budget cuts. they are boiling over in wisconsin unless your state is rolling in excess cash, scenes like this could be coming to your capital, too. we begin in egypt this hour. ancient land celebrating a new beginning. thousands of citizens back in tahrir square to celebrate their so-called day of victory. exactly one week ago, they achieved the unthinkable through sheer will and staggering numbers. they ousted an unpopular president and, today, they are sending a message to the new government. reporter: hello there, kyra. we are, indeed, just outside tahrir square and show you whatary seeing here. the biggest demonstrations since january 25th when the uprisings began and the mood very festive down there. the crowd is congregating after fire prayers. in the square itself, they had many years who said that this revolution was the egyptian s people and it had only just beg begun. what we re seeing now, kyra, is the happiness, the celebration following the unthinkable, as yo
demonstrators, a few hundred of them were trying to move back into pearl square. he heard the gunshots when we were not at the location. when we arrived there, we were talking to a man who was covered in blood. he said it was from the person who was standing next to him who had been shot in the head, saying that the military standing there was using live ammunition, and an ambulance worker was telling us four had been killed in the initial barrage of gun fire, and as we were having the conversation, second barrage of gun fire, people scrambling and trying to run away from the military. the ambulances already on scene moving in, creating a shield between the military and the demonstrators. ten minutes later, the demonstrators decided to make another push forward. they were stopping, praying, and then moving forward. one man we spoke to saying that they were going to keep this push up. i asked him if he wasn t afraid that he would be killed, and he responded saying there would
sleeping protesters. the dow opening up the highest level in more than two years this morning. wall street booming as things you buy get more expensive each and every day. so will it trickle down? happy friday to you. welcome to american morning. it s february 18th, i m kiran chetry. i m t.j. holmes. we want to start this morning with what we ve seen play out in madison, wisconsin. a budget battle that might be coming to your state. a lot of people calling this labor s last stand. take a look. this was the scene yesterday. we have seen the same scene the past few days now in wisconsin. thousands of teachers as well as state workers protesting major budget cuts and also the idea of stripping them of their collective bargaining rights. now, here s the latest we can tell you from here. madison schools are closed once again today. this would be the third straight day that the students have been out of class. meanwhile, 14 wisconsin senate democrats are nowhere to be found
where despite democrats fleeing the state, state is going to vote today on that controversial bill to strip state workers of their collective bargaining rights. tens of thousands of people are at the state capitol building right now, and schools are shut down for a third day in several districts, because of the teacher wide sickout. even the head of the afl-cio richard trumka is expected to show up at the protests. the democrats who fled the state yesterday in order to postpone the vote are saying they could stay out of wisconsin for several days, even weeks. republicans, even sent state troopers to mark miller s home to tell him to get his colleagues back. msnbc s ed schultz host of the the ed show live in madison-you ve talked to these people. what do you make of the developments where the state plans to move ahead with the vote today? well, the assembly wants to move forward with the vote today, but the 14 senators are still on the lam in the state of illinois at an un
quickly countered saying a president shouldn t attack a governor for tackling the tough, budget problems. vinita and rob? emily schmidt, in washington. thanks, emily. arabs are out in force today, despite a government ban on public gatherings in bahrain. protesters are defiant, saying they will bring down the 200-year-old monarchy. the white house is chastising the government s violent crackdown on protesters. and urging some restraint. the obama administration is also reaching out to support democracy in egypt, redirecting funds once meant for hosni mubarak s government. marches are planned across that country today, to celebrate one week since the end of the mubarak regime. lama hasan joins us, now live, from cairo, by phone, with more. good morning, lama. reporter: good morning. tens of thousands have massed in tahrir square, liberation square, for what they re calling a victory march, celebrating hosni mubarak stepping down exactly a week ago today. and the id