up in the last just couple of hours. a fire official told me less than an hour ago if he told me an acreage amount, it would be wrong in ten minutes. this fire is advancing at least at 2,000 feet every hour. the last four days this has been burning, they counted on the wind to at least burn it in towards the interior of the forest and away from populated areas. just within the last half hour, that has completely changed. the smoke is now coming towards us, towards the city of colorado springs. now, it doesn't seem at this moment there's any real danger to the city itself. but so far as of a couple hours ago, they miraculously i think not lost a single structure. i was in the interior of this fire and they had fire lines around individual houses and every single one them had held. this is going to make it a lot more difficult with this change in the wind direction. that's what prompted that additional evacuation of 7,000 people, soledad. >> plus, you now know several thousand more people have been evacuated, right? >> reporter: yeah, exactly, and there are already almost 5,000 people evacuated. now it's about a total of 12,000 people. this wind has become so erratic and the weather so extreme. 101 degrees here. that is an all-time record since they've been keeping records in colorado springs. this is the hottest day ever here. and with these high winds picking up, it's too dangerous to have people in the path of the fire, soledad. >> it's erratic, it's hot, and as you say hardly contained. what's the strategy on the part of fire fighters? >> well, they're trying to create fire lines. they feel good about it in the back of the fire. the way the downwind direction of the fire. but it's heading north towards where the u.s. air force academy is and towards more communities. so they're trying to create a fire line. they're using roads and an additional bulldozer lines and even hand dug lines to create a barrier between active fire and the fuel on the other side of it. that's their real trick, is to create that gap. when the fire gets to the fire line, it doesn't have any more fuel to propel itself forward, and they hope to hold it there. when the winds change directions, they have to change their plans and try to create new lines in those new directions. it's not easy. it takes a long time, and it's brutal work in these conditions. >> i was going to say, it looks from the pictures we're running side by side with you, jim, it looks like brutal work. thanks, appreciate it. as jim reported, the size of the fire has forced thousands of people to flee to safety, including becky schormann and her husband who evacuated their home on sunday morning. becky joins us now by phone. becky, thanks for being with us. we appreciate it. i know this is a really tough time for you. your daughter is a volunteer fire fighter, an i believe that she's told you that the flames are now only about 20 feet away from your home. that's got to be just brutal to hear. >> yeah, that was -- that was this afternoon. since then, they've doused whatever came across the highway. i've got to say that our volunteer fire department has just been awesome. >> you still there? >> oh, yeah, yeah. >> okay, so they've been doing a good job for you. what's the latest update then? if the last one was 20 feet away, they've been able to hold off on the flames. how close is it getting to your home? >> well, right now, they've retarded what came across the highway. >> oh, good. >> where highway 24 split kind of cascade in half, and the side that we're on is the one that we hope doesn't, you know, ever jump the highway, but embers have, and they've just done a marvelous job of taking care of it. >> thank goodness. tell me about sunday morning. your husband woke up, woke you up, too, and said, listen, we got to go. walk me through what happened. >> well, he said, get up, we've got to go. and it was my one morning to sleep in. anyway, first thing i did was just started grabbing things that i knew i had to get out of the bedroom. i started making a pile at the front door. we had neighbors and friends that came and helped us get, you know, things loaded up. and i believe you have pictures of my husband and my son-in-law and my daughter trying to get our little animals into the back of our trailer. >> yeah, not so little animals in some cases. i saw i think a pony and a donkey. where are you now? and where are you keeping your animals? >> actually, my daughter, bless her heart, we did a makeshift fence job, and they're living in her backyard. the -- the one -- my one donkey started to chew on their wagon out back, so we're gonna have to go find some more hay for him i think. and we -- we have a motor home, so we brought our motor home. and we're kind of living out of that at my daughter's house, and we brought our neighbors and i have a cousin and we all came up caravanning and parked ourselves here. i think -- i think my daughter said we finally got out at about 11:30. >> wow. wow. we have another photo i want to show everybody. it's a photo of your daughter and your son-in-law. and they're standing on the roof of your home right before you evacuated on sunday. >> right. >> i know you've been in colorado for 35 years. is this a first for you? have you ever seen anything like this before? >> well, other than the experience of the hamon fire. we did, you know, we did go through that. that was pretty awesome. and i guess saturday was the tenth anniversary of the hamon fire, and that's kind of when this fire started. >> what, becky, were you able to grab, and what did you have to leave behind? >> i left a lot behind. we had a fishing boat. it's still under my deck. and we had a couple of atvs. had to leave them behind. and i had antique dishes that came from my grandparents and my parents and -- same with my husband. basically, my china cabinet. and that's all still there. i had quite an antique doll collection, and most of that's still there. i think i retrieved one doll. and that was because she was the oldest. and we did -- we do have our two dogs with us. my son-in-law is actually a firefighter. he's at work now, taking care of fires. my daughter will be leaving to take care of cascade. >> when you look at some of these pictures, are you feeling hopeful you'll be able to return to a home intact, with all those things inside? >> i hope so. i keep telling myself it's going to be okay. like i said, our volunteer fire department is just awesome. and they've been there from the onset, from the get-go. periodically, they change shifts, and some people get to take a nap, but otherwise, they're scattered all over town, with apparatuses and stuff to, you know, protect people's homes. >> and really a massive job in front of them. becky schormann, thank you for talking with us. i know it is a really tough time for you. we certainly appreciate it. >> oh, sure, any time. >> let's get right to chad myers. he's got more on the weather conditions these firefighters are facing right now. >> believe it or not, yesterday the firefighters saw relative humidities right over the fire of 3%. three. the number three. that takes all the humidity out of any timber that's there. especially any dead timber. there's a lot of dead timber here. if you haven't been to utah, colorado, new mexico, arizona, in the past couple of years, you don't know about these rocky mountain pine beetles that have killed a lot of trees. so, therefore, you not only have live trees standing that are on fire, you have dead trees that are just waiting to go, and so all around this area today, where temperatures approached 98 degrees, relative humidity 3%. all of this was just an impossible fire to fight. hot all the way from canada all the way down to texas. the area around wichita even saw temperatures around 115 today. and that's in the shade. well, there's no shade in these fires. there's no shade around the heat and the flames that these fire fighters are seeing. the work that these men and women are doing is literally -- it's yeoman's work, it's tremendous work, and it's very, very dangerous. the winds weren't too bad today. only about 8 to 10 miles per hour. but it was the heat and the very low humidity. and later on tonight, we could even see a few dry thunderstorms. can you say -- what do you mean dry thunderstorms? thunderstorms have rain. not all thunderstorms have rain. especially in the mountains where the air is so dry, 3%. you can get a cloud to go up. a lightning strike to come down. but yet no rain falling out of the sky. those are called dry thunderstorms. that's how the first fire we talked about, the high park fire started, but now the high park fire, we lose some intensity on that because that started 15 miles west in the mountains west of ft. collins. this fire we're talking about right now did not start that far to the west. it started very, very close. within a few miles there of colorado springs, of the air force academy, of garden of the gods, of some very beautiful -- these are my memories of going into canyon city and floating down these streams in rubber rafts, doing class 4 rapids. these are beautiful places. now, soledad, they are on fire. >> looks absolutely brutal from these pictures, chad. thank you for the update. appreciate that. for everybody else, let us know what you think. we're on facebook. you can follow the program on twitter, @ac360. i'm also tweeting @soledad underscore o'brien. coming up next, is mitt romney allergic to specifics? we'll show you the latest example of the campaign dodging questions, even as fellow republicans are urging him to come up with some better answers. we're keeping them honest. stay with us. >> announcer: you never know when, but thieves can steal your identity, turning your life upside down in a matter of seconds. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >> you just read my mind. >> announcer: just one little piece of information and they can open bogus accounts, stealing your credit, your money and ruining your reputation. that's why you need lifelock. lifelock is the leader in identity theft protection, relentlessly protecting your personal information to help stop the crooks in their tracks before your identity is attacked, protecting your social security number, your bank accounts, even the equity in your home. >> i didn't know how serious identity theft was... until i lost my credit and eventually i lost my home. >> announcer: credit monitoring alone is not enough to protect your identity, and only tells you after the fact, sometimes as much as 60 days later. with lifelock, as soon as we spot a threat to your identity within our network, our advanced lifelock i.d. alert system directly notifies you, protecting your identity before you become a victim. >> identity theft was a huge, huge problem for me and it's gone away because of lifelock. >> announcer: while no one can stop all identity theft, if the criminals do manage to steal your information, lifelock is there to help fix it, with our $1 million service guarantee. that's right, a $1 million service guarantee. don't wait until you become the next victim. call now to try lifelock risk-free for two full months. that's right, 60 days risk-free. use promo code: norisk. if you're not completely satisfied, notify lifelock and you won't pay a cent. order now and also get this document shredder to keep your personal documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 dollar value, free. get the protection you need right now. call or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock risk-free for a full 60 days. use promo code: norisk. plus get this document shredder free, but only if you act right now. call now! lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york. so try this on for size. when you're electing a president, it helps to know specifically what the candidate would do as president. it almost sounds too simple. after all, broadly speaking, most people know what mr. obama and mr. romney stand for. big picture, they pretty much know what they're getting. nobody is exactly clamoring for white papers and 15 point plans. but details do matter. specifics do count. if you want to hear whether that big picture the candidate's selling actually adds up. keeping them honest tonight, is the romney campaign being too vague on the details? even some republicans say yes. >> it ain't easy. you know, i've been at it now for a while, and that's it for me. i want to hear him say some specifics. it's very difficult to put a positive spin when he's not addressing some of the key questions. >> that's gop strategist ana navarro on the program last night talking about the romney's campaign refusal to get specific about immigration. in this case, whether the candidate supports the part of arizona's immigration law that survived a supreme court challenge yesterday. you'll remember a spokesman was asked that question 16 times on board the romney campaign plane yesterday. 16 times he dodged the answer, instead, reciting a generic statement not quite referring to the law. the campaign took a lot of heat for not answering but not enough to change its tune as i found out this morning on "starting point." i was speaking with carlos gutierrez. he's the honorary co-chair of the romney campaign's hispanic steering committee. listen. let's talk about governor romney specifically. what exactly is his position on sb-1070? does he support the one provision that now stands? >> well, let me say this, soledad, and i -- look, i have been for immigration reform as long as i can remember. i have the battle scars to prove it. but i believe that, as the governor does, that every country in the world has the right and the obligation to secure its borders, to know who's coming in, to know who's leaving. it's a right. it's an obligation. every country does it. what is alarming here is that there appears to be a need to convince the president that part of his job is to secure the borders and part of his job is to ensure that we know who's coming in and who's going out. we shouldn't be arguing about this. >> but my question, sir, was not about president obama. my question was about mitt romney and specifically this one provision of sb-1070. does he support it as it now stands? >> as i mentioned, the governor supports the right of border states and the country at large to protect its border, to protect its integrity. it's not an anti-immigration issue. >> but, sir, i -- that is not the question -- >> it kind of went on like that and on and on. mr. gutierrez never answered a very specific yes or no question, nor did he say whether mr. romney would reverse president obama's executive action that would allow certain children of illegal immigrants to stay in the country. here's what happened when cbs' bob schieffer asked the candidate. >> would you repeal this order if you became president? >> well, let's step back and look at the issue. >> well, what would you do about it? >> well, as you know, he was president for the last 3 1/2 years, did nothing on immigration. >> but would you repeal this? >> didn't answer. as we mentioned, even some republicans are unhappy. congressman ben quayle says he wants mr. romney to be more aggressive on the issue. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell says discussions are under way with the romney campaign about how to handle immigration. it's not just immigration where the campaign is vague. it's also equal pay for women. listen. >> does governor romney support the lilly ledbetter act? >> we'll get back to you on that. >> yeah, well, they didn't, ever. >> mr. romney later said he had no intention of changing the law if elected, but still wouldn't say whether he supported the legislation himself or not. then there's the tax cut plan which calls for big tax cuts offset by closing certain loopholes. mr. romney won't say which loopholes he would close. when asked again this month he would only say, quote, we'll go through that process with congress. i should mention that no candidate for any office, republican or democrat, ever wants to go into too much detail about anything. but it's a matter of degree and how much each campaign compares with past campaigns. we're grading on a constantly changing curve here. given that, where does mitt romney fall on the curve? does he fall short when it comes to giving voters what they need to decide? ana navarro is back tonight. she was national chairman for jon huntsman's 2012 campaign and fellow gop strategist mary matalin is with us tonight and so is chief national correspondent john king. nice to see all of you. ana, let's start with you. you sounded kind of frustrated last night about this very topic. do you think the governor is not being clear enough or just not taking a position you'd like to hear? >> i don't think he's -- i think i'm frustrated because of both things. i haven't heard a position from him. and he hasn't been clear enough. i would rather disagree with him than not know where he is standing. i think it's also -- the reason i'm so frustrated, soledad, because it's a lost opportunity. had you asked me six months ago, i would have told you immigration was going to be barack obama's biggest liability, not mitt romney. but mitt romney, unless he engages, unless he stops tiptoeing around this and walking on eggshells and confronting this head on, he's not going to be able to exploit what is, what should be obama's biggest liability with latinos. >> mary, the governor was specific in the primary. he was specific, you know, when he said i will veto the d.r.e.a.m. act. he talked about self-deportation. i know in these private meetings he has been specific and laid out some details. those are private. with people who have paid money to come see him. why the big resistance to laying it out very clearly with detail? >> i'm going to have to beg to differ with my friend ana, with you, soledad. he just gave a very extensive and specific speech to a latino community. of course, we think immigration issues and immigration problems are problems for all americans, not just the hispanic community. mitt romney early on was criticized for having a 59-point economic plan. now he does have a specific -- the broad sweep and specific instances in a white paper, which people don't want to read white papers, but it's right here. he has been specific privately and publicly on this, on regulatory reform, any number of issues. can i just go back to lily ledbetter? that's not an equal pay for women act. that's a super pay for trial lawyers act. i hope he comes out against it. but the bigger thing is he has been the nominee here for six weeks, eight weeks. we spoke of any number in specificity issues over the weekend. this is going to be a campaign or an organization ready to govern on day one in great depth. >> john, mitt romney could have a reason for vagueness, obviously, but i have to imagine that as a member of the press the press is just going to push harder and harder. mary talks about a white paper. where we really see i think a conflict is the right way to put if is when a specific question is asked, it's very clearly dodged. why? >> well, there's no question. president obama will find himself in the same box. every candidate does. there's no question, candidates sometimes don't want to talk about what we in the news media talk about. don't want to talk about what the other campaign wants them to talk about. this all reminds me, soledad, back in the 1992 campaign when a woman named gennifer flowers came forward to challenge then governor clinton, to raise questions about governor bill clinton. a guy name george stephanopoulos who worked for governor clinton at the time said specificity is the character issue in this campaign. bill clinton was saying he had the more detailed plan on the economy. if you go to romney's website on most issues he has more details than many of the candidates i have covered in presidential races for some time. now, clearly, this morning, he was ill served by secretary gutierrez, his press secretary, on the plane the other day, did not do a very good job representing the governor. if you don't want to answer the question, don't go back there. that's campaign 101. >> are they not doing a good job in terms of they're just not dodging well or there's no answer to give i guess is the question? >> on some issues, bob schieffer's questions are a great example. if he wants to be president, on day one, he wants to make a decision about that. he should say, i will leave the president's temporary order in place until i have a permanent replacement or i will revoke the president's order and then work on a permanent replacement. that is a question the candidate should answer. he actually gave a pretty detailed answer, maybe not as detailed as we would like and i don't think it's the position ana would like him to take but at a fund-raiser in phoenix he said he wished the supreme court gave states more latitude, not less latitude. he didn't go into every provision of sb-1070 but that is saying something quite significant. he thinks states should have the right to go as far as they want. the question i'd like to ask governor romney, do you personally agree with -- personally agree with those provisions? even if you acknowledge. mary used to work for dick cheney. he disagreed with president bush on whether states should be allowed to approve same-sex marriage if they want. he didn't run around the country saying, hey, i disagree with the president. sometimes we learn these things when we ask them. guess what? sometimes, soledad, you've been in the business a while, just like me, candidates want -- mitt romney's case, he wants to talk about the economy, almost not anything else. >> how much, mary, is you don't want to put any ammo out there at this point? say as little as possible till the last moment because it gives you opportunities for gaffes and it gives you opportunities to lose your messaging. >> mitt romney is not gaffing. in addition to all the details offered by his policy people this weekend, he stood out without notes and a teleprompter for over an hour and in great specificity went through all of his broad themes and a lot of the specifics. on this case, i guess people just don't want to hear what he says when he does answer the question. me did say he agreed with marco rubio's legislation that was under way and garnering bipartisan support. these are the sweeteners in the d.r.e.a.m. act to give citizenship to those who served in the military and those who have graduated or have attended schools here. those are the sweet things. when you're doing difficult legislation, you trade those sweet things for the hard things. so what he said is that he supports those but that is a short-term fix that makes the longer-term, comprehensive fix more difficult. in addition to that, he said what john just said. but this is not what -- the election is not going to be about immigration. it's an important issue. but even among those who care about immigration, 30% of hispanic youth are unemployed. the unemployment rate among all hispanics is greater than the national average. i think hispanics, latinos, prioritize their jobs, the latinos that are here legally, their economy, their jobs, their families, their futures over this important issue, but it's not the dispositive one. >> they may have to get off the issue of immigration because it seems a challenge to have a direct conversation about it. mary matalin, nice to see you. john king, of course, as well. ana navarro, thanks, i appreciate it. coming up this evening, republican senators demand a special council be appointed to investigate the white house leaks scandal and they're naming names. who they're mentioning as a potential source of the leaks, that's coming up next. d@ coming up, the justice department sues two towns for religious discrimination. the towns are full of people who are loyal to the polygamist flds sect led by warren jeffs. the lawsuit is a new indication of how far his power reaches. even from behind bars. the latest when "360" continues. , putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. raw politics tonight. republicans on capitol hill are demanding the appointment of a special council to investigate leaks of classified information reportedly from within the obama administration. in a letter to attorney general eric holder, a group of 31 senators calls reports of the national security leaks stunning and goes on to name the possible source of the leaks. we'll have more on that in just a moment. at a news conference today, senator john mccain led the charge, saying holder's decision to appoint two justice department prosecutors overseen by holder himself is, quote, offensive. mccain and the other senators are calling for a special council. chief white house correspondent jessica yellin joins us this evening. jessica, what's the very latest on this? >> hi, soledad. these 31 senator, all of whom are republicans, are essentially keeping up the pressure on the administration. in a congressional hearing, they already pressed attorney general holder to appoint a special prosecutor. they say it's intended to make sure the investigation is impartial. holder already declined, saying he has full faith in the two u.s. attorneys he appointed to look into the leaks. one of those u.s. attorneys is a bush appointee. both have the power to follow the trail wherever it takes them in the executive or legislative branches. bottom line, this has become a partisan battle in a political year. some democrats see this latest push as a campaign season tactic to taint the administration. and finally, soledad, i would point out that a number of these same republican senators who are calling for a special prosecutor in this instance did not think a special prosecutor was necessary during the valerie plame scandal. you'll recall that one during the bush years when she was outed as a cia agent. >> when you look at this letter, early on, they name names, at least one name specifically, the national security adviser, tom donilon. is he being accused of something? >> guilt by book review? in the letter tom donilon's name is mentioned in what's literally a quote from the review of david sanger's new book, about the president's national security policy. it's true that he is quoted but that in itself is no crime. president bush's national security advisers, condoleezza rice and stephen hadley, often spoke to the press also. nsa directors do that. now it would seem by including do donelon's name in the letter, the senators are trying to tie him to the leaks problems, but when senator mccain was speaking to the press today and asked point blank if he thinks that donilon was the problem, was the leaker, he declined to say. so you're going to have to ask the 31 senators who sent this letter why they put donilon in the letter. >> they put him in so yearly. >> thanks, jessica, appreciate it. lots more happening this evening. let's get right to susan hendricks. she's got a "360" bulletin. >> tropical storm debby has been downgraded to a tropical depression. it made landfall this afternoon along florida's northwest coast dumping more rain on already flooded areas forcing thousands of residents to evacuate. more than 20 inches of rain have fallen across northern florida, leaving roads like this under water. house democrats are bracing for defections in thursday's vote on whether to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress. his failure to release documents related to the botched gun running operation fast and furious led to the contempt resolution. take a look at this. nothing really subtle about it. this fireworks safety demo on the national mall. it used mannequins and other props to make its point, fireworks can kill, to be safe this fourth of july. it sends the message home. which is certainly a good thing. soledad, back to you. >> yeah, but it scared my kids to death, i have to tell you. they were in the building today. they were absolutely terrified by that. my daughter's like, what was that? they just blew up some little kids. oh, my goodness. mannequins, mannequins. susan, thank you. coming up, we're going to tell you why the justice department is suing a pair of towns that are dominated by members of warren jeffs' flds sect. that's ahead. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they help save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs. call today to request a free decision guide. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and you'll never need a referral to see a specialist. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp... and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. with all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. it was a bombshell from jerry sandusky's adopted son. the revelation that he, too, was a victim. now for the first time we're hearing what matt sandusky told police in his own words. that and much more when "360" continues. crime and punishment tonight. the federal government is suing a pair of western towns that are dominated by the fundamentalist, polygamist flds church and its jailed leader warren jeffs. according to the justice department, sect members in colorado city, arizona, and hilldale, utah, have been forcing nonbelievers out. the feds call it discrimination. and they want it to stop. they say it's happening because flds members control everything that counts in these places, from town hall to tap water. gary tuchman recently visited colorado city where the word of warren jeffs is akin to the word of god and where his cult-like religion is the law. >> reporter: colorado city, arizona, is a very unusual place. the desert town is the religious seat of the flds church which promotes and practices polygamy and whose leader has been convicted of raping underaged girls. >> the police force in colorado city is, without a doubt, the most crooked police department in the country. >> reporter: sam brower is a private investigator who has dug into flds allegations for most of the last decade. he says the cops make the community increaingly unstable. >> i've never seen the tension so high. >> reporter: so we wanted to ask the police about their support and allegiance to convicted pedophile polygamist warren jeffs. but they didn't want to talk. >> can i ask you a question, officer? >> reporter: movavi county is where it is located. tom sheehan is the sheriff. he says his deputies can't trust the legal police. >> they are doing only what the church wants them to do and what their leaders tell them to do. >> reporter: so your belief is their religion and their prophet is far more important than the laws in the state of arizona? >> that we know for sure. >> reporter: with that in mind, the arizona legislature took up a bill to dissolve the office and leave enforcement up to the sheriff. under the law, any arizona police department in which more than half of the officers were decertified by the state for corruption or crime in an eight-year period would be dissolved. >> if you have more than 50% of your officers decertified, do you have any business having a law enforcement agency? i mean, that's ridiculous. >> reporter: colorado city currently has six cops. six other cops have been kicked often with the past eight years. the state says each of those cops was decertified for different reasons such as felony sexual conduct with a minor. bigamy, refusal to testify and answer questions in a grand jury in a deposition and seeking advice from a fugitive, that fugitive being warren jeffs when he was on the fbi ten most wanted list. a letter recovered when jeffs was arrested written by the former chief declared, i am praying for you to be protected. and yearn to be with you again. the arizona senate passed the bill unanimously. but then something very surprising happened in the arizona house. two representatives, non-flds members who represent colorado city in the legislature, took up the church's cause to keep the police department intact. with their leadership, the bill died in a close vote. mcclane and gooddale say the bill is unconstitutional because they claim the city is being singled out. they also acknowledge they want top support their flds constituents who will cast ballots for them on election day. another part of their argument, listen to this -- >> things are changing up there and it just doesn't seem fair to go backwards in time when things are finally opening up. >> reporter: but that directly contradicts what gary angle sees. he's the primary investigator of the flds for the county prosecutor's office. do you think things are getting better in colorado city? >> no, things are getting mump much worse up there. it's getting worse by the day. it's getting more fanatical. >> reporter: where's representative mcclane getting her information? we asked her. >> there's more commerce there. they're more willing to talk to other people that come into the community that are not members of the community. i get e-mails from the community. so i see that as opening up. >> reporter: i see, when i go there, is that people come to me and say they're scared, there's no one to talk to, they want to get out, they're trapped, their children are being taken away from them, the cops are doing nothing. have you ever heard anything like that before? >> no. >> reporter: have you? >> no one has said that to me, any of the times i've been up there. >> reporter: but it does happen, repeatedly. this past february, i covered the story of this man, david biceline. warren jeffs had kicked him and many other men out of the church for not being faithful enough. in the middle of the night, his wife and his seven children were told to leave him and they left the house with the local police standing by. >> just about killed me. i just closed my eyes. felt like my soul is just out there floating around somewhere. >> reporter: when warren jeffs kicks people out of the church, their families are taken away from them. the cops helped take their families away from them. >> that was five years ago. >> reporter: that was a few months ago because i covered a story about it. >> we never heard about it. >> reporter: representative gooddale testified to the other legislators that this is a very open community. one of her quotes was, when we come here, we go to the baseball games, the little league games. we can tell you from talking to people in the church there's never been a little league here in colorado city. as a matter of fact, one woman in the church currently says she doesn't even know what the term little league means. as far as the baseball games this was the main baseball field in colorado city. this was the first base line. years ago, kids did run down from home plate to first base. played baseball. now it's a garden. because several years ago warren jeffs made the decree that kids should not be playing sports or playing games, and they got rid of the baseball field. i've been here at least 15 times to colorado city. i've never seen baseball being played. this, the main basketball courts. three beautiful courts or once beautiful courts. now the courts are used to house mountains of recycled rubble. we wanted to get the colorado city police chief's reaction to the criticism in the story. anybody in the police station? we did see movement in the office, but as usual we got no response. >> earlier tonight, i spoke with gary tuchman as well as michael watkiss, an investigative reporter for our phoenix affiliate ktvk. he joined us by phone. so, gary, let's start with you. the way you describe it, it's almost as if a religious sect is actually running these towns. describe what it's like when you talk to the residents. >> well, that's right, soledad. many of the people i talked to in these towns remind me of people i've talked to in afghanistan and iraq. religion is more important to them than anything. if their prophet warren jeffs who is now in jail tells them to do something, they do it. including in the past when he's told 13-year-old or 14-year-old girls they have to marry men in their 60s, 70s or 80s. they do it. their families make everything move to make it happen. so it's the kind of situation we go there and try to talk to the people who are members of the flds. they run away from us because they're scared to be seen with us. they could get in trouble if they talk to an outsider like myself. >> i know you interviewed a couple who say they were discriminated against. what story did they tell you? >> they got a home -- a young man, classic case. he worked as a young man working on work crews when he was about 8 years old. he left the community. was never compensated. finally, he was given a home when they started taking over the land trust. he was badly disabled on a work-related site down in phoenix, so he's disabled. he was never compensated for his work as a child. he and his family were given a home. they're non-flds. the flds community didn't want them there. they refused to turn on their water and power. they've had this home for nearly four years and they still don't have water. they have to haul water to their home. this while flds families can go in and get their water hooked up in a matter of hours. the community has started bottling water and selling it as a commodity while they tell this family they don't have water to give them to their homes. it is the most egregious. people who don't understand this or haven't followed this think oh, this, you know, is this community run by a religion? it's absolutely run by a religion. people who are not of that religion are persecuted from sun up to sun down. >> gary, we saw you trying to get the attention of the police chief who didn't seem to be coming to the door. what's your experience with the police departments in these towns? >> well, in years of going there, soledad, i've tried to talk to the police and to government officials. they have never, ever consented to an interview except one time, the mayor of hilldale, utah, talked to me and a few months later he was kicked out of the church. i will tell you, it's very, very different than any other place in the united states. one encounter i had with one of the police officers there. i was trying to interview one of the residents in a post office in a public stop. the officer said, stop interviewing people. i said, no, this is a public street. he said, i will arrest you and take you in if you don't stop trying to do an interview. i don't know where he would take me if he arrested me, but that put an end to that. that is not something a cop would normally say when you're doing interviews in a public street but in the flds land, that's what they say. >> mike, i'll give you the last question. warren jeffs, he's behind bars, but it seems like you're saying he is not out of commission. >> gary can attest to this because he's done stories for your network. he has been kicking families, people, out just in the most brutal -- the disruption of families that he continues to orchestrate. he's thrown hundreds of people out. just torn families apart. and i think this shows you the power that he yields. he's behind bars and he continues to rip families apart. they were screaming about the abuse of the texas rangers when they went and raided that compound in texas. i would argue that mr. jeffs has done more damage to the family -- his own families in his own community than 30 raids on the compound could have done. you know, this is a brutal man. it is a misogynistic culture at its core. it abuses women and children and these guys have been fleecing the government forever. the cops are corrupt and every layer of government is corrupt. the feds should have done this a long time ago. >> mike watkiss and gary tuchman this evening, thanks, gentlemen, appreciate it. it was a bombshell. jerry sandusky adopted son, matt, claiming he, too, was a victim of sandusky's molestation. now for the first time we're hearing what matt sandusky told police in his own words, up next. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. i tell mike what i can spend. i do my best to make that work. we're driving safely. and sue saved money on brakes. now that's personal pricing. i'm susan hendricks with a "360" news bulletin. late word tonight that director and oscar nominated screenwriter nora ephron has died after a battle with leukemia. ephron was known for her romantic comedies including "when harry met sally" and "sleepless in seattle." her most recent screenplays with "julie and julia." nora efron was 71. on a newly released recording jerry sandusky's adopted son matt tells police jerry sandusky molested him between the ages of 8 and 15. on the audiotape obtained by nbc news, matt sandusky says he tried to escape the home and once attempted suicide. >> with, like, the showering, the hugging, the rubbing, the talking to me, the way he spoke. if you were pretending you were asleep and you were touched or rubbed in some way you could just act like you were rolling over in your sleep so you could change positions. i know that i really wanted to die at that point in time. >> late in the trial that convicted jerry sandusky of 45 sexual abuse charges, matt sandusky said he wanted to cooperate with prosecutors, but he was not called to testify. we're talking gas prices now as they continue to fall. here's something we have not seen in a while. south carolina has become the first state in about a year and a half to hit an average of less than $3 a gallon. the national average is down to about $3.40 a gallon. stay with us. we'll be right back. morsi the year is about half over so this week we're counting down the top five ridiculous of 2012 so far. you've been voting for your favorites at ac36 .com. we're at number four. >> time for for the ridiculist. take the case of a live newscast from florida. keep your eye on the background. >> students can register tomorrow. vouchers can then be picked up from tuesday through thursday. now students with more than 90 credit hours have the best chance of getting tickets but everyone is welcome to sign up. live from the newsroom, cara manelli. >> the young journalist in the background making copies seems to have a great sense of humor. she adds she went to the printer to pick up some papers, didn't realize at first the bright lights she was staring at was perched on top of the camera. she said she was embarrassed but we think it's adorable. it could have been a whole lot worse. watch. >> there is a way to keep the bed begs out of your home, you might want to use a plastic bag like this one. >> the thing about working the news, you have to pick your stories very closely and up also have to pick your battles. [ speaking italian ] >> i love his response. y just leaves. the real fun starts when you leave the newsroom and you go on for live shots. that's when every tom, dick and drunk harry shows up, sometimes dressed like chicken. >> in houston, believe it or not, a couple bars are still open. >> i have to say i was pretty lucky with that one. at least the guy had some clothes on. >> we're been out here a couple hours. it's cold out here. some people are just out of their minds. what are you going to do? it nuts. >> what happens when someone takes the focus off a reporter and someone covering a serious story like kim kardashian's wedding. >> we doo know the bride, kim, will be wearing vera wang, she'll be marrying kris humphries. she spoke out yesterday and while she didn't reveal a lot of juicy details, she did say her dress is going to blow everyone away. >> that was actually kris humphries himself. no, that child was showing right