out in the wild, but you're there in ohio. that's it for today. thank you for joining us. we'll see you back here same time, same channel. now "america os newsroom" bill: let's start with a fox news alert lert. good morning, everybody. gas prices, have you noticed, hitting a record high this holiday weekend. defiant iran driving up prices here at home. experts say we might see five bucks a gallon by the summer. look out. good morning. happy president's day. who was your favorite. welcome here to "america's newsroom.". welcome, julie julie: good morning, bill. i'm julie banderas. we have up 18 cents from a month ago. and drivers especially out west are starting to feel the pinch. >> they are getting

ridiculous. i suppose they have been for a while. it is getting higher and higher and it is pretty crazy. >> weird to see the prices dip into middle america and skyrocket as you get out here to the coast. >> we'll find another gas station. and hit the mall. take advantage of savings. they realize people running late to work, have family issues. they're trying to live. you stop where you stop so you don't run out of gas. >> precious disappearing resource and we need it desperately. we're going to run out of it. only way to make people stop using so much is to raise the price. bill: start varney, good morning to you. three quick points on this. what are they? >> number one, there is a gas spike price and it is happening now. example, cincinnati the price is up 17 cents in the past week. los angeles up 20 cents in the last week. this is a fast price spike. you will see it when you walk out of your house this morning.

prices are rising sharply. bill: now to the why. does it have to do with iran or is it more than that? >> yes it does have to do with iran and has to do with the refining capacity. another point i have to make, bill, we'll see more of this. there is spike over the weekend, it is not over. the price of oil gone to $105 a barrel in part what is happening with iran. that oil price is not yet factored into the pump price. it will be and some prices will go up more. bill: some experts say we could be $4.25 a gallon by april? >> yep. bill: we see that sometimes in may during the summer driving season but april? >> that is entirely possible. we have the highest price for gas in the month of february we ever had. bill, i will say this is possible will start to change people's behavior right now. they walk out of the house this morning. they will probably gas up today. because they know that tomorrow it is going up some more. this is a spike. bill: a lot of experts will

say, anytime you approach $4 a gallon, people's behavior do change? >> yes. well, the last 47 weeks the demand for gasoline has gone down as prices have gone up, the demand for it has gone down but that has not stopped the gas price spike. we're seeing more of it right now. even if we get to $4 as a national average, i think we will, that may or may not pull the price back down again because a lack of demand. bill: you wonder if it continues this way crushes any chance of a recovery. stuart varney, catch you on fbn. great to see you on a monday on presidents' day. >> thank you, bill. julie: folks in california getting hit so hard, in fact the hardest so far. the state average is over $4. that is up about 50 cents since last year but drivers in some parts seeing close to five bucks a gallon. that is way over the national average. now, it is becoming a political issue too with president obama's campaign

it is doing everything it can to bring down the price. >> we're going to have to look for more energy here at home. we'll have to conserve energy. we'll have to make the energy we use more efficient. all of those things will help us get ahead of this problem. julie: republican candidates disagree. newt gingrich in fact says the president is anti-american energy and rick santorum slammed the white house for blocking the keystone pipeline project. how committed president obama to domestic energy? we'll have more on that a little later in the show. meantime as iran uses its oil as a weapon, u.n. nuclear inspectors arriving for key talks on the country's nuclear program. it is their second visit in less than a month. iran's revolutionary guard flexing its muscle conducting new military exercises in very overt show of force to israel and the west. leland vittert is live in

jerusalem. leland, we've seen inspectors in iran many, many times before. any reason to think there will be progress this time? >> reporter: short answer, no. there is a feeling here, here we go again. typically what happens iran invites the inspectors. they show up. they ask to visit key ier iranian nuclear facilities. the iranians say no. the inspectors get mad and iranians get mad at inspectors and say get out of our country. many say this is iran buying time to continue nuclear work delaying world to put in more sanctions or a possible military strike that could actually take out their facilities. important to note what the iranians are doing right now on the world stage. they are incredibly defiant. not only cutting off oil to the u.k. and france critical of their nuclear programs, but there is also is a big military preparedness drill talking about what would happen if we were attacked. like all iranian military drills, long on bravado.

basically short seeing any kind of new military tactics or technology from the iranians but it is really important to note, julie, the state of mind of the iranian regime right now which is not in the business of talking. >> how is israel reacting? >> reporter: right now israel is not saying much which in many cases in the middle east, not saying a lot is saying everything. they seem to be giving sanctions a little bit more time to work here in the sense of perhaps the u.s. will put in sanctions that have teeth but we've also seen a slew of u.s. officials coming through here, from the defense secretary. right now the national security advisor is here. we've had the chairman of the joint chiefs come in. they're not having moto ops and making grand statements. there are very serious discussions going on leading to prime minister netanyahu's visit to the white house next couple weeks. you think topic number one will be iran. you may get to a point where israelis right now will have to make a go-no-go decision on an attack.

clearly the united states is arguing hard publicly and privately in all the visits to give sanctions a little more time before israel would launch a lateral strike. julie. julie: leland vittert from jerusalem for us this morning. thank you so much. bill: back at home now. breaking news on a deadly avalanche at a ski resort outside of seattle, washington. a dozen skiers out of bound in stevens pass when the snow gave way. all were partially buried and free themselves and dig out other victims. in the end three are dead. investigators say the group was aware of the dangers when they set out. >> one thing should be noted they did have a large amount of snow last night, 21 inches in this area and northwest avalanche center forecasted this to be a very high after latch on danger. those skiers were aware of that. did have equipment, you know, avalanches happen. they took that risk. bill: one skier survived

after using an emergency airbag. we'll get a live report on all that coming up later in the program. the same kind of airbag we featured here in "america's newsroom" two weeks ago. saved her life as she floated down this wall of snow. julie: this next story, another amazing story of survival a stunning mid-air collision leaving two pilots and a passenger lucky to be alive in california this morning. a single-engine plane apparently clipped by a helicopter between oakland and sacramento. the plane managed to land in a field short of the airport while the helicopter landed a few feet from a major highway. all involved reportedly suffered only minor injuries. the exact cause for the collision still under investigation, bill. bill: we'll follow that up too. more on this president's day in a moment. some call it tax-mageddon the shocking tax hike that

could shock the america and this number is stunning. julie: yeah. six tons of steel left dangling over a crowded city street. we'll tell you where and how this possibly could happen. bill: look at that picture. republicans say president obama's budget is dead on arrival adding gimmicks will not fix the deficit. treasury secretary tim geithner first taking heat on the plan last week on the hill with paul ryan. >> our government is making promises to america that it has no way of accounting for them and so you're saying yeah we're stablizing but we're not fixing in the long run. that means we'll keep lying to people. we'll keep all the empty promises going. so what we're saying is in order to avert the debt crisis, you're the treasury secretary of all people -- g, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios... five whole grains, 110 calories.

when we were determined to.. see it through. here's an update on the progress. we're paying for all spill related clean-up costs. bp findings supports independent scientists studying the gulf's environment. thousas of environmental samples have been tested and all beaches and waters are open. anthe tourists are back. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp.

fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot an on-the-go expense app made exclusively for ink customers. custom categorize your expenses anywhere. save time and get back to what you love. the latest innovation. only for ink customers.

learn more at chase.com/ink julie: south korea flexing its muscle in front of its neighbors to the north conducting live military drills. take a listen.

looks like a scene out after videogame or at least sounds like it. this despite threats from the north of a merciless attack in response. the exercise is happening near the country's disputed border. the same area that was target of a north korean attack in 2010. that attack killed four south koreans and raised fears of all-out war. the south says it is ready if necessary to repel any attack. bill: house republicans say that the president's budget proposal is dead on arrival. here's the house budget chair paul ryan and the ranking democratic member chris van hollen squaring off on the issue just yesterday. >> what is frustrating about the white house is they have four budget submissions and they decided to duck this challenge every time. more debt, more spending, more taxes. that hurts our economy. that will lead to austerity. >> what we need to do is take a balanced approach to

deficit reduction. that's what simpson-bowles did. that's what other bipartisan groups did. we need to make some cuts and administration's budgets makes $2.50 in cuts for let me one dollar in revenue. that is balanced approach that is fair. that's what the american people want. bill: jason chaffetz a republican sits on the house budget committee. at home in salt lake city. happy presidents' day. >> good morning. bill: paul ryan was on our program last week. he talked about the president's proposal. he had nothing good to say about it. over the weekend he said that proposal will increase spending $1.5 trillion. it will increase taxes 1.9 trillion. what do you think of this budget idea? >> it is so funny, mr. van who loan wants to take a balanced approached. the problem president's budget never balances. if you spend a million dollars a day every single day would take you 3,000 years to get to one

trillion. when president took office, the debt was 9 trillion. under his numbers the most optimistic scenario takes it to $2 trillion. we're spending $337 million a day just on interest on the debt. that is the president's plan. bill: who do you think is serious about taking this on? >> well i think the house republicans have done their job. we'll be introducing a budget. remember under the budget we did last year we not only balance but we pay off the debt. the president's budget which went before the united states senate was defeated 97-0. there wasn't a one democrat to vote for it. when i asked treasury secretary geithner if he wanted the senate to vote on the budget he wouldn't commit to that. you control the united states senate. vote on the president's budget. we'll see how that goes down. bill: why do you think that dem krad tick-led senate or current democratic-led

senate, why have they not offer ad budget? what are they afraid of? >> it has been more than 1,000 days. we wonder what kind of financial mess when harry reid and senators in the united states senate won't pass a budget, won't discuss, debate or vote on the president's budget, you can see why we're in a mess. they don't have a plan to balance the budget. what you will see from house republicans to balance the budget. bill: what are they afraid? >> it is an election year. the problem in washington, d.c. it is perpetually an election year. because they don't have a plan. that is the fundamental challenge. bill: is it your expectation then that nothing gets done? that washington has checked out and they're looking toward the election in november? >> well, look, we can only take responsibility for ourselves. the house republicans we'll push forward a budget under paul ryan's leadership. i think before easter we'll pass out a budget. it will be back up to the

senate. if the president and his administration will not call upon the senate to deal with this issue it is probably not going to happen. bill: this is what democrats will say about your budget when that happens in april, if the schedule follows as you just described here. they will say your approach is all one-sided. all you're doing is going after middle income americans. what do you say? >> well, we have to take some responsibility. there need to be adults in the room who take some responsibility for this budget and put us on a path to fiscal sanity around here. there are too many people in washington, d.c. don't believe that the debt even matters but it does matter. it affects everybody's quality of life. all too quickly we're willing to put that on our grandchildren and their children backs for some short-term gains. we've done enough of stimulus. that is why i want to fire barack obama quite frankly because we need executive leadership in that white house to get us back on the fiscal path. bill: jason chaffetz, enjoy time back in the home district. we'll talk to you very soon.

out of utah. >> thanks, bill. bill: thank you. julie? julie: it hit with intense fury and very little notice. a trio of twisters in dekalb county, in at bam. look at the aftermath and destroying countless homes. the county is ill-prepared to deal with the aftermath. bill: it struck again too. this is lin-sanity, from out of nowhere. the new york knicks, roll the tape. you have to roll the tape. leading the team to yet another win knocking off the defending nba champions. it was a day we will try to cue up. julie: you have to stay tuned. >> oh!. come on. time out, dallas. how good is this? [cheers and applause]

of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. [ technician ] are you busy? management jt sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazinbikes. with xerox, you're read for real business.

so they can focus on building amazinbikes. kiss those lines goodbye! discover juvéderm® xc, the smooth gel filler your doctors uses to instantly smooth out those parentheses lines around your nose and mouth for up to a year! temporary side effects include redness, pain, firmness, swelling, bumps or risk of infection. lose those lines! the way you look with juvéderm® xc, might just change the way you look at everything. ask your doctor and visit juvederm.com.

bill: a box filled with six tons of steel dangling high over a crowded city street and threatening a crowd of pedestrians. police say crane operators were lifting the container to the top of a skyscraper in san francisco when the crane suddenly malfunctioned, leaving that heavy metal box dangling around the 50th floor. there it is. several streets closed off as crews used a manual crank to lift the box up to the roof to make sure everything was a-okay. not where you want to be, huh? julie: not at all. serious red tape is preventing one alabama county from installing badly-needed storm shelters. you will remember last april 31 people died when a huge tornado obliterated parts of dekalb county. now even though they have both the money and shelters on hand they're still unable to get them up and running. why is that? john roberts live in

atlanta. so, john, what is the holdup? >> reporter: this is another one of those cases makes you scratch your head. bureaucracy and red tape getting in the way of public safeties. let's put up what happened last april the 27th. to remind you what is at stake here. dekalb county has been trying for two years to install six community storm shelters but confusion and red tape at the state level with bidding process avoided two attempts to sign a contract to put the shelters in. the most recent failed bid occurred last week when the attorney general ruled two state agencies had jurisdiction over installation of storm shelters and the county has to comply with two different sets of regulations to put those in. anthony clifton is the emergency management director. he says now they have to start the process all over again and probably won't get the shelters in time for this spring's storm season. >> the best word i can use is frustrating.

it's very difficult for me to look citizens of the county in the face and say, we don't have your shorm shelter ready for the storm season simply because of red tape in montgomery. >> reporter: clifton says it is absolutely unforgivable that the state would let this drag on so long. julie: john, what is the state doing to help? i would imagine they're doing something, right? >> reporter: they're not doing much but issuing proclamations which are more roadblocks in the way for dekalb county to get storm shelters. art faulkner is the one responsible for administering the grants to put the storm shelters in. he is trying to do whatever he can to get clarity by regulation but his hands are tied by the state laws. >> there is bureaucracy in this program. that's what we're trying to eliminate. we're trying to make sure it is resolved once and for all

what is done in the state that may take us extra time to do that. >> reporter: one state senator introduced legislation to streamline the process, get these state agencies out of the way and put it all in the hands of emergency management. julie, it is unlikely that legislation will get passed in time to help dekalb county for the storm season which begins in the next couple weeks. julie: certainly not a time to make positive changes. john roberts. thank you very much. bill: the way the weather is lately, anything can happen with a freaky spring. 48 degrees over the weekend? julie: it is too nice. i feel like we're due for something bad on weather front. bill: ocean blue skies. remarkable. the white house is calling out rick santorum saying these comments are over the line. >> it is not about you. not about your quality of life. it is not about your jobs. it is about some phony ideal, some phony theology. not a theology based on bible. different theology. bill: question now, is he hitting the president on his

faith or something else? great panel, fair and balanced debate to take on that. >> plus, new violence inside syria as the bloody crackdown continues. new calls for the united states to get involved. we'll tell you about it. [speaking in native tongue] [ mujahid ] there was a little bit of trepidation, not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be,

and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪ i'm bidding on a 1979 dukes of hazzard lunchbox. my auction ends in 15 seconds ! even worse, my buddy's bidding on the same lunchbox ! it's airbrushed ! but i've got verizon 4g lte. it's so fast, i can outbid him at the last second. i got it ! yes ! woo hoo ! it's got a thermos ! rely on verizon, america's largest 4g lte network. because only the fastest survive. >> announcer: meet mary. she loves to shop online with her debit card, and so does bill, an identity thief who stole mary's identity, took over her bank accounts and stole her hard-earned money. now meet jack.

enough to enjoy retirement.saved angie, the waitress at jack's favorite diner, is also enjoying his retirement. with just a little information, she's opened up a credit line, draining the equity in jack's home. unfortunately, millions of americans just like you learn all it may take is a little misplaced information to wreak havoc on your life. this is identity theft, and no one helps stop it better than lifelock. see, ordinary credit monitoring services tell you after your identity has been stolen. they may take up to 60 days to alert you-- too late for jack. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. if mary had lifelock's bank account alerts, she may have been notified in time to help stop it. if jack had lifelock's 24/7 proactive protection, he could have been alerted by phone or e-mail as soon as they noticed an attack on their network, before it was too late. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available, guarding your social security number, your money, your credit, even

the equity in your home. while identity theft can't be completely stopped, no one works harder to protect you than lifelock. you even g a $1 million service guarantee. that's security no one can beat. you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you call lifelock right now and get 60 days of identity theft protection risk free-- that's right, 60 days risk free-- use promo code "not me". order now and get this document shredder to keep sensitive documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 value, free. [click-click] [♪...] bill: 9:30 in new york. new this morning, a desperate call by leading american lawmakers who argue that the u.s. should arm the

rebels in syria. but as other countries start cutting ties with today mass tus -- damascus, some are wondering if this is an opportunity the united states has missed. >> i believe the united states can play a far more active and productive roll and almost shameful that we have not. >> this is a moment in time to replace assad with something new that would be a crippling blow to iran. bill: well, world affairs contributor, dominic di-natale streaming live out of beirut. what is the latest today? >> reporter: just on the back of what senator graham was saying there, john mccain, traveling in afghanistan yesterday was saying it is almost shameful the united states has not been more productive nor more active helping resolve the situation on the ground in syria. the state department really has done very little to achieve that. that is the accusation that goes straight to the rest of the international community as well. something the syrians desperately trying to avoid,

especially those individuals who have been harmed. the situation is very much something that could be taken advantage of by the states many people believe. after all syria's greatest supporter is america's greatest adversary and nothing is happening. homs they had further shelling in the city, bill. bill: what can we report about what's happening in the critical town of homs, dominic? is the opposition able to hold the city there forever indefinitely? >> reporter: possibly not. several hundred fighters left, really dug in deep inside the city. today we're hearing of three new columns of tanks and ground personnel from the syrian government forces that are moving into the city and under fears if they move in even further and really tighten the cordon, that could cause a disaster. we can't independently verify that or can we verify pictures on screen and continue to come out on the internet as well.

but across the country there is now such pressure on the population the indication there is going to be further pressure on government forces while up in the north apparently government forces haven't been seen for weeks because the degree of support that general public is now been giving to armed groups up there. there is no coordinated resistance up in the north but certainly people are now saying that the government lost it there. in all there is momentum behind the opposition although probably will be up to the sanctions. bill, back to you. >> dominic di-natale, live in beirut, lebanon today. julie: republican candidates are keeping laser focus on their home states, newt gingrich telling fox news if he or any of his rivals lose in their own backyards all their campaigns will quote, be badly weakened. gingrich stopped short of saying he would drop out of the race if he doesn't win in georgia. >> i've been through tim

pawlenty, then, talk bach, then herman cain once, rick perry, then herman cain a second time. now we have santorum and we're just going to keep moving forward, gathering delegates. we're looking forward very much to super tuesday. we had a great weekend with herman cain endorsing me, campaigning in georgia. julie: mitt romney meantime is trailing santorum in michigan, his native state. no candidate since 1972 has went on to win the nomination after losing his home state. bill: meanwhile brand new polling numbers showing rick santorum leading nationally among republicans. latest "gallup poll" survey indicates he has overtaken mitt romney across the country, leading the former massachusetts governor by 8-point margin. michigan and arizona, the next two big primary states to hold their contest as week from tomorrow, julie. bill:. julie: rick santorum clarifying comments he made

about president obama's faith. he said he was not questioning the president's christian values when he said this. >> it is not about you. it is not about your quality of life. it is not about your jobs. it is about some phony ideal, some phony theology. not a theology based on the bible. different theology. julie: white house called out santorum with campaign spokesman robert gibbs saying the following. >> i think it is time in our politics which we get rid of this mind set if we disagree we have to disqualify each other. that if we, not just on political positions but we question character and faith. it is wrong. >> you think he is questioning his faith? >> i can't help but think that those remarks are well over the line. julie: kirsten powers, "daily beast" columnist and rich lowery editor for "the national review" join us. both are fox news contributors. great to see you both. >> hi, there. julie: rich, and kirsten as well, do you think

santorum's questioned obama's christianity saying the president of the united states is exercising his values and trumping the values of the church? kirsten, what say you? >> when somebody brings up theology and refers to the bible it is a little hard to believe they're not questioning his christianity. i saw some explanation of it that he was talking about radical environmentalists. i don't really see that. so i think that it was out of bounds, even if it was about radical environmentalists, the president is not a radical environmentalists by any stretch of the imagination. julie: yeah. >> so, yeah, it is definitely out of bounds for a presidential candidate to say something like this. julie: let's hear from mr. santorum himself. he says he was not. let's take a listen. >> accept the fact that the president is a christian. i just said that when you have a world view that elevates the earth above man and says that, we can't take those resources pause we're going to harm the earth, by

things that are frankly are just not scientifically proven, for example, the politicization of the whole global warming debate, this is all an attempt to, you know, centralize power and give more power to the government. julie: rich, what is he doing here? is he questioning environmental concerns or is he questioning president obama's christianity? what do you think? >> this is media scandal. do do a google news search on mark, get 800 stories none of which quote the full context of his remark in ohio. that little video clip didn't capture it. back it up a line or two more. he is talking about drilling and environmental policy and commonplace among folks on the right that radical environmentalism has a theological element. highly moralistic, apocalyptic creed. that is entirely the point he was making. he wasn't questioning the president's character or his faith at all. so i think it is a scandal we spent two or three days

arguing over what is a phoney controversy and shame on robert gibbs and going back and getting full context of the remark before sneering rick santorum on national tv. julie: this is presidential campaign, anything goes. kirsten you know. you worked on campaigns in the past. religion is going to come up. whether or not he was was making a dig at president obama's religion or christianity. >> he wasn't. julie: whether or not he was at this point anything goes. is there anything wrong, kirsten with a presidential candidate expressing his opinions on his competitor's religious belief? >> yeah. there is is. leave it to columnist and pundits. i wouldn't do it if i was presidential candidate. i wouldn't advise any candidate if i worked in the past to do it. let's back up. i disagree with what rich is saying of he is attacking president's faith. i rick santorum understands what the bible says. the bible says we don't need

to worry about environmental concerns that president obama is concerned about because president obama clearly doesn't understand the bible. that is an attack on his christianity. and there are a lot of christians who actually have a completely radically different view on that who are sincere christians who think we do have a responsibility you know, to take care of the earth and finally, the reason that people are environmentalists are not because they worship the earth. it is because they want to have clean air and clean water. and not get sick. julie: kirsten is saying essentially that environmentalists don't acknowledge the bible in a proper way. what do you believe -- >> let's separate out two things here. one, if you just want to say rick santorum's view of environmental system wrong and rick santorum's view of what the bible says how we should treat the earth is wrong, that's fine. we can have that argument that is not the argument we've been having over this remark over the last two or three days because his remark has been quoted out

of context almost every single time it has been cited. that is just a fact. and now, if you want to argue about environmentalism we can have that argument but not out of bounds for rick santorum to have one view of environmentalism and to criticize what he considers radical environmentalism. that is not a criticism of the president's faith. not a criticism of his character. so let's be clear what we're arguing about. >> but, rich you don't bring up bible and theology and say you're not talking about christianity. >> kirsten, i've written columns myself saying the radical global warmists who just believe they know with certainty what the global temperature is going to be 100 years from now and exactly what we have to do about it and talk about it in highly moralistic terms is secular theology. >> that is fine. theology. but you don't bring up the bible? >> what's that? >> you don't bring up the bible. >> rick santorum we both

agree rick santorum was not attacking the president's character. >> we don't agree with that. julie: that's why we have you both on the show. you did a great show. fair and balanced. always entertaining, kirsten and rick, thank you very much. bill: in the green room, 20 minutes before the hour. lawmakers argue, many of them anyway, it is not a good time it raise taxes on anyone but what about after election day? some are calling this tax armageddon. i is a tax hike in the trillions of dollars. it is a rare moment. julie: rare illusion. this waterfall in yosemite turns into lava? [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. julie: developing right now inside "america's newsroom", violent crime on the rise on the streets of d.c.

nearly every neighborhood reporting an increase in the homicides, robberies and sexual assault cases. police haven't given a reason for the spike. a sudden thank you send thaw big chunks of ice on dan knew river. they are trying to salvage anything they can. oscar-winning actress, dame judi dench says she is losing her eyesight. 77-year-old is diagnosed with macular degeneration and hoping that further treatment keeps the disease at bay. bill: 36 minutes before the hour. some call it "taxageddon". bush-era tax cuts set to expire on the 31st of december. if they are not extended. the marriage pan knelt will make a comeback. joint filers see a spike in that irrates. value of child tax credit will be slashed from 1,000 to $500. the rate that everyone pays on first $8700 of wages,

will jump to 15%. and the social security payroll tax will jump back to 6.2%, a rise of more than 2%. stephen moore, senior economic writer for "the wall street journal" with me now. stephen, good morning. >> hi, bill. bill: "taxageddon", biggest tax increase in history. >> i don't know if biggest tax increase in history. but certainly biggest tax increase in 50 years. people call it taxmageddon. i call it tax doomsday. that will happen january 1st, 2013. you mentioned a few of the taxes. you mentioned child credit and some of the others. remember, amt, alternative minimum tax will hit 30 million people. capital gains and dividend taxes are scheduled to go up. personal income tax rates, the one you mentioned the payroll tax. that is big bomb to drop on the economy come january 2013. the reason --. bill: it is a bigs misnomer

to think this only affects the rich? this cuts across for everyone, right? >> correct. president's budget says this will only hit people over $200,000. let's assume that is the case. you will still have real harm to the economy. i'm economist. i belief if we allow the tax bomb to detonate on january 1st, it will cause a double-dip recession. we still have 15 million americans unemployed. the idea of having a huge tax increase whether you're keynesian economist or conservative supply side economist like myself there is no economic theology that says a tax increase that big is good for the economy. another thing for your viewers to think about, bill, if the capital gains and dividend and business taxes go up on january 1st, by the way the dividend tax for example, would triple, think about what impact that will have on the stock market. i predict if investors believe those taxes are going up on january 1st, 2013 you could have a big

selloff in stocks in november and december, ahead of those big tax increases. that means stocks may really fall in value. bill: i'm looking at a figure here, stephen, nearly 5 trillion dollars next 10 years. that is the amount of the tax increase? is that what your numbers say? >> well, look, that is assuming, bill that all of the bush tax cuts expire on january 2013. i do not believe bill, that is going to happen. the president and whoever the republican candidate is will not allow the big tax increase on the middle class. even if you allah just a tax increase on people making over 200,000, you're talking about huge increases in burden on businesses, remember people make over 200,000, 2/3 are small business owners. they will get hit hard. remember the president called for 10-month expansion of payroll tax cut but not after january 1, 2013, everybody is getting that 2% reduction in the payroll tax, all of sudden you will have less money in

your paychecks starting january 1, 2013. this --. bill: there is significant consideration during today this entire discussion, who wins the election. >> no question about it. bill: second term, do the republicans take it, who controls the senate after november? >> well, here's the interesting thing. even if the republicans were to win the house and senate, they have house now, but if president obama is reelected those tax increases you just mentioned, bill, all of the ones on capital gains, dividends, white exemption, those are all scheduled under current law to, all those tax increases go into effect january 1, 2013 unless the law is changed. even if republicans have congress at the will not have enough authority to stop that tax time bomb from ticking. only way from preventing quite frankly have someone other than barack obama in the white house on january 1, 2013, you will see a big, big tax increase that will wallop everybody. bill: you're on record saying double-dip recession if we don't do something

about it. we'll see. stephen, thank you, we'll see you in new york real soon. >> all right. bill, check me out on that prediction. see you soon. bill: got it, thank you, steve. julie? julie: celebrating a space race milestone 50 years later. john glenn looks back on not one but two historic rides to the heavens. bill: also here is a question of the year. iran flexing its muscles. why america's defense secretary says an attack i about israel on iran should be avoided at all costs. >> if they cross one of those lines i talked about, then we have all options on the table. we, the united states have all options on the table. but, as prime minister of israel himself said, that ought to be the last option, not the first. 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.

bill: here's a breathtaking sight in california a massive waterfall turning into molten lava. at least that is what it looks like now. horse tail falls, yosemite national park. the lava red color is the sun reflecting on the rocks behind the water? got it? happens once a year or total of two minutes. weather has to be just right to get the right pictures. get your cameras ready. >> celebrating a space first, 50 years ago today legendary astronaut john glenn became the first american so sucks is fully orbit the earth. thousands are flocking to the kennedy space center in honor of the historic flight. phil keating is there live. amazing amount of nostalgia there this weekend, right? >> absolutely, julie. the phrase we all heard our

whole lives, godspeed john glenn, used met for i canly -- metaphorically in some stories t was echoed by scott carpenter. the rock on the left, that is the one alan shepard had flown in. not actually completing a orbit of the earth. to the right, large silver rocket is, replica of what john glenn was in the tiny little capsule. 50 years ago this is exactly what americans heard as we equalized the space race. >> five, four, three, two, one, zero. >> roger, the clock is operating. we're underway. >> loud and clear. roger. >> reporter: so many amazing aspects of that historic flight. john glenn of course became a national hero that day but nobody was really certain, all of the scientists doctors exactly what would

happen to a human actually in orbit. there was some concern that the forces of gravity and g-forces would possibly explode his eyes. that never materialized. and john glenn was able to successfully orbit the earth three times on a flight that lasts almost five hours. he splashed down safely east of florida in the bahamas. >> i was just anxious to go. i went on the 11th scheduled date. i suited up four times. once the flight was canceled because of weather when i was in the transfer van on the way to the launch pad. i was up twice before. almost hard to believe when i went to the final 18 second count and realized i was really going on this day 50 years ago. it was a great feeling. >> reporter: at the time we were in the heat of the space race and the cold war. tensions were very high between the u.s. and the soviet union. 10 minutes prior to john dplen successfully orbited

the earth, gregarian did it for the soviets. julie: thanks very much. bill: a lot of history. prosecutors say it was murder in cold blood but his defense says it was just an accident. now the murder case of a virginia lacrosse player heads to the jury for a final verdict. julie: the latest on a deadly avalanche that left three people dead at a popular ski resort. >> it was been a really rough day up here with a lot of people. yeah, it has been hard to swallow. feel like i've been kicked in the gut or something copd makes it hard to breathe,

so i wasn't playing much of a role in my own life, but with advair, i'm breathing better so now i can take the lead on a science adventure. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, workintogether to help improve ur lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalersor sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, take the lead. ask your doctor if incling advair

get your first fl prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. bill: got some breaking news right now and sad news too. three expert skiers killed in a massive avalanche at a popular resort in washington state. they were sking in an out of bounds area. three did not make it out alive. that's where we start our brand new hour here on "america's newsroom." good

to have you in today. always good to have julie banderas. julie: i'm julie banderas in for martha maccallum. it happened at stevens pass area 80 miles north of seattle. a fourth skier caught in the slide survived thanks to an emergency airbag. local sheriff's office said they were very experienced and carried the proper gear on them. >> one thing should be noted they did have a large amount of snow last night, 21 inches in this area and northwest avalanche center did forecast this area to be very high avalanche danger. those skiers were aware of that. and did have equipment. you know avalanches happen. they took that disk and were aware of it. julie: house joins us live with the very latest. adam, what exactly happened? >> reporter: julie this happened in stevens pass resort area.

popular place for people to go in the seattle area. expert skiers doing backcountry sking. they broke up into three separate groups we're told. that is the slide began, 30 feet wide, 30 feet deep or some brought them down the hill. four skiers were in one group. the other eight were outside watching this all take place. three of the men died as they got buried. they were taken quarter mile or so down through a small canyon. take a listen. >> at one point after the avalanche they're all buried in the snow. they managed to dig themselves out of the snow. at that point they realized three of them are in distress. three of the skiers are in distress. they begin cpr. at sam point they are calling 911 to get help to them. the skiers began cpr on three males. unfortunately the cpr was not successful and those three skiers died at the scene. >> reporter: a feel male was fourth skier.

she writes for espn. she use ad airbag. basically as you know a avalanche coming it is in your backpack. you deploy the thing and helps keep you above in the snow. she was buried except for her head and hands. she was able to dig herself out to help save the others. you were for the faly the -- unfortunately the others died at scene. julie: incredible technology. avalanches are how common are they in this area. >> reporter: we've been doing research in the west and whole country and number of avalanches and how many people died since 1950. we know this year, 17 deaths were due to avalanches. 25 people on average die a year. backcountry is more commonplace. since 1950. 900 deaths. only 30 were within ski boundary resorts. hear is the problem, julie. you have a situation in the west when you have too much snow or have the opposite. this year we've had the

opposite. we've had a warm winter here. had a recent snowfall. they had warmer weather. that is what causes avalanches. they weren't sure because these 12 were in the area and disturbed snow or if a van on a nearby road may have caused this. that is part of the investigation, julie. julie: wow, incredible. house, thank you so much. -- adam housley, thank you so much. bill: woman was interviewed. she as orange backpacks you can carry. this right here. she is a snowboarder. she was on our program two weeks ago. her parents gave her that airbag for christmas as a gift because she does all this off track snowboarding. julie: right. bill: she got caught in an avalanche. pulled the airbag and saved her life. it was like floating down the mountain on top of a mattress. there was a woman in this group in washington state who had one of these backpacks. she pulled it and came out alive. julie: that is unbelievable. i've never seen such a thing. to think it works. bill: we thought, we were

suspicious of the story. she came on and no, it is real deal. i recommend for all my friends. i thank my mom and dad the fact i'm alive here today. to everyone out there, probably something worth looking into especially if you go off track in the mountains. two are dead during a small plane crash during a blinding storm in colorado. vick tips include a pilot and mother of three traveling with her family. the woman's husband an children were hurt but made it out okay. the plane crashing short of the runway. happened in hayden, colorado, 25 miles west of steamboat springs. they're looking whether or not poor visibility to be to blame for the crash. julie: we're talking about snow in many parts of the country. parts of the south digging out from pa strong winter storm that dumped as much as nine inches of snow sunday. thousands are in the dark from virginia to tennessee. at times road conditions were so bad entire stretches of the interstate had to be

shut down. we'll have more on the winter weather with maria molina later this hour. i would like to see a little snow, bill, i'm not going to lie. bill: surging mitt romney seeing a new high on the national stage. gallop tracking poll shows rick santorum is in front, 36% to romney's 28. that is national survey. the national numbers consistent with what is happening in romney's native state of michigan. "real clear politics" average thrown together, this raises talk any way of a brokered convention in august, which means candidates basically bargain for the nomination in tampa, florida. karl rove was asked about that on "fox news sunday". what did he think? >> i think it is about as remote as life on pluto. it could happen, sure. you could make up all kind of scenarios but in all likelihood what happens in the dynamic of primaries once somebody starts to win they keep on winning. bill: tom blevin back from

pluto. cofounder and executive editor of "real clear politics". good morning to you. >> hey, bill. bill: take it a step at a time here, santorum, what are you seeing with his numbers? >> he is riding a wave of momentum off his victories, three sicktries earlier and heading into michigan and arizona their primaries conducted next week he is ahead in michigan although that race has tightened up. we have a new poll showing the race getting tighter. we're looking to see more data next couple weeks. romney is fighting very hard and dumped millions worth of negative ads on santorum. that could be a very close contest. but, clearly this will be you know, romney has to win michigan i think. if he loses it could totally upend the race. we've seen a lot of talk recently about him being sort of a permanently damaged candidate if in fact he loses one of his home states. bill: this is your game. polling in your game. what is this new poll you're

talking about this morning that shows romney cutting into santorum's lead? >> well, it is by public polling policy, which is a democratic-leaning firm. they conducted a poll in michigan a week ago showed santorum up 15 points. their poll out this morning taken over last couple days, shows santorum up four points. romney moved up nine points. santorum dropped two points. that is consistent with other polls in the clear politics average. let me say, bill, that is why we use the average. we don't want to put much emphasis on any singular poll. we want to look at as much data as possible. there is indication this race is tightening. we'll look out at more data over next couple days to see if the trend is happening. bill: that is smart clarification. debate on wednesday in arizona, how critical? >> i think it is big. the last debate before super tuesday. rick santorum is now again, he got some scrutiny after he won iowa. sort of a surprise victory there. wasn't able to can

capitalize on it in new hampshire. santorum is the national front-runner. he is leading. "gallup poll" has him up eight points nationally. on super tuesday there is a national race. there will be a dozen states holding their primaries. 466 delegates at stake. very much transformed from this individual states states into sort of a nationwide race. so i think this debate is critical for santorum. he obviously will be the focus of all the other candidates standing in the center of the stage. bill: there is lot of talk about brokered convention. a lot of times i think reporters talk about it more than anything. i think karl rove may be onto something. do you think he is? >> not to disagree with karl, karl has been in the game a lot longer than i am and he knows but people that follow this the system is set up to prevent things like brokered convention. it is designed to produce a nominee. that being said we haven't seen anything like this race in a very, very long time where it so fractured, so wide open and we've seen support rise and fall among all these different

candidates. i think we're probably, i don't think it is a pluto scenario. might be 20%, one in five chance we could see that depending what happens here on tuesday and on march 6. bill: democrats argue they saw enough of this in 2008. we'll see where it ends. tom, thank you. tom beavin out of chicago today. nice to have you. julie: fox news alert to a dramatic boat rescue in iranian waters. this is new video coming into to us from iranian state television. as you can see that boat is burning. the crewmembers are forced to jump into the water. the nine-man crew was rescued by a documentary team who just happened to be out there filming when this all happened. the fire was reportedly caused by a technical problem in the engine room. bill: skyrocketing gas prices now emerging as a hot button topic in this election year. republicans are putting the blame squarely at the feet of the president. >> the obama program is higher prices, more dependency on the middle east, more vulnerability to

saudi arabia and iraq and iran, exactly the wrong direction. can we get to 2.50, can we get to $2. it was $1.13 when i was speaker. it was $1.89 when obama was sworn in. bill: does the obama administration have a energy plan to deal with what is happening at pump? julie: what happens to gas prices if iran is attacked by israel? joint chiefs chairman general dempsey once again warning that is a big mistake. general jack keane will join us next. bill: nasa doing a bit of spring cleaning. the space agency plan to get rid of space junk. this is novel. wait until you hear this. ♪ . [ male announcer ] this was how my day began. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories...

♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally.

ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

julie: a riot at a mexican prison has left at least 44 people dead.

the jail 140 miles from the texas border. officials say the fight was apparently between rifle gangs and may have been a diversion for a escape attempt. they're still trying to recover from the chaos. >> translator: there are injured people and they're bleeding. i don't know how this happened. we want justice, ambulances and doctors so they can care for them inside. julie: inmates there include members of several different drug cartels. bill: leading u.s. officials reportedly warning israel not to strike iran's nuclear program. quick view of the region right now as we get word over the weekend from these officials. here is israel right here. the ongoing strife in syria and north and east here to iran. quite a pitch to the right here of israel here in the middle east. general jack semisy apparently during an interview called about potential for israeli strike calling it premature and

destablizing. he made the comments on sunday. i want to bring in our own fox news analyst, general jack keane. here is what dempsey said. it is premature and destablizing and a successful strike would only delay the aim of iran to eventually develop a atomic weapon. what do you think of that on the face, general? >> our viewers must scratch their heads and say what is going on? our stated policy the military option is on the table and nuclear weapon is absolutely unacceptable to the united states. what is the fuss about the israelis? hear is the issue. the fact of the matter is we share intelligence data with the israelis just like we do with the united kingdom. we've been doing this with the israelis for almost 10 years. they see exactly the same data we see yet they come to different conclusions. when it reaches their policymakers they believe they are out of time. united states believes we still have a year or two. so what is the difference? the difference is this.

in 2004 the iranians stopped their nuclear program. our intel analysts did not know it until two or three years later. they restarted the program. they didn't pick that up until almost two years later. there is lack of confidence israelis have intel data the same we're look at and they're not going to the about the sovereign state of israel on the intelligence data. that is what is really happening here. bill: what do you think of the diplomacy back and forth between here and tel aviv? >> well i think to be quite frank about it i understand why we would not want the israelies to attack now if we absolutely believe there was another year or two but i think we should be in this together putting huge pressure on the iranians. i fundamentally think we should have crippling economic sanctions, not the gradual strangulation we're doing with the international community. we should be conducting with the israelis covert

operations against iran. if there ever was a nation-state that we should be using our cyberattack capability against economic and military targets in conjunction with the israelis this is it. and that is certainly would help deter the israelis from having to do an attack. bill: this is dempsey's big point. he is is worried about the backlash for u.s. forces in afghanistan and possibly in iraq. that is a fair concern, would you say? >> well, certainly the iranians would attack israelis if they were attacked, that's for sure. they would probably at a minimum would conduct terrorist operations against the united states and accuse us of supporting the israelis. then they have a big decision. do they conduct direct action against our embassy in baghdad and our consulate in basra and military bases in afghanistan? if they do that they're at war with the united states. that is a major escalation. major dempsey is correct.

that would be a concern about that out come. bill: that baghdad embassy is basically imper just. that is one solid structure. dempsey makes the argument the economic sanctions are strange lynn iran and beginning to work or effectively working now. do you agree with that? >> i think the iranians are the best test of that. it hasn't detered them whatsoever. i think economic sanctions should be done simultaneously. no trade whatsoever from the international community we can influence. no oil trade specifically. crush the central bank and other banking facilities, you know, to be sure. and seize their foreign assets. and do that, not as an incree mental step but all at the same time but must at the same time do covert operations in my judgement. bill: general keane, thanks for your time and expertise. we'll talk later in the week. >> take care, bill. bill: julie. >> prosecutor broke down in tears during closing

arguments this weekend. now a jury is set to decide the fate of a college lacrosse player on trial for the murder of his former girlfriend and fellow player. bill: also a boxing brawl outside the ring? and now the police are getting involved. what have they found out about this?

bill: got some breaking news from the west coast in california. this is freeway 110 right at freeway 91. that is a nasty, nasty wreck there with the tractor-trailer overturned. looks, when the camera goes in tight that the cab of that tractor-trailer has been severed right there on the concrete median. we're looking for information on the driver. appears to be injured.

the driver does but the extent of the injuries not known. you see the left side of your screen, the overpass going over, those are rubber-neckers trying to look at what is happening down below. that has to be good 40, maybe 50 feet the overpass crossing right to left. they're working on the extraction. when we get word on the injuries suffered by this driver we'll pass it along to you. that is los angeles, the 110 freeway happening right now. julie: a weekend snowstorm leaving behind a wintry mess across parts of the south. whiteout conditions leading to more than 20 accident crashes on a three-mile stretch of interstate 75. maria molina is live in the fox extreme weather center with more details. >> hi, julie. good to see you. we had a lot of about the snowstorm that, dumped eight to nine inches of snow across virginia and surgeon parts of west virgina.

we saw a lot of snow over the weekend. it is now out to sea. we didn't get any snow from the storm system in new york city. philadelphia you stayed dry. some of the moisture is pulling offshore east of virginia peach. you still need to drive carefully. there will be black ice across the roadways during early morning hours as we head late tonight. as we head westward, the new storm system is bringing snow across portions of northeastern colorado. that is winding down through denver and nebraska and dakotas. the system will continue to head east. if you look at minneapolis you will look at to see snow late this afternoon and into the evening. for the drive home you could be looking into tricky conditions. we just had a blizzard warning for northeastern portions of colorado until 5:00 p.m. not really how much snow you're going to get. we're only looking at totals of two to four inches of snow snow. it is really the wind.

you could look at wind gusts 60 miles an hour. you could be looking at white-out conditions. further to the north across portions minnesota and eastern north dakota you could look at higher snowfall accumulations up to six inches. julie, further south we'll not be looking really much activity as far as precipitation across texas, oklahoma and kansas but the wind will be a big issue. >> want to know where our snow is? where in the world is our snow here in the northeast? >> you want a quick, quick answer? julie: yeah. >> typically this time of year a high pressure in greenland that takes storms up into the northeast. no high pressure. julie: you took the words out of my mouth. maria, thank you sooch. bill: you had guessed greenland earlier today. julie: no, i did. bill: you weren't too far off. i went with iceland. julie: we should be meteorologists, bill. bill: a direct hit could cause a mass i have a outage to millions on either. drills space junk has been crashing to earth recently. nasa has a plan to clean it

all up. they call it a space vacuum cleaner. first time we figured out how it will work. >> it doesn't do housekeeping apparently. bill: no. julie: gas prices spiking to record levels. we've been telling you about that, right? what does the white house plan on doing about it?

[♪...] >> announcer: bank robbery certainly is a frightening crime. after all, bank robbers stole $43 million in one year. but identity thieves? try 37 billion! and guess how identity thieves are getting some of that money. by taking over our bank accounts. they may not even need your social security number anymore. all an identity thief may need are a couple of simple pieces of information, like your mother's maiden name or the city you were born in, and they could add their name onto your bank accounts in order to make your money their money. you need help. [whoosh, clang] you need lifelock-- the only identity theft protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. lifelock is the proactive identity theft protection company, with an early warning alert system that is state of the art. when we detect any suspected breaches of your personal information within our network, we contact you right away, before the damage is done.

lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. no one can stop all identity theft-- that's why lifelock offers you peace of mind, and you get our million dollar total service guarantee. >> having your identity stolen feels like you've been totally violated. you go around looking over your shoulder. it's almost as if someone has broken into your home. >> announcer: don't spend another day without lifelock. call now. try lifelock's service risk-free for 60 days. lifelock is the only identity theft protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. no one provides more comprehensive identity theft protection than lifelock. if you're not convinced within 60 days, simply notify lifelock and you won't pay. and to keep your documents out of the wrong hands, we'll even add this personal shredder-- a $29 value-- absolutely free with your enrollment. don't wait another minute. call the number on your screen now, promo code: alerts. lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york.

>> back in 2008, then helicopter candidate barack obama criticized oil drilling as way to combat rising gas prices. well now, with prices shooting up once again, president obama is praising the increase in domestic oil production. william la jeunesse is live in huntington beach, california with more. william. >> reporter: julie, right, some of the wells that are responsible for that production increase, candidate obama did criticize, he also shut down off shore drilling plans, approved by a democratic congress under president bush. the question now, will higher gas prices force him to change his mind. >> it's not a real solution. >> >> reporter: in 2008 candidate obama ridiculed oil drilling. >> it won't drop prices in this administration or the next administration. >> reporter: but with gas prices doubling since his election, president obama

now sounds more like president bush. >> we need to take action now to expand domestic oil production. >> american oil production is the highest that it's been in eight years. >> critics say the president is taking credit he doesn't deserve, since new oil wells take 5-15 years to come on line, and most u.s. production gains have come off private, not federal, land. >> that's really why you're seeing an increase in production. it doesn't have anything to do with government. >> democrat dan born says the president's political receipt vehicle not in policy. >> over the last three years, we've opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration. >> reporter: but he's not closed millions of acres. in 2009 and '10 the u.s. issued the fewest on shore leases in decades. >> i'm directing my administration to open more than 75 percent of our potential off shore oil and gas resources. >> reporter: but compare. bush opened the atlantic, pacific and most of alaska to drilling. obama closed all those areas.

>> there was a lot of talk about opening up new areas, but it's been just that, it's merely talk. >> reporter: now, last week, the republican-controlled house did pass a bill to expand off shore drilling in 3 percent of the arctic national reserve. julie, that is dead in the senate. but again, if gas prices approach $5 a gallon, it's over $4 in california, could congress be forced to do something? we'll have to see. backo you. julie: william la jeunesse, beautiful backdrop there. bill: great to be on the beach. william hates that asmient! the price of oil has reached a nine month high, gas prices up 8 cents over the past week, but rob irt gibbs saying the president is committed to domestic energy production. >> our domestic oil production is at an eight-year high and our use of foreign oil is at a 16-year low, so we're making progress. there are no magic bullets to solve this problem. we're going to have to do all of these things.

we're going to have to look for more energy here at home, we're going to have to conserve energy, we're going to have to make the energy we use more efficient. all of those things will help us get ahead of this problem. bill: what about that now? eric bolling, host of "the five" on the fox business channel. how you doing? >> doing fine. bill: gibbs said a lot in that sentence there, permits will expand our exploration in the arctic? that happened last friday? is that true? >> can we address the first claim, oil production is at an eight-year high. it may be approaching an eight-year high but what we need to point out it's substantially down from 20-25 years ago. we used to produce 9 million barrels of oil a day, now we're lucky to approach 6 million barrels per day in oil production in the united states. a lot of it has to do with congress. congress over the years has put moratoriums on permits off the shores of both the

east coast and west coast and in the gulf. in july of 200 #, president bush lifted those moratoriums, oil prices went from $147 in july of 2008 until january of 2009 when the obama was sworn in, $33 a barrel. it substantially dropped. then there was the bp accident in the wake of the bp accident, permits slowed down to a crawl, william just told you decades low, so we're having a harder and harder time continuing to meet oil demand based on our oil drilling in the u.s. natural gas is what's making up the difference. the other part of gibbs' statement is we're relying less than foreign imports of oil because natural gas. we find natural gas here, we use it here, we don't ship is overseas, we don't it in -- don't bring it in because it's a gas. we need to institute a comprehensive energy policy which includes drilling,

drilling off shore, drilling in certain parts of alaska, and drilling in the gulf. bill: that's an all the above energy poll glee yes sir. bill: and gibbs says the white house supports that. does the evidence back it up? >> i don't know if the evidence backs it up. they say they're increasing the permits but that's not what they're diagnose. they're saying one thing and doing another. the permitting of drills going into the ground has slowed. i'll give you the other one, bill. if you support it, then there's absolutely no reason in the world to say no to the xl pipeline. you don't want to drill here, knock yourself out, you don't like drilling here, fine, buy the canadian oil but let them pipe it down here, it can bring 700,000, 800,000 barrels per dprai a friendly nation, very close to us at a much lower cost than shipping from the middle east. bill: as long as gasoline is getting higher and more expensive, all you have to say is keystone. >> this is regular gasoline,

3.50 a gallon, the national averagest, the highest ever in february, also 1.72 higher than when mr. obama was sphwhorn. that difference, the 1.72 difference in the price of gasoline, over -- somewhere near 230, $240 billion of expendable, disposable income out of americans' pockets. and here's the problem. when you do it through gasoline, the poor and the middle class are hit the hardest. when gas prices go up, they're the most vulnerable. bill:y just coming into the season. we expect it to go higher, and we'll see the politics and fallout from that. we'll see you at 5bg on "the five", five people at the table, 5:00 eastern time, can't miss it. fives across the board. thank you eric. >> ♪ >> ♪

>> bill you -- julie: you look like a lot like a former president! today is president's day. bill is not running for one, but for many, today means a day off work. do you really know why we celebrate president's day and why you get a day off work, except for us? according to the federal government, president's today actually washington's birthday and even though washington was born on the 22nd, the holiday is always celebrated on the third monday of february. at first it became a national holiday in 1879, and the name president's day became common because retailers used it to promote special holiday sales. in fact a number of states still recognize washington's birthday and lincoln's birthdays as separate holidays. bill: what a day it is, too. reading "killing lincoln", o'reilly's book, it's fantastic. if you haven't heard, it's well worth the read. after an emotional weekend of closing arguments

the murder trial against a former college lacrosse player now goes to the jury. our fox news legal team weighing in on the fate of george huguely. jal jal and an -- julie: and an alleged terror plot stopped in its traction, now the former homeland secretary speaking out about why this is such a big deal. >> did we make a name up -- pick a name up, an identity in the chat rool and equip him or did we ruly think he had the capability to attack unilaterally himself? you came to the right place. because here at hotels.com, we're only about hotels. finding you the perfect place is all we do. welcome to hotels.com.

-three. -one. two. three. one. -two. -three. -one. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% back on groceries. and 3% back on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. -it's as easy as...one. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] 1, 2, 3 percent cash back for the things you buy most. the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you.

bill: homeland security director tom ridge still saying we do not know just how big a catch the suspect ed capitol hill bomber was, more okay okayage immigrant amin al kalicih was arrested in washington, fbi saying he planned a suicide mission in the capitol building, ridge

saying we'll get a better idea of how deep this goes as more details emerge. >> the question i have about this particular incident is whether or not he was an enabled terrorist before we dealt with him or whether we were enabling in the process, in other words, did we pick a name up, an identity, an individual who was being aggressive in the chat room and befriended him or equipped him or did we truly think he had the capability to attack unilaterally himself. bill we will await those answers. kalichi is charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. julie: the murder trial involve twog university of virginia lacrosse players now to the jury, prosecutors say yeardley love died after her jiks elbow friend george huguely slammed her head into a wall and left her for dad, the defense argues huguely was drunk and didn't mean to kill anyone. joining us is criminal defense attorney, fox news

contributor arthur idalla, i should clarify that heurnlgly admitted there was a lot of pushing and shoving before she fell down so there was a physical altercation there. arthur, jurors will begin deliberations three full days since they heard closing argument necessary an unusual and emotional saturday session, but today marks the end of the trial. so pivotal a role could this play on the jury's decision. i'm upset about that because one thing that's clear to trial lawyers -- attorneys, from the closing arguments to the delib races you want the shortest amount of time to pass, you want the arguments to be fresh in the jury's mind, whether it's accurate or our own egos, we'd like tong those final arguments are so compelling, they will dictate the verdict one way or the other. i understand why they're not delivering today, it's a federal holiday but tomorrow, they're not delivering because the room is taken for a grand jury

proceeding. give me a break. that's the kind of situation, this high profile case, you move the grand jury proceedings somewhere else, find another auditorium some else to -- somewhere else to reschedule that and let the jurors get to work. there's been extreme pressure exposure, you don't want them picking up the newspaper or the magazine or watching our show right now and that coloring their verdict. julie: what's the biggest issue that could arise if the main defense counsel is absent on appeal? >> well, what happened here is the very end of last week, the main defense attorney, rhonda, she got a bad case of the flu and it was the day that she was suppose to cross-examine the medical examiner as to cause of death and that has everything to doo that's their whole case, the case was she was on medication, mixed it with alcohol and that was the cause of death, not the defendant's actions that caused the cause of death, and the judge eventually allowed the case to be delayed. but that's the type of issue if this young man gets

convicted that will be front and center under the appellate argument. julie: you're talking about two medical witnesses that were expected to discount earlier testimony that there's no direct evidence the death of huguely's former girlfriend did not contribute to the death. the defense attorney out sick with the flu has been the lead attorney in crucial medical-related elements of the case. a codown told the judge on friday that she is prepared in this area and i am not, that's a quote. >> right. julie: does this make the defense look unprepared in the eyes of the jury? >> not at all. this happens all the time. i'm on trial as we speak, i'm only off because it's a holiday. >> you're going to focus on this expert, you're going to focus on this witness, you're going to focus on that witness and that's the best way to do it so that each attorney has the time, effort, energy and focus on that particular witness. so that defense attorney who stood up and said courageously look, i'm not prepared to do that, did the

right wring -- right thing, it's part of the record, the appellate court has to consider it. the biggest thing they got ahead of him under the law, the prosecution doesn't need to show he intentionally caused her death. they didn't show he caused her death while he was stealing something from her room and that's her laptop, and if they find that that's what happened, he faces 20 to life. julie: first degree murder if convicted. according to prosecution evidence, a forceful blow to love created that deep hemorrhage in her brain stem that gradually shut down her lung and heart function. that is a riveting medical fact there. now, the defense tried to play a video of a happy family gathering which showed huguely's family mingling with love and huguely about 26 hours before she died. all the days have gone by, so all the videos of that happy family moment is lingering in their mind. is that going to play a damaging role for the prosecution? >> again, that's why i'm surprised that the judge allowed such a delay at this point in the trial, when he

really didn't want to have a delay when the defense attorney was sick. i mean, everyone has their arguments as to the tape and the relevance of that tape. the bottom line is they're saying this kid went into that room in a drunken rage -- excuse me, a jealous, drunken rage. >> he stormed into the place, knocked down the doorks he admitted to having -- >> he's a big guy, julie, he not only was the captain but they were the number one ranking lacrosse team in the nation at the time this happened. he was a bad kid. i mean, when i say bad, i mean physically tough kid. and he could throw her around like a ragdoll. julie: arthur aidala, thank you very much, as always. >> back at you. bill: we await the jury. jon scott is coming up in 12 minutes. "happening now". this president's day, how you doing? >> jon: doing great, bill. we're hoping everyone is having a relaxing president's day. is israel about to launch a strike against iran's nuclear program? could be, if increasingly

desperate pleas from the u.s. and u.k. are any indication. former u.s. ambassador john bolton and michael singh are here with the possibilities. gas prices continue to spike. are the media doing a fair job in covering the rise in those prices? we'll take a closer look. plus, the guy who is going to walk a tight rope against niagra falls and the amazing feats of one man who won't let a disability get in his way. we'll be talking to them, coming up, "happening now". bill: looking forward to seeing that. two boxers going at it and they're not even inside the bring. why this brawl could mean these two are done with foxes -- with boxes forever. jewel the sky is not only littered with starks it's littered with junk. now a new plan for nasa and a space vacuum to clean it all up. how it works, next. wake up!

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

julie: a pair of heavy weight boxers are facing lifetime bans for taking swings outside the ring. pestora and heye were brawl ing during a conference in munich, heye was on hand, pistora had already been fined for slapping his ponennent during the prefight. bill: there was no chance that was planned, was it? >> julie: i don't know, bill, you might be on to something! bill: even if areas as emas space can get dirty, from dead satellite toss rocket parts, there is literally tons of space junk floating around earth's orbit. here's what that looks like. one solution in the works, a deep space vacuum cleaner to

sweep up the entire mess. the author of physics of the future, which hits stores in paper back today, michio kaku is with me in the studio. good morning to you! you say it's about time. >> yes. there's 20,000 pieces of debris -- debris, larger than 4 inches, all the way up to the size of a greyhound bus, it's an accident wait to go happen. bill: so the idea comes out of switzerland and it's called clean space one. what is that. >> it's a gigantic object with a claw that grabs a small sab light, the swiss have satellites this size by the way, and plunges them into the earth, burning up. at $10 million, sources have allocated. the u.s. has allocated $2 million to investigate this. this is chump change. the united states wants to put a net out there. a net. to grab pieces of debris, then the net then plunges

back into the atmosphere. bill: what the swiss, they want to put in a vacuum cleaner, right? so it's close to the satellite, it grab it is. >> right. bill: then both make a fiery death dive, or so the associated press reports. >> and this is better than using a laser beam. that's the first impulse is to shoot it with lasers, and then you have lots of baby debris. it's worse if you get a piece of junk and break it up into small parts. bill: i see. but the swiss have only two satellites, right, about the size of a bread box. >> that's right. bill: and we have how many? >> we have 500 large chunks, all the way out to the size of an 18 wheater truck in outer space. bill: so the swiss are going to clean up after us. they're going to clean up after everybody. now, one of the reasons why this is so important, is because insurance companies cover the blasting after rocket into space. >> that's right. you got it. bill: an insurance company came to you and said you know what, this is getting to be too pricey and we don't really want to take the risk anymore, what

happens to the space program? >> you hit the nail on the head. that could paralyze the commercial space program. what company is going to send a rocket into outer space without insurance? what insurance company is going to insure the satellite, knowing that it's like dodge ball in outer space? dodging pieces of debris left and right. it could paralyze the space program. bill i know you think it's a small step, but this vacuum cleaner, do you think it will work? >> it could work and also this net, if the net is large enough, you can grab many pieces of debris and you would have to have thousands of these nets in outer space, each one grabbing wind of these pieces the size of a glove or the size of a pickup truck, then plunging it into outer space, you need thousands of niece in space. bill: space junk can put us out of business, right? >> and who wants to go up knowing they could be peppered with meteorites! bill: thank you, see -- we'll see you soon. julie: niagra falls having a history of attacking --

atracking daredevils. coming up, you're going to meet one man who will try to become the very first in history to walk a tight rope over the falls. new honey bunches of oats fruit blends and their unique taste combinations. like peach/raspberry. with one flavor in the granola bunch and one on the flake. two flavors. in harmony. honey bunches of oats. make your day bunches better. your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together

with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional. cfp. let's make plan.

ask me. [ male announcer ] if you think even the best bed can only lie there... ask me what it's like when my tempurpedic moves? [ male announcer ] ...talk to someone who owns an adjustable version of the most highly recommended bed in america. ask me about my tempur advanced ergo. ask me about having all the right moves. [ male announcer ] these are real tempur advanced ergo owners. find one for yourself. try your friends on facebook. see what they have to say unedited. ask me what it's like to get a massage anytime you want. [ male announcer ] tempurpedic brand owners are more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. [ woman ] ask me why i'm glad i didn't wait till i'm too old to enjoy this. [ male announcer ] start asking real owners. treat yourself to the ultimate sleep experience and save up to $200 during the tempur ergo savings event. plus visit tempurpedic.com for full details on our 0% apr with 48 months to pay.

don't wait. the tempur ergo savings event ends february 26th. visit tempurpedic.com now. tempurpedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. julie: talking it about paying it forward. a chain includes 30 donors and recipients, 17 hospitals across the country ending in chicago. patients with incompatible donors still got transplants because the donors gave a kidney to another patient who was a match, like this patient's sister. >> she was elated to hear this. that she could help not only me but someone else. she stayed with me for two weeks after the transplant, and my husband took care of us both. juliet: r- julie: that is