this morning -- mega millions madness. tickets will be flying out of lottery machines all day, ahead of tonight's record-setting drama. you could wake up tomorrow more than $500 this will richer. also, new developments in the trayvon martin case. we're hearing now from the gunman's brother. he said that george zimmerman was barely conscious that fateful night and is now left with some lasting injuries. also this morning -- blown away. the stunning video from inside a bus as it's tossed around by a tornado. and no hands. the new technology that allows the blind to drive wherever they want, even up to the drive-in good friday morning.

i'm rob nelson. paula faris is off this morning. much of the country is caught u. with more than $500 million on the line. by tonight's drawing, that record jackpot could climb to a staggering $600 million. believe it or not. we begin now with abc's tauman bradley. >> look at those lines. that's lotto fever. the biggest jackpot in history. half a billion dollars is at stake in tonight's mega millions multistate drawing. >> i normally don't play the lottery. because it's so big i decided to take a chance. >> i could be the lucky one. >> reporter: the odds of winning 1 in 176 million. >> i'm going to take that chance. like anybody else. sflr at this store, she bought 100 tickets. she like everybody else playing, she's more likely to be hit by falling airplane parts than winning the lottery.

>> the funny thing is that i'm from las vegas and i'm out here visiting. so, they don't have the lotto. >> reporter: 42 states, d.c. and virgin islands. nearly 400 million tickets sold in less than 48 hours. since tuesday's jackpot failed to produce any winners. retailers have a stake in the jackpot, too. the store that sells the winning ticket could get up to $100,000. although foot traffic is the real boom. >> they come in for their coffee or whatever, they get their lottery tickets, too. >> reporter: the final hours right before tonight's ticket drawing, should be the busiest for the stores. according to some the winning ticket has been sold. actually, rob, that's not right. this is the winning ticket. this is our d.c. office pool. my name is on my list. i don't remember how. i gave i money, too. but we're going to win. if you don't see us on monday, don't come looking.

>> are you going to cut me in? share some of that cash? >> no sir. >> good luck, guys, down there. and he mentioned getting hit by airplane parts. your chance of getting hit by lightning is 1 in 100 million. that's better than winning megamillions. we'll know the winning numbers tonight. the drawing will be held at 11:00 eastern time. get ready for mega millions mania coming up on "good morning america." now, we turn to new details in the trayvon martin case. both sides are pouring over that surveillance tape at the police station just right after the shooting. it appears to show that george zimmerman wasn't seriously injured. now family members of his are defending his version of the stories. with more on this, here's abc's matt gutman. >> reporter: zimmerman's brother became the first family member to go on camera. telling cnn's piers morgan it was a life and death struggle. >> you return force with force when someone assaults you.

george was out of breath. he was barely conscious. his last thing he remembers doing was moving his head from the concrete to the grass. >> reporter: all along zimmerman had claimed the boy attacked him. punching him in the face. pile-driving him into the ground. slamming his head into the concrete. in this video, as he enters the police garage just 37 minutes after the shooting, at 7:54 p.m., no visible sign of blood on his head as a police officer inspects him. but his brother said that a month later, zimmerman's nose is still broken. he files through the station and into this room. the world's first glimpse of his face after that fight. again, no apparent blood. zimmerman is still in hiding. abc news has learned that police never bothered to call the person on the phone with martin during his last few moments. >> he said this, dude, this white dude looked like -- he was following him. >> reporter: catalogs show that

she was on the phone starting at 7:12 -- >> i feel like i need for justice for my family, too. i don't understand why they're protecting him. >> reporter: zimmerman's family also hoping for justice, the two of them now eternally twinned by those four minutes and the question they provoked. matt gutman, abc news, sanford, florida. and movie director spike lee has reached a settlement with an elderly florida couple after he tweeted their home address as that of george zimmerman's. the couple has a son named george zimmerman but not the one involved in the shooting of trayvon martin. and some fascinating details emerging this morning about osama bin laden's life on the run before he was killed in may of last year. according to the "new york times" bin laden's youngest wife has told pakistani investigators that he moved among five safe houses in pakistan after the 9/11 attacks.

she also said that bin laden fathered four children during that time as well. bin laden's three widows are currently under house arrest in pakistan. and on capitol hill, the budget bill passed by the republican-held house has no chance of passing the senate. where democrats still hold the majority. the package would make major changes to medicare and revamp the country's tax system. without raising taxes on the rich. congressman paul ryan, the head of -- the high-profile head of the house budget committee is expected to announce his support for mitt romney today. there's also speculation that ryan could be picked for number two on the ticket. yesterday, george h.w. bush formally announced his endorsement of romney. now to a a rare upclose loo at the chaos inside a school bus. this is surveillance video from inside a school bus as tornado ripped through the area. that bus was lifted off the ground and tossed into a diner.

it all happened minutes after the bus driver got all of the children off. then took cover inside of the school. the weather could get pretty rough today for henryville and much of indiana, in fact. hail, gusty winds and a chance of tornadoes from indianapolis. evening rain in pennsylvania and the mid-atlantic. some flooding rain from seattle to northern california. some snow in the cascades. sierras and northern rockies. 49 in seattle. 69 in sacramento. 87 in phoenix. 55 in chicago. 75 in omaha. 80s from dallas to miami. atlanta climbs to 77. here in the big apple, about 55. business news is next this morning, including a major announcement from best buy, closing dozens of its stores and then the car that drives itself. allowing even the blind to take it out for a spin. also this morning -- barbie going bald for a good cause. barbie going bald for a good cause.er

welcome back, everybody. some big changes are coming to the thousands of factory workers who make apple's precious products. their employer announced that workers will get a shorter work week without a cut in pay. these changes are as a result of a report of their labor practice after a string of workers' suicides. best buy is closing 50 of its big box stores, it will open 100 smaller mobile stores instead and emphasize customer service.

especially its trained sales staff and its geek squad tech support. h&m is going upscale. the swedish company has stores around the world featuring low-cost trendy clothes but the budget retailer now plans to launch a new chain of stores featuring luxury brands. this will happen some time next year. time now for a check of market activity on this last day of the quarter -- a down day in asia. tokyo's nikkei average fell 31 points. in london, the ftse opened higher and on wall street, the dow gained 20 points yesterday. the nasdaq index fell 10. and barbie has a new friend. mattel created the new fashion doll with a new line of wigs, scarves after a campaign by mothers of daughters who lost their hair after cancer. mattel doesn't plan to profit from them. coming up next on your friday morning -- for the second time this week,

a california whale found trapped in a fishing net. but there's another happy ending. plus, a possible explanation in the alarming increases in cases of autism. was born online, with tools and apps to make people feel like geniuses? and what if that company was now backed by the stability and reliability of allstate? well, what if that company was esurance and this wasn't just a bunch of hypothetical questions? could be cool-ish. esurance. insurance for the modern world. click or call. that's 50% off lenses, including bifocals, no-lines,

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check out these incredible images captured by a nasa spacecraft. they showed a gigantic tornado of heated gas twisting right there on the surface of the sun. it's five times wider than the earth spinning at about 86,000 miles an hour. compared to tornadoes right here on earth, they top out at 300 miles per hour. and now for a look at the morning road conditions -- rain swamps i-5. snow on i-84 and 90 in the cascades. and sierra nevada. wet on i-90 from chicago to cleveland. i-70 from st. louis to pittsburgh. and parts of i-10 and 20 in the south and if you're flying today, rain could cause

airport delays in both chicago and in detroit. on the surface these new numbers are shocking. 1 in 88 children now have autism. that's big time from a decade ago. the head of the cdc which conducted the study said it's clear that family of the children need some help. here's dr. richard besser. >> reporter: the jump in autism affects more than a million american children. a startling increase. she seemed like a perfectly healthy child until she was 15 months old. but when she didn't respond, wouldn't speak, her mother chris knew. >> when i called her name, she wouldn't turn around anymore. when she didn't speak, her >> when she didn't speak, her mother knew. >> i would walk in the room and she wouldn't notice me. >> reporter: classic signs of autism. nobody knows what causes it. dr. goldstein has been treating children with autism for decades. >> we had 100 patients with autism coming for evaluations and services in a given year. we now have 2,000 active patients. >> reporter: 2,000?

are there more autistic kids now or are we just doing a better job of diagnosing it? >> more cases. certainly more awareness. >> reporter: the cdc numbers say that boys are five times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls. but no one knows why. the good news is more kids are getting treated earlier. >> we see after about four to six months, sometimes even less of early intervention therapies, often dramatic improvements in the ability of this child to communicate. an and to interact socially. >> reporter: ava who is 4 years old now, is getting what everyone recommends -- intensive specialized schooling. 6 hours a day. helping to make the most of her world. dr. richard besser, abc news, new york. in other news this morning -- the beef industry is taking extreme steps, hoping to reverse near-record losses created by the outing of the meat filler dubbed pink slime. governors from three states

toured the last remaining u.s. plant that's still making the beef by product. they insisted that pink slime is not only safe but it's nutritious. >> let's call this product, what it is. and let pink slime become a term of the past. >> i think a big part of the campaign problem has been the other side pushing, it's gotten a catchy name. and i hope that, dude, it's beef, catches on. that's what this is. >> dude, it's beef. the governors also pointed out without so-called pink slime, beef prices will in fact soar. for the second time in a less than a week a great white whale was found off the coast of california. they chased the whale for hours. they finally caught up with it and set the whale free. lindsay lohan is also

enjoying freedom herself. an l.a. judge lifted her probation that stemmed from a drunk driving violation back in 2007. that means no more working in the morgue and no more court-ordered therapy for the actress. the judge offered lohan some parting advice, to quit all of that nightclub partying. it's massive weekend in the big easy with the ncaa final four in town. first up tomorrow night -- kentucky takes on its in-state rival, louisville. followed by ohio state and kansas. we get the highlights from last night with espn news. good morning. cole wright with your "sportscenter" update. thursday evening, it's a rematch of last year's nba finals. lebron and the heat head to head with dirk and the mavs. first quarter, shawne marion. here come the heat, dwyane wade, says here, lebron, take that. he had 19 points. second quarter now, mavs down three. dirk posting up. signature fallaway.

high off the glass. he had 25. the mavs are within one. third quarter now, miami on the move. sharing the rock. wade finds bosh. he puts the heat up 10. wade, udonis haslem dunking over dirk. 16 points off the pine. heat up 12. later on wade posting up j-kidd. easy jam. the heat win 106-85 on a miami group effort. johnny dawkins and the stanford cardinal taking on minnesota in the nit championship. first half, cardinal, aaron brite would take over. fouled, he finds josh houston. the sophomore earned most outstanding player honors in the nit. minnesota missed 16 of 19 shots in the first half. early in the second, andrew zimmerman, mayne goes the distance, stanford up 8. now, it's a 13-point lead.

anthony brown, floater, no good. but he gets his own rebound. he paid attention in practice. he paid attention in practice. they outscored minnesota 44-26 in the second stanza. the cardinal win the nit championship, 75-51. and make a note -- later this evening it's the mavs and magic. tipping off at 8:00 eastern. then it's the blazers and the clippers. that one gets under way at 10:30. all right, well, google is taking its navigation software to a whole new level. with a car that drives itself. it uses radar, lasers and cameras to navigate around a preprogrammed location. they're so confident in fact with the technology, the company invited a blind man to try it out and even posted the video on youtube. no better test than that. coming up next -- the arrest video trending online this morning. something you got to see to believe. and on top of that the call of the wild in the front yard. the wild in the front yard.

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and low potassium in your blood. get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions, body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat, sweating, or if you feel faint. i would have started flexpen sooner, but i thought it would cost more. turns out it's covered by my insurance plan. thanks to flexpen, vial and syringe are just a memory. ask your doctor about novolog mix 70/30 flexpen, covered by 90% of insurance plans, including medicare. find your co-pay at myflexpen.com. welcome back, everybody. let's begin "the pulse" with a story that everyone is talking about, or at least dreaming about today. that mega millions jackpot now approaching $600 million. people flooding twitter saying what they would all with the dough. aiden said that he would feed

the hunger. carla said that she would use hundreds of millions to get out of her cell phone contract. good luck, everyone. and if you're wondering why that old queen song bohemian rhapsody is also trending righf the back of a police car. ♪ ♪ very, very frightening ♪ galileo, galileo >> the guy kept it up believe it or not for like 6 minutes. hardly missed a beat. although he might have had a few drinks beforehand. have another one, dude. >> and this morning -- are you insane award. goes to shantel he she was thrilled to see a real-life moose in front of her apartment. she got upclose and personal.

petting the creature's nose. wildlife experts said that she was lucky to see a tolerant moose. because they usually get aggressive. moose. because they usually get aggressive. whoa! what is that? it burns! it's singeing me! it's the sun. get of the office more often with chili's $6 lunch break combos, featuring our classic turkey sandwich. chili's lunch break combos.

. next, morgan hill police investigating a potential clue in the abduction of sierra lamar. 540 million dollars. the jackpot up for grabs in tonight's lotto. we'll show you the long lines. mike didn't win because he's here. exactly. i'll be in that line with you. you might want to carry an umbrella if you are up north. updating today's top stories now -- that mega millions ticket machines, they're in overdrive ahead of tonight's drawing. with the job pot topping a

record $500 million. a lump sum payout could total $250 million after taxes. george zimmerman's brother said that george was attacked by trayvon martin before the fatal shooting. new surveillance video of george after the shooting is raises serious questions about the extent of his injuries. the supreme court takes a secret vote today on the president's health care plan. but it won't be announced for a few more weeks. look at the weather, severe storms from indianapolis to cincinnati, scattered showers for the southeast and also the gulf coast. and finally, on this friday morning, the candidates and their campaign capers dominating late-night tv. it's the march 30th edition of your friday funnies. >> president obama spent monday on a soul trip. i'm sorry. i'm told it was a trip to seoul, south korea.

>> i transmit this information. that's a sentence that should only be spoken into a cell phone. gun sales have recently surged. some fear say that an obama re-election could usher in a new era of gun control regulations. >> the fear of not being able to buy guns has led to buying so many guns so now that we can't buy any guns. newt gingrich is hoping to cut into his campaign debt by charging people $50 to take a photo with him. for $50 you get a nice formal picture printed out and for $200 newt gingrich will plank you. >> to help raise campaign funds, newt gingrich has some exciting offers for $50 you can take a photo with the former speaker. for $500, you get the entire newt gingrich book collection

and for $1,000 you can play him like a glockenspiel. newt 2012, be there. >> meet newt gingrich. >> quit distorting our words. if i see it, it's [ bleep ]. >> i did not see that coming. i think the real rick santorum may be more badass than we're realizing. >> and that's what's making news in america this friday morning. stay with us of course for "good morning america." thank you for watching, everybody. have a good weekend everybody. have a g everybody. closed captioning by closed captioning services,inc