Have you ever been to a concert and been so far back from the stage on the floor or in the stands that the musicians looked like little pins on a huge map that you could barely make out?  Me too… and it can be really frustrating.

I must admit, I have had some pretty great opportunities to interview bands, or sit up close from time to time through my years as a reporter and former rock radio DJ, but there is NOTHING like being in the protected area in front of the stage called the “Photo Pit”.   You are actually closer than being in the front row, and protected from concertgoers who might push their way around you while trying to get a good spot to see the band.   Last night, I had the rockin’ opportunity to be in the Photo Pit for Metallica’s sold out show at Madison Square Garden, and I took some great shots to share with you.

Getting into the Photo Pit area is quite a process, but a really exciting one to be a part of.  First security checks you in, searches you, and has you in a holding pattern in the bowels of the arena where everything sounds muffled and has the charm of an abandoned hospital ward.  Then you are loaded into a service elevator and taken to the main floor where waiting fans are filling the arena with nervous and excited energy.   Because Metallica plays “in the round” which is a stage in the center of the arena, you are led out through the tunnel in the middle of MSG to the stage, and once fans see the photographers being led out in a row… they know that the band is very close to going on.  There are loud hoots and cheers, hands go in the air, the volume of the arena cranks up to 9  (11 is saved for Metallica of course).   Photographers get in position, roaming the area between the barricade and stage like cats pacing for milk.     Once the lights go down, and the band comes out, you have 3 songs only to get as many shots as you can before you are escorted back to the service elevator and led back outside.  That’s right, no free tickets come along with the Photo Pit pass, but once you see the slide show and video clip here, I think you’ll agree, it’s not a bad payoff!

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The U.S.S. New York made its triumphant New York City debut today…. and what a sight to behold it was.  Many 9-11 first responders and 9-11 family members lined the banks of the Hudson River today to be a part of history — to watch the ship made with the salvaged remains of the World Trade Center return to the site where twin towers came down 8 years ago.

Watching the transformation of the twisted and charred steel turn into a massive hulking warship was powerful for shipbuilders, who have said  this ship is a bold reminder that America will “never forget”, which is also the ship’s motto.

The U.S.S. New York arrived with a large escort of firefighting, police and coast guard boats … like a protected public official — or rock star heading to a stage… a fitting entourage for a ship of this size.  She is 684 feet long, 105 feet wide and weighs 25-thousand tons — 7 1/2 tons of salvaged steel from the twin towers were melted down and molded into the ship’s bow.  As the ship made it’s way into New York Harbor … it passed under the Verrazano Bridge, then paused in the waters just outside the world trade center where Marines on board gave a 21 gun salute.     It then muscled it’s way up the Hudson River to Pier 88 on Manhattan’s west side, where it will stay parked for the next 10 days.

It took a billion dollars, and four years to complete –  there is what is considered a communications masterpiece tucked away under two cones of steel called the A-E-M’s — advanced enclosed masts that help reduce radar detection.  During the ships construction Navy Commanding Officer Curt Jones said, he knew this ship was going to be special.  “I walked underneath this ship, and put my hand on the hull and every hair in my body stood on edge”

The ship can carry 360 sailors, and 700 Marines.  800 for a surge mission.    The U.S.S. NEw York  LPD-21 is the 5th amphibious transport ship in the Navy’s San Antonio class and will be used to transport land marines, equipment, and supplies and can hold four helicopters or 2 Osprey’s at a time.  At today’s welcoming ceremony, New Yorkers said the ship shares the personality of the city..and embodies the strength and determination of the people who live here.  Mayor Michael Bloomberg continued … “so, every friend that sets foot on it, and every foe that dares challenge it, will feel it’s power, and know that it is literally made from the heart and soul of the city that has sacrificed so much”.
The U.S.S. New York will be open to the public starting this Wednesday after 9-11 first responders and family members have a chance to visit her… then it’s off to it’s new home port in Virginia where it will be used for crew training exercises – it is expected to be deployed for active duty within the year.

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Backstage Blog from Laura Ingle

For a fan of Rock N Roll … it just doesn’t get bigger than this!!

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert was the kind of line up that you could only *dream* of making up, just for fun to see who you could think of pairing up on stage to jam.

Who better to tell the story of Rock and Roll (the show’s concept), than the people who have lived it best, along with a little help from their friends.

The shows, featured Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, U2, Paul Simon, Metallica, Jeff Beck Band, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Friends, Simon and Garfunkel, Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger… Each band, had it’s own dream list of performers to bring up on the big stage.    Stevie Wonder, jammed with Smokey Robinson, John Legend, and Sting.   At one point, Stevie Wonder busted out a tribute to Michael Jackson and played “The Way You Make Me Feel”  … the place went nuts.  I was standing in the “stage right, house left” area and looked up and saw actor Michael Douglas, his actress wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, actor and concert co-producer Tom Hanks, and his actress wife Rita Wilson dancing in the aisles.  They were really going for it… laughing, singing and had their hands up in the air.  When I looked closer, I saw that Yoko Ono, Robbie Robertson, and Dennis Miller were in the same section (though Miller, Robertson and Ono were not partaking in the dancing in the aisle fun)

Another amazing musical moment; Crosby, Stills, and Nash with Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, B.B. King and Jackson Browne.  Hard rockers Metallica provided a heavy metal dream come true when they invited  Ozzy Osbourne on stage.  One of the more honest, and respectful moments came when lead singer James Hetfield admitted, “We’re not the most jammy kind of band, we’re kind of a tight little unit, we don’t usually let people in”.  Hetfield smirked, then smiled, then asked Ozzy to come on out.   One of my favorite things to see Ozzy do when he performs is that “frog jump” thing that he does – and he did it repeatedly while singing “Iron Man” and “Paranoid”.  What a Rock moment that was.  Look at the bottom of this post for Ozzy talking about his daughter’s upcoming wedding, he really sounds like a concerned dad!    Metallica also had  Ray Davies of The Kinks, and Lou Reed join them on stage.  I mean honestly, isn’t this all enough to make your head spin?

So who’s idea was this anyway?  Well, the team that put together the 2 day event is also quite impressive. Joel Peresman, the CEO of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame pulled in the creative might of actor Tom Hanks, his producing partner Gary Goetzman, singer-songwriter Robbie Robertson, and Academy Award winning-screenwriter Cameron Crowe to produce and film the event for HBO.

Tom Hanks having fun in the press room

When Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson came by the press room Thursday- Hanks talked about helping put this show together like a true music fan. He said he is just like the rest of us, “happy to be in the same venue as all these artists.”

As Tom Hanks was wrapping up his time in the press room, someone asked what his favorite song of 2009 is so far, and why… he cracked everyone up when he said “That Ring On It” song… Check out the video below … (he was referring to Beyonce’s hit song, “Single Ladies” (Put A Ring On It”)

The anniversary show will be presented Thanksgiving weekend on HBO — with lots of behind the scene interviews and unscripted moments.   As Bonnie Raitt said when asked what it was like to be a part of the show and backstage with so many artists… she said “all I can say is… there’s a LOT happening in the hallways around here”.   Indeed.   

Can you imagine what it was like to hang out backstage with U2, while Bono was chatting up Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, and Fergie before they all went on stage? 

Check out the slide show at the bottom of this blog from the second night (photo credit Kenny Kramme), and these select shots from Thursday. I wish you could have been there with me, but with this backstage blog pass, doesn’t it feel a little like you were?    Rock on!

Sounds of Silence

James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt in Press Room

Backstage in the Press Room: Crosby Stills Nash

Stevie Wonder backstage at Rock Hall of Fame concert

Laura hangs with Little Stevie Van Zandt

Laura and John Legend after exclusive interview with Fox!

Check out the shots we got in the Press Room during the 2nd night

Here’s Ozzy on what it was like to be asked to play with Metallica – what he thinks of his daughter getting married, and why. 

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It’s been happening everywhere – in every field.  Companies losing revenue, asking employees to take pay cuts, and then sending out the inevitable “envelope” to staff members who open up the bad news with a heavy heart.

Union and non-union members in the New York Times newsroom have been told “the envelope” will be mailed out to everyone this Thursday that will detail the buy out deal. If employees take it, they will have the chance to exit the building with at least a little something to look forward to, however, there is no word on what laid off employees will get when the axe falls. Union employees will reportedly get 3 weeks salary for each year of service – non-union workers will get 2 weeks pay per year served. The bad news came way of a memo Monday from Times executive editor Bill Keller who informed staffers that they have 45 days to decide if they want to take part in the buy out – if they don’t get 100 takers, the higher ups will then be forced to cut jobs. The newspaper industry has been getting pummeled for the last several years with declining circulation numbers for most every newspaper chain. Gannett, the nation’s largest, which churns out 84 newspapers in the United States reported yesterday that it’s third-quarter profit fell 53% from a year before. The reason? Readers say they are abandoning their print subscriptions and going online to get virtually the same product for free. The New York Times execs have said that they are seeing sharp declines in advertising revenue from their printed additions, and Web advertising hasn’t caught up.

So, what will happen to all these well paid and out of work journalists and editors? Media analysts say many will have to wait out the storm, and wait for other newspapers to start to re-staff once the revenue returns, if it does at all.

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You’ve probably heard about the 2^nd grade class at B. Bernice Young Elementary School that was videotaped singing a song about President Obama earlier this year that has caused quite a bit of controversy.    After it was blasted across the internet via You Tube with the slug “School Kids Taught to Praise Obama” – conservatives have been calling into talk shows, and making noise about how they say the song shows how schoolchildren are being indoctrinated to idolize Obama.  The students first performed the song during a Black History Month assembly in February, and then once again when the author of a book about Obama came to visit the school.

Today, members of several anti-tax Tea Party, and 9-12 Project groups held a protest across the street from the elementary school to denounce the children’s participation in the song, demand that the school’s principal be reassigned for allowing the children to sing it, and to register their dismay at the song that was written for what they say is “a President who hasn’t accomplished anything yet”.    Our team drove to Burlington Township New Jersey this morning to catch the action, but we missed the protest.  We did however; catch up with concerned parents and neighbors of the school who were still lingering outside when we arrived.  I talked with one parent whose child was videotaped, without her consent back in March, performing the song.    Andrea Ciemnolonski told me that she felt that her child’s image had been “hijacked” and spread through the internet without her consent, and wanted an apology from the person who shot the tape.  I called the author whose associate made the tape, and posted it originally, but she had no comment for us.    This concerned parent also agreed with school officials who released a statement today saying that the demonstration of the protestors was inappropriate.  The Burlington Township School District contends that the protest could have been intimidating for children who were coming to class today, and many outside the school voiced their concern about that.

I was able to get the organizer of the protest on the phone to ask him why he would call for adults to stand outside a school where 4-7 year olds would be walking into school with their lunch boxes, and backpacks to yell and chant and holler across the street.  Bill Haney, who runs the 9-12 Burlington County Project told me that they originally scheduled the event when they thought kids would not be in school, because it was Columbus Day.  He said it was too late to call the event off after they realized that school would be in session (the school apparently switched Yom Kippur for Columbus Day days off) because the event was all over the internet.  The school district also posted a letter they sent to Haney online, which asked him to reconsider holding the event on a day when children would be coming to school, and offered to meet with him and his group to talk about their concerns, but they apparently declined and went forward with their rally.

I asked Andrea Ciemnolionski how she prepared her 7-year old daughter for today’s event… how she would navigate past the bullhorns, and screaming adults across the street.  She said she told her daughter it would be over fast, and that there were some people who would be loud near school today and that everything would be alright.

There is a planned school board meeting this Wednesday that will be open to the public, parents and teachers to discuss the situation. Check out the school’s response and explanation to the events leading up to today’s protest at: http://www.burltwpsch.org/?pageID=00013&docset=pr&docid=200910002.

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Can you imagine living through the worst nightmare of having a loved one murdered – then finding out your state can’t afford to follow through with a death penalty sentence?    

One of the most unlikely victims of the economic crunch…could be the death penalty. Now people who commit horrendous crimes in the future – could be spared the ultimate punishment. The reason? Leaders from more states claim pursuing capitol punishment cases are just too expensive. They say it is simply cheaper to keep convicts in prison the rest of their lives.

It *seems* like it would cost more money to keep a roof over a prisoner’s head, feed them, and give them medical aid — but after crunching the numbers, many state lawmakers say it’s more cost effective to keep death row criminals alive, and in some cases, could save them up to 500-grand per prisoner.

Last week, the Kansas Judiciary Committee debated the issue and may vote on it this week. One Republican Senator says the state’s deficit is so severe, that they have to look at every way they can to figure out where to cut costs, the death penalty being no exception. The average death penalty case costs the state of Kansas 1.26 million dollars — compared to 740-thousand dollars for keeping an inmate behind bars for life. death row cases involve longer trials, with more expert witnesses, lots of motions, and costly jury selection.

36 states have the death penalty, several of them are now looking at the possibility of eliminating it to save money. In fact a couple states have had to release non-death-row inmates to cut costs.

Some argue, that justice should not be decided by a price tag – and that those against the death penalty, are using the financial crisis to push their personal agenda. some victim’s family members have spoken out, saying punishing their loved-one’s killers is worth the cost and shouldn’t be debated. Lawmakers in the states considering scrapping the death penalty are thinking of using the money that would be saved to do other things, like pursue cold cases, and to spare employees from having to take work furlough.  

In case you are curios…

STATES WITH THE DEATH PENALTY (36)

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas*
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
New Hampshire*
New Mexico
Nebraska
Nevada
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
Wyoming
U.S. Govt
U.S. Military*

*Indicates jurisdictions with no executions since 1976.

STATES WITHOUT THE DEATH PENALTY (14)

Alaska
District of Columbia
Hawaii
Iowa
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Maine
New York
North Dakota
New Jersey
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin

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While pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger became a household name after fight 1549’s Miracle landing on the Hudson….Could you name the people in the control tower who helped in find a safe place to land? The men and women responsible for defusing flight emergencies and helping millions of passengers take off and land safely are also getting some recognition this coming week, with the annual Archie League Medal of Safety Awards. The awards will be given out this coming Tuesday in Las Vegas by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

The man behind the microphone in the “Miracle on the Hudson” story, by the way, was air traffic controller Patrick Harten. The calm in his voice as he talked with Captain “Sully” on that infamous splash landing, is a tone that is heard day in, and day out, in air traffic control towers across the country.

Members of the N-A-T-C-A point out that the ability to think quickly and remain calm under pressure while resolving emergencies in the sky is a job not everyone could do. Here’s one example from Chicago’s Midway tower last June, and air traffic controller Bob Zeman.

(tanscript edited from Flight Assist)

pilot: were declaring an emergency. one two kilo bravo.

controller: ok. declaring an emergency?

pilot: yes sir.

controller: ok. southwest eighteen forty three, you know what im going to have to do for you sir is roll inbound on a final, start a climb to three thousand feet. do it quickly for me. ive got an emergency coming inbound, just off your nose.

southwest 1843: climbing to three thousand … southwest eighteen forty three.

controller: kilo bravo understand emergency. youre clear to land any runway. seven thirty seven northeast of the field about to climb above your altitude. winds one eight zero at one five.

And there is much more. I will come back to the blog after this first report I am doing at 1:15p eastern to plug in some more examples of these nerves of steel.

Here are the winners of this year’s awards…

Fifth Annual Archie League Award Winners

The National Office is proud to announce to you the winners of the 5th Annual Archie League Medal of Safety Awards, as chosen on Jan. 8 by our judges’ panel (Retired C90 member/fac rep Ray Gibbons, Capt. Brian Townsend and the head of AOPA’s Air Safety Foundation, Bruce Landsberg):

ALASKAN REGION

Mark Harris, Anchorage TRACON

CENTRAL REGION

Christian Manglona, Des Moines

EASTERN REGION

Steve Flickinger, Roanoke

GREAT LAKES REGION (tie)

Robert Zeman, Chicago Midway Tower

Stephanie Bevins, Cleveland Center

Jay McCombs, Cleveland Center

NEW ENGLAND REGION

Stephen Roebuck, Boston Center

Bruce Clough, Boston Center

John Therrien, Boston Center

Bill Wood, Boston Center

NORTHWEST MOUNTAIN REGION

Tom Hedeen, Denver Tower

SOUTHERN REGION (tie)

Kenny Ellis, Memphis Center

Joe Mackie, Greer, S.C.

SOUTHWEST REGION

John Charlton, Lake Charles, La.

WESTERN PACIFIC REGION

Neil Irvin, Northern California TRACON

Tom Gallagher, Northern California TRACON

We salute all of you, and all the other air traffic controllers in the U.S., who really are the unsung heroes of the sky!

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Laura Michelle and Hunter take Reactive ads for a test drive

Think you determine whether or not you watch certain ads?

Think again.

On video screens in places like malls, health clubs and grocery stores - *YOU’RE* the one being watched.Small cameras are analyzing you – and what they see tells advertisers what they think you’ll want to buy.

When you hear about the technology being tested, and used on consumers right now, you might think about that Tom Cruise movie “Minority Report” — you know, the futuristic thriller with billboards that recognizes your face, then the ads turn into direct electronic pitches of a product right to you.

That kind of advanced advertising may not too far off, now that companies like “Tru-Media Technologies” are putting cameras inside digital billboards that are programed with face recognition systems. One of the things advertisers hope to do with this, will be to have the ability to shift their product pitch immediately when one gender or the other gets in the billboard’s range.  That means, if you walk up to an ad that is “watching you” and you are a woman, it might automatically shift from a generic or male oriented ad to an ad targeted to YOU.   (think perfume, cosmetics… girl stuff) 

But, privacy advocates have raised concerns about the technology saying that cconsumers should be made aware when they are being watched, by perhaps attaching a disclaimer to the ads to give them the heads up they are being monitored.   We talked with Harley Geiger, with the Center for Democracy and Technology who said “consumers need to know what is happening to their information, who is collecting it, and for what purpose, and know whether a certain screen is actually photographing things”. We tested out the system here at FNC yesterday with a demo sent to us by the Tru-Media company, and it does work fast!  The camera picked us up immediately, with green and gray boxes around our faces identifying our gender, and clocked how long we were checking out the sample ads.   I recruited Michelle Melnick, and Hunter Ryan to do the demo with me so we could see how well it works..

laura tests profile on reactive ads, it works!

Reactive ads work even in profile! I tried at one point to turn my head to see if the cameras would still pick me up and monitor my gender and approximate age (I’m not telling…) and it did.  You can see the box around my face and the faces of Michelle and Hunter in different positions. 

The cameras don’t *record* any content, so there is no privacy violation according to Tru-Media, but that’s not to say other companies will have the same policy in the future, so it’s a technology for us *all* to keep an eye on…

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In case you missed the report the other night on the Iraqi band that has resettled in America … here it is!  I have received a lot of requests for a link to the piece, and wanted to make sure you didn’t miss it.  So, sit back, and get ready to rock, and click here for my in depth blog on the story.

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Faisal in Vice offices ready to rock

Laura and Acrassicauda

I was thrilled to have the chance to tell this story which ran last night on the FOX Report with Shepard Smith  which included exclusive footage taken backstage last Sunday February 1st, when the band had a chance to meet their heavy metal heroes, Metallica!

Throwin' the Horns

I wanted to share a little more about reporting on this story, now that I have a chance to sit with my computer for a few minutes.    I first heard about the band after catching a blurb about “Heavy Metal in Baghdad” in a local newspaper last year.   The title peaked my interest as a rock n’ roller (see previous blogs) and as a reporter.  I went to a screening that night of the movie that featured a Q-n-A session with the film makers afterwards.  The movie was captivating, engaging, and a total cliff hanger.   The band’s practice place was hit by a scud missile, their lives were being threatened for playing western style music,  and daring to wear American heavy metal t-shirts.   They quite literally, became a band on the run after leaving Iraq and were living as rock n’ roll refugees in some pretty horrible conditions.  It made me want to learn more about them immediately, and quite honestly, go over there and get them out myself if I could.   (everyone deserves the right to rock)

After talking with film makers Suroosh Alvi, and Eddie Moretti about the efforts being made by many to help get the band out of there, I gave them my business card and called them the following week.   I worked on finding a way to tell this story for months, but the timing just didn’t work out for a variety of reasons.    Travel and time were the biggest issues, but as luck would have it, the best chapter of this heavy metal saga, (so far) wouldn’t unfold until just last week.

Before I go any further, let me say, that coming to the United States as a legal refugee is no easy task.   There are miles and miles of red tape one must go through to get resettled here, and many don’t make it.   In the past year, the U.S. admitted just under 13,000 refugees from Iraq.  There are over 2 million refugees who have fled the country, and 2 million who are displaced within Iraq since the war.   We had extensive interviews with the people over at the International Rescue Committee (known as the IRC) about how this works.  Some of you reading this may wonder… “so, if you just want to come over to America and rock, you get a pass?”   The answer is a defiant no.  In fact, the only people that can even be considered for resettlement under the legal refugee terms, are those who have a founded fear of persecution, or death.   Bob Carey with the IRC told us that many refugees from Iraq have had a direct experience of violence, and all have to prove it.   Many have either had a family member kidnapped or killed or tortured, or they themselves have had a very legitimate death threat.

While the documentary  exposed the band members to a new legion of underground metal fans, it also exposed their story to people who were not so enthusiastic about their heavy metal tale.    Needless to say, it did not go over well with the extremists.   Because of the very real and serious danger that the band had found themselves in, Surooshand Eddie felt compelled to help get them out alive, and spearheaded a massive effort to get the band safely to America.   They reached out to the IRC  which helped the guys get through the process of applying for refugee status with the United States.   It took years of background checks, security checks, name checks, and many interviews to get the approval they needed.

Acrassicauda's new digs

They arrived in the U.S., at Newark Liberty International, starting last year.   Tony the guitar player, Faisal lead singer and guitarist, and Firas the bass player came first.   Tony, went to Michigan to handle some family business, and is living there for now, and Faisal and Firas settled into their new lives in New Jersey.  Then in the early morning hours of January 30th, Marwan the drummer arrived.  Finally the band was back together,  at least all in the same country, and on American soil.

I knew that Marwan was going to be arriving late that night, but we didn’t have a camera crew that was going to be able to be at Newark for his arrival.  I had been keeping in contact with the crew from Vice films who was keeping me in the loop about the timing of all this on my blackberry.  That night I was on the other side of the New York world in Long Island at the Metallica show at Nassau Coliseum, which is a pretty long drive.   When we got out of the show, I checked with the airline to see if the flight was going to be delayed (hoping it might be…  sorry Marwan) and it was.    I had my personal cameras with me, and my fiancee and I decided it would be worth it to give it a shot.  After all this time watching the story of this band unfold… how could we NOT try to see this moment in person?   With that, we  high tailed it to Newark, (hit massive traffic in the Holland tunnel that was shut down to one lane)  and got there just after 2a.m. and saw the reunion of Faisal, Firas, and Marwan.

Two days later, the guys had a chance to go see the 3rd sold out show of Metallica in the New York area, and had the spectacular chance to go backstage and meet the band.  Making it even more special, (and sending all the band members into shock) lead singer James Hetfield gave Faisal and the guys the guitar off his back, and signed it with a silver pen “Welcome to America”.

The perfect welcome gift!

James and company have also seen the documentary, and were well aware of the band’s story of working to get out of Iraq alive all while fighting for the chance to rock.

The next goal now for the band… finding jobs, and getting the band back together now that they have a safe place to jam.  And who knows, maybe someday soon, they’ll get a record deal, and open up for Metallica.    As you can see from this video I shot from the other night… it would be quite a big gig, and who knows … with Acrassicauda, it feels like anything is possible!

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Those are the words I heard on the corner of 19th and 6th yesterday afternoon (Thursday) that set off a wild and very cold chain of events for the rest of the day and into the night. I was sitting with my fiancee taking a break from apartment hunting on my day off outside his work. That’s when his boss came outside, knocked on the truck window, and told us the news. We didn’t even say a word, and just headed in that direction, tuning in to local radio stations to find out what happened and where the plane was. We followed fire engines, police cars and emergency responders whizzing down the streets, all heading to the area of Chelsea Piers on the West Side Highway. I didn’t have all my usual gear, but did have my press pass with me (we all carry them 24/7). I jumped out of the truck to get as close as I could, and sent a message to my boss on my blackberry to tell her I was in the area.

I couldn’t believe my eyes… right in front of me, looking out across the Hudson River, was an enormous plane surrounded by boats floating down the river like a barge. I could make out people on the wings, and people standing on the boats trying to get to them, all of this while the current was carrying the mass of metal downstream, and heading south. And it was SO COLD! I was freezing just standing there (it was near 20 degrees), and couldn’t even imagine what all those people were going through after being a part of a crash landing, and THEN standing out in that water on the wings! It was surreal to say the least. The boats had circled the plane perfectly in the water, creating what looked like a ring around the floating beast, as if they had all thrown a giant lasso of safety around the plane.

All of us on the sidelines of the West Side Highway were running with our camera phones and following it on foot, trying to keep up with this incredible high speed water ballet that was unfolding before our eyes. After calling into Fox Headquarters to give my location, I was put on the air on my cell phone to describe what I was seeing… which was quite literally breathtaking. I was reporting while running at the same time, trying to keep up with the plane moving in the water. Then, after my “hit” was done, we stopped moving to get some perspective at the Chelsea Piers, going around the back to the Chelsea Brewing Company (a great spot where we have gone many times to sit out on the deck and watch the boats go by in the summertime…). That’s where we found emergency crews jumping into action and into their wetsuits, getting ready to motor out to the floating plane to assist in the rescue. The mood was frantic — people were yelling, hollering commands, then finally yelling at us to get off the pier and away from the emergency crews all together.

While all this was happening, my mind was racing… “is everyone o.k.? will everyone make it out alive? How can anyone withstand that cold water?”

I was then sent to Battery City Park, which is a bit of a hike from the Chelsea Piers where we would have one of our live trucks setting up to do reports, and as it turned out, is right where the plane ended up. There were no cabs on the West Side Highway, only emergency vehicles, so I had to hoof it down to the location. Along the way, I ran into Geraldo’s brother Craig Rivera and Geraldo’s longtime cameraman Greg Hart (we all used to work together on Geraldo At Large); it was nice to see a couple of familiar faces during intense breaking news. These guys don’t ever stand in one place long, even on a slow news day, and before I knew it, they were off and running with their cameras rolling and heading south to where the plane was floating. I started running too, but their legs are longer, so they quickly disappeared before I could catch up to them.

After arriving at our live truck, I was assigned to report for our Fox affiliates, which is always a thrill, because you are going live so many times back to back, reporting and talking with different news anchors all across the country. We also did live reports for our sister network Sky News, in the U.K.. Anchors wanted to know how the passengers were doing, what else we knew about the hero pilot, and of all things… what would become of all the luggage! (I said that I thought there would be a lot of missing baggage claims filed, but wasn’t too sure where all the luggage was at that point).

I mentioned that I was on my day off earlier only to explain my appearance in case you saw any of my affiliate reports — I was caught with my hair in a ponytail and a Mets baseball hat, with little makeup on, not exactly ideal for on air reporters. Our satellite truck op Don Collopy was kind enough to offer me his “NHL on Fox” black baseball hat to replace my bright orange Mets hat, and the only thing I had in my purse was lipstick and powder, so I smudged some lipstick on my eyelids in place of eyeshadow, (a tried and true trick) and waited for my very nice fiancee to go to my apartment and bring me warmer clothes, a Fox News Channel hat, and more makeup.

With that, I, along with many others, take my (Mets/NHL/FNC) hat off to US Airways pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, as well as the co-pilot Jeff Skiles and the flight crew for an amazing job well done. I can’t wait to hear their stories when they are able to finally talk to reporters, and I bet you can’t either. Keep it here!

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Have you checked out our cool web cast, “The Strategy Room” yet?  (well, I guess if you are here on our website, chances are you have….)

It’s the best thing on the web, and so much fun to watch and be a part of.  The best thing about this on-line live show, is that YOU get to write in and participate!  I’ll be hosting today from 4p-5p eastern time, so be sure to write in with a question or a comment as our panel discusses the hot topics of the day — strategyroom@foxnews.com

See you on the web!

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The news never sleeps or takes a holiday as you know, and neither does the hard work of police detectives.  Just hours ago – on the eve of Thanksgiving, my blackberry started going off.  One text message after another alerting me that there was a suspect named in the brutal murder of Little Rock News Anchor Anne Pressly.  The story has been one that I have followed closely, and when I read on my blackberry that there was finally someone they could put a face and name to as a person of interest in this horrifying case, I was immediately relieved for the family and people of Little Rock, and deeply saddened at the same time.   As most people tonight are preparing their Thanksgiving meals, making plans and setting up dinner tables for the special holiday, Anne Pressly’s mother and father must prepare themselves to see the man accused of brutally beating their daughter in a courtroom soon.  There are of course, many more questions tonight than answers.  All we know at this time, is that Curtis Vance was reportedly with a 25 year old woman and 3 small children at the time of his arrest.  Here is the press release sent out by the Little Rock P.D. a short while ago — then there was another email that went out to members of the media, that the suspect had been taken into custody.   More to come in the days ahead.

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Greetings from the chilly shores of Cape Cod!

I came up to the Boston area yesterday from New York to shoot a really cool story, about what the United States Coast Guard is doing these days to keep our waters safe, and keep terrorist and criminal activity at bay.

I’m filling in for the lovely and talented Molly Line here for this story — one that’s been in the making for months.   As you can imagine,  these teams aren’t just sitting around, when they get a call to action, they go.  The Boston FNC team has been working on this story for months, but there have been many delays due to the Coast Guard’s schedule.  This week, everything fell into place to have us jump aboard many different types of boats and ships to film the risky and dangerous missions these teams train for to keep all of us safe.

Right now, we are following a Coast Guard  H-60 helicopter, or “Jayhawks” similar to the Army’s blackhawks.  We are not going up in these, we are going on a boat and will be filming special ops teams “fast roping” out of these onto a cargo ship!  More pictures to come…..

Keep checking back!

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Update: This story will air tonight on Fox Report at 7:50p, and on Geraldo At Large tonight at 10:30p (both eastern time)   There is a new tipline for anyone who has information on the case dedicated to the investigation of Anne Pressly’s murder. 501-517-0750

Who could have committed such a horrific, violent, and cruel act?   Anne Pressly, (pictured here on the left in the blue dress) was a bright, talented, and respected reporter and news anchor in Little Rock, Arkansas who was found by her mother, brutally beaten in her home on Oct. 20.  The attack on the 26-year-old has left her family, friends and colleagues stunned, and a community on edge.  Pressly held on for several days and a few times began to show signs of improvement, but she passed away last weekend.  In one last act to help others, her family did what they thought she would want, and donated her organs.  Six people have benefited from her organ donation,  one of them, a grandfather who desperately wanted to live to see his grandchild grow up, and because of Anne, will have that chance.    Today, her parents, Patti and Guy sat down with me for an interview in our Fox News studios here in New York to talk to us about the life of their daughter, and about the intense desire to track down her killer, and bring them to justice. 

We will be airing some clips from the interview and updates on the story after the election — in the meantime, I wanted to give you an update on the case, get the tip line number out so that if you or anyone you know has ANY information, to please call the Little Rock, Arkansas Police Department at 501-517-0750.

Right now, there are no real leads to report.  We do know that many tips have been called in, and police are interviewing dozens and dozens of people.  As with most every murder investigation, police detectives don’t like to reveal too much, but in this case, we know that Anne’s purse was taken from her home the night she was attacked, and that her credit card was used at a nearby Shell gas station within hours.  There was hope that at least one of the nine cameras at the station revealed the face of a suspect, but it appears that there is not much cops can make out.  Surveillance video was also taken from a nearby fitness center, in hopes that the cameras at that location would show something – so far, we’ve heard nothing on that angle.   We are all hoping that there will be an image of a suspect that will pop up so we can put it on the air. Robbery is believed to be a possible motive for the break in to Anne’s home in the Heights neighborhood of Little Rock, which is a mix of bungalows and mansions near the Little Rock Country Club.  But still, the most valuable thing Anne owned was a BMW which was left parked in the driveway, and nothing else in the house was taken.

The police in Little Rock have reportedly been handing out pepper spray to news reporters and news anchors all over the city, just in case this was a targeted attack because of Anne’s job, though they still maintain, it was random.  I asked her mother today if she felt like this was a random attack, and she looked at me and paused and said “how could this be random?”  She says her mother’s instinct tells her it was not, but she doesn’t have any evidence of that.

Patti told us the story of how she went to go visit her daughter Anne in Little Rock the weekend before she was attacked to share in the excitement of going to the movies to see the new “W” film directed by Oliver Stone.  Anne had a small part in the movie playing a conservative commentator, and wasn’t sure if she had made the final version of the film, and was thrilled to see that she hadn’t been left on the “cutting room floor”.   Her friends made her a red carpet, complete with gold stars that they rolled out to her car before they went to go see the movie — even giving her flowers on the big night to go watch the movie with her Mom.

Her mom tells me Anne adored her friends, and loved to be around them.  The weekend included baby showers and birthday parties, and by Sunday night, she was off to her house to get some sleep before her early morning shift at K-A-T-V as a news anchor.  A shift that as every morning reporter knows, you always worry about over sleeping for.

Anne and her parents had a routine; they would call her every morning to be her back up wake up call to make sure she didn’t hit snooze too many times.   On that Monday morning, her father Guy made the call from his South Carolina home, and when he couldn’t get Anne on the phone he called Patti who was staying with a friend in Little Rock.   Patti told me that she thought maybe she was in the shower, or blow drying her hair, but was a little concerned because she always answered.  She decided to get dressed, and drive over since she was so close to make sure everything was O.K..   It wasn’t.

Patti says she went to the front door, and was surprised to see the newspaper still on the porch.  She banged on the door and called her daughter’s name.  Nothing.   Patti then walked around the back of the house and found one of the back doors open.   She says ran through the house looking for Anne, through the kitchen, the dining room, living room, then to her bedroom, and that’s where she found her.    She saw her in her bed, blood was everywhere.   Patti says she couldn’t understand what she was seeing, she couldn’t wrap her head around it, there was just so much blood.   She says she was in deep shock, but remembers screaming “Anne! Anne!  Who DID THIS TO YOU??!”   Anne was too injured to respond and was never able to answer that question.   Every bone in her face was broken, her upper body beaten, and her left hand was broken.  She had also had a stroke in the middle of the attack.

I don’t think there is anyone who can comprehend what it would be like, to go check on your child, young or grown, and find them bludgeoned the way that Patti did.   As a reporter, we have to get to the facts and share them with our viewers, but we are still daughters and sons ourselves.     It is never easy talking to victim’s family members, and it always breaks your heart.  I am constantly impressed with the perseverance and strength of the mothers and fathers who can bring themselves to relive the worst day of their lives, so that they can help solve the crime, and hopefully say something that will prevent it from every happening to someone else.

I hope that we will soon be able to report that there has been a break in this case.  That we will get this person, or the people who did this to Anne Pressly off the streets and where they belong.   Her family and friends have set up two ways to help find her killer, and continue her legacy.   If you want to contribute to the reward fund for information that leads to an arrest or conviction,  or to the Anne Pressly Scholarship Foundation you can do so by sending your contribution to:

P.O. Box 77 Little Rock, Arkansas 72203.  Designate on the envelope which fund you’d like to contribute to – The Anne Pressly Reward Fund, or the Anne Pressly Scholarship Foundation.

Keep checking back on this blog for updates – and to share your thoughts.  I know that her family may check in on this blog if you’d like to send them a message this way.

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No matter where you are in the country right now – I’m sure you can feel it.  That tangible energy that is streaming through every street in America as people turn out in record numbers to cast their vote on this most historic election day.   Here at Fox News Headquarters in New York, party preps are underway for an election night party like you have never seen…..

That’s FNC’s Dan Springer on the HUGE TV screen.  The massive screen is set up on 48th Street at 6th Avenue, with chairs and heaters being set up so that people who come by can watch all the action unfold live.  To the right of this, is an elevated area where we often do live shots — but tonight, there is an elaborate set up with a tent, and stage lights where a live webcast called the “Strategy Room” will be going live from 6p-2am (or possibly later)

You’ve probably been hearing that the “Strategy Room” will be hosted by FNC’s Martha MacCallum, and Brian Wilson, and they always have the best and brightest political analysts on, so you don’t want to miss it!  If you are anywhere near a computer tonight, and you can’t have the TV on, definitely get www.foxnews.com up and running and you won’t miss a beat.

Another fun thing our Fox News crews are putting together is a photo op for those who come by to take pictures with their favorite anchors, with a computer station right next to it, where they will upload your pictures onto Flicker.com.   How cool is that?  You could even make it your Christmas card with a photo op like this one!

If you are in New York, you MUST come by!

Also, if you are in New York, be sure to check out the Empire State Building tonight.  I just read that the skyscraper is splitting its tower lights between Republican red for John McCain, and Democratic blue for Barack Obama.  They say it’s part of an unprecedented four nights of election-themed lighting.   Can’t wait to see what it will look like tomorrow… that’s when the Empire State building is expected to light up with either red or blue for whoever wins tonight…. if the race is called by then that is!

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7:33 AM:  Greetings from a voting station in midtown New York…lines are long, and people here are getting aggrivated inside the cramped building where there doesn’t seem to be a lot of organization. At least everyone was greeted with a smile before we got inside by a last minute campaigner.

 8:14 AM: I don’t know what it’s going to be like where you will vote today, but I just left one hot crowded unorganized polling place here in New York.  If you’ve ever been at a concert, and tried to get to the front of the stage, that is what it felt like trying to get to the voting booth where I was today in Midtown Manhattan.   People were being herded into district lines, then told to go to another line, and start over.  Voters who came prepared with wearing coats hats and gloves, were peeling them off as fast as they could as the temperature quickly rose in the cramped building.  As I was standing in line I was listening to those around me who were saying, “I can’t believe this!” “What a mess!” “I’ve never seen it this bad here!”  At one point, a NYPD officer who was there in the lobby made his way to the front of the line and took control and in a loud booming voice started re-directing people to get the situation under control… and this was at 6:45a.m.!   Hopefully things will improve as more volunteers get in place.  At least voters were greeted with a smile from a last minute campaigner Saul Farber who is running State Assembly.  He was working the line, shaking hands, asking people to vote for change.  I felt compelled to get out of line and ask him exactly what he meant by that and what he planned to do…. I couldn’t help myself. 

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One of my favorite things to do as a reporter is get out and talk to people about the issues of the day, which we call doing “M.O.S.” reports (man on the street.)    Today, I had a chance to do live shots outside our FOX News Headquarters in New York to talk to people about the latest FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll.  The goal is to see if the people we randomly pick walking down the street say the same thing that those polled had to say.    Two of the poll questions and results that were hot topics were these:

1. Who do you trust more to handle the economy?

28-29 Oct       8-9 Oct

Obama 50%       50%

McCain 42           35

Among Registered Voters ±3%

Would you be comfortable with your Candidate for Vice President if they are elected?

Here are some of the answers we found on 6th Avenue!

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Did you know that more than 8 million kids in our country are “heading to the polls” to cast their vote for President of the United States?

Over 13-thousand schools (and counting) are taking part in the National Student/ Parent Mock Election, to educate school children about the process of our election system, and to let kids make their own choice if they were able to vote today.   (You MUST see this story!  It will be on Fox Report tonight w/ Shepard Smith at 7p et.)

Our Fox News crew headed to Fort Lee, New Jersey this week to check out one of these mock elections and to talk to the children at School #4 (grade K-6) to see what they thought about the election, the issues, and the candidates.   These elementary school kids had signs (representing both sides) all over the school’s hallways, cafeteria, and auditorium encouraging each other to vote and make informed decisions.

This is one of those times I wish I could have at least 10 minutes of air time to play all of our interviews with the kids, because they were so smart and well informed, that it just makes you smile from ear to ear hearing their little voices talk about the economy, Health care, the energy crisis and more.  If you’ve ever seen that show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?,” then you can get an idea of what I’m talking about here. They all stood in line, and went by grade to cast their vote for president inside real voting booths brought in by the Bergen County Board of Elections. (Only 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders took part.)

All the kids understood they weren’t REALLY voting for President, that this was just practice for when they grow up, but all the kids we talked to definitely had some grown up opinions of the political landscape.  Let me give you some examples:

This is a 10 year old little girl in the 5th grade (her mother asked that we not use her name)  who told me the following when I asked her who she voted for and why:

“I voted for Obama because I think he has a good plan for government and a good plan for the environment. I read that he’ll reward good farmers who don’t use pesticides on our food so we don’t get sick.” (Note the “I voted” stickers they all are proudly wearing.)

This is George Liapes, 11 years old and in the 6th grade.  Same question, different answer:

“They both want lower taxes. One wants to end the war, one wants- one wants war to go on. I think we should stay there and fight the terrorists and not let them win the war.   I voted for John McCain.”

George wasn’t the only one talking war and strategy in the room… meet Michael Garcia in the blue shirt;  9 years old and in the third grade.

I asked him how he studied for the mock election, who he voted for, and why:

“I prepared by looking at all those posters saying vote for Obama, vote for McCain and it was fun to read like 100 posters all around the school about what they’re gonna do.  I voted for Obama.  And I read uh that he wants to lower taxes for 95% of Americans and um he’s gonna be a good president if he becomes president.”

Laura: “What do you think about John McCain?”

Michael: “Well, hes a good Senator also, but he wants more war in Iraq and I want a war in Afghanistan to find Bin Laden.”

And one of my favorite interviews was with Simona Vigodner, 8 years old in the 3rd grade.  I sadly didn’t get a picture of her on my camera, (I think she had to leave to get to class,) but here is what she had to say about her vote, and her political philosophy:

Laura: “So who did you vote for?”

Simona: “John McCain”

Laura: “and Why?”

Simona: “How I understand Democrats, and Republicans -  the Democrats you could like give someone a fish to eat, and the Republicans you can give someone a fishing rod so you can keep working and get more fish.   So whats better?   You should give someone a fishing rod so they can keep getting fish.”

At the end of the day, the votes were tallied from the school and the results were in.  The kids of School #4 overwhelmingly voted for Senator Barack Obama over Senator John McCain 194-76.  Those votes will go into a national data base with all the other schools, and the results of the mock election will be published next week, October 30th.   Most people know that this is not meant to be a barometer as to who is going to win the election  - but it sure is interesting to hear what the kids have to say!

I’ll be sure to let you know what happens on October 30th – so be sure to check back here on the blog for final results!

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Would you want your child’s teacher wearing a political button while teaching in the classroom? Is it free speech, or pushing politics on children?

That’s the question being dealt with today inside a New York Federal courtroom. The United Federation of Teachers Union has sued the Department of Education to reverse a long standing policy banning political campaign buttons at school.

Lawyers for the United Federation of Teachers and it’s President Randi Weingarten (pictures at mic stand) filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court last Friday, claiming that their teacher’s first amendment rights are being violated with the Deapartment of Education’s “no-button wearing policy”. The UFT and it’s teachers argue that they’ve been wearing these types of pins for over 25 years, and that there has never been a complaint from students or parents, and if anything, the buttons encourage discussions on current events, so what’s the problem now?

The buttons handed out by the UFT union reflect the UFT’s candidate of choice, Barack Obama, though teachers and DOE staff have been told by the union they can wear whatever kind of pins they want.

The board of education policy states that that all Department of Education staff are to maintain a neutral position at all times when it comes to political candidates while they are on duty or in contact with students, and that rule has been on the books for years.

We interviewed Joel Klein, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. Here is a portion of the transcript from our interview.

“I don’t want the teachers on one side or the other of those issues what ever side she may be on. Our kids got enough on their plate , and we don’t need teachers to play a sort of political agitated role. Parents concerns are the same concerns I have, they don’t want their kids being politically influenced by teachers political views-they don’t want their kids uncomfortable.”

When I asked Chancellor Klein why the board has never enforced the rule before this election, he told us that he didn’t know that teachers had been wearing buttons in the past, but now that he knows what’s been going on, he wants it to stop.

This issue is not a new one for teachers and school boards – last week, employees at the University of Illinois reportedly received an email banning political pins on campus. In Santa Cruz, high school teachers were forced to remove their “Educators for Obama” buttons after some McCain supporting parents complained.

There was a hearing early this morning in court with both sides arguing their case. A decision could be made very soon on this. I’m wondering what you think about all this? Let us know.

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There has been a reported sighting of the missing 23-year-old teacher in Manhattan, but as quickly as she was spotted, she has vanished once again.

We have been following the case of missing Harlem school teacher Hannah Upp closely, and it looks as though there may be a break in the puzzling case. It’s hard to imagine any scenario that would take this vibrant, well educated, and caring young woman away from her family and friends who clearly adore her, or from the young students she was set to teach last week. Your mind only wants to go to the best case scenario, which is that she simply may have walked off, checked out, and might be taking time to herself while working something out, but so often we have to report a far worse turn out. I’m hoping that we will get to soon report that she is safe and sound and back with her loved ones.

Late last night, we got a news alert from the New York Police Department that there had been what they call a “confirmed sighting” of the missing teacher. Here is a portion of the release:

AS A RESULT OF AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION, HANNAH EMILY UPP WAS POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED IN THE VICINITY OF 59 STREET AND 5 AVENUE AT APPROXIMATELY 9:15 THIS MORNING. THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT IS STILL SEEKING THE PUBLIC’S ASSITANCE IN LOCATING MS. UPP, ANYONE WITH ANY INFORMATION ARE ASKED TO CALL CRIME STOPPERS AT 1-800-577-TIPS. THE PUBLIC CAN ALSO TEXT THEIR TIPS TO 274637 (CRIMES) THEN ENTER TIP577. ALL INFORMATION SHALL BE KEPT STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.

If you are familiar with New York, you know that location is the Apple store.

We had also heard that she was spotted inside this underground computer store checking her email – which is easy to do, because the store has free internet access at several tables inside where you can walk up and just start using their computers.

I went to the store early this morning to see if anyone there remembered seeing her… they hadn’t, but had heard she was spotted there Friday. This is a VERY busy location in New York, and would be an easy place for someone to dip in and dip out unnoticed.

In the meantime, the search continues for Hannah Upp, and the mystery deepens. We have heard that a friend of hers from school that spotted her, and told her that people were looking for her, and then she took off. Just because she was spotted, doesn’t mean that she is o.k., or that a crime hasn’t happened. Her friends and family need people to remain on the lookout, and call police if she is seen again. Hopefully, this ends well, and soon for everyone involved.

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Where could 23-year old Hannah Upp be?

It’s been over a week now since the young Spanish teacher vanished from her Harlem neighborhood. She was reportedly last seen by one of her roommates wrapped in a towel either walking from their bathroom to her bedroom or the other way around.

It’s all a blur for her family and friends who are having a difficult time thinking of how this vivacious, funny, free spirited, yet street smart woman could have just vanished, most importantly without her key belongings. After her roommates noticed that she wasn’t around last weekend, they started to worry, and went into her room to see what was up. There they found her cell phone, purse, wallet, passport (she had lost her id, and was using her passport) ATM card, subway card, and keys. A heart stopping discovery. She loved to run in the nearby parks — but her running shoes were in her room too.

That’s when her roommate “Manny” started to scroll through her cell phone and call her friends to see if they knew where she was. No one had a clue. He talked first to one of Hannah’s best friends who came up on her call list, who’s name also is Hannah, and after a discussion about what to do, they decided to go to the police.

Her friends describe her as one of the most caring people they’ve ever known, and say there is no way she would ever just “take off”, especially with her new school year about to start. After Hannah’s friends called the police, they were told to “keep them informed”, because often times, people DO go away and don’t tell people, and they need to wait 24 hours to file a missing persons report. Her friends knew something was wrong immediately, and when the police learned that Hannah didn’t show up to teach her class this Tuesday, they knew too.

Today, we took our cameras and drove north to Harlem to check out the apartment complex where she was last seen at 63 Hamilton Terrace, and to talk with her worried friends and mother. They just don’t know what happened, there isn’t a clue, or one indication where she went. There are no security cameras around, so there unfortunately are no pictures of her leaving or who she may have left with. If she were to have come out of that front door, and headed to her left, that would have been the direction of the park where she ran and her school where she taught. If she had gone to the right, she would have been heading in the direction of the subway and local grocery store.

I have unfortunately covered a lot of missing persons cases, and the one thing I can say, is that it always helps when family and friends talk to the media. It is the best way to keep the story out there, and get the pictures on the news so we can all look for the person who has vanished. It is extremely hard though. It is never easy to look into the eyes of worried family members and friends and think about what they are going through, all you have to do is think of your own mother or father that worried about you, and it can take your breath away.

Her friends are streamlining the effort to reach as many people as possible in their search to find Hannah Upp. They have started a Facebook page on the popular social network to see if anyone out there can help. If you are a member plug in Hannah Upp in the search box, and you’ll see the “We’re not giving Upp” (on Hanna) link. There you will find the latest information from her friends, and a lot of really great pictures of her with her friends that really show her personality.

If you have ANY information on Hannah Upp’s whereabouts there is a 12-thousand dollar reward. Call the Crime Stopper tipline at 1-800-577-TIPS. Any information could help bring this young woman home to her family and friends who love her dearly, and want her home safe.

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to quit your day job, (if only for a day) and be a rock star? Well, that’s exactly what Rock n’ Roll Fantasy Camp is all about, and for those about to rock… we salute you!

Monday, our FOX News crew headed over to Ultra Sound Rehearsal Studios in New York City, where the Fantasy Camp landed for the day. In years past, the camp was several days long and only in one city.

Because it has become so successful, and wildly popular, camp organizers have turned it into a real rock style tour, in which the rock star counselors go from city to city to meet up with campers and make a band in just one day, then play a real venue that same night. In New York City, it was a big one too, a sold out show at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza, opening up for Kings X and Extreme. Talk about a crash course in Jamming 101.

The counselors include bassist Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple (pictured in top photo being interviewed about teaching his song “Smoke on the Water” to campers), drummer Chris Slade of AC/DC, Aerosmith and Ozzy Osbourne Hit song writer Mark Hudson, Mark Slaughter of Slaughter, Earl Slick of David Bowie and John Lennon fame, Kip Winger of Winger, Elliot Easton guitarist from The Cars, former Megadeth bass guitarist David Ellefson, and Gilby Clarke formerly of Guns N’ Roses. Not bad!

We took our cameras and went room to room at the studios to see how this monster task of teaching campers how to play in a band would come together. Eye to eye contact, intent listening skills, and a general sense of how to put chords together were key. I was really impressed with how quickly everyone began to gel and get their groove on. If you are not a musician (like myself) the idea of strapping on a guitar, or sitting behind a drum kit and being able to weave together beats and thumps and make music is something I believe is a true gift.

Rock n’ Roll Fantasy Camp starts early, call time 8am, which for rock n’ rollers is pretty early. Kip Winger’s room was our first jam session. He didn’t want to take off his glasses, because he hadn’t had his coffee yet.

What a lot of people don’t know about Kip Winger, is that he also composes classical music. This varied musician had a pretty interesting way to teach his campers the songs they were about to learn… by bouncing a soccer ball in front of the drummer to help keep the beat.

Then it was off to see what David Ellefson was up to with his group. When we walked in, his group was in the middle of learning to jam out Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” I loved meeting all the campers and finding out what everyone did for their day jobs. In this group taught by Megadeth’s former bassist, there was a bond strategist, a court clerk, and a 17-year-old student learning the riffs.

The next room we hit up, was that of Gilby Clarke’s (pictured at right with the white t-shirt wearing guitar). That room had EIGHT musicians jamming, and two drummers going for it (one broke a stick), learning Cheap Tricks’ song “Surrender”. That was admittedly a lot of fun, our crew wanted to bust out a bic lighter to demand an encore after hearing that one.

Earl Slick was one cool cat, as he kept pointing our cameras to the band members when we came in. He wanted to make sure they were getting all the limelight, a very sweet gesture. Here’s a fun piece of trivia: Slick (pictured in the black and white stripped shirt) worked with John Lennon on what ended up being Lennon’s last all-new studio record, “Double Fantasy.” After Lennon was killed that same year, he went into the studio with Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono and was featured on what would be her biggest solo release “Season of Glass.”

Now, I must admit, one of the best parts of the day for me, was when we went to shoot our “stand-up” portion of the report. I had something all mapped out in my mind to do in Mark Hudson’s room, but as we came in, and the guys were playing “Born to be Wild”, something else entirely different happened. Hudson is EXTREMELY colorful and energetic, and was so funny. He immediately took charge, and gave a new idea (hey, he’s helped produce Aerosmith, Celine Dion, and Bon Jovi… who was I to argue), and had me do my stand-up during a part of the song with a tambourine… hysterical!

To the left is Glenn Hughes in the shades, taking a break with his band after teaching them his Deep Purple hit “Smoke on the Water.” I got (almost) the entire thing on tape on my point and shoot camera, see below (true music fans only, will appreciate this one, it’s nearly a 5-minute jam, but history making none the less).

Mark Slaughter of Slaughter, was so kind and patient with his group, we jumped in on him teaching his group some Led Zeppelin. Slaughter had the only kid group at the camp, and they sounded amazing.

Elliot Easton of The Cars was a terrific interview, and of course, a couple of people along the way had to be cut out of our report which was too bad. He told me that one of the reasons he likes doing the Rock n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, is because it feels good to give back. Actually all the stars we talked to said the same thing, and added that they remember what it was like to be a kid with a dream, and a garage, and truly wanted the chance to fuel the fire for other budding musicians.

Then Easton killed me with a line as we were heading for the door. “Hey, we just came up with the name for our band … 66-8, the neighbor of the beast” (Iron Maiden fans insert laugh here)

And finally, we stopped by Chris Slade’s room. The drummer of AC/DC. What fun it was to watch him instruct his group on how to perform one of his band’s biggest hits, even jumping in and hitting the cymbals with his hands to help out. He was the perfect picture of a heavy metal conductor. In fact, I taped some of that too on my cam, and am posting it here. Listen to the woman singer who definitely knows the trick of closing out a good rock song.

Special thanks to our entertainment producer Ashley Dvorkin, cameraman Rob Ginnane, and audio tech Ben. There was a lot of hustle going on around all these rooms to get everything on tape in one day.

I hope you enjoy the videos as much as the campers enjoyed playing them. (warning: do not watch these before you’ve had your morning coffee) In both these videos, it’s only the first or second time they’ve run through the songs. I think there may be some future Rock Star counselors in the mix! Check out www.rocknrollfantasycamp.com for more info on the program.

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What a drag.  A big shoot we had planned today has been scrapped, and my crew and I are driving back to New York City from Providence, Rhode Island, right now.  It’s a 4 hour drive (with no traffic), which we had just made yesterday afternoon.  The drive is actually pretty nice, with lots of lofty trees that line the highway, making for a continuous streak of green to your left and to your right for the entire drive.    Our mission: was to be in place with our cameras today to watch the raising of the Juliet 484 out of the Providence harbor, as a follow up to a story we brought you last August when we came to the scene to film some of the salvage mission underway. 

Here she is, well, at least the top of her in this picture to the left.  The former Soviet cruise missile submarine K-77, turned Russian Sub Museum sank to the bottom of the silt and sand of the Providence River last April during a powerful Nor’easter which devoured the submarine.  

The Department of Defense came to the aid of museum operators to help deflect some of the costs of trying to bring her back to the surface, in exchange for the golden opportunity to train divers on a sunken submarine so close to the shore in relatively shallow waters.  A win win for everyone.  This shot here to the right shows the ship Navy and Army divers have been using for it’s platform to put divers in the water. 

This operation has been no easy task.  You know what it feels like to have your shoe stuck in the mud? Well, imagine having a 282 foot-long, 30 ton boot wedged into the gunk and try to pull it out.  That’s what the military has been dealing with for the last several months, and today was supposed to be the big day that it all the mathmatics, engineering, and sheer manpower came together.  Nyet! 

A safety briefing was called at 8:30 this morning to go over the details of what we were about to see, and much to our surprise, and disappointmnet of the folks at the Russian Sub Museum, the mission was delayed.    We were told that last minute safety checks raised significant safety concerns, and the planned lift would have to be delayed by 48-72 hours.  

Commander Dan Shultz informed us that he made the call at 2:35a.m., and wants to replace some of the equipment being used to bring up the Juliette, like the pontoons that have been laced under the submarine with “belly bands” to help lift her up out of the water.  Moments after he said that we heard a big “POOOF” come out of the water, and the divers underneath had released one of the pontoons.  I got a picture of it after it happened, but I sure wish I had a video camera rolling on that when it happened because it looked like a big fat spout shooting out of the water with the red pontoon floating up on top of it several feet in the air. 

Frank Lennon, the director for the Russian Sub Museum on hand was disappointed, but said he has waited this long… he can wait a few more days.  The big question remains- will the sub be able to return to it’s glory days as a museum that once attracted tens of thousands of tourists?  We’ll be in contact with the crew over the next few days and will let you know what happens.  Stay tuned!

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