—From Franklin, Tenn.

Nation: Six people are dead after the derailing and crash of a New York bound Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia around 9:00 last night. Some of the train cars rolled on their side and passengers were tossed from their seats. Dozens of the 243 passengers went to the hospital. Six are in critical condition.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said he visited the scene and “It is an absolute disastrous mess.” The cause of the accident has not been determined.

Trader Joe’s: Senate Democrats jammed President Obama yesterday in his quest for “fast track” authority to approve an Asian trade deal. Democrats are worried about the affect on American jobs and only one Senate Democrat voted with the Republicans to move ahead. A prominent opponent is Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren who told NPR that private corporations have been heavily involved in forging the so-far secret deal and, “The way I see this, that’s a tilted process, and a tilted process yields a tilted result.”

No Moss: They say never to sue anyone who buys ink by the barrel, but the associate dean of students at the University of Virginia is suing Rolling Stone Magazine for its portrayal of her in a discredited November story titled “A Rape on Campus.” The suit by Nicole Eramo demanding $7.5 million says the article falsely reported that she was “indifferent” and did “nothing” about the accusations of rape. Eramo says the article had a “devastating effect” on her career and reputation.

World: Dozens of people are feared dead today in a fire in a Philippine slipper factory. Sixty are reported missing.

>A US Marine helicopter carrying six Americans and two Nepalis is missing after the latest earthquake in Nepal. Reports unconfirmed by US authorities say it has been spotted in a river.

Pray Tell: The number of Americans who say they have no religion has grown by seven percentage points in the last seven years, according to the Pew Research Center. Fifty-six million Americans are non-religious, the largest group after Christian evangelicals. At the same time, the number of Americans who call themselves Christian has dropped by eight percentage points, about five million people.

Diagnosis: Sandra Lee, the television foodie host and girlfriend of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, announced that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will undergo a double mastectomy. Lee said the diagnosis came early in the disease.

The Obit Page: William Zinsser, a writer of great clarity whose book “On Writing Well” sold $1.5 million copies, has died in Manhattan at age 92. He preached brevity, simplicity, and writing in your own voice. He said in his book, “There’s not much to be said about the period except that most writers don’t reach it soon enough.”

Meat and Two: Puckett’s Grocery and Restaurant in Leiper’s Fork, Tenn. is what’s known as a “Meat and Two.” Choose your meat and pick two sides. Turkey meatloaf barbeque or pulled pork. Choice of corn, fried okra, mashed potatoes, turnip greens .. you get the idea. Best to have a beer with it. You can carve your name in the table if you want.

Nearby Franklin is where the Union and Confederates fought one of the closing battles of the Civil War. The Army of Tennessee lost 6,000 men killed and wounded slamming against an entrenched Union force, and that was it for the Tennessee rebs.

Today the locals are fighting to preserve this rolling Tennessee horse country, which is being carved up for developments and enormous McMansions, leaving more scars on the land than the armies of 1864. The South is still fighting to preserve a way of life and losing.

-30-