:empty selector not working on column with anchors in some cells?
<table>
  <tr>
    <td class="firstCol">Some text</td>
    <td class="secondCol"><a href="##">A link!</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="firstCol"></td>
    <td class="secondCol"></td>
  </tr>
</table>

$('table tr').find('.firstCol:not(:empty)').parent().hide();

$('table tr').find('.secondCol:not(:empty)').parent().hide();

$('table tr').find('.firstCol:not(:empty)').parent().hide();

$('table tr').find('.secondCol:not(:empty)').parent().hide();

<td class="secondCol">
   <CFIF firstColVal NEQ "">
      <a href='##' value="#firstColVal#"></a>
   </CFIF>
</td>

<td class="secondCol"></td>

<td class="secondCol">
                                      </td>