>> karate chop it. >> gretchen: thanks, guys. >> steve: good luck in the afternoon. >> gretchen: thanks. thank you. >> brian: good luck. >> gretchen: thanks so much. martha: we start with this fox news alert. thousands of people have been urged to evacuate because of the serious flooding we are seeing in colorado. we start with these new pictures and they are incredible. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. that evacuation includes all 2,000 people in lions, colorado. martha: let's go to alicia who

is standing by. >> reporter: we were talking about lions as this flooding began because it became isolated quite quickly. the national guard is trying to get people out of the town of lions. it's north of boulder. but the problem is the roads are washed out. they weren't able to get helicopters up because of the rain. it cleared up enough they will be able to get into the area to get people out. the sewage treatment plant has been affected, they don't have freshwater there. they have been trying to perform rescues throughout the night and throughout yesterday. it has been quite devastating. especially with the small mountaintowns that have been cut off by the rushing water. here are a couple of residents who have been impacted in the

town of lions. >> we are shocked at all this. we never seen the water up to the tracks. >> you have to let it flow and hope it keeps flowing in the right direction. >> reporter: it's not just the mountain towns. in the denver metro area the rain has been substantial. this should be video of aurora, colorado. some of the major under states were shut off, some of the evacuations as well as the different suburbs throughout the denver area. if you come back here to boulder i can show you where we are. this is the boulder creek. if you take a look down where miss water is, this is an area where people walk and picnic. the creek is far back over beyond those trees. if you see this white sign, i was talking to a resident who said when it gets bad here the

water comes just beyond this way. you can see how fast the water is traveling. the emergency crews say their main concern is people staying off the roads. the roads are washing away from underneath the cars on top of them. and the water is pushing so heavily against the bridges, it's dangerous. , three dams were overtopped yesterday. emergency crews say it's incredibly dangerous for people. martha: i remember how you were talking about lions and how it had become an island and difficult to get people out of. gregg: this incredible rescue ... remember this? we were showing you this yesterday on "america's

newsroom." that guy trapped in his car and the floodwaters rising. we are getting word the man was taken to a hospital. he's okay. he's expected to recover. wow, that was a close one. we'll monitor the flooding throughout the show and give you updates as they come in. martha: the car turned over all the way and they were able to get him out of the back seat. some incredible flooding. those people are going through a lot right now. this is also a very big story. an attack on the u.s. consulate in afghanistan. taliban militants launched a suicide bombing. the man has blood all over his face from this attack. it happened in the western afghan city is an area that is

generally fairly safe for the region in herat. it happened 5:30 a.m. local time. how is this attack being characterized this morning? the. >> reporter: it's being called a sophisticated and complex attack that involved two car bombs and possibly a suicide bomber with a vest. and then there was a gunfight that killed two afghans but it did not damage the u.s. consulate. it happened in herat which is close to iran. it happened on a day that the consequence that was closed. at 5:30-6:00 in the morning. clearly the goal wasn't to kill lots of americans and none were killed. but it appears the goal was for the taliban to grab some headlines. there had been street demonstrations across

afghanistan because afghanistan won a football championship, a soccer championship. those were viewed by some as an anti-taliban statement. many people were chanting, we don't want to go back to the old days. martha: a message was sent and they did grab headlines and two people lost their lives in that attack. amy, we'll be following that throughout the course of the morning. gregg: america's involve -- in afghanistan goes back more than a decade. it's the longest war in american history. right now there are 63,000 u.s. troops in afghanistan. the numbers peaking in june of 2011.

martha: secretary of state john kerry meeting with the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov. they are working to get some sort of deal or arrangement that will hinge on the talks off chemical weapons which has become very complex in terms of the terms laid down by assad. some experts think that the idea of putting all of those chemical weapons under international control may be easier said than done. >> putting all of syria's chemical weapons under international control is a far stretch. i don't know if it's feasible. what if russia secured half of them and got them out of harm's way? that's 500 tons of weapons that wouldn't fall into terrorist hand and be used against western interests. i think the objective would be complete elimination and partial elimination would be to the

benefit of the united states and its friend and allies. martha: secretary kerry also is said to meet with lavrov again. they will know each other pretty well by the end of the month as they try to hammer something out. gregg: u.s. labor leaders later this afternoon will be meeting with the president. nobody is situation this meeting is about, but it comes 24 hours after the afl-cio, a group headed by white house ally richard trumks slams the president's healthcare plan as highly disruptive. the unions backed obama-care, but they didn't know what was in it. 19,000 regulations. now they know. >> reporter: they don't like it. it's crunch time for obama-care.

3:35 eastern time, the president, vice president, richard trumka will be getting together in the roosevelt room because labor wants changes to obama-care. they want tax subsidies. the background is labor provided lots of money and campaign workers for the campaigns of 2008 and 2012. there is an implicit threat. if you don't change obama-care we might not turn out the way we did in 2014. i'll quote the labor union's cleave. 550,000 u.s. members. they say if you don't fix obama-care, repeal it. that's a heavy duty threat. 3:35 eastern, roosevelt room, white house. gregg: there have been a myriad of delays and exemptions and

2,000-plus waivers. what we expect something to happen late today? it's friday afternoon. everybody -- they have a history at the white house of dumping important things on the internet at the 11th hour when everybody is asleep at the switch. report * the white house has a history of an information dump late on a friday right before the weekend. it's possible you could see something like that again today. if there is a further exemption for labor tax breaks for labor because of obama-care they might want to bury that with a friday afternoon dump of that information. but it's crunch time today. 3:35 eastern, the white house. gregg: the president and democrats need the union backing for the 2014 mid-term elections. so there could be some deal

making going on today. martha: this story had been on the back burner but now it's front and center. i'm talking about the i.r.s. scandal that targeted 500 conservative party groups. now there are brand-new e-mails out will from lois lerner that show she may have been targeting those groups intentionally. gregg: syria's dictator making demand of his own. bashar al-asaad saying president obama must promise not to continue arming the rebels or he won't hand over his chemical weapons. how should the up s. respond to this new condition. martha: absolute heartbreak this morning on the jersey shore. it's incredible that they are going through this, another tragedy as the firefighters try to put it out on the seaside boardwalk. this was absolutely ravaged by

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gregg: the fbi says it will close its head quawshters in washington, d.c. and other cities because of the mandatory spending cuts. they will only keep a skeleton crew on hand during those days. martha: 43 house republicans are endorsing a bill that would avert a government shutdown while defunding obama-care. but it comes just weeks before americans can start buying on the exchanges.

>> i think what we need to do and what the people want us to do is republicans go to the house. you can't win every battle. but we should use that evident to try to make obama-care less bad. there are so many unintended consequences of this bill, it will be a disaster for the country. the president, even thought it's his baby, should delay the implementation for a year and we should study what's going to happen. martha: byron york, is there any chance of that? >> the short answer is no. democrats are unanimously opposed from defunding or delaying obama-care for a year. they control the senate, they can stop anything there. in the house republicans are in

control. but they are so divided. you need 217 votes to pass snoght house. 43 of those said they won't vote for any measure to fund the government unless it also defunds obama-care. those 43 are enough to make it certain that republicans can't pass anything by themselves. martha: they want us to defind for one year. what they are looking for is a delay. i'm curious if anyone is discuss tag compromise where you separate that notion out. do you think there might be some democratic support? we know a lot of people have a one-year delay. is there support on the side to get something like that done? >> this whole thing started with the president's unilateral decision to delay the employer mandate for a year.

republicans are saying if the president gives one-year break to big business, what about ordinary americans? so far there is no democratic support on that. the two top republicans in the house tried to finesse their way around this. they said let's pass two bills. let pass a resolution to fund the government and pass a rider to defund obama-care. that meant it could go to the senate and they pass a continuing resolution. these 43 republicans in the house said no way. that sent boehner and cantor back to the drawing board. we only have 17 days until the deadline and on those days the house won't be in session. martha: let's take a look at some interesting poll numbers. you look at the numbers on healthcare. 58% disapprove of the job the president is doing on healthcare.

that's a big number, byron. i think a lot of folks might look at that and say why is there no leverage for a delay on both sides? >> the democrats who voted for obama-care are already pretty much cast their lot with it. you are not seeing any democrats. even the democrats in the senate who are in tough races. you have not seen them run away from obama-care because i think they believe it would be politically failed to do that. because we are so close to implementation. october 1 the exchanges go into effect. and the subsidies for americans to buy insurance start flowing. and the white house is saying hang tight until then. martha: it's going to be very interesting. we are talking about a cr and not a real budget.

>> it many just a short measure anyway. martha: congress can't seem to do their job and get a budget together. we just go from cr to cr to cr which is basically a band-aid. gregg: she is accused of pushing her husband off a cliff, killing him in a national park. they had only been married 8 days. it's the judge's ruling in the case that is sparking outrange. martha: remember when lois lerner took the fifth and how outraged some people are. now the executives e-mails. you might be surprised by what they are say. >> because i'm asserting my right not to testify i know people will assume i have done something wrong. i have not. one of the basis of the fifth amendment is to protect innocent individuals. ♪

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>> reporter: newlywed accused of killing her husband just released from jail. a judge has placed graham under home detention saying the government did not prove she was a flight risk or danger. judge alex ferrara joins us. a lot of people are surprised that she's out. and she admits that she killed her husband of 8 days. that would strike me as a danger to society. >> yes, you would think so. i think the perception in the public is anybody gets arrested

for a crime, you know everybody has a constitutional right to bail. in serious cases the judge can hold them without bond because of the seriousness of the offense and the dangerousness to society. but they have a right to a hearing to judge whether they are a danger to society. back in july you knew everything you knew today and at that time you decided not to take her into custody. if you felt she wasn't such a serious risk then and nothing has changed, i'm going let her stay on detention. >> remember the zimmerman case, the difficulty was one person is dead and the other person has a story and can you disprove it. no witnesses. this would have been the same scenario except she started to talk and lie about when she last found her husband. she found a body at the bottom of this massive cliff and gave

some type of confession. she made her own problems by speaking. gregg: one wonders if the feds will plead this down to something less than murder. >> i think the feds will night and i involuntarily or voluntarily manslaughter. if they do instead of facing up to life in prison, she faces up to 15 years for centrally manslaughter. gregg: it's sudden impulse, not premeditation. >> that would be voluntarily manslaughter. involuntarily will be accidental. if they go with he grabbed her and she pushed him off the cliff accidentally. the fight wasn't premeditated but it got out of control. those would be involuntary.

gregg: she admitted they were arguing. he grabbed her arm and she pushed him. yet there is this e-mail message she send to her friend before she killed him in which she said i'm dead serious, if you don't hear from me something happened. >> you think that sounds like premeditation except it goes to more she thinks he might do something to her if you don't hear from me rather than her do something to him. her difficulty with her story is she says to the feds, he grabbed my arm and i could have just walked away but i was angry so i shoved him with both hands. gregg: they order a mental exam which is not unusual. they could argue diminished capacity? >> she clearly knew the difference between right and wrong. she tried to do have it up.

when somebody tries to cover it up they know they did something wrong. i think it's because the prosecutor said she is a danger because of her mental health issues so the judge wants to button that down. gregg: insanity works less than 1% of the time. >> jurors are not inclined to release people who are dangerous and crazy. martha: first it was the russian president in an editorial. now the president of syria bonding together in their message for president obama. so who is calling the sts? our next guest was in the homeland security briefing on this earlier this week. he believes this is all part of a ploy. gregg: a sad scene. less than a year after hurricane sandy. devastation on the new jersey shore. those poor people lost everything again.

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martha: it's like a bad movie on the new jersey shore. a massive fire consumed several blocks of the famous seaside slight boardwalk. that area was hit so heard it was destroyed by hurricane sandy

last year. listen to what people are saying this morning. >> i said to my staff i feel like i want to low pressure. that's me. after all the effort and time and resources that we put in to help the folks in seaside park and seaside heights rebuild, to see this going on as i said at the top is just unthinkable. i can only imagine how the residents and business owners in this area are feeling. my heart goes outo them, that's why i'm here. martha: that's governor christie on the boardwalk earlier. rick leventhal joins us. rick: i spoke to a local councilman who calls this a real tragedy. we are told roughly 3 dozen businesses here in seaside park were completely destroyed by the fire and 15 more to the north of us in seaside heights wiped out.

the firefighters are telling us now it is under control. they have roughly 90% contain. they are working on hotpots under sections of roof and wall. less than 100 firefighters still on the job working methodically and much more slowly than yesterday when 400 firefighters from across the state were battling this massive blaze described more like a forest fire than a building fire with the flames being whipped by 25-40-mile-an-hour winds. firefighters cut large sections through the boardwalk to try to cut breaks to stop the fire's advance. >> we cut the boardwalk tries. the first time it nearly held. you just too much fire and too much wind coming at us. so we dropped back to our second defensive position where we made a better defensive barrier and

we were able to stop the fire there. rick: they exceeded the water supply in both of these breach front towns and they had to draw water from the bay. one of the firefighters described this as being lake a bomb went off. martha: unbelievable. and it was so windy. there was a big storm that came in after that in the afternoon. you at home remember these scenes. this is what we showed you after hurricane sandy. this is seaside's world famous boardwalk. you remember the under water rollercoaster and governor christie down there rocking on that. now back again there this morning. it's incredible. the entire length of that boardwalk had been rebuilt and they had succeeded. they were supposed to have a festival in seaside this weekend to celebrate the rebirth and the stronger than the storms. so they are tough folks and they

will rebuild. but boy or boy, they just got hammered all over again. it's such a sad story this morning. gregg: syria's dictator issuing a defiant demand to the u.s. bashar al-asaad telling russians quote when we see that the u.s. genuinely stand for stability in our region, stops threatening us with military intervention and stops supplying terrorists with weapons, then we'll consider the possibility to finalize all necessary procedures and they will become legitimate and necessary for syria. suddenly now a condition. bob scales testified at the house homeland security committee a few days ago. now assad inserts this condition. is it just rhetoric or is it a

condition that must be met and will prove to be an impediment to a peaceful solution. >> there was another condition and that was that israel get rid of its nuclear weapons before all of this. the threat of chemical warfare is over. pew continue iover. putin is in charge of this war and putin has told assad he's not going to use chemical weapons again, whether the u.n. steps in or not. and secondly if he follows his instructions from his masters in moscow he will win the war anyway with conventional weapons. for him to say the united states has got to stop threatening military action and arming the rebels is ridiculous. particularly now at least from the perspective of the situation on the ground putin -- assad and putin hold the overwhelming

advantage. gregg: from putin's standpoint it makes sense. putin wants to prop up asaw d pp assad and maintain the regime, so is putin in a way using president obama? >> i think he's using them both. he's certainly has assad in his hip pocket and he managed to outmaneuver this administration. there is not going to be a sceptical attack like i mentioned to you and there won't be a missile strike by the united states. i think pretty much everybody understands that. the only card this administration has to play is to step up its aid to those rebels which we think are moderate. i don't mean driving 40 trucks across the border once a week or putting 40 trained fighters into the fight every week or so. i think we are talking about now

thousands of fighters retrain. building an army and rebel infrastructure that's able to fight. putting weapons on the ground that will make a difference like anti-tank guided missiles. the greatest threat from syria is artillery, rockets, tanks and armored personnel carriers and they need some type of precision munitions to turn the tide. otherwise putin has got a point and right now even under threat of a u.s. strike the advantage goes to assad. gregg: i want to show saw couple fox news polls that came out just before the president's speech to the nation tuesday. a large margin. 68% of americans want the u.s. to stay out of syria. only 26% want to take action. 57% thought president obama had not adequately explained the need for u.s. action in syria. do you think that speech he delivered changed those numbers in any meaningful way?

and you were on capitol hill. what was their sense of things? >> i testified before 21 members, and all but one expressly -- expressed at least hesitation about conduct a missile strike. and this is a cross-section of congress. as far as the american people are concerned, i believe two things. they are tired of war, they fought two already. and number two they don't understand the military aspect.of all this. they don't have a sense of what a missile strike might do or not do. they don't understand the if the effects of all this will achieve the end that the president seeks. and they are worried about the collateral damage. are you going to allow the killing of innocent syrians with conventional weapons to add to the devastation donnelly chemical weapons. gregg: the "wall street journal" reports today the syrians have

scattered their sceptical stopping pile into 50 different locations. there is no way you can verify it. the type delay has been about a month. it has advantaged assad tremendously. general, we'll leave it for another time but thank you for your thoughts. martha: some folks are flying for free on commercial airlines. the major airline glitch that got some people who were quick with their fingers on the free board free plane tickets. gregg: new details on how 500 conservative and tea party groups were targeted about it irs. how these e-mails are raising concerns about a top official at the center of this scandal. >> i would have much like toan answer the committee's questions today. i have been advise bid myot counsel to assert my constitutional right not to testify or answer questions related to the subject matter of

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gregg: united airlines selling tickets for zero dollars. others got charged $5 to $10 for their tickets. it's all because of a computer glitch triggering and online frenzy. the airline blaming filing error. the question is will united honor the tickets? there is a body of law that says an offer made by mistake is still enforceable and binding as to a contract. martha: that would be my worry. if i got one of them i would feel i needed a backup ticket. gregg: i think they have to honor it. martha: too bad we weren't online yesterday.

stunning new emails show the woman at the center of the irs targeting scandal was specifically scrutinizing conservative groups. lois lerner took the fifth back in may. here is what she wrote in 2011. the tea party matter is very dangerous she writes. cincy should probably not have these cases. she is of course referring to that office that was blamed for the scandal. i'm joined now to talk about this. julie and katie, welcome. what do you think is revealed by these e-mails? >> it reaffirms the lie that

this was a local cincinnati issue. clearly lois lerner who was in charge of the department was involved here. but the key is looking at the language she uses. she uses the language dangerous in reference to the tea party groups. you find she is using the tea party groups as a pawn to try and get a new court case to go up against the citizens united ruling in 2010 which is a ruling even president obama talks about his disdain for. so it shows this wasn't just about look at these groups and the irs doing their job as many democrats on the oversight committee have been saying, but was an issue of seeing these groups as a threat mitt call --t politically. martha: she says this could end up being the vehicle to go to court to take on the citizens united issue. to get more clarity on the 2010 supreme court ruling on campaign

finance rules. >> i said for a long time it sounds like lois lerner probably should not have been at her job and should be relieved of her job permanently as soon as she can be. but to say this has some sort of connection to president obama as katie implied. i don't see it. i see no evidence of that despite the leaks chairman issa of the oversight committee has leaked. there has not been any connection to anybody in the white house. i said this for months. as an independent prosecutor who can go in and look at this matter. somebody who is not affiliated with the political sea general today as i think chairman issa is. it sound like democrats are claiming and other e-mails have shown not just tea party groups fan pro questionsive groups are targeted. let's get to the bottom of it. let's get to the bottom of this once and for all. martha: this e-mail from 2012

came out after this sort of started to come out. there was a hearing in congress when we sort of got an inkling there was an issue. but before the whole thing kind of blew up. lois lerner says it is what it is. although the original story isn't as pretty as we would like, once we learned we were off track, we have done what we could to change the process, better educate our staff and move the cases. so we'll get dinged on this but we took steps before the dinging to make things better and have written procedures. she is suggesting they got wind some of these employees were doing this incorrectly and they took measures to fix that situation and they have to take their licks in the matter but that's the way it is. >> but that goes back to the argument from lois lerner and all her people in d.c. blaming some type of low-level employees for the scandal and for the

targeting. when you go back to lois lerner's history at the irs and her work at the fec. and her own -- we have had people running for office saying she initially almost bribed them in order toth have them drop out of the race when she was at the fec. she is also forgetting former irs commissioner douglas schulman who visited the white house 150 times during his tenure at the irs. he lied and said nothing is going on when we know for years it was going on. martha: she says perhaps the fec will save the day in a battle between the fec and the tax exempt part tea exarty groups in this case. we'll see where it goes from here. thank you. gregg: a man 300 helium balloons

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martha: the california legislature approved a bill to raise the state minimum wage from $8 an hour to $10 an hour. that's a big jump. le bill goes to governor jerry brown who said he will seen it. it marks the first minimum wage hike in california for five years and it's expected to put extra money in the pockets of 2.4 million workers. gregg: the increase in sinkholes in florida doing wonders for the

business hospital come in to fix up the mess. this vacation resort near disney, the resort swallowed by a sinkhole just weeks ago. remember that one? >> reporter: the big sinkholes in florida do get a lot of attention for a day or two. but for some florida firms they have become a source of steady money making. when a disney area hotel split into a sinkhole it meant panic for 100 tourists trapped inside. but for this ground service company it meant money. the company has 25 crews a day at work in florida known as sinkhole alley where limestone erodes due to increased construction. >> nobody cares about a sinkhole that opened up in a farm field.

but if it opened up in a residential area people pay attention. >> reporter: the price tag for an average job. $75,000. but they can be sudden and deadly like the 30-foot crater that swallowed jeff bush, asleep in his bed in the spring. report * the body is still buried in that crater behind me. you talk to the neighbored and they have a sense of dread. they say just getting their homes checked for sinkholes will cost $5,000. money they don't have. martha: a lot of danger in colorado today. we can tell you the governor is about to speak on the situation there. that will happen just a few minutes away. stay tuned for that. gregg: as the "new york times" publishes an op-ed by the russian president vladimir

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martha: this morning republicans drawing battle lines. house speaker john boehner says the spending must be addressed to come to a solution of the debt limit. brand new hour of "america's newsroom." happy friday. i'm martha maccallum. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill. president obama said he will not negotiate over extending the government's ability to borrow money when it runs out which, probably will be sometime next month, but republicans, well, they're having none of it. already preparing for a major showdown. >> we have spent more than what we have brought in for 55 of the last 60 years. this year the federal government will bring in more revenue than any year in the history of our government and yet we will still have nearly a $700 billion budget deficit. we have a spending problem.

it must be addressed. period. martha: elizabeth plan live in washington. so, elizabeth, has the white house weighed in on that. >> reporter: first and foremost the president is trying to avoid a repeat of the 2011 debt limit fight. while house republicans are demanding spending cuts to accompany a any debt ceiling hike the administration will not negotiate when asking the to raise the limit for borrowing money which has been spent and noting how damaging that decision would be. >> republican leadership itself said it would be politically damaging to them to allow the government to shut down and we agree. they should not do it. and they should not do it for a host of reasons. so congress needs to act on this. >> reporter: dismissed by democrats, house speaker john boehner is continuing to argue a proposal for a new round of budget cuts as part of a much larger bill that would raise the nation's debt ceiling. martha? martha: elizabeth, things are pretty complicated on the

republican side when it comes to this. so what is the house speaker carving out what he wants he has got his work cut out for him. >> reporter: the speaker wants spending cuts from, quote, changes and reforms. he says the white house and congress has historically raised the debt limit in the past to find common ground solutions but there is a group of house conservatives demand they want to suffocate funds from the health care law. senator harry reid had a different impression from a meeting they had yesterday on the funding conflict. >> you can't talk about increasing the debt limit unless you're willing to make changes and reforms that begin to solve the spending problem that washington has. >> i had to be very candid with him and i told him very directly that all these things that they're trying to do on the obamacare is just a waste of their time. >> reporter: while both sides may be eager to blame the other for a possible shutdown the impending september 30th deadline on the horizon is very indus muted.

martha, back to you. martha: elizabeth, thanks a lot. without a continuing resolution the u.s. government could shut down as elizabeth was reporting by october the 1st. house appropriations committees could spend extend the spending levels to december 15th. there is always a way to pull the string longer, right? america could default between october 15 and november 5. plenty of time to get all this worked out. gregg: october 1st, obamacare exchanges opening up. a lot happening. to the other top story, fox news alert on new developments between talks between secretary of state john kerry and his russian counterpart and in the effort to find and destroy syria's chemical weapons. greg palkot, live in beirut, lebanon, miles from the syrian border. what is the latest on the talks. >> reporter: they're looking closely at the talks in geneva to deal with the threat of

chemical weapons from syria. this is day two of possibly three days of talks in general navy view. secretary kerry described the talks positive with refresh your recollection shun foreign minister lavrov. the threat of military action by the u.s. syria says it will not do the deal unless that is dropped. so far the u.s. said it is not dropping it. here in beirut it is a muslim holy day of prayer and a lot of people here are praying for peace. we have seen a lot of spillover violence from syria, a lot of refugees are coming over. there are indication, that is encouraging some here the talks on chemical weapons in geneva would lead to broader negotiations of a broader peace settlement in syria. there was a commitment to meet on the sidelines of a u.n. general assembly meeting at the end of this month as those talks go on. of course even more ground to cover in those broader negotiations, gregg. gregg: greg, what is happening on the ground in syria today?

>> reporter: yeah, from all this talk, gregg, about chemical weapons most of the damage, most of the killing in the last 2 1/2 years in syria has to do with conventional weapons and they have been in play on the ground in syria today and throughout this week. forces and al qaeda-linked rebels were clashing in the town of mallola. a christian town, historic place north of damascus. appears government forces are regaining control there. it is a nasty fight and as with a lot of fights in that country, religion in the middle. there are new claims from the human rights watch group, the forces of the regime of syrian president bashar assad were responsible for massacres and executions in two towns in northeastern syria in the early part of may. that left again, according to this agency, almost 250 men, women and children killed. we are also hearing, gregg, of course on both sides, a lot of brutality to go around in this

battle. back to you. the. gregg: greg palkot, streaming live in beirut. thank you very much. secretary of state john kerry also is calling syria quote, not a game. coming up we're going to be talking with a former spokesman for four u.s. ambassadors to the united nations including ambassador john bolton about the crisis. this weekend on "fox news sunday" anchor chris wallace interviewing two powerful lawmakers at the center of this debate. republican chairman of the holm land security committee, congressman michael mccall and chairman of the democratic congressional democratic campaign committee, congressman chris van hollen. that is this sunday on "fox news sunday." martha: we're awaiting a major court appearance in the boston marathon bombing case this morning. three friends of the suspect, dzhokhar tsarnaev, are going to face a federal judge on charges they hundred dirt the investigation in the hours following that horrific attack that killed three people and injured more than 200 others. molly line streaming live from

outside the courthouse this morning in boston. molly, haven't these guys already been arraigned? >> reporter: absolutely. they have been in federal court before, all three of them, friends of dzhokhar tsarnaev, the surviving boston marathon bombing suspect but what essentially happened the grand jury is hard at work and a superseding indictment comes down that comb binded the cases. row bell philillipos will be combined with azamat tazhayakava and. they will be arraigned on charges of lying to investigators and lying to obstruct justice. philillipos was indicted. dias kadyrbayev and azamat tazhayakava, pled not quilt guiltyages gas they conspired to obstruct justice. all three of these mean is alleged went into the room of dzhokhar tsarnaev ultimately a backpack, laptop was removed

from the roam and ultimate the it landed in the a landfill. this case moves to the next step, martha. martha: that certainly sounds like obstruction and everybody remembers those tense hours when everyone was looking for these suspects. in terms of row bell fhillipos, does that really change things for him? >> reporter: in a sense makes a lot more serious to see the case combined. at one point we were at a court appearance earlier in this process where a court appearance for him was canceled. there appeared through paperwork there might have been a investigate going forward and they have been working towards investigators towards some sort of conclusion. clearly investigators is taking this in the direction where he is charged very seriously. a major development, the in-laws of the deceased boston bombing suspect. tamerlan tsarnaev,. the parents of catherine russell telephoned before the grand jury

here yesterday in boston, according to a family attorney. the family attorney, tells me kathleen russell, widow of tamerlan tsarnaev has not testified before the grand jury. she is having, quote, many meetings with the government and has been cooperating. martha? martha: i bet sheave has had many meetings and it is interesting. boy, they know a lot about this story one would expect. so we'll see what actually comes of it. molly, thank you very much. gregg: a frightening display of nature's awesome power. where this happened. we'll tell you about it coming up. martha: one man, takeing a page from his favorite animated movie. boy, it was a good one. remember "up"? he is attempting to cross a very large body of water using hundreds of balloons. gregg: hmmm. criticism over russian president vladmir putin's scolding op-ed concerning potential u.s. military action in syria and the

major american media outlet that published it. we're going to have fresh reaction. >> while he has a right to his opinion on these subjects, of course, i totally disagree with him when he disagrees with the president. america is an exceptional country. [ female announcer ] it balances you... it fills you with energy... and it gives you what you are looking for to live a more natural life. in a convennt two bar pack. this is nature valley. nature at its most delicious.

martha: we have been watching the scenes in colorado. we saw an unbelievable rescue there yesterday and here's a look at some of the flooding that's going on there today. not too far from denver we saw the library the front of it underwater and public roadways we're showing you have been completely swamped. john hickenlooper, the governor of colorado is speak about this right now. here is a little bit what he had to say moments ago. >> again, tighten down some of these assessments. i did talk to the acting

director of the department of homeland security this morning and they are committed again to provide all the support we could possibly need and make sure that we get people out of harm's way. the one overriding thing i tell -- martha: lost two people already in these floods. they don't want to lose anymore. he is urging people to stay out of your vehicles in these areas. there's a look at boulder, colorado. boy, unbelievable. keep an eye on it. gregg: russia's president vladmir putin facing withering criticism from inside the washington beltway after his controversial "new york times" op-ed urging president obama not to launch military strikes against syria without backing from the united nations security council among other things. writing, quote, no one wants the united nations to suffer the fate of the league of nations which collapsed because it

lacked real leverage. this is possible if influential countries bypass the united nations and take military action without security council authorization, end quote. house minority leader nancy pelosi says mr. putin's policies are the real problem at the united nations and then she took a swipe at the media giant that published his op-ed. >> he has made several points in there and i think it's interesting, i guess a lobbiest gets him that big space in the "new york times." when he talks about he doesn't want the united nation to turn into another league of nations and not be effective, i thought that was interesting because one of the reasons the united nations has not been effective, for example, in syria, is because the fear of a russian veto. gregg: pelosi also said "the new york times" shouldn't have published putin's op-ed. howard kurtz is a fox news media analyst, host of the new show,

media buzz, right here on the fox news channel. howard, good to see you. look, if pelosi truly believes in the first amendment why not publish putin's op-ed in the "new york times"? >> putin's finger in the eye generated so much attention being on the op-ed page. clearly it was newsworthy, everybody, free clear of politicians to his views of syria and his views of america exceptionalism but the white house response i found to be rather muted. gregg: i want to quote, if i may, from putin's op-ed. let's put this up on the screen. a strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. it is alarming that military intervention and internal conflicts in foreign countries is become commonplace for the united states. is it in america's long-term interests? i doubt it. now, i wonder about that. did he make a better argument than president obama did in his

speech which is what peggy noonan says in her op-ed? >> well, hardly shocking that this former kgb operator would take several verbal shots at least at the history of american intervention in the middle east over the last 12 years. as far as a better argument, it seems to me that putin has the administration in a box to some degree. he can be provocative this was basically sort of pompous propaganda, taking shots at obama policy but right now president obama needs vladmir putin because he offered an escape hatch by coming forward with this plan to inspect and confiscate the syrian chemical weapons at a time when our president could not get much public support or support on capitol hill for his plan for airstrikes against syria. gregg: i want your reaction to how the media has been reported this story and in particular, you know, the op-eds, the editorials and so forth. they have been highly critical of president obama calling his

syrian policy, i took some notes here, inept, accidental, calling the president himself confused, indecisive, vacillating. have you been surprised, howard at the severity and the harshness of the criticism in the media? >> i've been surprised at how widespread it is meaning even on the left you have liberal commentators who either oppose military intervention in syria or think the president has been inconsistent or confused because he brought us to the brink of war and then pulled back, then gave all the network interviews, and then gave a speech he said there's a moral case for war but we're not going there yet. it has been right, left, center, straight news accounts. at the same time if somehow this process leads to confiscating those chemical weapons without any shots being fired perhaps people will look at back at it and say the president stumbled into a decent policy it is too early to say that now. at the moment on syria, he seems to have almost no friends in the press. gregg: yeah the, look, putin is claiming that, you don't want

the united nations to turn into the league of nations. one could argue it did a long time ago and in large part because china and russia veto just about everything. but as to his challenge of president obama's embrace of american exceptionalism, that is not going to win any favors among american readers, is it? >> no, and i don't think that was putin intended goal. i think he is in part playing to an international audience, to his constituents at home and trying to, you know, be provocative and at the same time, that he is purporting to cooperate with the administration, we have john kerry meeting with putin's foreign minister, show that, he is kind of strutting, isn't he? enjoying the moment on the world's stage. gregg: he is very clever. >> he gets to play the role of peacemaker. gregg: he is very clever and using arguably not only president obama but using the american media to his benefit as well. howard kurtz -- >> free contact with the "new york times" which didn't have to pay him for the piece.

gregg: there you go. howard kurtz, good to see you, howard. thanks very much. >> thank you. martha: we're continuing to watch the news conference on the deadly flooding in colorado. the governor is now speaking about the devastation there. >> this is not going to get fixed in a week, right? we have lost a great deal of infrastructure and it is going to take, you know, many weeks to rebuild a lot of this. >> governor -- martha: thousands of people having to be evacuated in colorado this morning. developments as they continue to come in. and one supporter says ronald reagan would have liked the free phone program that this woman was so enthusiastic about during the election. so what do you think? >> everybody in cleveland, all minorities got obama phone. keep obama in president, you know? he gave us a phone. >> gave awe phone? how did he give you a phone? >> you sign up. if you're on food stamps social security, low income, you

disability. and investing accounts on one page... before he could easily transfer funds between the two in real time... before he could even think about planning for his daughters' future... mike opened a merrill edge investment account and linked it to his bank of america bank account to help free up plenty of time for the here and now. that's the wonder of streamlined connections. that's merrill edge and bank of america. can youlyric can.aid do this? lyric can. lyric can. lyric by phonak is the world's only 24/7, 100% invisible hearing device. it's tiny. but that might be the least revolutionary thing about lyric. lyric can be worn 24/7 for up to four months, without battery changes. call 1-800-411-7040 for a risk-free trial. cookie: there's absolutely no way anyone can see it even if they get right up to my ear.

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♪ gregg: hawaiian woman is having a bad day at the dmv when her 36-letter last name won't fit on her drivers license. here is her i.d. now. >> he looked at it, where is your first name? and i said, don't blame me. this is your department. this is the county. >> we have been made aware of that issue and i know right now they're working to extend that limit, to i believe 40 characters, so that issue can be resolved. gregg: well, that's a relief. the woman says her last name is all she has left of her late husband after shortening the name, would be insulting to

hawaiian people. martha: so the federal communications commission is now strongly defending its $2.2 billion program that has become in, known as the obama phone program. acting ftc chair mignon clyburn firing back at conserve i was that the lifeline program is a government handout and claims president ronald reagan would actually be proud of this subsidy. listen. >> now that i have assurance, i can call our doctor. >> with assurance wireless in washington you get a free phone and 250 fry voice minutes each month. >> now that we have assurance, we can keep in touch with our grandchildren. martha: that's nice, right? sounds like a good thing. the program was established in fact during the reagan presidency in 1984. however the cell phone part did not kick in until 2005 in the lifeline program. matt mccall, president of penn

financial group, llc. matt, good to have you here. is this an obama phone that you have? >> i pay $200 a month for this big phone right here. martha: this program, i had did standard under the reagan administration, 1985 for landline phones. this is something we all pay for. we saw the tease before we went to the break of the woman so enthusiastic, how everyone, get a free phone, get a free phone. it costs taxpayers $2.2 billion. they pay for it through the phone bills right? >> you probably don't even know this, all the little charges, your phone bill might be $99. ends up being 170 by the time you fay at end of the month. costs $2.50 every household with we're paying to subsidize the free phones for the woman in that commercial and the woman before this in the tease. to me when this program was initially started in 1985 for ronald reagan it was emergency purposes for land lines. people had no access to phones in case there was emergency.

that made sense to me. however we're now seeing it explode everybody will get a phone. there is a report, research this last month, she got three phones. clearly she is well above the poverty level but she got three phones. applied for eight and got three. there are all types of news stories, people pick up welfare, sign up for welfare there are people selling them on the black market, the abuse is out of control when it comes to this program. martha: you know, claire mccaskill apparently got offer she could get a free phone if she wanted to. she is not below the poverty line. appears to be a classic example of a place where spending could be cut. i think everybody wants programs to exist for the poor poorest of the poor but it is obviously getting abused. you look at the debate going on in washington and how, you know, some don't even want to consider the possibility of spending cuts happening. i mean this is a program that's prime, ready for cutting but it may help some people at election time, right? >> the problem is, it is tough

to say, maybe a few people that actually need the cell phone. they need a cell phone to call 911. they really can't afford it. it is type of program where there is so much abuse, they're spending $2.2 billion a year on it. that has gone up 250% since 2008. keep in mind, martha, since 2008, sell phone bills and cell phones dropped in price. it shows how many more people are getting on the program and abusing this program. there may be a need for some people, unfortunately like any other entitlement program out there it gets abused. when has it become a right to have a cell phone? it's a privilege. i work my but off to pay the cell phone. not a right you get a cell phone in my mind. martha: people on the program, what other stuff are they buying with their disposable income that could be going towards the phone? classic sort of food stamps what are they being used for? as i said, everybody the poorest of the poor, everyone wants to help. the problem that is not what ends up happening. >> they were dressed pretty darn

well. take off the sweater vest and go get a cell phone every month. not that expense sieve. $25 to get a prepaid cell phone every month if you really need one. they're spending money on other things and not putting food on the table for their children and geting a free cell phone. democrats want to push free broadband for everybody now too, who is in this program. martha: why not. >> coming, now we'll pay our broadband bills and pay 2.50 a month for everybody else. martha: it is incredible. matt, thank you. something to think about, folks in washington something you might want to take the red pen to some extent. matt, thanks. good to see you. gregg: new attention on violent videogames as a top seller is about to release its latest edition, playing hour after hour, every day. does it make it too real? the growing questions about the long-term effects of these videogames are having on the human brain. martha: plus, the firm new warning from secretary of state john kerry, and what it may mean

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gregg: secretary of state john kerry calling for real action toward removing chemical weapons from syria. this as he and his russian counterpart enter a second day of negotiations today trying to reach a diplomatic resolution to the transfer of control of president bashar assad's chemical arsenal to the international community.

here he is is speaking in geneva yesterday. >> expectations are high. they are high for the united states. perhaps even more so for russia to deliver on the problem is of this moment. this is not a game. gregg: richard grenell, former state department spokesman and a fox news contributor joins us. richard, you know, look, this is going to drag on and on. now we're getting more conditions being imposed by assad. are putin and assad manipulating the united states very cleverly, and buying time? >> yeah, there's no question. let's be very clear that secretary of state john kerry and president obama are very eager to have this drag out. there's no incentive anymore. they really have viewed this chemical weapons attack as a political issue. first of all the red line was promised when it was candidate

obama running and we've seen the entire thing play out as a political issue. this is not a national security issue. it's been completely been punted into the political sphere. so having meetings and saying we successfully met today and we sided together that we're going to meet again, that all plays into just putting, pushing this down the road and having a political solution, not a military attack. so it is working for all sides at this point. gregg: ajami at stanford wrote a book on syria. he is an expert on the subject and he wrote this in today's "wall street journal." mr. putin has an eye for the fecklessness of the democracies. he knew that the obama administration seized with panic would take the bait that he offered, custody syria's chemical weapons in return for giving the damascus regime a new lease on life. is he right? >> yeah, he is exactly right but from the beginning we've known

that president obama really does not want to have military strikes even though he said that that would be a consequence. so the problem is is that, you know, "the washington post" and "the new york times," the syrians, the syrian rebels, the allies in the region, everyone knows that president obama doesn't want to do this. so the threat, the credible threat is just not there. meanwhile the russians i think love the fact that they smell weakness from the americans. they're stepping in and they're playing a leadership role. it's not a good day for u.s. foreign policy because we look feckless and yet i think for the last four 1/2, five years we've seen this develop little by little. let's remember that president obama promised us that he would talk to the enemies and engage and he wouldn't isolate syria. remember he's the one who put back our u.s. ambassador into damascus and engaged assad very early on and decided we would no longer isolate syria. now we find ourselves many years

later in trouble. gregg: wasn't it hillary clinton who said assad would be a reformer? i want to put up on the scream a new "fox news poll" on the president's handling of syria. looks at that, a scant 29% approve. 60% disapprove. does the american public have it about right? >> i think they have it about right but i'm really puzzled that 11% are unsure. they don't know what is going on. i don't really trust polls that much especially when it comes to foreign policy i think at the end of the day we expect our leaders to act like leaders. we want the president to act like the commander-in-chief and what we have seen consistently is this kind of reluctance to be someone who makes decisions. again we should not be surprised because senator obama, you know, he voted present so many times. gregg: right. >> he wasn't somebody who likes to make decisions. gregg: right. >> he come as law school classroom where you sit around and you talk and get a whole

bunch of ideas but you never make a decision in the real world. it is all theoretical. gregg: that is what it was like when i was in law school. richard grenell. thank you very much. good to see you. appreciate it. martha: want to take a moment here and show you the scene on the boardwalk. there is governor christie, he has returned because there is more devastation today as a fire, look at those pictures on the right, this is last night as fun town crashed to the ground on seaside's boardwalk after the excruciating and committed efforts of so many people to rebuild that area. they hoped to have a festival over the course of this weekend to continue to bring people back to the jersey shore. you have seen the stronger than the storm promotions to help bring people back to the jersey shore. so we wish them well as they begin that effort. today is so put out the fire and cleanup. governor christie you wan watch on foxnews.com stream as well.

martha: the release of yet another violent videogame, grand theft auto 5, is raising some new questions this morning about the potential dangers surrounding these games and the people who play them obsessively. this is what you're really concerned about in this story. many health professionals believe that these games inspired several of our nation's mass killers. these three young men all reportedly spent hours playing videogames each day in their basement. james holmes accused gunning 12 people down in colorado movie theater. jarrod loughner accused of killing six people and injuring congressman abby giffords, and adam lanza, killed 20 teachers and children in the newtown massacre there. dr. keith ablow, psychiatrist and member of fox news medical a-team. good morning, keith. >> thank you, martha.

martha: these three individuals on the screen were disturbed in many, many ways, but we were told after these disasters a lost different things needed to be a addressed and it doesn't seem there's a whole lot happening in the videogame arena. should there be? >> there absolutely should be. listen, that's a bankrupt argument that people make. they say, well, you look at all the people who play violent videogames, such a vast minority and troubled people end up doing terrible things. yes, but that's true of any drug and these are drugs. yes, some people can use cocaine and just have bad judgment. other people get addicted and still others become violent on drugs. this is a drug and the outliars are at risk. yet this drug has no warning from the surgeon general on it which it should. and it's legal, when most drugs are not. but this is just as toxic. martha: you know, i mean,

obviously when somebody who is mentally complicated and sick as these people obviously were -- >> yeah. martha: you know you can't be the parent to this person and say look, you need to get out of the basement and you need to take your medication and we need to get you away from this stuff. it is not good for you. that's really, isn't that really what it comes down to in terms of you you know, sort of steppin these kind of situations to prevent the violence? >> it absolutely is. look, if you have a child who seems addicted to a video game, even if that is somebody who has not been diagnosed with a mental illness, all the more if it is somebody who has, you have to now be aware, these things are habit-forming. and, human beings, it may well turn out after we deployed these without any thought at all have trouble living in a fantasy world for hours a day and living in reality, because now studies have shown a study of over 130,000 people culled from

several different research trials showed that people exposed to violent videogames shows increase in aggression and decrease in empathy. that may be okay for5% of the people but 2% over here may then become violent. martha: look at these pictures. there is no doubt that these videos, desensitize, even the healthiest of children to some extent, right? >> i believe that they do desensitize even the healthiest of children to some extent. and, we have many other forces that are doing that. we have club penguin, which seems innocuous but kids adopt fake animals. if they don't feed them the animals get sick or sad. no they don't. they're not real. martha: we dealt with, to a certain extent there is attempt to deal with guns. there has not been really much happening in terms of the mental health as part of this cocktail as i call it that is so poisonous in these individuals, killing cases and gaming part of it. where's the bumper sticker?

where is the outrage? where are the groups on washington? where's the fight over this, dr. keith? >> it's maddening, frankly because guns are irrelevant to this problem. all of these killers, adam lanza, and the rest of them, james holmes and the 8-year-old who just shot a 90-year-old woman and killed her in august of this year after watching a videogame, a violent videogame, these people are mentally ill. we have a crumbled mental health care system that can't address them. but more than that we're exposing people, most at risk to a new and toxic drug called virtual entertainment and the worst of it are these violent videogames. martha: it is poisonous. you know what? parents need to step in and take these things out of your kids hand. they are dangerous. >> yes, no different than having an open bar in the house or lots of drugs. martha: great point. dr. keith, we've got to go. thanks so much. >> take care, martha. martha: you too. gregg: another hit for

obamacare. the nation's third largest insurance carrier pulls out of yet another state-run health exchange. why it says it needs to make this important decision. is the e diet? this is the creamy chicken corn chowder. i mean, look at it. so indulgent. did i tell you i am on the... [ both ] chicken pot pie diet! me too! [ male announcer ] so indulgent, you'll never believe they're light. 100-calorie progresso light soups.

i'm on expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way.

who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your future? we'll help you get there. gregg: health care giant aetna dealing a major blow to obamacare, announcing that it is pulling out of new jersey's state-run health exchange just ahead of the october 1st rollout. this move following withdrawals in five other states including new york, maryland, ohio, georgia, connecticut where it is based. steve moore joins us, senior economic writer for "the wall street journal" and a fox news contributor and it is not just aetna. a bunch of other companies are either saying we're pulling out, or, they said ahead of time we're not even joining these exchanges. arguably because it makes no financial sense for these insurance companies to be involved. doesn't that undermine the whole point of obamacare and that is increased competition that would

lower costs? >> well-put, gregg. you wonder every day whether anything more wrong can go with obamacare. now we've seen major insurance companies, saying they don't want, necessarily to participate in obamacare exchanges. this comes on the heels of what the unions have said. they're not so excited about their workers being under obamacare, young people. so there is kind of this cascade effect of, as companies and unions find out more about obamacare they, the less they like it. you raised the key point here, gregg. we wouldn't have probably had obamacare had it not been for the large insurances companies cuting a separate deal with the obama administration to move forward the passage of this legislation. now they're looking at the finances of it in these, these exchanges by the way are just health insurance marketplaces and companies like aetna are saying you know what? this isn't such a good deal for us. we think we may lose more money than we gain. you're right, if these major insurance companies like aetna

drop out of this market, it means a lot less competition, gregg. you know what that means? higher prices for consumers. gregg: yeah. aetna has already canceled 10 of thousands of individual policies in various states because of obamacare. the head of aetna said, premiums will likely double for individuals and small businesses because of obamacare. >> light. -- right. that is enormous. you're talking about already many middle class families paying anywhere from 12 to $20,000 a year for health insurance premiums. think about that, gregg, if you see 50% to 100% increase in those premiums you will price a lost families out of the market which by the way is exactly the opposite of what obamacare is supposed to do. remember this was supposed to save money. gregg: right. >> here's the point why i think this is so troling that companies like aetna are falling out. aetna is the fourth or fifth largest health insurance company in the united states. so this is a big player in that market. they see what is happening is what we describe as a death

spiral. more and more healthy people are not going to join the market and more and more sick people are. if that happens, gregg, what happens to the average premiums, they go up and up and up. gregg: sure. >> as the premiums go up more and more healthy people drop out and the whole system collapses. gregg: steve moore, thank you very much. good to talk to you about it. appreciate it. >> one of these days maybe something will go right with obamacare. gregg: we wait. thank you. patiently. >> see ya. martha: that is something happen, jon scott and "happening now." so, jon, good morning, what's coming up? >> good friday morning to you, martha. we have updates from two states reeling from disasters. massive fire destroying six city blocks rebuilding from hurricane sandy. new jersey governor chris christie saying it makes him want to puke. in colorado, water is rising, some towns are cut off. we'll take you there live. the fight over obamacare that could send the u.s. over the fiscal cliff. no breakthroughs with russia

over syria. the op-ed from vladmir putin that is still causing ripples, using the media for diplomacy, ahead, on "happening now."

♪ gregg: isn't that, that chicago or guess who? i can't remember. i don't think it is chicago. epic voyage across the atlantic deflating soon after takeoff. a north carolina man fitting 300 multicolored helium balloons into a small boat and rising up over caribou, maine, yesterday morning. look at that. wow. hoped to be the very first person to travel 2500 miles over the ocean by a cluster of

balloons but 12 hours a technical glitch forced him to land in a remote part of newfoundland. martha: oh. gregg: that is too bad. he is safe and sound we're happy to report. no word yet on another attempt. martha: i loved "up." i love the movie. so sad though. how about this? push back for a popular ride sharing service to a san francisco airport. claudia cowan is live for with us that. what is all that about? >> reporter: popular ride sharing services are banned from sfo. companies like uber, sidecar and lift in a bit of a turf car war. unlike taxis and him they're not regulated and airport officials are saying there are safety concerns. >> drivers are operating uninsured. we don't know what the status of the vehicle is. we have a obligation from the safety perspective to insure these things for ground transportation. >> reporter: ride-sharing services argue they're not like

traditional taxis. most don't use dispatchers. instead of set fares, riders who use sidecar, for instance, pay what they want, a suggested donation. these companies say they shouldn't need a permit to give someone a ride. many, martha, continue to operate at the airport. even at the risk of being arrested for trespassing. martha: claudia thank you. claudia cowan with the latest on that for us from san francisco. that's not a good deal. gregg: yeah. nasa capturing an unexpected passenger. get a load of this. we're going to show you the picture. somebody got the ride of his life. a fresh collection of skin care. cleanse with s'wipe out wetcloths... and perfect with bb cream. with skin this fresh, you'll need no filter. get fresh effects by olay.

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and offering portion controlled versions of our most popular drinks. it also means working with our industry to voluntarily change what's offered in schools. but beating obesity will take continued action by all of us, based on one simple common sense fact... all calories count. and if you eat and drink more calories than you burn off, you'll gain weight. that goes for coca-cola, and everything else with calories. finding a solution will take all of us. but at coca-cola, we know when people come together, good things happen. to learn more, visit coke.com/comingtogether martha: so how about this? an unexpected passenger on last week's lunar rocket launch in florida, one of nasa's remote cameras capturing this stunning image of the launch pad, and wait until -- can we see it? look there in the spotlight, it's a frog. gregg: it was a