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20 used syringes. according to a 2012 survey, from 2007 to 2012 the number of heroin users nearly doubled in the u.s. from 373,000 to 669,000 in 2012. the supply of heroin on the streets is also on the rise. the amount of heroin seized at the southwest border has increased to 232% since 2008. a bad batch of heroin tainted with a narcotic up to 100 times stronger than morphine has been responsible for the deaths of more than 100 people across the mid atlantic and the northeast. it's taken the lives of 22 in pennsylvania since january 19th.

In at 380,000. they came in at 373,000. >> off a little. >> off a little. but prices are increasing. the median price for a house is $256,000. so price is actually increasing there. >> yeah. but the housing market improved slightly, home improvement sales, that i hear is going through the roof. right? people are spending money now. >> the prices are increasing. people want to improve their homes. so those -- those sales are through the roof. online especially for home retailers. that's even -- that is better than back-to-school sales for september. and some of these mom and pop stores, as well...

That's up from 74.3% last month. and really has three factors to do with this rise. first of all, consumers are feeling better about the stocks. stocks are rising. also property values are rising. and gas prices are starting to regulate. but with that said, economists are saying we still have this fragile recovery. gdp is growing at a sluggish rate of 1.3%. and economists are saying that the sluggish growth is going to continue into third quarter. >> okay. that does present a problem. there's a mixed bag of news when it comes to new home construction and all the sales. what's the latest you're...

Of 373,000, but prices for homes are booming, up 11.2% in august to a little more than $250,000. now, that's the biggest one-month gain on the record. joining me now to make sense of all these numbers, fox business network's david asman is here. so, hey, david, sort of like a good news/bad news. >> yeah, i don't know about you, but when i get this news, i always like the bad news first, i like to get the bad news out of the way. bad news is that the home market, because sales were beginning to recover a little bit, companies that build houses like lennar and hovnanian were having terrific sale...

>> gretchen: fox business alert. the labor department releasing brand-new weekly jobless numbers. 382,000 first-time unemployment claims filed last week. that's the same from the week before and higher than expected. let's bring in fox "fox busines" network melissa francis from houston, texas. good morning to you. >> good morning. it's more tough news for the economy. 382,000. we had been looking for about 373, 373,000 jobs. you had to remember, these are new people filing for unemployment. they are joining those 14.7 million people out there who have been looking for work for a long time. som...