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Two of Santa's biggest helpers — UPS and FedEx — are offering apologizes, calling in additional workers and renting extra trucks after packages that were supposed to be delivered in time for Christmas didn't make it to their destinations.

Neither of the delivery companies is offering numbers about just how many good little girls and boys were disappointed Wednesday morning. As a percentage of the hundreds of millions of packages handled between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, it's thought that the number not delivered on time was small.

But The Associated Press reports that "the problems appear to have affected many parts of the country." The wire service says its reporters "spoke to people in Alabama, California, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia who didn't receive presents in time for Christmas."

In a statement, UPS says "the volume of air packages in our system exceeded the capacity of our network immediately preceding Christmas." Both companies are also blaming bad weather for some of the backup, CBS News adds.

And the companies are apologizing. "We're sorry that there could be delays and we're contacting affected customers who have shipments available for pickup," Scott Fiedler, a FedEx spokesman tells the AP.

According to CBS, FedEx and UPS are "calling in extra drivers and even renting U-Haul trucks to hit the road Thursday to deliver packages. ... The companies say they expect most of the delayed packages to arrive Thursday." They didn't make deliveries on Wednesday.

Some disappointed customers are telling news outlets that their Christmas just wasn't very jolly. "My kids and the rest of my extended family have no presents," Jill Amaya of Houston told NBC News. Others have taken to Twitter to register their complaints, with language that might land them on Santa's naughty list.

Not surprisingly, there are also tweets suggesting that "maybe the people who didn't get their stuff in time from FedEx or UPS should plan better?"

Amazon.com, which had promised its Prime customers that packages would arrive on time even orders were placed as late as Sunday, is refunding shipping charges and giving $20 credits toward future purchases, the AP says.

For gun control advocates hoping to see federal gun laws tighten after the shootings in Newtown, Conn., 2013 was a disheartening year. A narrow provision to expand background checks failed in the Senate.

For gun rights activists, the death of that legislation proved once more their single-issue intensity and decades-long grassroots organizing were enough to prevail. Those are also valuable lessons for their opponents.

A 'Voice' For Lost Children

It may have been the year gun control legislation collapsed in the Senate, but Shundra Robinson is grateful for 2013. It was the year she decided to jump into gun control advocacy, which became a way to speak for the son she lost three years ago.

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A former New York governor who quit in a prostitution scandal says his marriage of more than two decades is over.

Eliot Spitzer and wife Silda Wall Spitzer made the announcement Tuesday.

They say in a statement they regret that their marital relationship has come to an end.

The Spitzers married in 1987 and have three grown children but have been living apart for months.

She supported his rise from state attorney general to governor.

She stood by his side in 2008 when he resigned after admitting he paid for sex with prostitutes.

He attempted a political comeback this year by running for New York City comptroller but lost in the Democratic primary.

The already alarming news from South Sudan grew even more worrisome Tuesday with word from the United Nations of mass graves.

In a statement, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said "we have discovered a mass grave in Bentiu, in Unity State, and there are reportedly at least two other mass graves in Juba," the new nation's capital.

Reuters reports that the site in Unity State contains "some 75 bodies." According to the BBC, a journalist in Juba "quoted witnesses as saying more than 200 people, mostly from the Nuer ethnic group, were shot by security forces."

NPR's Gregory Warner, who is in Juba, said Tuesday on Morning Edition that "people are starting to ask who their neighbors are" and whether they are from a tribe they can trust. There are fears, he said, that if people in the 2 1/2 year old nation "retreat into tribalism ... then this country could ignite into civil war."

Already in recent days, as we've reported, there have been hundreds or more people killed and thousands more forced to flee their homes. There's a power struggle underway between forces loyal to President Salva Kir and those who support the recently ousted vice president, Riak Machar.

An army commander who recently defected and reportedly sides with Machar, Gen. Peter Gadet, has said his forces will "march on Juba" within days, Gregory adds. Whether Gadet has the resources to do that is unknown. Gadet's forces are believed to have fired on three U.S. military aircraft making evacuation flights earlier this week.

Despite all the bad news, Gregory says there have been some positive signs in the past day as well. President Kir, he notes, has said he's willing to hold "unconditional talks" with Machar.