on this good friday, good news about jobs. >> we're just hours from getting new numbers showing the biggest burst of hiring since the recession ended. hundreds of thousands of americans back to work. overnight, the coast guard bombed the empty ship sent across the pacific by the tsunami in japan. are there more just like it heading for u.s. shores? survival story. a man lives to tell about accidentally shooting a nail gun into his heart. and the nfl coach caught on tape, urging players to inflict merciless injuries on their opponents.

well, on this good friday, good friday morning, everyone. we're going to get an important snapshot of the nation's economic health this morning. >> the unemployment report for march is expected to show that jobs are slowly and steadily being added. >> tahman bradley is joining us with a preview of those numbers. tahman? >> reporter: good morning, rob and paula. it looks like the first quarter of this year may be the best for job growth since 2006. key industries need workers. and finally, employers are hiring. important economic indicators show hiring is on the rise. a government jobs report due out this morning is expected to show steady job growth for the fourth-straight month. economists project that employers added more than 200,000 jobs in march, with the unemployment rate expected to remain at a three-year low of 8.3%. the volkswagen plant in chattanooga, tennessee, announced 800 new jobs. >> this new achievement will allow us to extend our weekly

production capacity while reducing the amount of overtime that we work. >> reporter: the number of americans filing for unemployment now at its lowest level since april 2008. back then, seven americans were competing for every one job opening. then, months of four americans for every one job. now, improvement. 3.7 americans. the legal information company, lexus nexus is looking to hire new workers at six-figure salaries. >> 350 new jobs over the next 5 years. >> reporter: a look inside the employment numbers shows more men are being hired than women because industries that have traditionally employed men are coming back. and employers are placing a premium on older workers. why? because studies show they take fewer sick days, they're less likely to quit and they get along better with customers. president obama signed bipartisan legislation yesterday designed to help small businesses and start-ups. republicans criticize the president for failing to do more

to pull the country out of the recession more quickly. rob and paula? >> all right. tahman bradley live for us in the nation's capital this morning. thanks, tahman. with mitt romney's virtual lock on the presidential nomination, his rivals are scrambling to reboot their campaigns. after huddling with conservative leaders, rick santorum's new game plan seems to be pressuring newt gingrich to get out of the race. but gingrich insists he is in the race until the gop convention in florida. that's where he fights to ensure a platform of what he calls 21st century conservatism. more embarrassing revelations about the government agency that spent lavishly on . this time, it's a video that's sparking fresh outrage. abc's jake tapper reports from the white house. >> reporter: this video shows a federal government employee dreaming about some day being a free-spending commissioner of his agency. ♪ i'll buy everything your field office can't afford ♪ >> reporter: the employee raps

his vision of being a commissioner, dispensing cash bonuses to his bureaucrats. ♪ love to the nation i'll never be under an investigation ♪ >> reporter: under be under oig investigation he raps. but the video has emerged in the context of an oig investigation, office of inspector general. one that cost the job of the head of that agency, the general services administration, or gsa. the president asked her to resign because gsa in 2010 held a boondoggle $823,000 conference at the m resort outside las vegas. one that included $3,200 on a mind-reader/motivational speaker. and $6,300 for coins in velvet boxes. gsa, by the way, is tasked, in part, with helping the federal government keep its costs down. >> the president was outraged by the excessive spending. questionable dealings with contractors and disregard for taxpayer dollars.

>> reporter: and now, this video pops up. >> this administration knew about this 11 months ago. and they didn't act until the press got wind of it. >> reporter: a spokesman for gsa called the video another example of the complete lack of judgment exhibited during the conference. our agency continues to be appalled by this indefensible behavior. two years ago, gsa had a different take on the young man's tape. >> commissioner for a day. >> reporter: he won an award. jake tapper, abc news, at the white house. >> our tax dollars at work. the hugely popular internet video exposing african war lord joseph kone has a sequel. kone part 2 focuses attention on the criticism of the first documentary. what's missing is the voice of narrator and director, jason russell. he has been hospitalized since suffering a very public meltdown last month. also, a japanese cargo ship

set adrift by last year's tsunami is now at rest at the bottom of the sea. a u.s. coast guard cutter sank the 164-foot vessel in the gulf of alaska to keep it from cluttering shipping lanes. the boat was set to be scrap when it was washed out to sea last march, part of two tons of debris. only a fraction is expected to reach our shores in the u.s. most of it, not until next year. millions of christians around the world are preparing to celebrate the holiest day of the church calendar. at the vatican, pope benedict took part of the foot washing ritual. and keeping with the white house tradition, president obama joined jewish staff members for a sadr meal, for passover. time for a look at your weather from across the country on this friday morning. across the upper midwest and northeast, a risk of overnight frost becomes a chilly morning. but warmer by the afternoon.

also some rain lingers from georgia down through florida. but the rest of the south clears up. a breezy start to the day in las vegas and l.a. but calmer later on. today's biggest trouble spot is in the northern rockies, with blizzard conditions and up to two feet of snow. >> don't like to hear blizzard. boston reaching 51. baltimore, 60. a muggy 88 in miami. 78 in dallas. colorado springs, 72. and sacramento, 65. and coming up next after the break, do older dads increase the risk of autism in their kids? we have new research just out. and then, cell phones and brain cancer. doctors say a study indicating no link. that was wrong. and face-to-face with a shark. the tough guy surfer who took matters very much into his own the tough guy surfer who took matters very much into his own hands.

welcome back, everyone. as we mentioned the march unemployment report comes out in a few hours. and it's expected to show an increase of slightly more in an 200,000 jobs. but investors are still concerned about europe's debt crisis. thus, tokyo's nikkei average falling 79 points today. and hong kong's hang seng and london's ftse, both closed for good friday. on wall street, the dow lost 15 yesterday. and the markets will be closed today for good friday. facebook has picked a stock exchange when its shares go on public sale. it will be on nasdaq, joining apple, google and microsoft, as well. the facebook ipo is expected next month and could value the social network as high as $100 billion.

the toys can stay in happy meals in most parts of california. a judge dismissed a lawsuit that said mcdonald's was using toys to lure children into eating unnutritious food. he did not give a reason for his ruling. that ruling doesn't affect laws in two california counties that ban free toys from all fast food kids' meals. it took 11 minutes to sell the country's smallest town in an internet action. an unidentified buyer is paying $900,000 for buford, wyoming. the town's resident is moving and putting buford up for sale. he still has to approve the deal. if he gets $900,000 out of it, he's probably going to approve it. >> not a bad deal. no lines. no traffic. one-man town, not a bad gig. this week, we learned that a guy visiting vegas bought a painting for 5 bucks. it turned out it was a warhol. that's not the nl incredible find. a painting of flowers that an

indiana man bought for 30 bucks from a thrift store he sold to a museum for $1.2 million. and what about the splatter painting that a retired truck driver paid 5 bucks for. it could be an original jackson pollock. price tag on that, $50 million. >> that's your megamillions ticket right there. >> right there. check your garages. check your basements. >> under your bed, anything. >> whatever. i'll take the million. next on this friday, can tiger woods keep his streak going? day one at the masters from espn is coming up. and the saints scandal grows after a coach is caught on tape urging players to seriously injure opponents. did you know that acids in everyday foods can soften and wear away tooth enamel? once enamel's gone, it's gone for good. try... it uses an innovative gel-to-foam technology to surround your teeth, protecting them from the effects of acid erosion. pronamel iso-active strengthens and re-hardens acid-softened enamel.

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try (new) pronamel iso-active today. sears one day sale is this saturday, with friday preview. find the huge savings you've been hunting for throughout the store. plus, shop your way rewards members always get more. at sears. 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. a texas man in a white suburban led police on a high-speed chase through houston at rush hour yesterday. they had pulled him over for speeding when he just took off.

a fleet of police cars took chase up to 100 miles per hour. finally, the man stop his car and gave up. he is now behind bars. >> the guys always think they're going to get away. it never seems to happen, though. now, for a look at what the weather is doing to the roads this morning. we have some rainy conditions on i-95, from the carolinas down to miami. out west, we have some snow and ice on i-90, from spokane to the mountains of billings. and on i-19, from great falls to salt lake city. >> and if you are flying the friendly skies, you could see airport delays in miami and salt lake city. more news this morning. scientists have uncovered a new clue about autism. a child's risk can increase by the age of the father. >> men over 50 have twice the risk of fathering an autistic child. the men under 30. that's because as men age, their genetic material changes. and the spontaneous genetic

glitches are directly connected to autism. and scientists are questioning last year's study on the health risks of cell phone use among children. insisting that the risk is far greater than initially thought. the environmental health trust claims that the research actually shows cell phone use more than doubles the risk of brain tumors in children and adolescents. abc's dr. richard besser will be joining us on "good morning america" to sort through all of these new claims. a lot of questions coming out after this. we now turn to the scandal still rocking pro football. paying players for punishing hits on certain opponents. our partners at yahoo! sports uncovered a recording of a new orleans saints coach graphically telling players to inflict some terrible injuries during a playoff game. for more on this, here's abc's josh elliott. >> reporter: even in the brutal world of the nfl, america's unquestioned secular religion, the words are a stunning

sacrilege. you're listening to gregg williams, firing up his players before a january playoff game before the san francisco 49ers. the tapes, recorded by a documentary filmmaker and first obtained by yahoo! sports, williams seems to tell the team to deliberately injure 49ers players, targeting old injuries. and in the case of frank gore, his head. >> we've got to do everything in the world to make sure we kill frank gore's head. we want him running sideways. we want his head sideways. >> reporter: but perhaps most troubling, a reference made on a bounty of driving alex smith from the game. as williams rubbed his thumbs and fingers together, suggesting financial reward. >> we hit smith, right there. remember me. i got the first one. i've got the first one. >> reporter: the nfl has cracked down on the abuses, suspending williams indefinitely for his role in an illicit team bounty

program last month. also suspended, saints head coach sean payton, for the whole season. and mickey loomis for half of it. the players association has hired an attorney to defend players against any possible criminal charges. >> disturbing, to say the least. our thanks to josh elliott for that story. the masters at day one at augusta national. here's espn news. >> good morning. i'm todd grisham. this is your "sportscenter" update. thought you had a long day at work yesterday? how about the blue jays and the indians? the longest opening day game in major league baseball history. finally, in the 16th inning, it comes to a close. thanks to j.p.'s three-run blast. blue jays win it, 7-4. red sox and the tigers. the first game for bobby valentine as the manager of the red sox. bottom of the ninth. tied at 2-2. austin jackson, comes through. rbi single.

that scores danny werth. the tigers with a walkoff. 3-2 win. reds and marlins. marlins already played a game. this would be their second. this is the reds' first. jay bruce. watch this shot. 442 feet later, it's gone. reds win it, 4-0. another opening day tilt, phillies and pirates. and how about this story? retired military hero jeremy feldbush throws the first pitch. and by the way, he's blind. phillies up 1-0. roy halladay on cruise control. eight scoreless innings. phillies win it 1-0. how about basketball? clippers and the kings. l.a. trying to bounce back from their loss to the lakers. blake griffin helping out with that jumper. cutting the kings' lead to one. three minutes left to go.

griffin, driving. that's two-consecutive blake griffin plays. plays where he didn't dunk. you don't see that very often. here's chris paul, a.k.a.cp-3. with that lay-in. clippers win it, 93-85. i'll used hushed tones to tell you that the second round of the masters continues today at 3:00 p.m. on espn. enjoy. and coming up next, we'll show you why it's good to be justin bieber. and one guy's painful lesson about what not to do with a nail gun. we're right back. ♪ ♪ grande caramel macchiato. iced grande caramel macchiato. make that iced. actually, hot, please. [ male announcer ] come into starbucks for the espresso drink you love, hot or iced.

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♪ shot through the heart and you're to blame ♪ ♪ darling, you give love a bad name ♪ a little bon jovi on this friday morning. this song says it all. in today's "pulse," a man's unbelievable injury. >> it could be a special homecoming for this new jersey man. he nearly died after a freak accident that started when his nail gun jammed. >> like i've done 100 times before, just undo it. but it wasn't going so well. and i had turned it a little too far. and pop. felt like somebody poked me right in the chest. >> yeah. not just his chest but his heart. and it got worse for dennis hennessey. he needed cpr on the way to the hospital, which moved the nail in his chest, making for a

bigger hole. amazingly, doctors were able to fix the problem. and he is promising to be more careful with the nail gun next time around. he does not have medical insurance. his family is holding fund-raisers to raise the cash to pay for the treatment he needed. a match-up of man versus shark. the odds are in favor of the shark. >> but a hawaiian surfer beat the odds with his fist. joshua felt the sensation on his foot. he remembered the snout was the most sensitive. he punched the shark square in the face several times. the shark swam away. but josh needed 42 stitches and surgery to repair damaged tendons. >> go rocky on the shark. what a week for the biebs. >> we've gotten a sneak peek for the video for his single "boyfriend," after a week on the air waves. it's number one on the charts. not too shabby. >> there you go. then, there's this. bieber's bachelor pad near l.a.,

9,000 square feet. 6 million bucks. it was on the market for $10 million. his neighbors, britney spears, will smith and the kardashians. for some of you, your local news is coming up.

updating our top stories now. experts expect today's march unemployment report shows hiring pretty steady. they estimate 200,000 new jobs were added last month. the u.s. coast guard has sunk a ship that was free from the tsunami. christians take part in good friday services today. pope benedict took part in a ceremonial foot washing at the vatican last night. today's weather. a wintry blizzard blanketing the northern rockies. rain storms linger in the southeast. mild and sunny most everywhere else. and finally from us this morning, the late-night comics are taking aim at the so-called

fairer sex. starting with sarah palin's debut as a morning show co-host. >> and of course, they were brutal. check it out in this morning's "friday funnies." >> sarah palin goes to the "today" show. and she was there, performing a medley of her greatest hits from, i don't read newspapers to, i wrote on my hand. that old chestnut, i passively-aggressively hate matt lauer with all of my being. >> how is it, governor? >> it's great. thanks for letting me crash your dressing room. and now i have your hair products, matt. >> technically, i didn't give you permission to be in there. >> not everyone on the show seemed excited to have sarah palin in the host chair. in particular, "today" show regular host, ann curry. watch ann curry's face through this. we zoomed in a few times while sarah palin is talking. there, talking to tori spelling about party hosting or something. oh, interesting.

what a fascinating question. here they are out on the boulevard. >> the woman who claims she won the megamillions lottery said she hid the ticket at the mcdonald's where she works. yeah. to keep it from ever being found, she hid the ticket inside one of their salads. >> top ten questions received by the marshmallow peeps hot line. here we go. have you considered making nacho cheese peeps? how can i encourage my child to eat more processed marshmallow? >> for those who find baseball too fast-paced, the 76th annual masters tournament started today. they have a long-standing policy of only allowing men to be in their club. people complain for four days. people don't understand. the reason they don't admit women in the club is nothing to do with sexism. the