Thurs, March 1, 2012

STORMS KILL 3 IN TN, MORE SEVERE WX ON WAY
Severe weather and tornadoes killed four people in Tennessee yesterday. Two in Cumberland County and one in DeKalb County. Twisters also hit parts of Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and southern Illinois, killing six and injuring 100 in the town of Harrisburg.

MORE TN STORM SPECIFICS
To realize how close we came to being hit, severe storms and possible tornadoes tore through towns just an hour east of Nashville, leaving homes damaged, trees down in Smith and Putnam counties, a car crushed under a tree, and in DeKalb and Cumberland Counties, three people were killed. The weather service hasn't officially said tornadoes hit, but trained weather spotters did report at least one tornado. Twisters were also reported in Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and in southern Illinois six people are reported dead and 100 injured.

STORM PICKS UP GREENVILLE MAN'S HOME WITH HIM INSIDE
And in the Greenville, KY, area yesterday a storm chewed up the roof of a school gym and left pieces of it all over the football field. And Steven Vaught says the winds picked up his mobile home -- with him in it -- flipped it, and at one point he was on the ceiling. His home came to rest at the bottom a nearby hill. He needed stitches in his chin but is okay, and says in spite of all he lost, he cried tears of joy that he's alive to see another day. Vaught said, " The good Lord just didn't call. That's all I know."

TN TO INVESTIGATE IF ALLEGED DRUNK DRIVER IN I-65 FATALITY WAS OVER-SERVED
It's against the law in Tennessee for an establishment to over-serve someone alcohol.... and let them leave drunk. So Tennessee's Alcoholic Beverage Commission is investigating where 22 year old Rebecca Benson was drinking before she drove the wrong way on I-65, crashed and killed a woman. Benson was so impaired she told police on the scene she thought she was in a taxicab.

HEALTH: MANDATORY NUTRITION LABELS HIT MEAT
Starting today, you're supposed to see nutrition labels on cuts of raw meat at your local store. New rules from the Department of Agriculture take effect today making the labels mandatory for all ground meat, poultry and steak.

GOOGLE'S NEW PRIVACY POLICY STARTS TODAY
Google's new privacy policy starts today. They're combining the information they gather about you from all their sites, so they can better target you with ads. For example if you write someone on Gmail that you like gardening, you may be bombarded by garden center ads when you're on Youtube. Yahoo already does it. If you look at something on overstock.com for example... ads for those specific items show up on your yahoo mail page.

STUDY: COFFEE DRINKING NOT LINKED TO SERIOUS ILLNESS
A new study shows that for adults, drinking coffee seems to do no harm. No higher rates of heart disease, stroke or cancer. In fact, coffee drinkers are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity, and death. (The researchers concluded that coffee consumption is not harmful for healthy adults. The findings appear in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.)

MICKY DOLENZ CALLS DAVY JONES THE 'BROTHER I NEVER HAD'
Friends and fans of Davy Jones are still in shock over his death yesterday from an apparent heart attack. One of his Monkees band mates, Micky Dolenz, said "Davy and I grew up together and shared in the unique success of what became The Monkees phenomena. The time we worked together and had together is something I'll never forget." Dolenz says, "He was the brother I never had and this leaves a gigantic hole in my heart." Jones had a heart attack at his horse ranch in Florida. He was 66.

TEENS GETTING JOBS TO HELP FAMILIES MAKE ENDS MEET
The economy has led to a shift in who's in the workforce. The labor department says teenagers in record numbers are looking for jobs, trying to help their parents make ends meet.

STUDY FINDS DAVIDSON COUNTY POVERTY INCREASING
Metro Social Services says poverty is getting worse in Davidson County. One in four of Davidson County residents say they're more worried about paying rent than two years ago, and more people are homeless, hungry, uninsured or looking for help from social services than two years ago.

VANDY EMBEZZLEMENT SUSPECTS NOW FACE SEX CHARGES
The charges are growing against two men suspected of embezzling thousndands from Vanderbilt University. Former Vandy law school finance administrator Jason Hunt and his partner Cole Wakefield allegedly used a Vanderbilt credit card to defraud the school of 600-thousand dollars ... and through those investigations of forged checks, police say they discovered the men had sex is with underaged teenagers.

REF. PUNCHES COACH AT POPE JOHN PAUL II HIGH SCHOOL
A referee punched a coach on Sunday during a second-grade basketball game at Pope John Paul II High School, according to a Hendersonville Police Department report. William "Dewayne" Dean was coaching a youth basketball game when he got into an argument with the referee, Ronnie Helton, a local middle school teacher. Helton gave Dean two technical fouls and kicked him out of the game, according to the report filed Feb. 25. The report further states that as Dean was leaving, he grabbed Helton and Helton pushed Dean away and punched him in the face. Helton is a sixth-grade health teacher at T.W. Hunter Middle School. Dean is the husband of Stacia Dean, an assistant principal at Hendersonville High School.

12 SOUTH BUSINESSES FIND NEW LOCATIONS
Three 12th Avenue South businesses displaced by the high-end apartment building construction are said to be settling in or close to confirming new locations. Blackbird Tattoo and Gallery has found a new home at 2506 Franklin Pike, while the Middle Tennessee Roofing Company is moving to 4024 Stewarts Lane. Rumours Wine and Art Bar owners say they are negotiating a lease close their 12 South location.

GANDHI'S GRANDSON REACTS TO POSTHUMOUS BAPTISM
(Salt Lake City, UT) -- The grandson of Mahatma Gandhi doesn't seem to mind that his grandfather was posthumously baptized by the LDS church. Arun Gandhi [[ ah-roon ]] visited Salt Lake City yesterday. Hindu leaders disapproved when the proxy baptism was discovered last month. Gandhi says his grandfather believed in respecting all religions and would probably now say that he's a Mormon too.