Million. All that alec baldwin lashed out at reporters as he left the courtroom. This could be the best celebration we receive all year, dancing on ice never looked that good. And all that mattered. New york citys building is the tallest building. Architects ruled the needle atop one world trade is an spire. If it looks like an antenna, acts like an antenna, then guess what . It is an antenna. Bobbleheads. They had a line out the front door. Apparently a lot more people in canada are smoking crack than we thought. Announcer this mornings eye opener is presented by toyota. Lets go places. Captioning funded by cbs welcome to cbs this morning. Good morning, norah. Good wednesday morning to you, charlie. We begin with good news. We begin with a story of freedom after a long prison nightmare. A 29yearold moue man sentenced behind bars is finally back with his family this morning. Ryan ferguson spent nearly a decade trying to prove he is an innocent man. He celebrated his lease last night with a steak and a beer. A state Appeals Court overturned fergusons murder conviction last week. Now missouris attorney general says he will not retry the case. Ryan ferguson and his father join us in a moment. But first 48 hours correspondent air moriarty is here. Her eight years of original covering of this case covered the gaps. Good morning to you. Good morning. Most people expected it would take months to resolve ryan fergusons fate. It took just four days. Ryan yay how are you doing. It was finally over. Last night a smiling ryan forgets ferguson appeared before reporters and press. No longer in handcuffs or his prisonissued jumpsuit. He first thanked his parents, bill and mary ferguson. Theyre the most amazing parents. Without them, i wouldnt have have had any hope. Ferguson was convicted in 2005 of killing kent height hold, a popular newspaper sports editor. While there was plenty of physical evidence at the scene, none of it matched ferguson. He was convicted on the word of two witnesses. One was charles erickson, a high school classmate, who claimed they killed height hold in a latenight robbery. The other, a janitor who said he saw ferguson at the crime scene. Both men later admitted they lied at trial. Surprisingly, ferguson says he holds no grudges against his former friend. He was used, manipulated, and i kind of feel sorry for the guy. Alongside ferguson was his attorney Kathleen Zellner who took his case probono after seeing his case on 489 ho hour he was so worth the effort, what he did and his parents did. He was an amazinamazing, amazin person. He didnt get a fair trial. Ryan ferguson is now looking forward to the little things. Im kind of looking forward to dairy queen. Making up for lost time with his big sister and the rest of his family and catching up with good friends. And, of course, my beautiful girlfriend. It wthe tate announced yeste it would not retry him at this time. What it means is the state could bring charges at a new time if evidence resurfaces but theres far more evidence pointing to other suspects than ryan ferguson. Ryan ferguson and his father will with us now from columbia, missouri, for the First Time Since being released. Good morning. Good morning. I can imagine you might have never seen this day or believed you would. Now that youve arrived, tell us your emotions. I dont think my emotions have caught up yet. Its early in this morning. I havent had the opportunity to experience the day yet but i know as it unfolds, there will be new adventures and it will be incredible. Definitely looking forward to getting into the day. You have said to get arrested and get charged for a crime you didnt commit is very easy but to get out of prison, it takes an army. Tell me about that. It does. It does take an army, and fortunately we had the marines and that was in the form of Kathleen Zellner and that made all the difference in the world. Kathleen saved the day for our family. Absolutely. Ryan, what about your parents . I mean you gave a shoutout to your parents who have stood by you this entire decade. It no doubt begins the end of my parents theyve been there since day one. They believe in me. Theyve taken time to look at all the facts and theyve been fighting nonstop. My sister as well. My whole family. Theyve been incredible. Without them, i know that it would have been very difficult for me to have hope and have faith in the process, and to be there when kathleen came along to be able to help us. How do you restrain what must be a sense of deep injustice, a sense of rage, teen hostility you should feel or might feel to mr. Erickson, who helped put you there . You know, mr. Erickson was used, and thats pure and simple. I think its easy to see that by looking at the facts. You know, there needs to be accountability for the way he was used, and theres multiple cases where other individuals have been, you know, kind of pushed into false confessions. So thats a whole other subject. It would take quite a while to delve into that completely. But, you know, i feel sorry for that individual. Hopefully hell get justice one day. So what are the things you think you might want to do now. The things i might need to do. I need to get clothes. Really the basic things, the fundamental things that people overlook on a daily basis. I need to build my life back. I want to ask ryan and bill. Did you ever, ever expect this to happen this quickly . Most people thought it was going to take months. Well, were quite surprised actually. We thought it would more likely happen today if it was going to happen. It wasnt a question of if it was going to happen. It was a question of when it was going to happen. Yeah, were surprised, and were so excited, absolutely. And, bill, what about erin moriarty, you know, who has been on this case from the beginning with 48 hours. Theyve been excellent. They were the leaders that brought attention to this case back in 2006. They started filming the trial in 2005 and they just stayed with it all the way through. That just means so much to us. Absolutely. That was tremendous. Tremendous. Congratulations to you and your family and your father and your attorney who fought so hard to make this happen, and also to our own Erin Moriartys who coverage for 48 hours i think, led to the attorney who helped do so much for them who was involved in the case. I think the focus on this case particularly now may have helped contribute to the fact they decided not to retry them. They didnt drag it out any longer there was so much focus on this case. Great work. Thank you. Thank you, again, ryan and bill ferguson. Thank you. From good news to tragedy. Leaf operations in the philippines are expected to pick up speed this morning five days after one of the strongest typhoons on record. Two more airports reopened to allow more aid flights. The official death toll stands at 2,275. Among those killed, at least two americans. The countrys president expects the final death toll to be around 2,500, not the 10,000 previously feared. Nearly 600,000 remain out of their homes. Before after after satellite image of the city tacloban shows the devastation of the cities by the storm surge and its there that seth doane is finding the situation growing more desperate. Reporter good morning. Were learning that eight people are dead after looters stormed a warehouse where rice was stockpiled. A wall caved in and crushed people. Still looters were able to get away with tens of thousands of bags of rice. We are certainly seeing the desperate is growing here. More aid is slowly trickling into ta clowe ba, but with many roads still impassible, the challenge is getting help to those who need it most. People are dying here. Too many people are dying. Just for that storm. Reporter his family runs a small store. Now they dont have enough to eat. We cant get any food or buy food from other stores. Tuesday children stood on the side of the road begging for the basic necessities. With no clean Drinking Water in sight, these people tapped into app underground pipe just so they could filament up containers. At least we have something. Under the awning of a maternity clinic, this family created a makeshift home out of tarps, umbrellas, and wood. They told us their real home was swept away, norberto was butchering a big a friend gave him, the first real meal since the typhoon. Have you seen any food aid, any government assistance at all . No. All ive seen is soldiers, he told us. I havent seen any food relief here. Soldiers have descended into the downtown area after reports of looting. A tacloban airport, thousands of residents have been evacuate birthday u the line for those still waiting to get out stretched for miles. Thats the goal of our family is to live so that we can start a new life there. Reporter the city administrator here estimates that 90 of the city was affected by this too footnote, but he says just 20 of people have received aid. Charlie, norah . This morning president obamas Approval Rating is at an alltime low. The latest casualty of the health care rollout, a new Quinnipiac University poll finds only 39 of voters back the president. 54 give him a thumbs down. And the white house is also facing new criticism from a political ally, former president bill clinton as officials prepare to begin answering questions from the white house. Major garrett is at the white house. Good morning. Good morning, charlie and norah. Clintons explanation about what the white house should do now to help the individuals whose insurance policies were canceled but cant pay for the ones under the obama care, it was definitely too early. The big lesson is that were better off with this law than without it. Music to president obamas ears. Then this sour note on the biggest headache the white house faces. Consumers who lost their old individual insurance policies and cannot afford more expensive ones under obama care. I personally believeve if it takes a change from the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what theyve got. Reporter president obama ordered advisers last week to come up with a solution, but the white house hasnt found one yet. Top advisers say they have to produce a fix before the house votes friday sto allow everyone to keep their existing insurance policies through 2014. That would cause more problems and create more problems and do more harm than any good it would do. Nervous House Democrats may bolt. The president s top advisers concede time is running out. I dont have a time line for it except the president asked for something and when he asks for something, people tend to work on it pretty quickly. Another potential concern, raised by Lawrence Fink of blackrock. A management asset firm. How will obama care affect Consumer Spending and the overall economy. Health care presents 18 of our economy. If people are frightened of health care, what does it do to consumer behavior. As early as today. Officials also adamantly deny the Washington Post saying retooled federal Health Care Website wont be operational by months end. They say it will be working as promised but, of course, the nation has heard that once before. Charlie and norah . Major, thank you. For the first time in a decade the guidelines to lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Two leading organizations issued the recommendations which could lead in a big change to number of americans who use fat and drugs to lower cholesterol. Dr. Holly phillips is with us this morning. Good morning, charlie. What are these recommendations . It really represents a paradigm shift. The old recommendations focuseds almost specifically on ldl numbers. The new focus is to step away from the numbers and think about cholesterol with four big questions. Number one, have you had a heart attack or stroke before, is your ldo over 90, number three do you have diabetes and are you over the age of 40 and number 4, is your tenyear risk of having a heart attack or stroke greater than 10 . If any of the answers are yes, based on the guidelines, you should be on a statin. Why does it say it means guide lions mean twice the americans will be taking the statins. What are the sidelines . Thats whats making guidelines controversial. It will include greater number of people in the statin pool, however, statins do have sight effects. Some of the most common are joint papers, muscle pans, live problems. There are two schools of thought. There are doctors who think everyone should be on a statin, it should be in the water. Other doctors are much more skeptical of it. Putting double the number of patients in the pool is creating some controversy. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Holly phillips. Its time to show you headlines from around the globe. The Washington Post says a merger is set. The combined company will need to make room for more low cost competitors but could end direct flights to some small airports its official. Norm times says new yorks one World Trade Center is the tallest building in the country. The Committee Judges say the spire is part of the billing and counts toward the height. That makes it taller than the willer tower in chicago by more than 300 street. Hawaii is to become the 15th state to legalize samesex marriage. Samesex marriages start december 2nd. The toronto star says bobblehead dolls of mayor rob ford were sold at city hall tuesday. More than a thousand people lined up to buy their souvenir. The money goes to charity and ford was there to sign them. Hes admitted smoking crack and faces a City Council Vote today calling on him to take a leeb of absence. And the Los Angeles Times takes a look at saturn. Their ghostly rings are backlit wi the sun. Beautiful. Freeze warnings in place for much of the southeast. Heavy snow fell overnight. In stevensville, michigan, more than a foot of snow fell yesterday. Announcer this National Weather report sponsored by smooth melting lindor lindt. Chocolate beyond compare. A search to find loved ones in the wrath of typhoon haiyan. Youre okay. Theyre okay. Thats fantastic. How one family found each other after a desperate journey that spanned thousands of miles. Thank you, lord. Killer whales at the con ten sus court case. Seaworld fights to get its animals back in the water. Plus, the story behind lululemon. Im sad. Really sad. The unusual apology for the comments he made about the companys seethrough pants. The news is back here on cbs this morning. Stay tuned for your local news. Announcer this portion of cbs this morning sponsored by kay jewelers. Every kiss begins with kay. Adges and internets. Everything needs a battery. Oh, hank. Merry christmas. Oh hold on now. Kay jewelers . Its beautiful. Looks like we got us a young man here. [ female announcer ] the charmed memories collection at kay jewelers. Hundreds of charms handcrafted in italy. Turn your special moments into charmed memories at kay, the number one Jewelry Store in america. Thats long enough, son. Every kiss begins with kay why would i take one pepcid® when i could take tums® throughout the day when my heartburn comes back . cause you only have to take one. 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Think sugar, say splenda™ without all the calories. ozc the most frequent answer, bacon. Why not become a vegetarian. 8, did you smell anything before the stroke. Number 5, is there anything democrats and republicans can agree on. Number 2, why hasnt governor Chris Christies lap band worked. And the number one most free throw answered bacon, would you like anything with your bacon. You love bacon. You too. Indeed. Not as much as your husband. True. He does love bacon. Coming up in this half hour, the power of pope francis. After only eight months, theres in evidence hes bringing catholics back to their faith. Two of the bishops will join us. Plus, seaworld makes the case for allowing riskier killer whale shows, whether that par of the theme park should stay in business. Typhoon sur viefers are living day to day as they wait for relief supplies to trickle in. Mark stone of our british partner sky news following one man on his journey to find his family. Hi started in saudi arabia before reaching his battered hometown tacloban. Reporter it is a little before 5 00 a. M. This is the Ferry Terminal at sebu. This man has made an extraordinary journey to find his family. Like so many filipinos, he works abroad. So for three days hes traveled from saudi arabia. For days i sleep thinking of whats happened, whats happening to my family, the philippines. Reporter this is the islands west coast. It looks bad and it is. We decide