THE SHOW: 01/28/2010 - MODERN DAY HAMBURGLER / POSSIBLE ARSON IS THE CAUSE OF FIRE / OBAMA'S TOWN HALL MEETING

Local Buzz:
"Police: Alcohol Possibly To Blame For Fatal Wreck"

*NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Police said they believe alcohol may have contributed to a deadly late-night crash. The crash happened around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday on Bell Road near Percy Priest Dam.
Witnesses told police an SUV drifted off the road, hit a concrete culvert and flipped after hitting a mailbox. The 27-year-old male driver was ejected and died on the scene.
Police said the driver was not wearing a seatbelt, and officers also said they found alcohol on the scene of the crash.
The driver was also driving on a suspended license, and he had a history of driving offenses on his record.

"Police Arrest Fast Food Robber"

*NASHVIILLE, Tenn. - The man dubbed as the fast food robber was in jail Thursday morning.
A citizen's tip led to the arrest of 33-year-old Mario Hambrick. Police said they believe Hambrick was for robbing the McDonalds on Nolensville Pike on Jan. 22, along with two Burger Kings, a Waffle House, a Taco Bell and a Captain D's.
Police captured Hambrick late Wednesday night by police.
Investigators said Hambrick left a note at every crime scene. Police were able to lift fingerprints from those notes. The fingerprints plus the tip from Crime Stoppers led to Hambrick's arrest.
Authorities caught Hambrick on South 6th Street.
Hambrick has already been convicted of home burglary, and in February 2008 he was ordered to serve an eight year sentence.

"Fire Chief Thinks Arson Is Possible In House Fire"

*ANTIOCH, Tenn. - A house caught fire Thursday morning in Antioch on Goodwin Road and Antioch Pike.
The home caught fire just after 6 a.m.
When firefighters arrived on scene, flames were visible from the roof. Firefighters were able to put out the fire by 6:45 a.m.
The chief of the Nashville Fire Department said the fire started an hour after the property owner left the home.
An investigator has been called to the scene to look into the possibility that the fire was arson.

Top Stories:
"Obama to host town hall meeting in Tampa, announce $1.25B in rail funds"

*TAMPA -- President Barack Obama is slated to host a town hall meeting here Thursday, one day after he put jobs at the top of his 2010 agenda in his State of the Union speech.
Obama, along with Vice President Joe Biden, aren't coming empty-handed to the job-hungry state. They are expected to announce $1.25 billion to help build a high-speed rail system from Orlando to Tampa and, eventually, to Miami. The project is heavily supported by both Democratic and Republican elected officials.
Gov. Charlie Crist is planning to meet Obama on the airport tarmac but will not stand by him at the town hall meeting, as he did one year ago when Obama campaigned in Fort Myers for his $787 billion spending plan. Crist's support for the plan sullied his image with conservative Republicans, who condemn the administration's economic policies.
So this time, with his U.S. Senate campaign flagging, Crist is casting his face time with Obama as an opportunity to set him straight. He said in a written statement on Wednesday: ``I look forward to seeing the president tomorrow to tell him myself the direction I believe our country should move toward, not just in talk but in action: a commitment to lower taxes for families and small businesses; to pay down the deficit and stop out-of-control federal spending; to provide a real solution to the growing unemployment rate; and to, once and for all, put an end to a government-run healthcare plan.''

"$550m to lure moderate Taliban insurgents"

*Afghanistan is planning to lure moderate Taliban insurgents to the side of democracy through multi-million dollar incentives such as education and farming opportunities. President Hamid Karzai and foreign ministers from 70 countries have held a conference on the future of Afghanistan in London.
Eight years after the US-led invasion drove the Taliban government from power, world leaders are deciding how best to divide the insurgency and restore stable government. Opening the summit, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said power will be handed back from international forces to Afghan people, and promised to find ways to integrate former Taliban fighters into the political process.
He also announced an international fund, believed to be worth $US500 million ($554 million), to back a reintegration plan to give jobs to Taliban fighters who are prepared to renounce Al Qaeda. "To weaken the Taliban you divide them and you offer those people who are prepared to renounce violence, who are prepared to join the democratic process, who are prepared to say they will have nothing to do with terrorism, a way out," he said.
Mr Karzai said Western supporters must "reach out to all of our countrymen, especially our disenchanted brothers who are not part of Al Qaeda".
He welcomed the reintegration fund for jobs, schooling and farming land to lure low ranking Taliban fighters who joined out of poverty rather than ideology.
Mr Karzai says he would like Saudi Arabia to play a key role in bringing peace to Afghanistan. In his public call for Saudi support for reconciliation with the Taliban, Mr Karzai appears to be going further than the British government in engagement with the insurgents.
He said he would establish a national council for peace, reconciliation and reintegration and call a "peace jirga," or traditional Afghan gathering of tribal leaders.
"We ask all neighbours, particularly Pakistan, to support our peace and reconciliation endeavours," he said.
"We are looking forward to the international community supporting this." Mr Karzai says he wants the government to be in charge of security in all provinces by 2015 and says the fight against corruption will be the key focus of his second term in office.
"We must make sure that we do not stop at merely fighting symptoms of corruption," he said.
"Rather, we must take decisive action against its root causes. We are currently working on further strengthening of the high office of anti-corruption."

Celeb News:
"Leno's end"

*'The Jay Leno Show" will air its finale Feb. 9, three weeks before Leno's March 1 return as host of "The Tonight Show."
Leno, meanwhile, says he and Conan O'Brien never spoke to each other during all the late-night drama that saw Leno reclaim "Tonight" from O'Brien. And they still haven't spoken, Leno says.
"I haven't talked to him through all this," Leno says on today's "Oprah," trying to change some public perception that he engineered O'Brien's ouster.

"ABC cancels 'Ugly Betty'"

*"Ugly Betty" has gone out of fashion.
ABC has decided not to continue the show beyond its current fourth season. The cast and crew were informed of the news Wednesday morning. The series finale will air in April.
With four episodes still left to produce, executive producer Silvio Horta said they will be able to send "Ugly Betty" off in style.
The news is hardly shocking: After ratings began to cool during the show's third season, ABC moved "Ugly Betty" to Fridays last fall, where viewership plummeted. This season, "Betty" has averaged 5.3 million viewers, a big drop from the third season's 8.1 million viewers.

"Douglas' son pleads guilty"

*The son of Michael Douglas pleaded guilty Wednesday to dealing large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine while holed up in a trendy Manhattan hotel where he was arrested last year.
Cameron Douglas, 31 -- who appeared with his father and grandfather, Kirk Douglas, in the 2003 film "It Runs in the Family" -- told a judge that a New York contact first asked him if he could score the drugs in 2006. After that, "I began supplying on a regular basis."
Prosecutors said Douglas had signed a plea agreement, but the details weren't disclosed.
In addition to conspiracy to distribute drugs, Douglas pleaded guilty to heroin possession -- a charge stemming from allegations that his girlfriend tried to smuggle him the drug in an electric toothbrush while he was under house arrest.
He faces a minimum 10-year prison term at sentencing April 27.

Relationship:
"Emotional Abuse"

*Emotional abuse is often continual, consistent, and, over time, can work to destroy someone's self-esteem. Abusers may say things like:
"You're stupid (or ugly, fat, greedy, or ________)."
"No one will ever love you but me."
"No one would ever believe you if you told them I was abusive."
"If you leave, I'll take the kids (money, pets, or other things of value to the person)."
"You're the one who needs help. You're crazy."
Abusers can also sabotage their partner's support network by forbidding contact with others or by acting jealously and threatening punishment. This increases feelings of isolation, vulnerability, and separation. Emotional abuse, like other forms of abuse, uses fear, humiliation, and verbal attacks to control and assert power over another person. While the damage may not be visible, emotional abuse can leave very real scars and may lead a person who is abused to feelings of worthlessness and self-destructive behaviors.
For a person who has not experienced abuse, it can be hard to understand why words can be so damaging and why a person would stay in a harmful relationship. While emotional abuse is damaging, there are often aspects of the relationship that are comfortable, secure, or even happy, that compell people to stay with an abusive person. There may also be practical issues of money, children, housing, and others, that keep people in an abusive relationship. For some, abuse may have been a regular feature of family and other relationships throughout their life, including in childhood. While everybody deserves to be in respectful, healthy relationships, it can be difficult for anybody to admit or identify that a relationship is abusive.

A health note:
"Coffee Break Boosts Memory"

*Jan. 27, 2010 -- A coffee break after an important meeting or class may be just the thing your brain needs to digest new information and improve memory.
A new study suggests that resting while awake aids in memory consolidation and improves memory recall, much like getting a good night's sleep has been shown to do.
"Taking a coffee break after class can actually help you retain that information you just learned," researcher Lila Davachi, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at the Center for Neural Science at New York University, says in a news release. "Your brain wants you to tune out other tasks so you can tune in to what you just learned."
Researchers found that activity between the hippocampus and neocortex, two key brain areas involved in memory and processing, increased during periods of wakeful rest after a learning task. This increase in activity was also associated with improved memory.
"Your brain is working for you when you're resting, so rest is important for memory and cognitive function," Davachi says. "This is something we don't appreciate much, especially when today's information technologies keep us working around the clock."

Today in Black History:

"January 28 ~ John Brown organized raid on Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, 1858

Mess of the Day:
"Something Smells Fishy"

*We got a nice little skank night all planned out. We're gonna head out showing as much skin and underwear as possible, grab a sixer, and then pick out our own fresh catch of day to cook up….maybe do a little stripping. I dont know, I don't know if we’ll have enough time!~Ohio

Thought for the day:

" The hearts of billions of people are beating everyday; even billions more animals, insects and sea creatures are moving and living and have beating hearts also. The Sun is in perfect distance from the Earth so that we do not freeze or burn and allows water to rise and fall to give life to the land. The Sea has the perfect amounts of salt to sustain the life there. This is just what is happening here on Earth! There are trillions of other solar systems and galaxies with more things happening! It is interesting to me that some say they will believe in the creator, if only they could see one miracle when billions of miracles are occurring at every moment! All of these things are supposed to occur simultaneously by chance?"~Copyright © 2009 Jesse Barkasy