Tuesday, November 13, 2012

USED CAR PRICES GOING UP BECAUSE OF SANDY? 
Used car prices may go up across the country because of Hurricane Sandy. The National Automobile Dealers Association estimates the storm destroyed as many as 250-thousand vehicles in New York and New Jersey, which means people are now looking for new vehicles -- or used ones -- and the demand is expected to make used car prices go up as much as 1,000 dollars a vehicle. (According to car buyers' research website www.Edmunds.com. ) 

HEALTH: FASTING NOT NEEDED FOR MOST CHOLESTEROL CHECKS 
You're going to love this! A new study finds that most people don't need to fast before having their cholesterol checked. Researchers in Canada found that blood tests showed similar AVERAGE total cholesterol and "good" HDL readings .. whether patients had fasted or not. Tell your doctor that study is in the Archives of Internal Medicine. (online)

HOW MUCH FOOD DO YOU WASTE? 
How much food do you waste? Well we apparently waste 50% more food each year than 30 years ago, making FOOD the largest component in our nation's landfills. The average household throws out as much as 40% of the food they buy. That means they're tossing about 100 dollars a month into the trash.

COSTS FIGURE IN TREATING HEART DISEASE
Finally, they're getting it! U.S. Cardiologists are reportedly making a big effort to pay attention to how much it COSTS us when they prescribe drugs, devices, tests and procedures. Meanwhile, the rest of us are facing record high prices for drugs, and lower reimbursement by insurance plans. Heart disease is the nation's number one killer and we have a lot of expenses related to it.

UNWANTED GUNS FOR GIFT CARDS ON SATURDAY
If you have an old handgun you haven't used in years, and you'd just love to get it out of the house and away from the kids, now's your chance to turn it in to cops, no questions asked, and you'll get a 25 dollar Gift Card to Dollar General.
Davidson County residents can trade their guns for gifts Saturday, 8 till noon, at Tusculum Hills Baptist Church.

CANDLE FIRES WARNING
The Brentwood Fire Department has issued a warning about burning candles. We told you last week how this is the deadliest time of the year for candle fires, but the fire department has come up with another scary statistic: 10 thousand homes burn each year at the holidays because of candles. The fire department recommends the flameless candles that run on batteries. And if you use real candles, remember most fires start when people don't keep candles in sight! You light candles in a couple of rooms, then you're off in another room when the fire starts, your child or pet knocks the candle into something, OR you have a couple candles burning and forget to blow one out at the end of the night.

STUDY SUGGESTS LINK BETWEEN PREGNANCY FLU, AUTISM
A new report shows that if a women gets the flu during pregnancy, it can make her twice as likely to have a child who is later diagnosed with Autism. And if the women in the study had a fever lasting a week or longer they were three times as likely to have an autistic child. Health experts say pregnant women should get flu vaccines. Not only will it give them some protection, but it'll help protect the new baby until he or she is old enough to be vaccinated.

NASCAR FINCES, DOCKS GORDON
NASCAR has fined Jeff Gordon 100-thousand-dollars and docked him 25 points for intentionally wrecking Clint Bowyer during Sunday's race at Phoenix International Raceway. Gordon is also on probation the rest of the year. 

KKK VS CLOWNS: CLOWNS WIN
This weekend, a Neo Nazi hate group in Charlotte, North Carolina held a rally, to promote white power. But CLOWN power ruled the day. Hundreds of people showed up, dressed as clowns, and every time the Neo Nazis started chanting about hate, the clowns drowned them out with horns and whistles, and when the NSM mentioned “white power” the clowns threw white FLOUR into the air. Some held up signs saying, “Wife Power”. After a couple of hours the hate group put down their microphone and left.

GROUP STARTS PETITION TO SAVE ANTIOCH TARGET
A group of residents is trying to save the Hickory Hollow Target from being closed. They've started a petition. Target says what it needed was shoppers, and there weren't enough for them to keep the store open past February.

TAYLOR SWIFT TO HEADLINE DICK CLARK'S NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY IN NYC
The headline act has been chosen for Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest. It's Taylor Swift. 
Organizers expect a live crowd of around a million people in Times Square as the ball drops on New Year's Eve. 

ANTI-VIRUS CREATOR WANTED FOR QUESTIONING ABOUT MURDER
This next story is probably about a guy you've done business with. Computer Anti-virus software creator John McAfee is wanted for questioning about a murder case in Belize. Authorities say he's a person of interest, not a suspect, in the death of a neighbor McAfee had been arguing with.

SORRY, MR. AWESOME, YOU AREN'T
Banks, Oregon's new city manager sounded too good to be true. The 33-year-old said in his resume that he'd fought in two wars, worked at the White House, had a doctorate and was Vice president of a company. He got the new city manager job, but someone finally got suspicious. Not because of that amazing resume, but because the City Manager's name is Kyle. Kyle Awesome. When someone started investigating, he disappeared. (KATU-TV/Portland)

GROUP CALLS FOR AUDIT OF DAVIDSON COUNTY ELECTION
A coalition of Nashville poll watchers wants an audit of last week's election.  Tennessee Citizen Action claims the Davidson County Election Commission "utterly failed" last week "to provide equal access to all eligible voters." They say they got 600 complaint calls ranging from long lines, too few poll workers, to polling places that ran out of provisional ballots.
 
MOTORTREND HAS CHOSEN CAR OF THE YEAR: TESLA
The Tesla Model S is the 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year. The luxury 5-door electric sedan fought off 10 other finalists for the Golden Calipers trophy, acing the magazine's six judging criteria in the process. Eleven judges reviewed the contenders, including three guests, and for the first time in the award's history all 11 voted unanimously for the winner. Each car was evaluated on advancement in design, engineering excellence, efficiency, and safety and value. 

SNOWBOARDERS STUCK ON MOUNT RAINIER
Two snowboarders have been stuck on Mount Rainier, in Washington state since Sunday afternoon.  The two have been stranded by a storm that's kept rescuers from getting to them, but the search picks up again today to find the two 21 year olds.

WORLD KINDNESS WEEK
www.randomactsofkindness.org
This is World Kindness Week. You're invited to do at least one random act of kindness for someone by Friday. 

ROMNEY LOSING FACEBOOK FRIENDS
If losing the presidential election wasn't bad enough, Mitt Romney is losing Facebook friends by the minute.   The "Washington Post" reported that soon after election results came in last week, people began unliking Romney's official Facebook page at a rate of 593 an hour.  As of Monday, eleven fans a minute are still leaving the page.  There hasn't been much social networking from the Romney team on Facebook or Twitter since election night.  The only posting from the campaign was a photo of a rather sad-looking Romney with a message thanking supporters that came on Saturday.

THE COST OF THANKSGIVING DINNER, 2012
Shoppers often fret about what they perceive is the ever-rising costs for the goods they need to buy each day. This year, however, they have at least one holiday blessing to be thankful for: the cost of a turkey dinner and all the trimmings has risen only slightly from last year. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation's survey, turkey dinner and all the fixings will cost about $49.48, or just 28 cents more than it did last year. Last year, consumers were hit with one of the biggest price increases for traditional Thanksgiving trimmings in years, after poor weather shrank the size of U.S. crops. This year, the star of the Thanksgiving feast-the turkey-is the main reason for the marginally higher cost. Had it not been for increases in the price of the turkey, the cost of the dinner may actually have been lower.

GILDA'S CLUB NIGHT OF REMEMBRANCE TONIGHT
It is time yet again for another Night of Remembrance at Gilda's Club Nashville. If you've lost a loved one to cancer, this is a very special evening with a remembrance service, candle-lighting, and music by Jill Colucci. You're invited to bring a photo, poem, or other items for display.  If you want to be a part of this evening at 6pm, sign up at 615-329-1124 or email Allison@gildasclubnashville.org now. There will be refreshments, as well.
 
FRIST LOOKING FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS ART!
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is seeking works of art inspired by the holiday season to use as the Frist Center’s cover image on their Facebook Fan page. I do hope that you will consider submitting: www.fristcenter.org/holidaycallforartists.
You've done the art, now get busy sharing it!