Friday, January 18, 2013

There's a new flu vaccine in the works for people with egg allergies, new ATMs may hand out bills smaller than 20s, short people are short-changed on health, there's a huge fish-kill in South Carolina, Nashville gets a snack food superstore, and Dear Abby passes away. Those stories and more all in Today's News, below.

CHEATHAM COUNTY BUS IN ACCIDENT
A Cheatham County school bus was involved in an accident Thursday afternoon on Highway 12 North at Simpkins Drive, near Cheatham elementary school. The bus was rear-ended by a minivan, and about a dozen students were taken to the hospital as a precaution... though it's thought there were no serious injuries. Cops are investigating.

ATMS WORKING TO HAND OUT EXACT CHANGE
If you've ever gone to an ATM machine and needed change... you may be able to get it soon. There are new ATMs coming out that can give you any denomination of bill, even coins if you need them, instead of just 20 dollar bills. Chase and PNC banks are putting the new machines in at their branches and drive throughs.

LANCE ARMSTRONG ADMITS TO TAKING PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS
Cyclist Lance Armstrong has admitted, in a pretty unimpressive way, that he used performance enhancing drugs during his career, and told Oprah Winfrey there's no way he could have won seven Tour de France races without the performance enhancers.
Armstrong said he didn't invent the drug taking culture but he also didn't try to stop it, and that he is sorry for that. It's been suggested he may be coming clean now, after the statute of limitations is up for perjury. 

NEW FLU VACCINE
The Food and Drug Administration has granted approval for a new type of vaccine called Flublok. Some will even be available later this winter.  The reason it's so different, is that flublock doesn't use traditional flu vaccine components --like the killed influenza virus or eggs -- in its production. Instead, it uses an insect virus that triggers a protein, that kicks in your immunity against flu.  You can read more about it HERE.

TESTING FOR POT LAWS UNDERWAY
Speaking of drugs, state lawmakers in Montana are talking about a bill to test drivers for marijuana use in addition to alcohol... now that they're seeing more people driving while high.

NASHVILLE RESTAURANT WEEK ENDS SUNDAY
Ms. Cheap would love this. There are lots of cheap meals this week during Nashville Restaurant Week...  a group of locally owned restaurants offering special prices to get you in to try their food! We have that info at www.mix 929 dot com

ELDERLY WOMAN INJURED IN FIRE REMAINS HOSPITALIZED
A longtime teacher critically injured in a house fire remains in the hospital.  Ninety-two-year-old Margaret Sims suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to the burn unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center following Monday's fire.  Fire crews found Sims in a bathtub and think she was trying to escape the flames.

THOUSANDS OF DEAD FISH ON SOUTH CAROLINA BEACH
Authorities in South Carolina are trying to figure out what caused tens of thousands of dead fish to wash up on a local shoreline, for the second time this month.

ARTIST WANTED FOR SCULPTURE TO HONOR CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Nashville is looking for an artist to create a sculpture to honor the city's civil rights movement.  Mayor Karl Dean says the sculpture will be installed on Fifth Avenue, which is being redesigned into downtown's "Avenue of the Arts." (The city is seeking nationally recognized artists for the sculpture.)

NEW TREND: CHOOSING CHUBBY BRIDESMAIDS
The Slimfast Diet folks say they've discovered a new trend… where brides choose their most overweight friends to be their bridesmaids, so the bride will look more slender, in comparison.

COLORADO MOVIE THEATER REOPENED FOR SPECIAL NIGHT
The Aurora, Colorado movie theater where 12 peole were killed and 58 others injured... reopened last night, for a "night of remembrance" ceremony for those connected to the tragedy.

JETLINERS CLIP AT MIAMI AIRPORT
Two jetliners clipped one another near a gate at Miami International Airport last night.  An Argentine Airlines Airbus with 240 passengers clipped an Air France 777 that was about to pull away from the gate with 350 PEOPLE on board.  The contact damaged one plane's wingtip and the other's tail section but there were no injuries reported. 

SNACK FOOD SUPERSTORE COMING TO NASHVILLE
A snack food superstore is coming to Nashville.  The wholesale cash and carry Merchant's Mart will be the first store of its kind when it opens this spring. The store will carry more than 3,000 items specifically focused on candy, snacks, beverages plus food items and supplies for restaurants, much like a Restaurant Depot or Nashville Cash & Carry. For comparison, a typical supermarket carries about 38,000 items throughout the entire store. Officials say the store will be open to the public, but will also provide a one-stop shop for small restaurants, offices, vending machine operators, non-profit organizations, schools and sports programs.... who need to buy snacks for their events.

DEAR ABBY PASSES AWAY
Years ago, when newspapers were still one of the main ways people got their news, a woman started a groundbreaking column: an advice column. The woman would come to be known as Dear Abby. She helped millions of people with straight-shooting answers to problems from etiquette to relationships. She had Alzheimers, and passed away in Minneapolis, at age 94.

TITANS ADD STAFF, SHUFFLE EXISTING STAFF
The Tennessee Titans are adding to their coaching staff, and shuffling things around. On Thursday, Mike Munchak hired Shawn Jefferson to coach the Wide Receivers, and former Mississippi State head coach Sylvester Croom comes on board to coach the Running Backs. Munchak says the new staff and shuffling around the existing staff is to do what he believes is necessary to put the team in a position to win this year. And Titans fans say... Amen!

WINTER STORM DEATH
At least one person has died in the winter storm that's moving across the southeastern U.S.  A Mississippi man died when he crashed into a tree the storm had knocked down across a highway.

DODGED THE SHOW BULLET
And I try to not use the overused phrase 'Dodged the bullet'.... but this time, I think we did. The Oxygen Network has cancelled the series "All My Babies' Mamas" because they were getting complaints about its portrayal of black men who get woman after woman after woman pregnant, and have babies scattered throughout the communities, often not paying child support. All my babies mamas. NOT coming soon to a TV near you.

SOCIAL SECURITY PHASING OUT CHECKS
If you know someone who gets a social security check, make sure they're switched over to direct deposit soon. The government is going to stop mailing out checks by March 1st. It costs the treasury department more than 4 MILLION dollars to mail out those checks each year and millions of people still haven't made the change.

MANTI TAYO CASE ADDS IDENTITY FRAUD
A young woman from Southern California says she's the victim of identity theft in the hoax involving Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o [[ MAN-tye TAY-oh ]]. The 23 year-old says someone stole her FACEBOOK photo, sent it to TAY-oh.... then started communicating with him, claiming to be her. TAY-oh was later told his online girlfriend got killed in a car crash, THEN found out she never existed.

U.S. TAX CODE GETTING LARGER AND LARGER
This is the month you're supposed to get your W4 from the boss. And in case you were thinking of reading through the tax codes before you file to make sure you don't miss any deductions, well, you'd better start reading now. A tax watchdog group say the U.S. Tax code book is ten times the size of the Bible.

SHORT PEOPLE MORE PRONE TO HEART DISEASE
And I think this just stinks like a rotten egg! Researchers say short people not only tend to earn less and be promoted less, but a enw study finds men who are less than 5'5  and women who are under 5 feet tall have a significantly higher risk of developing heart disease. (signed, 5-foot-tall Anna Marie)