Heath Ledger Passes Away

Cable news networks have been updating its viewers all evening on the latest concerning the death of Hollywood actor Heath Ledger at the age of 28. The news broke in the 3:00 hour this afternoon. CNN and FOX News Channel have been devoting a large amount of time to this story. At this hour, Anderson Cooper and Greta Van Susteren are covering the tragedy. Headline News' Showbiz Tonight will have complete coverage at 10:00 as well!

BREAKING NEWS: Matt Blunt Won't Seek Second Term

The KY3 Political Blog and news websites from across the state have been breaking this story over the last few minutes. KSPR just aired the televised message from Matt Blunt. They were first station to do so in the Springfield or Joplin market. More to come as it develops...

UPDATE: KY3's political blog has the entire press release here.

UPDATE 2: KY3 has announced they will carry a press conference by the governor, which will air at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. According to KOMU's website, it appears they will cover it as well. I will be working to find out which stations will and won't carry the press conference.

Breaking: Fred Thompson To Leave Republican Presidential Race

We knew it was only a matter of time, but now it is official. TV Newser is reporting that Fox News was first with the news at 1:16 p.m., followed by MSNBC at 1:22. CNN was last with the news at 1:25.

Pujols Still Mad; KTVI Banned From Presser

According to my copy of the Sprinfield News-Leader this morning, Albert Pujols is still upset over false rumors about his name being in the Mitchell Report. This report discussed baseball players using performance enhancing substances (ie: steroids). KTVI, the FOX affiliate in St. Louis, ran reports about Pujols possibly being mentioned in that report, citing a New York TV station's website. I blogged about this story last month.

Yesterday, at a press conference, Pujols asked that the cameraman and reporter from KTVI leave the room where he was speaking. Pujols was apparently following the tride and true piece of advice passed down for many years... Don't get mad. Get even!

Yikes! That has to sting.

Here Come The Ads...

While it might not technically be directly news related, it is part of the news cycle. Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama has started running ads across the state. KY3 Political Reporter David Catanese blogged late last week about the Democrats and their ad ambitions.

I have seen the ad for Obama running at news time in Springfield markets and know it is running in St. Louis. It will be interesting to see how saturated the airwaves become with ads around newstime in the next few days leading up to Feb. 5th primary.

New Link Added: Simple Thoughts

The News2K has added a new link to its blog roll... Simple Thoughts of a Complex Mind. It is a great read! Be sure to check it out early and often.

KMOV Wins duPont Award

KMOV recently was awared a silver baton award from the duPont-Columbia University Awards. Only 13 television stations in the country received the honor. The award was given to the story reported by Craig Cheatham about East St. Louis school districts and their continued struggles to meet the educational demands of its communities' children.

John McCain Wins SC Primary

FOX News called the South Carolina primary first, followed by MSNBC. CNN just called the race. The polls closed about 2 hours and 15 minutes ago.

Hillary Wins; McCain and Huckabee Down To The Wire

All of the news networks called Hillary's Nevada win a few hours ago.

Now the focus turns to South Carolina where it looks to be extremely close between John McCain and Mike Huckabee. Polls close there at 6:00 local time. The News2K will be following this story throughout the evening.

Cable news networks main anchors covering the primary:

MSNBC: Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann
CNN: Wolf Blitzer
FOX News: Brit Hume

Nevada Republican Caucus: FOX News and MSNBC Call Race; CNN Finally Joins It

**UPDATE** CNN has finally called the Nevada Caucus for Mitt Romney at 1:00 p.m. If it took them this long to call Nevada for the Republicans, it may be a long afternoon for the Democratic Caucus... not to mention the SC GOP Primary.

FOX News and MSNBC called the Republican caucus concerning Nevada at the beginning of the 12:00 hour. Still, at 12:45 p.m., CNN has not called the race. Entrance poll data from CNN has this a close race between Romney and Ron Paul. Is that why CNN is holding the call? More as it develops...