on the broadcast tonight, the surge in gas prices, up again overnight and up and over $5 a gallon in some places. what's driving this? >> the politics of birth control. women, contraception and the fashl fight over this issue that came out of nowhere. going to extremes. people all over the country are from violent weather to summer temperatures where it should be the dead of winter. the hidden risk in some hospitals of dirty surgical instruments in the operating room and the obvious question, what's not being done to protect patients. >> and the academy handing out

hollywood's biggest prize, but who are the academy members who get to pick the winners? tonight, pulling back the curtain a bit on one of the most fwlam rouse nights of the year. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> this is nbc "nightly news" with brian williams. >> good evening. while americans slept, gas prices went up. it's not a demand problem. we're using much less gas than we do during the summer months. the problem is gas prices are largely set by commodities traders, also known these days as speculators and with just the hint of military action in the middle east between iran and israel, and a few other factors, it drives up the price of the one liquid that can be the lynchpin of the u.s. economy, the one thing that can affect everybody and make everything more expensive. these pump prices are getting

the attention of a lot of americans. today that included the president. it's where we begin tonight with nbc's miguel almaguer in l.a. miguel, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. we found a bargain for you tonight $4.35 a gallon for regular at this gas station, a deal because so many stations are charging upwards of $5 a gallon. the gas station owner here telling us he's been forced to raise his prices every day, sometimes every hour. >> $86.92. >>. >> reporter: the pinch at the pump is putting the squeeze on drivers everywhere. today, backlash from both sides of the register. andre owns three gas stations, a chevron, texaco and this shell. >> consumers should be very, very angry and very challenging of the oil companies. that's where it all starts. >> reporter: from california where the price of regular spiked in the 11 days. $110. >> to the state average of $4 a

gallon. >> i think it is out of control. >> reporter: anger over what aaa predicts could be national highs this summer with some states topping $5. the president today in miami said there's no quick fix. >> we can't just drill our way to lower gas prices. we're not going to, overnight, solve the problem of world oil markets. there is no silver bullet. >> reporter: the issue quickly becoming political. >> i've developed a program for american energy. so no future president will ever bow to a saudi king again and so every american can look forward to $2.50 a gallon gasoline. >> reporter: the daily spike in gas is blamed mostly on unrest in the middle east and a rash of refinery shutdown, but oil production is up and demand at a 15-year low. some analysts say speculators and investors are pushing up prices, too. >> the main reason that nobody talks about what is really true

is about all of these financial inputs into oil price. >> reporter: with the national average for a gallon of regular now at $3.61 a gallon, up 42 cents from a year ago today, it's driven some commuters in chicago to down size from four wheels to two. >> i have a lot of customers that come in that own larger vehicles, suvs, that come in and say they need a cheaper alternative to get to work. >> reporter: for some, a scooter will have to do for now, but it's a short-term fix to a long-term problem. as you can see behind me, gas prices are only on the rise, brian? >> miguel almaguer in los angeles starting us off. thanks. >> the price of gas isn't the only contentious campaign issue tonight. birth control seems to have become as one headline writer put it today, the third rail of american politics right now and this happened really out of nowhere. in fact, it was a question about birth control that got the biggest audience response at last night's gop debate in

arizona. nbc's kelly o'donnell has more on the politics of birth control and womens health. >> reporter: protests today in richmond, virginia. >> our bodies! our lives! >> reporter: a flashpoint in the political fight over government's place in women's health and reproduction. so provocative the mere mention of birth control prompted boos. >> i don't support that. >> reporter: at the republican debate. >> just because i'm talking about it doesn't mean i want a government program to fix it. >> reporter: and rare applause at a democrats-only staged hearing today. set off by the outraged democrats vented when republicans called only men to testify last week on religious institutions and birth control. >> we've heard from over 300,000 people saying we want womens' voices to be heard. >> democrats invited one woman, a georgetown law student to talk about hardships for some women

that don't have insurance that covers birth control. >> without her taking birth control a massive sift the size of a tennis ball had grown on her ovary. >> reporter: more than 11 million women use birth control, the most common method of contraception. some states restrict abortion and funding for womens health programs. in virginia late today after protefrts and a national spotlight, legislators changed a controversial bill that would have required an invasive procedure before a woman could have an abortion. some republican voters want this debate. >> social issues should play a very high priority in the campaign. >> reporter: analysts say these social issues are more likely to help democrats. >> this issue has given democrats at every level an issue to talk to women voters about and particularly independent women. >> reporter: making women without party ties the most sought-after voters this year. kelly o'donnell, nbc news, washington. less than a week before two critical republican primary

contests, last night's debate the 20th and final debate quickly turned into a romney-santorum smackdown, each of them giving as good as they got. nbc's petr peter alexander reports from michigan. >> reporter: mitt rom no wasted no time today trying to capitalize on sabtor up's debate. >> i don't think i've ever seen a politician -- >> reporter: he made a mistake by backing president bush's overhaul. >> it was against the principles i believed in, but, when you're part of the team, sometimes you take one for the team for the leader and i made a mistake. politics is a team sport, folks. >> reporter: romney took a swing at that comment, too. >> he talked about this as taking one for the team. i wonder which team he was taking it for? >> reporter: riding a wave of momentum. >> i'm here to talk about a positive solution to the problems that confront this

country. >> reporter: santorum who insists he's the true conservative in the race mocked romney's assertion that he balanced budgets as the governor. >> michael dukakis balanced the budget does that make him qualified to be president of the united states? i don't think so. >> reporter: romney fired back. >> while i was fighting to save the olympics, you were fighting to save the bridge to nowhere. >> reporter: as romney prepares to give a major economic speech tomorrow at ford field, home of the detroit lions, his supporters will begin airing this ad, re-telling the dramatic accounts of romney's efforts years ago that helped safely bring home a former business partner's missing daughter. >> what a lot of people say are nearly impossible, but for me the most important thing he's ever done is to help save my daughter. >> reporter: one more thing about that ad, it's nearly ident cal to the romney ad they aired four years ago.

they tell nbc news that it purchased the footage from romney's old mead why team and while that follows the letter of the law it blurs that line between campaigns and super paks. >> peter alexander on the campaign trail. tonight, investigators are combing through what's left of two military choppers, a cobra and a hughey that kohlited over the southern california desert last night killing seven u.s. marines. six of them were based out of camp pendelton, the seventh out of yuma, arizona. officials say they were preparing for possible deployment for afghanistan. president obama apologized to the people of afghanistan today for the unintentional burning of korans earlier this week at the largest american air base there, but in the streets of that country today the eruption of anger toward the united states is growing and now two american soldiers have paid the price. nbc a tia a butty.

>> protests spread throughout afghanistan as outraged afghans took to the streets despite continued a policies from u.s. and nato officials. we saw a dozen protests throughout the country. some peaceful and others violent. two afghans were killed in that violence and one of the deadliest demonstrations we saw hundreds of afghans trying to storm a u.s. base apparently egged on by religious leaders using megaphones. according to a police official on the ground, he says the u.s. forces fired upon the crowd which angered an afghan soldier who then turned his weapon on the americans killing two and wounding four others. the taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack and called on all afghans to target western troops, to beat them, to capture them or to kill them. we do expect the demonstrations to continue tomorrow after friday prayers, and we expect

them to be larger and deadlier than what we've seen in the last few days. atia abawi, where the situation is officially out of hand. >> a series of coordinated attacks across iraq today killed at least 55 people, wounded hundreds more. the bombings are the latest in a wave of violence there since the last u.s. troops withdrew from there just over two months ago now. meantime syria's bloody crackdown continues. today the unissued a scathing indictment of the assad regime accusing it of, quote, gross human rights violations ordered at the highest levels of the armed forces of the government. they continue to target civilians. back in this country and across the country today people were talking about the weather. across much of the northeast it was so warm today a lot of folks were outside in short sleeves. it's still february, remember, and here new york city the

sidewalks usually crunch underfoot this time in the cold. today it was nearly 60 degrees. for folks in the upper midwest, a much different story. today they're getting red for a snowstorm. weather channel meteorologist mike seidel joining us tonight. good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. here in chicago the wet snow is getting under way. another city that hasn't seen much snow at all this winter, only 16 inches so far compared to 54 this time last year. they're saving money. look at these winds howling through the front rage in boulder county, colorado. 93 mile an hour wind gusts blew over people in the streets and semis on the highway and knocking out power. winds gusted to 55 miles an hour earlier this morning and blew around the snow. there were whiteouts and early this morning some folks got out with their dogs and many were stuck on interstate 70 and it was a mess with numerous accidents and now the snow moves into the midwest.

overnight in chicago and detroit, notice the swathe of snow four to six inches. snow arrives in parts of the northeast and upstate new york, albany and 2 to 4 before it dhafrnges to rain. boston, you've only had seven inches so far this winter and now you may get an inch or two. brian, once the storm moves out and the front moves through tomorrow it's back to reality with the temperatures cooling off to average this coming weekend. >> such a strange winter season thus far. mike seidel, thanks, as always. still ahead, as we continue dirty surgical instruments showing up in hospital operating rooms across the country. tonight the man who suffers the consequences. why there's growing concern for others like him. later the red carpet and the golden statue and who walks away with the big prize? it's time t. to have the energy to turn a "to do" list into a memory. to put more giddy-up in our get-along. to keep stepping up even in overtime. it's time to start gellin' with dr. scholl's...

... and mix a little more hop in our hip hop. thanks to the energizing support and cushioning of dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles, your feet will feel so good... ... you'll want to get up and go. whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. ready, aim, save! grrr! ooh, i forgot my phone! the "name your price" tool. now available on your phone. get a free quote today.

you wouldn't want your doctor doing your job. so why are you doing his? only your doctor can determine if your persistent heartburn is actually something more serious... like acid reflux disease. over time, stomach acid can damage the lining of your esophagus. for many, prescription nexium not only provides 24-hour heartburn relief, but can also help heal acid related erosions in the lining of your esophagus. talk to your doctor about the risk for osteoporosis-related bone fractures and low magnesium levels with long-term use of nexium. possible side effects include headache, diarrhea and abdominal pain. other serious stomach conditions may still exist. let your doctor do his job, and you do yours. ask if nexium is right for you. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. as we said our health news tonight comes right out of the operating room. nbc news partnered with the center for public integrity to look at what some have called a growing problem in this country,

dirty surgical instruments sometimes making their way into surgeons' hands and thus, patients' bodies. nancy snyderman has more. >> reporter: like most patients john hairson put his faith and trust in the surgeon standing over him in the operating room. >> i had to have surgery to repair my shoulder. i was not worried one bit. >> reporter: two weeks after rotator cuff surgery, john was back in the hospital with a life-threatening infection. the cause? a dirty surgical instrument. and a new report says surgical tools contaminated with hidden blood, tissue or other debris are showing up with alarming regularity. >> it is a job that cannot be given to robots because the robot doesn't have the critical thinking to say this is still dirty. >> reporter: at the hospital in virginia which is not the hospital where john was treated, sharon greengolden has made her sterile processing department a model for what should be happening across the country. because in every state, except new jersey, there are no

requirements that workers who sterilize instruments have any kind of training or certification. >> barbara has a license. the dog groomer has a license. the tattoo artist has a license. and i'm dealing with instruments going into your body and i'm not required to be certified. >> reporter: the health system ran a tiny video camera through 350 suction instruments that had been sterilized and deemed ready for the o.r. all contained some kind of debris. it's not each an old instrument. oh, my gosh. now you shocked me. that's pretty horrifying. if a dirty medical device finds its way into the operating room the fda does not require hospitals to report it. the fda says hospitals are reminded to carefully clean and sterilize reusable medical devices. a patient's risk of acquiring an infection from a reprocessed medical device is very low. for john, what was supposed to be a six-week recovery has

turned into a three-year nightmare. >> it changed my life and changed every aspect of it. thous of days of waking up in pain. >> reporter: last summer the fda held a work shop for instrument makers and hospitals where the fda and cdc talked about the challenges with cleaning complex instruments. now the same group will have to find a solution to keep up with this problem so surgeons and patients can enter the operating room knowing that the instruments they have to rely on are clean and safe, brian, it will be a monumental task. >> that will get your attention. nancy, thank you, as always. up next, a woman bracing for history. i find the omega choices overwhelming.

then i found new pronutrients omega-3. it's from centrum. it's a smaller minigel. with two of the best omegas to support my heart, brain and eyes. new pronutrients from centrum. that's going to have to be done by a certain date. you always have homework, okay? i don't have homework today. it's what's right here is what is most important to me. it's beautiful. ♪ ♪ my dad and grandfather spent their whole careers here.

[ charlie ] we're the heartbeat of this place, the people on the line. we take pride in what we do. when that refrigerator ships out the door, it's us that work out here. [ michael ] we're on the forefront of revitalizing manufacturing. we're proving that it can be done here, and it can be done well. [ ilona ] i came to ge after the plant i was working at closed after 33 years. ge's giving me the chance to start back over. [ cindy ] there's construction workers everywhere. so what does that mean? it means work. it means work for more people. [ brian ] there's a bright future here, and there's a chance to get on the ground floor of something big, something that will bring us back. not only this company, but this country. ♪

we want to show you some spectacular images of a partial solar eclipse seen from space. it's not like we missed anything here. this wasn't visible from earth. these were shot by nasa, by the way. our next opportunity of a

partial eclipse visible to all of us, may 20th. more signs tonight of our tough economic times. an iconic old american brand, the fuller brush company whose salesmen sold door to door filed for bankruptcy just two months after declaring itself back with a new line of products with a brand new website. also tonight, the u.s. postal service struggling to survive has sent congress its list of more than 200 sorting facilities that plan to close down now, slowing down delivery of first-class mail and costing 35,000 jobs. finally sears reported some dismal numbers today for the fourth quarter of last year, a loss of $2.5 billion. they'll spin off parts of the company to hang on, but they'll keep brands like kenmore and craftsman. they got a chance to vote on a new foot bridge that crosses into austria and their resounding choice, the chuck norris bridge.

chuck norris who gave us lone wolf mcquade is a pretty big deal over there and while the voting is still open until april, he has 73% of the vote. dannica patrick took a very hard lick this afternoon during a qualifying race for sunday's daytona 500. she was running in the top ten and moving up in the field when she got caught up in somebody's else's wreck, in the progress which sent her into the inner wall. thankfully daytona uses the new soft wall technology which might even have saved her life today. she emerged unharmed. now it's on to sunday for her nascar debut. by the way, we will talk to dannica here on this program tomorrow night. up next for us tonight, the academy behind the glitz and glamour of hollywood's biggest night, as they say. i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better,

and that means... game on! symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. [ whistle ] with copd, i thought i might miss out on my favorite tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today i'm back with my favorite team. ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free. call or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. i remember the day my doctor told me i have an irregular heartbeat,

and that it put me at 5-times greater risk of a stroke. i was worried. i worried about my wife, and my family. bill has the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. he was taking warfarin, but i've put him on pradaxa instead. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mgs reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin without the need for regular blood tests. i sure was glad to hear that. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or bloodthinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning.

pradaxa is progress. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk of stroke with pradaxa. everybody's getting their picks in in the office pool for the oscars sunday night, the night when we get to see the losers hide their disappointments through very tight smiles and the winners go to stage and they thank thea, cad me. the question is who exactly is the academy and who gets to vote for the winners? our report from our man in hollywood, mike taibbi. >> reporter: what makes oscar

night such delicious viewing is that there's always an argument beyond the red carpet. how did "the hurt locker" with 20 million in ticket sales in 2010 snag best picture over "avatar," the $2 billion juggernaut. and for this year's silent surprise "the artist" should be in the same conversation with george clooney's "the descendants" and seven other big picture nominees. >> you wouldn't be right and i wouldn't be wrong. >> reporter: who actually votes for the stars and studios and craftspeople honored on oscar night? "the l.a. times" had the most detailed answer yet reaching more than 5,000 academy members. >> we found out that the academy is 94% white and 77% male and the median age is 62. other notable numbers that 98% of the academy screenwriters are white and 97% of the cinematographers are men. >> hollywood's big night. >> not a huge surprise given the

history of hollywood and the oscars, like other voting instewings with lifetime membership, think baseball's hall of fame and the u.s. supreme court, change is slow. it's not just about old white men. actress dolores hart who once starred with elvis. >> you thought i was a nice girl. >> has long been a nun, now mother superior and still has her oscar vote. and the voters come from a not very diverse industry says former best supporting actress nominee alfrey woodard. >> this business is one of the last bastions of not reflecting what this country really is in an everyday way. >> reporter: so woodard is trying to get the business to become more representative. >> we're reaching out to people that we think, you know what? do you know about the academy? i think you should apply. >> reporter: and the academy is offering more and more grants and intern ships. >> in today's time who doesn't want to see more diversity? >> reporter: as the big show

draws near, for all who have seen this year's nominated movies and stars, or not, the arguments have probably already begun. mike taibbi, nbc news, hollywood. that's our broadcast on a thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we of course, hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com