this afternoon gingrich fired back. >> it's such bologna. now it used to be pious bologna but now it's just desperate. >> reporter: a preview of tonight's face-off on nbc. the debate at south florida university in tampa. tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern. on the stage will be rick santorum polling a weak third in florida and ron paul focused on other states. but one candidate's campaign may be on the line. >> florida is make it or break it for mitt romney. >> reporter: a big, diverse state where a win by newt gingrich could prove his electability. you remember before the last debate in south carolina the second of two and romney was pressed hard to release his tax returns that incidentally he says he is going to do tomorrow? gingrich asked about his returns, says he released them five minutes before. tonight we've just learned gingrich will release his company's contract with freddie mac. no telling what it will reveal but it shows gingrich is nimble. we learned in south carolina debates can be pivotal. this one, here, tonight could be the most important one of the whole campaign. live from university of south florida in tampa i'm steve handelsman news 4. back to you. >> all right. see you at 11:00. thanks. tonight's debate does take place during a special edition of nbc's "rock center" and brian williams is the moderator. we invite you to watch it with us here tonight at 9:00 and join me for a live web chat during the debate. just logon to nbc washington.com and look for the link at the top of the page. at least two people are dead more than a hundred injured after a string of violent storms struck in the middle of the night. they pounded the southern part of the u.s. knocking down trees, flattening homes, tearing roofs off buildings. the governor of alabama has declared a state of emergency there. the national weather service investigating to see if this damage was caused by some rare, january tornadoes. >> it was over in about five minutes and we started -- we could feel wind blowing on us and looked in the bathroom. the ceiling is all mashed in with limbs sinking in. >> we lost our house baut we go our family and that's all that matters right now. >> the storms also caused damage in arkansas, mississippi, and tennessee. let's check in with our meteorologist veronica johnson up in storm center 4. what is that storm doing today? >> thanks a lot. yeah. well, right now it's down to the south. just about ready to move through the rest of the panhandle of florida. but they were rare and there were a lot. 22 reports yesterday of tornadoes most of which were in alabama and arkansas. today just two in areas of southeastern arkansas. that is exactly where the line of thunderstorms is associated with the same front making its way southeastward. today's tornadoes west clanton, alabama and just northwest of greenville, alabama. all part of the same system that will be moving through here. but for us on that northern part of the front, just some showers and you can see radar showing most of the rain well off to the east. so just some spotty dampness across the area and some dense fog. we've got visibility that's been low, close to a quarter mile now in baltimore. mild visibility in gaithersburg. that will be the big story for us during the overnight period and early tomorrow morning as temperatures stay above freezing. we're at 39 degrees right now. might dip down a little bit but temperatures will be back on the rise. we'll talk about tomorrow's forecast, aaron, in just a couple minutes. >> thank you. no class today but a lot of action in a prince george's county elementary school after a woman was hit and killed by a van in the school parking lot. it happened late this morning at samuel chase elementary on fisher road in temple hills. pat collins joins us live with the latest on this. aaron, a woman struck by a school maintenance man here in a parking lot and here in this parking lot is where she died. neighbors troubled by what happened here. >> it's tragic, really is tragic. going for a walk and then this happens to you. i was just finishing praying for her family. >> how unfortunate. what a sad accident. you know, here is a lady and now she is laying on the sidewalk over there deceased. >> reporter: a fatality here in the parking loft the samuel chase elementary school in temple hills. police say the prince george's county school utility van backed into a woman. they say she was pronounced dead at the scene. police are trying to determine what brought the woman to the parking lot of the school this morning. the school was closed. they say she's not a school employee. here's one possibility. behind the school is an apartment complex and there is a cut that takes you from there all the way back here. jolanda jones uses that shortcut every day when she goes for a walk. >> i believe it was just a tragic accident, unfortunately. >> driver didn't see her? >> and she didn't see him. >> a lot of people use that cut when they walk. >> definitely. >> reporter: prince george's county school superintendent william hyde today expressed sincere, heart felt sympathy for the family of the victim. he said school officials are working closely with police to help determine the circumstances surrounding the incident. sources say police believe the victim is from the neighborhood. they say the woman was using a cane when she was struck by that van. aaron, back to you. >> pat collins in temple hills, thank you. a former cia officer is facing some serious criminal charges that he was arrested today and charged with repeatedly leaking classified secrets to journalists. john keriaku was a cia intelligence officer from 1990 to 2004 and was featured in several news articles after he told reporters he took part in the interrogation of terror suspect abu subaida. he is charged with passing classified information to journalists. prosecutors say the information included the identity of a covert cia officer. and the name of a cia plea who also interrogated zubaida. he was released today on $250,000 bond. both public and private memorials will be held this week to say good-bye to joe paterno. the long-time penn state coach died yesterday as jane watrel reports a lot of people on campus today felt the scandal involving the football program should not over shadow his legacy. >> reporter: the memorial to joe paterno continues to grow around a bronze statue of the former penn state football coach. 84-year-old naomi brought roses. >> the family is wonderful. our youngest son and their oldest son, dave, went to school together. >> reporter: despite his long association with the university, paterno also had strong ties to the local community. many businesses showed their respect for the coaching legend who lived here for 61 years. tina hay is editor of the alumni magazine. >> he was a humble guy. this is a guy who lived in a ranch house on mckee street whose phone number was in the book. >> reporter: local bus driver william bishop says it was that humbleness that won his admiration and respect. >> what he has done for this area and the people that play for him, the young men that played for him, the library and everybody that that's touched, that's not going to go away. >> reporter: the 85-year-old died sunday less than three months after being fired. paterno was heavily criticized for his response to alleged child sexual abuse by former assistant coach jerry sandusky. >> i think to, quote-unquote outsiders they have a hard time getting past the scandal. which he may or may not have played a role in. that's yet to be determined. but for penn staters, they see a much bigger picture. >> paterno and his wife gave $4 million to the university for the library and a spiritual center. and for fans a lifetime of memories. many who drove for hours to pay their respects. >> i just felt it was something we needed to do as alumni to be here for him to support his family. >> reporter: pennsylvania's governor has ordered the flags at all state facilities to be flown at half staff to honor joe paterno. until the legendary coach is laid to rest on wednesday. in state college, pennsylvania jane watrel, news 4. >> there is a public viewing for paterno tomorrow and wednesday followed by private funeral, a public memorial service will be held on thursday. a secret service agent says he got goose bumps after watching john hinckley jr. during one of his recent trips to williamsburg. in court today the agent testified hinckley became momentarily fixated on a book about ronald reagan while in a williamsburg book store. hinckley you recall shot reagan back in 1981. he's been in a psychiatric hospital but is seeking freedom to move into his mother's home in williamsberg. prosecutors are fighting that and say he is still a threat to others. still ahead on news 4 at 6:00 before stepping down this week congresswoman gabrielle giffords holds her final event today with arizona constituents. dozens of road closures today as thousands of people descend on downtown washington for the march for life. >> a major ruling from the supreme court impacting gps technology. and disney lets its own workers do something gabrielle giffords had a full day of events today one of her last days as a member of the house of representatives. giffords visited a food bank today built in her honor with more than 200,000 dollars in donations that poured in after the shooting last january. giffords announced yesterday that she is stepping down from her seat in congress to focus on her recovery. she made the announcement in a video where she also thanked her constituents. >> i don't remember much from that horrible day. but i will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice. thank you for your prayers. >> and we just got confirmation this evening that representative giffords will attend tomorrow's state of the union address before handing in her resignation. illinois senator mark kirk is recovering after he underwent surgery for a stroke. the 51-year-old republican checked himself into a hospital this weekend in his home state and underwent surgery this morning to relieve swelling around his brain. a statement from his office says the surgery was a success. it says doctors are confident in his recovery based on his age and his health. kirk was elected in 2010 winning the seat that was formerly held by president obama. privacy advocates want a key ruling from the u.s. supreme court today. the justices ruled unanimously that police cannot attach a secret tracking device to a suspect's car without a search warrant. jay gray explains. >> reporter: it's the way many of us get to where we're going these days but gps technology has hit a road block when it comes to police mapping out surveillance strategies. in a decision some call one of the most important of the computer age the supreme court has ruled investigators must get a search warrant before secretly attaching a gps tracking device to a suspect vehicle. justices announced the unanimous decision today after hearing an appeal in november from anton jones who was convicted of conspiracy to deliver cocaine after police installed a gps device on his cheap grand cherokee. >> the-0 in a fourth amendment case is remarkable and the long-range implications will be very simple. that the police have to be a little more respectful of people's rights, property rights. >> reporter: some experts say the decision could have far-reaching effects when it comes to technology and the law. >> the court is probably always going to be playing catch up but i think the important point here is that the court is trying. it is saying we are going to try to maintain some protections for privacy. >> reporter: a tough goal as tech and the tactics to use it continue to race forward. jay gray, nbc news. veronica? >> just look behind us here. we had an interesting, spooky, ghostly day today. >> yes. kind of a downer day though in a way. >> it was a day you wanted to cook or sit by a fire. >> stay in bed even. >> read a book. >> drink cognac. >> anything but go to work. >> yeah. it was spooky outside. >> yes. and definitely chilly. almost like an october day. we got that fog because the ground is cold. nice and icy on friday where we talk about keeping a safe distance because of the ice and baufs the snow. today it's because of the fog. so you get that milder air over the cold ground. fog. we'll have it overnight especially with temperatures rising slightly. we'll have even more fog. widespread and dense throughout the area. that is the situation right now as we deal with the latter part of our evening rush. take a look at this. this is the foggy day from earlier. this is route 29 this morning. route 29 southbound, same thing up in laytonsville, maryland earlier today. this one sent in from tom. you can see the fog in the distance only down to about a half mile visibility even earlier today. 37 the high. 32 the low. the average high 43 degrees. so today the chilly side. tomorrow we're going to go the other way and temperatures will be about ten degrees above average. a little bit of light wind out of the south giving us a wind chill reading of 34 degrees what it feels like. overnight, temperatures hold steady. 9:00. 11:00 p.m. there is your 38 degrees. early tomorrow morning a little bit of a rise up to 39 and 40 degrees. still some fog around at 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. but once the front's through i think we'll start to see clearing and pretty rapidly, too. going from partly sunny skies to mostly sunny skies by late morning tomorrow. the rain out of here. this is storm 4 doppler. you can see the last of the showers there at the beginning of our loop about 5:10, 5:15. we're left with, again, just a lot of moisture left in the air. certainly down to the south they've gotten moisture. they've got thunderstorms down around atlanta, georgia and coming through the panhandle of florida right now all part of the same weather system. but that front has yet to move through here. look at charleston, west virginia right now. 63 degrees. 57 degrees in bristol. 57 in pittsburgh. a little bit of warming there. and that's what we're going to have tomorrow, too. just a little bit of a warm'ing place or temperatures go into the low and mid 50s tomorrow. we'll track the weather front through the area. fog again in just a few, lingering showers mainly up to the north in pennsylvania. breezy sun is back tomorrow. partly sunny to mostly sunny day. our winds will be out of the west and northwest about 5 to 15 miles per hour. and then as we get into wednesday, late. and thursday. clouds return to the area so morning sunshine on wednesday. then pretty cloudy there for the latter part of the day and evening. we're talking about the next weather system that will start to bring some rain probably about late morning on thursday. but as far as your evening forecast goes, it's going to stay cold. dense fog around the area. that will be the big thing even for tomorrow morning. 35 to 40 degrees. may lead to more delays on area roads. we had delays at airports earlier today. wet roads for the morning. but not icy again. just the fog to deal with. 36 to 42. your range in temperatures and then your high tomorrow 51 to 56 degrees. so it is going to be much milder air moving in for tomorrow. and as a matter of fact i think tomorrow is going to be probably the best day out of the work week. we had four cloudy gray days around here so finally some sunshine. now sunshine is going to stick around for wednesday but the high on wednesday just shy of 50 degrees. we've got some rain to talk about for thursday. back to those gray skies around here. mid 40s. seasonal temperatures and then 51 degrees for friday. looking ahead to next weekend right now we've got 48 for saturday the high and 40 for sunday. looks as though we'll have light rain showers around on sunday that may switch over, change to flurries or light snow for sunday evening. so still more up and down taking place. >> interesting. thank you. still to come on news 4 at 6:00, the offer that costa concordia is making passengers at the cruise ship wreck off the coast of italy. >> and the active "access hollywood" test. "access hollywood" test. "access hollywood" test. "access hollywood" get a load of this. this is africa's most active volcano. it's located in the democratic republic of congo and it has been spewing lava in what may be one of the largest eruptions yet. local and international organizations are teaming up to create an evacuation plan for the nearby communities should these eruptions become more violent. no casualties so far but the lava flows are threatening wildlife in a nearby national park. in italy today rescuers pulled two more bodies from the ship wrecked cruise liner. it comes as the careful and important task of removing the fuel from that massive vessel is about to get under way. duncan golistani has the latest from giglio, italy. >> reporter: we now know 15 people died onboard the costa concordia when it crashed here off the island of giglio. it does seem divers are getting much better access having blasted holes yesterday and this morning. today bringing off two more bodies from deck four near an internet cafe. but at the same time it remains a tough, tough job. have a look at the pictures of what these guys are having to wade through. lots of furniture, lots of luggage, and we're told the air on there is almost unbreathable because of the rotting stench of food. as the search continues, the civil protection agency here says the operation to bring off the half a million gallons of fuel oil can now begin possibly within 24 hours. >> so basically we are ready to go and we are ready to start working. >> tomorrow? >> if possible tomorrow. >> reporter: it is going to abcomplex operation involving clamping on machinery, taking off the fuel over several weeks, and replacing it with sea water so the bouncy remains the same. unsurprise ligue they're taking extra measures around here just in case there as spill. more booms in the water and an italian navy vessel on stand by. duncan golistani, nbc news, giglio, italy. carnival's costa cruises will refun everyone and offer 30% off any future cruises with the company. at the same time passengers are already filing class action lawsuits. here at home senator rand paul had a frustrating day trying to get back to d.c. from nashville. the kentucky republican was stopped by tsa after scanner found something unusual at the airport. from there the tsa says paul was escorted out of the screening area because he refused to undergo a patdown. this caused him to miss his flight. he was able to get rebooked. a little later officials say the security scanner identified an issue with the senator's knee. senator rand paul is the son of presidential candidate ron paul. coming up later in this half hour why some local leaders are not supporting the effort under way to rededicate the d.c. war memorial. >> and dozens of road closures today as thousands of people descend on downtown d.c. for the annual march for life. i'm darcy spencer in southwest washington. federal offices opened two hours late today because roadways were expected to be slippery. we're going to have reaction coming up on news 4 at 6:00. coming up in sports the ravens are devastated. tom brady is still not satisfied. and on the ice, alex ovechkin getting physical. but what will it cost the caps captain as news 4 at 6:0 i want a baby. a baby? but we were gonna see the northern lights in alaska. and go spelunking with the guys. yeah, i said it-- spelunking. [ whirring ] and i still haven't built one of those fighting robots. come on. it's pretty awesome. okay. just a few things we need to do first. [ laughs ] [ announcer ] before you make your leap, make a list. then get going in the completely redesigned cr-v.