making news this morning, a quitted. >> a stunning end to a trial watched around the world. tears in the courtroom, as the judge drops charges against the man accused of killing his wife on their honeymoon. gas prices getting political. the president talking about republicans as prices surge. a ten-cent increase costs us all $11 billion. a close call. a driver stuck on the tracks. a collision that could have been much, much worse. the world's richest supermodel. beauty and brains.

good friday morning, everyone. prosecutors had just rested their case against the so called honeymoon killer, gabe watson, when the judge tossed the charges. >> this morning, instead of facing life in prison, watson is a free man. his dead wife's family and friends are heart broken. with more, he's lara jacobs. >> the motion to dismiss this case. >> reporter: the judge's ruling drew gasps from some, applause from others. and gabe watson stood up a free man. he was facing life without parole, charged with the murder of his wife, tina, 11 days after they marriage in 2003. when prosecutors rested their case, the judge agreed with the defense that they did not meet their burden of proof. >> we presented enough evidence

in our opinion that this case should have gone to the jury. >> we hope this gives closure to evter: properties cuters said watson deliberately cut off tina's air supply. >> he said something happened. and tina -- tina started to panic. she swatted at his face. and knocked the mask off of his face. >> reporter: watson claimed by the time he replaced the mask, his wife has sunk too deep for him to rescue her. one of the prosecution experts called to prove their claim that watson took his time swimming to the surface ended up helding the defense. >> we have a fairly rapped ascent to the surface by the wearer of the transwatch. correct? >> yes. >> reporter: one of tina's friends had blunt words. >> may god have mercy on your soul. >> reporter: watson left court with his second wife.

larry jacobs, abc news. >> gabe's father will join us in a live exclusive on "gma" this morning. a developing situation in afghanistan. americans are on lockdown. angry protests have grown every day since the accidental burning of korans by u.s. troops. yesterday, two u.s. servicemen were killed inside a u.s. base by a protester. the president sent a personal apology. it has not cooled that fury. meantime, the world community is organizing against syria's president, bashar assad. they're demanding he stop attacking civil jans. former u.n. leader ko eer kofi s trying to help. oil hit a new nine-month

high as the dollar fell and gas inched closer to four bucks gallon on average, the highest ever for this time of yore it's turning political. tahman bradley has the details. >> reporter: american's pain at the pump could have ramifications. gas prices have gone up 28 days in a row. >> crazy 37. >> reporter: with experts predicting gas prices to pass $5 by memorial day, the president argues it's not his fault. >> we have to have a sustained strategy. yes, oil and gas, but also wind, and solar. and nuclear. and bio fuels and more. >> reporter: the white house worries the high cost of fuel could undermine the economic recovery and undercut the president's chances at re-election. a ten-cent rise in price would cost the average american family $93 more dollars a year.

every time the gas prices go up, it takes $11 billion out of the americans' pockets. >> people complain here all the time. >> reporter: republicans say the president's energy policies have droouchb up prices here in the u.s. they're saying the rejection of the keystone pipeline has driven t it down. >> they're dusting off their three-point plan for $2 gas since it's an election year. i'll save you the suspense. step one is to drill, step two is to drill. and step three is to keep drilling. >> reporter: 7 of 10 americans in a new poll say gas prices is a deeply important issue. 58% of americans disapprove of the president's handling of the situation. paula and rob? >> all right, tahman bradley in washington. thank you. federal investigators will

be digging through the wreckage of two marine helicopters. the crash killed seven marines. the crash is one of the corpss' deadliest training accidents ever. maryland is poised to become the eighth state to pass a same-sex marriage law. they need to gather 55,000 signatures to get it on the november ballot. opening arguments begin today in land mark case about cyber bullying and hate crimes. rutgers university student dharun ravi used a hidden camera to tape his roommate having a

meeting with a male friend. more of the white stuff is under way. >> a dozen states are under wirnt storm watches from iowa to maine. milwaukee and detroit bracing for another six inches. the brunt of the storm is hitting farther east. >> rain from northern california up to seattle. heavy snow in the cascades. rain in boston, new york, and d.c. stormy in the south. golf ball sized hail. a chance of tornadoes from the carolinas to the gulf coast. showers in south texas. >> 60s in dallas, new orleans, atlanta. near 40 in detroit. 27 in minneapolis. just 19 in fargo. 50s in the pa sis i have northwest. phoenix, 75, sacramento. 71. soda revolution.

the phew brand gnat is low cali but not diet. china comes to the u.s. to find pilots? major hiring fairs. a helicopter disintegrates on landing.

welcome back, everybody. overseas markets were mostly higher on positive economic news from europe and the u.s. tokyo's nikkei average gained 52

points. hong kong's hang seng added 26. on wall street, the dow rose 46 points yesterday. not enough to close above 13,000. meanwhile, the nasdaq index was up 24. for sale signs are going up on some sears stores. the retailer needs cash after reporting a big loss last quarter. selling the stores could race $800 million. sears was mum about how it would lure shoppers back into remaining stores. and ten chinese airlines are aggressively recruiting u.s. airline pilots. more than 1,000 people have signed up for the job fairs. china needs as many as 18,000 pilots and the salaries are competitive. the job fair moves to las vegas on monday. >> listen to this next story. uncle smam have money xxiii you. the irs says it has more than a billion dollars in unclaimed tax refunds from 2008. more than a million people were

el jinl for refunds but for whatever reason didn't file. if you think you're one of them, hurry up. the deadline is april 17th. the next pepsi product is pepsi next. it's aimed at people that want to cut calories but don't like diet soda. it will have about 60 calories a can. it's the biggest product launch for pepsi in years. i've been doing this for years. a little half diet, half regular from the fountain machine. coming up next, private lives. who owns a sex tape made by john edwards and rielle hunter. and nascar's danica patrick in a headline-making crash just days before the daytona 500. we're right back. [ male announcer ] this is lois. the day starts with arthritis pain... a load of new listings... and two pills. after a morning of walk-ups, it's back to more pain,

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and take a look at this. authorities in brazil are trying to figure out why a rescue helicopter literally fell apart just moments after landing. the chopper touched down and started shaking and then broke into pieces. the four people on board did suffer some injuries. for a look at morning road conditions, wet on i-5 from seattle to portland. icy on i-94 from minneapolis to detroit. a slushy mess on 80 and 90 in the midwest and ohio valley. wet on i-95 on the gulf coast. airport delays possible in chicago and detroit, from charlotte up to boston on the east coast. sadly, tragedy struck yet again in ski country. the second deadly avalanche in the northwest this week alone. >> in this case, a snow boarder in utah was buried under nearly three feet of snow for thran ho.

rescuers managed to dig him out and fly him to the hospital. he died a short time later. newly released e-mails from sarah palin's final month as governor of alaska revealed she was ready to step down months before she resigned. she wrote to her husband, i can't take it anymore. she complained about frivolous lawsuits and charges saying i cannot afford this job. rielle hunter has won back a sex tape she made with former presidential candidate john edwar edwards. she's been ordered to destroy it. she lives with edwards aid and his wife when she was pregnant. the family of a football player has filed a wrongful death suit. dave duerson suffered at least three concussions in his career. he killed himself last year at

the age of 50. the family says the league knew that concussions caused brain damage but they concealed it from players. ryan braun can look forward to a full season after an arbitratoor fought his us is sengs. he fought the good fight. came back to the game. >> a monumental decision in the world of baseball. nascar's big season opened on sunday in the daytona 500. danica patrick starts in the middle of the pack after crashes yesterday. >> she was fine. afterwards, she joked that hopefully, her backup car is faster than one she was driving. glad she is okay. highlights from a high-profile nba showdown.

good morning the cole wright here with the espn news update. the linsanity continuing in the sunshine state of florida. lebron james had other balance. first quarter, d. wade to james, an alley-oop. later in the first, pocket picked by chalmers. he knew what to do with that. second quarter, cole gets a steal. jams it on the one hard. falls to the ground. he would be okay. the heat cut into the lead. on the move, james misses the layin. d. wade did not miss the putback jam. later in the second, more trouble for j.l. james comes back the other way, he says, hey, kid, two hands are better than one. that right there is why. you can dach yourself on the recoil. heat taking advantage of lin's

sloppy play. more heat points off turnovers. 15 seconds to play in the first half. chalmers drains the triple try as the time runs away. third quarter, heat still on the move. chris bosh jams it home. fourth frame, heat on top, james to bosh, drives inside. gets the layin to trickle through. that's a 12-point lead. 25 points, 8 boards for bosh. heat up ten, wade gets the defense sleeping. finds james for the exclamation point. that will do it for your espn news update. for the latest on the sports scene, tune in to the highlight express on espn news. >> say it. you know you want to say it. >> the knicks were lincinerated. lucky people here. the car got stuck with the front

wheels off the ground. ah. >> a recycling truck crew arrived just in time. >> next thing i know, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. it went, oh. >> we seen the light. i'm like, okay. you need to get out the car. the passenger was out the car. the driver was sitting in the car as if she wanted to keep driving. two seconds. what are we going to do here. >> quick thinking. they got out of the way. seconds later, that big freight train hit the car. it was going about 60 miles an hour. lucki luckily, everyone is okay. >> there are numbers of folks around the country that get killed at crossings. get out of the car if you get stuck. "the pulse" this morning. the latest outrageous look for nicki minaj. plus, gisele bundchen may not be the first billionaire

supermodel after all. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back! i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it. i'll make it rain up in here. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain. nyquil (stuffy): just reading whatyour label.ing? wait! you relieve nasal congestion? tylenol: sure. don't you? tylenol (another bottle): hmmm...no... nyquil (stuffy): dude! anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't.

splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart ways to sweeten. same great taste. splenda® essentials™. all right, time to check "the pulse." starting with a wakeup call for twitter addicts. >> i was doing it intentionally. >> you won't believe who is sounding the alarm. >> one of the founders of twitter is warning people not to spend too much time. spending hours at a time on

twitter is unhealthy. it's part of our job, isn't it? >> people should logon and find what they want and then get back to work. nicki minaj stirring up a buzz. >> doing her best smurfette impression. she used to spend $50 thoux a month on desiren shoes. maybe because they're hot. or maybe hot 57bd rich, they end to be the target of trash talking. >> take tyra banks. now a grad of harvard business school. she just finished a three-year management program. and kathy ireland was recently named the richest soup modle. her erm pyre is worth more than martha stewart.

kathy is in there. >> also been fan of her. >> why not. for some of you urks your local news is next. or tropicana. my grandpa taught me that there's no orange like a florida orange. they're grown in just the right soil... with the perfect amount of sunshine. see, that's how you get that beautiful colour and ripeness. tropicana pure premium is made with 100% florida oranges. because the best oranges make the best juice. ♪

we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally.

ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. updating the top stories. gabe watson is a free man. he was charged with murdering his first wife, who drowned on their honeymoon. the judge threw out the case says there was not enough evidence. an apology from the president did little to ease tensions in afghanistan. two u.s. troops were killed there. the republican candidates and the president are clashing over gas prices. more drilling is not the answer, says the president. rain and snow in the pacific northwest. rain in boston, new york, and d.c. severe storms in the south from the carolinas to the gulf coast. >> my favorite segment on

friday. the late night comics were following the twists and turns in the race for president. >> your friday fun nis. >> last night, our president, barack obama, sang a duet with b.b. king. ♪ same old place ♪ sweet home chicago >> last night at a ron paul fund-rais fund-raiser, yes, ron paul wowed supporters with a performance of his own. watch this. there he is. [ clicking noise ] >> folks, last night was the 20th gop presidential debate. last night's big winner. was mitt romney. but really, what sale sealed the victory was the final answer.

what is the biggest misconception? >> we're going the have to create more jobs, have less debt, and shrink the size of government. i'm the only person in the race -- >> is there a misconception. >> you get to ask the questions you want. i get to give the answers i want. >> fair enough. >> yes, way to go, mitt. bah boom. you can give whatever answers you want. who cares what the question was? >> rick santorum has been doing well so far. he's neck and neck with mitt romney. some polls have him in the lead. his message is resonating with conserve ty voters. he's in the afraid to speak passionately. >> the reason i think we're doing well in this campaign is because we're available to the american public, no tell prompters, no written speeches. the opportunity to see what's in here. what's up here. and what's burning down here.