in tennessee, tourism equals jobs. [applause] we have unique and popular assets across the state, and it's time that we do a better job of not only working to attract people to specific sites but to leverage our resources and have a strategic plan to market our state and tourist attractions. we are including $8 million for a statewide tourism fund to support the work of the tourism commission i appointed shortly after taking office. the industry is already working together in ways that have never happened before. [applause] in everything we do, we look through the lens of delivering state services in the most efficient and effective way possible. we've put a strong emphasis on customer service. as state employees, our job is to provide services to taxpayers that they can't get on their own. through the team act, we tackled state government's antiquated employment system and shifted our culture from an emphasis on seniority to a focus on performance. we're allowing managers to recruit the best and brightest to serve in

you have better food in tennessee.talk to us for a minute about what you have been doing in nashville and what you have accomplished and the impact on the people of your state. >> budget issues about which we all deal with as governors. we have to be pragmatic and practical there. all of us that came in in 2010, all of the federal money from the stimulus when it went away we had to deal with that. we are increasing our savings. after this, about $200 million back in. we cut taxes on everything from groceries to inheritance tax. doing away with the gift tax. and most importantly, what we have not done in tennessee that a lot of other states have done, we have not cut k-12 education. last year we had the second- largest increase. we are going to keep focusing on those things we think are critical. >> one of those things i do not think you have decided on is whether or not to accept the medicare expansion. that has been in headlines the past few days. governor from florida is accepting the money. are you going to accept?

home to nearly all of tennessee's death row inmates. it contains the state's only operating death chamber. yet, even outside death row, the majority of riverbend's convicts are considered so dangerous they remain on lockdown 23 hours a day. you're about to see firsthand the extreme measures prison staff take to control such an explosive population and discover what can happen when so many offenders have so little to lose. nashville, tennessee, is the world-famous home of country music, but just four miles from downtown is home to this state's most violent offenders. it's a high-tech correctional facility called riverbend maximum security institution. riverbend opened in 1989 and sits on 132 acres. it replaced its 100-year-old predecessor, the tennessee state penitentiary, known as the walls. today, riverbend houses close to 700 male inmates, 480 of them are high risk offenders, classified this way because they're a threat to the security of the institution and other inmates. >> we house the worst of the worst including the male inmates,

[laughter] first up, tonight tennessee state senator and lost weasley brother, stacey campfield. [laughter] i first noticed campfield when he demonstrated his knowledge of immunology by declaring that aids was caused by one guy screwing a monkey, if i recall correctly, and then having sex with men. it was an airline pilot if i recall. [laughter] [cheers and applause] yes, and if i recall, it was shortly after that that airlines stopped serving free cocktails to monkeys in first class. pilots couldn't resist. [laughter] i've long-admired campfield's heroic work protecting our students' morals with his "don't say gay" bill-- which proposed banning teachers from discussing homosexuality in school. yes, if you don't talk about something, it goes away. for instance, sarah palin. [laughter] [cheers and applause] the we miss you. [laughter] sadly, the "don't say gay" bill was defeated last spring. but campfield is back with something completely new. >> tennessee state senator stacey campfield has filed the "classroom protection act". it would require counselors to report students' conve

you lost tennessee. >> yeah. >> rose: why did you lose tennessee? >> well,. >> rose: and then you lost arkansas and i will come back to that in a moment. >> well, tennessee and the rest of the so-called upper south has been trending republican since the civil rights move oment. and in saying it that way i don't want to peg it solely to the civil rights movement. but if you look at tennessee, arkansas, gwyn gwyn. >> rose: north carolina. >> north carolina is still a partial exception but even like north alabama used to have liberals elected in north alabama and so forth. and there used to be a progressive strain, particularly in the upper south. and that began to change after brown versus board. >> rose: and then when lyndon johnson did what he did. >> of course he famously said we've lost the south for a generation, turned out to be two or three generations. >> rose: here is the reason i raise the question. because you have been talking about corporate lobbyists. president clinton said to me, and i said to him look, could you have made a difference

tennessee, or home state. tennessee losing about $15 million in funding for primary and secondary education, putting about 200 teachers and aides jobs at risk. approximately 60 fewer schools would get funding. you are on the education and workforce committee. what do you think? in tennessee we have about 65,000 teachers. if it is necessary, there will have to be some rearrangements, no question about that. i am a product of the public school system. i started school in a two-room school with no indoor plumbing. i sort of overdose on education. went to school for 23 years. i am a physician. all of my children went through the public education system. i have a tremendous, tremendous amount of respect for the teachers that taught me. my two first-grade teachers i still remember, and we have to have an america of public education that works. host: do these cuts weaken the public education system? guest: it doesn't make it stronger, that's true. i would like to see different cuts happen. host: here's what else is h

of tennessee. we will also be joined by freshman sen seen -- freshman senator chris >> on this vot , the yeas are 58. the motion is not agreed to. host: good morning, and welcome to "washington journal. republicans launched a filibuster to stop the vote and former senator chuck hagel to serve in the president's cabinet. a new vote is scheduled in 11 days. what you think about the gop's efforts and mr. hagel 'snomination? nomination?s here are the numbers -- online.also find us send us a tweet @cspanwj. here are the headlines in the morning papers. the washington times -- this is the headline in the baltimore sun -- have line in "roll call -- the headline in "roll call" -- meredith shiner joins us. how unusual is it to have the president's pick for defense secretary block at this stage? guest: it has never happen before. a senate has never filibustered the president's pick for defense secretary. the most bizarre thing, and the thing that is most frustrating to people watching this outside washington

all the malpractice left the state of tennessee. the tennessee medical association set up an organization called the state volunteer mutual insurance company, and this insurance company was a mutual company so money that we didn't pay in came back to us at the end of the year. wasn't owned by some stock-traded company. strictry just to give us malpractice -- strictly just to give us malpractice insurance liability that i keep until this day. in the entire time that that company has been in existence, over half the malpractice premium dollars have not gone to injured people. they've gone to lawyers, both plaintiff and defense lawyers. what a terrible system that is to try to compensate someone who's actually been injured, we have no way to do it. less than 40 cents on the dollar that we pay in for 35 years has actually gone to people that have been hurt. that's a terrible system. . we need a better system. my malpractice premiums were $3,000 a year. last year, it was $74,000 and the patients didn't get better quality and better acces

you have better food in tennessee.talk to us for a minute about what you have been doing in nashville and what you have accomplished and the impact on the people of your state. >> budget issues about which we all deal with as governors. we have to be pragmatic and practical there. all of us that came in in 2010, all of the federal money from the stimulus when it went away we had to deal with that. we are increasing our savings. after this, about $200 million back in. we cut taxes on everything from groceries to inheritance tax. doing away with the gift tax. and most importantly, what we have not done in tennessee that a lot of other states have done, we have not cut k-12 education. last year we had the second- largest increase. we are going to keep focusing on those things we think are critical. >> one of those things i do not think you have decided on is whether or not to accept the medicare expansion. that has been in headlines the past few days. governor from florida is accepting the money. are you going to accept?

. >> and it just clicked, tennessee is home.cky. >> is home. >> someone from out of state who understands us. >> i don't know about a hillbilly's who golf. hillbilly's. >> her own grandmother says she's a hollywood liberal. but isn't that what we need? ashley judd, an obama following radical hollywood liberal who's right at home here in tennessee -- i mean kentucky. >> now i think that was karl rove's voice there when it said kentucky. he's -- he knows how to cut a political ad. i guess she's going to have to throw the towel in after that. this is part of a $10,000 media buy by american cross roads. they're worried that mitch mcconnell could be in jeopardy. judd publicist said ashley thanks senator mcconnell and karl rove for their negative attention on this ad. she considers her future plans. she's not really sure. >> she's a huge supporter historically of the university of kentucky athletics, by the way. so tennessee, i'm not so sure. still ahead on "way too early," why you're awake. your bluegrass tweets, texts and e-mails ar

jookin because it originated almost 30 years in memphis, tennessee there it started with a line dance called a gang is it a walk. >> stephen: what is that? >> they call thought because a lot of people like from the urban neighborhoods or from the hood or, um, they used to a -- it was like a confident line dance. mind if you show you? >> stephen: no, please. >> so the gang is it a walk was like a -- gangster walk you see it in crystal palace. we used to go to skating rinks when we were younger. it's like a confident step. [cheers and applause] gang ster walking evolved to jookin. they call it that because a lot of people did it. it was like a sore errority line. if you interrupted or walked through it it was like -- >> stephen: wow. so it's like west side story situation where you are -- gangs fighting with dancing. >> without the any ofs, of course. >> stephen: the dancing itself is so sharp. [ laughter ] this is incredible. you've taken this to another level. someone saw you who was in the ballet world. how did you get discovered by classical dancer? >> i got discovered because i use

a wet ride across tennessee and southern illinois.ain-soaked highways in central and southern florida. >> it looks like a good day for flying. weather-related airport delays are expected only in miami. >>> we have more on the breaking story this morning. the meteorite, bursting through the atmosphere over russia, injuring hundreds of folks overnight. >> it happened overnight in frigid siberia. kirit radia filed this report just moments ago. >> reporter: the meteorite was captured on car dashboard cameras and phones. a bright light streaking across the sky. and then, on the ground, chaos as fragments slammed to earth. witnesses say they thought a war had broken out. the blast shattered windows. over 250 people were injured, mostly from broken glass. it's extremely cold in this part of russia, below zero today. schools closed after the windows were blown out. about 20,000 troops have been sent to the scene, as well as three aircraft who are surveying the damage from the sky. scientists say the meteor shower was not related to an asteroi

in tennessee, we have 13. our school system is funded by county dollars, state dollars and local dollars. local taxpayers put in. and some federal dollars, although the federal dollars are a lot less than you think. for instance, when you look at the entire state of tennessee and these cuts that are going to happen, one department, $15 million, just our city budget is over 60 million in a town of 60,000 people. it's not a big cut, but i agree that any cuts are hurtful to our education system. host: congressman, here's a recent story from "the times news" and quotes you as saying maybe we need to do this. maybe they need to go through. the story says while congressman r omp e says no one will gain, the house g.o.p. has to take a stand. guest: we have to look at this. you cannot spend trillion dollars that's a thousand billion more. no family or business can do that. and the consequences are very dire for this country. there will be a debt crisis. people will not lend us this money. i find it amusing in a $6.3 t

or lebanese in tennessee but from kentucky.her thing when karl rove's super pac pack backs you that's a disaster. this is great news for ashley judd. >> cenk: not so good for mitch mcconnell. how awesome would it be if ashley judd beat mitch mcconnell. >> the only way this tennessee versus kentucky thing makes sense is in college basketball. everyone else is saying i can't believe this. >> cenk: we'll be right back with one last point.

we're watching the tennessee valley for an area of low pressure to develop. it's going to converge on the state as we go into saturday morning. we'll have much more on that straight ahead. >> all right. thanks a lot. now to the breaking news that we first broke on abc2news.com. a mother and her two children are recovering in the hospital after an apartment fire. jamie costello has more. >> the 26-year-old mother and her sons ages two and four, are seriously burned. the fire started on the second flair of the two-story apartment just around 10:00 this morning. when firefighters arrived, they found the mother and her children outside. the smoke alarms were not working at the time. the cause of the fire is still under investigation at this hour. remember, you can follow breaking news alerts sent straight to your email. we're always sending out breaking details on twitter. you can follow us at abc2 news. >>> a baltimore dentist is facing criminal charges because the state board says he was practicing without lap license. dr. zachary press was supposed to be in di

the senate is better for t our country and tennessee are better pour it. i know senator pressler, senator frist are better for it. our staffs are better for it. and i am better for it. ramone narcs i thank you for taking pity on a new senator and for showing me the ropes over the past six years. i thank you for your friendship. wish you and joe the very, very best in years to come. i know when the time comes, tennessee will be your second -- your second home state and will welcome you to retirement with open arms. i yield the floor. mr. corker: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. corker: i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. brown: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: throughout this month, students across my state, across ohio, are reciting speeches by sojourny truth, f

which is close to work from west to the extreme northwest corner of tennessee they had two thousand workers here tennessee's a right to work state there were six non members out of two thousand which may mean it was entirely voluntary what they had yesterday was already stated joy but you don't want to extend that freedom to other people so your argument is that when people have freedom they join but we should coworkers other people just in case they might think for them no no all i'm saying is that the union has to represent the union negotiates a contract the employer agrees they should have to pay some be not membership fee some called an agency fee for that but that representation that we've got to wrap for just just will have more of tonight's big picture already. let me let me i want to wouldn't let me ask you a question. here on this network is we're not in the debate we have our knives out if. we do this right it's about staying there to get here in a situation where b. and i don't want to talk about surveillance me. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for len

. >> bill: tonight, it the state of tennessee causing some controversy.s ther if students engage in homoequal activity and welfare benefits will be cut if the students don't perform well in school. let's take the gay activity thing first, if the school finds out, public school, that the students are involved in gay sex, do they have to tell the parents? guest: no. >> bill: how about overall in any activities. guest: no, because i think it's discriminatory to call the parents. >> bill: the rule is, if we catch you on campus engaging in sexual activity, we're going to let your parents no. guest: let's harken back to when i was in school, a lot of decades ago. i had a boyfriend in high school, and i might have held his hand going from class to class, and you can't do it now >> bill: so you're saying that you can't single out homosexual activity. it has to be all sexual activity. and do you think that schools should be required to report sexual activity on campus to the parents? guest: no, i think they should have to report child abuse and what they consider

low pressure over the tennessee valley, ultimately two different scenarios.ases up late and the bulkheads out to sea. it would strengthening earlier. that would mean more wrap around weather. so we'll be watching that. in the meantime clear and crisp. look at those romantic stars. 52 tomorrow, some sun early. clouds increasing. 34 tomorrow night. some snow coming in through the overnight hours or mixed showers. again, you see how warm it will be ahead of the system,. as any weather begins, i expect it to be rain or a wintry mix. cold air will wrap in early saturday. it's the possibility of a changeover to snow. that's the way it looks right nowment wed and colder for -- right now. windy and colder for saturday. >>> can you imagine being on that crippled cruise ship? it's timely being -- finally being pulled to port. >> we have latest on the disgusting conditions onboard. >> reporter: we're getting our first look at the conditions on the disabled cruise ship, passengers camping out on decks and long lines of food. the job of towing the ocean liner toward mobil

there tennessee's a right to work state there were six members out of two thousand which made me and it was entirely voluntary on what they had yesterday right let's face it joy but you don't want to stand that freedom to other people so your argument is that when people have freedom then killing but we should coworkers other people just in case they might think for them no no all i'm sayin is it's a union to represent the union negotiates a contract the employer agrees they should have to pay some not membership fee some call the agency fee for that but that representation that we've got to wrap for just just will have more of tonight's big picture already. wealthy british style. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. reports on our. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images seen from the streets of canada. giant corporations rule today. that make that euro will join me tonight or kris solomon stuart a cuff and marc harrold let's get back to it what

called judd a quote, obama following radical hollywood liberal right at home here in tennessee. i mean, kentucky. the actress is mulling over a bid against republican leader, mitch mcconnell. the ad was paid for by american cross road. the super pack cofounded by paul roe. >>> more praise for the baltimore ravens. the super bowl champs got a big thumb's up from a house minority leader and baltimore native. >> they beat a mighty champion at the super bowl. as a proud 49er fan who grew up on johnny united in baltimore, going to those games as a teenager and raising my own children on joe montana and steve young, you can just imagine how exciting this game was. >> congresswoman pelosi's district covers that and she was in new orleans for the game. >>> what will go down as one of the easiest drug busts of all time. we'll explain that. you are watching wusa9. we gotta sell the car. where would we even start? get the car. hi howard. get in. hi, good to see you. start with an actual written offer when selling your car, no strings attached. carmax. start here. >>> a segment of the popul

tennessee is home. and it just clicked.nessee is home. >> kentucky. >> someone who knows what is good for us. >> obama care has done so much for us right here in tennessee. >> ashley judd has responded. ashley thanks senator mcconnell, karl rove and their negative allies for all the attention as she considers her future political plans, although a decision hasn't been made yet. the kentucky senate race is obviously high profile with republican leader up for reelection. rove's ad is meant to be a preemptive strike. if democrats are able to topple senator mcconnell, they would be taking a page out of a republican playbook. history tells us. 2004 republicans targeted then tom daschle and they won. 2010, republicans, well, they couldn't wake to take out senate majority leader harry reid. but of course reid survived the challenge from tea partier sharron angle. let's remember, senator mcconnell said his number one priority was to make president obama a one-term president. let's turn to adam green tonight, co-founder of the pccc

joining me now is tennessee republican congressman, marcia bla blackburn.that tease there, congresswoman, having to do with what you said about the grand old party. >> right. >> and since you're from tennessee, it's clear that the only times you want to -- the only word you want to have after the word "grand old" is probable "o "opre." >> you're right. >> but explain to me what you meant by that, when you said over the weekend, that republicans need to get rid of the grand old party. >> absolutely. and this goes back to the convention when we were chairmanning the platform committee. i said, look, gop is our moniker. let's change it. we are the great opportunity party. we are the government of the people party. and chuck, i think that's what is going to unite us. we've got different groups that are having wonderful conversations and quite frankly, i have to tell you, we're a big tent. we love having this individual input, and that is what is going to bring energy and excitement to our party and put the focus on -- we are the party that believes in the indiv

it's rain all the way up into chicago and detroit, even big thunderstorms down into kentucky and tennessee looks pretty impressive. the bulk of the energy will pass to the north. that said, 5:00 we're still dry. 7:00 we're going to have a mix well north and west of town. by that, i mean west of i-81. then 9:00 showers are close. i think if you are at work by 9:00, you're going to be in pretty good shape. coming home a different story. we'll talk about that, what's lurking behind this storm. >> thanks, top. >>> can you imagine the summer olympics without wrestling? the international olympic committee says it's got to go. we're going to introduce you to a local wrestler who hopes he can change their minds and he needs your help. >> after that i'll explain why dumping wrestling from the olympics w >>> a local high school athlete is wrestling for a reversal. his name is kyle snyder and he's got olympic dreams. >> the olympic committee removed the sport he loves, wrestling, from the olympic game starting in 20/20. tonight scott broom takes you into snider's world at good council high school for

so i'm 100% against it. >> reporter: corporal punishment is legal in tennessee. still, some school administrators have decided to ban it. wendell marlowe is a principal of a middle school. he's kept this paddle for over 30 years. four years ago, he decided not to use it anymore. >> i'm not sure why i still keep it. most of my parents at this point in time that have children here do not feel like corporal punishment is appropriate anymore. they feel like better to talk to the child, it's not worth it anymore. >> reporter: is corporal punishment just an archaic form of child abuse or an effective means of discipline? controversial cases like the one involving 5-year-old lucas are once again sparking the debate in america. widad franco, nhk world, new york. >>> a severe winter storm is causing headaches for travelers across the central u.s. today. robert speta is here with the effect of the storm so far and the forecast for the rest of the world. robert? >> we have been watching the storm. it already is causing some problems across portions of arkansas, kansas and m

and i wrote "pulling time in nashville at the walls" which is tennessee state prison, which is shut downnd see me ♪ ♪ they can spare some of the time ♪ >> i let my feelings out in my songs and i wrote old-time country. i don't write anything but old-time country. when i'm under pressure and depressed i write all the time. all i do is write my songs and play my guitar and study the bible and try to stay out of trouble. ♪ oh you can't leave >> though confined to prison, mccullough confided he still had dreams. ♪ with a fool >> i just want to go into a studio and cut a couple of albums and try to make it. what i plan to do is get out and go to church and find happiness. and happiness is that valuable because there's not really a whole lot of happy people that i know. we may smile and laugh and joke, but we're not happy. it's hard to be happy in a place like this. ♪ i know she thought i never thought i'd ever be this ♪ when i close my eyes and watch ♪ when i close my eyes and watch >>> next on "lockup raw" -- >> i chose to be executed by firing squad. >> fear, despair, and violence. "lockup"

i did a little research and it turns out that tennessee williams when he first came to new orleans, he for about a week, and i found letters with the return address having our address. probably the favorite part, no doubt, the balcony. this is a pretty wide balcony as far as balcony's go in the french quarter. to be on a quiet part of this street is amazing. i feel like i'm in europe on this block. it's amazing. >> reporter: those letters she was talking about: tennessee williams actually wrote those letters to his mother just going on and on about new orleans and how beautiful it was and the climate and the people and, hey, i got to tell you, i agree. love the southern hospitality here. all right. so we are gearing up for super bowl xlvii on sunday. and of course we're looking for all of the football fans out here, but where are the 49er fans. is there a shortage? i'm going to let you know coming up. >> i'm going to say probably not but i know they're coming. i know they're coming. >> reporter: i know they're coming, yes, i know they're coming. >> there is a good this weekend, we can'

eat fresh. >>> a huge fire destroying a home in tennessee. the value around $2 million. floors, including the basement were fully involved. five fire departments came out. you get an idea of how large the house is by the shot you just saw. thankfully no one was hurt. >>> 6:39 right now. the music industry celebrated its own with a night of powerful performances. the band fun won for her song of the year. and the black keys were recognized for best rock performance. frank ocean took home a new award this year, best contemporary album and album of the year went to mumford&sons. prince presented the grammy for record of the year. and a collection of performers including elton john made a statement. elton john said that the performance was also in memory for those who were killed at sandy hook elementary. on our abc2 facebook fan page, we asked you to weigh in. if you watched the grammys last night or looking at the pictures this morning, who do you think was best dressed. because cbs asked to tone it down. >> the code was enforced. some listened, some didn't. let us know wh