breaking news this morning, missouri inferno. >> a massive gas blast rocks an exclusive area in kansas city. sending more than a dozen people to the hospital. still an active scene overnight. bail hearing day two is under way for olympic hero oscar pistorius. new details emerging in the case against him. a young girl hurt in a freak fire. investigators trying to find out if hand sanitizer ignited badly burning her. after her own health battle, robin roberts returns today. the day her fans and her work family here at abc have been waiting for is finally here. good wednesday morning.

crews are still searching through smoldering rubble in an upscale area of downtown kansas city. >> more than a dozen people were injured and cadaver dogs were brought in to make sure no one is buried underneath. they suspect a gas leak touched off the massive explosion and fire that hit a powerful restaurant. it rattled windows and doors blocks away from the scene. >> the ground just shook. sounded like -- it was a giant explosion. >> and the explosion hit. and it hits you like a shockwave. >> the heat from the fire came into my car. my windows were up. but i could feel the heat. >> before the explosion, people who work in the area had been told to evacuate because of the strong smell of gas. many were still grabbing their things when the blast hit. and another massive fire overnight. hundreds of firefighters from 12 departments in ohio are battling a blaze in 1 of the midwest's biggest greenhouses. they face the added challenges of strong winds and bitterly

cold temperatures. green circle growers provides flowers and plants to national chains, including home depot and walmart. we'll keep on top of these stories throughout the morning. now, overseas, to south africa, and the murder case against olympian oscar pistorius. at a hearing this morning at this courthouse, an investigator has argued against bail for pistorius, calling him a flight risk. >> and a prosecutor has claimed there's a witness who claims she heard nonstop shouting from pistorius' house the morning of the shooting. with more on the case, here's abc's tahman bradley. >> reporter: oscar pistorius arrived in court for the second day of his bail hearing. the paralympic champion is charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend, model reeva steenkamp on valentine's day. today, prosecutors plan to outline why they believe pistorius murdered steenkamp. pistorius admitted shooting steenkamp, saying he thought she was an intruder. >> that puts you in a tough spot

legally. i've got to believe that his best hope is for a lesser charge. rather than an all-out not guilty verdict. >> reporter: at yesterday's hearing, pistorius sobbed as his lawyers read his account of what happened. they were both sleeping, when he woke up and went to the balcony, when he heard a noise in the bathroom. in the pitch dark, he grabbed his gun. noticed an open window and thought an intruder was hiding in the toilet room. without wearing his prosthetics, he fired shots through the locked door. but steenkamp was in the toilet room, not an intruder. the lead prosecutor says she locked the door for a purpose. we'll get to that purpose. >> forensic experts who are looking at a number of things in this particular case. they will take trajectories to determine the height of the shooter. >> reporter: the prosecution believes they can show pistorius was wearing prosthetics, they can prove the shooting was not an accident. tahman bradley, abc news.

>> thanks, tahman. more breaking news overnight from southern california, where hundreds of drivers have been stranded by a sudden snowstorm. the highway patrol and road crews are now helping cars exit the roadway between l.a. and bakersfield. a 60-mile stretch of highway had to be shut down. ironically, the road was especially crowded because of worries that a section of busy interstate 5 would be closed by bad weather. and that same system pummeled northern california, bringing snow and this rare tornado to that part of the state. cameras were rolling when this twister touched down in a rural area north of sacramento. also from california, the motive remains a mystery after a shooting rampage in orange county. police say it started when a college student, ali syed killed a woman at his home. they say syed killed two men while taking their cars, including one victim who was shot in the head execution-style, as commuters watched on in horror. as police closed in, the

20-year-old syed then shot himself. it looks like the u.s. is preparing to strike back amid allegations about those massive cyber attacks being blamed on china. the white house will reportedly lay out aggressive steps today to fight the cyber crimes. the report comes after a security firm identified the shanghai building as the headquarters for china's military hackers, accused of stealing secrets from u.s. companies and government sites. union workers are rallying, urging congress to avoid the looming budget cuts. yesterday, president obama brought cops and firefighters to the white house to warn emergency workers they'll be the first to go if those cuts take effect. the deadline is less than ten days away. and so far, there's no face-to-face talks. but the president is reaching across the aisle on immigration reform. last night, president obama called the three, key gop players on the issue in the senate. john mccain, lindsey graham and marco rubio. details of a white house backup

plan on immigration were leaked over the weekend. general john allen who was nominated to be nato supreme ally commander, and got caught up in the petraeus scandal, has announced his retirement. his concern is for the health of his wife, kathy. she has stood beside him for more than 35 years, allowing him to serve his country. also, former congressman, jesse jackson jr. and his wife are due in court today. expected to plead guilty to federal charges. jackson is accused of spending $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items, including a $40,000 gold rolex. his wife, former chicago lawmaker, sandy jackson, is charged with filing false tax returns. as pope benedict prepares to step down, the buzz is growing about the unlikely possibility that an american could be next in line. the spotlight is on cardinal sean o'malley of boston. he's known for simply wearing a brown robe and scandals. he inherited an archdiocese

badly tainted by the church scandal. with that, we take a look at your wednesday weather across the country. dallas, houston, oklahoma city could see some showers. we'll have some rain in the pacific northwest. snowfall for denver, starting around dinner time. california dries out after yesterday's storm. it will be pretty quiet here on the east coast. >> and it's another day of bone-chilling cold in the upper midwest. minneapolis will struggle to get above ten degrees. new york, boston and baltimore are in the upper 30s. phoenix is in the mid-50s, when the normal high is usually 60. miami, as usual, the shot spot, around 80 degrees. and coming up, we'll have a live report, as we welcome our friend robin roberts back to "gma," just a few hours from now. plus, business news. how did hackers take a big, old bite right out of apple? and think your morning latte is pretty pricey? we'll show you the most expensive starbucks drink, ever.

and welcome back. gas prices are now rising at the fastest pace in nearly a decade. prices are up half a dollar per month, at a time of the year when they're usually low. gas already tops $5 a gallon in some cities. many analysts predict it will break records this year. others expect drivers to reduce their consumption if prices go too much higher. all of the merger and acquisition deals are lifting wall street, to new height, as well. the dow jones industrial average

is opening this morning almost 36 points above 14,000. that's the highest in more than five years. and get this, good news doesn't stop there. it's only 130 points away from the all-time high set back in october of '07. and google stock is also hiding pretty high. it broke $800 yesterday for the first time, closing at almost $807 a share. that puts it just behind apple and exxon mobil in net worth. google dominates internet search, is a major force in web advertising and is also a force in technology, as well. apple is the latest company to admit it's been hacked. some employees' mac computers were infected by the same mallware that hit twitter and facebook. it was exploiting a flaw in the software. no customer data was compromised. and it has cleaned up that infection. and if you think your

morningstar bumorn morning starbucks is pretty expensive, a fan in washington state is claiming the record for the most expensive starbucks drink ever. >> there you go. >> this thing includes 48 shots, plusse ed add-ons. he paid $47.30. that is more than twice the previous record. >> got to have the whipped cream. >> 50 buck cup of coffee. come on, folks. come on. coming up next on this wednesday morning, a bizarre investigation is under way. did an oklahoma man spontaneously combust? >> had the coffee, i guess. plus, a big concern for anyone who uses hand sanitizer. it's suspects of igniting, causing a young girl's pretty severe burns. on the lighter side, tiger woods is revealing more about that secret round of golf he had with the president.

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and ipt's the icy roads that are to blame for a multicar pileup north of milwaukee. 26 vehicles were involved in several crashes along a busy highway. more than one. the road was closed for a number of hours while tow trucks moved in and had to clear up all those cars. >> let's all wake up in april, shall we? get past this winter. as for today's road conditions, showers could make things slippery around dallas and houston. the afternoon commute in denver could be a little snowy. rainy around seattle and portland. >> if you're flying anywhere, expect airport delays in these cities. phoenix, denver and dallas. and a few fascinating stories right now. both involving fire. first, from portland, oregon, where a young girl is recovering from severe burns. >> the parents of 11-year-old ireland lane believe she was burned when an alcohol-based

hand sanitizer was ignited by a spark of static electricity. they say the spark was generated by their daughter playing with their bedsheets in her hospital room. little ireland suffered third-degree burns over 18% of her little body. and her second skin graft is tomorrow. >> we all use that stuff these days. that's a lesson learned from that story. that's scary. and from oklahoma, police are investigating the burning death of a 65-year-old man. the sheriff says it may be a case of human combustion. but he says it was not spontaneous. danny vanzandt died in his kitchen. he was known to drink and smoke heavily. and new details about the foiled plot to kidnap and kill singer justin bieber. reports surfaced alleging that a convicted killer and a rapist had hired two men to murder and

castrate the 18-year-old pop star. but for the first time, we're now hearing recordings of a phone call made from a prison in new mexico. authorities say it is the voice of 45-year-old dana martin, telling one of the hitmen he had hired, how to strangle bieber and his bodyguard with a scarf. >> tie it really, really tight. knot it in the front once. really tight. and tie it in the back again, really tight. that seals the deal. >> police say martin was obsessed with bieber. and he was angry when bieber didn't write back to him. best-selling crime writer patricia cornwell has won more than $50 million in a lawsuit against her former financial managers. cornwell claimed they were so negligent with her money she was worth only 13 million bucks at one point, despite years of making eight figures. the defense tried to argue that cornwell's lavish lifestyle, including ferraris and her apartment were to blame.

wow. and today is deadline day for lance armstrong to testify under oath to u.s. anti-doping agents. if he does not come clean about his illegal drug use, he may never see his lifetime ban from sports reduced. since the deadline for his testimony was extended two weeks ago, armstrong has not said a single word to investigators. tiger woods says president obama hit the ball well when the two played golf together in florida over the weekend. woods talked about the outing while getting ready for a tournament in arizona. the first time he talked about it. >> the world's number two-ranked golfer complimented the president for his, quote, amazing touch while chipping and putting. and joked about how the whole thing came about. >> he calls up and says, hey, tiger, you want to play? okay. obviously, there's a process that's involved. and i was invited to play. >> woods also called the president, pretty cool.

wonder what those two men talked about, though. >> yeah. when the president calls and says, you want to play some golf, i think you say yes. >> stay away from michelle. >> don't even look at her. coming up next, it was a special day. and it is a special day here at abc news. our dear friend, robin roberts, is making her return to the anchor desk. >> such a good feeling. and we're going to go live to times square next to see what's in store for robin this morning. so, don't go far. with command strips from 3m. designed to stick and eliminate odors anywhere. like this overflowing trashcan. to test it, we brought in the scott family. so what do you smell? beach house and you're looking out over the ocean. some place like, uh, hawaii in like a flower field. take your blindfolds off. aw man! [ screams ] [ laughs ] that smells good. i wouldn't even just put it in the trash, i'd put it in every room. stick it to eliminate odors anywhere. new febreze stick & refresh. breathe happy. two. three. my credit card rewards are easy to remember

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morning, the story everyone's talking about from our house to your house. >> we're delighted to welcome back robin roberts to the air. it's happening in a couple of hours at the crossroads of the world. >> marci gonzalez is already there in the heart of times square and has the story for us. >> reporter: good morning, rob and diana. just a few hours away. robin's been preparing by setting her alarm for 3:45 in the morning. she's been doing run-throughs here on the set. all getting ready for her big return. >> i'm coming home. >> reporter: homecoming day for robin roberts. >> the moment we've been waiting for. >> reporter: a long-awaited moment since the "good morning america" anchor shared her diagnosis on-air in june. >> it is something that is called mds, myelodysplastic syndrome. if you're going what? i was doing the same thing. it's a rare blood disorder that

affects the bone marrow. >> reporter: robin took medical leave to undergo a bone marrow transplant. >> my big sister is a virtually perfect match. and she is going to be my donor. >> deep breaths for me. >> reporter: bravely battling the disease doctors say was likely brought on by chemotherapy she under went for dress cancer in 2007. >> i have no regrets. that treatment saved my life. >> reporter: living always with no regrets, encouraging thousands to enlist as bone marrow donors. spreading her message. >> my mom always said, make your mess your message. >> reporter: and inspiring so many, including her "gma" family. >> i think she taught us all not to live in fear. she dealt with the ultimate fear. and dealt with it with such grace. >> reporter: a strong, healthy robin roberts, back in the anchor chair, back where she

belongs. >> but i know when i sit back down, right in this chair, and i look over. i see you. i see you. i see you. and i see you. it's going to be, all is right in the world. >> reporter: and robin will eventually work her way back up to being on the air five days a week. live in times square, marci gonzalez, rob and diana, back to you. >> marci, thank you for that. in just a couple hours, we can't wait to see. there's going to be people flooding the area behind you. you're lucky to be there now. it will be a mob scene. >> reporter: absolutely. >> enjoy the morning. thanks, marci. we heard from robin this morning. >> that's right. robin tweeted a few moments ago. truly is the dawn of a new day. can't wait to get started. >> after everything she's been through, it's going to feel so good to get back to her normal routine and in the chair and live her life again. it's going to be a big day for the show and everyone here at

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updating the top stories now. rubble up to three feet deep is all that's left of an upscale restaurant in kansas city after an explosion. investigators think a gas leak is to blame for the blast, which injured about a dozen people. olympian oscar pistorius became emotional again this morning, as prosecutors laid out evidence against him in the shooting death of his girlfriend. arguing against bail, an investigator calls him a flight risk. hundreds of drivers were stranded on a remote mountain road in southern california after a sudden snowstorm. 60 miles of the roadway were closed as the highway patrol and tow trucks cleared the cars. quick look at weather. the center of the nation is in deep freeze, with temps 20 degrees colder than usual. california dries out. and rain in the pacific northwest. finally this morning.

a do or die moment. >> the entertainer says he's not nervous. but with the pressure now on, he's making sure he is well-prepared. more on this, now, from abc's brandi hitt. >> reporter: seth macfarlane does it all. acts, writes. sings, produces and directs. now, just days away from hosting sunday's 85th annual academy awards, macfarlane says this will be his toughest audience yet. >> if you're too soft, they're not going to give you much. if you're too hard on them, they're going to gasp and turn on you. i expect to have them hating me within the first 30 seconds. >> reporter: in fact, the comedian often jokes that no one recognizes him. >> if you don't know who i am, just pretend i'm donny osmond. you'll be fine. we'll get through this. >> reporter: but you probably recognize his comedy, in particular, "family guy," macfarlane created 15 years ago. where he voices most of the characters. his first feature film, "ted,"

has raked in $500 million worldwide. >> that's my bad. >> reporter: earning macfarlane an oscar nomination for best original song. forbes listing him as the 74th most powerful actor in the world last year. >> i think he's going to hit it out of the park. he is a big-time envelope pusher. and he may very well offend a few people that night. i'm personally looking for to that. >> reporter: this is a performance macfarlane has spent five months perfecting. but the only thing he'll reveal is he'll deliver what he thinks is funny. >> once you get through the opening, unless you do something really stupid, you're pretty much gold. >> reporter: macfarlane did meet with billy crystal for advice. but his favorite oscar host of all was johnny carson. brandi hitt, abc news, los angeles. >> hard to beat crystal, carson and bob hope. >> i agree. but i cannot wait t