>> jeff: gas prices in california push beyond the record set only yesterday. john blackstone on where it goes from here. 30 days away, the president is campaigning for more cash following a huge haul in september. nancy cordes is in los angeles. a hospital that wants to make house calls. >> take a deep breath n and hout. >> jeff: good for patients and the bottom line. then the man about to jump from 23 miles up. a freefall to break the sound barrier. >> this step not unknown that is why i'm nervous. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news." >> jeff: good evening, everyone, i'm jeff glor. the price of gas in california set another all-time high overnight. the state average at $4.66

cents a gallon breaking the old record set just yesterday. the national average now a full 85 cents less. with more on why this rise continues and what happens next, here's john blackstone. >> reporter: for california drivers sunday brought yet another jump in gas prices. the statewide average up a nickel overnight to almost $4.66 a gallon. it has happened every day for the past week. >> i can't pay all these big prices. >> reporter: drivers say they've never seen anything like it. and jeffrey spring of aaa says they're right. >> in a week it's gone up about 52 cents that is unprecedented. >> reporter: in parts's due to california's efforts to protect its spectacular natural environment. air pollution regulations require special summer and winter gasoline blends in the state. refineries are making that seasonal switch now. but that reduces supply which was already tight after a fire in august shut down part of a chevron refinery at richmond near san francisco.

then last week a power failure temporarily knocked out an exxon refinery at torrance in southern california. >> the richmond refinery and torrance refinery account for about 25% of the production in california because they are two of the biggest refiners we have. it is easy to see why the wholesalers panic. >> as wholesalers raise prices, drivers started to panic as gas seemed to get more expensive by the hour. >> i just don't see it going down any time soon. >> reporter: state energy officials are trying to reassure drivers that price spikes like this don't last. >> this is a very dramatic one. but we do know that what goes up does come down and often quite quickly. >> reporter: in fact, wholesale prices have started coming down. dropping 55 cents on the spot market in los angeles on friday. but gas station owners who pay thousands more in the past week to fill up their tanks are likely to keep retail prices high at least until they get their money back. so price relief for drivers here is still probably days away. john blackstone, cbs news, mill valley, california.

>> jeff: california governor jerry brown today ordered a rule change to allow the early sale of winter blend gasoline. typically that gas goes on sale after october 31st. >> 30 days left now in campaign 2012. and while mitt romney is looking for votes in the battleground state of florida tonight, president obama is once again looking for campaign cash in california. nancy cordes is in los angeles, nancy? >> jeff, these two campaigns are spending such enormous sums of money, close to a billion dollars each so the job of fund-raising is never really done, not even in this last month of the campaign. the president is holding five fund-raisers here in california over the next two days. >> the president arrived in sunny los angeles and headed to an intimate gathering with a dozen high dollar donors plus former president bill clinton. tonight president obama holds a star-studded campaign concert on the play bill jon bon jovi, katy perry and jennifer hudson.

the fund-raising push comes on the heels of yesterday's announcement that the obama camp raised $181 million in september. a record month for either side in the 2012 presidential race. the romney campaign has yet to release its september numbers. but officials there say they saw a surge in donations after last week's debate. and raked it in 12 million dollars in less than 48 hours. today in part st. louisie florida president obama brought up the president's uneven debate performance. >> days later we're hearing his excuses. and next january we will be watching him leave the white house for the last time. >> reporter: nearly a week later, talk of the debate still dominated the sunday round table. obama senior advisor david axelrod defended the president on "face the nation". >> i think he was a little taken aback at the braz enness with which governor romney walked away from so many of the positions on which he's run. >> reporter: with just nine days until the two men

debate again, this time in hempstead, new york, both campaigns are hoping solid performances will woo voters and donors alike. but while the romney campaign deals with heightened expectation, obama advisors are still not saying what, if anything, the president will do differently this time around. >> i think you can assume that he's reviewed the tape. and it will inform-- it will inform how he handles these subsequent debates. >> reporter: the president heads to san francisco tomorrow for more fund-raisers while governor romney is headed to virginia military institute for what his campaign is billing as a major foreign policy address, jeff. >> jeff: nancy cordes, thank you. we are four days away from the one and only vice presidential debate. and the pressures on both candidates. joe biden to lift democrats after a rough week. paul ryan to build on mitt romney's momentum. senior white house correspondent bill plante has more on that. bill, good evening. >> good evening, jeff, you know, the vice presidential

debate is normally a kind of sideshow but this year it has the potential to be a major event. not only because the president didn't do very well in his debate last week, but also because of the contrast between the two candidates. >> it's biden versus ryan. >> oh, yeah, i better get ready for that. >> age -- >> this is deadly earnest. >> veruous youth. a great society liberal. >> yes, we're going to ask the wealthy to pay more. >> reporter: versus the tea party conservative. >> at a time when we have a jobs crisis in america, wouldn't it be nice to have a job creator in the white house? >> reporter: biden became a u.s. senator when ryan turned three. and ran for president twice. he's been on many debate stages before. >> there's nothing like standing up before 20, 30, 40, 50, 70 million people. >> reporter: but bidesen

also a nonstop talker prone to putting his foot in his mouth. which ryan can exploit as he did last week. >> vice president biden just today said that the middle class over the last four years has been quote buried. we agree. >> reporter: on "face the nation" today there was no shortage of debate advice for both men. >> i think paul ryan has to address some specific questions about his budget plan. but he also has to make it clear that it's his budget plan. mitt romney's plan is the one that is going to implement in the white house. >> biden is going to have to be aggressive in this debate. that's not an easy thing to calibrate. you can go overboard here. and he's opposing a young, earnest guy that's like a boy scout. >> reporter: now a lot of democrats think that the president's performance hast week won't really change the trajectory of this race that much unless of course vice president biden is also perceived to lose his debate. that, they think, could be a

big problem. jeff? >> jeff: bill plante, thank you. >> well, we're still a month away from the election it is already election day in venezuela. there were long lines as voters turned out to choose between hugo chavez who has been president almost 14 years, and henrique capriles, his 40-year-old challenger. the latest polls seem to indicate a tight race. the head of the border patrol agent union said today the agent killed in southern arizona last week was shot to death by a colleague. the union says nicholas ivie began shooting after mistaking two fellow agents for armed snugglers. they returned fire killing him. coming up on tonight's "cbs evening news", a california hospital that is saving money by making house calls.

>> jeff: the massachusetts pharmacy that distributed a steroid linked to a growing meningitis outbreak issued a voluntary recall of all of its products.

federal health officials is have confirmed a total of 91 victims in nine states so far. that's an additional 27 cases in just the past day. 7 people have died. hospitals across the country are look for ways to close revolving doors so fewer medicare patients are readmitted within a month after being released. under the affordable care act there are now penalties when that happens. ben tracy shows us what one los angeles hospital is doing to save money for itself and for taxpayers. >> reporter: freda robbins is what the health-care industry calls a frequent flyer. >> seems to me i was in the hospital all the time. >> at 92 and with a history of heart failure this year she's been admitted and readmitted to l.a. cedars-sinai medical centre three times in just five months. >> oh, i think i saw every doctor that works at cedars for one part of my body or another. i didn't want to see the hospital again. >> reporter: freda is one of the nearly 2 million

medicare patients nationwide readmitted to hospitals within one month of release. and while many of those readmissions are necessary, others are avoidable. and cost medicare an estimated 17.5 billion dollars. >> to control costs the health-care reform law penalizes hospitals with high readmission rates. they'll actually lose some of that medicare reimbursement money. nationwide that could cost hospitals 290 million dollars in just the next year. >> we realized there were gaps in care once patients left the hospital. >> dr. michael landberg is the chief medical officer at cedars-sinai. since last november his hospital has been working to reduce readmissions, sending medical staff to monitor the health of frequent flyer patients like freda robbins at home. >> in '98 over 52. >> in the past year the hospital reports a 60% reduction in its readmission rate saving an estimated $4 million to medicare and private insurance. >> we can actually find solutions to this problem

that is good for the patient and good for our community. >> take a deep breath, in and out. >> robbins is just glad that her days as a frequent flyer are over. >> good. >> i'm just going to stay home. >> you're getting off board. >> i am absolutely getting off board. >> the hospital plans on expanding the program and making more house calls. >> oh yeah, i look much better within ben tracy, cbs news, los angeles. >> jeff: just ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news", russia says thanks but no thanks to u.s. aid

>> the u.s. agency for

international development closed its offices in russia this month after the kremlin accused of it of political meddling part of moscow's crackdown on pro-democracy groups. but as amanda walker of our british partner sky news reports us aid showed nongovernmental organizations that were helping many in need. >> kirill and valentin morning school rush with the daily routine but you can sense the underlying joy that they're doing at all. >> they like school very much because i have friends-- . >> reporter: the lack of a special school in their area saw kirill spend much of his childhood confined to their 7th floor flat. valentina says when he was little he kept asking me mom, why am i always on my own. am i a bad person. for years valentina fought local authorities to refuse

to let kirill who has spinal muscular atrophy attend a mainstream school. but with the support of a u.s. aid-sponsored ngo she was able to apply enough pressure to make her local school accessible so he could attend. she say was that help, they would have been lost. perspektiva was the fgo that gave that vital boost u.s. aid gives a third of its funding. the director says the moment when they and other ngos were told it would close caused shockwaves. >> those people who have been coming to us for support from us are going to end up at home they are not going to get the support they need. people are not going to get jobs they need. >> reporter: the russian government accused the u.s. aid as med eling it's in its affairs. in a statement the foreign ministry said it they didn't always stick to its stated goal of development and humanitarian work. it also said that it tried to influence political

processes through its grants. u.s. aid also sponsored the golos group whose web site exposed electoral fraud around last year's parliamentary elections. president putin alleged that the mass protests against his rule were orchestrated by u.s.-funded ngos. political wrangling matter little to kirill. for now he has his wish. but there's a creeping fear that in the future, others like him may not. amanda walker, for cbs news, moscow. >> jeff: we are told that not everyone is unhappy with the russian president. on this his 60th birthday. female fans released a video extolling putin's image as a lady's man. also a poll was released that one in five russian women would be happy to marry him. putin was not seen in public by a pop artist exhibit did have the president's image on display. >> sharing putin's birthday is the bar code.

it also celebrates its 60th anniversary today. the bar code of today though looks nothing like the original which was more circular in design. >> ahead on the "cbs evening news", a look at afghanistan's fighting forces as u.s. soldiers depart.

>> jeff: 11 years ago this weekend the first u.s. soldiers entered afghanistan. as pain are now leaving the longest war in american history, two-thirds of those in uniform defending afghanistan are afghans a force of over 350,000.

the question is can they hold off the taliban? here's charlie d'agata. >> reporter: the u.s. troop surge succeeded in taking back big chunks of territory from the taliban. but with the last of those 33,000 troops gone, it's largely down to afghan security forces to hold on. lieutenant colonel leroy barker showed us an area past this check point where taliban fighters persist. >> there's been operation after operation to kind of clear that area but it's not as easy as it looks. >> this used to be a u.s. base. now it's a chick pointmanned by afghan police protecting a vital road that is under constant threat from the taliban. but it's still receives plenty of hands-on u.s. support. >> this is what military officials call mentoring. training afghan security forces to stand alone while still providing military backup. that includes teaching them to find homemade bombs, the biggest threat here.

>> ak-47 or a remote device with wires on it, preserve that evidence. >> reporter: rick poor formally of the georgia bureau of investigations trains police on how to secure a crime scene. sort of a csi kandahar. and there has been progress. afghan forces now take the lead role in defending against attacks like the taliban assault on the u.s. embassy in kabul. nato officials say afghans now participate in 90% of military operations. >> that is cause for optimism says analyst michael o'hanlon of the brookings institute. >> if you give them a gun and tell them where the enemy is and ask you them to maybe cover for each other as they move from rock to rock or building to building, they can do that kind of simple stuff because they are fighters. >> yet afghan forces remain vulnerable. last month they failed to stop a suicide bomber from killing 12 foreigners in kabul.

11 years after u.s. troops and allies topped the taliban, afghan forces are still unable to hold their own against the determined enemy. charlie d'agata, cbs news, afghanistan. >> jeff: we'll be back.

>> jeff: the auses tree an skydiver felix baumgartner will attempt a record high jump leaping from 23 miles up. he hopes breaking the speed of sound along the way. mark strassmann will be watching. >> reporter: felix baumgartner leap of faith back in july was the skydive from 96,000 feet, that's 18 miles above earth. his top speed in freefall, 536 miles per hour. >> felix has landed safely back to earth. >> reporter: tuesday morning he'll rise even higher and fall even faster. a jump from the earth's

strat sphere 23 miles above new mexico. >> you are going up to a hostile environment. >> reporter: do you think you're ready for that? >> i know mi ready for that. because i have been trained the last five years. >> reporter: baumgartner a 43-year-old austrian and elite skydiver will rise before day break in a capsule lifted by a helium balloon 55 stories tall. the ascent will take three hours. temperatures will fall as low as minus 70 degrees. when he jumps baumgartner wearing a pressurized suit will be in freefall for five minute, top speed could hit 700 miles per hour and with become the first human in freefall to break the speed of sound. >> nobody can tell me what happens to the human body in freefall flying at supersonic speed so even if we have been testing a lot and rehearse, the last couple of years, we are not going to know the answer until we do it for real. >> i'm the only person in the world that knows what he is going through within jose kittinger held the sky die

record since 1960 when the air force captain jumped from 102,000 feet, that's 19 miles up. kittinger, now 84, is helping train baumgartner to break his record. >> so think back to your jump, 1960. how different was the equipment. >> a lot of improvements made in 52 years. and we have better suits and better equipment. but the danger is still there. that hasn't changed a bit. >> reporter: nasa and the u.s. air force will closely monitor his jump to learn more about high altitude limits on the human body. >> and are you a little bit understandably nervous about that? >> oh, yeah, because this is stepping into the unknown. that's why i'm nervous. >> reporter: but baumgartner also says he's confident as he readies to take a plunge unprecedented in human history. mark strassmann, cbs news, ross well, new mexico. >> that is the "cbs evening news" tonight. i'm jeff glor,

soar over the bay area on ts busy weekend. how it turned out to be a record breakinge for public transportation. as a family in the east bay searches for answers... they head to the internet to loor 10/7/12 the family in the east bay searches for sears -- answers, they head to the internet. gas prices hit another record. now, the governor is stepping in to ease the pain. cbs 5 eyewitness news is next. ,,,,