up in flames. a fast-moving out of control brushfire near reno, nevada forces thousands to evacuate and scorches more than 20 home. gingrich bites back. the former speaker lashes out following a question about his ex-wife. >> i am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that. and special delivery. a postal carrier is caught on camera not handling a package a postal carrier is caught on camera not handling a package with care. captioning funded by cbs

this is the "cbs morning news" for friday, january 20, 2012. good morning everybody. thanks for joining us on this friday. i'm betty nguyen. firefighters in reno, nevada are hoping the weather cooperates today as they try to get the upper hand on a brushfire that destroyed more than 20 homes. that fire forced thousands of people to evacuate their neighborhoods thursday evening. the fire started just after noon near a highway and was helped by dry conditions and wind gusts of more than 80 miles an hour. >> to say that we're in the thick of battle is an understatement. we have people to protect homes and neighborhoods. >> 250 firefighters were able to stop the fire from reaching the southern outskirts of reno. the fast-moving flames already burned six square miles. by thursday evening, more than 10,000 people were told to flee their homes. >> you know, miles from here and then 5:00, everything came over the hills. here we go. >> and by nightfall, the flames

could be seen from reno's downtown casino district. but an evening rainstorm helped to stop the fire at a high school where just a few hours earlier vice president joe biden was speaking. the fire forced biden to cut the speech short. >> they've just told me if i don't let you guys get out of here relatively soon, they're going to make you get out of here. >> as many as 120 more firefighters are arriving today to help battle those flames. they'll work through the weekend to get the fire under control. one person was found dead in an area that was burned, but authorities have not determined the cause of death. the search of that capsized cruise liner off the italian coast has been suspended this morning. a fire official says the costa concordia moved again. rescue crews are evaluating the situation. at least 11 people died in last week's grounding. the company which owns costa cruises called for a review of all safety and emergency procedures. now to politic.

and the rapidly evolving race for the republican presidential nomination. just one day before the south carolina primary, newt gingrich appears to be gaining conservative support. at the same time, gingrich is denying stunning allegations about his personal life. at least one poll has gingrich leading in south carolina. a survey by the american research group completed two days ago has gingrich leading romney among likely republican voters. the four remaining gop candidates debated last night in charleston. susan mcginnis is there. susan, how did that play out? >> reporter: good morning, betty. the fireworks really flew last night. all of the candidates came out swinging starting with newt gingrich, who from the very first question attacked the moderator. >> you chose to start the debate with it. don't try to blame somebody else. >> reporter: newt gingrich kicks off the debate on the defensive blasting the moderator's first question. >> i am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that. >> reporter: he fumed after

being asked about his ex-wife mary anne. she claimed thursday gingrich once asked her for an open marriage when he was having an affair. >> he was asking for an open marriage and i refused. >> the story is false. >> let's get on to the real issues is all i got to say. >> romney faced more questions about his tax returns. he still insists on waiting until april to release them and only if he's the nominee. but he wouldn't say how far back they would go. >> i don't know how many years i'll release. i'll look at what our documents are. >> romney is fighting to hang on to his lead here in south carolina with voters going to the polls tomorrow, recent surveys show gingrich closing in. gingrich could get another boost now that he has the backing of rick perry. the latest gop dropout. but rick santorum tried to crush that momentum accusing the former speaker of acting erratically. >> at times you got to sort of that you know worrisome moment

that something is going to pop and we can't afford that in a nominee. >> the jabs are expected to continue today. >> you're overly sensitive. >> the last full day of campaigning ahead of tomorrow's make or break primary. the voting starts tomorrow morning. that's when we'll soon after find out, betty, if history holds and every election since 1980. the winner of this primary has gone on to win the republican nomination. >> all right. indeed we will. susan mcginnis in charleston. thank you, susan. just after last night's debate began, gingrich released his tax returns. the former speaker of the house earned $3.1 million in 2010. now shall most of the money came from his companies, partnerships and investments. gingrich and his wife paid nearly $995,000 in taxes. that's at a rate of 31.6%. gingrich had been attacking mitt romney who says he paid closer to 15% in income taxes. as we rorped, texas governor

rick perry dropped out of the race and endorsed gingrich. perry said "newt is not perfect, but perry believes gingrich can transform the country." >> i have no question that newt gingrich has the heart of a conservative reformer, the ability to rally and captivate the conservative movement. the courage to tell those washington interests to take a hike. >> perry has returned to texas. his campaign suffered several verbal gaffes and poor debate performances. back in iowa, new numbers from this month's caucuses. the iowa republican party now says rick santorum has a 34-vote advantage over mitt romney. it originally declared romney the winner by eight votes. but there is no official winner. eight precincts have not turned in an official ballot. so we may never know the true winner. one-time republican presidential candidate herman cain said he would make an unconventional endorsement and

he announced his choice yesterday. >> not a candidate seeking the nomination, not someone that's not running. my unconventional endorsement is the people. we the people of this nation are still in charge. that's who i'm endorsing. >> cain invited supporters to sign up for his army and support his 9-9-9 tax legislation. president obama is back in washington this morning afa tending four fundraisers here in new york. the president stopped off at the apollo theater in harlem and a $35,000 per ticket fundraiser at the home of spike lee. earlier he talked about jobs at disney world in florida. today a super pac supporting the president is running a newspaper ad in south carolina. it's aimed at mitt romney calling him pro life, pro choice and pro profit.

it quotes romney before he changed his position on abortion. the ad also says romney profited from investments in a medical waste company that disposes of "aborted children and the instruments used to kill them." a protest against super pacs at new york's federal courthouse has been nixed by a judge. the judge said the courthouse could not be a public forum. occupy the courts protests are planned nationwide today. it's the second anniversary of the supreme court decision allowing unlimited political spending by corporations, unions and other groups. overseas, an afghan soldier shot and killed four nato troops in eastern afghanistan this morning. reuters reports the victims are french soldiers. 17 others were wounded. the suspected gunman has been captured. also this morning, cbs news confirms that six u.s. marines were killed in a helicopter crash in southern afghanistan. the crash happened yesterday in

helmand province. the cause is still being investigated. nato says there was no enemy activity in the area at the time. coming up on the morning news, hackers take down the justice department website in an act of revenge. plus, another mail carrier caught on tape practicing his free-throw with a delicate package. first though, scott pelley has a preview of tonight's "cbs evening news." as the south carolina primary approaches, our own steve hartman goes on the road to find his ideal candidate. it's a mayor with a half century on the job who doesn't think politicians should talk politic. his story tonight on the "cbs evening news." ith all oxi-activ, neither do moms. it helps get out your family's tough dirt and stains the first time, every time. try all oxi-active. what's going on? we ordered a gift online and we really need to do something with it... i'm just not sure what... what is it?

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with the turbotax federal free edition, and now, get our free, one-on-one, expert tax advice, live by phone or chat. get the federal free edition, at turbotax.com. so how is this for a special delivery? the postal service carrier can't open the gate so he lobs the package over the fence. watch it again. this is security video from a home in north hollywood, california. now, look at what happened to

the valuable antique cuckoo clock in that box. busted. just like the mailman who is in trouble with his boss. well, the internet hackers group known as anonymous is claiming it hacked the justice department website and others yesterday. this followed the government shutdown of the file sharing site mega upload.com. fbi agents raided an alleged office in washington, d.c. the site operators are charged with half a billion dollars in copyright violations and accused of encouraging uploads of pirated movies, muse ix and other files. on the cbs money watch, mortgage rates hit an all-time low and apple gets into the digital textbook business. ashley morrison has the latest on that. good morning. >> good morning, betty. in overseas trading, strong earns r earnings and jobs reports. nikkei finished up 1.5% to the highest level in more than two months. hong kong's hang seng rose by

nearly 1%. the lowest number of unemployment claims in almost four yiers gave stocks a big boost. the dow added 45 points and the nasdaq gained more than 18. investors were searching for reasons that google missed the mark on its earnings report. the internet company's fourth quarter profit were up 6%. but that wasn't enough to beat estimates. microsoft did better than expected to end 2011. the computer giant was lifted by holiday sales of the x-box video game console. the big winner of the day was general motors. gm regained the title of world's largest auto seller. the car maker sold more than nine million vehicles worldwide last year. the company reported a net income of more than $7 billion for the first three quarters of 2011. gm announces the full-year results next month. the 30-year mortgage rate is at the lowest level ever. according to freddie mac, the average rate is 3.88%.

it dipped slightly from one week ago. the 15-year rate rose slightly. rupert in murdock's media company is paying cash to three dozen victims of a phone hacking scandal. they apologized for the intrusion, but did not admit they knew anything about the practice. the money will be divided amongst the complainants. there's nothing old school about apple's ipad but the company hopes to make the tablet a regular tool for students. apple starting to sell electronic textbooks that can be downloaded on to the ipad. the e-books will contain videos and other interactive elements. betty, that sure would have made my backpack a lot lighter. why couldn't we have that? >> here's the problem. say you lose it? you lose all your books, right? >> that would be bad news. >> cuts both ways. ashley morrison in new york. straight ahead, your friday morning weather and in sport, a big night for lebron james cranking up the heat on the lakers. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery?

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here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. new york partly sunny, 34. miami, partly sunny, 78. that's warm. chicago, snow there, 25. dallas, partly sunny, 77. l.a., cloudy, 66. time now for a check of the national forecast. nationalhe northwest will see i turning to rain in coastal areas with heavy snow in the

mountains. snow will move into the dakotas across the great lakes into the ohio valley. it will be cold from western new york to maine with single-digit highs. the southeast will have moderate temperatures with widespread showers and the southwest will be sunny and warm. in sports, a busy night for lebron james in los angeles. early in the game, the lakers josh mcroberts gave james a hard forearm drawing a technical foul. later james chased a ball into a seat occupied by florida marlins owner jeffrey loria. james had a great game. he scored 31 points capped by steals and a one-handed break away jam leading the heat to a 98-87 victory. in houston, the rockets led all the way. but new orleans came back to send the game into overtime. the closing seconds, houston's kevin martin missed but samuel dalembert scored with a follow-up slam and the rockets

beat the hornets 90-88. in college ball, andre dau kins could not miss early in the game as 21 points come on seven first-half three-pointers. austin rivers took over for the blue devils scoring most of his 20 points in the second half. the final 91-73, duke. and in the nfl, giants quarterback eli manning was back at practice yesterday preparing for sunday's nfc title game against the 49ers. manning left wednesday's workout early with what the team called a stomach bug. the patriots' tom brady also practiced yesterday after a day off to rest his left nonthrowing shoulder. the patriots play the ravens for the tachlt fc championship on sunday. when we return, a 3,000-mile mystery. how did an alzheimer's patient missing in california end up in new york's grand central terminal? grand central terminal? when i grow up. maybe it's your name. richard? smucker.

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banks. how demonstrators plan to shut down the financial district today. an emotional court appearance for a new sheriff and his wife. how the judge added more insult to injury. and controlling bad behavior. the call of action to keep fans safe at candlestick park this weekend. join us for cbs 5 early edition ... beginning at 4:30.

here's a look at today's weather in some cities around the country. washington, d.c., 38. atlanta 60. detroit, afternoon snow. 24 degrees. denver, partly sunny, 55 degrees. seattle, it's going to be 41. in oregon, heavy rain and melting snow pushed rivers over their banks, flooding highways, parts of portland and cities to the south. at least two deaths are blamed on the storm system. the governor dee layered a state of emergency in four counties and may add others to that list. canadian freestyle skier and x games star, sarah burke has died. she died yesterday after a bad fall last week during a routine stunt on a half pike in park city, utah. she ruptured an artery in her neck causing bleeding in her brain. the four-time winter x games exam p helped the super pike get

accepted into the olympics. sarah burke was just 29 years old. the operators of japan's crippled fukushima nuclear plant released the first pictures taken inside one of the ruined reactors. they show pipes, steam and rusty metal surfaces scarred by exposure to heat and water. in the ten months since the earthquake and tsunami. an alzheimer's patient missing from the san francisco area for more than a week has been found in new york city. 81-year-old jude hunter turned up dazed and confused in grand central station nine days after he had vanished. how he got from oakland, california, to new york nearly 3,000 miles on his own? well, that's a mystery. the fact that he survived is almost a miracle. >> in many cases, if they're not found within 24 hours, they are likely to suffer serious injury or even death. so it is remarkable that this person was able to travel in

such a long distance in so many days. >> the alzheimer's association recommends patients wear a medic alert bracelet with a contact phone number on it. coming up later on cbs this morning, a one-on-one interview with george lucas. i'm betty nguyen, this is the "cbs morning news." v.o: can now be enjoyed in your coffee ( can i, can i (repeated) ) v.o: only international delight v.o: put's the real flavours from v.o: your favourite treats inside is really my mother. they keep asking me if the dirty guy is really my son. huh -- what do you tell 'um? holy smokes, these viva towels really are tough, even when wet!

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the issue of jobs remains on the minds of voters in south carolina as they head to the polls in tomorrow's primary. the jobless rate is around 10% in that state, above the national average and a new rule to remove people from unemployment benefits is causing controversy. elaine quijano reports. >> sherri mabry has been collecting unemployment benefits for over a year. she sent out hundreds of resumes but had one interview. >> did you think it would be this difficult? >> no. i've never been out of work this long before.

>> she has management experience and earned more than 40,000 a year and a masters degree. a new policy in south carolina could strip her of weekly unemployment benefits if she refuses to take a minimum wage job. >> i don't think i'm as valued of a person as i used to. >> under the new rule, after a month of collecting benefits, the unemployed must accept any offer for a job that pays at least 90% of what they used to earn. after five months, workers must accept a job that pays minimum wage or $7.25 an hour. >> what do you have to offer that you think this kind of policy misses? >> i don't mean to dismiss people who flip burgers because that's a valuable service. but i don't think that that would be the best place for me to be. >> south carolina's department of employment says the policy is an incentive to push people to find work. >> you can't sit at home and wait for someone to call you. because they're not going to. >> scott morrison is a civil

engineer. he supports the new policy even though he spent 3.5 years looking for a full-time position. he often had to work odd jobs. >> you never said no? >> no. >> you think other people need to not say no? >> i mean, i think they need to be more open-minded. >> morrison says low-skilled jobs helped him support his family. but mabry says minimum wage work will get in the way for her search for a good job. they see numbers. not necessarily individuals. so they don't understand. >> the state expects to have a reporting and enforcement system fully in place by the summer. elaine quijano, cbs news, lexington, south carolina. coming up later on "cbs this morning," we'll have more on tomorrow's republican south carolina primary, we'll hear from tea party leader, senator jim demint. plus a live report from the scene on that wildfire near reno, nevada as we speak to an

evacuee. daytime tv legend regis philbin drops by studio 57. you don't want to miss this. star wars creator george lucas talks about his struggles in getting the movie "red tails" to the big screen. that's the "cbs morning news" for friday. thanks for joining us chbl i'm betty nguyen. thanks for joining us chbl i'm betty nguyen. have a great day. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com