making news this morning -- cruise ship crisis. >> as divers search for the missing, there's a new threat. cowl half a million gallons of fuel leak? and the battle for south carolina. a tense debate with the remaining five candidates. and a surprising admission from mitt romney. and new signs this morning that americans are over the kardashians. and welcome to "america this morning." i'm paula faris. >> and i'm dan kloeffler in for rob nelson on this tuesday morning. rescue crews have returned to

that crippled cruise ship in italy. among those still missing, a retired couple from minnesota. >> we're getting a better picture of the chaos that unfolded on that day. we beg w with the search. abc's lama hasan is currently on a ferry en route to the accident sight. >> reporter: good morning paula and dan. today, so far, we have clear, sunny skies. we heard that the forecast could turn today, which would hamper the search and recovery operation. which is back on today. it was suspended yesterday for a short while because of bad weather, rough seas. it caused the ship to move 1.5 sent merits. it was too dangerous for the rescue crews to operate under those conditions. it resumed later in the day. we're expecting the weather to turn today. a firefighter yesterday told us that they -- it was like a

labyrinth. in the wreckage. it was very difficult for rescuers to knave ganavigate th around the ship. it was like the floors turned to walls. it was like walking on walls. especially underwater. >> have they said how long the search could take? >> reporter: as i said, the firefighters we spoke with, he said that the search and recovery operation would continue for as long as possible, as long as they can find all of those unaccounted for at this point. that number stands at 29 missing. it went up late last night because authorities discovered that those that were previously accounted for and were thought to be safe had not contacted their families. it's 25 passengers and four crew

members. >> anything new to the reports that the captain swerved the ship to wave to some friends on the island. >> reporter: the cruise company said the captain made an unauthorized change to the ship's route. being very close to shore. there are several theories about why he did that. one, it could have been a favor to they had waiter on board who comes from the island of giglio. in a facebook post by the waiter's sister, before the collision, she posted that the vessel would pass very close to the island. that's one theory. another one was that the captain himself wanted to sail very close to the shore to wave to an old friend who was on the island. there are a couple of theories that the judge will look at today. he is being questioned. the judge has to decide whether or not there is enough evidence to keep him in jail. >> lama hasan, live in italy.

thank you. from pennsylvania to georgia, kentucky to california, americans who escaped that ship are returning to home towns they never thought they would see again. >> the survivors are being interviewed by our stations across the country. >> i'm so glad to be back in the united states. the boat was tilting on the side that we were in. there were people that jumped off the lifeboats to swim ashore. they were afraid that the boat was going to come on top of them. >> we were sitting at a formal dinner table. we heard a bang. our table slid. everyone started to run. wre literally ran up and grabbed a ledge. >> he was helping people out of the live boat. you could not see any costa crew members.

nobody. everybody was running for their own safety. >> i don't believe that six people would be dead right now in the evacuation plans had worked. >> later on, and investigates the captain, what may have caused him to put the ship on a path to disaster. switching gears to police station -- politics now. mitt romney with a nearly 2-1 lead over ron paul and newt gingrich. 57% of respondents say he has the best chance to beat president obama. despite the strong poll numbers, mitt romney came under heavy attack from rick santorum and newt gingrich.

our experts say he stumbled a bit when talking about the super pacs. >> this is what we have complained about. over which mr. romney apparently has no influence, which makes you wonder how much influence he would have if he were president. >> i already said at our last debate, that anything that is false in pac ads, where supportive of me or you should be taken off the air and fixed. i have already said that. i can't call them and direct them to do that, as you know, because that would violate federal law, is that correct? >> absolutely. >> all righty then. and this millionaire businessman gave an evasive-sounding answer about releasing his 3er7b8 tax returns. >> i looked what has been done in campaigns in the past with senator mccain and president george w. bush. they had released tax records in

political. i had not planned to release tax records, because the law requires us to release many 2k0789s. meanwhile, stephen coal better is asking people to vote for herman cain. a day of celebrations and observations marking martin luther king's before ended with a musical performance at the kennedy center. on the program, vocalist bobby mcferrin. finally, fuel is flowing from a russian tanker to nome, alaska, this morning. the ship finally made it the

epic journey through ice. the city has to get through what has been alaska's worst winter in decades. if anybody thinks they're cold, look at that. >> very true. of course, speaking of weather, time to get the weather across the nation. new york city, d.c., seeing rain most of the day. boston starts with a wintry mix that switches over to rain. hail in atlanta and new orleans is possible. >> the coldest weather of is season pours into the upper midwest. temperatures up to 15 degrees colder than usual. cooler than usual in l.a., at 59. dallas goes from 75 yesterday to 55. honolulu and miami are near 80. don't even go there. >> we won't think about the fact that we're not there at this point. coming up, a giant fast food burger chain trying something new. delivery. and the major website taking a day off? tomorrow it will go black.

and a mystery at this movie theater. how did a body go undiscovered for days?

well, the cruise ship accident comes at a terrible time for the cruise ship industry. this is the peak booking season for cruises. and the "costa concordia" situation will drive things down.

overseas markets, they are up on a better than expected economic report from china. it's indicating europe's problems are not dragging down the goebl economy. tokyo's nikkei average rose 88 points. hong kong's hang seng soared 616. the ftse opened higher. last week, the dow gained 62 points. the nasdaq up 36 points. well, wikipedia is going offline tomorrow. the english language version is not going to be available. it's a protest over anti-online piracy bills that congress is considering. the bills would make internet sencensorship easier. if you're a zappos customer, you might want to change your pass word. won of their servers was hacked.

no payment information was exposed, but a whole lot of other personal data for customers was. if you use the same pass word for other sites like a lot of us do, you might want to change the pass words. a fast food chain is testing home delivery for its food. the first burger king in washington will try it. if it works, they may explanned it. there will be a $2 delivery free. you cannot get breakfast and drinks. but you can get fries with that. >> i like it. my kind of food. next, we'll update the tuesday forecast. major winter storm for one corner of the country. if you're thinking about taking a cruise, what you need to know about safety. and the country's number one college hoops team in action, highlights are all coming up.

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in the pacific northwest, seattle and portland are bracing for one of the biggest snowstorms in decades. drivers were already challenged yesterday. seattle could see a foot by wednesday morning. they usually get five inches the entire winter. >> and all this that one swoop. i-5 in northern california will be slick. rainy to savannah and on i-10 from baton rouge to mobile. airport delays possible in boston, chicago, new orleans, washington, d.c., atlanta, detroit, new york city, philadelphia. >> check in the you're going anywhere this morning. it's the story that has so many of us talking. we're taking a look at live

pictures of the stricken cruise shif off the italian coastline. >> there are reports that a seventh body was pulled from the water this morning. >> reporter: if you board a cruise ship, expect that every crew member has gone through drills. each has been assigned a role in the event of an evacuation. but nothing happens until the captain gives the order. in the case of italy, with e know he delayed. >> preez proceed to your safety area. >> reporter: as a passenger, the law says they have to show you how to evacuate within 24 hours. most ships leaving u.s. ports drill before setting sail. on the italian ship, the drill was scheduled for the next day. on board, there are life jackets and lifeboats for everyone. this should work smoothly.

>> the current requirements for ship certification for evacuation assumes that the ship is in upright conditions in dead calm conditions. >> reporter: in italy, it was hardly eye deal. passengers reported climbing over passengers to get to the life boboat lifeboats. disasters at sea are rare, but they do happen. this ship sank after everyone was off. experts say, be prepared. >> be familiar with the ship. know where your assembly station is. take the drill seriously. stateside, police in montana and dd dd are pleading for the help of the public to find the body of a missing teacher. they believe sherry arnold is dead. her body has not been found. two men with felony records are

in custody in regards to her disappearance. a bizarre case of a colorado man missing for five days. george digragio's body was found in the locked bathroom of a movie theater. he apparently died of a heart attack. workers never found him. five days later, employees were placed on administrative leave. we get the highlights of college basketball from espn news. good morning, my name is todd grisham. this is your espn news update. great basketball tames on the floor last night. baylor had to go to kansas and face that man, thomas robinson. later, it's robinson again. what is he going to do? he'll deliver a full facial. and a mani and a pedi.

look at this from taylor for three. kansas up by nine in the second half. taylor keeping it himself. jayhawks up by 11. 4:30 left. taylor gives it up to jeff withy. boo-yah. wow, kansas beats baylor, 92-74. syracuse looking to go 20-0 for the first time in school history. scoop jardine to fair. that was fairly nice. syracuse up by nine. later in the first. jardine to melo. good team word. second half, jardine with the steal. he'll pass. eventually. right there. that's a very unselfish play. give it to everybody. then later, it's waiters. check, please. syracuse, 20-0, ladies and

gentlemen. they win it, 71-63. for all of your highlights, and sports news, you know where to go. espn news, it's what we do. >> they do and they do it well. up next, the falling fortunes of the kardashian clan. and a quick le livery. mom gives birth on a commuter train. >> ouch. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do.

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welcome back. and it's time to check "the pulse," stories you're going to be talking about today. our love affair might be over for the kardashian clan. >> we're saying ours. but we mean collectively. the kardashians are now quote absolutely toxic. >> their show is tanking in the ratings. and magazine sales plunge when any of them are on the covers. >> some are speculating it's backlash from kim's 72-day marriage. others are speculating that their 15 minutes of fame are out and done. they're keeping the makeup industry in business. a newborn from new jersey is coming into the world on a train. they went to the city to find out if their mother was feeling labor pain. it was labor.

it got worse. >> the train went from local to express. police were waiting. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. like many chefs today, i feel the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. and that's what they do with great grains cereal. see the seam on the wheat grain? same as on the flake. because great grains steams and bakes the actual whole grain. now check out the other guy's flake. hello, no seam. because it's more processed. now, which do you suppose has better nutrition for you? mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal.

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welcome back, everyone. the top stories now. authorities are worried about the damage to the environment from that disabled ship, carrying 500 tho,000 gallons of fuel. mitt romney did not do well in a debate last night but an abc news follow shows he's well out in front. bank is looking to foreclose on o.j. simpson's house in miami. he bought the house for $575,000. rain and snow in the east coast. cold in the midwest. the pacific northwest is going to be hit by a powerful snowstorm. so get those shovels out. we all now the perils of distracted driving.

distracted walking could be deadly as well. >> watch this report from abc's yunji de nies. >> reporter: watch this woman texting fall head-first into a fountain. >> is there water in there? >> oh, yeah. it's cold. >> reporter: now it turns out popping in your headphones could be just as hazardous. the number of people killed or injured while walking with headphones on has tripled over the last seven years. the popularity of digital music players has exploded. today, 3 of 4 teenagers use one. the problem is not as obvious as it seems. it's not just that you can't hear the traffic around you. your brain actually stops paying attention to it so that even with your eyes open, you're essentially walking blind. >> your brain is sort of multitasking. we can't multitask haul that well. >> reporter: headphones are just

the latest digital distraction that's made walking and driving more dangerous. do you worry you could get hit by a car? >> sometimes, yeah. >> reporter: we saw this man texting almost get run over. >> you're just texting away. the cargos right by. you barely notice it. you could have gotten hit by that car. what goes through your mind when you see that? >> i don't want to think about it. >> reporter: the problem is bound to get worse as more and more of us look down or listen to the tunes instead of the traffic. yunji de nies, abc news, atlanta. >> we're all guilty of that. we have all had close calls. >> there's definitely panic. maybe i need to put the ipod down for a minute and watch what we're doing. >> and how distracted we are on our phone as well. >> apparently more than half of those on this were hit by