good morning, everyone. i'm deborah feyerick. search crews are out looking for more than a dozen people after a cruise ship ran aground, killing three. we'll take to you italy for the latest. plus mitt romney digs in his pocket and hands over some cash to a woman he doesn't know. we'll tell you why and hear what the woman has to say. we start with the rescue from that italian cruise ship sitting on its side right now. there are as many as 17 people still missing. one who isn't missing anymore is one of the ship's crew, found in a restaurant on the ship this morning. this comes more than 24 hours after the ship hit a sandbar, ripped a hole in its hull, and rolled over. earlier, we heard from some of the survivors. >> the crew member ran through the lobby yelling, abandon ship. >> we were in the theater when we heard the noise of the ship hitting the rock, and we felt a shudder in the ship. it was a magic act actually at the time, and the performers did a disappearing act. they just ran off the stage and took off. there was no communication at all about what was going on. >> two other people were found huddled in a cabin overnight. journalist barbie nado is near the island. and she joins me by phone. first, what do we know about this korean couple who was rescued this morning in their cabin? >> reporter: they were on their honeymo honeymoon, and they were trapped in their room. it took 90 minutes to get them out of their room. the rescuers have been banging on doors, looking for signs of life to see if anyone was trapped in the wreckage. they called out for help. they described to rescuers, who then described to journalists on the ground here that, they heard helicopters above and they heard the banging of metal below, and they were just hoping someone would find them alive. the korean couple then was taken to a hospital for observation because they were obviously very cold, hadn't eaten, and they were in a condition that was obviously very distressful for them. then there was the rescue of an italian purser who was found in the restaurant section of the ship. he was suffering from hypothermia. they lowered a doctor in to him early this morning, around 7:00 a.m. local time, and lifted him to safety around noon local time here. it was very dramatic to see him being lifted from the ship in a helicopter. >> is the rescue effort, are there rescuers still on the boat going from cabin to cabin? are they still looking, especially in the area near the hull where some crew members still potentially could be? >> reporter: yes. there are rescuers up above. let's start with 50% of the ship is under water. there are two phases of rescue operation going on. there are rescuers above the water going door to door looking for survivors, looking for people who may be trapped in their cabins. then there are divers with the italian coast guard who are scanning the area below, the underwater area, which is a huge segment of the ship at this point. the problem for them is the ship is not secure yet, which means, if there's a heavy wave -- it's been very calm seas. if the weather changes for any reason, the ship could actually slide. they're very, very concerned for the safety of these divers. they're in limited numbers and under water for a limited period of time. but they're scanning this gigantic ship to see if there are any bodies below. the mayor of giglio and the port authority here has confirmed there are 17 people still missing. the number of people that came forward in rome and the cities over the last 24 hours to identify themselves, including four japanese tourists in rome who said, wait, we were on board that ship, and nobody knows we're alive. they were taken off the missing list and now are accounted for. 17, though, are still officially unaccounted for. >> and for all intents and purposes, this is a criminal investigation now. italian authorities are sitting with the captain and interviewing passengers to find out specifically what happened. what's going on with the captain? >> the captain of the ship, the first officer of the ship are basically in custody being questioned, we understand, on two charges. charges of manslaughter and charges of abandoning ship because they both got off the ship before the last of the passengers and crew, and that is a serious maritime offense. we expect on monday morning or tuesday, when the offices of the judiciary open back up, that we'll have a magistrate make some sort of ruling on whether or not they can be kept in custody and to see what's happening with the investigation. presumably, they'll apply to be out during the investigative phase of this. both of these officers have -- the captain and the first officer have lawyers in place that are ready to defend them. it is a criminal investigation, manslaughter and abandonment of the ship. >> barbie nadeau reporting to us from italy there. thank you so much. we'll check back in with you in just a little while. to give you some perspective, the costa concordia is three times as large as the titanic. it measures 3 1/2 football fields. it was at cruising speed, moving 25 miles an hour. when it hit the reef, it appears to have come to a dead stop. when it was christened in 2006, it was believed to be the biggest cruise ship in all of italy. it's owned by a company called costa cruises, whose parent company is miami based carnival, the biggest cruise line in the world. costa did not have a good year in 2010. one of its cruise ships slammed into a cargo ship in china, injuring three people, and another costa ship slammed into a dock in egypt, killing three passengers. in nome, alaska, the city of 3,500 residents was dangerously close to running out of fuel. but a massive fuel tanker and icebreaker were able to chop through the waters. this was the first time a delivery like this has been made through the winter ice to a western alaska town. an american icebreaker led a russian fuel tanker to nome. soon they'll start pumping the 1.3 million gallons of petroleum products. and to politics now. the south carolina republican primary is less than a week away. that means there's going to be a lot of action on the campaign trail this week. there are two debates coming up, and today two major tea party groups kick off their first state convention. cnn political reporter shannon travis joins me from myrtle beach. what are we seeing, and what can we expect? >> reporter: right now we're not seeing much activity at this spring beach resort behind me. they're going to kick off in a few hours from now. but what you can expect are a couple of things. you can expect this to be political. you're going to have two presidential candidates, newt gingrich and rick santorum, and governor nikki haley of south carolina. she's a big tea party booster. but we expect the tea party to say, we're still relevant. we used to see the rallies and them out in the streets, but you don't see that much anymore. they're trying to move into a new phase, a lot of back door meetings. this meeting here is private, is not open to the public. basically, they want to be power brokers heading into this 2012 race. that's what you'll see, some politics, but also the tea party movement saying, you know what, we're still power brokers in politics right now, deb. >> they're really on some levels trying to prove their relevance and trying to get behind a single candidate? >> reporter: yeah. i mean, the tea party movement not as much. the tea party movement likes to say we're all grass roots, we're from the bottom up, not top down. however, you have seen some tea party leaders kind of come out and publicly endorse some different candidates. you saw yesterday some christian evangelicals, and you can find of argue there's co-mingling between evangelicals and tea party movements. you saw 150 evangelical leaders yesterday saying they should coalesce around rick santorum. that's interesting because a lot of them don't like mitt romney, feel he's too moderate, so they're trying to corral the conservatives to take on mitt romney, and they think it should be rick santorum. >> we'll check in with you in a little bit, getting the latest. an interesting moment on the campaign trail in south carolina. while shaking hands after a rally in sumter, mitt romney took out his wallet and gave the woman about $50. he met the woman earlier in the week. she told him she had no job and was having trouble paying her bills. here's what she told cnn political reporter rachel strayfield after yesterday's rally. >> he was worried about me and made governor haley and them come see me. >> later on? >> no, after the rally. he told governor haley to help this woman find a job. >> she first met romney earlier in the week, and she says god told her to pray for him. after that first meeting, she started working as a volunteer at romney's campaign office in columbia, south carolina. and she says south carolina's state treasurer personally paid her electric bill. rick santorum has picked up high profile backers in the republican race. a group of leading christian conservatives picked rick santorum over newt gingrich. the group includes tony perkins from the research council and focus on the family founder james dob son. a boost for rick santorum less than one week before the south carolina primary. joining me now, patricia, head of the group family politics. >> it's a very good sign. it's no xwarn tee they're going to follow his lead. just as we saw in 2008, they're not a monolithic group. they don't go with the same candidate every time. there is a worry among candidates in south carolina, as happened in 2008, the conservative vote split between and eventually ended up having john mccain become the winner in south carolina. they felt like that opened the door for him to walk through over their objections. about 60% of voters in south carolina are evangelical, and they want to use that power to keep mitt romney from becoming their nominee. >> write is really fascinating when you think about it because it's not just the evangelicals but also the tea party. they're having a state convention that kicks off in myrtle beach, and they also are trying to figure out who do they get behind? can they just get behind one person without splitting the vote? >> that's a big question. that's what they're trying to do going into saturday's vote. they don't know if they can do it. they're desperate to beat mitt romney, and they're splitting their vote between rick santorum, who puts all the family issues front and center. he begins his rallies and town hall meetings with a prayer. he puts his anti-abortion record right out there for people to coalesce behind. but conservatives in south carolina are also fiscal conservatives, and the tea party appeals to them. the tea party seems to be getting behind newt gingrich and ron paul. there's a lot of candidates for them, but are they going to do themselves a disservice by splitting the vote and letting mitt romney walk through the door? >> also quite interesting because rick perry was in town hoping to get the conservative christian vote. obviously, they went to somebody who was a little bit more electable, or nominatable, if that's a word. >> some conservatives are still supporting rick perry. that's just a bigger part of their problem. can't get behind one person. >> terrific, patricia. appreciate it. be sure to tune into cnn thursday night to hear the candidate ins their own words. the words have been pretty nasty, but will the candidates keep up the pressure face to face. the southern republican leadership conference debate comes your way thursday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern. there's been a big push to legalize same-sex marriage in the u.s. why do some same-sex couples say they want a divorce also, and they can't get it. regrets but no bitterness. joe paterno opens up in a new interview talking about the penn state abuse scandal and his role in the aftermath. ♪ ♪ baby, baby, come along ♪ baby, baby, come along with me ♪ [ air horn blows ] ♪ i love you and i need you ♪ just to hug and squeeze you ♪ baby, why can't you see? 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[ laughs ] hey! a big happy birthday to muhammad ali. ♪ happy birthday dear muhammad happy birthday to you ♪ >> that's what greeted the champ at his 70th birthday party in his hometown of louisville, kentucky. ali is battling parkinson's disease, but it didn't stop him from enjoying the party. the three-time world champ actually falls on tuesday. there were 50 guests at the private party, which doubled as a fund-raiser for ali's cultural and education center. to the nfl now, in an end to tim tebow's season, he just didn't have it late last night against the new england patriots. the patriots dominated the game from the first drive. with tom brady definitely overshadowing his broncos counterpart. prayedy threw for six touchdowns. tebow had none. it was a real thriller in the other saturday game, though. boy, this was a nail biter. the san francisco 49ers scored with less than ten seconds left in the game to beat the new orleans saints. they will move on to play the winner of the packers-giants game later today. the ravens and texans square off in the other playoff game this afternoon. we are now hearing some of the first words from joe paterno on the sexual abuse allegations that ended his 46-year coaching career at penn state. paterno is back in the hospital. his family says he's having minor complications with his cancer treatment. the 85-year-old paterno has lung cancer. before going back to the hospital, he spoke to "the washington post" about the scandal and about his reaction to the original allegations against his assistant coach, jerry sandusky. >> i called my superiors, and i said, hey, we got a problem, i think. would you guys look into it? i dependent knidn't know. i had never had to deal with something like that, and i didn't feel adequate. >> paterno was essentially fired for his handling of the sandusky scandal and the original allegations. in the interview, paterno said he thought he told the right people who would follow up on the situation. he also says he's not bitter about the way things ended. after "the post" published the interview, cnn got this statement from jerry sandusky's attorney. he says the sanduskys are extremely saddened by the events which have occurred since jerry's arrest. we have been greatly dismayed by the knee jerk reaction of the penn state board of trustees in summarily dismissing coach paterno. sandusky faces more than 50 charges in the case. he has denied doing anything wrong. half a dozen states recognize same-sex marriage, but can same-sex couples divorce after they tie the knot? you might be surprised with what they found out. we are exploring this just ahead. since i've lost weight i have so much more energy than i used to, when i'm out with my kids, my daughter's like, "mom, wait up!" and i'm thinking, "shouldn't you have more energy than me? you're, like, eight!" [ male announcer ] for every 2 pounds you lose through diet and exercise alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat. simple. effective. advantage: mom. let's fight fat with alli ♪ let's get back to the top story now. the search for survivors from that crippled italian cruise ship and the investigation into what went wrong. joining me now from rome are amanda and brandon warrick. both were on that ship when it hit ground and they're here to talk about it. aman amanda, tell us what happened when you realized something was terribly wrong. >> basically, i looked to my brothers, and we kind of just went into survival mode and headed to our rooms, got our life jackets and anything that we could grab as soon as possible and just waited for further instruction from any of the crew or anyone to tell us what to do. >> brandon, did you hear an announcement made over the p.a. system? we understand that initially the passengers were told there was an electrical problem, but then there was a scraping sound and the lights went off. what were you told? what were you led to believe? >> it was pretty much like that. everything was fine. they said there were electrical problems but then that their technicians were sorting it out and we should be fine in no time. that's one of the reasons i had almost like nothing when i got off the ship. i thought we were going to get to go back to our rooms, but that's when panic happened. >> do you feel on some levels that the crew -- that they lied to you, underplaying, or playing down the situation? >> the crew -- i don't think the crew did. i think the fact that the captain abandoned ship and everything. he wasn't informing anybody. the crew actually, they did really well in evacuating people in a situation where their leader, or their boss was gone. like our rescue ship was actually really helpful. >> looking around you -- and, amanda, looking around at what was going on the moments where you sort of got upstairs and tried to get off the ship, did you see certain people and think, oh, my god, they're going to die? was there that sense of panic that people were just trying to get off as fast as they could? >> yeah. as soon as we saw people gathering in the muster stations, we knew that, okay, maybe we should start getting outside into life boats. and so once we did, that was when -- those were the most chaotic moments because everyone was pushing, shoving each other, trying to get on a life boat. it was chaos. >> all right. well, amanda and brandon, thank you so much. we really appreciate you both joining us. we know you were heading to meet your parents. hopefully, you will meet your parents soon, and i know they're relieved to know that you and your other brother are very safe this morning. thank you so much. members of the washington, d.c. city council want to make it easier for same-sex couples to divorce. it turns out couples who got married in the nation's capital then moved somewhere else are being denied divorces because those jurisdictions don't recognize the marriages. d.c. councilman phil mendelssohn proposed the bill. he's joining us now. what are you hearing from these couples and their attorneys? why not just return to washington, d.c.? >> well, in order to return to washington, you have to establish residency for six months, and that sort of residency requirement is not unusual in states in their requirements for divorce. couples that have moved someplace, even though they are breaking up, they don't want to have to move somewhere else, establish residency for six months just to get a divorce. >> so same-sex couples can get married in washington. that went through back in 2010. can they get married, though, without establishing that residency? so is it a little bit different in terms of what's required? >> correct. the law in the district is that one has to have resided in the district for at least three days. there's a waiting requirement of three days. that's not unusual in states. we've seen this in other states. there was a court case in rhode island, a couple that had married in massachusetts, i believe, in 2003. their marriage fell apart. several years later, they tried to get divorced in rhode island, where they were living, and they went up to the rhode island supreme court, which said, no, we don't recognize same-sex marriage, and therefore you can't dissolve a same-sex marriage. you want to get divorced, move to another state. >> so for the cultural perspective, do you find it a little bit interesting, given how new same-sex marriages are in terms of being acknowledged legally, do you find it interesting that divorce is sort of close behind? >> it's an unfortunate fact in american life that there's a high incidence of divorce among married couples. that's straight couples, heterosexual couples. it's not surprising that would be true with gay couples. it's unfortunate. and it's because the law has changed. there are a half dozen states that permit same-sex marriages. there are a number of countries, canada, for example, that permit same-sex marriages. we have this period in american history where couples can get married in some states. other states don't recognize those marriages, and these couples are caught in a no man's land if the marriage falls apart. >> phil mendelssohn, thank you so much. the law is evolving when it comes to all aspects of same-sex marriage and divorce and relationships. thanks so much. appreciate it. >> thank you. watch out, hollywood. some christian films are raking in millions of dollars. a pastor and director of one of the highest grossing faith films ever talking to cnn next. ♪ [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? 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[ male announcer ] stop the uh-oh fast with kaopectate. checking our top stories for you. rescue crews are back in the water searching for at least 17 people still missing in friday's deadly cruise ship disaster off italy's coast. just a few hours ago, the ship's purser was rescued. he'd been trapped in the vessel's restaurant. overnight searchers reached a south korean couple trapped in their cabin for more than 24 hours. passengers say they had to crawl their way through the ship in darkness after it ran into rocks and then turned on its side. iran is threatening the u.s. and israel over the death of an iranian nuclear scientist who was killed by a bomb blast last week. tehran says both nations will suffer a punitive response at an opportune time. washington has denied any involvement in the bombing. republican presidential hopeful rick santorum has picked up high profile backers. he has won the endorsements of a group of leading christian conservatives. santorum meanwhile has a message for south carolina voters days ahead of saturday's primary there. he says rival mitt romney will be a sure loser against president obama in november if romney wins the gop nomination. in a rural south georgia town, there's a small church whose message reaches millions of people around the word, but it's not coming from a pulpit. it's all on film. sherwood baptist church's fourth and latest film "courageous" brought in more than $34 million, making it one of the highest grossing faith-based films ever. our nadia bilcic spoke to the pastor who also cowrote, costarred in the movie. it's fascinating. >> and i have spoken to many people whose lives have been positively impacted by these films. "fire proof" saved their marriage. "courageous" made them a better dad. let's talk about what his purpose is for these films. >> whatever theme we're dealing with, when someone walks out of the movie theater, if they say, you know what, i've got issues in my own life, and i want to deal with it the way i saw it in the movie, want to put it in their hands to say, you want to become a better dad, better husband, better wife. >> we know "courageous" is about fatherhood. where did you draw the inspiration from the film? >> all of us operate from approval for our fathers. if we felt we were approved when we were young, we don't feel we have to constantly seek it from somewhere else. if you didn't get it when you were young, you have to get it from somewhere. we're chasing people all their lives. we're reminding dads you are so crucial and instrumental in loving your children in their formative years. every kid should hear from their father, i love you. i'm proud of you. i'm grateful that you're my child. when we hear that, it makes all the difference in our identity. >> alex, what was your father like? >> when we were growing up, my dad did his best. he wasn't a perfect dad, but he did his best to say, alex, god did what you're designed to do with excellence. because i believed he loved me and was proud of me, it was easier for me to believe that god loves me. here's the direct correlation. i'm glad my dad was there for me. >> fly wheel" really is a morality tale. "fire proof" about marriage. "courageous" about fatherhood. are you going to make a film about women, about mothers? >> we want to make films about all those areas. we want to tell stories that people can relate to. not just fantastical stories. people look up on the screen and say that's me. bring the issues, bring inspiration, bring faith into the equation and hope they can get through these things. >> roll sound. ready and action. >> where are you going? what's next for sherwood films? >> after each movie, we go through a season of prayer. god, what do you want the next movie to be about? as we pray through that, we come to a unity of this is what god wants us to do next. this is the path we head down. we're in that season now. >> alex, we look forward to the next faith-baseded film. i hope there's something about women. >> i'm in awe of alex tkendrick because he's a really good actor. there's some poignant scenes. they've raised a lot of money. they've built a huge 80-acre park in albany, georgia. they've opened three churches. they support missionaries and clinics. him and his brothers own the rights to the books and dvds and the various other things, the spin-offs from the movies. a remarkably talented man. the movie "courageous," the dvd version comes out on the 17th. >> he's writing the scripts and also financing? is he getting financing from outside? if a movie like that makes $34 million, one would think he's putting it into other films. >> the movies have refinanced themselves. he acts in it. he edits it. he writes it. he directs it. and he's a pastor on the side. very multitalented. i asked him, what happens if hollywood calls? and he said, well, it will be up to god. he's not seduced by hollywood. put it that way. >> not only that, but he's also got control of the message right now. the films themselves, they're not documentaries. >> no, they're dramas. really, really dramas. and "courageous" is the story of four different fathers. it starts out rather dramatically because there's this car chase, and you can't understand why the father is so absolutely intent on saving his car, but you realize his baby is in the back. i won't tell you anymore, but it's "courageous" out on the 17th, dvd. >> it's a very good question you ask because i think in the framework of things, you also want to know, sort of from a woman's perspective, how faith plays a role and how they deal with all the challenges that they face. >> exactly. >> on any given day. >> at this point, i think he comes from his own point of view as a father, but i have no doubt there's going to be a lot more coming from sherwood films. >> you ought to try to get a percentage of that, you put the idea in his head. nadia bilcic, thank you so much. for more issues related to faith, go to our belief blog at cnn.com/belief. you can also share your thoughts. and just months after its education, the martin luther king jr. national memorial is already about to get a makeover. a controversial quote is being corrected. we'll talk about it when the head of the memorial foundation joins us live. ♪[music plays] when you're responsible for this much of the team... you need a car you can count on. ♪[music plays] hi. looking good! you've lost some weight. thanks! you noticed! you know these clothes are too big now, so i'm donating them. not going back there again. good for you! how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. whole grain? whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't... multigrain cheerios has five whole grains and 110 lightly sweetened calories per serving... more grains. less you! multigrain cheerios. c'mon, michael! get in the game! [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. millions of men, forty-five or older, may have low t. so talk to your doctor about low t. hey, michael! [ male announcer ] and step out of the shadows. hi! how are you? [ male announcer ] learn more at isitlowt.com. [ laughs ] hey! state of the union with candy crowley coming up right here at cnn the top of the hour. the republican presidential candidates stumping in south carolina. candy joins us live with the state of the gop race. candy, we're going to hear from rick perry on your show today, right? he was expecting to get the christian conservative vote, which apparently he didn't. >> it's interesting because this is a guy who came out of texas. the whole reason he stayed in this race -- remember in iowa he decided -- he said, okay, i'm going to go home and reassess the campaign. the day later, he said, i'm going to south carolina. why? because his brand of social as well as fiscal conservatism is sort of made to order in south carolina. he's a born again christian. he is totally in sync with the issues of the social right, and yet he didn't get their vote. and when they came out and talked a little bit about it, it was very clear the reason rick perry did not come out as the consensus candidate from this group of evangelicals is they don't think he can win. this is not the kind of statement you want out there as your struggling campaign moves into the next big vote, which is south carolina next saturday. >> so they didn't want to split the vote or back somebody that would just make it difficult for everyone else to, i guess, fall in line. senator john mccain also on your show, right? >> yes. and he is now a mitt romney surrogate. he's been down in south carolina campaigning with romney. mccain has both lost and won in south carolina, the two different primaries he was there. he knows a lot about it. he also had some interesting things to say about bain capital, which as you know, is romney's company which is the sort of all this controversy. and when john mccain was running against mitt romney, he had some interesting things to say about bain. we're going to ask him about those things. >> candy, we're definitely looking forward to it. thanks so much. of course, everyone out there, keep it here for "state of the union" with candy crowley that starts at 9:00 a.m. eastern right here on cnn. and it's dr. martin luther king jr.'s birthday. he would have been 83 years old today. ahead, we will talk with the head of the memorial foundation in his honor as the nation prepares to mark mlk day. [ beep ] [ mom ] scooter? the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good. it's got tender white meat chicken. the way i always made it for you. one more thing.... those pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. i understand you need a little help with your mortgage, want to avoid foreclosure. candy? um-- well, you know, you're in luck. we're experts in this sort of thing, mortgage rigamarole, whatnot. why don't we get a contract? who wants a contract? [honks horn] [circus music plays] here you go, pete. thanks, betty. betty: we're out of toner. announcer: if you're facing foreclosure, talk to the right people. speak with hud-approved housing counselors free of charge at... it's golden globes time, and usually we're talking about the best movies, prettiest dress, but this year the loudest buzz is about the host ricky gervais, one of the funniest comics out there. last year they accused him of being down right rude to nominees. if you expect gervais will be better behaved this year, here's what he has to say via twitter. "i keep having to write new jokes as i pick my victims, i mean targets, i mean presenters to introduce." speaking of gloelden globes, remember this film nominated for best picture? >> frank costello. >> you will not ever build your identity among other people. >> do you have an in with costello? >> do you know who i am? >> maybe. maybe not. >> i'm going to have my associates search you. >> that was quick. he's done already? >> in that movie "the departed" jack nicholson played frank costello, based on mob boss whitey bulger. i guess he wanted a more accurate presentation. mark wahlberg made a lot of people upset when he revealed to radio that whitey bulger invited him to jail to talk about a movie. some of the victims' relatives told the "boston globe" they're worried bulger might be portrayed a hero. there's no deal on the table yet. monday marks the birthday of martin luther king jr. the civil rights leader would have been 83 years old. to mark the day, crowds are expected at the mlk memorial in washington. the monument you see here started with a dream and a mission to honor the civil rights leader and inspire a nation to continue the mission. it took nearly 15 years and almost $120 million to make it a reality. but the massive monument now stands tall over the national mall. and joining me, one of the key figures who helped make this happen, harry johnson, president and ceo of the mlk national memorial project foundation. thanks so much for being with us on this historic day. first, what does it mean to you and the mlk family to finally have this monument open to the public on his birthday? >> well, it certainly means that dr. king, i believe, is in his rightful place on our national mall for everyone to come and see. we're delighted that this is the first anniversary of his birthday that people will come and see dr. king on the mall with the other heroes of this great country. >> and so what special events are you going to have to mark this memorial? >> tomorrow we're going to lay a wreath in his honor, me and a few other folks will be with us as we do that at 8:00 in the morning. then the memorial will be open for all the visitors to see dr. king, see the memorial, read the quotations around the wall, and take pictures and get on with their day of service. >> clearly, this is a beautiful monument. how has visitor turnout been? have you seen larger crowds sort of veering to this direction? what kind of feedback are you getting? >> i think this has come to be the most visited memorial on the mall to date. about 1.5 million people since opening in august. so huge, tremendous success. people are there all times of the day and night to see this wonderful memorial. >> obviously, we would be remiss if we didn't mention the controversy over a quote on the memorial. it seems as if it was more of a synopsis of an idea. it says "i was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness." but king's original words were "if you want to say that i was a drum major, say that i was a drum major for justice, say that i was a drum major for peace. i was a drum major for righteousness, and all of the other shallow things will not matter." critics such as dr. maya angelou say the quote as it is tarnishes the memory because it suggests an ego or pride or incorrectness. how is this going to be corrected? >> we're going to take a look at it and see. we told the secretary of the interior months ago we will revisit it. that's exactly what we're going to do, bring a team of people together to talk about t what should be there, how can it be corrected, if it can be corrected, and then do so. we really want that not to be a distraction for anyone who comes to see this wonderful memorial. we want them to come and see, relish in dr. king's words and the vision that dr. king had in this country and indeed the nation. so we'll take a look and see how it can be corrected. >> do you think people are making too big of a deal of it? do you think it captures, in your opinion, the essence of what he was trying to convey? >> i think, when people walk around the entire memorial, read the quotations on the quotations wall, which are quotations, i think they walk away with the feeling of what dr. king meant and talked about. whether they're making a big deal out of it, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. i'm an easy going guy. i can take it or leave it, but i want it to be correct for the people because i don't want it to be a distraction for people to come and see this great memorial. >> what is your long-term vision of this memorial? is it simply the statues you have there with the quotes? what do you see? >> i see it being just as it is, the statue and the quotes around the wall. it's a very serene place for people to come and see. it actually asks people to come and sit and ponder what dr. king meant to this country and indeed the world. we have seen time and time again people who come there the first time, the same reaction for everyone. a lump will come up in your throat, a tear in your eye as you start walking around this memorial. i think it's going to be one of the most visited memorials for some time to come. >> just before we say good-bye, it is located where with respect to the lincoln and the washington? >> it is right between the lincoln and washington at 1964 independence avenue and right adjacent to the fdr memorial. >> okay. thank you so much for joining us, sir. we look forward to it and honoring dr. martin luther king today. thanks so much. >> thank you. in just one minute, why the republican race for the white house could make history. we talk politics and religion next. i love to swim, and i love to walk outside. osteo bi-flex has really helped my knees. osteo bi-flex has been incredible for me, and i swear by it. 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[ male announcer ] in a small business, it's all you. that's why you have us. at staples, we have low prices on everything your small business needs. staples. that was easy. the 2012 race for the republican presidential nomination could make religious history. josh levs is here to tell us about it. josh, really, break it down for us, how this is sort of working. >> this is so interesting the way it's playing out this yeer. it could make real history. it plays out against all of american history, but especially what we've seen the last several decades. this could be, folks, the republican party's first nonprotestant nominee in modern politics. this says a lot about religion and politics in this country. this pack of gop contenders is already historic. romney and huntsman, front-runner, mitt romney and jon huntsman both mormons. either would be the first mormon nominee for either major party in this country. then newt gingrich and rick santorum, both catholic, setting aside for now how newt gingrich came to agecatholicism. back then john f. kennedy was a catholic, but a democratic nominee, and he had to overcome fear of voters that he would take direction from the pope. and the story in the cnn belief blog, experts are telling us the diversity of this group reflect some major changes in this country. one of the changes is that the republican party has won over a lot of catholics who were once a very solid democratic voting bloc. and a big reason for that change was roe v. wade, the supreme court decision on abortion many years ago. many catholics flipped to the republican party because of opposition to abortion rights. we talk about mormonism. it's a quickly growing religion. more and more people know someone mormon. americans are becoming increasingly comfortable with the idea of a mormon president, but some still are not. that could play out in this race. the fact that catholics and mormons have such a legitimate chance this time around shows how much has changed in this country in the decades, especially since kennedy. >> thanks, josh. don't forget, you can see the republican south carolina debate live here on thursday night at 8:00 p.m. checking top stories, three people were found alive overnight inside a wrecked italian cruise ship. rescuers found a crew member trapped inside a restaurant, and a south korean couple still inside their cabin more than 24 hours after the ship ran aground, which killed three people. many still missing. passengers say they had to crawl their way through the ship after it ran into rocks and turned on its side. listen. >> everybody got out of the life boats. people were pushing, very panicky. it was a very difficult area. people shouting and pushing. we kind of waited. they said there were more than enough life boats. by the time all the life boats had left, there were 600 to 800 people on the boat. they only had rafts left, but the angle of the boat was so steep they couldn't get us out. they brought us to the down side of the ship, real close to the water, and they had a life raft they blew up. it got caught under one of the cranes, and the boat started moving very quickly. there were maybe 200 people there. and the life raft exploded because the boat was on top of the life raft. at that time, water was only two meters from us, so we jumped in and swam to shore. >> wow. the united nations secretary general ban ki-moon is calling for the syrian president to stop the violence. the secretary general said at a conference in lebanon, "today i say again to president assad of syria, stop the violence. stop killing your people. the path of repression is a dead end." his request comes on the same day that syria's state run media reports that al assad has granted amnesty to anti-government demonstrators for all crimes committed since the uprising began last year. and queen margaret of denmark is celebrating 40 years on the phone. danes paraded through the street as the royal family appeared on the balcony. today's royal jubilee day is filled with lots of pageantry, including ornate carriages led by the royal horse guard. and now we take a look at weather. meteorologist alexandra steele is in for reynolds wolf this week. what can we expect, and rlexand? >> it's cold. that's what you can expect. take a look outside and get the globe at 8 degrees in boston. 9 degrees in scranton. 2 in albany. very cold and icy. it feels a lot colder. even look at albany. 15 below as you walk outside. windchill is a major factor. still 010 to 15 degrees below average. high in portland, only 18. boston at 22. this gives you the big picture. big story today, cold here in the northeast. even in the mid-atlantic. still warm here through denver and salt lake. kind of the rockies, pretty mild. that will change because big snowstorm coming through the pacific northwest. one to two inches of snow.