on the broadcast tonight, decision day. chris christie says it's just not his time. and talks about why. now the republicans get to decide whose time it is. another aircraft down in the river in new york city. the dramatic race against time to get the passengers out. long day's journey. amanda knox finally makes her way back home to america on her first full day of freedom. a growing number of replacement hips now have to come out. and crown and glory. the high school homecoming queen who won the crown and the game on the same extraordinary night. who won the crown and the game on the same extraordinary night. nightly news begins now.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television the man of the moment in the republican party has decided to let the moment pass. new jersey governor chris christie said today he is not running for president. and while he said that, many times before in interviews with all of us. today he admitted that this effort lately to draft him into the race did have an effect and he did reconsider before saying no. today he talked about his deliberations, about his weight, about his state and the race for president, where it stands. it's where we begin tonight with our political director, chief white house correspondent chuck todd. >> now is not my time. >> reporter: and with that, chris christie ended the latest political frenzy about his future. despite months of denials,

christie acknowledged the pushes to get him to enter the race gave him pause. >> i will always be grateful for their confidence in me. >> reporter: this is not the first time christie has said no publicly to a run. >> i said, what do i have to do short of suicide to convince people i'm not running. >> reporter: he said today would be the last. >> new jersey, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me. i don't want to leave this job, i made a commitment to the people of new jersey to fix this state. and it never felt right today. >> reporter: as if he wasn't quite ready to leave the stage, staying nearly an hour, taking some 38 questions about the decision. >> i don't think it says anything particular about the field. i'd like to think it says something about me. >> reporter: christie asks if his weight would have been an

issue if he ran. >> i'm not particularly self-conscious about this, it's not a news flash that i'm overweight. >> reporter: he made it clear what he thought of the current president. >> he's failed that absolute litmus test to be president of the united states, and that's to know how to lead and decide. >> reporter: and he joked about the advice he got from successful and failed presidential candidates. >> the ones who lost called it a nightmare. and the ones who won said it was awful. it was a slight difference. >> reporter: so barring a sarah palin surprise entry, the field is set. it should be a boost to romney. rick perry may be struggling in the polls, but all indications are, he's going to have an impressive fund-raising port. he's going to have the money to mount a very aggressive campaign against mitt romney. >> chuck todd starting us off

with the state of the race at least for today. amanda knox is on a plane tonight making her way back home to seattle after a four-year nightmare for her. accused of murder, kept behind bars in italy for four years. then just yesterday freed in italy. stephanie gosk starts our coverage off tonight. good evening. >> reporter: in less than two hours, amanda knox and her family will arrive here in seattle. the last time she was in this airport four years ago, she was just a student heading off on a school year abroad. now all of that has challenged. there's a throng of media waiting for her. she's expected to say a brief statement and then whisked away. there's a sense of relief and joy in this city that she's been released. there's a hostp challenges. the family has been nearly bankrupted by legal fees. her grandmother has spent $250,000 of her own money and says she's drowning in debt. now the 24-year-old herself has

to pick up the pieces and try to move on. she wrote she wants to spend time to help out convicts who have been wrongly imprisoned and she has a dream of being a mother one day. more on the last 24 hows and amanda knox's journey home. >> reporter: amanda knox's long journey home started at rome's international airport where she was whisked through the terminal escorted by security guards. and she left the country reeling from the stunning reversal of her conviction. the victim's family wanting answers. in court late monday night, there was emotional relief. but outside, there was visible anger at a verdict many see as bending to american influence. the media village outside the perugia courthouse is being dismantled. even as the prosecutor said he

will appeal the verdict to italy's highest criminal court. knox will not be returning to italy any time soon. it will take months for the paperwork to move through the italian judicial system. even if the appeal is granted, knox is not questioned to return to italy to attend court. rudy guede did not act alone, say the police. that leaves them asking, who else killed meredith kercher. >> we are now left wondering who is the other responsible people. >> reporter: there were no winners. >> in the end, there was no tragedy. a tragedy of a young girl found dead, as well as two young kids that have been in jail for four years with no reason. >> reporter: amanda knox was a 20-year-old exchange student when she arrived in italy looking for the experience of a lifetime. four years later she left with

more experience than most people get in a lifetime. keith miller, nbc news, perugia. there was breaking news here in new york late today, word arrived of a chopper down in the east river, parallel to midtown manhattan, and immediately the rush to find and save the five people on board was underway. marra she marra schiavocampo has the latest. >> reporter: the helicopter appeared to be in trouble right away, crashing upside down into the east river almost immediately after takeoff, killing one and injuring four others, including the pilot. law enforcement sources tell nbc news that all of the injured were british citizens. rescue divers appeared on the scene almost immediately and were able to pull three of the survivors from the water. the pilot was able to make his

own way to the riverbank, and now all the survivors are being treated at area hospitals. the woman who died, however, was reportedly trapped under 50 feet of water for an hour before being pulled out and pronounced dead on the scene. the wreckage of the helicopter has not yet been recovered and is still in the waters of the east river. >> another disaster in new york. across the country, about halfway between phoenix and tucson, a huge hazard along the i-10 today. a blinding dust storm, causing pileup crashes involving about 30 vehicles both sides of the roadway. one man was killed, 15 other passengers were injured in all that. now to the safety of air travel in this country. after all the backlash over the tsa's full body scans and aggressive patdowns, the agency announced today it's testing a more focused approach to security, just for some passengers at first, giving the most freak went flyers a way to

fast track through tsa checkpoint. what does that mean for the rest of the flying public. our report from tom costello. >> you don't have to take your laptops out any more. >> reporter: at a checkpoint in atlanta today, a sudden change. new security requirements for the most frequent flyers, shoes, belts and jackets can stay on. laptops can stay zipped up, and a dedicated express screening lane. >> we'll scan your boarding pass, if you're eligible on that day, you will be allowed expedited screening processes. >> reporter: the tsa calls it precheck. only offered to elite frequent flyers on delta airlines at its hubs in atlanta and detroit. elite american airlines in dallas and miami. and anyone already in the government's trusted traveler programs. in atlanta, we timed frequent flyers moving through the

expedited lane in just 15 seconds compared to 1:40 in the regular lane. >> it's fantastic. >> really? >> oh, my god, it was so easy. >> reporter: those passengers who participate provide the tsa with their name and date of birth, agree to a full security background check. >> if you've been traveling for 25 years and we -- you're willing to share that information with us, we can make a judgment about you to say, yes, it's possible you're a terrorist, but probably not. >> reporter: this program will roll out to other cities and other airlines in the coming months. the goal is to get away from this one size fits all security. the tsa see some passengers regularly, and maybe they should be focusing on passengers they don't see all that often. the elite passengers will still get random patdowns.

>> tom, thanks. from south carolina tonight, there are troubling questions about justice. there's a new effort to right what many believe was a terrible wrong that dates back 67 years, when a 14-year-old african-american boy was executed after a hasty trial and no defense. the story reported on our partner website the grio.com generated so much interest we sent our own mark potter to talk with people who are trying to clear the child's name. >> reporter: for years, george friarson has been haunted by the case of george stinney, jr. the youngest person executed in the united states if the 20th century. >> everyone wanted blood. and they got blood. >> from a child? >> from a 14-year-old child. >> reporter: stinney was accused of beating to death two white

girls ages 11 and 7, who were people flowers along the railroad tracks that separated the white and black sections of town. >> their bodies were found in this area somewhere? >> just down where it turns into a ditch. >> reporter: the trial records have disappeared. stinney's brother charles, a retired new york bishop and his sister, say george was with his family the day of the murders, that family run out of town right after the arrest. >> we had to leave that same night. >> reporter: on the day of the trial, this courthouse was packed with an overflow crowd of 1,500 people, all white. blacks were not allowed. the trial itself lasted only 2.5 hours. the defense put on no case. the all white jury convicted stinney in ten minutes. his court appointed lawyer never

put on a defense. he was too small for the electric chair and had to sit on books to be elect electrocuted. his tiny fenger prints still on state record. >> we're asking for an apology from the state of south carolina for putting a child to death. >> reporter: it's believed stinney's confession was coerced. >> had he been tried today, this case would never have even seen a jury. a judge would have thrown this case out. >> reporter: the decision on reopening an investigation rests with county solicitor ernest chip finney, who worries there's not enough evidence to prove stinney's guilt or innocence. >> i would need to have something in order to move the case back to court. something more than just the emotion in the community about it. >> reporter: many in that community are convinced stinney's trial itself was a travesty of justice, a horrible

stain on american history. mark potter, nbc news, manning, south carolina. when we continue here on a tuesday night. some of the other stories we'll be covering for you, including hip replacement surgery. a lot of patients discovering big problems with their new replacement hips. and later a game unlike any other. the homecoming queen scores the winning goal. tossing and turning have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling,

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one type of hip replacement device called metal on metal is failing faster than devices made of other materials. in these implants, the ball and socket of the device are made of metal. >> those hips were going to last me 20 years, i was told. >> reporter: within just five years of getting this kind of implant, she had to have both hips replaced. >> i was experiencing a 102 degree fever. and pain much worse than what sent me to get a hip replacement in the first place. >> reporter: tiny particles can wear off, causing damage in the joint. in rare cases the debris can enter the blood stream and cause a reaction. >> if you start to get any symptoms around the hip such as pain or swelling, you should consult with your orthopedic surgeon. >> reporter: so far this year, the fda has received nearly

11,000 complaints on metal on metal implants. one model, the asr xl was recalled in the u.s. after reports of a high early failure rate. the performance of the asr hip system is not indicative of all metal on metal devices. critics say more needs to be done to regulate medical devices. >> the main problem with medical device regulation is they're not held to as high a standard as prescription drugs. >> reporter: this bringing the fda to question 21 different medical device manufacturers. increasingly, we're seeing hip replacements in women. they're living longer and more active in their senior years. perhaps because consumers have been accustomed to being

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ann arbor, football is a big deal especially around homecoming game. this year's game was unlike any other because of what one student managed to do. >> reporter: these days, bree has plenty of reasons to smile. a straight a student and for years star of the girl's varsity soccer team. so good, she impressed the football coach. >> she was just banning them through. >> reporter: who signed her up to be the team's kicker. then last night, the pirates hosted a homecoming game, a game they hadn't won in ten years. >> at half time i was in the locker room. and then one of the assistant coaches said they needed me in the field. >> reporter: she was accepted among one of the three finalist

s still wearing her jersey. >> i was totally shocked, i didn't see it at all. >> reporter: there was still another half to play. and she traded her tiara for a helmet. in the third quarter she would get her shot to extend the pirates lead. just like in practice, she wiggled her fingers and took a deep breath. >> the kick is up, and it is good. >> reporter: the pirates went on to win 9-7, bree's field goal the game-winner. >> it doesn't make a difference, we're all wearing the same pads. well, kind of. >> reporter: as always, quick on her feet. peter alexander, nbc news, chicago. that's our broadcast for this tuesday night, thank you for being here with us. and one other note from around here tonight. we have a new broadcast on the way, and now a new home to announce. a new prime time news magazine

called rock center. its new home will be monday nights 10:00 eastern starting october 31st. i'm brian williams with, he hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com