making news in america this morning -- suicide pact. >> bernie madoff's wife said, as the world collapsed around them, she and her husband tried to kill themselves. what bernie says stopped them from doing it. and snow on halloween. could a storm brewing out west be the beginning of a cold and wet weekend for the east coast? and the science of smiling. a new report that says the secret to happiness is simply a smile on your face. good morning. i'm yunji de nies. >> and i'm rob nelson. it is the first time that we've heard from ruth madoff since her husband's arrest. she is speaking out now as part of a publicity campaign for her

son's new book. >> she claims desperation led the couple to a suicide pact. but others are casting doubt. abc's karen travers is joining us from washington this morning with the stunning revelations. good morning, karen. >> reporter: good morning, yunji. good morning, rob. bernie madoff's arrest tore his family apart. and now, we're learning it drove him and his wife to the drink. on christmas eve 2008, burnive in and ruth madoff decided they had had enough. bernie had been accused of running a ponzi scheme. according to a new interview ruth madoff did with cbs news' '60 minutes" she and her husband tried to kill themselves the night before christmas in their new york city penthouse apartment. >> we decided to kill ourselves because it was so horrendous what was happening. we had terrible phone calls. hate mail. just beyond anything.

and i said i can't, i just can't go on anymore. >> reporter: ruth told cbs news that she and her husband of 50 years decided together to swallow pills, including ambien and quantipen. i'm glad we woke up, ruth told cbs. but the security firm questioned. he said he was in the apartment until about 7:00 p.m. >> in there with them talking. i didn't see anything unusual. >> reporter: in 010, madoff's eldest son, mark, took his own life, on the second anniversary of his father's arrest. mark's wife, stephanie, told abc, that her husband felt ruth was wrong to stand by bernie. >> he couldn't understand how she could continuously stand by this man, who ruined so many lives. who ruined his life. >> reporter: bernie madoff pleaded guilty to fraud charges in 2009. he's currently serving a

150-year prison sentence. rob? >> what is bernie himself saying about the possible suicide pact? >> reporter: rob, "the new york times" is reporting that in an e-mail from prison, bernie madoff said that suicide did cross his mind. but two things stopped him. first, he said he could help his victims recover their assets. all of that money that he robbed from tens of thousands of investors. and second, bernie madoff said he couldn't abandon his family. >> fascinating. karen travers joining us live from washington. a fragile piece is holding so far this morning between occupied oakland activists and police. protesters have taken down fences and moved back on to the plaza, after a violent all-day battle with police on tuesday. >> the mayor now says they will be allowed to gather at the site. but they won't be allowed to camp overnight. in new york, protesters made late night marches around city hall, to show solidarity with their comrades in oakland. president obama has announced his plan to lower

college loan payments during a stop in denver. >> the president told students at the university of colorado that they should be in school. but they shouldn't be saddled with massive loan payments. >> you will be more confident and comfortable to buy a house or save for retirement. and that will give our economy a boost at a time when it desperately needs it. >> the president told the crowd that he and the first lady understood the burden of student loans. >> so, by the time we both graduated from law school, we had between us about $120,000 worth of debt. you know, we -- we combined and got poor together. >> the new rules will go into effect next year. after days of dancing around the subject, republican presidential hopeful, rick perry, now says he has no doubt that president obama is an american citizen. interviews with reporters in florida, perry insists he was not expressing doubts about

where the president was born. and he says, quote, i was just having some fun with donald trump. there are new developments this morning in the case of that missing baby from kansas city. police say lisa irwin's two brothers will be reinterviewed tomorrow. the little boys, ages and 5, have not been allowed to speak with investigators since their first interview just after little lisa disappeared. detectives won't be speaking directly to the boys. they're bringing in someone specially trained in interviewing children. hurricane rina is just hours away from bearing down on mexico's most popular resorts. tourists in cancun and cozumel rushed for the next flights home. winds are expected to dip to 75 miles per hour by the time rina makes landfall, which should be about 7:00 tonight. it could dump a foot of rain before weakening further and turning back out to sea. possibly impacting southern florida in the next few days. the northeast is getting a taste of the snowstorm that just

slammed denver. the city was buried under half a foot of snow. snapped branches and knocked out power to 140,000 people. >> the poconos and catskills could see several inches of snow today. and the second part of the storm comes in from the south, bringing the first flakes to the major northeast cities this weekend. it will feel a lot more like christmas than it will halloween. >> bundle up, trick-or-treaters. now, for the rest of the morning's weather from the nation. the snowshowers could hit pittsburgh and northern new england. rain from boston to d.c. showers around cincinnati, memphis, louisville, little rock and dallas. rain and light snow from the texas panhandle to santa fe. windy with high fire danger from san francisco to los angeles and san diego. >> 70 in sacramento. and 78 in phoenix. salt lake city only gets up to 47. boise, 51. mostly 50s for the middle of the country. 54 here in the big apple. 75 in atlanta. and 85 in miami. and coming up after the break, why the latest testimony in the michael jackson

manslaughter trial brought conrad murray to tears. then, european leaders reached a deal overnight to bail out greece. how the world markets are reacting. also this morning, what was it that really killed singer amy winehouse? details on that and more when "america this morning" continues right after this.

welcome back, everybody. there is a deal this morning to solve europe's two-year-old debt crisis. overnight, european leaders got

banks to agree to take a 50% loss of face value of greek debt. fears that there wouldn't be a solution have been hurting the financial markets. and as a result of that european deal, overseas markets are opening higher this morning. tokyo's nikkei average jumped 178 points today. hong kong's hang seng, 432 points. in london, the ftse opened higher. on wall street, the dow jones industrial average lost 162 points yesterday. the nasdaq index gained 12. there is a big recall for some small suvs out there. general motors wants to check more than 36,000 vehicles. the models affected are the equinox and the all-terrain. gm says it does not have crashes or injuries caused by the problem. bp has the green light to drill a new oil in the gulf of

mexico. it has meet the new rules after last ear year's spill. and another sign of the times are tough out there for retailers. soon those of us with common credit cards will be able to shop at neiman marcus. the luxury department store chain will begin accepting mastercard and visa next month. until now, it was neiman's own cord or american express. do whales have constitutional rights? why seaworld is about to find out. and you'll never guess what this bike is carrying. or maybe its design gives it away.

well, you're looking at the first quadruple lutz landed in an ice skating competition.

the skater is brandon miragh. he completed the jump in colorado springs last month. but it had to be reviewed by the international figure skating union before it was officially recognized. >> amazing feat there. look at him go. >> one more time. whoa. nicely done. now, for a look at morning road conditions. wet on i-95, from d.c. to maine. and icy on parts of i-87 and i-90 in upstate new york and new england. a slick vid on i-40 from nashville to oklahoma city. i-20, from dallas to shreveport. and i-10 across texas. >> and if you're flying today, airport delays are possible in boston, new york, philly, memphis and dallas. after weeks of damaging testimony, former patients are jumping to the defense of michael jackson's doctor. >> they all say conrad murray is anything but the greedy negligent physician prosecutors have painted him to be. abc's diana alvear has the latest from los angeles. good morning, diana.

>> reporter: rob and yunji, good morning. it was incredible to hear witnesses talk about the care they received from dr. murray. a man they say went above and beyond his responsibilities. one woman even credited him for saving her life. if you believe the prosecution, dr. conrad mur was money-hungry and neglectful. chatting away on his cell phone with various girlfriends as michael jackson lay dying. wednesday's witnesses said that's not the doctor they knew. >> what i know right now and what i feel, he didn't do it. >> reporter: one by one, his former patients took the stand. >> that man sitting there is the best doctor i've ever seen. >> i don't understand to this day how the other doctor missed what was wrong with me. but dr. murray found what was wrong. >> and i explained to him, i can't really afford to do a lot of stuff. so, he did it for me free. >> reporter: prosecutors used their testimony as a comparison to what they say jackson did not receive, adequate care in a

proper setting, with plenty of personnel. >> wouldn't you believe that every patient deserves that level of care? >> yes, sir, i do believe that that statement is true. but i also believe that -- >> thank you. you answered the question. >> reporter: when it came to questions about murray and money, witnesses were especially adamant. >> do you think dr. murray's greedy? >> do i think? >> yes, ma'am. >> no. >> reporter: ruby moseley said dr. murray took care with the poor and needy. >> he made a commitment to the community that he would open a clinic in honor of his dad. >> reporter: when asked about interviews they had done with the media prior to the trial, they said they felt compelled to speak out because they're dr. murray was not getting a fair shake. a coroner's report confirms what many people suspected. singer amy winehouse literally drank herself to death. the report found winehouse had

consumed the equivalent of about 16 shots of vodka in the hours before her death this past july. people for the ethical treatment of animals or peta, is accusing seaworld of enslaving its performing killer wales. peta has filed a lawsuit, on behalf of the wales, saying they are kept in conditions that violate the 1st amendment ban on slavery. >> free willy. well, rain has plagued major league baseball all year, with more than 50 washouts. that's the most since '97, including game six of the world series last night. but a clear forecast means it's a go for tonight in st. louis. the texas rangers are up 3-2 games over the cardinals, putting them on track to clinch their first title ever. if they don't, game seven is set for tomorrow night. and for the highlights from the teams that did play last night, here's the crew over at espn news. >> good morning. i'm bernardo osuna with our espn news update. we take you to the big east.

two teams sporting 3-4 records. pittsburgh hosting uconn. and in the first quarter, pitt leading rusher, ray graham is brought down after a short gain. clearly in pain. why? take another look. check out graham. his right knee appears to buckle on the cut. he would leave the game. losing the ball before he hits the ground. he is scheduled for an mri on thursday. now, we take it later on in the first quarter. no score. the pass, calls his own number for the eight-yard touchdown run. 7-0, panthers ahead early. later in the same quarter, same score. he finds mike shanahan over the middle for his 17 of 1,900 yards in the air. but the panthers would continue offensively. he finds shanahan again for the 27-yard touchdown. pitt up 27-13. it would be a 35-20 victory and

snaps a two-game losing streak. how about we go to the ice where the canadiens were hosting the flyers. less than ten seconds left in the first period. yannick weber, past bryzgalov. later in the period, jaroslav stat eck. it was determined that it did not touch his skate. canadiens go on to win, 5-1. that's it for your espn news update. i'm bernardo osuna. a custom-made bicycle is leaving onlookers speechless in seattle. it's all because of its unique shape. >> the bike is designed to look like a sperm. and it's not just for show. it's actually used to transport sperm samples from a lab to

fertility clinic. it's ten feet long and eco-friendly. the sperm bank is hoping the bike will get more men to consider making a donation. up next in "the pulse," why everyone will be talking about a study that says, if you're fat, it's not your fault. and what's the nation's most sleep-deprived city. if you're up right now, you may already know the answer. we'll be right back.

welcome back, everybody. time to check "the pulse," the storying you'll be talking about today. anyone who has lost weight knows how tough it is to maintain. and when the pounds start creeping back on, the guilt sets in. it turns out, the fat is not entirely your fault. >> thahat's right. new study finds that even a year after dieters shed a significant amount of weight, hormones pound them with constant urges to eat. so, lighten up, figuratively. it is not your fault. >> yes. we all can easily digest this morning. get this, this is a bizarre story. an arizona mom has been banned from mcdonald's after going on a crusade to clean up the restaurant's play area. >> erin jordan, a college instructor and mother of four, said she found antibiotic-resistant staph at the play place. >> she was ordered noed to set down in eight phoenix area mcdonald's.

the restaurant says it's committed to making sure its play areas are clean and safe. >> kids carry germs. i can see they would be kind of, you know, nasty places. a shoutout to our viewers in the motor city this morning, who might be a little sleepy right now. a new survey found that detroit is the nation's most sleep-deprived city. that's followed by birmingham, alabama and oklahoma city. >> the majority of cities where people got the most rest were health conscious, california, dallas, and richmond, virginia. >> the hustle and bustle of new york. >> it never sleeps. >> i wonder where we fall on that list. we'll have to check that out during the next commercial break. for some of you, your local news is coming up next. >> for everyone else, we'll be back with the science of smiling. a new study out that says, get this, a smile a day can actually keep the blues away. some simple at vice for a happier life when we come back,

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"can you stop the rain." >> making us smile, which is a

good thing. finally this morning, from gurus to self-help books, everyone is looking into the secret of happiness. >> indeed. you don't have to be rich or travel to the ends of the earth. the answer is simpler than that, as abc's cecilia vega explains. >> reporter: the economy's in the tank. winter's on its way. it might seem easy to walk around with a frown these days. but there's actually a reason you should be smiling. ♪ when you're smiling >> reporter: it turns out, frank sinatra had the right idea. and no matter what kind of mood you're in, the act of smiling makes you happier. charles darwin was one of the first to study it. today, scientists know that when you smile, your muscles send a signal to the part of your brain that controls emotion. it makes you feel better and maybe even live better. psychologists from the university of virginia looked at facebook pages to study smiling.

they rated facebook smiles of first-semester students and found those with intense smiles were happier in their senior year. of course, there are those smiles we all know. george clooney, julia roberts, even that famous cheshire cat grin. >> he went that way. >> reporter: but what about the rest of us? are we willing to take a break from a busy day to just smile? what makes you smile? >> i wake up every morning of my life. >> reporter: what makes him happy? >> oh, everything. >> reporter: is it tougher to smile in this day and age, with the economy and everything that's going on? >> yeah. but again, it's also easy to smile. and it costs nothing. >> reporter: so easy. and who knows? it may add a few years to your life. cecilia vega, abc news, new york. >> so, keep smiling america. and stay with us for "good morning america." have a good day.