sparking outrage. >> she told me, mom, the teacher wants us to write a letter like we were stuck in the towers or on the plane. then she showed me the paper. >>brian: start debating kids. these students were asked to pretend to be 9/11 victims. what do you think about that? we'll examine and look at the controversy because "fox & friends" first hour of three, we believe, starts right now. ♪ ♪ >>steve: the first of three hours, you believe? i'm pretty positive. >>brian: i like to tease. >>gretchen: the unpredictability is what made this show so fun for me for seven years. today is my last day so a big thank you to the two men sitting on the couch with me. we're going to look at some things that happened over the last seven years. i do want to say, however, thank you for that sound effect, that i do think it is somewhat of a good thing that i never once overslept. [applause] >>brian: fantastic. >>gretchen: not that i always looked good every morning. >>steve: you always look good. >>gretchen: or not that i always felt good every morning. but three alarms set every night, and somehow i always made it here. and thank you so much to all the viewers out there. >>steve: as billy crystal said on "saturday night live," it is better to look good than feel good. >>gretchen: trust me, there were many mornings that was true for me. fox news alert breaking news overnight. taliban terrorists attack a u.s. consolate in afghanistan with guns, suicide vests. all american personnel luckily are safe. at least two afghans were killed, though, after two car bombs went offer. taliban taking responsibility. we're live in london with the latest. >> the u.s. consolate in herat was one of those closed protectively amid security threats last month. the attacks came this morning between 5:30 and 6 a.m. and it was afghan security personnel killed. no american counselors would have been at their offices at that time. there are conflicting reports about what happened. the state department believes the suicide vehicle and the attackers came up and the gunfire started before theç explosions. the afghan security forces on the ground say that the bombs went off first and then the fighting happened. there were two car bombs involved, two afghan police officers and the attackers were killed. a state department spokesman says -- quote -- "we are grateful for the quick response of the afghan and isap security forces who secured the facility andñi kept our personnelçó safe. herat is in western afghanistan, vewtçó close to iran. it is a prettqi well developed city and hasñi been relatively calm until now. increasingly it is the entire country of afghanistan that has been attacks ah.d withdrawal of u.s. forces next year and taliban spokesman -- taliban having claimed responsibility for this attack -- said that american targets are always the ones that we are after. gretchen, steve, brian? >>steve: thanks very much. i wonder if initially the intended target date could have been september 11. something went hey -- went haywire, they had to delay it a day. >>brian: could have been. >>gretchen: to another fox news alert, a massive fire destroys at least six blocks of a new jersey boardwalk, a community hit hard by superstorm sandy and still struggling to recover. amy earhart on the scene. >> we're being told the fire is under control at this point. you can see the fire fighters and truck behind me. they're still trying to douse the fire with water this morning, andçó we're being told that's to prevent the hot spots or thexdçdireñi from flaring up again. we've noticed they'veñiçó focused on the end of this building here. this is where it all started. this is seaside park. it started here at 2:30çç5 yesterday afternoon at a custard shop on the other side of this building. it spread north about two mtv reality showñi "jerseykoñió shore" was filmed. thisçóxdñi morningñiñi áqatñiçór ñiñrjzçó açyóñr september, there's been a hugeçó fire. and we'reñr being told thatñr uúkxdr destroyed here. the governor wasñiixc3z oef2 hi decd)$%9 emergency and that he physically became ill when he learned of this. he talked to his staff last night. 12 fire fighters are being treated with smoke inhalation. no serious injuries there. one of the fire fighters happens to own one of the arcades, and he said last year we got the perfect storm. this year we got the perfect fire. last year that storm rolled through october 30, the night before halloween. and it looks like this halloween they're faced with rebuilding all over again. back to you, steve, brian and gretchen. >>brian: an exasperated governor christie. thanks so much as ainsley scrambled quickly to be there. he was speaking again from the heart. and i cannot believe we just helped rebuild this place. after all the blood, sweat and tears that went into it to get it standing up again, and it's all burning up. >>steve: that's the same area where the roller coaster famously went into the water last year. they were able to open this summer 15 of the 19 rides on the casino pier. the fire was so big -- and keep in mind the water mains there still affected by sandy. they had to pump water out of a bay to fight that fire yesterday, and they continue today. >>gretchen: more headlines. in the news today, a montana newly wed accused of pushing her husband off a cliff a week after tying the knot free pending trial. she will be under house arrest and will have to undergo a mental health evaluation. one of her friends said the young bride was having second thoughts about marrying cody johnson and that's what they might have been arguing about before he died. we learned at his funeral she was texting the whole time apparently. while you were sleeping thousands of people forced to evacuate their homes in boulder. overnight water backed up at the mouth of boulder canyon, debris and mud coming off the mountains. another missing in the colorado flooding. the rain not expected to let up any time soon. last night president obama signed an emergency declaration freeing federal aid and allowing federal emergency management agency, fema, to coordinate disaster relief efforts in that state. this is not a game. those words coming from secretary of state john kerry as he meets with russia's foreign minister to figure out how to disarm chemical weapons. he rejected president assad's request for a 30-day period to turn over information for a chemical stockpile. >> expectations are high, high for the united states. perhaps even more so for russia to deliver on the promise of this moment. this is not a game. >>gretchen: the united states says it has overwhelming evidence assad's forces did use poison gas to kill 1,400 people. u.s. reports will be released monday. >> last night kate made an appearance since becoming a mama. take a look. their baby, prince george, was home with his nanny. the 71-year-old is the same nanny who looked after william and harry when they were boys. that is really special. those are your headlines. >>steve: meanwhile let's talk about controversy down in alvin, texas. >>brian: are you talking about fair view junior high? >>steve: apparently one of the arts teachers gave an assignment for september 11. it was a homework assignment where you essentially pretend you were in the twin towers or on a plane; you were not going to make it out alive. the exact quote was if you knew you were about to die, who you would to be the last person you would talk to. write a letter to that person. what would you want them to know? please give a lot of thought to this letter. a number of of the parents, like kate right here, upset. >> they were supposed to pretend they are in the twin towers or on the plane and not going to make it out. this is their goodbye letter. it was almost like reading a letter like -- almost like a suicide note. she said the teacher wants us to write a letter like we were stuck in the towers or on the plane. she showed me the paper and i thought it was ridiculous. >>brian: the school says we sincerely apologize to any of our families -- see the full screen. of any of our families. they found this activity to be insensitive as educators strived to meet the individual needs of students. what they're saying is it is insensitive for 9/11. it was a teacher trying to get kids to be reflective even though the parent interviewed said i don't want her to lose her job, but we've got to be aware this is outrageous. >>gretchen: it has to do, i think, with the age of the kid. seventh grade. i don't know about all the other parents out there. but from time to time i have difficulty getting my kids to sleep. they have nightmares. they're concerned about school things. they're nervous. they have anxiety. to add this to the mix, i can only imagine if this came home to my house i would have two kids who weren't going to bed at night because there would be so many unanswered questions. there's a way they could learn about 9/11 and not learn about it in this way that they personally feel like they're going to die. >>steve: that is a great point of view. the other point of view might be these kids are about to go into high school. a lot of these kids weren't even born at the time of 9/11. i know for all of us and our generation, we all lived through it, it is still a raw thing. you know, i remember an assignment like this in high school. we had assignments like this in college as well. i think maybe it's okay for kids to be reflective of something bigger than themselves. it teaches them compassion and it allows them to -- >>brian: what you're saying, if the assignment said pretend as if you knew you had a terminal illness and you had to speak to one last person for one last time, who would it be and how? you would not have had a problem with that assignment? >>gretchen: pretend like you're going to go away to another land or something like that. i just think with young kids it brings up -- they're scared of death to begin with. >>steve: sure. adults are scared of death. >>gretchen: even my kids seeing 9/11 talked about over the last few days had a lot of questions. was i born when that happened. mommy, why did that happen? why do they hate america? >>brian: why do you think we're not learning the teacher's name? >>steve: i didn't see it. i would be curious. i would love to read my kid's letter. i would love to read the letter they wrote if you were, you know, as they reflect upon the lives that they had led so far. because they weren't born or, like gretch, you talked about how your kids had questions about were you alive and stuff like that, it would almost be -- a parallel would be tell the story. let's say it's pearl harbor day, december 7, back in the 1940's and you were on one of those ships. if you had a chance to write a letter. now some people have a problem with the fact that it was on september 11, the actual day. i kind of get that. but what do you think about it otherwise? >>brian: tweet us because gretch is now tweeting. >>gretchen: it is my last day tweeting for "fox & friends." gcarlsontv. >>brian: peter strong armed you. you can write us through the whole show. tell us do you think the teacher should be fired? do you think she should be given a raise? 0r do you think the parents are overreacting. >>steve: at what age do you say it is appropriate for kids to be talking about this stuff. meanwhile, 13 minutes after the top of the hour on friday the 13th. the white house convincing union leaders to tone down complaints about obamacare by offering sweetheart deals and special subsidies. is that fair? stuart varney, i've got a feeling, is about to say no. >>brian: and hopefully more than just no. >>gretchen: it's an accident out of hollywood. nicole kidman knocked over by a bicycleer. but this was no accident. coming up. ♪ ♪ssed. this is a great cereal! honey bunches of oats. i hear you crunching. for our so slimming jeans. meet our instantly slimming, secretly shaping dresses, skirts and pants. slim, smooth, flatter. the so slimming collection. only at chico's and chicos.com. before mike could see his banking and investing accounts on one page... before he could easily transfer funds between the two in real time... before he could even think about planning for his daughters' future... mike opened a merrill edge investment account and linked it to his bank of america bank account to help free up plenty of time for the here and now. that's the wonder of streamlined connections. that's merrill edge and bank of america. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. celebrex can be taken with or without food. and it's not a narcotic. you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, like celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions, or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. don't take celebrex if you have bleeding in the stomach or intestine, or had an asthma attack, hives, other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history. and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. >>brian: after rallying for obamacare unions are having a change of heart. the afl-cio slammed the plan saying some workers might not be able to keep their coverage and doctors because the agency's implementation plans will be highly disruptive substantially changing coverage available for millions. the white house offering unions special dealings to keep their support. stuart varney is here to weigh in. where was the union when they rolled this thing out and they just blindly supported it? >> the unions were vigorously supporting obamacare. they loved it. richard trunka on tape saying this is on tape. we pushed for this. we want this. total reversal. watch out. there is a meeting this afternoon. 3:35 eastern time, the roosevelt room at the white house. the president is there, the vice president is there, trunka is there, labor leaders are there. closed doors. no press. this is a very big deal. >>brian: the president made it clear to the leadership of these unions, trunka in particular, i don't like the criticism coming my way. do something about it. >> the background here is that the unions are getting really messed up by obamacare. >>brian: because it is a cadillac plan. >> they are going to tax generous health care plans. obamacare taxes those nice plans. unions offer generous plans. they're going to be taxed. that's going to hurt their membership. they're already declining. obamacare could kill some of them off. so they come out and the unions say this is highly disruptive. we want changes. so now there is a big meeting in the white house this afternoon. watch out, brian. this administration has a habit of dumping unpopular decisions and unpopular information on to the media late friday afternoon, right before a weekend hoping it is going to be missed. what's going to come out of this meeting at 3:35 eastern this afternoon? >>brian: as you taught me look at the big picture. for obamacare to make sense they need revenue to give those 30 million who don't have insurance, insurance. that is from the cadillac plans in this case. it is from the personal mandate or the mandate for businesses. we keep putting things on hold or getting rid of them. where's the additional revenue coming from? >> that, i don't know. that has not been answered. it is entirely possible that this afternoon the president will try to placate the unions, offer them some kind of exemption from some part of the plan. or maybe suggest we're going to delay the individual mandate for another year, like they've delayed the employer mandate. this is a crucial time. the unions are building up to the 2014 elections. they traditionally supported the president. are they going to give the same support to an administration that has not come through for them, and which may ruin them with obamacare? >>brian: i say to doctors complaining and to unions up in arms, where were you two years ago when experts were pointing out these problems were coming down the pike. nobody wanted to hear that. partisanship. you don't want to hear president obama successful. >> queue nancy pelosi's sound bite. you have to pass this bill to find out what's in it. we found out what's in it and they don't like it. the labor unions said if you can't fix this thing, repeal it. that's from a leading labor union leader. >> not from senator ted cruz. this is stuart varney, varney and company coming up at 9:20. often times friday is the best show. >> is that right? >>brian: that's what i find. >> thanks, brian. >>brian: all right. ten minutes before the bottom of the hour. a victory for one of wisconsin's largest school districts. how they escaped the teachers union. more botox approved by the f.d.a. but can it leave you with a frozen face, cher? myths and facts of plastic surgery next. 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