and ben tracy in los angeles with an american hero. for him, there's no place like this ho. >> you just push down and the cabinets come down. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. another patient injected with a tainted steroid has died of meningitis. more than 300 cases have now been reported in 17 states and the centers for disease control says the outbreak is spreading. federal and state officials have opened an investigations into new england compounding center, the pharmacy that's believed to have shipped thousands of vials of a steroid that's used in clinics to treat pain. in many cases, the drug was contaminated with a deadly fung gas which one investigator said was visible to the naked eye in some of the vials. we asked jim axelrod to find out more about the pharmacy known as n.e.c.c. >> reporter: state officials received a complaint last march about the company that produced these tainted steroids. but health officials in massachusetts tell us they conducted what

ben tracy on the slow crawl through the streets of los angeles. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news." >> and good evening, everyone, i'm jeff glor. in the sky over new mexico today a man jumped from 24 miles up and broke the sound barrier on the way down. a first. felix baumgartner broke that barrier by more than 100 miles an hour, then landed with ease. with details, here's mark strassmann. >> reporter: felix baumgartner climbed into the strat sphere more than 24 miles above new mexico's desert. the 43-year-old austrian skydiver was about to become a human missile and plunge farther and fast never freefall than anyone in history. >> everything is in the green, doing great. >> reporter: his ascent had landed two and a half hours, in a capsule hoisted by a 55 story helium balloon, rising 1,000 feet a minute. the only hitch, baumgartner's viser foingd up when his helmet's heater stopped working. >> this is getting serious, joe. >> i do not think i have safe feeting -- -- heating. >> joe kittinger was the voice in his ear. >> th

ben tracy takes us along for the ride. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news." >> axelrod: good evening. i'm jim axelrod. in 24 days, americans will elect a president. according to the latest national gallup poll, mitt romney now leads barack obama by two points, 49 to 47, a statistical dead heat. the state of the race has been shaken up in the last 10 days since the first presidential debate. look at florida, ape crucial state for both men. a poll by two of the state's largest newspapers has governor romney up by seven points, 51 to 44. that's an eight-point swing since september when the president led by one. this creates more pressure for both candidates heading into their second debate on tuesday in new york. let's bring in correspondent nancy cordes with the president in williamsburg, virginia, where he's preparing. nancy, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, jim. and polls taken this week also show governor romney pulling even in colorado and virginia. so the obama campaign has cleared

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. >

ben tracy tells us about a wounded veteran that owes his successful recovery to this group. >> i rememberking up that morning and having the worst gut-check feeling i have had in afghanistan. >> reporter: two years ago lance corporal juan dominguez was in afghanistan with the marines and stepped on a roadside bomb. >> i took the blast for the whole squad. ways able to see my legs and see what bad shape they were in. it was then i knew i would never walk again for sure. >> reporter: dominguez was 26 facing a life he needed help to do basic tasks. >> wiping, cleaning me, your whole man hood is stripped from you. you revert back to a baby. >> reporter: during his grueling recovery from his injuries, he realized everything in his small townhouse was do narrow and too high. >> i can't reach the microwave. >> there are more than 50 triple or quadruple amputees from the wars in iraq or afghanistan. the u.s. government gives them $65,000 to build or modify a home. it often costs several times that. that has led to a new mission for the tunnel to towers foundation. it began after 9/11 to honor new

ben tracy found a group in california that's doing the part to help. experience go to waste. >> reporter: shirley elwell is 72 years old, and a great-grandmother. but just try telling her she doesn't belong on a forklift. >> watch out. the next thing i'll learn how to drive is a semi. >> reporter: elwell is part of an army of 500 very senior citizens, volunteers who run this warehouse in sacramento. katherine larue is 87. does this keep you young in some way? >> i think it does. it keeps uz moving. you know, we're not sitting around watching-- excuse me-- tv. >> reporter: what they are doing is feeding the hungry, taking in millions of pounds of excess food from grocery stores that is past the sell-by date but still safe to eat and instead sending it off to local food banks. >> there's been a growing need, especially with the downturn in the economy, more and more people are seeking assistance. >> reporter: gary mcdonald is the c.e.o. of what is known as senior gleaners. last year they fed nearly 100,000 people with $10 million worth of food. and most o

ben tracy, cbs news, los angeles. >>> tonight the pentagon says it's investigating a collision between a navy submarine and a cruiser. it happened at an undisclosed location. no one was hurt. the sub involved was a uss ship. the extent of the damage, is quote, being evaluated. >>> in campaign 2012, both presidential candidates are back in the battleground states and for good reason. new poll numbers show mitt romney continuing to close the gap. in florida, he now leads the president 51-44. and a new national gallup poll is ahead 49-47. >> reporter: paul ryan tailgated with football fans in ohio. mitt romney rallied supporters. the republican team fanned out across the key battleground state saturday. >> we need ohio. if we get ohio, we're gonna be able to take back america? >> reporter: the stakes are high. no republican has won the white house without a victory in ohio. at a rally in portsmouth, romney told the crowd he sees the enthusiasm going. >> when i'm president, i'm going to help save the american family and get good jobs for every american. >> reporter: voters say the economy

ben tracy tells us what's driving the surge in prices in the golden state. >> reporter: at this station in north hollywood, the price of gas has jumped 66 cents in four days. sam krikorian is the owner. >> it's been killing everybody. it's going to kill the business. it's going to affect the economy. >> reporter: five days ago, he paid $30,000 to fill his 8,000 gallon tank. it will now cost him $50,000 for a refill. $20,000 more for the same rack, same refinery, same kind of gas which is -- doesn't make any sense. >> reporter: the price spike is being caused by the temporary loss of two california refineries. one caught fire in august and a power outage closed another this week. the state uses a special summer blend of fuel to cut down on smog and almost all of it is refined in california. tom robinson owns 34 gas stations. >> california is geographically isolated and california has special fuels and so you have to be able to not only get fuel here but it has to be at our specifications. >> reporter: some stations are at nearly $6 a gallon and could keep climbing for at least a week. wh

ben tracy, cbs news, sacramento. >> and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight.around the world, good night. cook in for dana king. a new leader, and what coule a new direction for the catc church >>> good evening. i'm allen martin. >> i'm elizabeth cook in for dane dawn. a new leader in what could be a new direction for the catholic church in san francisco. >> in a ceremony of ancient church ritual, salvatore cordileone was installed as the archbishop of san francisco. mark sayre on the day of ceremony and protest. mark. >> reporter: well, allen, hundreds of people attended this afternoon's installation ceremony including dignitaries from the catholic church but it is a ceremony that was also met by protestors. archbishop salvatore cordileone walked inside the front doors of st. mary's cathedral at the beginning of the installation ... >> reporter: but just a few hundred feet away protestors opposed him because of his same-sex marriage ban. >> he is about the

for cbs this morning, ben tracy, los angeles. >> self promotion aside, it's just not funny.tching the people who are responsible for doing that. >> i never heard of that before. first time i heard of it. >> that's why we're here at "cbs this morning." that's what we do. >> yes. >> there are millions of old wooden utility poles out there that get older and weaker, the experts say they become dangerous, too. we'll meet a monday whose life was changed forever by one of the falling polls. you're watching "cbs this morning." we'll be right back. ♪ [ female announcer ] almost nothing can dampen a baby's mood, when he wakes up dry in pampers. unlike other diapers, pampers has 3 absorbent layers, for up to 12 hours of protection overnight, and more beautiful mornings. ♪ [ female announcer ] pampers. peaceful nights. playful days. ♪ are made with sweet cherries and the crisp, clean taste of our cranberries. i cannot tell a lie -- 'tis tasty. okay, george washington, did you take my truck out last night? 'tis tasty. ♪ you got to know when to hold 'em ♪ >> kenny rogers has had a hit in

and in her first interview, his mother talks to ben tracy and what the government is tell inging her about her son's death. >> my name is chris stevens and i'm the new u.s. ambassador to libya. >> reporter: the world now knows chris stevens as a fierce ambassador. >> i was thrilled to watch the libyan people stand up and demand their rights. >> reporter: yet mary commanday knew him simply as her son. >> he was a cheerful positive-thinking person. and he was intelligent enough to know how to balance that with doing good work. >> how much did you worry about his safety? >> i asked him about it. i said it looks pretty danger ous over there, chris. he said, well -- he said he had bodyguards and he trusted his bodyguards. >> defer express any concerns about his own personal safety? >> no. >> never? >> he said they went run runing -- they go running with me. they're always around. >> reporter: but that security she thought was enough is now in question. stevens and three other americans were killed when terrorists attacked the consulate in benghazi on september 11th. >> you don't turn nati

for cbs this morning, ben tracy los angeles. >>> norah that piece helped me understand what it was thatfelix brought to this, living in that suit for that number of hours. and also being able to react within 40 seconds at that velocity. >> absolutely incredible. i liked that he said it's the only super sonic boom created by a human being and that puts him in the record books. >> and what he had seen with his eyes reminds you of the astronauts. i've seen something that very few people in the world have seen. >> truly incredible. charlie you'll like this story. meat balls, it is a trash loving bear with his own twitter page. well now his fundraising campaign is trying to build a new home for the big bruiser. we'll show you why people may love him too much. that's next on cbs this morning. people really love snapshot from progressive but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. with snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. the better i drive the more i save.

as ben tracy reports, moving endeave "endeavour" through the streets of los angeles was as tough as any[ cheers ] >> reporter: when the shuttle finally touched down in exposition park sunday, nobody seemed to mind that "endeavour" was 15 hours late. >> in some ways i think that the delay's a blessing in disguise. more and more people have been able to come out. >> reporter: this family came to monitor the shuttle's approach on the ipad. what do you think of the space shuttle? >> it's really big. >> reporter: yet, this "endeavour" also became a big ordeal. took more than 60 hours to travel more than 12 miles to the science center. officials trimmed trees and razed wires, trying to keep it on the move. the city had cut down trees and elevated more than 100 power lines, but it wasn't enough. as the crowds grew and often blocked its way, the shuttle could have used a booster rocket. it sloweded to just one mile per hour. then a planned two-hour maintenance stop stretched to five when hydraulics on the transporter started leaking. all those problems simply gave more people more time to gaze

tracy: we like ben willis. nicole petallides, thank you.urbulent time at american airlines. that airline was forced to land after loose seats. some are saying it could be related to the company's dispute with the union. the beat goes on. gerri willis here with mark. gerri: i know you love them. pilots are already calling in scores of maintenance requests. they are already doing a ton of things. the fact that the seats are coming undone, i wonder what the degree it has to do with the aging of their fleet of planes. there are airlines out there with far newer planes that i think people really like to fly on. they have to solve this labor dispute. ashley: loosening the bolts on the seat, we don't know. tracy: it is not sabotage. the problem is and i think to ashley's point, even if you hear there is one loose bolt, if i am a business person, i am not booking a flight on that plane. how do they recover? gerri: i think that is a very good point. we have seen lots of problems with airlines. at the end of the day, i do not know how they fix this.

tracy: federal reserve chairman ben bernanke reportedly raising questions about his long term futuret the fed. gerri willis has the details next. first let's look at some of today's winners and losers as we head out to break. there are winners with the dow out to 200 points. coach up 9.5% and harley-davidson. 7.5% increase today. we'll be right back. ally bank. why they have a raise your rate cd. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally. dennis: we are right in there. breaking news coming ipad mini starting shipping november 2, pre-orders october 26. 9.7 inches diagonally. tracy: the fancy smart covers for the kids because they're focusing on the educational aspect of this whole thing. stocks under heavy pressure. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange looking at apple. it has dropped in the last half-hour. nicole

tracy: in defense of the fed's latest easing, ben bernanke making his case, our rich edson is standingith bernanke in indianapolis. >> and we are blowing the lid off what a producer here is calling a pork-alypse. why last week's warning of a global bacon shortage is now being called hogwash. tracy: it was scary at the moment. now let's go to nicole petallides at the new york stock exchange. we have quite a rally. nicole: so far so good. the bulls out on wall street say hey i will take it. the dow jones industrials are up more than 1%. we have seen all the dow components 29 of the 30 in the green with the exception of microsoft. cisco hovering around the unchanged line. for the most part all have up arrows. less worries about europe, certainly one thing we have noticed. also the ism number coming in and that showed expansion rather than three months of contraction for u.s. manufacturing. so that was good news there. let's take a look here at goldman sachs. when you are looking at goldman sachs, it is interesting because in barron's over the weekend, we call this one the barron's bounce;

ben willis. we talk about the market down 116 points. looking in the last break when tracy and -- they went to break they had the s&p 500 winners who all had headlines. you had wal-mart, what is really going to drive the market to the upside because the names i see that our winners are just winners for a particular reason. speak of the broad market, you have to accept the fact we're in a correction. we need it. when you have a stock like yum should have been enough to move the market. the consumer in the united states and in china a great indicator of things to come. in the meantime if you're a true investor, these are the days you want to buy. you want it when they are coming down. nicole: you mentioned yum brands. the earnings came out, they were great in the states and even said china was looking good despite the tough economy. what is your outlook going forward for earnings season? >> the anticipation, the bar is set very low. every company that reported last quarter is telling us don't expect much. we had a very negative earnings pre-announcements season, so don't expe

tracy: nicole, let's go to you on the floor. what do traders think about ben bernanke leaving? right now he was their punchbowl, right? money kept coming, market kept going up what if he leaves? >> when if ben bernanke leaves? the truth of the matter is traders are talking about what ben bernanke has done this far. of course you see the market running up, the whole idea of qe3 helped to boost markets throughout this year. however now at this point traders are looking to not hear too much from the fed right now. they are not really focused on ben bernanke at the moment but the anticipation is that he does leave. they don't expect him to stay at the helm of the fed at all. ashley: phil, let me bring you in. you mentioned mitt romney. if he wins how does that change fed policy? we know ben bernanke will be out according to mr. romney. >> i think you will see a big debate within the fed about just this, qe3 3. mitt romney made it very clear he is not a qe3 guy. he is a strong dollar guy. that means everything we believed in for some time. you ask the question has qe3, qe1, qe2 work

tracy: we're losing him. i love that he actually works in the field and goes into trades the product. they call him the ben is talking about the presidential debate but would it really changed the way anybody votes? gerri willis will share her thoughts next. tracy: let's take a look at the winners and losers on the s&p 500. up again today. 6.7%. we will be right back. greetings from the windy city of chicago. people here sure are friendly but some have had a hard time understanding my accent. so to make sure people get every word of the geico savings message i've been practicing how to talk like a true chicagoan. switching to geico could save you hundreds of dollars on car insurance... da bears. haha... you people sure do talk funny. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. tracy: 30 past the hour. a check of the markets as we do every 15 minutes. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. and you have a friend. nicole: that is right. we're debating about what to talk about first because so many things on the table from the debate to headlines, le

tracy: why do you think this is? do you honestly believe this is all because of our good old uncle ben and quantitative easing? is. and a lot of people are starting to realize that we may be coming to the end of low interest rates down the road. and they turn in their old house. want to go buy some new houses and all that. they realize we're starting to move through this baseball game really, really fast and we're already in the bottom of, or the bottom of the fifth inning. we come from the bottom of the second to the bottom of the fifth in just about 90 to 120 days. i can't wait until next year. i can't wait until the spring home buying season. you watch, 2013 is going to be the year of the housing bull. tracy: i hope you're right, god, you got spunk, that is for sure, rodney. you have to come back in 2013 and we'll talk about it. rodney anderson, thank you. >> thank you. ashley: a lot of creditors, sticking with the baseball theme, bulking on mortgage applications. that is still an issue. tracy: a lot of people like myself that can't refinance. ashley: there you go. i do like his enthusiasm. coming up oil dr