making news this morning -- home, sweet, home. >> amanda knox returns to seattle after four years in prison, offering a tearful thanks to her supporters. and apple's surprise. a product launched that syncs company stocks. but is this new model the coolest iphone yet? and "the simpson's" shocker. tv's longest-running sitcom could actually be canceled. good morning, everyone. i'm tanya rivero. >> and i'm rob nelson. amanda knox is safely home in her mother's house this morning, after an emotional return to seattle. >> welcome home signs, like

these, are all over the city, from friends and strangers alike. it was just two days ago that knox faced long years in an italian prison. now, she is tasting freedom again. we begin with abc's john hendren. >> reporter: an emotional four-year journey finally brought amanda knox home. >> i'm really overwhelmed right now. i was looking down from the airplane. and it seemed like everything wasn't real. >> reporter: speaking for the first time as a free woman home from prison, her convictions for rape and murder overturned in an italian appeals court. she seemed at a loss for words. >> thank you to everyone. who has believed in me. who has defended me. who support mid family. >> reporter: it was a homecoming that was nearly postponed for decades. >> she's overwhelmed. she'll be able to get out and just try to, you know, get back home and get back here, where

she, you know, grew up and everything like that. it's very overwhelming to her. >> i feel like a huge rock fell off me. now, i can look forward to sleeping at night. >> reporter: freedom leaves the knox family chained to more than $1 million in crippling legal bills. bills that forced amanda's parents to take out mortgages. amanda's sisters took out two jobs. >> you realize what amanda's going through and how much harder that is. >> reporter: the experience, amanda knox said, brought home what's most important. >> my family's the most important thing to me right now. i just want to go and be with them. so, thank you for being there for me. >> reporter: there will be offers for speaking tours and inevitably, book and movie deals. for knox, who still isn't out of college, after all, the big question now is, what next? rob and tanya? >> john hendren, live for us this morning.

thank you. so, when could we hear more from amanda? and will she write a book? we'll get some answers later on "good morning america." in other news this morning, the republican race for president is now refocusing on rick perry and mitt romney today, after a final decision from chris christie. the new jersey governor is saying definitively that he is not running for the white house. at least not this time. abc's jon karl was at the announcement. >> now is not my time. >> reporter: it was vintage christie. >> new jersey, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me. >> reporter: republicans had literally begged him to run for president. >> please, sir, reconsider. don't even say anything tonight. go home and really think about it. >> reporter: he did reconsider. top supporters said they were convinced he would go for it and started preparing to launch a campaign. even his family was on board. >> mary pat woke me up at 6:00 in the morning and said, if you

want to run, go for it. >> reporter: the guy who has become a youtube sensation by telling critics to stuff it -- >> get the hell off the beach in asbury park and get out. you know what? first off, it's none of your business. >> reporter: spurned his supporters, too. but he did it with a kind of free-wheeling performance that made them want him to run in the first place. poking fun at himself -- >> i'm not particularly self-conscious about this. like, it's not a news flash to me that i'm overweight. >> reporter: joking that nobody would want him as v.p. >> seriously, can you imagine? guy would probably want to get a food taster. >> reporter: and reminding his fans that 2016 isn't that far away. >> i'm not going to preclude any employment in the future. >> reporter: it was easily his most crowded press conference ever. we had to squeeze in the back. this groundswell, people pleaded, practically begging for you to run. what does it say about the rest of the field and what's wanting in the rest of the field? >> i don't think it says anything particular about the field. i'd like to think it says something about me.

>> reporter: jonathan karl, abc news, trenton, new jersey. >> our thanks to jon karl. with christie's big announcement, most experts believe the current field of republican candidates won't change. as for republicans in congress, new numbers show america doesn't have much confidence in their ability to boost jobs. in the abc news poll released overnight, 49% say they trust the president when it comes to creating jobs. that's a nine-point gain from last month. 34% say they trust congressional republicans. but just 35% approve of the way president obama is handling unemployment. and only 35% approve of the way he's handling the economy. that's an all-time low. another poll out this morning shines a light on the attitude of military veterans toward both the wars in iraq and afghanistan. it finds that half of vets think the war in afghanistan was worth fighting. meanwhile, 41% of civilians say the same. and just 44% of veterans believe

the iraq war was worth it. just over one-third of civilians agree with them. and history is being made at the white house. for the first time, a woman has been named as usher. angela reid takes on the daunting job of making sure everything runs smoothly in the 132-room mansion that presidents and their families call home. her previous job, running a ritz carlton hotel. >> staying high-class. >> that's right. let's take a look, now, at your morning weather from around the country. some drenching downpours for much of california and the pacific northwest. more than a foot of snow in the sierra nevada and utah mountains. rain around idaho, utah and wyoming. and much-needed thunderstorms in texas, new mexico and southern colorado. unseasonably warm in the middle of the country. >> 80s from kansas city and dallas. 85 in new orleans. 75 in baltimore. and 70 here in new york. phoenix climbs to 85. and salt lake city, 72. just 57 in seattle.

and 63 in boise. and coming up, four words that madoff victims have been waiting for. the check is in the mail. >> words we all love. and this morning also, the desperate search for a missing baby, taken from her crib in the middle of the night. >> so devastating. this wasn't the announcement techies had expected. but apple may have just shown us the future. your phone as a personal assistant.

welcome back, everyone.

there is both bloom and hope from the nation's top banker. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says the economic recovery is, quote, close to faltering because poor job growth is pushing down consumer confidence. but he told congress the fed is ready to take further steps. and that helped turn around wall street yesterday. on wall street, the dow picked up 153 points. the nasdaq index gained 69. overseas this morning, tokyo's nikkei average dropped 66 points. hong kong's hang seng is off 572. in london, the ftse opened lower. some of bernie madoff's victims will get partial refunds starting today. the trustee has uncovered half of the $17 billion lost by investors who filed claims. most of that, though, is still tied up in court. but some 312 million bucks is available and will now be split among more than 1,200 accounts. expectations were so high for apple's announcements yesterday, that some disappointment was inevitable.

its stock fell when instead of an iphone 5, it announced an upgraded iphone 4. but the 4s, includes a voice recognition program. users will be able to dictate text messages and search the web, without typing a single letter. here's how it works. >> read me my text. >> are you going to the party? >> reply. yeah. i'll meet you there. remind me to grab the present when i come home. >> here's your reminder for when you get home. >> the 4s will be the first iphone soldly sprint, along with at&t and verizon. it goes on sale october 14th. sure to be long lines. >> the whole life on that little gadget. crazy. coming up next on this wednesday morning, a twist in the case against michael jackson's doctor. three of his mistresses take the stand. >> lovely ladies, indeed. and out of nowhere, arizona's season of dust storms turns deadly.

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and helps protect against the effects of acid erosion. the dirt and debris have finally settled across arizona after a deadly dust storm. the dust was so thick it triggered three pileups on interstate 10, involving two dozen cars. one man was killed and 15 others injured. low visibility prevented views from using helicopters to get victims to the hospital because of a drought. the dust storms could continue through the winter. time, now, for a look at your morning road conditions. i-5, takes a soaking from the canadian to the mexican border. snow on i-80, from sacramento to reno. i-40, on new mexico. and slick roads in the texas panhandle. >> if you're taking to the skies, airport delays are possible, in san francisco, los angeles, las vegas and salt lake city. authorities in kansas city

are urging vigilance as they keep up their search for a missing baby. >> 10-month-old lisa irwin was put to bed by her mother. and when her father came to check on her after getting home from work, she was gone. police believe little lisa may have been abducted by an intruder who entered the house through a window. her parents are cooperating with the investigation. and we'll have a live report from kansas city later on "gma." a tourist celebrating her 40th birthday has been killed in a helicopter crash in new york. three others, including the victim's girlfriend, were rescued by emergency crews who arrived just seconds after the chopper plunged into the east river. the pilot was unhurt and able to swim to shore on his own. abc news has learned the rest of michael jackson's slurred voice recordings will be played in court today. on it, jackson reportedly slams his family for taking his money. three of murray's girlfriends took the stand yesterday, including the one who signed for shipments of propofol.

jurors heard from a houston cocktail waitress, believed to be on the phone with murray when jackson stopped breathing. the prosecutors are trying to show the doctor was so occupied with his failed love interests that he failed to give proper care. and michael morton will enjoy his first day of freedom. he was released from prison in texas yesterday, after his murder conviction was overturned. new dna evidence proved that morton was not responsible for the death of his wife in 1986. the texas court of appeals will make a final ruling in the case, which could take up to three months. attention sports fans this morning. you can forget about the nba's preseason. league commissioner david stern says all of the league's exhibition came games have been canceled. and the first two weeks of the regular season will be canned if players and owners don't strike a deal by monday. and you might recognize this building as the superdome in

new orleans. but wait, hold on. it's now officially called the mercedes-benz superdome, after the german automaker struck a deal with the saints and the state of louisiana yesterday. the price tag on the deal is not being disclosed. and now, to some baseball. the only games on tonight's schedule take place in the national league. and we get an update on all the divisional series now from espn news. >> with this espn news update i'm ducis rodgers. another compelling night for major league baseball postseason. we begin with the rangers and rays, game four. what a night for adrian beltre. he tags a home run. that puts texas up 2-0. fourth inning, beltre with another home run. again off hallockson. are you kidding me? beltre with three home runs in the game. rangers win it 4-3. they advance to the alcs. how about the yankees and tigers in game four? pick it up in the bottom of the

first. scoreless, with the bases loaded with tigers. jon kelley to center. but curtis granderson is there. worth another peek. granderson, not done yet. in the sixth, jhonny peralta to the gap. but granderson is there again. his second great catch of the night. the yankees win big, 10-1. this series, tied at 2-2 games. over in the national league, phillies and cardinals in game three. top of the seventh. runners on first and second. pitcher ben francisco. a three-run homer. the cardinals go down, 3-2. philly takes a 2-1 series lead. d-backs and the brewers. bottom of the fifth. bases loaded for paul goldsmith. he tags shaun marcum. his first career grand slam. the d-backs take a commanding

lead. take a look at marcum's reaction. he knew it wasn't a good pitch. arizona wins it 8-1. that's a look at sports this morning. remember, for all your latest sports news, highlights and scores, tune into "the highlight express," every night, 11:00 p.m. eastern time, on espn news. it is wednesday morning. we can call another person a former "dancing with the stars" competitor. this week, it was reality tv star, kristin cavallari, who got booted from the ballroom. >> cavallari and her partner were ousted, despite receiving their highest scores of the season. they couldn't muster enough fan support to stick around for another week. a shocked kristin leaves the ballroom. >> i know how devastated you are. >> i am crushed. up next, "the pulse." details on prince harry's visit to america this week. and news about "the simpsons." a salary dispute threatens to cancel tv's longest running a salary dispute threatens to cancel tv's longest running sitcom. knowing that i could smoke during the first week

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welcome back, everybody. time for "the pulse," the stories getting buzz online today, starting with the widow of a navy s.e.a.l., using social media to search for her late husband's wedding ring. >> aaron vaughn died two months ago along with many fellow s.e.a.l.s in a chopper crash. he left his ring home when he was deployed. but kimberly vaughn lost the

band over the weekend while flying from houston to d.c. >> she's set up a facebook page retracing every step, hoping someone will turn in her precious memento. after the flight, a flight attendant helped dismantle the entire seat. she looked in the diaper bag. no ring just yet. >> anyone near kimberly, check the floors around. help her out. >> she's earned it, for sure. and sticking with the military theme, the desert southwest is about to get a royal visitor. britain's vince harry and arm captain is set to arrive for helicopter training with the u.s. military. >> the same training will take harry later in the month to an air force facility out in arizona. the prince will be kept under wraps during most of the training. we're told a trip to nearby las vegas is tradition. oh. >> i wonder if that's a tradition that the queen endorses. >> harry is the party boy of that family. i think he'll find a few activities to occupy his time. >> a lot of ladies that would

want to keep him occupied on his trip. after 23 years on tv, now, a salary dispute is threatening to pull the plug on "the simpsons." producers say the current financial model no longer works. and they want the top voice actors to take a 45% pay cut. actors who voice homer, marge, lisa and bart, are said to make about $8 million. >> that's right. $8 million a season. ratings sl billions in reruns and merchandising. >> the voice actors have reportedly offered to take a 30% cut. in exchange for syndication and merchandise revenue. as everyone in tv knows, syndication is where the real bucks really are. >> somehow i don't think anyone associated with that show is hurting. >> none of them are starving. no. huh-uh. all right. for some of you, your local news is next. >> for and everyone else, our bill weir puts the new iphone to the test. you won't believe what this thing can do and now. that and more when "atm"

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with the big unveiling of the newest iphone. >> the facade looks the same. but on the inside, the iphone 4s, is faster with a better camera and other nifty features. abc's bill weir shows us what's new. >> reporter: get a load of artificial intelligence, apple style. i'm in the mood for sushi. >> i found a number of sushi restaurants. 22 of them are fairly close to you. >> reporter: finally, it might be the kind of machine we craved since "the jetsons" and feared since "2001." >> open the doors, hal. >> i'm sorry, dave. i can't do that. >> has been like a father to me, steve jobs. >> reporter: but while steve jobs and apple did a dazzling job helping people understand computers, computers still never

seemed to understand us. but then, came the unveiling of siri, a program that moves voice recognition to a whole, new level. give this phone any command, they say, and the computer inside will eventually figure out an answer. >> what's the weather like today? >> checking out the weather in cupertino. here's the forecast today. >> reporter: hit on some. missed on a few. it could be game-changing, right? >> people in cars, places hands-free, would love some of the features of this. if the thing takes dictation, that could be a big deal. >> reporter: if history's any guide, the cult of apple is about to get a lot bigger. just ask siri. remind me to call my wife, when i leave work. >> here's your reminder for when you leave work. i'll remind you. >> reporter: thank you, siri. >> that sounds good.