Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of April 8, 2013. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am.

Ethan Miller, Getty Images
Ethan Miller, Getty Images
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1. Hundreds of Teachers Show Up for CHL Training (link)

I absolutely love this story. More than 700 teachers and administrators attended a free CHL class this past weekend in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. 700! Just imagine if this was held across the state.

A concealed handgun training class envisioned by former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle before his death drew hundreds of educators to a Texas school auditorium Saturday.

More than 700 teachers and administrators attended the all-day session on gun laws and safety at Kennedale High School in Dallas-Fort Worth area, The Dallas Morning News reported.

The free class was organized by Dalworthington Gardens Police Chief Bill and Kyle, who was fatally shot at a North Texas shooting range in February.

"It went from 20 to 30 teachers to the more than 700 we have here today. It just exploded with Chris’ involvement," Dalworthington Gardens Police Chief Bill Waybourn told the paper.

Teachers from across the state and at least one representative from each school district in North Texas attended the class, which was organized in response to the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., according to the report.

Participants who complete the required live-ammunition firing training will be eligible for concealed-handgun licenses, the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported.

Hey school boards and Superintendents, let's see some action on your end. Allow these teachers to carry inside your schools. They aren't the bumbling fools you make them out to be. Many teachers want to protect the students. Let them!

2. Sentimental Value? (link)

Many of you may disagree with this one. The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that your dog has no sentimental value.

Man's best friend is priceless. But a dog gone is worth nothing in Texas.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that bereaved dog owners can't sue for emotional damages when someone else is to blame for the death of a pet. A Fort Worth family had challenged the law after an animal shelter mistakenly euthanized their Labrador retriever in 2009.

Justice Don Willet wrote the 25-page opinion with flourish rarely seen from the state's highest civil court. He opened with a dog-admiring passage from the English poet Lord Byron and opined the heartache wrought by "Old Yeller."

Yet Willet concluded that "the human-animal bond, while undeniable" doesn't elevate to collecting money for grief.

"Measuring the worth of a beloved pet is unquestionably an emotional determination — what the animal means to you and your family — but measuring a pet's value is a legal determination," Willet wrote. "We are focused on the latter, and as a matter of law an owner's affection for a dog (or ferret, or parakeet, or tarantula) is not compensable."

Texas does allow owners to collect damages for wrongfully killed pets that had economic value, such as a prize-winning show dog or a stunt canine.

Jeremy and Kathryn Medlen said equally irreplaceable was their family dog, Avery, although the pet was essentially worthless in terms of market value. Avery wound up at an animal shelter after running away from home, and was mistakenly put down even though a worker at the pound placed a tag on Avery instructing that she not be euthanized.

Adding to the heartbreak, the Medlens had tracked Avery down at the shelter but did not have the $80 on hand to retrieve her. When they returned with the cash a few days later, it was too late.

Thoughts?

3. McCain Doesn't Get Understand (link)

Senator John McCain just doesn't understand why members of the GOP would want to filibuster gun control legislation. According to Politico, McCain doesn't understand what Senator's Paul, Cruz, and Lee are afraid of.

Sen. John McCain says he doesn't understand the threats from some of his Republican colleagues to filibuster a bill on background checks to buy guns.

"I don't understand it," the Arizona Republican said on Sunday of the threat coming from Sen. Rand Paul,Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Mike Lee and nine other Republicans. "The purpose of the United States Senate is to debate and to vote and to let the people know where we stand.”

"What are we afraid of? ... If this issue is as important as we all think it is, why not take ... it up and debate?" McCain said on CBS's "Face the Nation." “Everybody wants the same goal to keep the guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally disabled."

An examination of background checks, he said, is "something that the American people and certainly Congress could be helped by if we have a vigorous debate and discussion."

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he also wants gun legislation to make it to the floor.

"We certainly should be at least allowed to get on the floor and have a debate," he said.

"Please let us go to the floor," he continued. "If we go to the floor, I'm still hopeful that what I call the sweet spot, background checks, can succeed."

Personally, I think it's great that some in the GOP are willing to stand-up for our freedoms. McCain wants everyone to get along and seems to think that Democrats on this issue are just looking out for everyone. Sorry, I don't see it that way.

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These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.

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