of the main leader of this, these hostage-takers should be released from a alexander, egypt jail. he said is being jailed on drug chars. the word we're getting egyptian authorities are not budging yet on that demand, jon. jon: what has been the reaction back home from the pastor's con agation, et cetera? >> you can imagine how concerned they are all are. the son expressing deep emotions as well as others. this pastor is well-liked this church from the boston area. take a listen to a few of the comments. >> we're still in good spirits. we're still praying for him. >> we do need him to come back to boston soon as possible. we hope also nothing will happen to him. >> there is no word for it. i can't believe this. this is a man of god. >> reporter: the son of the pastor, michel louis, said he and others were not aware of the dangers that kind of route through the sinai peninsula entailed. if they were aware they would have made other plans. they should have been aware. in the past year three different american tourist groups are targeted by the tribes people. usually they're looking for money. this is uptick in crime in this area since the fall of the mubarak regime. less security happening right now. negotiations according to egyptian authorities talking to fox news are ongoing but not budging too far on the demands. this is past the point where the, where the hostage-takers said they would in fact do harm to louis and others. so far no word on that happening thankfully. back to you, jon. jon: after all the troubles in egypt the last thing they need more kidnapping of tourists. thanks very much. greg palkot, stay on it for us. jenna: back here at home for the race for the white house and as governor romney gets ready to head to the olympics two weeks from now and republican convention in late august he is taking fire over his days at bain capital from the president. but today, mr. romney is raising some more questions about the president and his campaign. back and forth we go. chief political correspondent carl cameron is live in washington with more. so, carl, what's going on here? >> reporter: best defense is a good often is the romney campaign strategy. they have been taking a pounding. outspent in the ad war by calm campaign in battleground states in big, big numbers. attacks on mitt romney's career at bain capital is taking a toll. he will attack president obama for quote, crony capitalism. the allegation that the president and administration, democrats, have been rewarding obama allies and donors with big government contracts. think solyndra and the like. this was romney earlier today. >> this is a tough time for the people of america but if you're a campaign contributor to barack obama, your business may stand to make, get billions of dollars or hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from the government. i think it's wrong. i think it stinks to high heaven and i think the administration has to explain how it is they would consider giving money to campaign contributors businesses. >> reporter: romney used this line of attack in the past. it has been successful. whether or not it changes the subject from bain remains to be seen. we know most independent fact checkers said the bain attacks from the obama campaign from mr. romney are false and misleading. though the president is setting a record for his ad campaign on the tv screens across america with its attack ads, he did or interview with cbs argued he is actually pretty positive on the air. this is an interesting thing to watch. >> if you look at ads that we do, first of all we've done a whole slew of positive ads that talked exactly about how we need to change our education system, how we need to change our tax code, how we need to rebuild america. how we need to promote american energy. so, those just don't get attention in the news. but, we're very much promoting it. >> reporter: they don't get attention in the news because they are basically outnumbered. in june, independent studies said that the obama campaign, 75% of its ads were negative. so a three to one margin. for instance in the battle ground state of ohio, dayton, a i can particularly important state, city, for two weeks, in the latter part of june, all the ads that ran from the obama campaign in dayton were negative. jenna. jenna: interesting. the president is heading out to ohio again today. we talked aed a little bit about the calendar. labor day will be here before we know it, carl. what about the vice president pick? >> reporter: romney spent the weekend talking about vice-presidential elections with staff in new hampshire. he spent a couple weekends on it. there is buzz out there that he will make the buzz early. next two weeks before the olympics would seem highly unlikely. that would set a new record for announcing vice-presidential nominee early. since 1980 no candidate would make announcement more than 20 days out. the olympics a full month ahead, highly unlikely. they're getting closer and folks say they are beginning to make up their mind. jenna: 113 days. our countdown clock is on the screen. carl cameron in desee, thank you. jon: democrats threaten to go over the fiscal cliff. it is a harsh warning to republicans if no agreement is made on bush tax rates. such a move could send the nation back into recession. mike emanuel live on capitol hill. we're scheduled for this huge tax increase, what, january 1, if nothing gets done to stop it. democrats are threatening to let that happen? >> reporter: jon, what the democrats in the senate would like to do, obama white house agrees to extend tax cuts for individuals making $200,000 a year. for couples making up to $250,000 per year. if not, senator patty murray, who is the, person responsible in the u.s. senate for the democrats maintaining the majority, is going to say in a speech today, maybe we ought to reset everything. maybe we ought to let it all expire and start over at that point. she is going to say, quote, so if we can't get a good deal, a balanced deal that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share, i will absolutely continue the debate into 2013, rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle class families under the bus. so she is going to issue that warning to her republican colleagues, if we can't get a fair deal, then maybe we ought to just let it all expire and start over in the new year? jon? jon: but republicans are arguing you should let all of the bush tax cuts be extended. can you explain their position? >> reporter: yeah. essentially what they're saying is, let's extend the bush tax cuts for another year and let's dot-com hens sieve tax reform in 2013. they're worried about the country slipping back into recession. if you let the tax cuts expire the job creators will be hurt. here is senator jon kyl making that point. >> the problem with the tax cut or tax increase the president is proposing is, false directly on the job creators. 53% of the income raised would come from those businesses and they employ 25% of the all the people that are working in the united states. >> reporter: senator patty murray will lay out her vision in a speech this afternoon here in washington. a lot of republican senators are making their way back to washington after being in their home states. we expect to hear plenty from them throughout the course of the day. jon: a big game of tax cut chicken. we'll see which side blinks i guess. mike emanuel, thanks. >> reporter: thank you. jenna: secretary of state hillary clinton touching down in israel today for the final leg of her middle east tour. she arrives after high-level talks in egypt where some protesters pelted her motorcade with tomatoes and shoes of all things. the senior u.s. official says mrs. clinton was never in any danger. israel, secretary clinton met with the president this morning. she is dweerging up for talks with prime minister benjamin netanyahu later on today. the talks are expected to focus on the iran's nuclear program and stalled middle east talks. coming up next hour we'll have report about jerusalem and talk about our friends and enemies and the way forward in the middle east. jon: governor romney is going on the offensive this week, charging president obama with handing out payouts to his political cronies while ignoring the struggles of the middle class. we'll take a new look at the governor's new strategy on that. jenna: hundreds of homes now in the line of a fast-moving wildfires. what a summer it has been for wildfires. we'll talk about what is being done to tame the flames and why mother nature could make their job even harder out there. jon: this controversial case. some brand new phone calls just released in regard to the trayvon martin shooting. what they reveal about suspect sill sim george zimmerman and the impact on the case against him. we're live with the case coming up. frank, instead of scratching your way to retirement, get on e-trade. set up a real plan. frank! oh wow, you didn't win? 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[cheers and applause] jon: joining us now, from washington is bob cusack, managing editor of "the hill." bob, a lot of people have been urging mitt romney to hit back at president obama over these attacks on bain capital. is this it and do you think it will work? >> definitely this is part of what romney needs to do. i mean he needs to get the attention back on president obama, not on his tax returns, not on bain. i mean every day that campaign is not about the economy is a good day for the obama campaign because the obama campaign can't blame mitt romney for the ailing economy. a lot of republicans have said, jon, listen, romney has got to be better at counter punching. he has been on the defensive. he had a tough weekend. this week has got to be a reset button. the media interviews he did late last week did not really work. so they're trying this. and certainly they have to make the case that president obama vowed to change washington as we know it and it has not changed. it actually has changed for the worse according to some. jon: yeah, but there are indications that the bain attacks haven't necessarily worked. i mean the president and mitt romney are still essentially tied after weeks of the president's team pounding mitt romney on his business experience. >> yes. i mean this election is still a jump ball with obama i think having a slight lead in some of these battleground states but the obama campaign hasn't indicated they will keep hammering him and, i do think that bain, coupled with the tax returns, romney needs to change the conversation, especially with more and more republicans saying he should release those tax returns. romney needs to shift course. without a doubt, this is a very close race and it is not like they buried mitt romney with these attacks. jon: we just got another consecutive month, a third consecutive month of a slowdown in consumer spending. that hasn't happened since 2008. ironically, the year that president was elected. there are all kinds of warning signs out there about the economy. why doesn't the romney team use that? >> well, certainly that's what i think their gameplan is going to be. that is what romney has to say repeatedly. mention these stats on retail sales, consumer confidence, the unemployment rate obviously. manufacturing. there's a lot of these stats that can be used repeatedly. i think you will see a lot of them during the debates. they're being crowded out and drowned out by the noise of bain and that is a communication problem that romney campaign is seeking to rectify this week. it is a key week for mitt romney. jon: thanks very much. bob cusack from "the hill". >> thanks, jon. jenna: now a closer look at a major city's new effort to fight crime. the disturbing spike in murders and shootings in chicago and what's being done about it. jon: also tragedy to tell you about in texas. two men killed in a lightning storm. another man fighting for his life. what witnesses saw in the moments of terror and chaos. also, dangerous heat is back. we're going to tell you where folks have to stay safe from blistering temperatures once again. 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[ birds chirping ] introducing zzzquil, the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil. ♪ jon: a severe weather alert now. firefighters are racing to try to contain a wildfire before it reaches hundreds of holes in northern california. the robbers fire as it is known burning near sacramento. it is only about 30% contained now. this dangerous situation forcing evacuations as the fire continues to grow. rough terrain combined with high temperatures and strong winds are making it a tough fight for folks on the ground. jenna: then there is this. a deadly display of mother nature's force. two soccer players are now dead and a third person injured after being crushed by a falling tree during a thunderstorm in houston, texas. police say they were trying to get shelter from the rain when lightning suddenly struck killing one man instantly. >> i heard what sounded like a bomb go off. i looked to my left and i could see the lightning strike hit the top of the tree, go all the way down and disperse on the ground. so i took off running towards them. everybody was running the other way. when i got there i saw three males laying on the ground unresponsive. jenna: the third man remains in stable condition. the houston area by the way, dealing with drenching rain and flooding. flooding between 50 and 100 homes there. jon: from torrential floods to a record drought creating a state of emergency across 26 states, mostly in the midwest. farmers say it is already killed a third of our nation's crops, and it could cause prices to spike even higher. corn, peanuts, soybeans and cotton are among crops hardest hit. farmers say they're desperately praying for rain, meantime doing the best they can to try to get by. >> all the stuff is pretty much burned up. we've had to buy stuff, import produce in. had to do a lot of watering to try to keep things from dying. and increase prices. just made it real difficult. jenna: trying to do all the watering they can but there is still not a lot of relief in sight. you have brutal temperatures for folks in the midwest and northeast. meteorologist maria molina is in the fox weather center with more. >> jenna, good to see you. we're expecting more dry weather across the midwest and hot temperatures, well above average temperatures. even though it is summer we're used to seeing warm this time of year we're looking at temperatures a little bit on the hot side. minneapolis, 98 degrees for a high temperature. you factor in the humidity and it feels hotter. we're expecting heat across the region into the triple digits. chicago another scorcher for you as well. across the northeast you will notice temperatures getting warmer and warmer. new york city expecting a high of 92 degrees. this is why we have the heat advisories in effect across south dakota, minnesota and parts of wisconsin. as we head eastward, philadelphia currently under an excessive heat warning because we'll see heat index values well over 100 degrees. new york city you're also under a heat advisory. tomorrow will be even hotter across the northeast. back into the triple digits in d.c. 97 in philadelphia. as we head northward, upstate new york in syracuse, 99 is the forecast high as we head into tomorrow. i mentioned thesetures are above normal this time of year. d.c., average temperature is 88 degrees. by tuesday, triple digits and wednesday still a hot one of the this won't last as long as last one we see. we'll see cold front by wednesday. it will bring relief in the chicago. 86 will be the high then. by the end of the work week we'll see much more pleasant temperatures in new york city. jenna: getting perspective when the relief is 86 degrees. it is a hot summer so far, maria. thank you very much. >> thanks. jon: maria talked about the heat wave hitting towns like chicago. murder is also on the rise there. a city that leads the nation in gang violence. in one recent weekend, more than 50 people were shot on the streets of chicago. nine of them killed in what appear to be revenge attacks. now that city's police department is launching a database to try to prevent and predict gang violence there. mike tobin takes a look at it live. mike? >> reporter: jon, nothing seems to stop the street violence with gangs here in chicago. just over this past weekend, another four people were killed, 17 shot and wounded. as you mentioned chicago police are pioneering new tech next to use technology to get a upper hand on the street dwangs gangs. >> guy in the middle. streest. looks like he is shot. >> reporter: hot summer night on chicago's south side. another young man lies on the ground with bullet wounds. >> we have a guy with wounds in both his legs. >> reporter: more than 100 people have been shot in chicago this year. homicides are up 39%. from the latin kings to the gang sister disciples, so vice lords, there 625 gangs in chicago often warring it internal factions. there are drug disputes and never ending cycle of vend debt tas. chicago pioneered a database that tracks gangs and turf battles. even lower level gang members are entered when they pop up on the police radar. if a guy gets shot, police see who his friends are. we can quickly assess conditions. we can make predictions where retaliations might be likely to happen. >> reporter: now the person you saw shot in that report is a member of the mickey cobras street gang. he has a bunch of buddies who feel compelled to about out and get even. but with this technology, police have a rough idea who they are and who to keep an eye on. jon? jon: mike tobin in chicago. interesting technology there. thanks, mike. >> reporter: you got it. jenna: back to politics now, the battle over the bain attacks with the president refusing to apologize after a campaign official insinuated that mr. romney may be guilty of a felony. governor romney reacting today. we have a fair and balanced look at the controversy coming up next. a new financial scandal brewing over interest rates. why some of the world's biggest banks and biggest bank firms could be facing charges. what this means for all of us carrying home loans and car loans. we're live with that story next. at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of ene