Wednesday September 5, 2012

SICK TENNESSEE
This would be a good day to keep your hand sanitizer with you, and to spray or wipe-down all surfaces with those disinfectant wipes. There's some allergy/asthma/respiratory thing going around and it's made a lot of people sick. Remember that every time you touch a door knob, a PEN that's used by other people, or a phone that someone else has used, you could be picking up those sick germs.

NOTE FROM ANNA MARIE:
As I bought my Mucinex and Nyquil last night, the store pharmacist said she's seen a flood of people in the past week and a half coming in to buy stuff to get some relief. 

BE AN EXTRA ON ABC SERIES SHOOTING IN NASHVILLE 
If you have some time on your hands and need a little cash, ABC is hiring extras for "Nashville," the new primetime series that starts next month. You can get details at OnLocationCasting.net... and they say they're looking for all ages, all types of people for extras. 

CANDLELIGHT VIGIL TO BE HELD SATURDAY FOR MURDER VICTIMS
The family of the three people stabbed to death in Bellevue is planning a candlelight vigil Saturday at Red Caboose Park. The event will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Red Caboose Park is on Jeanne Road.  A benevolence fund has also been established at the Pinnacle Bank on Highway 70 to help pay for funeral expenses for Marylea Jordan, her daughter, Michelle Pinkowski, and Pinkowski's 14-year-old son, Jonathan Culpepper.

MAN ACCUSED IN TRIPLE STABBING IN STABLE CONDITION 
Meanwhile, the man accused of stabbing them is now in stable condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Forty-one-year-old Craig Garber, who reportedly has mental illness, stabbed himself after he killed his victims.

ZOOKEEPER INJURED AT NASHVILLE ZOO
An employee at the Nashville Zoo is recovering after being injured by an anteater.... in the breeding facility at the zoo. She was treated and released from the hospital... the anteater is not one that's on display.

DNC CONVENTION UNDERWAY, SOME WANT BETTY WHITE FOR SPECIAL GUEST
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/09/betty-white-democratic-convention-petition-clint-eastwood-/1
First Lady Michelle Obama capped off the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. 
Former President Bill Clinton headlines tonight's session, President Obama will speak tomorrow night. There's a push online, to have Betty White play the role Clint Eastwood did for the Republicans, and introduce Obama. (www.thechange.org)

HUNDREDS OF PHONE BOOKS ILLEGALLY DUMPED IN SOUTH NASHVILLE 
Do you still use a paper phone book? Apparently hundreds of them were NOT delivered to their intended recipients, and weren't missed. We're going to have to use taxpayer money to pay metro public workers to clean up Mill Creek in South Nashville, after someone dumped hundreds of phone books in the water, and they're threatening the water quality. Public Works says the phone books were probably thrown there by someone who'd been paid to distribute them, or by a large business that didn't want to pay to have them disposed. 

WEIGHT WATCHERS
The dieting giant "Weight Watchers" is getting behind New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed ban on super-sized sugary drinks.  The President of Weight Watchers, Dave Burwick, joined Mayor Bloomberg in Queens yesterday saying he hopes more mayors, health departments and businesses will follow the Big Apple's example to combat obesity. 

RATS IN MISSISSIPPI CAUSING MAJOR HEALTH ISSUES, MAJOR STINK
This is gross, but it's a very real side effect of Hurricane Isaac. In Mississippi, tons of drowned rats are now washing up on the state's beaches. In one county alone, 16 tons of dead rats have been hauled to a landfill since Saturday.

GAS PRICES HIGHER BECAUSE OF ISAAC
There's always an excuse..... You know why gas prices shot up THIS TIME? Hurricane Isaac. The federal Energy Information Administration says Isaac shut down Gulf oil operations. Prices went up another at least 7 cents ...  in a week... to a national  average of 3.84.

NEW RESTAURANT TO TAKE PLACE OF GERMANTOWN CAFE EAST
http://www.wsmv.com/story/19456745/new-restaurant-to-take-place-of-germantown-cafe-east
The Germantown Cafe East has been sold. After the former co-owner, Jay Luther got trapped in the cooler there and died recently, his business partner and co-owner Chris Lowry said he just couldn't stand to go back in the restaurant he and Jay worked so hard to build. Lowry still has the Germantown Cafe original location.

STRAHAN PREDICTED HIS JOB ON 'LIVE' FOUR YEARS AGO
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/michael-strahan-becomes-kelly-ripas-co-host-130737395.html
What will you be doing four years from now? Gap-toothed former New York Giant Michael Strahan nailed a prediction of his future, when Regis Philbin asked him four years ago what he wanted to do after football, and Strahan hinted that he'd like to co-host the show.
Regis left in November. Strahan got the gig this week. (Strahan is one of several new faces you'll see on TV this fall: Katie Couric, Ricki Lake and Survivor's Jeff Probst also have new shows starting in the next couple of weeks.)

SUPER BOWL CHAMPS PLAY TONIGHT
The Super Bowl champion New York Giants kick off the 2012 NFL season tonight... hosting their division-rival Dallas Cowboys.

HONOR FLIGHTS: ANOTHER ONE LEFT TODAY
http://www.newschannel5.com/story/19459635/nonprofit-sponsors-honor-flight-for-wwii-veterans
Not EVERYONE has forgotten World War II veterans: there's a local nonprofit group that raises money and takes the vets on an expense-paid, chaperoned day-trip to Washington, D.C., to see the World War II Memorial, built in their honor. It's called the HONOR FLIGHT... and the vets left this morning, and come back tonight. The vets get to also see other places, like the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, the Air Force Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

AUTHOR CAUGHT WRITING GLOWING REVIEWS FOR HIS OWN BOOKS, CRITICAL ONES FOR HIS CONTEMPORARIES
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2197294/The-author-caught-praising-books-Amazon--writing-disparaging-reviews-rivals-works.html
You know how to get glowing reviews for your own book? You write them yourself.  British Novelist RJ Ellory did. He won the Crime Novel of the Year award in 2010. And he's just had to make big public apologies ...after getting caught posting gushing reviews of his own books... calling them genius... and attacking others' novels - under assumed names on Amazon. (The Crime Writers' Association condemned the practice and announced moves to introduce a code of ethics.)

U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SAYS BP GUILTY OF GROSS NEGLIGENCE IN OIL SPILL
The U.S. Justice Department says BP is guilty of "gross negligence and willful misconduct" in connection with the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  In a new court filing, the government is seeking to paint the British oil giant as largely responsible for the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. 

VOYAGER LAUNCH ANNIVERSARY TODAY
Today is the 35th anniversary of the launch of Voyager 1.  The spacecraft is getting ready to leave the solar system behind and enter interstellar space.  Since its launch, Voyager 1 has traveled billions of miles.  It's eleven-billion miles from the sun.

ELECTRICITY AND GAS COMPANIES QUESTIONED OVER HURRICANE ISAAC RESPONSE
The company that provides electricity and natural gas to the New Orleans area is under fire for its response to Hurricane Isaac.  The "Times-Picayune" says city council members grilled representatives for Entergy New Orleans for nearly four hours yesterday.  More than 700-thousand residents and businesses across Louisiana lost power due to Hurricane Isaac.