beer and bananas. who says the royals aren't just like us? just like us. pushing his own cart. >> now, now, now, now. >> good morning. >> i'm with you, harry. >> happy friday morning, everybody. the snow on the ground in much of the country is taking people by surprise. we're still in october. and we're pulling out the warm clothes for the weekend here in the east. in fact, our lovely crowd outside, they're all snuggled together. there's a big snowstorm that's coming. we'll get to sam in a minute. >> it's cold this morning. very cold. >> it is. also, the stock market taking off. up more than 300 points by the close thursday. best october ever in the stock market. the big question now, does that mean we're out of the woods and getting to the place where the economy really starts to create jobs? >> keep your fingers crossed about that. and a real u-turn in the search for baby lisa. the family's lawyer has put a stop to the police interviewing her two brothers. the family turning down every request to meet with the boys since early october. >> and the lawyer saying here on "gma" this week that they would answer the questions. let. let's turn to josh and the news. >> the big story this morning is that weather. many parts of the country, including right here in the northeast. even people in texas are digging out from the earliest snowfall in years that's set records. and for millions of people, this is only a preview of what's ahead this weekend. we turn, now, to our sam champion for some answers to these questions, such as, sam, what's going on here? >> good morning, josh. well, the windchill's 32 degrees here on liberty island, new york harbor. that's the setup. the cold air is in. but let me show you the 100-year record that broke in amarillo, texas. more than three inches of snow in that area. that is the same system. the moisture, the cold air and everything. it starts loading up into northern new england. the picture yesterday, of what some people were saying, seven inches of snow in western massachusetts. this was a really big deal. a lot of people getting that first hit of snow. and now, what happens to the rest of the snow? the idea here is as this system loads in, it has plenty of cold air. it has plenty of moisture. it is a classic new england nor'easter. sorry. my lips are a little frozen. as you see the zones in pink here, we're looking at six to ten inches of snow expected. remember, this is going to be a very wet system. it will go from rain to snow to rain to snow. it's getting loaded with atlantic moisture, some tropical moisture. and it will make snow in colder locations. coastal areas, like new york city, even philadelphia, i would put in the smaller snowfall totals. new york city into boston. it will start with what will be cold rain. then, overnight, it will go to a little bit of snow, as well. you'll have a dusting and accumulation. we'll get serious with the totals and who gets what, later on "good morning america." you'll not be able to say the word surprise with this snow. josh? >> all right, sam. now, to heart-stopping images out of georgia. we saw them at the top of the show. a young mother, forced to make the toughest decision of her life. we're looking at cell phone video of ashley brown, as she lowers her 3-year-old daughter. the rope slips. but the girl was saved by the crowd waiting below. just moments earlier, brown had tossed her 2-month-old son from the same window. he also landed in the arms of a neighbor. >> i tried to get my body out as far as i could out the window. i held him gently and dropped him gently. and he landed just fine. >> of course, all of them did make it safely out of that building. meanwhile, overseas this morning, another stunning rescue. this one in the rebel of sunday's earthquake there in turkey. search crews managed to free a 13-year-old boy who had been trapped for more than 100 hours under a collapsed building. his uncle claims the boy didn't have a scratch on his body. meanwhile, a 300-year-old law sis krim nating from women in britain's royal family will be off the books. if the first child of prince william and princess kate is a girl, she could have the thrown. this country, that recognizes queen elizabeth as they're monarch, agreed to the change. and it looks like the big banks aren't as enthusiastic about charging the big fees. several say now they will not be imposing new monthly fees. chase supposedly tested the idea for some eight months. all prologue to a game for the ages at the world series. last night, cardinals, down two at home to the rangers. down to their final strike in the ninth. and hometown kid, david freese lines a two-run triple to right. we're tied. after josh hamilton had given the rangers a two-run lead with a homer in the tenth, they come back to the cardinals and tie it again. to the 11th inning we would go. when david freese, hometown hero, sends everybody home with that home run. go crazy, folks. go crazy. cardinals take it 10-9. game seven, tonight, in st. louis. and a note of historic perspective. the last eight game sevens played were all won by the home team. >> mm. i love seeing the espn genes kick in, josh. >> oh, boy. >> he was watching it all night. >> the final strike, twice. >> twice. >> what a game. now, let's turn to the economy. and the stock market's winning streak continued overnight, climbing in both europe and asia. after yesterday's more than 300-point rise in the dow, wall street is now on track for its strongest month in 25 years. we're starting to get some good news about the broader economy, too. let's bring in our friend and financial journalist, trish regan, to talk about it. the growth numbers were good yesterday. 2.5%. double the summer's previous quarter. but still only half as much needed to create real jobs. >> you're right. they were good. but they were not great. and right now, we need great if we're actually going to get this economy back on course in a big way and put people back to work. 2.5% growth is something. at least we are growing. but when we're talking about needing to bring an unemployment rate down from 9%, you need to be looking at 4% growth or upwards of that. 2.5% isn't going to cut it. >> the reason, i guess, that investors were so encouraged is we seemed to be in such a hole efrlier this year. there was so much concern about a second recession, a double-dip. off the table? >> not off the table. 2.5%, again, is not enough to generate jobs. and don't forget, a lot of these numbers have been revised recently downward. so, we don't know exactly what the final number might even be. it may not be 2.5%. you've got a real estate market that's still suffering, with millions of homeowners under water in their mortgages. you've got a job market that's clearly not on a stable path. and you've got a lot of americans that are reluctant to get out there and spend. now, i would say, one little glimmer of hope in here, george, is that in the last three months, we did see americans go out and spend a bit of money. they actually dipped into their savings, though. that's going to negate, in some ways, some of that consumer spending. and they did do the savings to purchase things that were necessities. >> ten seconds. what is the big thing you're looking for to say, we are back? >> we need jobs. i mean, you need jobs. that's the reality of the situation. and in order to get jobs, you have to have corporations earning money and feeling confident about the future. confident enough to go out there and invest in people and invest in infrastructure. >> the big word, confidence. trish regan, thank you very much. robin? now, to the big bombshells in the bernie madoff case. ruth speaking out for the first time in the brand-new interview with "60 minutes." this morning, we're learning more from her on on what she knew and when she knew it. here she is, about the morning that her husband confessed to the ponzi scheme. >> i was kind of paralyzed. bernie got up and said, i'm going back to the office. >> was he emotional in any way? >> i don't remember. he must have been. >> apologetic in any way? >> probably, yes. it's sort of a blank now. i'm hedging here. i simply don't remember every detail, i was in such a state. >> and later that day, that evening, you both turned up at the office christmas party. >> i know. he phoned me from the office and said, we have to go to the office christmas party. so, i got myself together and went over there. stayed half an hour. and we just went home. the next morning, the fbi was there to arrest him about 7:00 a.m. >> and abc's chief investigative correspondent, brian ross, joins us now. he wrote a book "the madoff chronicles" and has been tracking every, single development since this broke three years ago. it's obvious why they're going public now. >> reporter: they're trying to sell books. and there's an element of family revenge and settling scores. she broke off with her son, andrew. his book is out. and that's why she's making this appearance. >> didn't he make it part of the reconciliation pact? >> reporter: he had stopped talking to his mother, after the day his father confessed the crime. and he blamed her for being part of it. he called her an enabler. to get back with her son and her grandchildren, she's doing this. >> and we heard from an true in the interview, as well. and he talked about a suspicious package he received one night. >> i tore open the envelope and dumped it out. and it was absolutely heartbreaking. these were pieces of jewelry that i recognized. things that i had seen my mother wearing over the years. and i couldn't understand how she could do this. i mean, what were they thinking? and it wasn't until three years later, that i had a chance to ask her, what were you thinking when you sent me that jewelry? i don't understand. and she told me that she and my father planned to kill themselves. and they put together that package beforehand and sent it out. >> did they try to kill themselves? >> yes, they did. >> debate about that whether or not -- >> reporter: half-hearted effort, at best. >> what did you learn more about andrew? >> reporter: well, andrew still faces trouble with the bankruptcy trustee who is going after all the money that he has, saying it was other people's money that his father stole and gave or loaned to him. there may be new documents filed in court in the next few days. >> he could get some of that money back? >> reporter: there's one ruling where the bankruptcy trustee would not be able to collect all of the money that the madoff family took. $82 million could end up in their hands if that ruling doesn't stand, according to the bankruptcy trustee. >> that would not go over well. >> reporter: it would not. they would be rich from these crimes. >> thank you, brian. now, to politics. your voice, your vote. and the herman cain phenomenon. he's breaking all the rules of conventional politics. and so far, at least, it seems to be working. neck and neck with mitt romney at the top of the republican pack. as jon karl reports, his quirky ads are getting all kinds of attention. the one has a title. "he carried yellow flowers." >> reporter: that smoking video was bizarre. but it wasn't the strangest one we've seen from the cain campaign. check out this one. a mock western with one cowboy gulping whisky, and another carrying yellow flowers on a horse. >> okay, punk. get real. >> reporter: it ends with that same cain smile. then, there's the cain train music video. ♪ things are kind of upside down ♪ ♪ owe don't want to come around herman cain ♪ >> reporter: the only candidate with his own theme song. videos have prompted parody, after parody. but they serve a purpose. >> he is saying with the somewhat odd videos is he is somewhat different. and the audience is responding to that. >> reporter: just yesterday, another national poll puts cain in the lead. but his strategy is just as head-scratchingly strange as the videos. over the last month he visited 18 states. but only made a precious three visits combined to iowa, new hampshire and south carolina, the states that will vote first. cain spent almost all his time in places the others ignore because they vote much later. this week, he spoke at a dog track in texas, a place where not even rick perry is campaigning. >> we can outvote the stupid people. that's how we win. i had a reporter go, mr. cain, that's rather insensitive, isn't it? no. because they're stupid. >> reporter: cain says he's redefining the political landscape. but romney now leads in all those early states. and today, cain begins a two-day bus tour in alabama, another state that votes long after iowa and new hampshire. and a state, george, that all the other candidates are essentially ignoring. >> well, it is a different kind of year. jon karl, thanks very much. >> that's an understatement. now, to the standoff over the exotic animals in ohio. the woman who owns them showed up at the columbus zoo on thursday, wanting to take them home. but the state intervened, ordering the animals to be kept under quarantine. dan harris has the latest on this fast-moving story. >> reporter: from the air, we saw it. the trailers brought to the columbus zoo by marion thompson, who was on a mission to reclaim the animals who survived last week's wrenching and what many believed to be infuriating, crisis, precipitated by her late husband. >> you silly thing, you. >> reporter: terry thompson, the man who exploited ohio's exceedingly lax laws about buying, selling and keeping exotic animals. amassing a massive menagerie, until last week when he mistierly opened the cages and then killed himself. with four dozen wild animals on the loose, police decided they had no choice but to put them down. a stricken jack hanna, who spent a career working with animals, was on the scene. >> the sheriff did the right thing. i know we have animal rights groups saying, my gosh. jock hannah is saying this. what would you do with tigers, lions and leopards going out there? >> reporter: officials managed to rescue six animals. but now, marion thompson wants them back. >> these are private property. these are not the zoo's animal. and we feel for the welfare of the animals, we'd like to keep them here. >> if she loved them, she would take care of them. that's not what was happening them. >> reporter: late thursday, a reprieve. the state ordered the animals to be kept at the zoo, under quarantine, until officials can examine them and determine they're not carrying any contagious diseases. and so, marion thompson pulled away, empty-handed. >> i know, knowing the columbus zoo is safe for them. >> reporter: jungle jack told us, he considers this event to be the 9/11 of the animal world. this quarantine order, we should say, is indefinite. but thompson can go back to court in 30 days if she wants to appeal. the standoff is not over. >> when jack was here yesterday, you could tell how heavy it was weighing on him. >> it really is. >> we'll see you this weekend. now, to the michael jackson case. attorneys for dr. conrad murray are trying to turn the tables and put jackson on trial, with witnesses making the argument that the singer's addiction problem was so severe, that he likely gave himself the fatal overdose. abc's jim avila has the latest on this story. >> thank you, judge. >> reporter: the defense case, in a nutshell, from two medical experts. robert waldman, and paul white. dr. white, the cornerstone of the defense case. admitting dr. conrad murray made mistakes. >> conrad murray has been accused of infusing propofol and leaving his patient. can you justify that? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: but claiming those mistakes did not kill the singer. >> the doses that he described, i would not have expected michael jackson to have died. >> reporter: so, what is the defense saying happened? cut to this video two weeks before michael jackson died. he's captured on camera, being driven from dermatologist arnold klein's office, where he got a stiff dose of demerol. >> i believe there is evidence that he was dependant upon demerol. >> reporter: with the jackson family in court again, to hear intimate details of michael's medical records. given 75 milligrams of demerol in a day. nearly seven-times more than what is typically used for minor surgery. >> it's a large dose. >> reporter: and the side-effects of demerol withdrawal. >> anxiety, rest lestness and insomnia. >> reporter: an insomnia so severe, that the defense says michael jackson put himself to sleep forever. the defense witness dr. paul white, is expected to be back on the stand today, to present new computer analysis that he says shows that michael jackson could have, indeed, killed himself. george? >> jim, thanks. let's go back out to sam and the weather. i know the snow's coming. but it looks gorgeous out there. >> it really is. from liberty island. we're at the base of the statue of liberty. it is lady liberty's 125th birthday today. she looks beautiful. i can see from here. let's get to the boards. we're going to show you what's going on. we're talking about cold air and snow. october snowstorm. look at the winter storm watches and warnings in 12 states, from virginia all the way to northern new england. and these places will get snow. that's what the watches and warnings mean. it will be a wet mix along the coastline. a quick look at where the cold air is. the 25-degree temperatures. we're ready for the moisture. elsewhere in the country, a lot of folks are dealing with the warm air. but that cold front goes right to the south. right around 40 degrees in area, cooler in the outlying suburbs. today, become cloudy 50's.only in the lower a few evening showers could set mainly a cold rain through tomorrow. a winter storm watch north and lead tothe metro could snow in the higher elevations. >> more from sam coming up. also coming up, the emotional pleas for the parents that put a teacher in jail. the high school football sex scandal that tore their families apart. and the latest in the case of baby lisa. why are the parents refusing to let police talk to her brothers? 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