time. the only place you will get the whole story. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. we will see you back at the pentagon, live from the pentagon for a special 9:11 show tomorrow. 6:00 p.m. eastern time. we'll see you then. [captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- es shepard: the football coach on trial. tonight, stunning testimony in a case that could put him in prison because one of his players died after practice. and health care reform, the next chapter. i'm shepard smith, the news starts now. [cheers and applause] shepard: president obama trying to pick up where he left off in his big health care speak. >> we have talked this issue to death. now is the time to act and i will not permit reform to be postponed. shepard: so has he changed any minds? >> it's really about the president pushing the reset button and start over in a bipartisan way. shepard: tonight, where the stand-off goes from here. and there are new predictions tonight about when a health care deal might be finished. the vice president, joe biden says now a bill could be on the president's desk by the holidays holidays. more on that in a moment. today, president obama keeping up the pressure on congress to make that happen. >> i will not tolerate us continuing to pay more for less in health care. the time is right and we are going to move aggressively to get this done. >> what the american people are expecting is not necessarily that we get health reform done soon but, more importantly, we get it done right. and the most important thing is to, first of all, step up and demonstrate to the people that were listening. shepard: and they are learning, he said. the president says he is still willing to listen to new ideas from both democrats and republicans as they hammer out the details of the plan. team fox coverage tonight. carl cameron live on capitol hill. first to major garrett at the white house. major, there are still some pretty big details to work out here, right? >> well, that's right. the president's speech last night outlined a plan, shepard. but there are quite a few things missing. for example. the plan doesn't have a legislative product behind it. there is no bill. there is a price tag, $900 billion over 10 years. but there is no breakdown as to how much of that will be covered by tax increases and how much by projected savings in government health care costs. the president last night said he is willing to tax health care benefits but we don't know which benefit packages would be taxed or how much. the president also said if this plan isn't working to cut medical expenses, financed by the government, he will stop government spending. we don't know exactly how that would work either. the white house said today it will defer to congress on that, but it wants congress to follow its lead, all of this to be sorted out later. shepard: major, for the republicans, the issue of medical malpractice has been a big deal and reform thereof. the president reaching out on that now. >> he is trying to. saying he is going to do something the bush administration considered but never did. that is to give the department of health and human services the power to have demonstration projects around the country to deal with their. two issues on the table, shepard. one, having doctors admit mistakes earlier and submit to mediation as opposed to lawsuits to settle potential claims. the other thing is have a patient who thinks they have been wronged go before an expert panel to see if, in fact, they have been wronged. if that panel says yes, then it goes to court about. a month from now, i'm told, we will learn details how rapidly those demonstration projects will be set in motion. shepard: major, moderate senate democrats are key for the president here. he is trying to win them over. how is that going? >> 16 of them were over here at the white house today. they metaphor about an hour. many came out of that meeting saying it looks like we can get 60 votes. we can work through the normal senate process. because we will get some republican support for eventual package. they also said if republicans don't go along, democrats willing to go alone that seems to be less likely scenario than it was just a couple days ago. shepard: major garrett at the white house. thank you. now to vice president biden's prediction that there could be a bill on the president's desk by thanksgiving there are five senate house and committees writing five different bills and one isn't finished yet. carl cameron up on the hill is thanksgiving a realistic idea here. >> sure, anything can happen, shep. let's just say that you don't want to rule anything out and never say never. but, it would require break-neck record shattering speed for legislators. and, let's be realistic, already the administration's deadlines have been missed. they wanted bills passed out of august before the august cob congressional vacation. for nancy pelosi the house speaker and for harry reid the majority leader it is going to be very tough. there are five bills that need to be unified into just one. two senate side two have to be turned into one. the house and senate have to pass them. then we have got to go to conference. this is all very complicated legislative process. bottom line is getting it done by thanksgiving would be near a legislative miracle. so far there haven't been many. shepard: then there is this other idea and earlier deadline really for senate democrats to decide whether they're going to use this so-called nuclear option. explain that, if you could, and what it means. >> sure of the most important date on this process right now is october 15th. that is the deadline, according to legislation that's already passed when democrats would have to decide and submit a bill in legislative language form that says they would use so-called reconciliation. that is what critics say is the nuclear option, which would prevent them from subjecting the health care reform legislation to a filibuster and allow it to pass with just 51 votes. october 15th is the deadline for that just a little bit over a month from now. the idea that democrats could get enough of the legislative work done before then, to be confident that they could pass it under either ways means the legislative train is headed straight for reconciliation and that option has both republicans and democrats very, very concerned that ultimately it could derail the whole process. shepard: carl cameron live on capitol hill. karl, thanks. a republican congressman is apologizing now for a comment he made during the president's address to congress. it was an outburst that many conservatives are now calling the, well, the real republican response. he is representative joe wilson of south carolina who shouted "you lie" after the president claimed the bills in congress would not cover illegal immigrants. representative wilson says he called the white house, after that speech, to apologize. >> i'm very grateful that the white house in talking with them, they indicated that they appreciated the call and that we needed to have a civil discussion about the issues. i certainly agree with that. shepard: and after, the president said, "apology accepted." >> we all make mistakes. he apologized quickly and without equivocation and i'm appreciative of that. shepard: it's actually against the rules of the house of representatives to accuse the president of lying. for now the democratic leadership has decided not to punish congressman wilson. democrats initially expressed shock and congressman wilson later distanced himself from his own apology saying that the house republican leadership told him to do it. and the white house has just announced president obama will give what it calls a major speech about the financial crisis on monday. monday, because it was one year ago that day that lehman brothers collapsed, triggering a meltdown that affected the entire country and, for that matter, the world much the white house says the president will talk about how he has tried to bring the economy back from the brink and what we can do to prevent a similar crisis in the future. the crew of space shuttle "discovery" waiting to find out whether they will spend another day in orbit. nasa had planned to launch the shuttle right about this time -- or land it, i should say. but it scrand that landing because of storms around the kennedy space center in florida. next window for landing is about one hour and a half away. we should know soon whether nasa plans to bring the shuttle down then or wait until tomorrow for the landing. the shuttle crew wrapped up a supply mission to the international space station this week. they delivered several tons of equipment to the station, including cooling system components and the now famous treadmill named for the comedian steven stephen colbert. when it does happen, you will see it here live on fox. right now the weather doesn't look good. >> one, fire. [explosion] >> we have ignition. the aries one first stage five segment solid rocket motor. shepard: what a show in utah today. would you look at these incredible pictures. it's what the next generation of american space like will look and sound like should nasa stay with its current plans. the agency tested here the motor for one of its new aries one rocket this afternoon in utah. that rocket scheduled to replace the shuttle fleet next decade and eventually, in theory, carries crews and equipment all the way to the moon. nasa says aries rocket will start making trips to the international space station within the next five years. some have suggested ditching the aries program saying it is just too expensive. rage rage tonight after a group of football players went on what they thought was a motivational speech, turned out to be much more. tonight, the team baptism that unsuspecting parents are calling outrageous. jonathan hunt reports. you decide. plus, big ben roethlisberger preparing to open the nfl season tonight. but those rape allegations against him are still hanging over him and now his accuser is making a monumental demand. details of that coming up. lp is shep he was max gillpin and he likely had a body temperature of 109 degrees when he collapsed on his high school football field and later died. that's the assessment of a heat and dehydration expert who testified today in the trial of his coach. the coach is jason stenson. he faces charges of reckless homicide and wanton endangerment for the heat stroke that authorities say killed max gill pin. prosecutors claim he ran a brutal practice in 94-degree heat. today that heat expert i mentioned earlier sipped on his own bottle of water as he suggested the coaches should have given the players more water breaks. and that they could have done things differently after gippin went down. >> this is, by far, the point of this case that's bothered me the most, for someone to speculate that he wasn't dehydrated at this time is one of the most lieu chris statements that could ever be made. heat stroke is treated immediately aaggressively. it's 100% survivability. >> 10 other players showed sign of heat stroke during that very practice. correspondent for fox 41 in ruleville. is he following that case there tonight. we also heard emotional testimony today from gilpin's aunt. >> doctor's testimony today matched what that told on the phone. max spent the night in i crumplet u. his condition continued to get worse and eventually his organs would shut down, one by one. >> friday morning early i got a call that he was getting worse. his blood pressure was having problems. she was really upset. i just remember them saying we can keep the heart going. we can keep the kidneys going but we can't do anything about the liver. >> an assistant coach had made a 911 call the day of the practice that max had collapsed. he made that call after it was obvious that max was suffering from some serious distress. >> and also today, doctors had conflicting testimony whether max was dehydrated when he arrived at the emergency room. his initial doctor at the er testified in her words that he was hydrated adequately. but his icu doctor who started seeing him an hour afterwards said she diagnosed him with signs of dehydration, heat stroke, and shock. more doctors, more medical records to come in court tomorrow. shepard: chris turner from fox news in louisville, chris, thanks. now to another high school football coach at the center of another controversy. in this case the coach took some of his own players on a church trip. and, on that trip, nine students were baptized. it all happened at a southern baptist service in cecile i , kentucky. the kids took a school bus to the church. the parents of one of the teens now considering a lawsuit saying their child felt pressured to be baptized. according to the parents, as far as they knew, the players were going to take part in motivational speech not a revival. none of the players were forced to participate. john hand hunt is here with this one. jonathan, this case is raising serious concerns about separation of church and state. >> absolutely, it is, shep. the question whether the high school coach was simply trying to motivate a group of football players or evangelize them. and whatever his goals, did his methods cross a legal line? >> robert, you have trusted jesus christ to be your lord and savior? >> yes, sir. >> and it's migrate privilege tonight to baptize you, my brother. >> robert coffee says he and his teammates had been told by the coach they were going for a steak dinner and to hear a motivational speaker. they got both those things but around 10 of the players, including robert, also got baptized. robert coffee's mother is not happy. >> they took my son, without my knowledge or my consent. >> the breakenridge county high school football coach scott moony has so far refused to talk about the trip. church officials say no one was forced to do anything. >> the coach brought the kids to be encouraged tonight. out of that process god called people to have a relationship with him. >> the players were taken to the church aboard a school bus and school superintendent janet meeks, a member of the church, apparently signed off on the trip. but today she told us in a written statement: legal experts say the school crossed a constitutional line by taking children to a religious gathering where they might have felt coerced to participate. >> the supreme court has ruled that under the law children 18 years and under are subject to the slightest bit of coercion, therefore the government may not maneuver them into a religious situation against their will, without their knowledge, or without the consent of the parents. >> so it amounts to a crime? >> it amounts to kidnapping. >> now the kentucky state department of education told us today it is against state law for a teacher to promote any belief system as part of the curriculum. but officials also tell us they see nothing in this particular incident that would cause the department to begin an investigation into the actions of the coach or the school superintendent. but, shep, if the parents get their way, this seems to be headed to the courts. shepard: jonathan hunt, we'll watch it thank you. new developments tonight. the guy who told police that he was on a divine mission when he hijacked a passenger jet yesterday. he is talking to the news media now. he has plenty to say. in fact, he says he had help taking this plane. we guarantee you will recognize the names as his accomplices. shepard: controversy tonight over the kidnapping of a journalist in afghanistan. double standard because they saved a british man in a mission that left his afghan colleague dead. we first heard about this yesterday when british government said that commandos saved this man, steven ferrell, a reporter for the "new york times" newspaper. the taliban captured ferrell and an afghan reporter while the two were investigating an air strike by nato. the alliance of north american and european nations. officials found the reporter's smashed up vehicle after the kidnapping. british troops rescued ferrell, but the other reporter, and one commando died in that raid. and now some in afghanistan's media are claiming that nato values afghan lives less than those of westerners. jennifer griffin is at the pentagon tonight. what specifically about this raid are the afghan reporters upset about? >> well, what they are angry about is that the afghan translater who worked for the "new york times" as well, that he was killed and his body was left behind. so clearly the commandos were focusing more on steve ferrell, the "new york times" reporter who is also british on his life than on saving munadi, according to them. they were upset that the commando raid occurred. the commandos didn't tell the "new york times" they were going to do this. and at that time his family was trying to negotiate with the taliban their release. shepard: do we know why the british commandos decided to strike when they did? >> well, i have talked to those who have talked to the ones who had the intelligence and actually monitoring the mobile phone calls of the journalists who were being held by the taliban. they were watching for four days. and at one point, it seemed as though they were going to move these two hostage to pakistan and they also sensed that munadi, the afghan's translater's life was in danger. steve ferrell himself told the "new york times" that they wanted to kilt translater. he thought he would get out alive that kind of contradicts what the afghan reporters are complaining about. the british commanders themselves lost one of their own in this mission. shepard: they did indeed. jennifer, thanks. now to the hijacking of that mexican passenger jet? cancun. tonight, we are hearing from the man who threatened the 112 people on board. it's a story that unfolded live yesterday during "studio b." officials say a bolivian religious fanatic as they put it took control of a mexico flight when they were told he had a bomb which turned out to be an empty juice can. nobody knew that every passenger on board, including three americans released unharmed. the hijacker held the plane's crew on a tarmac for an hour before authorities eventually stormed the plane and arrested him. well, here's the man. he says he took the plane after what he called a divine revelation inspired by the calendar date 9/9/09. he noted that upside down that number is 666 which many believe represents satan. the admitted hijacker even got a chance to tell reporters why he demanded to speak to the mexican president felipe pay calderon. >> with two purposes first to announce an earthquake unlike any other is coming to this nation. we should unite without distinction of religion or denomination to clamor for mexico. shepard: this is brand new video coming up here of the scene when the crews took back the plane. initial reports indicated that the suspect warned there were four hijackers on board. why? well, because, quote, the father, son, and the holy ghost helped him take the plane. president obama is promising his health care overhaul will not raise the deficit. but some experts are now saying that may be a tough promise to keep. we'll check the facts and reports so you can decide. and homer simpson would be outraged. we will show you what somebody threw out of a moving car and what happened next. that's coming up. ss. tara showed me how i could keep track of my employees in the field and get more jobs done faster. i was blown away. i'm blown away. only verizon wireless has small-business specialists in every store to help you do business better. we should get you a hat. now buy any blackberry, like the new tour, at our lowest prices ever, and get one free. your family has its own rhyt