I am standing at a real House of Horrors – a place where things are alleged to have happened that are hard to fathom – a young girl kidnapped and turned into a sex slave, kept totally isolated in a hidden backyard campground along with the two children she eventually bore, fathered – police say – by her abductor. To think this poor girl had her first child when she was just 14 makes my skin crawl. To think of that man delivering the babies himself makes my skin crawl. To think she and her children were kept in sheds with sound proofed walls and only opening from the outside makes my skin crawl. The whole thing is so sad and deplorable …  And it unfolded here, police say, behind the rather ordinary facade of a grey-blue house that looks like most of the others on this rural, quiet street. Only now – the story here could get even worse. Late Friday afternoon, the house was sealed up as a new crime scene, as police from nearby Pittsburg, Ca, searched for evidence in the murders of several prostitutes. Turns out, some of the bodies were found near an indstrial park where Phillp Garrido had worked in the 1990’s. I can see police executing the search warrant, not saying a word about what, if anything, they’ve found. But one thing is clear: even though the Garrido’s are behind bars, and even though Jaycee Dugard has been reunited with her family, this story is far from over.

If the scene outside the Cow Palace in San Francisco Thursday morning was any indication, Season 8 of American Idol should offer a wealth of talent. We arrived at midnight for a shift that would last 12 hours… and include 38 live shots for Fox affiliates across the country.

By the time it was over, I could barely stand…but during the shift, I had a lot of fun interviewing some of the 7,000 would-be crooners who showed up to audition. Many were young teenagers, driven to the audition by their parents. Many contestants were more than happy to sing for me on camera, including 27-year old woman who said this was her 4th season of trying out to be on the show. Some told me they had quit their jobs to take a shot at stardom. We found contestants who’d traveled from as far away as Alaska, Connecticut, and Florida, knowing if they didn’t make it through this first cattle call, they could try out again. Seven other cities are holding auditions in the next few weeks.

One young man may need to try out again. During a live shot with me, he began singing strong, but quickly forgot the words. True, it was early in the morning and very cold outside, but I gently chided him, and reminded him he only had 30 seconds to convince the judges he should make it to the next round.

The first few thousand people to arrive basically camped out all night in the parking lot. They huddled in blankets and sleeping bags, trying to keep warm and protect their vocal chords from the chilly air. It was a long night for everyone, and a grueling work pace for us, as I reported for a different affiliate every 5 minutes– it was a lot of anchor names and cities to remember, and my producers Mike Waco and Michael Lundin were incredibly helpful, dealing with the stations and making me little post-it notes with the anchor names and cities for each of my reports. My cameraman Tom Whitaker was wonderful, panning his camera and working to keep up with me as I referenced various people behind me.

A highlight was the arrival, at around 6 am, of Season One Idol runner-up Justin Guarini, who was doing a bit of audition reporting himself, working for TV Guide’s cable channel. He jumped into half a dozen of my live reports, much to the enjoyment of viewers in Orlando, LA, and other cities, and was kind enough to pose for a picture with yours truly, one of Idol’s biggest fans. I was glad to hear he’s been keeping busy and just released a set of new songs. As he moved down the line with his own camera crew, he motivated the would-be Idols, and took time to sign autographs. Nice, nice guy.

As everyone was allowed into the Cow Palace, they left an unusual sight behind: Because the would-be Idols couldn’t take them inside, hundreds of blankets and sleeping bags were left draped over the police barricades, many looking pretty ratty and torn. It’s hard to know how many were eventually retrieved, but clearly, many owners felt these items were among the many sacrifices they’d have to make on the road to stardom.

WildfIres are often the best and hardest stories to cover. Pictures of flames and fire crews, sirens, people evacuating, aerials of air tankers and pressers from command posts are assured to get you on the air. The hard part is getting to the flames, which are often in very remote areas. Getting a satellite to the flames poses more challenges, and then if the fire moves, which they tend to do, you can be stuck with no backdrop.

The past few days, I’ve been covering the aptly named Wild Fire – which started in Napa but quickly moved into rural canyons of Sonoma County and scorched more than 4,000 acres. Some 500 firefighters did an amazing job- especially considering many had come straight from fighting other fires sparked by dry lighting over the weekend. They had this one wrapped up in a matter of days… only to be sent off to another fire in Colusa County, about 3 hours away. Before the base camp packed up and moved out, we watched them all have breakfast, and what a spread! Eggs, bacon, bagels, coffee, cereal, danish… all cooked, laid out, and served by prison inmates, who often make up half of the firefighting force. They’re non-violent offenders who are easily identifiable by their orange jumpsuits, and who do lots of the heavy work on fires, fromloading equipment to building fire breaks out on the line.

State fire officials are amazed at the sheer number of blazes burning in Northern California – more than 800… not to mention fires that began earlier this month, like the huge Indian Fire in the Los Padres National Forest, now more than 57,000 acres big. They said it was hard to keep track of them all, and due to strapped resources, they simply had to ignore fires in which no life or property was threatened.

My guess is- if they have to get into a firefight, crews would like all fires to be like the Wild Fire: No serious injuries, no homes lost, and only one outbuilding, a barn, burned

Now it’s on to the next one, and given California’s bone-dry conditions, it’s likely going to be a long summer for firefighters…. and reporters who cover their efforts.

After covering a big Pro-Tibet rally all day Tuesday (and getting a rare sit-down interview with Hollywood’s most famous Buddhist, Richard Gere) we were rather surprised yesterday morning to see the all well-organized Chinese and Chinese Americans who turned out in much larger numbers to welcome the Olympic Torch, and celebrate China’s emergence as an economic and political power.

For all the talk about protesters, the Pro-China groups had remained fairly silent — until yesterday, when they gathered at Justin Herman Plaza with banners and bullhorns and prepared performances. Some were there as part of the city-sponsored closing ceremonies for the Eternal Flame.. but here’s how it ended: They threw a party … and the guest of honor didn’t show up. It was confusing when officials changed the relay route at the last minute … and unnerving to stand in the middle of the crowd, not very happy to hear me report that the whole event been moved several miles away.

Many were angry, many were heartbroken, and with good reason. But for some lucky city slickers who happened to be walking along San Francisco’s Marina Green … they saw an historic sight, free from protests and politics: A torch, held high by Americans… runners chosen for excellent reasons… celebrating the Olympic spirit.

(PHOTO: AP, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch, over San Francisco torch relay rally)

I cover Northern California, Nevada and Hawaii, but have been sent as far as Jerusalem to report for Fox News Channel.

Our bureau in San Francisco is small — just me, my producer Miranda Coykendall and our videographer / editor Tom Whittaker, which makes for a tight, streamlined crew that gets the job done fast and efficiently. We’ve had many interesting assignments, from features like the rise in popularity of miniature cattle, to breaking news like forest fires and floods.

We mainly cover “fair and balanced” stories, which in San Francisco, include recent efforts to reduce the presence of the U.S. military in public schools, and opposition to turning the historic battleship USS Iowa into a floating museum, to a year-long demonstration at UC Berkeley by a group of “tree sitters” to block the construction of a new sports facility on campus. We cover many legal stories, from the Scott Peterson trial, to the Michael Jackson case, to the scandal surrounding disgraced Democratic fundraiser, Norman Hsu.

I would say that one of my favorite memories working at FOX came during the time I was covering the Scott Peterson trial. I was doing nightly reports for “On The Record,” usually as the lead story. When Greta took vacation time, she supported the idea to have me fill in for her, which I did, and that was a thrill.

I treated the New York-based crew to an after party and enjoyed the moment.