Transcripts For FOXNEWS Happening Now 20100730

turned around the industry, but did it really work? jon: news is coming from around the world, the domestic desk, covering the united states, the foreign desk keeping an eye on events around the globe and our media desk bringing in all the video and live pictures for you around the clock. we'll have it, "happening now". jenna: just talking about the president, let's go ahead and start there, president obama taking a bit of a victory lap, one year after the massive auto industry bailout and the cash for clunkers program. the president will speak at chrysler and gm plants in detroit today. so was that effort really, truly a success? we're going to ask eric bolling from the fox business network. also the host of "money rocks". did it work? >> the jury is still out. is it working now, no! let me pull this up for you, here it is, we've loaned gm $50 billion, chrysler, a whole lot of zero, $65 billion. they still have $5 billion of that money. they've paid back 10 billion. so no, how can he claim a victory on this, when they still owe us $55 billion? jenna: auto sales actually did go up, this chart shows the clash for clunkers program. >> here's auto sales dropping dramatically. the one month, the one month it worked, was when cash for clunkers put 3 billion, five -- 3 billion another 2 billion, $5 billion into sales. look what happens when that program expires, it drops off the map to a lower point than they ported. jenna: then it goes up. >> what that is, that's a recovery. that's a recession, that's recovering, we're almost two years into this now and historically, still very low. i have a deal, i'm going to make mr. obama a deal. if you pay back $55 billion of loans through vehicle sales, i'll buy one of the cars and donate $50,000 to your charity. if you don't, you come on my show. jenna: $50,000. you have $50,000 in your pocket right now? >> listen, $55 billion. we're never going to get it. i would love to say gm and chrysler, were going to be so successful and great they could pay the money back. they never will. jenna: what if the president takes that? eric, you're a stock guy, you know the stock market well, talk to us about equity. besides the cash loan, what does that mean for our own snup. >> we have 61 percent of gm, 60 percent of chrysler as well. what they're trying to do, they're trying to take gm out of bankruptcy and float it, do an ipo, sell the public gm back. we already own this, we're already -- it's a government-opened entity now, but they want investors to buy it. by the way, unless you renegotiate with the uaw, unless you renegotiate all the contracts, once it goes back to the public hands, it's going to -- it's -- >> jenna: both of these -- >> i would never invest in a new gm, ever. >> you would not put your money in. >> never. jenna: you're saying the companies will never, ever not be government-owned. >> they will probably not be government-owned if they float it and go ipo and be -- private equity groups will buy it, investors, 401ks will buy it. bad investment. if you're going to invest in an auto company, go to ford, ford is doing everything right. by the way, obama will be at ford on wednesday. he was on the view, he can come on "money rocks". >> and it's 11:00 p.m. eastern time on the fox business network. jon, over to you. actually, i have a couple more things to talk about, the economy. we have brand new numbers out on the economy and this came out, just a few hours ago, the gross domestic product, growing at a slower pace than expected in the second quarter, 2.4%. part of the reason, less consumer spending, a fact reflected in a new measure of consumer confidence. we also got that as well from nine the university of michigan index, also tomson & reuters showing consumer sentiment at its lowest level since november. how we're feeling about this economy. we're keeping an eye on this, we have a great panel on the economy, where it's going, is it going to grow, is the government going to need to do more, and what you and your family can expect in the coming months. we will also take your questions on the con america's post them on our blog, fox news.com/happening now and we'll get to those in the next hour. now jon over to you. jon: thank you. there's a grim milestone to mark in the war in afghanistan. three u.s. service members have been killed in explosions there. that brings the death toll for july to 63. that makes it the deadliest month for american forces in that nearly nine year long war. is the taliban's grip on afghanistan stronger than u.s. forces bargained for? let's bring in lieutenant colonel tony schafer with the center for advanced defense studies and also an army lieutenant colonel in the reserves. all right, so lieutenant colonel schafer, we have long heard that things were going to get worse before they got better. >> that's right. jon: in afghanistan. is that what's going on here? >> well, yeah, i think there's three causal factors of why we're seeing the casualties. first it's inevitable by the fact you have more numbers of troops in country. you're going to have the high water warning theoretically next month in august when you have a total of 150, 150,000 troops in, about 100,000 u.s., 50,000 nato isaf, so just by the stats alone, you're going to have an inevitable rise if those forces are being used in combat. that brings me to the second point, is you're out in the areas looking for these guys, you've got marjah, not quite settled yet, there are issues related to the planning for what we call shapic operations going on for kandahar, kunar province and the issues there. so you have more potential for this, and lastly, you really do have a situation where the polices of counterinsurgency are putting us between the government and the taliban. so we are naturally the target. so if you are, you know, insinuating yourself like we are, you're going to be shot at and the inevitable consequences are, hence, losses. jon: but you've heard the complaints that the rules of engagement, some say, that general stanley mcchrystal put in place, not all of which have been changed all that much, because general petraeus just took over, those rules of engagement simply in some peoples' minds put our troops at a disadvantage. how do you respond to that? >> two points. first, they are confidential. they are considered classified. but what i've seen of them and heard of them, they are very complex, and result in essentially a bureaucratic process which slows down the ability of soldiers to execute their mission on the ground. with that said, when i was there in '03, it was a very simple -- in fact it was very similar to rules of use of deadly force. if you feel threatened, then you have the right to defend yourself, and therefore, if you have to expand the use of deadly force to indirect fires or helicopters, that sort of thing, you can do that. so i think that's part of the problem here. they've not been able to rectify those two extremes, where you want to protect the civilian population, absolutely cred -- incredibly critical, but you've not been able to refine the process so that things happen rapidly when you need the force to be applied. that's the real crux here, can they fix that now. they've got to do it if we're going to be effective. jon: let's talk about all of those thousands of documents on the afghan war that have been leaked through the wickileaks website. what's the net effect on the fighting man and woman? >> well, it's got to be a morale killer in some ways by the fact that, you know, there's a record here, and jon, you and i have talked about this both face to face and on the air, this is not new. known this for a while. i think it's a sting in that it shows that we've known in detail since 2004. i have a book coming out at the end of august that goes into detail of how we knew this in 2003. so the information is not new but it still hurts. second factor, the fact that we have all these documents out there is scary, and frankly, it's not the 92,000 that's out there that we have to worry about, it's the others that both wickileaks has admitted they have and secretary of defense said they probably do, and the problem is you can put a -- this is four giga bites of a hard drive. you can put a ton of stuff there. so the technology is there that anybody with a secret clearance can essentially become an insider threat and this is something that people have to take very seriously and clearly, and the question is how do we deal with this. jon: thank you, tony. >> thank you jon. jenna: a sobering situation really in afghanistan, but there are also stories of heroism as well, including this one, a soldier reuniting with the unlikely heroes who saved his life. rufus and target, the two stray dogs, were befriended by soldiers in afghanistan, the pooches returned the favor by stopping a homicide bomber from entering a barrack there. sergeant chris duke said he and -- he and other american soldiers owe their lives to these brave dogs. >> the other night, we were all hanging around the living quarters when a suspected taliban terrorist attempted to gain entry, he was wearing an explosive vest. we had three dogs that were just kind of random strays that we had been raising and taking care of and they wouldn't let him in, they were barking at him and growling and biting at him and stuff like that, and he got the door open, got just inside the doorway and was unable to make it all the way inside the building when he detonated himself. jenna: that's a good dog. the bomb did go off and several soldiers, including duke, were actually wounded by this. rufus and target took the blast, too, they were injured as well but nursed back to health and brought to the u.s. to live with duke and another soldier as well. there's a good story for you. in the meantime, to washington now, a memo outlining how illegal immigrants get a hand from uncle sam is raising questions in washington today. james rosen joins us live from the white house with this story. james. >> reporter: jenna and jon, good morning. senior obama administration officials are not disputing the authenticity of this memo, this draft memo, which was first obtained by the office of senator chuck grassley of iowa, however, they are telling us not to mistake a draft memo for actual administration policy. here's what the memo says, bearing in mind, first, a few key facts of the it is undated but appears to be from earlier this year, second, it was generated by staffers and lawyers within and addressed to the director of the u.s. customs and immigration services branch of the department of homeland security. the draft memo talks at one point about how to, quote, reduce the threat of removal for certain individuals present in the united states without authorization. it goes on to say in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, uscis can extend benefits and or protections to many individuals and groups by issuing new guidance and regulations, exercising discretion with regard to parole in place and deferred action and adopting significant process improvement. as to the memo the agency told us internal memoranduma help us do the thinking with regard to certain changes, they should not be equated with official action of the policy or department and concluded by saying we will not comment on notional predecisional memos. one month ago senator grassley and six others wrote to president obama to express concern the administration was considering exactly the kinds of steps proposed in this draft memo. appearing on fox & friends this morning, white house press secretary robert gibbs said he hadn't seen the memo, he doubted it had circulated widely through the white house but emphasized the administration is not pursuing the course described at one point in this memo as a nonlegislative version of amnesty. >> the white house doesn't support amnesty and i think people that support comprehensive immigration reform don't support amnesty, either. what we need to do is figure out how we're going to secure our borders, deal with those that are here but do it in a comprehensive way and at a federal level. >> reporter: just minutes ago, a homeland security official told our fox news justice department producer mike ler vine the memo was never signed and sent to its intend he recipient, alejandro miarcos, of homeulant secured. >> thank you. jon, we'll be talking to senator grassley early next hour. jon: it will be interesting to hear what he has to say about all this, jenna. thank you. getting ouof dodge. take a look, live pictures as california firefighters try to get a handle on some raging fires that are skirting some neighborhoods. firefighters are putting together an awful-out assault by air, hoping to keep the flames from overrunning thousands of homes. and police resort to tear gas when protestors turn violent, pelting officers with rocks. what is sparking this trouble? jenna: a fox news alert, we're going bring to you california where crews are launching an air assault on a fast moving wildfire, the biggest of three fires in northern l.a. county exploding just yesterday, force -- affecting 6000 airks and several structures and forcing thousands of californians to get out of their homes as fast as they can. bob dicastro of kt tv, out of palmdale, what's going on where you are now? >> reporter: we're still waiting for that all-out air assault which is supposed to begin at first light but we are monitoring the radio transmissions from the command and we do know that preparations are underway. let me tell you, this is a good time to do it because the winds are very light. one of the areas they're going to be focusing on is this area we're standing in front of right here, the northeast flank of the crown fire. there are a couple of reasons why we're going to be focusing on this area. first of all there are a lot of transmission lines that come through this area, specifically, two major transmission lines that provide power to southern california, so they don't want any of those destroyed or damaged. secondly, as we continue to pan left there, you'll see there are some homes over there. that's a community called ana verdes. we're close to palmdale argues community under mandatory evacuation orders at this hour. some 2000 resident versus evacuated, many of them in relaters now, they activate add reverse 911 around 5:00 yesterday for about 4000 oams, about half decided to leave. this broke out around 3:00 yesterday afternoon. we have a few new numbers for you. they are saying this now burned about 12 square miles, and they do say that this is about 5 percent contained. interesting that they would even give that number, because really that's not -- it basically is zero percent contained. some 700 firefighters now fighting this fire, and again, they are waiting for this all-out air assault, four tankers, two sky cranes, two fire hawks, so they have a lot of planes and air assets available to them that they hope to bring to bear on this fire. they're expecting warmer temperatures today, low, relative humidity and the two biggest factors today that will be driving this fire, all the vegetation you're looking at right here, and also, they're saying this fire is creating its own wind. this is not exactly a wind-driven fire, but as i said, jen yarks what they're waiting on right now is for the air attacks and hoping the air attacks are fruitful. jenna: bob dicastro from our affiliate station, kt tv, thank you. jon: fox news alert, we're getting word of another fire in the los angeles area, this one in south l.a. proper, 100 firefighters called to the scene of a building that has apparently exploded, and we are told three people inside, at least, were simply blown out into the street. it's a two-story building, a commercial structure. they say that it houses a welding operation, and apparently, some kind of combination of welding gases, perhaps natural gas, has exploded there, blowing the entire front off of the building. one hundred firefighters have responded. a number of people have been injured. but so far, no reports on how serious those injuries are. once again, this is happening in south l.a., 100 firefighters responding, the fire that resulted has been put out, but there is a huge mess and a recovery operation for those victims who might still be trapped inside. we're efforting some pictures and will bring that to you as soon as more information becomes available. jenna: jon, it's been one year since three american hikers were detained in iran. what their moms are doing to mark this sad occasion. a new study show it causes premature birth, it's something many pregnant women drink every day. what is it? find out next. jenna: listen to this, down ago diet soda might put you at risk of having a premature baby this, according to a new study looking at premies, finds that artificial sweeteners may be the culprit. we ask a doctor about this, so one out of eight babies, premature. does diet soda play a role in that? >> there's a new study that was done mainly with danish women, 60,000 pregnant women, drinking diet soda versus drinking soda or other beverages that were sweetened with regular sugar and they found that there was an increased risk of pre-term delivery. now, pre-term delivery means before 37 weeks. jenna: sure. >> all right so, if you drank at least one diet soda, or i don't want to say soda but any diet beverage with artificial sweetener it put you at a 37 percent greater risk than other women of delivering premature and if you drink more, it puts you at -- puts you at an 80 percent greater risk. jenna: do you find this in your practice? >> i never really ask people about drinking soda. i tell people to stay away from sugary drinks because it increases their weight gain and you know how difficult it is to take that off. jenna: that can cause complications if you gain too much weight. in this group, does that mean drinking regular soda with the real sugar is okay? >> no. we're always going to say try to drink water. you know, there's no nutritional benefit -- >> jenna: pregnancy doesn't sound like a lot of fun, doctor. >> it's not always the most fun but you get your pleasure in other things. so what i would say is if you have an -- if you want to have an occasional soda, whether it has sugar or it's a diet soda, it's not a big deal. even the main researcher in this study said more studies need to be done. jenna: what about this artificial sweetener that you can put in like say a cup of tea, is that something we should be worried about, artificial sweetener like a splenda or something like that? >> according to the study it would be the same thing, any beverage sweetened with artificial sweetener is of some concern. but if you drink it in moderation, it's not going to be a big deal. jenna: okay, that's what we'll take, on moderation, doctor, thank you very much for joining us. clearing that up a bit. jon. jon: a little bit more information in this fox news alert about that building explosion in los angeles. conflicting reports on whether this was a fire or an explosion. but you can see, it is a mess that is resulting. we're told at least two people are injured. now, the a.p. is quote ago fire captain, steve ruda, as saying that this was a violent natural gas explosion, and that pretty much blew apart or at least blew the front off of a two-story building in south l.a. he says that the building housed a welding operation. three people, blown into the street, they were apparently wedged underneath parked cars when firefighters first got there. flames burned for about 25 minutes. one hundred firefighters dispatched to put it all out. it is a mess. we have the fox chopper on the way to the scene there in south los angeles. when we get more information and more video, we'll bring it to you stateaway. jenna: amazing picture there is. we'll stay on that. in the meantime, mexico scoring a major victory in its war on drugs, soldiers taking down a major figure in the cartel. we're going to detail that ahead. also democratic congressman charlie rangel headed for a public ethics trial at the height of the campaign season. our debate, the impact of this as democrats fight to keep control of congress. that's next. eating healthy is important, but only vegetables can give you vegetable nutrition. one of these will get you more than half way to your five daily servings. v8. what's your number? jon: right now we're waiting to hear from president obama. he'll be speaking in about 30 minutes in the hear of america's auto industry, detroit, michigan. the president expected to tout the taxpayer auto bailout and how it put the automakers on the road to recovery. also we're waiting for a news conference on the oil disaster in the gulf. national commander thad allen set to update us on the efforts to kill the well and clean up the oil. mexico taking down the number three leader in that country's most powerful drug cartel. soldiers killing ignacio nacho cornell in a gun battle near guadal la hard rah yesterday. considered the founder of mexico's methamphetamine trade, his death the biggest strike so far against the cartel since late 2006. jenna? jenna: now to washington, jon, where there's more fallout from the stunning announcement veteran democrat charlie rangel is headed for a very messy ethics trial, at least for now. at the height of the fall election season. molly henneberg is live on this story for us. molly, we're still not hearing much from congressman rangel. why not? >> reporter: hi, jenna. well, the they could be discussing some type of deal or arrangement with rangel's lawyers that would help him avoid that type of trial. rangel had said after yesterday when the ethics report was made public about those 13 violations that he was anxious to tell his side. but this morning he said this: >> the questions are coming in that i can't tell you. nothing has changed and last night was -- [inaudible] the ethics committee meeting this morning, and i've only -- [inaudible] that said, i wish i could talk with you. >> reporter: the ethics committee members didn't have much to say when they were going into their meeting this morning. we did hear from democrats from north carolina, congressman butterfield who said, quote, this is a bipartisan committee, and this process is working. jenna? jenna: the congressman was busy this morning, wasn't he, molly? we heard he was meeting with new york lawmakers as well. can you tell us a little bit about that? >> reporter: well, the democrats from districts in rangel's home state of new york were meeting in part to discuss the rangel matter. we do know that congressman rangel went into the room where they were meeting and left four minutes later. we don't know much else besides that, but here's what a good friend of rangel's in that democratic new york delegation had to say. >> he would never do anything that he would benefit from. i mean, no question about that. so i think let the process just play out. and i think at the end of the day, he'll be fine. >> reporter: barring any type of deal, the public trial likely would begin in september. jenna: normally quiet in washington on a friday, isn't it, molly? not today. >> reporter: not today. [laughter] jenna: thank you so much. jon: just when the midterm campaigns are ready to hit full swing, one of the most powerful democrats in the house could face trial on serious ethics charges. what does it mean for other democrats? let's get into a debate on that with debbie dingell, former chair of vice president al gore's 2000 campaign in michigan. ron von jean is former communications directer to house speaker dennis hastert. fair to say most democrats would like this charlie rangel thing to go away, wouldn't they? >> well, i don't think anybody likes to see something like this play out because you forget there are good men and women in both parties who really believe in the institution of public service. it's a sad day, but it also shows that people are committed to making the process work, and there's going to be a full and public hearing on what the issues are. jon: so, ron, are republicans going to try to take advantage of this? >> i don't think they need to. charlie rangel's doing all the work for them. you know, the prospect of a public trial in september would be devastating for the democratic party, especially going into the midterm elections. it'll take them off message, and if it goes into october when congress leaves, there's nothing else to coffer by charlie rangel. this is going to be a drip, drip, drip. the key thing is to watch and see how many democratic lawmakers call on charlie rangel to resign because the more they do, the more he's in trouble. jon: should nancy pelosi tell charlie rangel to resign? >> first of all, i have never things so today. everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and i think all of us need to remember that. republicans, unfortunately, have had people who have been equally guilty. it was the outside press that said the republican leadership was running a criminal syndicate outside of their office before speaker pelosi came into office. and "the wall street journal" themself said pelosi led the toughest ethics legislation we've seen in a generation. efforts have been made to clean up this institution and to have tough laws that bring transparency. house of representatives is reflective of this country. there are people that make mistakes and do things that are wrong. we don't know that charlie rangel did, but there are people in both parties that have done things wrong in the past, and neither party has anything to be happy about when they see something like this happen. jon: one thing that seems to have resulted is a -- and whether you can tie this to the charlie rangel situation or just the overall mood of the country, but when fox news opinion dynamics asked people abouttarian votes -- their votes for congress in 2010, would you vote for the democratic candidate -- this poll taken just a couple of days ago, 36% said yes, republican candidate 47% said yes. ron, why? >> well, i'll tell you what, speaker pelosi said she was going to drain the swamp on ethics. that didn't happen. and if you look, there's been a pattern of abuse by democratic lawmakers and officials. you have secretary timothy geithner who didn't pay his taxes, you had tom daschle who was going for secretary of health and human services. now we have charlie rangel. he had a big problem with failure to pay his taxes in the dominican republic. what you see is a pattern here, and when people see a pattern, they see fire. jon: all right, ron and debbie, have to say good-bye. thank you both. >> thank you. jon: and this weekend be sure to watch a fox news special report on the battle for control of washington. fox goes inside some key races to determine what's going to happen to the obama agenda. watch the fight to control congress. it's hosted by bret baier this sunday 3 and 9 p.m. eastern time. jenna: all right, jon, we have some brand new information on that explosion we've been telling you about in south los angeles. you're seeing brand new video of this scene. let's just fill you in on what you're looking at here. eric scott, a spokesman for l.a. city fire, is telling fox news this, he's talking about an explosion. he said there was an explosion that caused people in one of these buildings to be thrown across the street. that's how powerful it is. or it was. it happened right before 7 a.m. right out there on the west coast. and there's been some conversation about what caused this explosion. the associated press talking about a natural gas explosion. we're hearing there was something of a building collapse caused by a fire, so we're going to look for more information on that. 100 firefighters are currently on scene right now. they also have urban search and rescue on scene looking for potential victims. right now l.a. city fire is just telling us about two injured people so far, but as you can see, it's a mess down there. they're going to have to figure out if there's anyone underneath some of that rubble, and as you can imagine, quite a chaotic situation in south los angeles. we'll keep you posted but wanted to show you some of that new video and information that we had. in the meantime, coming up just ahead, arnold schwarzenegger sitting down with tom sullivan for an exclusive chat. the governator letting fox in on his plans after he leaves office in january. and one major city is looking to tax ham burgers. yeah, that's right. and that's toasting some people's buns. get it? 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like the sound of no referrals needed to see a specialist? you get all that, too. call now to get your free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare. yep... this is one great card! call this toll-free number now for this... free information kit and medicare guide. jon: some new information on that explosion in los angeles. it happened less than two hours ago, 6:51 a.m. pacific time, we are told. the roof absolutely blown off what was a welding business there, we're told. 100 firefighters on the scene. it took them about 25 minutes to put out the flames, but they've actually brought in search and rescue dogs to look for other victims who they believe could be trapped in the rubble of that building. it was a welding business, a two-story building. people who were inside blown out into the street, we're told, by a fire fighting spokesman. again, the hunt goes on for other victims who may have been inside. you can see the tremendous damage that was done by what firefighters are calling a tremendous natural gas explosion. we'll get more information, continue to keep you updated on "happening now." of jenna: we're going to move a little further north of los angeles to sacramento, the state capital. some say as california goes, so does the nation, and california is dealing with a major budget crisis as governor arnold schwarzenegger's wrapping up his final term in office. tom sullivan sat down with the governor for an exclusive one-on-one interview. pension reform is key to pulling the state out of the red. >> i've talked since i've come into office about the danger of public pensions. these pensions they claim there's only like $100 million debt, but in the meantime we found out there's $500 billion debt. now for the first time labor is coming to the table. jenna: tom sullivan joins us live from sacramento. is there any end in sight for california's budget battle? >> not really. a month from now, supposed to be july 1st, is when the law said they had to have their new budget in effect. but, hey, they ignored the law on a regular basis year after year after year. they are always late. but heir not even close. the -- they're not even close. the deficit is 19 billion in california, and the head of the senate, a democrat by the name of daryl steinberg, said that his solution to it was to raise taxes on everybody, raise the car registration fee, and lower the sales tax. and his idea was we get to deduct our, those taxes, the car license tax and the income tax on the federal return, the state income tax on the federal return. so he says that way california will get back some of the money from the federal government. but they're way off. the governor has said there's no way he's going to be signing anything with a big tax increase in it, and he wants, as you just heard, structural reform to the way that pension laws are in california that were updated in '99, he wants them updated again to be more reasonable. jenna: that expression that we just said at the top of the segment about, you know, as does california goes, so does the nation, is there anything we can take away nationally based on what we're seeing in california? >> well, i think the place to look is right across the river from where you are, jenna, is over in new jersey. and watch governor kristy. even -- christy, he is using some smoke and mirrors to get the new jersey budget balanced, but at the same time he got it done. california is not like the rest of the nation. yes, 30 some states were upside down this year on their budgets, but california is now totally unmanageable, ungovernor bl, it's dysfunctional. they are so far apart it will probably be another month or two. jenna: any terminator movie in his future? did he let youen youen in in onf that? >> i'm sorry? jenna: a terminator movie? >> listen, i'm worried about my job. i asked the governor, i said, what are you going to do? you're going to be an ex governor here in a few months, and this is what he had to say. >> i've been successful my spire life, and i know i will be very successful after this is over. so i may be sitting on your chair. i will be maybe one of the commentators for fox. who knows? i maybe will be doing interviews. who knows? and i will be doing more movies with sly. jenna: i guess there is. >> he may be doing more movies with sly, or he, you know, this might be my last day on the job. i don't know. maybe arnold will be talking to you next. [laughter] jenna: we'll see. thank you very much, tom, i really appreciate you joining us. remember, see tom's entire interview this weekend on the tom sullivan show airing saturday at 7 and 10 eastern time, sunday at 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. eastern time. jon, let's get over to that breaking news. jon: we have new information, jenna, on that los angeles building explosion and partial collapse. trace gallagher from our west point -- west coast bureau is there. trace, what do you know? >> reporter: look at the pictures, john, this is amazing. we've been watching this for the better part of the last 30 or 35 minutes. you can see the wreckage is falling down. we know this explosion happened in a welding operation about an hour and 35 minutes ago. 100 firefighters are now on the scene. the people on scene said the explosion was so powerful that it hurled people out of the building, and when firefighters arrived, there was one man who was actually wedged beneath the axle of a car. the big concern now as you look at the wreck an kind of -- wreckage kind of falling down, people may still be trapped inned there. but because of that wreckage and how unsecure it is, firefighters cannot go inside, so they're bringing search dogs in to try and send them inside to see if they can detect anybody. it happened at a time when there may not have been a great number of people inside working, but the problem is they just don't know. those who were injured have now been taken to the hospital. they're trying to account for the rest who might have been in the building which is why firefighters are now sending in these search dogs to get some indication. they're also talking to other employees to find out who might have been inside. this thing, again, a welding operation. the firefighters calling this a huge natural gas explosion, and the focus now not only the scene around there, but exactly who might still be inside. we're getting breaking information. we'll bring it to you, jon, as it comes in to the west coast newsroom. jon: all right. thank you, trace. jenna: the president is due to speak soon at a chrysler plant in the heart of america's auto industry. we're going to bring it to you live when that happens. and when a category five hurricane strikes, just about nothing remains. one company claims it's building homes right now that can withstand nature's strongest winds, even a cat five. we have that story next. when i group, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to work with kids. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. 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[ female announcer ] together we can discover the best of what's next at aarp.org. jon: right now a florida company is building a community of homes it promises can withstand the strongest of hurricanes, a category five, capable of incredible destruction. check this out, a cat five packing winds above 155 miles an hour, complete roof failure is the norm on most homes and complete destruction of mobile homes. storm surges that can be 18 feet or more and massive evacuations of folks living on low ground within 5-10 miles of the florida shoreline. a home has to be tough, obviously, to stand up to that kind of trouble. orlando salinas is live in miami with more. >> reporter: jon, you know, we are now into the third month of the hurricane season, about to start that third month of 2010, and, jon, you know whenever you say that word hurricane around florida, folks around these parts listen up. now, as you were saying, when we heard about this company that says it can make a hurricane-resistant home -- not hurricane-proof, hurricane-resistant -- said it makes its homes out of 100% concrete? we wanted to take a look. >> swing left, swing left. >> reporter: making concrete homes is messy business in oak choke, florida, royal concrete concepts is building 250 of these modular homes on site and hauling them off to mississippi where they'll be put back together, an entire community of leg go-like homes. >> the model is called the santa fe. >> reporter: the company is also shipping to georgia. >> we build the walls, and the roof is -- we put as much concrete as we have to to make it strong, hurricane-resistant. >> reporter: the homes range in price from about 55 to $200,000. tested to withstand monster category five winds. all 100% concrete. >> the floor is concrete. >> reporter: three months ago these people decided they wanted a concrete castle in the florida keys. >> anyone that lives down here, i don't think it would surprise them that somebody wants to do a house like this. they know what a storm can do. >> reporter: jon, let me tell you, some parts of those homes that we saw are 10 inches thick of concrete. this company, royal concrete concepts, has built about 4,000 concrete classrooms in florida. 34 of the 67 counties use these classrooms, and they said, look, people love these classrooms, maybe they'd like these as homes. sure enough, that's what they're finding out. georgia, mississippi, texas, florida so far. jon? jon: orlando salinas, thank you. >> reporter: all right. jenna: the paddling professor is at it again. 89-year-old dr. harry brigs is a professor at northwestern state, and he's not letting age slow him down. just yesterday he swam 2 miles to raise money for a scholarship fund named for his late wife. >> well, my message talk would o quote a great american philosopher -- namely yogi berra -- it ain't over until it's over. so with me, it's not over. we want to do something at age 90. jenna: what is he going to do next, right? his famous swim is becoming the first person to cross lake erie without any help, and again, we're going to have to wait until next year to find out what he's doing next. it ain't over until it's over, jon. jon: yogi the source of a lot of great quotes. two miles he swam? i couldn't swim 200 yards. good for him. new information coming up for you on that explosion in los angeles. we are now told and perhaps it should be no surprise when you look at what happenedo that building, we are now told that at least one person has been killed. firefighters when they got to this building found folks who had been blown out into the street. one person, we're told, was actually pinned under the axle of a car which makes it sound like maybe the car itself was blown into the air with that victim. search dogs have gone into the rubble of that building to look for other victims because it's simply too dangerous for firefighters. we'll update you with more information in our second hour of "happening now." [ femalennouncer ] it's crabfest at red lobster. the best time to crack it... twirl it... dunk it... and discover more new ways than ever to enjoy crab. like our new crab lover's trio wi crab-stuffed shrimp, and succulent north pacific king and snow crab legs. or our decadent crab and shrimp pasta. new crab creations for every craving, starting at $14.99, ony during crabfest. right now at red lobster. climate protection. challenges as vast as the space race a generation ago. and tal to global security. to reach this destination, our engineers are exploring everyossibility. from energy efficiency to climate monitoring. securing our nations clean energyuture is all a question of how. and it is the how that will make all the difference. jon: a fox news alert for you now, we are learning that explosion at a commercial building in south los angeles has turned deadly. new video is just coming in. the force of that ebgts khraougs -- explosion sending people flying into the street, wedging epl under parked cars. the captain of the l.a. fire department joins us now on the phone. we understand this was a natural gas explosion, captain? >> we are not absolutely sure. this particular structure is on a commercial street where welding operations took place. it was a building 100x100. i'm one hundred feet from it gathered with search and rescue dreams watching them make searching. they are doing quick shoring so the structure will not collapse on them as they are looking for a third sreup. there could be inside this building industrial gases. natural gas, some type of gas built up inside this building. when the individuals came in to start their workday that gas found a source of eug notion and you can see we've had a catastrophic collapse literally blowing out into the street and literally sending at least two of the three underneath cars that were just wedged between the axles. the firefighters were able to quickly get a knock down on the fire which was accomplished by the firefighters here in fire station 23, 66. over 120 firefighters on scene here. now we are inside. i am watching a bought full labrador coming up the street with its k-9 apbd hrer and it will do a search inside. these are the same dogs we used in the world trade center, katrina we have a lot of work ahead of us this morning. jon: i know this is a situation where it's so dangerous to send people inside, the dogs can handle the job better than actually the human searchers can. >> they are eager to get started. they have the great scent. i'm watching this black lab excited to enter the building. we have firefighters inside doing quick searches shoring as they go so the structure does not collapse on them as well. i'm watch as one of our los angeles city firefighters are getting a scent and getting ready to go inside the building now. jon: thars you know there is one fatality confirmed and two other people injured. >> we have one fatality, one critically injured and we are looking for what we believe that was reported to us as third that did not get outside of the building. that's why we brought in the k-9 search dogs to make the search right now. jon: can you describe what it looked like when you first arrived? we are looking right now of aerials of this place. to have those people, well blown-out into the street and under those cars it had to be a horrific scene. >> it is a horrific scene. here in los angeles we are certainly accustomed to earthquake, earthquake damages throughout the years. it looks like the front of this building has literally collapsed into the street. a large, wooden building, arch tru s-rbs s construction, bridge truss construction, a lot of heavy timber and weight here. with the help of the dogs and the urban search-and-rescue teams shoring this building up we're making this safe. i'm watching the fire department making its way in as the beautiful black lab dog is helping us with his capability hopefully searching and identifying and maybe we have a victim in a void space. we don't hear any screaming or crying out. we believe this was the early morning crew that possibly came in to start business here in a commercial district just south of downtown los angeles. jon: i know that it's tough to estimate, because you probably haven't been inside yourself, but how long will it take a dog to search a building of this size when it's in this condition? >> it looks like that the front third of the building has sustained most of the collapse and damage. these dogs, once again i'm just watching that little lab scamper and it is excitedly looking for a scent of a human being. we have dogs with the capability of being cadaver dogs that operate off of the scent of human beings that possibly could be dead. it's hard to say. it could find it right away, once it tells its master that it has located somebody or alerts to the fact that it's finding somebody that it has to find then we'll get on it right away. i'm watching the urban search and rescue firefighters right now with cameras, it's called a snake eye, once the dog alerts to an area we used these in new york during the world trade center where we're able to put into a void space and possibly see inside through the crevasses to see where the dog has alerted. it's going to be a long operation this morning on the out skirts of downtown l.a. jon: i want to alert our viewers that the chop has arrived on the scene and we are getting our first live pictures. they are working with the the exposure and so forth. it is a little bit rocky at this point. it's my understanding that this place at least if not engulfed in flames it was burning when the first fire crews got there. it took them almost half an hour to put the flames out. >> right, there was a fire station that is located on main street that rapidly got here. the first concern was to save the victims that were literally blown in the street as well as to attack the firement they got a quick knock down open the fire which is good, because that helps the integrity of the building, that helping -- helps us get inside and do search and rescue initially, even though dang language -- dangling over the head of fire tpaoeurts is an extremely dangerous thing to do, and that's what we do throughout the country, this is what we do we go in, endanger our life to possibly save the lives of others who are trapped inside who cannot help themselves. jon: our hats are off to them for the work they are doing. this looks like a very dangerous scene. have you spoken to any eyewitnesses? was there anyone in neighboring buildings that can tell you more about what happened, what it sounded like or looked like? >> just a large explosion just before 7:00. i'm standing literally a hundred feet from -- in a debris field as windows andwhat not across the street here on east 59th street. it's basically filled with debris and wood and glass that literally pushed out as the explosion exploded into the street here on west 59th street. jon: captain, you're with the los angeles fire department, there you can see the after math of this horrific building explosion in south central l.a. the entire front of the building blown-out into the street. a couple of people who apparently were inside or maybe just entering the building also knocked into the street. one person has been killed, one person is hospitalized. they are looking for at least one other person inside the rubble of that building which was, we understand a welding company, some kind of a gas explosion there. don't know what kind of gas, don't know what triggered it. you can see the after math and it is awful. jenna: a fox news alert for you now, president obama is due to speak any moment in detroit. he's touring a chrysler plant right now and is expected to discuss the auto industry bail out. his administration used this bail out as an economic success story arguing that it helped save american jobs and automakers as a whole. we are watching this carefully for you, we'll bring you the president's comments live. jon: right now on the west coast, firefighters are battling three fast-moving blazess in southern california. those wildfires exploding overnight tearing through miles of very dry brush, threatening thousands of homes and consuming some. now the flames are spreading north and west of los angeles. our adam housley is in palmdale, california. so firefighters who are there now, adam, what is their biggest concern? >> reporter: the biggest concern at this moment are the communication towers as well as the power grid. the homes that have been threatened right now are in a little bit better shape but there's worries as the winds pick up this afternoon that could change. let's go to video that we have that came into us that shows how the has damaged some of the communication towers on the hills north and east of los angeles. we are about an hour or so from downtown, a lot of people commute from here into los angeles. there are a significant number of homes here right now. the fire has damaged at least one communication area and it's also now threatening the power grid because there is significant you power lines that run through here into los angeles. if those were to go up that could cause serious problems for hundreds of thousands of people here in los angeles as this fire continues to burn. it began about 3:00 yesterday afternoon here and quickly spread. the heat here expected to be about 104 to 105 degrees, humidity in the low teens, and the winds again expected to gust 25 to 30 miles an hour this afternoon, and blow towards the homes. in fact if we can come back here live we can give you the idea of where the fire is burning. it shows you a power grid from here on the ground. behind me you can see the smoke, i can assure you there are flames on the ridge and they come across and go right toward that prouer grid right there, jon, that is what they are worried about right now. the homes are in the distance. we'll keep you updated on the fire in southern california as it continues to burn and as fire season kicks into gear here in the golden state. jon: that is scary stuff. jenna: new numbers show the economy is growing, just not as fast as predicted and not enough for job growth. why is the -- does the obama administration keep applauding the recovery. we're going to talk about that. then there is this. >> you vote yes if you believe yes. you vote in favor of something if you believe it's the right thing. if you believe it's the wrong thing you vote no. we are following a procedure, i will not yield to the gentleman and the gentleman will observe regular order. the gentleman will observe regular order. jenna: a new york congressman firing back at republicans in the house. what about 9/11 first responders got that congressman so hot under the collar? we have that next. my doctor told me, as we age... it's harder to build bone density with calcium and vitamin d alone. he recommends citracal plus bone density builder... the only calcium supplement with genistein found in nature in soy and proven to significantly build bone density. citracal. another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack that's caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines, goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming dangerous clots. ask your doctor if plavix is right for you. protection that helps save lives. certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your doctor may use genetic tests to determine treatment. don't stop taking plavix without talking to your doctor as your risk of heart attack or stroke may increase. people with stomach ulcers or conditions that cause bleeding should n use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines, including aspirin, may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. tell your doctor all medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than 2 weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. jenna: we're bringing you live to detroit, michigan. that is a chrysler autoplant you're looking at right now. we are expecting the president to step up to the microphone. we imagine it to be right where the camera is angling. you can see some of the new vehicles, folks standing around awaiting the president. he's going to be talking about the bail out of the auto industry, something that he really put into place just a few months after becoming president, saying it kept workers on the job. oh, it looks like we have a couple of announcements. let's just hang out here and see for a second if the president is going to be stepping to the microphone. as you heard that loudspeaker potentially announcing the president. we don't really know exactly when he will step to the microphone, we expect it to be any moment. again, the auto bailout is part of what he's going to be speaking out today and also next week, talking about the fact that it helped these companies like chrysler and general motors return to profitability and also kept jobs. we'll monitor the situation and bring you to the president when he steps up to the microphone for his live comments. jon. jon: "happening now," jenna five other states considering bills similar to arizona's immigration law. after a judge blocked some key provisions of that law what can those states expect? our next guests say every state has the right to enforce laws that compliment federal law. joining us now texas attorney general greg abbott and nebraska attorney general john br u.n. ning. welcome to both of you. when you heard the ruling on the immigration law in arizona, your reaction? >> it wasn't unexpected. i think what you're seeing here is a cry for help from arizona. you're going to see it from dozens of other states in january telling the federal government to build the fence, solve the problem, stop the flow of illegal immigration. nebraska is going to be one of the next wave and i guess this decision wasn't unexpected. i feel like the federal judiciary, the federal government is kind of on the other side, the states are on the side saying enough is enou enough. jon: texas and nebraska and the other states filed court papers supporting in essence arizona's position. what do you say now that the judge struck down so much of that law? i mean, what can you physically do to continue to support arizona? >> well we say two things. first of all the country is less safe today because the federal government has not stepped up and fulfilled its responsibility to protect our borders from the crime that is spilling over. secondly, the country is even less safe because the federal government is prohibiting states from being able to step up and protect their citizens. but we're just in the early innings of this whole process. as general br u.n. ning mentioned we weren't surprised that the federal judge ruled the way she did. i believe there are certain reasons why her ruling can be overturned on appeal. we'll be involved in the process of supporting arizona as it goes to the court of appeals then on to the united states supreme court. we believe there are solid reasons why the arizona law should be upheld because courts, as well as the united states department of justice, have recognized that states had the authority that are not preempted by congress, to enforce immigration laws, to protect their citizens. jon: greg abbott is the attorney general of texas. john br u.n. ning from nebraska, we thank you both. jenna: president obama at a chrysler plant in michigan talking about the auto industry. he's just beginning his comments. we'll take a listen and see what the president has to say. >> we have special guests here i want to acknowledge. first of owl your secretary of transportation who has helped to make sure that we are guiding this process of rebuilding the american auto industry and is doing an outstanding job from peoria, illinois, secretary ray lahood. give him a big round of applause. because of a funeral she continue be here but i want everybody to give a huge roud of applause to one of the best governors in very tough times that exist anywhere in the country, jennifer granholme, she is doing a grit job. your outstanding new mayor and close to my heart nba hall-of-famer, david banks is in the house. two of the hardest working senators anywhere, and they are always thinking about mitch gone and michigan manufacturing, making stuff right here in the united states of america, carl levin and debbie savanaugh. outstanding member of congress representative carolyn kilpatrick. uaw president bob king is in the house. [applause] >> and chrysler ceo sergio ma marchoni. he's doing a great job. i just had a tour of this outstanding plant with sergio and pat walsh your plant manager, and general holifield, that is a name right there, general holifield vice president of the uaw. cynthia holland your local uaw president. [applause] >> and it was great to see the work that you're doing and the what ares cars that you're building, especially when you consider the fact that just over a year ago the future here seemed very much in doubt. now before i make my remarks i've got to disclose i'm a little biased here because the first new car that i ever bought was a grand cherokee. [applause] >> first new car. up until that point i had had some old beat up used cars. you know, they were not state of the art. and i still remember walking into that show room and driving out with that new car, it had that new car smell, and everything worked. [laughter] >> i wasn't used to that. had all these -- everything was electronic. all my -- i had had to roll up my windows up until that point. so, i've got some good memories of that car, but i've got to tell you, when i sat in this car, this is a better car. this is a state of the art car. this is a world-class car right here. [applause] >> now, i want everybody to think about where we were. we were in the midst, when i took office, of a deep and painful recession that cost our economy about 8 million jobs. 8 million jobs. and took a terrible toll on communities like this one. our economy was shrinking about 6% per quarter. now this morning we learned that our economy grew by 2.4% in the second quarter of the year. so that means it's now been growing again for one full year. [applause] >> our economy is growing again instead of shrinking. that's a welcome sign compared to where we were. but we've got to keep on increasing that rate of growth and keep adding jobs so we can keep moving forward, and that is especially important for places like this. in the 12 months before i took office the american auto industry lost hundreds of thousands of jobs. sales plunged 40%. think about that. the industry looked like it was going over a cliff. as the financial crisis and the vicious recession collided with an industry that for too long had avoided hard choices, and hadn't fully adapted to changing times, we finally reached the point where two of the big three, chrysler and gm, were on the brink of liquidation, and that left us with very few choices. one choice, one option was to keep the practical of giving billions of dollars of taxpayer money to the auto industry, but not really forcing any accountability or change. so you just on kicking the tough problems down the road year after year and hopefully seeing if you can get more and more money out of washington. a second option was to do nothing and risk allowing two of the big three to disinch great -- disinegrate. that could have been the end of an industry like no other industry that makes up the american spirit. this industry has been the source of pride for generations of american workers whose imaginations led to some of the finest cars the world has ever known, and its sweat has built the middle class that has held up the dreams of millions of our people. i just met one of your coworkers on the line, he's third generation working at chrysler, his grandfather worked at chrysler, his father worked at chrysler, now he's on the line at chrysler. and that could have all vanished. now the worst thing about it is that if we had done nothing not only were your jobs gone, but supplier jobs were gone, and dealership jobs were gone, and the communities that depend on them would have been wiped out. and by the way when you talk to the ceo of ford he'll tell you that that wouldn't have been good for ford either, because a lot of those suppliers that they depend on might have gone out of business. independent estimates suggest that more than one million jobs could have been lost if chrysler and gh had liquidated. and in the middle of a deep recession that would have been a brutal irreversible shock, not just to detroit, not just to the midwest, but to our entire economy. so i refused to let that happen, and we came up with a third way. what we said was, if you're willing to take the tough and painful steps necessary to make yourselves more competitive, if you're willing to pull together, workers, management, suppliers, dealers, everybody, to remake yourself for changing times, then we'll stand by you and we'll invest in your future. our strategy was to get this company and this industry back on its feet taking a hands-off approach saying, you guys know the business, we don't, we are going to give you a chance but we do know you've got to change. now not surprisingly a lot of folks were skeptical, you remember last year. a lot of folks were saying, well this is stupid, we shouldn't be helping them. and i understand that. look, this is a hardy situation -- hard, decision. i didn't want government to get into the autobusiness. i've got enough to do. [laughter] >> and the politics of it weren't good. your delegation was supportive but debbie and carl and carolyn and others, they'll tell you, there are a lot of folks in washington who said it continue be done. but i believed that if each of us were willing to work and sacrifice in the short term, workers, management, creditors, shareholders, retirees, communities, it could mark a new beginning for a great american industry. and if we could summon that sense of teamwork and common purpose we could once again see the best cars in the world designed, engineered, forged and built right here in detroit, right here in the midwest, right here in the united states of america. [applause] >> so i placed that faith in you and all of america's autoworkers. and you've vindicated that belief. the fact that we are standing in this magnificent factory today is a testament to the decisions we made, and the sacrifices that you and countless stake holders across this industry and this country were willing to make. so today this industry is growing stronger. it's creating new jobs. it's manufacturing the fuel-efficient cars and trucks that will carry us toward an energy-independent future. you are proving the nay sayers wrong, all of you. [applause] >> they thought it would be impossible for your company to make the kind of changes necessary to restore fiscal discipline and move towards viability. today for the first time since 2004 all three u.s. automakers are operating at a profit, first time in six years. [applause] >> last year sales plummeted and manufacturers and suppliers across the country were forced to idle planting and furlough workers. today chrysler is responding to more demand than anticipated by keeping this plant and others running through the usual summer shut down. the same goes for gm's plant, sales have rebounded across the supply change, plants that wouldn't exist without the sacrifice made across this industry are running at near full capacity. last year many thought this industry would keep losing jobs as it has for the better part of the past decade. today u.s. automakers have added 55,000 jobs since last june, the strongest job growth in more than ten years in the auto industry. [applause] >> this plant just hired a new shift of 1100 workers last week. [applause] >> met one of your coworkers on the line he said, thank you, mr. president, i needed to get out of the house. [laughter] >> i said, i know your wife really felt that way. [laughter] >> i'm sure you were driving her crazy. the d u.n. dee chrysler plant will begin production of an american-made advanced technology fuel-efficient engine this december. [applause] the sterling heights chrysler plant that was scheduled to close after 2012 will stay open and add a second shift of 900 workers next year. [applause] and when a plant thrives, that doesn't just affect the new workers, that affects the entire community. it also helped that we took steps to stimulate demand, steps like cash or clunkers which said if you traded your old car in for a more fuel-efficient model you would get a rebate. it was good for consumers but it was also good for the environment. it was more successful than we ever imagined and it saved at least a hundred thousand jobs giving dealerships sales numbers they hadn't had in years and economic boasts they wouldn't have otherwise seen. so there is no doubt that the auto industry is growing stronger. but look the hard truth is this industry lost a lot of jobs in recent years. some of those jobs aren't coming back partly because automakers have become so much efficient than they used to be. this is a lean, mean, operation. and so there are people who still lost their jobs, haven't been hired back and it wasn't there fault. mistakes were made in managing the company that weren't theirs. that's why we've still also got to make targeted investment to encourage new private sector manufacturing growth. weave eve got to encourage clean energy. that's why we are taking steps to help communities revitalize and redevelop old shuttered autofacilities preparing them for new industries, jobs and opportunities. i'll give you an example. those investments that we're making are helping to create an entire new advanced battery industry take root right here in michigan. that industry was producing only 2% of the world's advanced batteries last year, but by 2015 we expect to produce 40% of the advanced batteries that go into our cars. and we're going to do it right here in michigan, all across the mid wisconsin. investments like those mean jobs for american workers to do what they've always done, build great products and sell them around the world so the bottom line is this. we've got a long way to go, but we're beginning to see some of these tough decisions pay off. we are moving forward. i want you to remember, though, if some folks have their way, none of this would have been happening. just want to point that out. right? [laughter] >> right. i mean, this -- this -- >> [cheering] >> this plant -- this plant and your jobs might not exist. there were leaders of the just say no crowd in washington, they were saying oh, standing by the auto industry would guarantee failure, one of them called it the worst investment you could possibly make. >> [booing] >> they said we should just walk away and let those jobs go. >> [booing] >> i wish they were standing here today! >> [cheering] >> i wish they could see what i'm seeing in this plant and talk to the workers who are here, taking pride in building a world class vehicle. i don't think they'd be willing to look you in the eye and say that you were a bad investment. [applause] >> they might just come around if they were standing here and admit that by standing by a great american industry and the good people who work for it, that we did the right thing. it's hard for them to say that, you know, they don't like admitting when i do the right thing. [laughter] >> but they might have had to admit it. [applause [gleen and i want all of you to know, i will bet on the american worker any day of the week. [cheering] >> [applause] >> when world war ii hit pearl harbor, we didn't throw up our articles and say boy, this is tough, i don't know what we're going to do. we rolled up our sleeves. we got to work. and it was workers just like you, right here in detroit, who built an arsenal of democracy that propelled america to victory. workers like you that built this country in the greatest economic power the world has ever known. it was workers like you that manufactured a miracle that was uniquely american. we faced down impossible odds. we can rise to motor any challenge. i was thinking about what to say today. an extraordinary story was brought to my attention. i don't know if they're here, but i think some of you must know, 14 of your fellow employees at the plant won the lottery! >> [cheering] >> where are they? that's -- a couple are right there? >> [applause] >> you know -- lunch is on them, by the way! >> [laughter] >> now, the first assumption people might make is after you win the lottery, you just kick back and you retire. nobody faults folks for that. this is tough work. but most of them, they just want to keep on working. and i -- >> [applause] >> is william chanteau here? he's not? well, he was one of the guys who bought one -- he bought the winning ticket, right? turns out, he used some of the winnings to buy his wife one of the jeep grand cherokees that you build right here! >> [applause] >> he called it a sweet ride and he's going to pay for new american flags for his home town, because he loves his country. [applause] >> and he's going to keep coming to work because he loves this plant and he loves these workers. so don't bet against the american worker, don't bet against the american people. we got more work to do. it's going to take some time to get back to where we need to be, but i have confidence in the american worker, i have confidence in you, i have confidence in this economy. [applause] >> we are coming back! thank you everybody, thank you! god bless you. and god bless the united states of america. jenna: the president wrapping up comments there the a the chrysler plant in detroit, saying confidence in the american woark, also confidence in the entire economy. but really he took us back to talk about the difficult decision to bail out the auto industry, saying he had to weigh multiple sides to that but taking a look back he is proud of the progress that has been made. after looking at the president shaking hands, he's going to be going to a general motors plant right after that, something to think about that, you as a taxpayer own 1 percent of chrysler, 60 percent of general motors still to this day as we're waiting to see if some of these companies will repay the government in their entirety. they did prepay some of the cash loans but not necessarililthe equity, so that means the government is still involved in these companies, although the president has said, with a hands-off approach. so we'll continue to monitor the situation in detroit. meantime we have to get back to washington, d.c. where there's a lot of action happening now. jon: and this fox news alert, what will happen to congressman charlie rangel, a 40-year veteran of the house of representatives? our capitol hill senior producer chad pergren are on the phone with us. we understand there are three possible levels of punishment and one of the subcommittees that investigated what the congressman is alleged to have done here has a recommendation. did you tell us about that? >> yeah, the committee that had been looking into rangel, i just spoke to gene green, one of the members of that subcommittee, which came out with the alleged violations, recommended that rangel be reprimanded. a reprimand is one of the three forms of discipline, the other is censure and expulsion. they don't reprimand members around here often. probably the closest they came was congressman bill wilson in south carolina who shouted out at the president during the health care speech last september. they did punish him but it was a lower leveled, not prescribed punishment. you can make them stand in the corner or send them home out supper but the three formal forms are censure, expulsion and reprimand and according to green when they kicked this up to the higher level, reprimand was the punishment they thought was necessary. jon: chad pergren is our hill producer, nobody knows the workings of congress better. jenna: that's the truth. we told you about a building explosion in los angeles a few hours ago. right now emergency crews are making sure the building is stable enough so searchers can go in to look what we hear is a victim trapped in the rubble. we have more details, fresh information, straight ahead. megyn: hi everybody, i'm megyn kelly, opponents of arizona's immigration law have taken to the streets in protest of that portion of the law in effect, but as governor jan brewer -- but is governor jan brewer de terred? i'll ask her when she's with me live. hard proof in writing that the feds are considering an amnesty plan. we'll show you. she called dell computers for help with her laptop, then her makeeled pictures end up on the internet. lawsuit, anyone? see you top of the hour! jon: well, you just heard president obama for the last half hour or so extolling the virtues of the automotive bailout plan, he's at that chrysler plant in detroit, michigan. so did the automotive bailout work? the president says it did. let's get the opinion of paul gigot, editorial page editor at the "wall street journal". what do you think? the president says it was a great thing. >> if you invest $85 billion of the taxpayers' money you get a short-term recovery. any business is going to survive and there's no question that they have given it a short-term boost. i think the real test for the auto companies, though, is can they survive, gm and chrysler, in the long term, particularly chrysler, which has always been the weakest of the u.s. automakers, and that verdict is out. jon: i noticed you're not saying can they pay back the money. >> well, they're going to pay back some of it, we think, because certainly in gm's case, it looks like they're going to have a public offering of shares so they're going to be able to capitalize that government investment, if that's what you want to call it, that bailout money. so they'll get some of it back. but nobody really expects that the 25 billion that propped up the companies before the obama administration took office is ever going to be repaid. jon: that's president bush's money. >> that's his fault. [laughter] right. that's not on this president's watch. so they will get some back but it's a long way from getting all of it back. jon: i wrote this quote down, the president said there's no doubt the auto industry is going strong. >> well, there's no question that we have a cyclical recovery, in the recession, the auto sales went really far down, they popped up. that has led to increased employment. that has led to some plants being reopened. there's no question that that is going on. but we have overcapacity in the auto industry globally and in america. and we don't know yet whether gm and driesler -- chrysler are going to survive in the long run. jon: i know that at a time when the economy is so soft overall a lot of people are looking at their spending and saying do we need a new car this year, can we afford a new car this year, probably not. it does seem like that's one of those things that's going to be slow to return. >> consumers, if you look at today's report on second quarter economy, and economic growth, consumers were restrained, so your point is absolutely well taken, people are cautious and they're not going to gear up in debt again the way they did before the recession. jon: paul gigot from the "wall street journal," thank you. you can catch paul every saturday, 2:00 p.m. eastern time, he anchors the journal editorial report, right after that, join me, fox news watch, that runs at 2:30 eastern time, we'll have it for you, barring unforeseen news breaking, tomorrow on fox news channel. jenna: check out this story we've been watching, jon, flames raging out of control, dangerously close to power lines that feed a major american city. we're going to be live, right in the heart of the firefight in l.a. that's next. jenna: president obama, speaking moments ago in detroit, praising the auto industry bailout plan and how it's helping the general economy recover. but new numbers just out today suggest a different packet -- picture, the economy growing at 2.4% in the second quarter, the weakest pace in nearly a year and lower than expected but the president doesn't see it that way. >> our economy was shrinking, about 6 percent per quarter. now, this morning, we learned that our economy grew by 2.4% in the second quarter of the year. so that means it's now been growing again for one full year. jenna: for one full year. reaction from peter marici, university of maryland and adam lashinski, editor of forbes magazine and fox news contributor. peter, starting with you, where are we in this recovery? >> this recovery seems to be tapering off, consumer spending is starting to phase down, once more, a great deal of -- a good deal of what americans are spending is going abroad. if it weren't for the trade decifit the economy would have grown better than 5 percent but as it is the economy didn't grow very much and not enough to create jobs. jen adam, the president says the -- the president is championing the growth of the economy. is the president giving us an accurate explanation or picture of where our economy is really at? >> yeah, as far as i can tell, there wasn't one inaccurate statement that the president made. the key distinction here is that the growth of the economy is slowing. the economy is still growing, but the growth rate is slowing down. it was slightly less than what economists had hoped for, and it was less than what it's been earlier, but the president is correct when it -- when he says that we've had a year's worth of growth now in the economy which is a heck of a lot better than it was before that and furthermore, businesses are spending. now, people will pint -- will point out that doesn't help create a lot of jobs and that's true but they are spending money. by the way, consumers are saving more money. that does not translate into economic growth, but arguably, it is a positive development compared to the way people weren't saving for the previous ten years. jenna: peter, a positive development on that, no job growth necessarily from the gdp number but it is growth as adam was mentioning. >> i've looked at all four quarters of growth and the average growth of what u.s. -- demand for what u.s. producers make is 1.3%. heck, we can cover that with productivity growth. the rest of the statistic was basically building up of inventories that haven't been sold. we can cover 1.3% for productivity growth, in fact, wool see more layoffs. if demand doesn't pick up, all those business investments that he just spoke of will be useless and we'll have unemployment above 10 percent again. the economy is not in great shape. jenna: adam, you think it's still all right now? the economy is still -- based on what peter just said, hey, if we go into another kind of dip in employment, what do we do next? >> i'm not saying that the economy is in great shape. i'm saying that the economy is in better shape than it was and there are good things going on in the economy. peter is talking about the global economy. that's been going on for 40 or 50 years now. that's not a new development, either. there's no argument that we need to generate more jobs in this country. there's every reason to believe that as a business cycle proceeds, we will generate more jobs in the economy. jenna: peter, on that final thought here from you and then adam, what do you think the government should do moving forward to make sure we stay with at least some growth? >> businesses needs customers and capital. if we're going to have more customers in the united states, more of the money we have to spend stays here or we have to grow exports, that means once and for all dealing with china and its currency. capital, the president gave the money to general motors instead of recapitalizing the regional banks, they're short about $20 billion, and as a consequence, they can't loan money to small business, so we need some sort of resolution trust like we had in the savings and loan crisis. jenna: adam, what are your thoughts about what the government should do? >> of course we should be tough with china but we need to be prudent about that. we have plenty of capital to lend in the united states, the banks are flush with capital, there's plenty of access to capital. the problem is businesses and consumers having the confidence to spend it. there was ample evidence in today's report that businesses are starting to spend it. that's a move in the right direction. jenna: we'll take it and leave it there, adam and peter, thank you very much for weighing in on the economy today. we'll continue to watch the developments of course and we look forward to having you guys back. >> thank you. >> thank you. jon: a fox news alert, and take a look at this. a home explosion, we understand, in norfolk, massachusetts. this is about 40 miles to of boston. not much left there. firefighters are there, but we don't know yet what may have caused this thing. looks to be some kind of a gas explosion. but again, the smoke is still in the air. it's still going to be a little while before they can figure out exactly what happened. reports of several injuries. again, we don't know how serious. but when you look at the damage that's been done to this home in norfolk, massachusetts, you can see it was a pretty big explosion. we will continue to stay on top of it, bring you latest as we get more information. jenna: a similar story in california, an explosion at a welding shop in downtown los angeles, the force of the blast throwing two workers out on the street, one of them died, one critically injured. the massive fire broke out, they had more than 100 firefighters on the screen. -- on the scene. we have fresh information coming up. jenna: thank you for joining us, everybody, on a busy friday. jon: it was busy. have a great weekend. "america live" with megyn kelly starts now. megyn: i'm megyn kelly on a friday, we could get news out of the congressional ethics commit

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