THE SHOW: 01/29/2010 - Rihanna Banned / Medicine running out at Haiti hospitals / Lohan's dad headed to jail / Pharrell for real

Local Buzz:
"Police Search For Suspects In Pocket Knife Attack"

*FRANKLIN, Tenn. - Police have been looking for three men suspected in a pocket knife attack on a teen girl.
Franklin police want to question three men in their late teens to early 20s.
The attack happened earlier in January in the Founders Pointe subdivision. Investigators said one of the suspects cut the young girl with the knife, and then all three drove away in a beat up silver Honda.
Anyone who has any information on the whereabouts of the suspects should call Franklin police.

"Schools Closed Friday In Anticipation Of Winter Storm"

*NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Several Middle Tennessee school systems, including Davidson County, have already closed schools on Friday in anticipation of winter storms.
A winter storm watch has been issued for Middle Tennessee beginning late Thursday night, and a winter storm warning has been issued for southern Kentucky counties beginning at 6 a.m. Friday.
The National Weather Service said accumulation from the upcoming winter storm will be light at first but will increase with intensity on Friday.
NWS also said Northern Middle Tennessee will see mostly snow, while the southern two thirds of the mid state will see a mixture of rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow. By Friday, all of Middle Tennessee should be seeing snow as colder air moves in.

"TDOT Preps Mid-State Roads For Possible Winter Weather"

*NASHVILLE, Tenn. - While the mid-state waits for the winter storm to arrive, road crews have been busy because bad weather, arriving during the evening drive time, could mean big problems on mid-state roads.
Crews laid down salt brine all day Wednesday and all day Thursday. Forecasters predict a mess of ice and snow to fall on Friday.
Workers will be back at 3 a.m. to start loading their trucks with salt. The second any precipitation comes down, they'll hit the roads and start spreading that salt.
"It's better to be safe than sorry. I would rather see white stuff on the roads then see a bunch of wrecked cars in ditches," said TDOT employee Richard Stewart.
TDOT officials said these kinds of circumstances are worked into their budget and it is better to be proactive.
"We have to prepare no matter what and some people seemed surprised that we're out brining 48 hours before the storm hits, but we would rather be proactive," said B.J. Doughty with TDOT.
In preparation for the storm, Metro Police and the Tennessee Highway Patrol spent the day towing abandoned cars off the roads. TDOT officials said they need all the room they can get to treat the roads and plow snow if need be.

"Controversial May Town Center Project On Council's Agenda"

*NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The controversial, multi-billion dollar May Town Center project in the Bells Bend area of West Nashville has been revised. Metro Council members will have their second vote on the proposed development in March.
News about the project that caused heated debate over the last two years has upset many people who would live near May Town Center.
"You can imagine just looking over there and hearing all that noise. You could hear the noise. We don't want that. Wouldn't you rather have this peace and quiet?" said Sylvia Walp. Walp has lived on the banks of the Cumberland River for 38 years. She is against the plan to build May Town Center.
"I just don't want to see buildings over there instead of those beautiful rolling hills," explained Walp.
District 1 Councilman Lonnell Matthews Jr. put the zoning change for May Town Center on the council's agenda.
"It's an important conversation to have about economic development in Davidson County," said Matthews.
Matthews thinks the 5 to 10 million square foot development, that could have 40,000 employees in 15 years would be a boost for the area around his district.
"We have to find avenues and ways to generate more taxes here in Davidson County, and I'm not an advocate of raising property taxes if we don't have to," said Matthews. Many people had questions about the project when Matthews deferred the zoning change. A lot of the questions surrounded the bridges needed to take traffic to and from May Town Center. "Some of the things that were kind of suggested by the planning department at the last minute, I would ask for clarification, just so the council can have all the information they need to make an informed decision about the project," said Matthews.
There will be a public hearing and second vote on the May Town Center plan at the March 2 Metro Council meeting.
If it passes on second reading the Planning and Zoning Committee would debate the project before it went to a third and final vote.
If that vote passes the May Town Center could become a reality.

Top Stories:
"US pressed to move 9/11 trial from New York "

*The US administration is considering moving the trial of the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks out of New York City, officials have said.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is due to be tried with four other suspects.
On Thursday Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he had asked the attorney general not to hold the trial in Manhattan, near the site of the attacks.
The mayor had strongly backed the trial but changed his mind this week citing cost and disruption.
Several other senior politicians including Governor David Paterson and both state senators have expressed opposition to or doubts about the proposal.
The suspects are currently being held in Guantanamo Bay, but will be moved as part of President Barack Obama's efforts to close the prison.
Some relatives of 9/11 victims say they oppose a federal court trial, and many Republicans in Congress favour military tribunals over civilian trials.
New York Congressman Peter King has introduced a bill to block Justice Department financing for federal court trials of Guantanamo detainees.
However, White House officials say Mr Obama remains committed to the civilian option.

"Medicine running out at Haiti hospitals, clinics"

*PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Doctors and aid workers say treating the tens of thousands of Haitians injured by the earthquake is taxing the country's devastated hospitals - as well as the efforts of physicians from around the world who are providing emergency care.
Basic medical supplies such as antibiotics and painkillers are running dangerously low at some hospitals and clinics in Port-au-Prince, the capital, and in the countryside, alarming doctors who are struggling to keep up with demand. Dr. Nancy Fleurancois, volunteering at the damaged hospital in the coastal town of Jacmel, told a visiting U.N. official Thursday that her team is treating 500 people a day - many for the first time since the Jan. 12 quake - and desperately needs antibiotics and surgical supplies. "You see people come here and they are at death's door," said Fleurancois, a Haitian-American from Newark, Delaware. "More help is needed." The doctor got to air her concerns to Anthony Banbury, deputy head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti, during his tour of Jacmel, where more than 20,000 people are homeless. Banbury said later he would try to resolve her shortages, but noted there is a "grave need" for medicine all over Haiti. Aid workers say the need for medicine generally falls third behind water and tents for shelter from the blistering tropical sun and looming rains.
The reason all three are not reaching people is the same: The need is so great and it's just not possible to get supplies into Haiti fast enough or distributed in a country with ruined infrastructure. The struggle to treat people comes amid warnings of a potential public health calamity with tens of thousands of Haitians living in squalid camps around the capital. "The health care system in Haiti has been terribly affected by the earthquake," said Joe Lowry, a spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross. "Medical staff have been killed and injured, hospitals destroyed and stocks damaged and depleted."
Marcela Sauza, the regional director of the Latin America and Caribbean office of the United Nations Population Fund, said Haiti's maternal mortality rate - already by far the highest in the Western Hemisphere - is expected to jump this year because more pregnant women lack adequate food and health care and are stressed by the earthquake and its aftermath.

"Obama to detail payroll tax credit during city speech this morning "

*WASHINGTON — - President Barack Obama will announce details of a new $33 billion payroll tax credit for businesses during a visit to Baltimore this morning, White House officials said Thursday.
The proposal, which Obama mentioned in his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, is an updated version of an initiative that was first considered as a part of the 2009 stimulus package and later abandoned.
A senior White House official, briefing reporters on condition he not be identified by name because Obama had not yet made the details public, said the time was ripe for the idea. The tax subsidy is designed to reward businesses for hiring new workers and giving raises or more hours of work to existing employees.
"A year ago, the economy was in free-fall," and businesses were planning to lay off workers, the official said. "Now, there are a lot of businesses that are poised" to add workers. "If they're a little bit nervous about hiring somebody today, rather than waiting another six months, this is about telling them: Hire today."
The plan, which the official compared to the "Cash for Clunkers" auto stimulus, is designed to spur immediate hiring and would require approval by Congress. As outlined by the administration, a business would receive a tax credit of up to $5,000 for every new employee added to its work force this year.
Obama is giving the subsidy a politically attractive title - the Small Business Jobs and Wages Tax Cut - and the administration expects it to cut taxes for more than one million small businesses. But the benefit would be available to any business, regardless of size.
Because it would be capped at $500,000 per company and because there are far more small employers than large ones, officials explained, small businesses would receive most of the benefits. The administration has no estimate on the number of jobs that could be created as a result, or how many employers would get a tax break for jobs that they would have added anyway. "Every single policy to help create jobs will involve a certain amount of rewarding people who are already creating jobs," said the official. "The president thinks that's a good thing, and he's happy to do that."
With unemployment expected to remain at or near 10 percent throughout 2010, Obama is putting jobs at the center of his election-year agenda.
The tax package he'll announce in Baltimore would provide an additional 6.2 percent bonus subsidy to businesses that increase hours or wages for existing employees. It would come in the form of a reimbursement of the Social Security payroll tax and would not apply to increases above the taxable maximum of $106,800. Companies could claim the credit on a quarterly basis, a provision designed to get them money quickly and provide an early incentive to boost payrolls, officials said. The benefit is designed to be retroactive to Jan. 1 and would expire at the end of the year.
Start-up businesses would be eligible for half of the credit and nonprofit groups could also qualify. The benefit would not apply to government hiring.
Obama will announce the plan after touring a local business, then head to the Inner Harbor where he'll meet with House Republicans, who are holding a three-day retreat in the city.

Celeb News:
"JESSICA SIMPSON PASSES GAS DURING MEETING"

*Jessica Simpson let herself be heard during a recent business meeting for her denim line, but it wasn't her mouth doing the talking. An insider tells Us magazine, "While one of the executives was speaking in a room full of five people, Jessica let out a very loud fart."
The windy moment prompted her mother Tina, who was there, to yell, "Jessica!" The source says, "The tension was extreme. No one knew what to say."

"Rihanna Banned from the Grammy's"

*To all you fans expecting to see Rihanna at the Grammy's, you can forget it. I just spoke with an insider who says that Rihanna has been banned from the Grammy's this year and forever.
Here's what happened. Remember last year she and Chris Brown were supposed to headline the awards show but they were forced to cancel at the last minute because of their little ...ahem... incident?
Well producers of the event were furious. They feel Rihanna was at least partially at fault for what happened, and that in the least she should have called them and told them that she wasn't going to make it. The insider said that because of Rihanna's last-minute cancellation the show was almost ruined.
Uhh, Grammy guys? Sorry to bust your bubble, but Rihanna had something a little bit more important to worry about ... like making sure she still had all her teeth!

"Lindsay Lohan's father arrested again in New York"

*NEW YORK (AP) - Authorities say Lindsay Lohan's father has been arrested again.
Police on New York's Long Island say Michael Lohan was arrested Thursday morning and charged with criminal contempt. Police did not provide further details.
Bryan Konoski, an attorney for Lohan's ex-girlfriend Erin Muller, has told the New York Post that Lohan allegedly phoned Muller at work Jan. 21. That would violate an order of protection. Lohan had been arrested on a similar charge in December.
In June, a judge said Lohan would avoid prosecution on an aggravated harassment charge if he stayed out of trouble for ayear. Lohan denied he threatened to kill his girlfriend and himself if she left him. Lohan's attorney had said his client is the victim of fabrications. The actress reportedly is estranged from her father.

Good News:
"Duck River Receives Honor From National Geographic"

*COLUMBIA, Tenn. - National Geographic has labeled the Duck River in Maury County one of the world's most biologically rich places. Conservationists said it's an honor.
The river even received a four page mention in the magazine's February issue. Leslie Colley is the Duck River program director for The Nature Conservancy.
"It is a treasure, and so many people take it for granted," said Colley. "I was very delighted to see what good company we were in and that it was the only site in North America that they chose."
National Geographic featured the Duck River because it's home to more than 150 fish species, and more than 50 types of mussels.
The numbers come as a surprise to most people who only recognized the river as a major water source and a recreational hot spot for boaters and fisherman. To Colley, the river is more than a waterway.
"It's a living thing that it's sort of easy to fall in love with," said Colley.
As the land around the Duck River changes, so will it. Growth, agriculture and water withdrawals all pose a threat.
Colley said it's up to individuals and decision makers to consider the rivers' well being now and in the future.
"I think it's important because it provides a lot of things to a lot of people and other creatures," said Colley.
The Duck River runs 270 miles through Tennessee and provides water to more than a 250,000 people.

A health note:
"Overweight elderly 'live longer'"

*Moderately overweight elderly people may live longer than those of normal weight, an Australian study suggests.
But being very overweight or being underweight shortened lives.
The report, which was published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, said dieting may not be beneficial in this age group.
But the study of 9,200 over-70s also found that regardless of weight, sedentary lifestyles shortened lives, particularly for women.
The study by the University of Western Australia set out to find out what level of body mass index (BMI) was associated with the lowest risk of death in the elderly.
For younger people, there is a well established health risk from being overweight or obese.
The team tracked the number of deaths over 10 years among volunteers who were aged 70 - 75 at the start of the study.
It found that those with a BMI which classed them as overweight not only had the lowest overall risk of dying, they also had the lowest risk of dying from specific diseases: cardiovascular disease, cancer and chronic respiratory disease.
The overall death rate among the obese group was similar to that among those of normal weight.
But those who were very obese had a greater risk of dying during the 10 year period.
Lead researcher, Professor Leon Flicker said: "Concerns have been raised about encouraging apparently overweight older people to lose weight.
"Our study suggests that those people who survive to age 70 in reasonable health have a different set of risks and benefits associated with the amount of body fat to younger people."
The conclusion of this study, that being overweight may be less harmful for elderly people, corroborates the findings of previous research.

Today in Black History:
Heavyweight Boxer John Tate born

January 29, 1955 Birthday of heavyweight boxer John Tate, who was born in Marion City, Arkansas. Tate won the vacant World Boxing Association title in 1979 from South African Gerrie Coetzee.

Thought for the day:

" When you are at your lowest, exercise patience like the ladder; and step-by-step you will make it to the top." Written in 2009 by Dushaine Higgins --- Jamaica