Wednesday, Dec 7, 2011

LP FIELD IMPROVEMENTS APPROVED
Metro Council members have approved 28-million dollars in renovations for LP Field. The improvements will include improved video playback screens, a new sound system and better access to the upper sections of the stadium... and will be paid for by a tax on tickets.

CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST TITAN
Prosecutors have dismissed misdemeanor fraud charges against Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt. The 23-year-old had been charged with filing a fraudulent drivers license application in Tennessee... for saying his license had never been suspended. Turns out it had been suspended in New Jersey. Britt convinced officials he didn't know about them.

ALEC BALDWIN KICKED OFF PLANE FOR PLAYING GAMES
http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/alec-baldwin-booted-plane-playing-game-235541220.html
You know when the flight attendants tell you to turn off all electronic devices prior to takeoff? That even applies to TV stars. 53-year-old 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin was kicked off an American Airlines flight before it left Los Angeles yesterday, because he wouldn't quit playing "Words With Friends" and turn off his iPad. His antics delayed the flight an hour. He spent the rest of the day posting nasty tweets online including, "Where retired Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950s find jobs as flight attendants."

DOBIE GRAY PASSES AWAY
http://www.newschannel5.com/story/16204592/singer-songwriter-dobie-gray-passes-away
Singer, songwriter and Nashvillian Dobie Gray, famous for his 1973 hit song "Drift Away" passed away yesterday. Gray had been battling cancer. His first hit was in 1965 'The In Crowd"… his biggest: "Drift Away". Gray owned Quadrafonic Studios on 18th Avenue in Nashville. In 2003 he teamed up with Uncle Kracker to record a new version of Drift Away, which stayed on the charts at number 1 for twenty eight weeks. Dobie Gray was 71 years old.

ROY ORBISON'S WIDOW, BARBARA, DIES OF CANCER
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/barbara-orbison-dies-exactly-23-years-after-husband-roy-orbison-judge-gives-okay-for-beyonce-lawsuit/2011/12/07/gIQAJanIcO_blog.html 
Barbara Orbison, the widow and manager of rock 'n' roll pioneer Roy Orbison, has passed away from pancreatic cancer. She was just 60, and died exactly 23 years after Roy. Since the 1980s, Barbara Orbison devoted her time to managing her husband's estate and keeping his legacy alive.Her Nashville-based music publishing company, Still Working Music recently received BMI's 2010 Song of the Year for Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me. She'll be buried next to her husband in Los Angeles, but there'll be a memorial service here in Nashville. We'll let you know when we get details.

SENTENCING TODAY FOR BLAGOJEVICH
Today is sentencing day for former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich [[ bla-GOYA-vich ]]. He'll be in federal court to find out how long he'll have to serve for his corruption conviction. Blagojevich's lawyers are asking for mercy, and less than a four-year sentence. The government has asked for as many as 20 years behind bars.

TN. WOMAN CHARGED WITH LOCKING MENTALLY CHALLENGED SISTER IN SHED
http://www.wkrn.com/story/16203567/disabled-woman-found-locked-in-shed
A Coffee County woman has been arrested on charges she kept her mentally handicapped sister locked in an 8 by 12 shed behind the house... with no running water, and no windows... feeding her just once a day. Tracy Carman-Thacker was cashing her sister's social security checks and spending them. The 58 year old was found when someone called in a tip to police. Tracy Carman-Thacker has been arrested, her two school-aged kids taken away and placed with relatives for the time being.

HEALTH: HCG DRUGS NOT PROVEN TO WORK AND ARE ILLEGAL
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/06/fda-says-hcg-weight-loss-drugs-are-illegal/
The FDA is warning you about the dangers of trying to lose weight with over-the-counter HCG products. The agency says the products are illegal, and the claims that the drugs work are not supported. HCG is sold online and in stores as pellets, sprays or oral drops.

COOKEVILLE SHOPLIFTER LEAVES BEHIND NAME, PHONE NUMBER
http://www.newschannel5.com/story/16204817/shoplifter-leaves-behind-name-phone-number 
And a shoplifter in Cookeville left behind some incriminating evidence. Before he stole a shirt, he registered for a door prize... leaving his name, phone number and email. He's was also easily found on facebook.

NASHVILLE CREWS CONTINUE REPLACING UNDERGROUND WATER MAINS
http://www.wkrn.com/story/16200612/crews-continue-replacing-underground-water-main
Metro Water Services is still working on replacing those old 100-year-old water mains in downtown Nashville. The project right now goes from between 16th and 21st Avenues... from West End to Jefferson Street to Meharry Boulevard. A temporary water line has been installed until the new ones are in. The project is continued to be completed by the spring.

STUDY: OLDER GENERATIONS ALSO 'CELLPHONE DEPENDENT'
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2011/12/asurion-study-older-generations-also.html
A new study (from Nashville-based Asurion) shows it's not just young people who are cellphone dependent. 32 percent of those between 60 and 64 said a cellphone is their primary means of communicating and that to lose it would cause tremendous disruption to their lives.

MEGABUS.COM OFFERING FREE SEATS
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2011/12/06/megabuscom-offering-free-seats.html
Megabus.com, a cheap express bus service that just started offering service from Nashville to Chattanooga and Atlanta, is offering 200,000 free seats between January and March. You can get details and the code to use, at www.Megabus.com   (Code is "GOFREE" to book seats through the company's website. http://www.megabus.com )

BILLY GRAHAM OUT OF HOSPITAL
Reverend Billy Graham is waking-up in his own bed this morning. The 93-year-old evangelist is out of the hospital after being treated for pneumonia, and back home in Asheville, North Carolina. He says he plans to spend Christmas at his family cabin.

16000 HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS TO GET GERMAN PENSIONS
http://news.yahoo.com/16-000-holocaust-victims-german-pensions-171915634.html
Germany has agreed to pay pensions to about 16,000 additional Holocaust victims worldwide - mostly survivors who were once starving children in Nazi ghettos. That means Germany will now pay reparation pensions to a total of 66,000 people who survived Nazi death camps and ghettos, or had to hide or live under false identity. They'll get about $375 a month.

LYNYRD SKYNYRD TO HEADLINE ANNUAL 'BASH ON BROADWAY'
http://www.wkrn.com/story/16194981/lynyrd-skynyrd-to-headline-annual-bash-on-broadway
Nashville's annual New Year's Eve concert has been lined up... and Lynyrd Skynyrd will headline. The "Bash on Broadway" will be held on Lower Broadway between First and Fourth avenues... beginning at 7 on Dec 31st. It's free... and the countdown will lead to a 15-foot tall red music note... dropped from a 115-foot-high structure at Midnight.

NEW PLANET WITH EARTH-LIKE ATMOSPHERE
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/05/kepler-22b-new-planet-discovered-habitable-zone_n_1129591.html
NASA announced Monday the discovery of Kepler-22b, the first planet the Kepler spacecraft has discovered in the habitable zone, an area with a distance from a star where temperatures will permit the existence of liquid water. The discovery of Kepler-22b, which is 600 light-years away from Earth, brings scientists one step closer to finding a planet that could possibly harbor life.