Suburban san diego neighborhood. Those were put out quickly but police arent sure if the young suspects are linked to the other fires, including this one which left one person dead in carlsbad. Heres the local fire chief there. I have not heard of any injuries. If theres injuries, that i have been minor in nature, which is great. Theyre beat up. Thats the bottom line. Theyve been out 24 straight hours almost. About 10,000 people had to leave either mandatorily or they left on their own. Cal fire captain mike moehler joins us now. Great to see you, captain. Tell us what the Current Conditions are. I can see from right behind you, a lot of burntout acreage. We do. We have just over 3,000 acres, 10 containment. We had a lot of success overnight. The weather actually cooperated with firefighters. But were cautiously optimistic. We have a lot of work to do, a lot of open fire lines. As long as that weather cooperates with us, hopefully we can turn the corner on this soon. Its just devastating as we watch this video and the homes and businesses going up in flames. Can you describe for us how this month of may is different than conditions in years past . Well, we havent seen offshore wind events like this in decades. Then you add the drought to it, we have fuel conditions that right now are in critical states. One, lack of precipitation. But, two, we have lack of humidity because of the offshore winds. We normally wouldnt see this until august. And here we are in may fighting winddriven fires in San Diego County. If this is a precursor to whats going to happen, the fire service has a list of concerns. Some of these firefighters have been working more than 24 hours straight now. What are you doing to try and give them some rest and are you trying to bring more people in to help . We did. We had resources prestaged prior to this wind event knowing it was coming. But we have so many fires in a short amount of time, weve brought in Additional Resources to rotate our fire crews off the line and get them some food, get them some rest so we can get them back out the following day. Weve been talking a lot on the east coast about the severe drought that you have had out there for months now. That must be playing into the effect of the fires and trying to fight them, right . Yes, absolutely. The weathers been unseasonably warm. Tripledigit heat, singledigit humidities. And not just here in california. We were experiencing 300acre fires in Northern California in january. Thats unheard of. The drought is affecting us statewide. Captain, thanks for your time. We wish you all the best. From fires out west to massive flooding in the southeast, look at this truck near miami after heavy rains turned streets into ponds, stranding dozens on the roads and knocking out power to thousands. Lets go out to north carolina. Not much better there. People in chapel hill surveying the damage after a line of powerful storms triggered strong winds and record rainfall flooded roads. Worse yet, the entire area now under a flash flood warning. Thats going to last until tomorrow morning. Meantime, the federal government fining General Motors a whopping 35 million for taking too long to recall millions of vehicles with faulty ignition switches. The defect is blamed for 13 deaths and the focus now of a federal investigation. Gms ceo responding by saying, quote, we have learned a great deal from this recall. We will now focus on the goal of becoming an Industry Leader in safety. Controversy surrounding the sudden departure of the first female executive editor at the New York Times, one of the reasons the paper reportedly fired Jill Abrahamson was over pay. She asked to be paid the same as a man who previously held her job. The times paid her 475,000 in 2011 while paying the man with the same job nearly 100,000 more. Is the paper now joining the socalled war on women . Here for a fair and balanced debate, alan colmes and david webb, both are radio hosts and fox news contributors. I have a feeling thats the only thing theyll agree on. Alan, why has this issue struck such a nerve . Well, its the New York Times. Among conservatives, the New York Times, best of the liberal media. If how could they do this i dont know that they have. Im not defending the times. According to the New York Times in response to an article published in new york magazine, they claim although the base pay was different, the total package was more than the previous editor got. But i dont know the i didnt see the numbers. I dont know whether its more disturbing that she was not paid the same for the same job or that she complained, she possibly then was let go. The facts will have to speak for themselves on that. David, why do you believe that has struck such a nerve . Is it hypocrisy with regard to the New York Times and publishing so many times about equal pay and their top leader supposedly not being paid fairly . It is the appearance of hypocrisy. The New York Times is written literally, article after article, opinion at pushing this leftist, the equal pay idea, overfixing the problem and making sure people are paid fairly. Howard stern said it a long time ago, its about the base pay. I dont know the intricacies. Alans right about that. Hes actually right about the fact that we dont know the intricacies. But the hypocrisy for paper, the old gray lady, has decided they need to push an agenda that they now are called on publicly. It never addresses i dont care about jill abramson, her lawsuit or the inner works of the New York Times. We need to get the economy back on track. So that women and men make more. Heres something important. They failed to address on the left that the real issues, we have laws in place, we have lawyers in place, we have employment laws we do. But if she did complain about the pay and had a lawyer call to ask about it and then she was fired, those laws are not working very well. I want to call your attention to an editorial that was written on april 9th in the New York Times. The truth about the pay gap. Wage injustice matters to all americans, regardless of party, and those who stand in the way of fairness do so at their political pearl. What do you see to say . I dont know about that. She was called pushy, that disturbs me. Me, too. A man would never be called pushy. This is a funny headline. Would a man be called an angry man if he its nothing new. When a woman rises this started a long time ago in the corporate workplace and women entering the higher ranking places, at times they were called pushers. Those things have gone away apparently its not if its happening to the western person who runs the New York Times. This is a nation of women who have achieved and should be given equal access, equal rights what we have an agenda being pushed by obama who lied to the American People blame president obama. For every dollar a man makes is a false analogy, so theyre pushing an agenda over the issue. Were talking about the same position here, the only difference, apparently, was a man and a woman. But we dont have all the facts yet. We have to wrap it there. Have a fantastic weekend. Back to these fires now. The ravaging Southern California, the mayor of san diego is my guest right now, kevin faulconer. Thanks for having me on. I want to ask you about this evacuation system that was in place this time around. After you had a tragic situation about a decade ago, you put in some sort of a new system that has really helped to get people to safety more quickly. Can you tell us about that . It really has been. I think thats just been one of the several of the Lessons Learned over the last decade. Weve had extraordinary fire events here in San Diego County, 2003 and 2007. Now with alert san diego in terms of direct notification to folks, our 211 system providing information, it worked and is working a lot smoother under some very obviously difficult situations out here in San Diego County. So, mayor, explain for me, before you would go to evacuate people door to door, sort of the oldfashioned way . And now its a reverse 911 call . It is. An not only directly to telephones but also the significant use of social media, twitter, more active engagement on the website. Its made a huge difference. People are heeding, getting that information quicker. Some of the all of the evacuations really the public did it very orderly. Its just been a tremendous effort from Public Safety out here. Police department, fire, fire crews from across the state. Weve been very fortunate the level of cooperation. And its showing every single day and night that weve been through this the last four days. Were looking at these images, mayor, and its just such devastation. I know that youre probably worried about your constituents and their safety. What is your message that youre putting out to the people who live in your city . Obviously, be vigilant. Weve got a great handle on several of the fires. But obviously our main concern is the cocos fire right now in northern San Diego County. I cant stress enough just the tremendous bravery and courage that were seeing on the front lines from firefighters not only here in San Diego County but across the state, cal fires come in. We have significant resources on the ground and in the air. Its an Incredible Team effort. The publics been great. Its a very difficult situation. But were starting to see good news not only in the weather but obviously with the crews on the ground. Well hope for the best, mayor kevin faulconer. Thank you for your time today. We thank all those firefighters risking their lives to keep those people safe. Two huge passenger jets almost collide and at least one has to take a freefall drop to make sure it didnt happen. How the potentially worst air disaster ever was averted. Plus, find out who was behind this rocket launch ending in complete failure. And one States Agriculture Department in a court battle now with the feds over hemp seed. Both of the states senators say theyre on board. If they cant make a profit growing it, theyre not going to grow it. And they dont need a Big Government agency to hold their hand and make a decision for them. Okay, listen up im reworkin the menu. Mayo . Corn dogs . You are so outta here aah [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of greattasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. Nutrition inharge™. [ bottle ] ensure®. Iwas thathe biggest vit gave me. Ar. Confidence to buy my very first car. And to walk out of that dealership. And know that i got a good deal. Save time, save money, and never overpay. Visit truecar. Com welcome back to the real story. A Russian Space launch gone horribly wrong. Check out this unmanned proton minutes rocket taking off from kazakhstan today carrying the countrys most advanced satellite only to burn up in the atmosphere a few minutes later. This comes just days after moscow told washington it would no longer help put u. S. Satellites into orbit. And the near miss between two planes high above paradise avoiding what could have been the worst midair disaster ever. Going from kona to los angeles when the onboard Warning System told them to avoid a plane heading website. The united planes dropped 100 feet in six feet narrowly avoiding the other plane. The faa said, a joint Investigation Team arrived at the honolulu control facility yesterday. The faa began investigating the incident immediately and has taken steps to prevent a recurrence. D. J. Cross is a pilot and joins us today. How did this happen and how was it averted . Thank you, gretchen. Good to be here on an event that ended with a very happy note when Collision Avoidance system worked very well in this case. So it really worked out great. What probably happened was one airplane was at the wrong altitude and the westbound airplane should have been at an even altitude. The United Airlines jet was at an odd altitude. The Collision Avoidance systems knows which airplane is coming and it gives a direction to go in a certain direction. So what happened was then it just pulltold them to climb or desce descend. In this case, they descended. They followed the vertical this onboard anticollision system can sense another plane is coming within that 1,000 or 800 feet that its not supposed to be . Yes. In fact, all airplanes they call this s mode of a transponder. Theyre talking to each other. So they know the closure rate. George carlin called it a near hit. They know when a near hit is about to occur. The boxes are talking to each other. One would be directed to climb. The other will give the order to descend. Its not a free fall. But its a controlled descent. And its done proactively. Its done not too aggressively like a wind shear avoidance procedure or anything like that. I see. And we are trained on that yearly. I just did my training a few weeks ago. I just read that. I have heard, though, from passengers on the plane, their accounts, that they noticed something was going on. There was some fear going on. I want to show our viewers what the faa mandate is. 1,000 feet vertical clearance required, five mile horizontal clearance required. Collision avoidance system triggered when requirements are breached. If the pilot is on autopilot, does the plane do that descent on its own . No. The immediate memories are autopilot off, the flight director is off and you simply put the airplane in the band. And its going to be in the green band. You dont want to be in the red area. You go to the green area and you will successfully evade a collision. Thank goodness for that on board anticollision system or we would have a humongous disaster here. D. J. , thanks for the explanation. One state wants to grow hemp so badly its suing the federal government. Next, well tell you why two republican senators are backing this fight to grow hemp in their state. And brandnew 911 calls coming out. Well tell you more about this shocking distress call coming from that former u. S. Soldier just moments before he was arrested in mexico. And w. H. O. Ranking the Top Countries for life expectancy. So where do you think we rank . Which brings us to our facebook question of the day, how long do you hope or expect to live . Tweet me gretchencarlson. Use therealstory. Well read your comments at the end of the show. Welcome back to the real story. A former College Football player sparks a firestorm claiming he was offered a corvette to play for alabama. Pat white saying hes glad he turned down that offer after alabama running back derek henry posted this photo of his new car on instagram. Alabama Coach Nick Saban not happy when a reporter asked him about it. I didnt even know it happened. So i cant comment on that. Didnt even know it happened. Okay. Is that the best thing we can talk about . That where we are. [ bleep ]. Well, white claims alabama has been giving players cars for years. But there is no evidence of that. Kentuckys department of agriculture in court today launching a suit to get hemp seeds back from the feds. And both republican senators, rand paul and Mitch Mcconnell, are on board. The government is being sued for 250 pounds of hemp seeds. Theyre for it to be settled before june 1st. Garrett has more on this saga. Why did the government seize the seeds to begin with . Well, even though you cant get high off of hemp, the d. E. A. Says kentucky still needs special permits in order to import the seeds. Earlier this year, president obama signed the 2014 farm bill, part of which allows universities and departments of agriculture to grow hemp for Research Purposes in states where its legal, like kentucky. So as soon as the bill passed, kentucky came up with a number of Research Projects and ordered these seeds for planting. When they reached the state, though, the d. E. A. Seized the shipment, citing a law from 1970 that classifies hemp as a controlled substance and requires the state to have a special permit. But kentuckys department of agriculture says it shouldnt even need a permit because the farm bill explicitly allows for the production of hemp, regardless of any previously existing or contradicting federal laws. They say its another classic case of government overreach. The kentucky a. G. Commissioner and the d. E. A. Met with the judge today. What happened . The two sides are hoping to be able to work something out without having to go to court. But one argument that kentucky is expected to make is how the d. E. A. Can justify its lack of enforcement against the stateauthorized sale of marijuana in colorado while fighting against the federally authorized hemp program that state officials believe could be an economic boon for the bluegrass state. Heres an industry that we can be on the forefront of, kentucky can be the leader in, we dont want any Economic Development incentives. All were asking is that the government get out of the way. Agriculture officials in other states are keeping a close eye on this case, though, gretchen, as they consider hemp production as well. Wow. Thanks so much. Unusual weather conditions dumping several inches of snow midmay, yep, and whipping up those wildfires. What the heck is going on . A live update from the extreme weather center. Plus, while some top leaders at the v. A. Now on administrative leave, veterans are still not receiving the care they need. We have a positive update on this veterans horror story we featured a couple of weeks ago. The doctor at the Lincoln Hospital tried for an hour and a half, tw