u.s.' borrowing limit with more than $15 trillion in debt right now, and that debt clock keeps ticking away. republicans are saying that spending cuts need to be attached to any effort to raise the debt ceiling. here's john boehner on it: >> whoa, whoa, whoa. i am not threatening default where's the president's plan? to tackle our looming debt crisis? it's time for us to deal with the big issues that are affecting our country and our society. we've spent enough time playing small ball. martha: but the white house says that republicans are simply playing politics with america's future. >> we're not going to recreate the debt ceiling debacle of last august. it is simply not acceptable to hold the american and global economy hostage to one party's political ideology. martha: so think about this, five budget plans failed in the senate yesterday, the

ryan plan among them. one of them was based on president obama's budget blueprint from a couple of years ago and senator jeff session social security the ranking senator on the budget committee who put that forth. senator sessions, thank you for being here today. >> thank you martha. martha: so you put forth president obama's blueprint budget from a couple of years ago that was once again shot down zero to 99. why did you do that? >> it was the budget he presented this year, i thought it failed to lay out a plan for the future. republicans produced four plans, including the much discussed and hard worked on house republican budget plan that they had passed, and i think it just demonstrated that there's not a single member of the house or senate who is prepared to vote to sustain the president's financial plan for america because it won't work. and it's just a sad thing

indeed when the president of the united states, after four years, can't get a single vote for his fiscal plan for the next decade for america. martha: well, the white house says there was no actual policy in that plan, and democrats are saying there's no need to vote on a new budget because the spending levels were set last summer. what do you say to that? >> well, that wasn't so last year when the president's budget was brought up and voted down 97-nothing in the united states senate. no, they don't have a plan, these are all excuses, the bill that was on the floor was exactly the kind of bill that would carry out president obama's budget, it got not a single vote, the democrats voted against every budget plan that was raised, they didn't vote for a single one, and it's really a stunning event. but what they do, with the american people, they send them more money, they want

to raise the debt limit without even a budget, they want people to send more money without telling them where they're going to spend it. i think that's irresponsible and no wonder the american people are not happy with washington. martha: one of the persons that doesn't seem too happy with the process is senator olympia snowe who is retiring. she was upset that the leaders would only allow an up or down vote, that they did not allow time for debate or amendments on this budget. it sounds like she feels there's not an effort to sort of get both sides talking to come forth with a real budget they can come close to agreeing on perhaps. >> well, the votes were to move to the budget, not to pass them, just to begin debate, and if over 50 senators had voted to do that, there would have been at least 50 hours of guaranteed debate and unlimited amendments. i'm not sure what senator snowe was thinking there. but the vote was to move forward to one of these

budgets and the democrats voted against every single one. martha: i want to play a sound bite from former president bill clinton and get your thoughts on this. let's listen to that: >> i think the politicians ought to be talking more about the hard issues. i think this bunt issue ought to become front and center in the presidential election and all the debates and various -- in various and specific ways. martha: he's also backed the simpson-bowles plan. is there any concerted effort on the hill to get simpson-bowles back on the front burner? >> well, the hougs has laid out a plan -- the house has laid out a plan that hasn't allowed the simpson-bowles plan in it. the house is significant, toomy, paul, all offered plans that have those components to it, but i think president clinton is

correct. budget is more than just a spending limitation. it does reflect the financial vision that a party or a president has for the future. and it's stunning that the president has no plans, as he seeks to be reelected, about how he plants -- wants to spend the american peoples' money, how much debt will be incurred, how much taxes he proposes to increase, and at least that can gain any votes. martha: senator sessions, always good to talk to you sir, thank you very much for coming on. we'll see you back in "america's newsroom", we hope. >> thank you. bill: we've got a developing story right now, on arizona's wildfires, tripling in size, high winds fueling flames and firefighters now warning it's getting closer to this historic mining town. everyone there is under a mandatory order to get out now. alexis vance is with wskav,

live in mare, just north of phoenix. how's it going today? good morning. >> reporter: well, good morning to you. it's not going very well. mainly because the wind is starting to pick up just a bit. but by noon arizona time, it's expected to be about 40 miles an hour, which makes it really hard when you're fighting a wildfire. basically it makes it unpredictable. they just got done with their briefing. every morning they have a briefing here at the kafr ground. we have firefighters from oregon, utah and all over the state of arizona, and this morning, you can't see the flames from here, but you can see the thick black smoke and the haze coming from the town of crown king where this fire is burning. hundreds right now are on the front lines, on the ground, and then above, two helicopters and three airtankers are fighting this fire. it is day five of the fire, and it looks like it's heading north, and that's a little bit of good news,

because it's away from homes, it's away from communication towers, that they were really worried about yesterday. but it is heading into the prescott national fores, into historic sites there, so it's going to be a challenging day for firefighters out here in arizona. hopefully they can make some leeway but it's really baby steps when you're fighting a fire this size. bill: and when it triples in size overnight, that is dangerous territory. thank you, alexis, from fox phoenix there. martha: and there are thousands of old and abandoned mines in that area near south mountain and the state's mine inspector says that many are right in the path of those firefighters. >> i'm just scared to death. these mines are extremely deep. and if something catches on fire on top, then falls down into one of those mines, they can really be in for it, because all the contents within it will catch on fire. i just pray nobody will fall

in one of these things because they are death traps. martha: that's a scary scenario. state budget cuts have left them without enough workers to fill in some of those mines so they are hoping firefighters take care as they move through the area and fight those wildfires. bill: and they don't see any rain in the forecast at all. it is dry out there in the southwest. the vice president, joe biden, is he channeling his inner howard dean? going off on a crowd of supporters in ohio, and critics say his message is march class warfare, others contend he's right of the gray panel on that to debate, and we will hear joe biden, too. martha: yes, you'll hear jod bid then a moment. >> and this got a little sweeter. could that cup of coffee add years to your life? >> bill: he may have had a little coffee! >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪

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martha: it is 42 minutes past the hour and the brazen suicide attack to tell you about in afghanistan. taliban forces posing as policemen, storming a governor's complex in the western part of that country. six security officers and a civilian were killed. nearly a dozen more were wounded. plus you can hear me now? well, if you can, it may cost you. verizon, dropping unlimited data plans for new mobile users. and a rare treat for a tornado-ravaged community. country music country lady antebellum, played at the prom in henryville, indiana. they were pretty excited about that! thirteen people lost their lives and destroyed the school, the community is now trying to rebuild. >> there's so much sadness

and devastation, there's hope being built in its place, and that was really inspiring to see. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ i need you now. >> ♪ >> ♪ martha: that must have been great! >> bill: yeah! martha: we didn't have a band like that at my mom. bill: we did and they were remarkable for their time! looking back right now. you and i and ben could have played better! vice president joe biden, fired up during a campaign speech in ohio. man was he ever. critics say this speech about mitt romney's economic polices is more class warfare. have a close listen. >> my mother believed and my father believed if i wanted to be president of the united states, i could be, i could be vice president, my mother and father believed that if my better or sister wanted to be a millionaire,

they could be a millionaire. my mother and father dreamed as much as any rich guy dreams. they don't get us! they don't get who we are. bill: monica crowley, radio talk show host and christopher han, former aide to senator chuck schumer, both fox contributors. morning to both you. i don't know if you get that! and i think we can debate this in two ways. one is substance, one is style. start with the style monica, what do you think of that? >> well, if a republican had acted this way, democrats like chris would be calling him a nut but since it's joe biden, everybody goes it's just joe! this is how he acts! look, on the substance of this, and let's set aside the style, because that was sort of howard deanesque but this is just joe. it's class warfare,

obamaesque freak out, right? this is the message they've been driving, pitting americans against eve other, pitting the 1 percent against everybody else, casting the wealthier as not paying their fair share, going against private jet owners, billionaires and millionaires. this is what they've done. this is just an extension of that rhetoric. bill bill we've got both there. chris, style? >> i thought the style was great. this election is going to be decided by a very maul percentage of voters in a couple of states, most of them work in factories like that, most of them will never fly in a private jet, most of them understand that the republican polices that mitt romney is trying to pass along hurt them. most of them don't understand that mitt romney's business experience caused some of these problems. people like mitt romney, buying up coes, selling them off, loading them with debt, he wants to make this campaign about his business experience, well, let's talk

about business and what -- he doesn't want to talk about -- >> you want to talk about -- >> bill: a question, why is he screaming at the people who support him? are you okay with that? >> i don't think he's screaming. listen, monica said that's just joe, and we recall republican -- and we call republicans nuts. i worked in -- >> bill: let me ask you a question, are you cool with that, yes or no, do you have a problem with it. >> i thought it was passionate. i'm cool with that. bill: monica, is that what the base is looking for in. >> maybe that particular base was eat thank up and look, this is one of the primary reasons why joe bid sen on this ticket to, try to reach out to blue collar workers, and -- >> bill: and that was his home town, eastern ohio, young'stown, who has been slaughtered by losing manufacturing jobs. >> the problem with the message is america is an aspirational society, most of us aspire to actually be rich, so any of this pounding rhetoric against the 1 percent or against the wealthy, i think backfires.

and look, the reason -- when he's talking about the american dream and my folks dream the way a rich guy dreams, look, the rich guy is rich because he was able to dream and in the united states, here's a statistic that's going to knock your socks off, 80 percent of all millionaires are first generation, they're not inheriting their wealth, they're building it through a lot of hard work and sacrifice. so this kind of message about bashing millionaires and billionaires and look at the rich guy and my folks dreamed as much as they d. i don't think that message is the broader -- bill: i hear you. last word. >> 8 percent of millionaires may be first generation but 75 percent of billionaires inherited their health. -- their wealth. so let's be very clear here. he was talking about the american dream. he was saying we want to be rich in this country. but we know that we've got to take good steps to get there and the way romney did it was to be a guy who has to take them for all they were both for his own

personal gain. bill: what he said was you've been through hell and back and that's true, but they're not back yet, and that's what this election is back. chris, monica, thank you. >> you got a question at home, shoot me an e-mail, or twitter me, one line, because you asked, bya. in about 40 minutes, we're going to take you back to a part of ohio that has a great way of forecasting what happens in elections. start counting. we're going to play that for you. martha: i'm looking forward to that. that's coming up. and president obama said if you like your health care coverage, you can keep it. they're continuing that in a brand new video today, that statement. but today, we have a story of another college that is now considering whether they are going to be able to afford to cover students under omabacare as they have always done in the past. bill: also republicans in congress, demanding answers over the release of a hezbollah terrorist. why the white house is again blaming the former president , george bush. we'll explain. 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. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition. could've had a v8.

bill bail bit of karma catching town a bicycle thief, video showing this crook in oklahoma peddling away when he hits the curb and slams face first on the pavement, then he thought about going back to get the bike and then he left it behind. not suppose to work that way is it! but have you met a smart criminal yet? martha: well, chicago, hoping for the best and bracing for the worst. police are preparing for a nato summit that kicks off on sunday. demonstrators of those events have turned violent in the past and protest organizers are expect thank once again they will have thousands of people in the

streets and steve brown, he'll be one of them out there reporting, live from chicago. afghanistan, of course, tops nato's agenda, but order in the streets seems to be topping the agenda in chicago right now, right steve? >> reporter: absolutely. there have been a lot of preparations having been made already. this has been a long time coming. originally it was going to be the g8 and nato summit here in chicago. the g8 has been moved to camp david, near the white house, at the president's request, now it's just nato here and the host committee in chicago for the nato summit says they are ready. >> we do this successfully all the time. election night for president obama was flawless. every year, we have a million people down on the lake front for the air and water show. that all happens very -- we know how to do big events here. we do a good job. >> reporter: there will be protests, lots of them. there have already been a battery this week. most have been pretty orderly but there are some that were not orderly.

we have video from bridgeport, a section near the south side of chicago, where some disorder broke out amongst some of the protestors, a lot of them protesting the military aspect. keep in mind this is a military alliance and there have been protests and arrests near the obama reelection headquarters which is at the prudential building in chicago, so we've had both orderly and disorderly, the bigger protests come up. martha: i guess any police force is going to have to be on their toes when we get ready for wave upon wave of people out on the streets by virtue of what's going on there. >> reporter: the tough part is the chicago police department doesn't necessarily know exactly how many folks are coming into chicago. we know they're coming in by the busload but all they have is working estimates. fortunately, this month they did have something of a practice, there were a bunch of may day demonstrations and the police chief was talking about how that got them as ready as they can get. chicago police department has been doing this for a

long time. it's certainly not the first for any of these today. it's probably good experience for some of the cops out here to warm up and i'm not going to call it a trial run but we anticipate it's going to be a good day. it's really that simple. >> there are an awful lot of protests, at least the ones we know of. there's one down the street on the other wade of wacker offer the river, where there's a war memorial, one of several demonstrations but the bigger ones are coming up this weekend, saturday and sunday as the nato meeting kicks up. bill: latest census numbers shows we could have a new majority in the u.s., and this could turn the meaning of a machineority in america upside down. we'll explain that. martha: and this is one of the last known pictures of a newlywed bride, seen right before she was brutally murdered in her wedding dress, only hours of a the wedding. this is a frantic

search going on for her husband. where is he?

martha: this morning there's another american college considering whether they might have to abandon their health care plan coverage for their students. ave maria university a. catholic law school in florida, now says that they -- they continue to say rather they're opposed to the rules that require contraception coverage but insisting the primary certain cost that -- concern is cost. that's how we get rolling on a brand new hour of "america's newsroom". i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer, the school warning premiums will trying from 62 to 80 percent, this only weeks after another catholic university in ohio dropped its own coverage there. martha: critics are asking what happened to this promise from the president? >> if you like your health

care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan. period. if you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. period. martha: the administration still just this morning out with a brand new statement that confirms that. they say if you want to keep your health care plan under this plan, you can absolutely keep it, but it raises a lot of questions. charles payne joins us now, fox business network. we've seen a number of companies, businesses, saying that it's going to be hard for them to keep their health care plan and now a couple of schools are considering dropping them. >> absolutely martha, you just said it, 80 percent, maybe 100 percent jump in premiums. are you kidding me? listen, one of the biggest news stories of the year has been college tuition. it's outpaced inflation by a jillion miles. it's outrageous. the old saying if you think health care is expensive now, wait until it's free, obviously someone has to pay for this, and you know, if some of these schools who are already struggling find

themselves paying $100,000 per student now, by the way, that's just off to the races. in august you're going to hear a gun go off. if omabacare is allowed to go on you're going to hear starters going off and it's off to the races and these premiums are going to only higher and higher someone has to foot the bill and i think this is what's going to happen, obviously tuitions are going to go extremely high unless some colleges say listen, we can't afford it and they completely drop it. greater ramifications. businesses which have to shoulder huge burdens, particularly small business, they're going to have fewer jobs so the college kids who may actually get coverage in college are going to find themselves without a job when they get out of school. it's a tough deal. martha: both of these schools have been very outspoken on the contraception issue as well, so it raises the question whether or not they're talking about this over the past couple of days to continue bringing attention back to that part of the issue as well, but both schools have claimed that the primary concern, although that is one of

their concerns, the contraception issue, is money, and whether or not they can continue to afford it. but you're suggesting a lot of colleges across the country may just pass that expense on into the tuition and get the families to pay for it in the end anyway. >> exactly. where does the money come from? $100,000. they're doubling -- for many schools that would be a doubling, 100 percent, year over year and that's the very beginning. we know this is going to be outrageous, nuts. what if it's two, three, $400,000 years from now? someone has to pay for it. again, if that's happening with colleges you're going to see the same with small businesses and the overall ramifications are less jobs, higher tuitions, and we're in a tougher pickle than right now. martha: and really, the amount that has to be covered has been increased to such a large extent, $100,000, then up from there, and that's what has made this coverage more expensive for a lot of she's institutions. thank you very much, charles payne, ladies and gentlemen, check him out on the fox business network, every

monday-friday on varnny & company and that starts 9:20 every morning on the fox business network. you can watch "america's newsroom" at the same time. isn't that handy? >> bill: for the first time, babies born to minority parents are now the majority. that from the census bureau. of all the babies born last years, 49.6% were white, 50.4% were not. steve centanni is on that, national comes respondent. what accounts for the growing number of minorities. >> an aging population of white baby boomers and rising number of newer immigrants and minorities. it's important to note this tipping point would be reached, but nobody knew when it would happen. a lot is driven by the hispanic immigration and birth rates. hispanics are the largest group, 52 million in 2011, they're growing at about 3.1% since 2010 and they now account for 16.7% of the population, or at least they did in 2011.

that is up from 16.3% in 2010. african-americans were the second largest minority group at nearly 44 million. overall, whites are still a majority in this country but in some states that's no longer true. according to the census bureau, minorities are the majority, in hawaii, with 77 percent, 65 percent in the district of columbia, they account for 60 percent in california and new mexico, minorities are 55 percent of the texas population, bill. bill: what are the implications from this? what does it tell us perhaps about our own country's future, steve? >> well, education, of course, is one of the biggest areas where there might be concerns and a big challenge. right now minority rates of enrollment at colleges and universities is growing because of the poor economy, where people can't find jobs so they go to school. overall minorities will less likely to graduate from high school or enroll in college so experts say america's competitiveness going forward could be at risk if

a bigger focus isn't placed on getting a good education for the rising numbers of young minorities. bill: it is a changing face. interesting, steve centanni, thank you. in washington. martha: big bucks, folks, pour going the presidential race as the romney camp tries to keep pace with the obama campaign. governor romney and the republican national committee announcing just a little while ago that they have raised $40 million since he became the frontrunner. slightly behind president obama's haul of 43.6 million, and it's a huge jump, though, for republicans over the 12 1/2 million dollars that governor romney raised in march. so the money has continued to pour in since this race has narrowed and put governor romney in front. it's slightly more, just interestingly, than four years ago when john mccain and the rnc in the same time period raised 38 1/2 million dollars. bill: in the meantime the business record of myth roam becoming a big point of

attack for the white house and we asked you earlier to chime are. our nonscientific web poll, question of the day, how important is mitt romney's private business record to you, 60 percent say it's very important. a couple of options, weigh n. go to our website, foxnews.com/"america's newsroom" and tell us what you think, online right now. martha: look at this, allegations of personal slush funds, bribes, and topless lap dances! oh, very shocking. and this shocking stuff is happening in a border town. senior correspondent eric shawn has been looking into what the heck is going on in sunland park, new mexico. hey eric! >> reporter: hey martha. it's safe to say there probably is no place in america like this one. sunland park, new mexico. the city they say that was stolen by voter fraud. this massive ongoing and explosive case involves a variety of charges, including public officials accused of trying to allegedly steal the election. almost a dozen public officials and city employees

are part of the alleged scheme. among those arrested have been mayor-elect daniel solinas, 28 years old and faces a slew of felony charges, though not voter fraud himself. at part of this alleged scheme they say officials here encouraged false voting that state money actually went to mexican prostitutes, strippers, that they even spent taxpayer money on the secretly recorded lap dance video of one candidate who was opposing salinas hoping he would drop out when that video was made public. district attorney amy orlando says the city was corrupted. >> i think that there's no doubt again when you look at the scheme of what was going on, each case is independent, but when you look at the whole common scheme was for, it was to get mr. salinas elected. >> some of those officials who were charged were accused of registering people from out of state. we talked to one couple who livedn el paso, texas, they don't even live here,

but they told us that one official told them it's okay to vote in sunland park. >> when you said you live in texas, she said it's no problem? >> no problem. >> that cue vote in sunland park, anyway? >> she saying no problem. >> reporter: well, the attorney for mr. salinas told us that he's not guilty, that he did not steal the election, that he won it fairly. by the way, mr. salinas has been charged in four separate cases and will plead not guilty when arraigned on monday in the latest case. one of the candidates told us though that the vote in america is sacred, that there is voter fraud here and it should not happen anywhere in our nation. by the way if you suspect problems where you live, we want to know about it. our address is voter fraud at fox news.ko*plt. martha, back to you. martha: wow! that's quite a story, eric! eric shawn. boy, that gives a whole new meaning to dirty politics. bill bill and never short of

material! that's the problem that's disturbing about this series >> ten minutes past the hour, new details on fast & furious, for first time, house speaker john boehner hairing -- wearing in publicly. we'll tell you what that is. martha: there is new outrage, after this terror suspect, accused of killing five american soldiers in iraq, is set to walk free, former u.s. attorney general michael mukasey is here with how this is happening. bill: also we're hitting the ground today and listening to you, the voter, in part of our new series where we take to you bellwether county in america to tell us where america is today and where it's headed and what people need to hear the most. >> we have no leadership. on either side of the aisle. they're more worried about getting elected than doing what's best for america. they're more worried about being politicians instead of being american.

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bill: new developments now in the fast and furious face off

between congress and the attorney general, eric holder. house speaker john boehner said to be pressing president obama to make eric holder turn over all the documents required. there was a deadline set for memorial weekend. no comment on the white house on that. martha: republican lawmakers are demanding some answers from the obama administration after a terror suspect has been released in iraq. his name is ali mussa dakd u.k., believed to be a hezbollah commander accused of willing five u.s. soldiers in karbala in 2007. he was turned over to iraqi officials four years later and he is set to be released. that his sparked outrage wanting a military trial for this man.

officials say they were forced to transfer this prisoner over to iraqi custody because of a bush administration agreement from 2007. the justice department had no immediate meant fo comment for this on this. i'm joined by judge michael mukasey, attorneyer attorney general appointed by george w. bush: a lot of people want this man to meet the justice they believe he deserves and that will not happen if he's released by iraqi officials. >> it sure won't. what it demonstrates is that the iraqi justice system and the government is dominated by iranian interests and since we left we have no hrefrpbs. martha hrefrpblgs. martha leverage. martha: the hrarpblg charges r-r not released until he was turned over to iraqi custody. we lost our opportunity to prosecute him.

they said they had to turn him over because of an agreement put in place by the bush administration. >> that applies to iraqis, it's not clear this guy was an iraqi, he might have been lebanese. he's been at this for 30 years. he was the head of the bodyguard detail for the head much hezbollah. he's among the worst of the worst. he was turned over to the iraqis -- he was going to be turned over to the iraqis in july of 11. an ap story blew the whistle on that and a letter from republicans and joe lieberman stopped it. they pulled back. they eventually turned him over and was tried before an iraqi court and acquitted. in 2007 he headed up people who kidnapped five americans, murdered four of them while they were handcuffed. martha: they drove a convoy into karbala in a military ma filth. it looked like a u.s. convoy, that's how they slipped through the gates. they were dressed in u.s. uniforms and then proceeded to kidnap five u.s. soldiers and

ended up killing all of them. it's a heinous, heinous crime that this man has been accused of. is there any way that the administration at this point can claw back here and get him back into u.s. custody? we reached out for comment. they said no comment at this time. it sounds like they are working on it. >> i don't know if they are working on it or not. if they could reverse their policy about taking people to guantanamo, they would not take people to guantanamo. this guy is what perfect candidate for it. they won't do it. they'd have to reverse that. martha: it's difficult to bring people to kwan afte guantanamo after they said they want to close it. they don't want to add to ranks there. let's talk about a bill that also deals with detainees and signifies that the end of the war on terror in the united

states has happened on how we would deal with terrorists caught in the united states. >> this would require that anyone brought into the united states would get miranda warnings, no questioning at all for intelligence, no turning over to the military eventually, no designation as an unlawful enemy combatant. the proponents of this say they are protecting american citizens. it doesn't only apply to american citizens. in the last seven years there have been only four american citizens who have been designated as unlawful enemy combatants and there is no doubt that they all deserved it. this is legislation to solve a problem that doesn't exist and that would hurt our attempt to deal with foreign terrorists. it would incentivize them to go to the united states because they get full constitutional protection. martha: if someone were to drop a dirty bomb in chicago, god forbid that person would not be treated as a enemy combatant.

>> he would be given miranda warnings and put into a court. that is inexcusable. martha: thank judge. bill: family moment pwers call the wedding ceremony rushed at best. now the groom is being hunted nationwide by the f.b.i. accused of taking his bride from the alter to her death bed in the same night. martha: how about this story today, she says she picked up a few rocks on the beach and she put the rocks in her pocket. what happened next could only be described as an episode of myth busters gone horribly wrong. >> according to witnesses she actually had flames coming off of her shorts. wee-wee are still unsure of what caused the actual fire. i love cash back. withhe bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. 1% ca back everywhere, every time. 2% on grocers.

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22 minutes past the our right now. warplanes pounding in southern yemen, killing 22 militants as part of a ramped up campaign there. more doctors are ditching the prescription pad and going digital. more than a third of the nation's prescriptions are now done by computer. it's time to catch up with another cup of joe, a study of 400,000 people, the largest of its kind finds that coffee drinkers, this is good news, live longer. bill: oh. martha: yea. in fact folks who average four or five cups, that sounds like an awful lot, a day, they have found the lowest risk of death, however they don't sleep at night. they are living, but they are really, really tired. bill: i recently graduated. martha: from coffee drinking. bill: i went from the grande

which is the medium to the triple venti. martha: i don't speak that language, is that bigger than that? i go in and say, can i have a medium please and then they do the translation. bill: this is like a big gulp at 711 with caffeine in it. it takes you right through to 4:00. 23 minutes past the hour right now. he is accused of killing his new bride only minutes after their wedding. a woman was found stabbed to death in a bathtub still wearing her dress from that evening. her husband nowhere to be found. police say surveillance video shows the woman walking out of the reception, this is the latest picture we have, by the way, a short time before she was brutally murdered. now the feds are joining the search, and bill daley former f.b.i. investigator, now senior vice president for controlled risk security consulting, bill good morning to you. you say it's a murder investigation, so why would the f.b.i. be involved?

>> at this point they are involved because it appears he has fled interstate to avoid prosecution. the f.b.i. will lend a helping hand. it's similar to why they got involved in the case less than a week ago, another nation-wide hunt for a murderer, adam maze who took the two young children and killed himself when the police caught up with them. the f.b.i. helped in the case in interstate jurisdiction and help the local police. bill: this man is where, that is the ultimate question, this is one of the last clues we have here. typically you find these people search out for family and friends to give them, perhaps, coverage, perhaps help them hide. isn't that the first place you start, bill? >> that is exactly right, bill, that's what you look for. i'm sure police and f.b.i. are now looking at his phone records, computer records to see who the people are. there's a big question mark over him, apparently he's driving around in a $125,000 black

maserati, which maybe he's dumped at this point with no apparent source of income. he was a translator for the social services bureau. that doesn't give you enough money to buy a maserati. does he have a nefarious group of people out there that can help him run below the radar. does he have a stash of money that allows him to go on the run. does the network of people he knows extend further out from the chicago area across the nation or is he more comfortable t being close to areas he has contact in. bill: hard to hide in a maserati when you're 6-foot, 200 pounds. the sister of the bride apparently received a phone call from him? >> in the hours and the days after that. that. bill: he suggested what in that phone call. >> he suggested they had a terrible fight and he left his new bride, bleeding as he allegedly put it, in the apartment. so, therefore, i mean we have at this point, you know, him, you

know, admitting an assault, apparently unfortunately there had been previous issues with violence with him, both with the deceased, as well as with other people in the past. so i mean there is certainly enough here by his own admission and by him being on the run that he is the prime suspect and has given the authorities the ability to look at all of those records and hunt him and look for him very carefully. bill: that is what the f.b.i. is doing right now, trying to trace down every lead they can, watch his cellphone, any other contacts that he may be making. martha: throug making. >> through programs like this. it helped in the case of maze with the public being on the look out for this person, always helps. that's something the police puts a lot of emphasis on. if you see something, call in, let the police know. bill: thank you bill for coming in. martha: the investigation into a pair of deadly highway shootings that may involve someone dressed as a policeman, that is now expanding. we told you about this story,

two dead already in mississippi on the side of the highways, now authorities are in another state on high alert. bill: also, we are crossing the country listening to voters in the counties that count. the counties that tend to pick winners, in th and the first part of our new series comes up in moments. start counting in northeast ohio. >> i pay more attention than i normally do in the past. it is important to see the economy start growing. we need to focus on the people, the jobs, on this country becoming strong again. 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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martha: fox news alert. allegations of misconduct, corruption and government waste against the leadership in the department of homeland security. hearings are underway on this as we speak. they are examining recent ethical issues involving border agents, the tsa and even the secret service. catherine herridge is live on this for news washington. what are we learning about all this. >> reporter: the hearing before the house oversight committee for ohm land security began a half hour ago. lawmakers are focusing on alleged corruption and abuse at the tsa as well as with border and immigration agents. the republican chair of the committee saying he will investigate whether the documented cases are evidence of a culture of corruption or whether they are isolated incidents. he is immediately focusing this morning on the border patrol. >> the allegations of border patrol agents, cvp officers

working with drug traffickers to facilitate their business is just unconscionable. >> reporter: what the homeland security department's own sta particular particulars show is there has been a slow but steady rise in the reported incidents from 101 in 2008 to 111 last year, as well as the number of reported arrests from 109 to 142 over that same time period. in the prepared testimony homeland security's inspector general, the person whose job it is to investigate these allegations insists that they do not represent the integrity of the overall workforce, martha. martha: some of these cases, especially the ones at the border and at the airports are pretty extreme, right? >> reporter: well, they are one of the worst cases was at orlando international airport where a senior tsa officer, who is someone who oversees others at the screening check-point stole more than 80 laptop computers, cell phones, ipods over a three-year period and fenced the items for his own

benefit, martha. martha: wow, thank you. catherine herridge in washington. bill. bill: thank you, martha. today we begin a series that will take us to counties in america that have always told us where america is when it votes. they are called bell weathers. our first stop takes us to ohio, specifically in the buckeye state the economy has got even better. the unemployment rate is lore than it was before. right now it's 7.5%, which is better than they used to be. and it's below the national average. so we went to ohio, which is always sort of forecasting the future and telling us politically where things h-r, if you go back to 2008 and the whenbarack obama went against john mccain. it went blue. specifically in the northeast, in starke kansas city that's where you find canton ohio it

mirrored the state total at 57-47%. and starke county has a way of picking winners, always has in its election. we wanted to find out, how are they doing today? >> reporter: it's only 400 jobs but suarez industries in ohio has brought manufacturing jobs from china back home. that means working smarter and reengineering the company's space heaters, and petroy connolly who was out of a job for six months, it has put him back to work. >> it's the only source of income i have right tphoeufplt wanow. i was fortunate the company liked what they seen and hired me. >> reporter: this november's election is critical. >> we need to focus on the people, the jobs, and this country becoming strong again. >> ohio is an absolute must win.

>> reporter: carl taylor a professor of government and foreign affairs says starke county reflects a cross section. >> we have traditional lake tpher the northern part of the county. the people in starke county are the people who both candidates will have to appeal to. >> reporter: steve says he's had enough of all the politicians. he runs a 56-year-old family business that he bought from his father and hopes to keep around for his 25-year-old son, but he's fought off four years of a surb bor stubborn economy to stay in business. >> we have no leadership on either side of the aisle. they are more worried about getting elected than doing what is best for america. >> reporter: this community is like so many others in the midwest, manufacturing has been hammered the victim of a decades long decline. when this hoover factory closed for good it left behind several thousand feet of empty space and

it left behind a hole in this town yet to be filled. we spoke to dozens of people around starke county. for them the number one issue in the election is making their competent strong again. who did you know who used to work there. >> a lot of my friends. >> reporter: this man knows the hoover plant well. he's lived here all his life and he's the one that redesigned his company's heater that helped bring back the 400 jobs from china for him america's future is on the line in november. >> we are over spending ourselves. we can't afford to spend the money we're doing, the way we spend it now. we have to do something to slow it down or we are going to be in trouble. >> reporter: the kind of trouble that starke county knows all too well. how good is ohio at picking winners? it has tkpwo*pb wit gone with the pinne winner. 27 times. no republican has ever won the

white house without winning the buckeye state. you'll hear that mantra repeated over and over again. martha: it's fascinating that starke county had the break down for john ma taeupb and barack obama back in 2008. what is your sense of where this county is going? bill: two years ago their unemployment rate was 13.2%. i don't know how anyone gets through that. it's come down since then remarkably, right around 8.3%, which sort of mirrors the national hrafrpblg. average. it's better, but is it good enough? martha: some of those manufacturing jobs came back from china that is interesting. we've been hearing about that dwight a bit that it is becoming more attractive for manufacturers in the united states to operate here, is that something that can be a trend there? bill: i think so. are they going to get all the jobs back that they had before? i think the answer is no. now they are going to have to change their business plan, and the one thing that you'll start hearing from starke county in

eastern ohio is fracking in energy, because the companies in texas and louisiana are sending their workers up there and it's having a small impact on the company right now, but once they are able to hire local workers and train them in the way they want them to be trained that competent could go huge, and the first candidate that gets on that issue will win in starke county. there is more a bit later by the way. martha: you did find the best piece. bill: yes, i did. papa bears is when it's called. listening to the voters, a lot more later tonight on special report with bret baier, 6:00 eastern time on the fox news channel. martha: i need to know where the best pizza is. bill: we will find that everywhere. martha: back to this now for you, police are searching for a suspect that they say could be out there posing as a police officer pulling people over, and then murdering them. it's an awfully scary scenario and it now may be moving onto another state. bill: a woman literally catches

fire after putting rocks in her pocket? what explains that? >> i have never seen anything like this. in fact i spoke to the paramedic that responded to the call, he's 27 years on the job in the beach area, he's never seen anything like it. ave copd like i do, you know how hard it can be to breathe and what that feels like. copd iludes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiva helps corol my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it's steroid-free spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell yr doctor if you have kidy problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you ta, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if yr breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing ure.

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bill: we find the hunt for a killer that police believe is hiding behind a beige. law enforcement in tennessee are on the look out after two drivers were shot dead. one woman said she noticed something odd as she drove home at night just last week. >> a little bit north of fay e fayetsville i noticed this car following me really close. there was no way i was going to stop, not far out in the country like this. bill: there is a hunch that he is hiding as a police officer, and both victims were shot after they were pulled over on the

highway, and their cars did not appear to have any mechanical problems. shell casings recovered from the crime scenes are being analyzed. martha: how about this one, tests are underway in california right now to determine if rocks spontaneously ignited in a woman's pocket. this woman is in the hospital now, she has second and third degree burns after she says that the rocks that she picked up while walking along the beach, she put them in her pocket, and then they later caught fire in her pocket. officials are now saying that they are trying to figure out what happened. >> according to witnesses she actually had flames coming off of her shorts. we are still unsure of what caused the actual fire. we do know that she did have the rocks in her pocket, that the rocks are being tested as we speak with the orange county healthcare agency. martha: that is bizarre. corey powell is here, we always call him in when there is something bizarre. editor in chief of discover

magazine. >> happy to play myth buster today. martha: what could explain this? >> while the fire department is investigating we can do our own investigation right here. there are three kinds of answers. one, sometimes people do stupid things that are hard to detect. it's possible this woman had a lighter, or a can of sterno or something like that in her pocket. a spark from the rock ignited it. when she dropped and rolled it rolled away and the fire department didn't see it. could be something as simple as that. the other possibility is she was on the beach in san clemente, there is a military base there and firing range there. it's possible she picked up an unexploded shell along with the rocks. martha: both of those two involve something else that would ignite next to the rocks that caused the actual explosion. but there is also scenarios where these rocks themselves could actually be explosive, right in. >> that is scenario number three, while we are going through our detective process.

so, the earlier reports indicated that these rocks contained phosphorus. it's a natural element that can spontaneously come bus, it can burst inch in flame in the air. it's possible that she picked up several tpos for rust rocks. they happened to bang together in her pocket and create tpo phosphorus dust and burst into flames. martha: they are baking in the sun and it's hot out there is that going to make this more likely? >> if they were dry and turned kind of powder lee and she was maybe jogging on the beach and they made dust in her pocket. that would be the weirdist and scariest possibility. this is genuine combustion of the rocks. martha: the first trips to the moon, so many components are present that could possibly be combustible.

they were afraid that the moon or pieces of the moon could explode when they handed there. >> it was one ever the first things i thought about when i heard the story. early in the days of th the apollo program there were serious scientists to said there are some rocks on earth that can burst into flames, it doesn't normally happen because there is oxygen in the air. anything that could burn would have burned a longtime ago. on the moon there is no air, there was a real fear that the entire moon with us a tinderbox waiting for a spark. they would bring a bag of rocks into the apollo capsule, expose them to air and they would pw*urs into flames. people crossed their fingers when we landed. they thought was unlikely but nobody knew if it was true or not. martha: this is like a freak accident, she has very bad burns and her husband also does when he saw her sports flaming. is there anything you can do to prevent this from happening?

i pick up rocks on the beach all the time. shiny ones, pretty ones. >> there are things you should be afraid of. maybe not so much rocks. spontaneouresponsible taeupb combustion. if you have magazines, a large stack of magazines can com combust. pista chio nuts, can combust. martha: thank you, corey. bill: got 0 some breaking news right now. dallas, texas we go. at the courthouse in dallas reports of a white powder matter on the 6th floor of that building. a judge in there is reporting this. at the same time there is a strip mall in north dallas that is reporting a similar scene,

and that is the scene of the strip mall in northern dallas. so you have two events happening at the same time, not clear whether or not they are related to one another, but kdfw has the helicopter up in the air and we'll try and sort that out and let you know whether that is truly a threat down there in texas. dozens of help wanted signs but not a single taker. >> the state has created this disincentive to work with our generous benefits, both the weekly maximum amount and the duration of benefits. bill: the industry that can't find people willing to work and why it might be the government's

jon: 8 minutes away from "happening now" a bitter blow to the defense in the john edwards case. closing arguments underway right now. how will a ruling by the judge

affect the outcome? our legal panel weighs it all out. plus a new study links a very common antibiotics to sudden deadly heart problems. it may be something that you get from your doctor quite commonly. we'll tell you all about it. it's all at the top of the hour when jenna lee and i join you for "happening now" and i'll try to learn to speak by then. bill: it's all good. thank you, jon. see you in eight minutes on "happening now." to a part of the country where there are plenty of job option but no takers because they cannot find the workers. farmers have hardly enough pickers to haul in the crops. dan springer in is on that in the pacific northwest and see eat h seattle. how severe is the lack eve lack of workers. >> reporter: 10% of the crops are uncut. one official estimates it's

costing the farmers all together in the state $200,000 a day to walk away from a vegetable that is getting more popular and one people are paying $3 for in the grocery store. a huge pool of unemployed americans simply will not do the work for the average ten bucks an hour the farmers are paying. listen to the asparagus commissioner when requiring people who are collecting unemployment benefits to work in the fields. >> i'm pretty confident that if the average, unemployed citizen in franklin county came out to cut asparagus it would be an unmitigated disaster. it's hard work and you've got to be productive. >> reporter: doesn't sound like he wants them. one employment in franklin county is over 10% and people can collect benefits for 73 weeks, and the top pay $583 a week, bill. bill: why aren't the farmers paying more to attract workers?

do they want to do that, dan? >> reporter: you would hit a wage that americans would do the work for. critics say the farmers have relied for way too long on cheap illegal labor and it's time to pay a living wage for what is really tough work. >> for some reason agra business seems to think that they are exempt from paying a living wage or providing suitable conditions for workers. and they think that because they've been able to get away with it. >> reporter: growers say this you raise labor costs you raise the cost of groceries which hurts every american. they contend foreign competition with its even cheaper labor will squeeze them out. bill: dan springer, thank you. interesting take on that. thank you, dan. martha: high winds and heat fueling growing wildfires that we've been watching out west. now about three times larger. and they are bearing down on a really special and historic community in that area, so the firefighters have to navigate some very dangerous terrain out

there. threats of abandoned mines are also a big issue for them, rattle snakes. this is a tough one for even the best of firefighters. we'll be right back. >> i'd be scared to death. these mines are extremely deep and if something catches on fire on top and falls into one of those mines they could rile be in forile be in for it when all the timber catches on fire. this is an rc robotic cw.

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>> california governor jerry brown announced california is $16 billion in debt. and today arnold schwarzenegger says he is not to blame. in fact governor schwarzenegger will be be willing to take a paternity test to prove this economy is not his. martha: no way. doesn't even look like him. bill: nicely done. off we go. martha: off we go.

bill will be traveling today tell us what is going on there. more on "special report" tonight. bill: we get so much from like politicians and the right and left going back and forth and often times we don't take the time to listen to you. so perhaps that is served by this. so. martha: we listen, you and i do. bill: i sten to you every day. and occasionally you listen to me. martha: see you here tomorrow, everybody. "happening now" starts right now. have a good day. jenna: a very different kind of presidential poll asking which candidate do you think would make a better life coach? how about that? which one would manage your money better? some good questions. some interesting results. plus what they mean in the race for the white house. jon: after bombshell testimony the john edwards' corruption trial comes to a close. what are the jurors thinking? will they convict the one-time presidential candidate? a jury consultant takes you inside the mind of this