Joe Johns is a CNN

CNN

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

 correspondent based in the Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 bureau. He previously worked as an NBC News

NBC News

NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...

 Capitol Hill Correspondent for TODAY and other NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 programs. He also worked as an anchor for WSAZ-TV

WSAZ-TV

WSAZ-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Huntington and Charleston, West Virginia. This area is the second-largest market in terms of area east of the Mississippi River consisting of 61 counties in Central West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and Southeastern Ohio. It broadcasts a high...

 in 1980.

Johns was a star discus thrower at West High School

West High School (Columbus, Ohio)

West High School is a public high school located on the west side of Columbus, Ohio. It is a part of Columbus City Schools. The original building opened in 1908.The school colors are buff and brown. The school nickname is the Cowboys.-Athletics:...

 in Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

. Johns was a four year scholarship track and field athlete at Marshall University

Marshall University

Marshall University is a coeducational public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States founded in 1837, and named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States....

 and was inducted into the Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia

Huntington, West Virginia

Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia, along the Ohio River. Most of the city is in Cabell County, for which it is the county seat. A small portion of the city, mainly the neighborhood of Westmoreland, is in Wayne County. Its population was 49,138 at...

 and a law degree from American University

American University

American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...

in D.C.