Reporting on Atlanta real estate for a New York-based network is a lot of fun.

In my earpiece, I hear the anchors, producers and audio technicians at our Midtown Manhattan headquarters marvel at what $225-thousand will buy you down here — charming houses that would cost a fortune up there.

Today, we’re checking in with Realtor Joshua Keen of RealSource Brokers, as we have throughout the year, to see how economic trends are affecting him. Click here to watch our live/on the scene interview.

Joshua says he’s seen business pick up by 50 percent over the past 45 days. Eighty percent of his clientele these days are first time buyers. He says much of this is being driven by the first time homebuyer tax credit which expires Nov. 30.

Joshua says the Average sales price in town remains steady at… $225-thousand.

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The idea of testing a vaccine on children makes many parents squeamish. But for Amanda Strudwick, it was a chance for the Atlanta mother and nurse to protect her children and the nation from H1N1.

“There are children in school getting sick already,” Strudwick said. “If my children are vaccinated,  it means hopefully that they won’t pass it along to somebody else who may have a lower immune system.”

Strudwick;s daughters Nina, 7, and Hannah, 9, are among 100 children participating in an H1N1 vaccine study being conducted at Emory University and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. For more details on that study, see my related blog or watch my video report.

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The Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention Center

My suit and tie stand out as I walk through the crowds of vacationing retirees and gamblers in my Biloxi hotel.

“Do you work for the hotel?” asks an elderly man holding an assistance dog (to my surprise — a miniature dachshund) in his lap. “No, sir,” I reply. “I’m here with FOX News, covering the governors conference.”

Perhaps it’s Biloxi’s reputation as a fun, leisure destination that kept some governors away from this year’s National Governors Association meetings — not wanting to be seen as having too much fun, while their constituents struggle with economic woes back home.

This year’s participants include 16 Democrats and 8 Republicans — less than half of the nation’s governors. Nevertheless, Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) says the meetings will help showcase how far his state has come since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The NGA meetings are taking place in a new convention center within eyesight of the Gulf of Mexico. As he opened the conference, Gov. Barbour reminded participants that during Katrina’s storm surge, the property they were on was under 20 feet of water.

Related Link: NGA updates from FOX News producer Serafin Gomez.

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We caught up with Glenn Beck and got the scoop on what was in store for the day! Check out the video below and hear from Glenn himself!

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Glenn finally got to catch up with a friend he hasn’t talked to in a while — watch when they get to talk!

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!