voting in tennessee? >> no, i haven't had any problems at all until this time. this is the only time that i've had any problems. >> do you feel that this is something that you never thought at this stage in your voting life that you would have to face? are you surprised that they would change and make these kind of strict requirements at this stage in the game? >> no, i never thought it would be like this ever. >> dorothy cooper said she never expected this. at least she does have company in her predicamenpredicament. half a million of her fellow tennesseens do not have the right i.d. only half of the counties have a place to haul your documents to for the clerk to decide whether or not you meet the requirements. the man who sponsored the law, called the new law, necessary, quote, to protect the purity of the ballot box. casting out the manifest impurity. i guess that is dorothy cooper. that's what it looks like in tennessee right now where republicans have succeeded in making it harder to vote for doroth

things are tough in tennessee. people are losing their jobs, their homes, they're under water in their mortgages. unemployment in tennessee in some rural communities is 20% to 25%. now with the stroke of a pen they're losing their vote as well? their right to vote as well? you know, this law will affect people -- senioring like mrs. cooper, but it's also going to affect a lot of other people. at the affect people in the disabled community, it would affect those who work two and three jobs just to make ends meet, just to put food on their table. they don't have the luxury of taking off work without losing pay to stand in line for hours on end. >> can this be repared? >> i think it can be. i think that the people of ten seeing are reasonable. we believe in free and fair elections. all we need to do is convince. state legislature that we are against this bill, this law. >> now, judith, let me show you something, let me show you what really was amazing to me. the chattanooga times free press showed that 126,000 seniors

here's the state of tennessee tennessee -- could i ask for three more minutes? a senator: i certainly have no objection. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: i thank the senator from kansas and i'll kind of speed up my comments a little bit. might take four unless that's a problem. mr. moran: i have no objection. mr. alexander: i'd like to finish my point if i may. the state of tennessee,the one rates rays to the top. developed the sanders model which was the first real way that we related student achievement to teacher performance. may sound easy, it's pretty hard. nobody else would do it, this professor in the university of tennessee agriculture department, a statistician said i think i can do it and did he it and it's used many places but not every place. some don't have confidence in it. but so tennessee wins $500 million in race to the top to do what? have a teacher-principal evaluation program. here they're doing it. 25 years of experience and it's the front page news, evaluations of teachers contentious. all the struggles with that pro

this is the tennessee prison for women. >> we have everything here from forgery to murderers. it does look like a college campus. but we have surveillance cameras everywhere. we have random strip searches. we have cell searches. our main objective is to keep the inmates safe and our staff. we want our staff to be able to go home to their families every day. >> hey, hey, move, move, move, move. >> fight! >> hey, everybody in their cell now! >> in here, just as in any men's prison, correctional staff can find themselves in the middle of a sudden outbreak of violence. >> sit down, sit down. up to unit one. >> go to your room. shut the doors. >> if you all don't get in your cell, i'm going to take everybody to jail. >> you don't have to do this, man. >> come on, let's ride. >> there was a physical altercation on unit one. inmates were separated by staff on the units and the yard officers responded. the one that initiated the incident has been taken to the pad cell. >> this time, a potentially violent situation is quickly contained. but some of these inmates committed acts of viole

i knew the medical family in tennessee. i met him through the american academy of forensic scientists and i rode a forensic pathologist, the medical school in memphis. i wrote francisco and said i accepted the job from the university of tennessee and i will be joined in a few months and he wrote back immediately and said would you serve as forensic anthropologist for the medical examiner and i wrote back and said sure. in those days there were no e-mails so we had to write. anyway to make a long story short i get here and he writes the 95 medical examiner's of tennessee that they have somebody on the staff to identify skillful remains. they said dead bodies. okay. wasn't long after june 1st when i arrived that bodies started coming for the medical examiner system. those were some that you saw -- to make a long story short i was so interested in that question, how long has somebody been dead, we didn't do it in kansas but here was the opportunity to begin that research. so i went to the dean in november of 71 and i said i ne

in tennessee. it claims to create standards for these giant pools that would ensure a t.v.a. catastrophe won't happen again. but in fact it excludes several key safety requirements such as just accounting for earthquakes or surface erosion and even worse the very minimal requirements that are included in this bill only apply to new impoundments that are built starting three years after this bill is enacted. that's right. nothing even starts for three years and it's got to be brand new. so more than 430 impoundments that we know of and are in use today are not even going to be covered by this bill, and they have been built by old standards, not by the new standards. that's like finding a fatal flaw in a car that's on the road but only requiring car companies to fix the ones that have not yet been built and won't even come on the road for three years, or like finding e. coli in chicken, on grocery store shelves but rather than issuing a recall today for the stuff that's on the shelves, they say there

at tennessee tech university in cookeville, tennessee, cain declared he liked this banner. honkies for herman. >> i'm sure some of your neighbors and friends and colleagues or family member, you're going to one of those tea party rallies? yeah. they're trying to intimidate you to stay home. but aren't they a bunch of racists? well -- >> no! >> when i looked in the mirror this morning i was black. >> reporter: over the weekend cain barnstormed through tennessee attending six rallies. there are fewer than 20,000 people who live here in humphreys county, tennessee. but this turnout is huge, particularly for an area where so few people live. >> all of a sudden the long shot isn't such a long shot any more. how about them apples? >> i like romney, and if he gets the nomination, i'll support him. but i think that herman cain is more in touch with what the people want. >> he seems to be a straight shooter, and just like some of the conservative views that he's putting out there. >> i think he's more like me than anyone else running, and i vote for him. >> reporter: tell me why you

you were in tennessee. my question as a former candidate in this part of the game, what on earth are you doing in tennessee instead of iowa or nengw hampshire or south carolina? >> well, the reason -- the reason is real simple, mike. you know some states have changed the schedule as to when they are going to hold their primary. some states are still trying to decide whether they are going to use proportion allocation for who is going to win versus winner take all. what this has done is it has compressed the campaign season leading up to primary and caucus season. that means that states like tennessee are going to have a much bigger impact than they would have had traditionally. so it makes all the sense in the world to spend some time in tennessee. next weekend i'm going to be in iowa. forgotten about iowa and new hampshire, south carolina, but tennessee is going to be much more important than it has been in the past. >> mike: i was going to ask you >> worried that question next when talking about herman ca

what happened tonight is far different than that, and that's why my friend from tennessee poppedded the question to the majority leader. we had a bill and it may be a messaging bill, but if it's passed, it would be a significant piece of legislation. i think both sides acknowledge this, and no amendments were allowed precloture, and no amendments have been allowed post-cloture, and the majority leader this very day after the cloture vote assured the senate that we would be operating under an open process. process, he said those words. of not only that and perhaps the majority leader when i finish in just a moment or two could -- could correct me, but i believe i heard the majority leader say we would be allowed to offer motions to suspend the rules on a number of amendments and debate would be allowed. now, what occurred was senator coburn offered his motion to coburn offered his motion to senator coburn offered is a motion to suspend the rules on his amendment.e and we assumed that we would bea able to do this on at least a few amendment.ndment t but the very first amendment that was o

this is in bartlett, tennessee. a two-day bus tour. remember, tennessee holds its primary in march. it is going to be on march 6th which shapes up to be this year's super tuesday or next year's super tuesday. this event right here is hosted by the mid south tea party. as you know, herman cain, former godfather's pizza ceo has been on the rise in the polls both nationally and in state polls. he's been the talker on the campaign trail because of his 999 plan. i think we may hear more of that tax plan today at that rally in tennessee, fred. >> thanks, paul. see you throughout the weekend as well. for the latest political news, go to cnnpolitics.com. >>> top of the hour now. i'm fredricka whitfield. let's get you up to speed. >>> new york police dodged a showdown with occupy wall street protesters today. police arrested 14 people for blocking traffic and turning over trash cans as this cnn i-report video shows. officials had told demonstrators to get out of the park they call home base so that it can be cleaned up. but then michael bloomberg, the mayor, says the park's private owner cal

it makes sense to spend time in tennessee. next weekend i will be in iowa. i haven't forgotten iowa and south carolina and new hampshire. >> worried that question next week. you caught lightning in bottle. a few weeks ago they were not talking about herman cain and now they have talked about herman cain. i have been there it is a good thing and people are talking about you in ways you wish they wouldn't. now they are digging up everything you said and did and discuss personally how are you and your family dealing with the sudden moment in the spotlight and criticisms and some of them personal crit sitches that come. >> that is a great point, you have been there. since the beginning of my campaign, i have left my family out of this. i have been criticized where is your wife in she's at home. i want to go home to machine who is sane and she maintains that calmness and tranquily and my wife provides calmness and tranquility and with all of the new found attention that i get, i am used to it and i can handle it. my family is not subjected to it. they will eventu

twitter.com/booktv. >> and now from knoxville, tennessee, university of tennessee history professor dan feller shows us the papers of andrew jackson. a 17-volume series of andrew jackson's speeches, letters and other writings. >> the andrew jackson papers is a project that's been going on for several decades now to collect and order and transcribe and publish andrew jackson's complete documentary record; every letter he wrote, every letter that was written to him, his presidential messages, his military orders, the scraps of paper on which he wrote notes, the autobiographical reminiscences that he occasionally penned, everything. every piece of paper which still survives on which andrew jackson left his dna and publish this in a series of volumes as a permanent record to be used by historians and anyone curious. i've been working on the project eight years as the director of the project. way back in the 1980s i was an assistant editor on the project. and the project, we planned 16 or 17 volumes. we've published eight of them. volume nine is about to come out. we're in the middle of the

other areas of wet weather today, memphis, tennessee, a chance of a storm. so, we had record highs yesterday in areas like atlanta and now the cold front and rain's coming in. >> reality sets. >>> well, europe sinks stocks again. a blackberry peace offering? and the app that nailed a cheating wife. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. >>> plus, hollywood cat fight. a war of words between two women who apparently have been feuding for quite some time. >>> coming up, a pro bowl wide receiver is traded. the jets get a much needed lift. a victory that was 15 years in the making. you're watching "early today." >>> good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here are some of your top headlines this morning. according to a new gallup poll, a record high of 50% of americans now support legalizing marijuana use. that's up from 46% last year. support is highest among liberals and adults under 30. >>> texas law enforcement officials say several mexican drug cartels are leauring amerin children as young as 11 to work in their smu

he said you just really need to go back to east tennessee. i filled out application after application after application. >> i have adult children right now. my son in particular. >> because we have a situation where a lot of people are working class and working poor are going into the military and finding a steady stream of income, sometimes for the first time in their lives, they are reluctant to stop and say, i don't care if the war is wrong, i don't have another way to feed my family. it doesn't matter if i have posttraumatic stress, because i need that health care for my children. >> we have talked a lot of people, and they say these people are going to college and getting in education, they would not have this problem. to me, that is nonsense. a person's education or lack thereof does not give you the right to tell them that they cannot provide for their family. >> i feel pressure to find a job and contribute to our household, and to begin to reestablish myself, i was living my own -- living on my own. i now have student loan debt, and i

. >> we met edward mckowen in tennessee at the river bend institution. >> i was ordained as a catholic priest of the diocese of nashville in 1970. i served as an active priest for 19 years at which time i was in effect mustered out of the priesthood because of my behavior. i am in effect a child molester. >> according to police investigators, mckowen admitted to molesting 22 boys, both during and after his time as a priest. the statute of limitations had run out on all but one. it got him a 25-year sentence. >> i certainly had some anxious moments when i walked in because of the way child molesters are traditionally treated in prison, which is not very good, you know. but the truth is, i have not been mistreated at all, either by inmates or staff. >> mckowen is lucky, as sex offenders go. he's assigned to the prison's one minimum security wing where most of the inmates are more interested in going home rather than getting in trouble. it's not the only positive thing mckowen sees in his incarceration. >> i was a catholic priest for a long time. i was then and i am now, you know, a perso

. >>> a tennessee man made a startling discovery in his backyard. yep, that is a two-headed snake. the body is shared but both heads on the baby king snake have functioning brains. because of the snake's chances for survival in the wild slim it will be cared for by a nearby university. >>> in tennessee, an odd couple is turning heads on their outside strolls. max the parrot can be seen hitching a ride on his house mate, norman, the german shepherd. the connection between the two may have something to do with the fact that the parrot can actually call norman out by name. can i hitch a ride, norman? who knows. now let's check in with bill karins for the weather channel forecast. >> have you ever been in tennessee, smoky mountains? >> nashvegas, of course. >> if you're going to be heading up there this weekend, the leaves are starting to change up in the smoky mountains. it's moving south to the high elevations of the appalachians. lower elevations you'll probably have to wait a little closer to halloween. it is that time of year. and we have some rain out there, probably bringing dow

this weekend, knoxville, tennessee. it posted by comcast, our local content of vehicles locations in knoxville to celebrate the history of literary culture of that city. here is a little bit of mayor daniel brown talking about the history of the current day makeup of knoxville. >> knoxville is a city of about 178,000-plus people. it is a city that had divided loyalties during the civil war. a lot of people were pro-union. some were for the confederacy. knoxville is a city where football is very big with the university of tennessee. we have a 100,000-seat stadium. with a population of about 178,000-plus, and it is full every saturday when they have a home being -- home game. it is a city that has its own unique style and flavor. you have people here who are descendants of scotch irish. in the african-american population is about 17%. in some cities in the south we have majority black population, if you go further west in this state, in meant this or nashville. if you go back to the history of this area, because of the hi

i will save taxpayers money and i will be able to help demonstrate, built on the tennessee foundation of what it means to reform our criminal- justice system through the eyes of the sheriff's department. i would be honored to have your support. please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. it has been an honor to serve you as a supervisor and i would be honored to be your sheriff. >> the league of women voters and sfgovtv have been honored to bring you statements by all four candidates for share of. >> my name is paul miyamoto and i make captain in the sheriff's department and i can't edit it for sheriff in this election. our department finds itself in a very neat situation on the eve of a significant change in the criminal justice system. our share has decided to retire after close to 32 years. the best person to continue his legacy and build on his foundation is someone who has been a part of carrying out that vision. that is me. i have professional experience in the operations and management of this department. i have risen through the ranks of all positions in gai

the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: our country has endured a 9% unemployment rate for a longer time than since the great depression yet the majority leader is reluctant to address this joblessness in a serious way. one way to address it would have been to take the three trade agreements northed four and five years -- negotiated four and five years ago and send them up to the senate and house and let us ratify them and let us move ahead to avoid losing 350,000 jobs, as an estimate of the united states chamber of commerce, or create as many as a quarter million jobs. that's an estimate of the white house. yet, yet those three trade agreements had been sitting on the president's desk since the day he took office nearly three years ago. they arrived yesterday, or monday i suppose it was. and they're here waiting for us to act on them. every day we don't act on them delays the day when we avoid losing 350,000 jobs or create 250,000 jobs. that's been the case every day for the last nearly 1,000 days. that would be

like i didn't realize tennessee with all all homeland security money like this has just been over were disproportionately spent in places were no terrorist is ever going to go and it's a way for local police agencies to get fancy quickly being the perfect example of that well and also i will note that all kind of people would blend in really well with the people in the appalachians. ok you know you gotta love europe we showed you a kind of a campaign ad from a girl the other week now take a look at this banking ad from the czech republic. you know i wish banking was like that for me if your every day lets you have a night of air like you know now apparently baking in the czech republic is make awesome experience you'll strangely triumphant. and powerful after having watched the czech republic is the best country in the world i think this is proven again when i used to live there they had a political party called the friends of beer where their program was to serve a few beers and every rally had like topless girls having a beer so great country this is a. bunker commercial by the way t

in tennessee the story of dorothy cooper is not just an infuriating story anymore. now it is a rallying cry the state democratic party trying to rally voters against how much harder tennessee republicans have just made it to vote there. and tennesseeans launching a new effort like ohio, like maine, like arizona, to get this thing on to the ballot for a citizens recall. people are fighting back. these are state by state laws, but of course, the cumulative effect is national and pretty obviously intentional. to structurally tilt the playing field so state laws about elections make it harder for likely democrats to vote. and therefore more likely for republican candidates to win. in the next election and every election after. the democrat senate campaign committee nationally announced at the national level the dscc will be fighting back. they're asking for help from the justice department in protecting voting rights state by state and also say they'll be making a renewed push to register voters and mount get out the vote efforts in the states targeted by republicans ch

to vote in tennessee. fighting for justice isn't easy. but it's powerful. joining me now, mike turner, the tennessee house democratic chairman who is fighting to repeal the voter i.d. law and judith brown, co-director of the advancement project, civil rights organization focused on issues of democracy in race. thank you both for joining me. judith, what is the best way to fight these radical laws? >> you know, reverend sharpton, we're finding ourselves in a moment where americans are connecting the dots to greed. so americans are fighting back. we're seeing folks in tennessee take it on, in pennsylvania where it's still being considered. there was a rally just a few days ago. because americans are sick and tired. we know that we cannot allow voter suppression to take our voice away and we are going to fight it every step of the way. >> now, that may seem to some people watching us like it's extreme, but let me show people the founder of alec, paul wayrick in 1980 talking about how he skpt wadoesn't want ever voting. >> i don't want everybody to vote. electi

the only member of the tennessee delegation to vote against it, and it cost him his job. jackson and the others found a candidate to run against him, and they took his seat. as crockett explained, he was beat by a one-legged man, but he also came up with his famous quote which he said many, many times, "y'all can go to hell, and i'm going to texas." [laughter] now, he department go to -- didn't go to texas out of a fit of patriotic honor or something for those rascals down there. anglos were coming into the republic of texas and settling with permission from the government for years, starting with moses austin. they kept coming, and they didn't always abide by the laws, the laws means to speak the language, spanish, to join the mother church, and eventually not bring slaves. slavery was abolished in moment koa long -- mexico long before we got around to that, but these gentlemen and ladies, largely southerners, a lot of land speculators and slave traders, two of the largest slave traders in the country, kept bringing their slaves in, and this is what crockett faced when h

now tennessee do they have hunter back? maybe. and they got the the other they're not losing that one. >> verne: and what's the game. >> gary: the one with lsu. that might be on their schedule until the last game. how about the at auburn game again. that thing always turns out funny. >> verne: yes, it does and jason hunter from tennessee is out for the year so they're going to miss him. it's like flying with one wing. >> gary: right. >> verne: phillip sims is in at quarterback replacing mccarron and the entire offensive line left and there's a decent contingent of alabama fans behind the crimson tide bench and none of them have left i promise you >> gary: and to highlight the job by the offensive line they've produced running yards, 232 but also remember this, no sackses in this football game. not one sack given up by this alabama football team. second down. not this time. fowler dropped all the way back to the 40. there's john michael boswell is in there and there's barrett jones on the right. barrett jones a delightful, calls hi

. >> tonight bottled up outrage in lynchburg, tennessee. days after dozens of wild animals rampaged through ohio, new clues about conditions at their farm. tonight what inspectors reported low found when they went for a visit. nine years, nearly 4500 american lives and more than $800 billion. the war in iraq will be over. the final troops home by the end of the year. president obama making that promise hours ago. >> the last american soldier will cross the border out of

that area of green at the bottom of the screen, there's some light rain in north carolina, eastern tennessee. that's advancing to the north. does look like that may arrive here this afternoon. only a small chance of a few sprinkles, otherwise, a cloudy day. highs reaching the low 70s. overnight tonight, the rain chances are still rather small through the evening. then they increase and become likely after midnight. by then they'll be in the low 60s. a look at the rest of the week and the weekend. nice changes on the way for that. that will be in ten minutes. danella, how's traffic? >>> let's take a look at live cameras starting with 270 in clarksburg. not seeing any problems just yet traveling on 270 heading north or south. if you're traveling in virginia taking 95 at the occoquan, still checking 95 in both directions. not seeing any issues as you continue on to 395. 395 islear from edsall.

now tennessee do they have hunter back? maybe. and they got the the other they're not losing that one. >> verne: and what's the game. >> gary: the one with lsu. that might be on their schedule until the last game. how about the at auburn game again. that thing always turns out funny. >> verne: yes, it does and jason hunter from tennessee is out for the year so they're going to miss him. it's like flying with one wing. >> gary: right. >> verne: phillip sims is in at quarterback replacing mccarron and the entire offensive line left and there's a decent contingent of alabama fans behind the crimson tide bench and none of them have left i promise you >> gary: and to highlight the job by the offensive line they've produced running yards, 232 but also remember this, no sackses in this football game. not one sack given up by this alabama football team. second down. not this time. fowler dropped all the way back to the 40. there's john michael boswell is in there and there's barrett jones on the right. barrett jones a delightful, calls hi