probably for the first half of the morning commute. then we clear out. if all the recent rain, you know the story for the valleys. thick morning fog, but the battle of winter has been the high pressure systems building in. kind of staying locked on the bay area. it really looks like thatt. nex remo lht niss oct. n nalex more loc news on the bay area at 6:00. we'll see you then. have a good night.

>> reporter: despite his third place finish, rick santorum says he feels no pressure to drop out. >> i think people realize that mitt romney is now no longer the inevitable. >> reporter: after romney's wavering answers about when he would release his tax returns -- >> maybe. you know, i don't know how many years i'll release. >> reporter: romney today committed to releasing both his 2010 returns and an estimate for his 2011 returns tuesday. >> i think we just made a mistake in holding off as long as we did. it was a distraction. we want to get back to the real issues in the campaign.

>> reporter: gingrich says he'll continue to focus on romney's record as a venture capitalist. >> questions about the character, the judgment, the record of a presidential candidate is not an attack on business. that's silly. >> reporter: today, gingrich was on the attack again, defending his role with the federal mortgage housing agency freddie mac. >> wait a second, david. david, you know better than that. i was not a lobbyist. i was never a lobbyist. i never did any lobbying. don't try to mess these things up. the fact is i wasn't an adviser strategically. >> reporter: and new jersey governor chris christie, a romney supporter, bluntly criticized gingrich's career in politics. >> i think newt gingrich has embarrassed the party over time. whether he'll do it again in the future, i don't know. but governor romney never has. >> reporter: and the battle here in florida is already well under way. nearly 200,000 people have already cast their ballots, lester, either by absentee or early voting in this state. >> peter alexander in florida, thanks. chuck todd is nbc news political director and chief white house correspondent.

he joins us now from tampa, florida, site of tomorrow night's nbc news presidential debate. you see the set there behind him. chuck, let me ask you how the debates may have hurt romney in south carolina and how you expect him to change, perhaps, when he goes back on the podium tomorrow. >> well, it is interesting we do sort of -- mitt romney telegraphed he'll get more aggressive against speaker gingrich. speaker gingrich has shown his ability to be aggressive with the moderator, a little bit with his opponents. it will be interesting to watch romney do this. four years ago, almost in this exact same period in the presidential race, he was feeling the pressure from huckabee and mccain, romney went on the attack and his numbers went down even lower. in fact, at the florida debates then he was very aggressive and it didn't help him. he struggles walking that line of going on the attack and at the same time without turning off voters and newt gingrich is somebody that knows he lives for these moments. he knows how to respond and sort of get under mitt romney's skin in a way that we haven't seen in a while, lester.

>> a couple of weeks ago, a lot of folks thought romney was cruising to victory in south carolina. he was buying up ad time in florida. explain the landscape in florida now as this campaign essentially gets reset. >> reporter: it is and they have always viewed it as their second firewall. new hampshire was one. this was the second one. but it is a close primary, meaning only registered republicans can vote, it is a lot more conservative than new hampshire, only slightly more moderate than south carolina. it is a big state. the question is, does gingrich have the resources to take advantage of his momentum? that's an open question, lester. >> chuck todd. chuck, thank you very much. brian williams moderates the republican candidates debate from florida tomorrow night at 9:00, 8:00 central here on nbc. we learned today that one of the most legendary sports figures of the last half century has died. penn state football coach joe paterno whose legacy was forever stained by the scandal that cost him his job. he passed away early this morning after a short battle with lung cancer.

and nbc's michelle franzen has reaction on the penn state campus tonight. michelle, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. here outside the stadium, a steady stream of people have been coming to pay tribute all day, laying flowers and candles at the base of joe paterno's statue. this place and the man many say symbolizes the heart and soul of penn state. along with grief throughout the day, there was also a strong showing of pride for this legendary football coach. >> joepa was our father, like everyone. he brought penn state together, really. so it was hard seeing him and terrible this has happened. >> joe has done a tremendous amount for this university and i just hope that we can all remember him for the good that he did and not what happened this past november. >> reporter: earlier today the paterno family released this statement following his death saying, quote, he died as he lived. he fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of

others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. back here at the stadium, people continue to come here tonight in quiet and somber reflection, a vigil is also planned back on campus, and this community waits for word from the family on funeral and memorial plans. lester? >> michelle, and joe paterno coached the nittany lions every season since lyndon johnson was in the white house, nearly half a century, pacing the sidelines at penn state. a look back tonight from nbc's ron allen. >> reporter: joe paterno was one of the greatest figures ever in college sports. 46 years as head coach at penn state, 409 victories, the most of the division one school. from his idealistic early days, paterno had implemented what he called a grand experiment, to graduate more players while maintaining success on the field. most recently his teams consistently ranked among the best in the big ten for graduating players. the coach took the nittany lions to 37 bowl games, and two

national championships, hundreds of the players he coached went on to the nfl. penn state became known as happy valley. >> people ask me why i stayed here so long, and, you know what, look around. look around. i stayed here because i love you all! >> reporter: but last year, everything changed. in his final days, paterno battled lung cancer, his spirit and legacy battered by the child sexual abuse scandal centered around his long time assistant jerry sandusky. >> i had never had to deal with something like that. and i didn't feel adequate. >> reporter: penn state fired paterno last november. he had been widely criticized for not taking more responsibility or confronting sandusky. after his dismissal, paterno tried to stay positive. >> i've had a wonderful experience here at penn state. i don't want to walk away from this thing bitter. >> reporter: joseph paterno was

born december 21st, 1926 in brooklyn, new york, a depression era child of italian immigrants. he graduated from brown university, served a year in the u.s. army as world war ii ended, and then went to coach at penn state as an assistant where he stayed for 61 years. beyond all the football glory, paterno also gave millions of dollars to penn state for academics. a legendary coach, in the end tainted by scandal, who leaves a very complicated legacy behind. ron allen, nbc news, new york. in italy tonight, new questions are being raised about whether there were more people on board that capsized cruise ship than the official manifest shows. this as the official death toll grew yet again today. nbc's duncan golestani is on the island of giglio with the latest on the search for victims. >> reporter: all week families of the missing have been waiting for news of their loved ones, including a missing american couple.

this is not what they had hoped for. the 13th victim of the costa concordia is brought ashore. this fireman says divers found the body of a woman on deck seven. like yesterday's victims, she too was wearing her life vest and is believed to have been a passenger. families gathered on the island now have an anxious few days as the woman is identified. because of the time spent in the water, five bodies have still not yet been named, a task even more complicated because authorities now think the cruise liner had unregistered passengers on board. while the search for the missing continues, pressure grows to speed up the salvage operation. the island's residents concerned there isn't a second disaster, a environmental one. the salvage team says it could take seven weeks to extract the half a million gallons of fuel. this fisherman says they fear that the discharge from the tank is polluting the sea. the operation could start as

early as tomorrow. it can't come soon enough for the residents of this small, quiet island. duncan golestani, nbc news, giglio, italy. when "nbc nightly news" continues, a hidden danger for millions of women. important new guidelines about a vital test to find it. and later, he searched far and wide for a donor to save his life. turns out she was right beside him all along. ew

we're back now with the important health news that

affects millions of women who face a hidden danger as they age. doctors are sounding the alarm about osteoporosis, urging more older women to be screened. at the same time, there are concerns the tests are done too often. at least for some women. we get our report from our chief science correspondent robert bazell. >> reporter: a bone density test usually done on older women measures the risk of getting osteoporosis and dangerous fractures that often follow. but the new study finds that women with healthy bones do not need to be tested as often as they have been because few will actually develop osteoporosis. >> it is unnecessary to keep screening every two or three years. >> reporter: dr. ethel cyrus, an osteoporosis specialist, agrees with the study's results, but emphasizes the importance of getting an initial test at age 65. >> medicare says when you're 65, if you haven't had a bone density, you should have one. and yet only about 20% of general medicare recipients do the test.

it should be probably 95%. >> reporter: and what about younger women? well, the bone starts to thin after menopause, usually around age 50. experts say it is not worth the money to test most women at that age, because there is not much risk. >> i think the issue has to do with resources, health care resources and how we spend our money. >> reporter: she says a woman at age 50 should get the test if she had a fracture since age 45, a parent who fractured a hip, takes certain medications, or has certain diseases that cause bone thinning. she reiterates that all women should get the test at age 65. the latest study finds that if their bones are strong, they don't need another test for 15 years. >> be grateful you had good genes, continue to do the good things everybody should do for bone health, get enough calcium, enough vitamin d, be physically active. as you grow older, be aware if something changes, you need to revisit the whole question. >> reporter: if the test finds thinning bones, she and many experts say the woman needs treatment with medication and frequent follow-up scans to

reduce the risk of fractures that can be dangerous, even deadly. robert bazell, nbc news, new york. up next here tonight, nearly one package for every person on the planet, a rare behind the scenes look at the shipping wars.

starting today, it will cost you a penny more to put a letter in the mail. the price of a first class stamp now 45 cents. the increase expected to generate more than $800 million a year for the struggling u.s. postal service. much of the pain at the post office is due to more and more people using e-mail and other ways of communicating. it is also because of fierce competition from the folks at fedex and u.p.s., which deliver nearly 6.5 billion packages a year. cnbc's brian shactman went behind the scenes at both shipping giants to see exactly how they do it. >> reporter: fedex, it is not just a company, it's a verb. >> you aren't fedexing those bad boys? >> reporter: and how they go from this to this is nothing short of remarkable.

understanding how fedex and u.p.s. deliver a combined 25 million packages a day almost all of them on time begins at an airport. for fedex, it is the 800 acre suber hub in memphis. u.p.s.' mega complex is in louisville, tennessee. both are a two-hour flight from most of the continental united states and can reach well beyond. it is after midnight and i'm inside a boeing 757 that just came from guadalajara, mexico, bringing all the cans out to go into the world port for sorting. routing packages from one plane to another at break neck speed with almost no human hands. at world port, u.p.s. can sort up to 416,000 packages an hour. and in a night, a million. during a peak season like christmas, 1.6 million packages. getting them to the right place on time is so important in this internet retailing revolution

that businesses like zappos and pro flowers are popping up next to both companies. if an order comes in and it is too late to fulfill it, that's what this is for. >> really the pro flowers facility here in memphis is next to the fedex hub and it is the safety net for all of our orders for fulfillment the next day. >> reporter: despite all the innovation, from 155 miles of conveyor belts at u.p.s. to finger scanners at fedex, two recent embarrassing videos show that delivery is the most important step. for fedex it was a driver carelessly tossing a box over a fence. for u.p.s., an obscene gesture at a security camera. the public backlash proving at the end of the day, delivering packages still requires the proper human touch. brian shactman, cnbc, louisville, kentucky. >> you can watch brian's full report "inside the package wars" tomorrow night at 9:00, 8:00 central on cnbc. when we come back here tonight, she's a life saver, an extraordinary gift from a nurse to her patient.

. .

finally tonight, an incredible story of a gift of giving that comes to us from atlanta, georgia, a young man hospitalized and in desperate need of a transplant and quickly running out of options.

until an unexpected lifesaver stepped forward. here's nbc's tom trung. >> moments before lifesaving surgery, in-year-old clay tabers is getting tender reassurance from someone that could be his mother. >> i just said thank you so much. i don't know how to repay you. >> reporter: not too long ago they were perfect strangers. >> i have complete faith in the surgical team. >> reporter: she is allison babson, a nurse clay met while undergoing treatment for sudden kidney failure. >> i was freaking out a good get. it was really scary. >> reporter: when no kidney donor could be found, allison responded by doing something stunning. she said she would be willing to go under the knife herself to donated one of her own kidney. >> that could be my son. and why not? i can do this. >> reporter: it turned out they were a match. the two bonded during his months at emery hospital even meeting each other's families. the transplant team she was so used to working with would now operate on her. >> she said that, you know,

clay, i just want to you know what we are doing here i have no regrets. whatever happens, you want to do this for you. >> reporter: the transplant was successful. and both are now recovering. >> i just can't believe how selfless a person she is. >> it is not about me. it is about clay. i am humbled by the whole experience. >> reporter: claire case is more remarkable when you consider more than 96,000 americans are on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. more than 6,000 die each year waiting for a kidney. something clay no longer has to worry about. thanks to allison, he now has a future and is planning his wedding. >> she is definitely going to be invited. i told her that she will get to pick out the song and we'll have a special dance. >> reporter: once strangers, foul sharing a special connection for life. >> that's