THE SHOW: 02/01/2010 - JOE JACKSON IN CONTROL / Police Continue to Investigate Elderly Couple's Murder / Obama's Budget Pushes Clean Technologies / Suicide Bomber Kills 46 Shiite Pilgrims in Baghdad

Local Buzz:
"UPDATE: Criminal Charges Pending in Overnight Fatal Crash"

*NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Alcohol is suspected of being a contributing factor in Sunday morning's fatal crash on I-24 at the bridge over Briley Parkway. The investigation is continuing and criminal charges are pending.
A Chevrolet Trailblazer carrying five people was traveling westbound on I-24 north of downtown when the driver lost control at 2:25 a.m. The SUV hit both the left and right interstate retaining walls.
Three passengers were ejected through the rear hatch window. Two of them were thrown to a cement incline and slid to the shoulder of Briley Parkway below. One of those victims, Jennifer Gramaldi, 33, of New York, died shortly after arriving at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
The other victim, Elias Rivera, 30, of Fort Campbell was found on the shoulder of Briley Parkway. Rivera is in critical condition at Vanderbilt. The third ejected passenger, Michael Lesnink, 27, of Ft. Campbell, is also in critical condition at Vanderbilt.
The driver of the Trailblazer, believed to be Kevin Ruggiero, 31, of Ft. Campbell, was not seriously hurt, neither was his passenger.

"Police Continue to Investigate Elderly Couple's Murder"

*CLARSKVILLE, Tenn.- Very few details are being released in the murder of an elderly Clarksville couple. William and Ina Lucille Campbell were found dead in their Jackson Road home Friday evening, but investigators have not said how the 81 and 82 year-olds were killed.
The investigation is far from over. Sunday investigators were still canvassing the Campbells' neighborhood and searching their home. They're not revealing many details surrounding the couple's death, and that lack of information is frustrating for the people who knew them well.
"Lucille calls me two, three times a day, but she didn't call me Thursday," explained the Campbells' neighbor and close friend Beverly Killbrew. Killbrew said she'd tried to contact the couple several times Thursday and Friday with no luck.
Clarksville Police ended up going to the couple's home around 6:30 Friday night after receiving several call about suspicious activity in the neighborhood.
They found William Banks Campbell, 82, and 81 -year-old Ina Lucille Campbell, 81, dead in their home, but they have not said exactly how the couple was killed.
Neighbors say it's difficult to see the police officers at the Campbell's home around the clock.
"They're like my mama and daddy, Precious people...Give you anything if you ask for it," Killbrew lamented.
Neighbors said William Campbell worked as a bailiff with the Montgomery County Sheriff's department, and is retired from the military. They are described as well-known and well-liked, leaving who would want to hurt them even more of a mystery.

"Bredesen Prepares for State of State Address"

*NASHVILLE, Tenn.- With the state facing a $1.5 billion budget crisis, Monday Governor Bredesen will outline a plan for massive cuts.
In his State of the State speech Monday night, Bredesen will talk about state employee layoffs and other painful cuts to TennCare and other programs. Drivers could also have to pay more for a driver license to stop layoffs at the Highway Patrol.
While not giving many specifics on coming budget cuts, the governor and members of his administration have said a top priority in the next budget will be given to avoiding cuts to K-12 education.
Bredesen has also nixed the notion of releasing prisoners early to cut costs for the Department of Correction, a proposal that drew negative reaction when suggested late last year.
At the same time, Bredesen has also declared he wants to leave the next governor with a substantial amount of money in reserve accounts. That may be a sticking point in getting the Legislature to approve his plan.
The state's "rainy-day" reserve will hold $533 million on June 30, when the current fiscal year ends. There is another $300 million or so in TennCare reserves, for a total of more than $800 million.

Top Stories:
"Obama's Budget Pushes Clean Technologies, Cuts Fossil Fuel Incentives"

*President Obama's $3.834 trillion budget, to be released today, proposes to inject billions more dollars in clean energy research while slashing federal fossil fuel subsidies, according to White House officials.
The fiscal year 2011 budget will include $6 billion for clean energy technologies, mostly focused on research, development and demonstration, the White House said. While sending more cash to priority areas, Obama is also seeking a three-year non-military discretionary spending freeze. The move is to help trim a federal deficit that is projected at $1.3 trillion in 2011 and, without efforts to rein it in, expected to balloon further in the next decade.
Obama's budget proposal will include $20 billion-worth of more than 120 terminations, reductions, and savings. The savings are necessary to fund increases in priority areas while keeping the discretionary baseline flat, according to White House Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orzag.
To further spur a switch to clean energy and trim the deficit, the White House budget will also seek to eliminate tax preferences for oil, gas and coal companies, Orzag said. OMB says the move will raise an additional $40 billion over ten years.
The budget move comes a week after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard exchanged heated words, after Gerard accused the administration for actions that have led to a dramatic drop in oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters (Greenwire, Jan. 27).
The budget cuts are sure to face resistance in Congress from both sides of the aisle. In last year's budget, the White House managed to win Congressional support for 60 percent of the cuts he had proposed, officials said. In that budget, Obama also had proposed to increase fees and eliminate tax breaks for oil and gas companies to raise more than $30 billion in revenue over a decade. But not all of the measures won support from Congress.
One measure he failed push through last year was a new $4-per-acre fee on "nonproducing" oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico.
The White House characterized the budget as a responsible move in tight fiscal times. "It's not a left-wing budget. It's not a right-wing budget. It's a pragmatic budget," said one official. They also reiterated President Obama's threat last week, during the State of the Union address, to use his veto power if Congress does not act to curb wasteful spending.

"Suicide Bomber Kills 46 Shiite Pilgrims in Baghdad"

*A female suicide bomber on Monday killed at least 46 Shiite pilgrims in northern Baghdad who were making an annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbala.
The attack, the latest in a string of violence in Iraq, wounded at least another 122 pilgrims, according to a senior Iraqi interior ministry official. The pilgrims had embarked on an annual walk to the southern city of Karbala as part of a Shiite Islamic commemoration that culminates Friday.
"A suicide attacker wearing a belt of explosives targeted pilgrims on the main road in Bob al-Sham district, northern Baghdad around 12:30 p.m.," said the official.
The attack is the latest in a series of large-scale bombings in and around Baghdad. Last Monday, bombers targeted three Baghdad hotels. The following day, a vehicle-borne suicide bomb detonated near an investigations directorate, part of the ministry of interior.
The Islamic State of Iraq, an affiliate of the al Qaeda global terror network, claimed responsibility for both attacks. Large-scale bombings, targeting government ministries and buildings, have also rocked Baghdad in August, October and December, killing hundreds and undermining confidence in Iraqi security forces.
Iraqi government officials have said the attackers are trying to disrupt elections, slated for early March, and have warned violence could continue.
Of particular worry is any slide back into the sectarian killings that plagued Iraq in the years immediately following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Sunni and Shiite Muslims clashed frequently, plunging the country close to civil war.
This week, hundreds of thousands of Shiites are expected to walk to Karbala to mark the end of a 40-day mourning period that follows Ashura, the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, a revered Shiite figure who is buried in the city.
National Security Minister Sherwan al-Waeli has been dispatched to Karbala by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to oversee security there, Iraqi news agency Aswat al-Iraq reported Monday.

"Mistrust in the eyes of rescued Haitian 'orphans'"

*The 33 children who were rescued from an alleged kidnapping by Americans who claimed to be missionaries, huddled together at an orphanage late Sunday outside Port-au-Prince, visibly mistrustful of adults.
A one-year old girl, dressed in red and surrounded by children aged four, five and seven, glared at adults who came to find out how she was doing. She firmly clutched the hands of a friend, who seemed to be about four years old, seated on a bench next to her.
The children were rescued from being illegally taken out of Haiti by Americans who say they belong to a US-based charity.
Patricia Vargas, the regional director of the orphan charity SOS Children, said that for legal reasons the children's identities cannot be revealed.
Vargas answered a call from Haitian authorities to meet the children, who were returned from the border with the neighbouring Dominican Republic, on Saturday.
"The majority of these children have families. Some of the older ones said their parents are alive, and some gave an address and phone numbers," said Vargas, a Costa Rican who is in charge of SOS Children's operations in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Haitian police seized five men and five women with US passports, as well as two Haitians, as they tried to cross late Friday into the Dominican Republic carrying the children aboard a bus, Haitian authorities said.
The Haitian culture and communications minister, Marie Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, has said that the children had no documents.
While the children rested at the SOS Village, an oasis of sorts amid the widespread devastation in the Haitian capital, the one year old girl does not loosen the grip on her friend's hand. The older children take turns protecting her, sitting her on their laps and giving her warm hugs.
Inside the SOS Village scores of volunteers from countries including Chile, Guatemala and Costa Rica do not hide the shock of the news.
"Even if we had ... [suspected] that this was happening in Haiti after the earthquake, it is a shock," said SOS spokesman Georg Willeit, an Austrian.
Willeit takes visitors around one of the center's cabins, which is decorated like a home, but also makes sure that no outsider questions the children. "Several of them were very scared last night," said Willeit.
Three young teenage girls were taking special care of "the baby," a girl about seven months old wearing a light-blue outfit and cap that arrived Saturday so malnourished and dehydrated that she spent the night in the hospital. "The little girl has trouble eating. She does not know how to," said Willeit.
Haitian officials have given warning that child traffickers could take advantage of the chaos after the quake, and that legitimate adoption agencies may rush to take orphans before proper checks have been conducted.
The 7.0-magnitude quake on January 12 killed 170,000 people, made more than one million homeless and left many children vulnerable in the Americas' poorest nation.
Volunteers said that after the quake parents flocked to the orphanage carrying pictures to identify their children, hoping to find them there.
Nearly half of Haiti's population is under the age of 18, and children are seen at all hours in refugee camps and in the rubble-covered streets.
Some of the children may simply be out of parental sight, as mothers and fathers spend much of the day rushing from one place or another trying to get a donated tent, or some food and water.

Celeb News:
"Drunk Rip Torn Arrested in Locked Bank"

*RIP TORN ARMED AND DRUNK INSIDE BANK-78-year-old actor Rip Torn was arrested Saturday in Salisbury, Connecticut after police found him in a closed bank "highly intoxicated" and armed with a loaded revolver, according to authorities.
Torn, who has a recurring role on 30 Rock, allegedly broke into the Litchfield Bancorp building through a back window. Mark E. Macomber, president of Litchfield Bancorp in Connecticut, tells T-M-Z that he doesn't think the actor intended to steal anything or hurt anyone. Macomber says that police suspect Torn thought he was in his own home at the time of the alleged break-in. He was charged with burglary, criminal trespass and criminal mischief and two weapons charges. He was being held on 100-thousand dollars bond.

"Mel Gibson's return to the silver screen was no match for Avatar"

*The James Cameron-directed sci-fi spectacle was the number-one movie in North America for the seventh straight weekend as it fell only a few million bucks short of sinking Titanic's domestic box-office record. Avatar earned 30-million dollars between Friday and Sunday, raising its total to 594-point-five-million. The flick needs only a little more than six-million to overtake Titanic, which grossed 600-point-eight-million. Worldwide, Avatar topped the two-billion-dollar mark, the first movie ever to do so. Mel's Edge of Darkness opened in second with 17-point-one-million. It's the first movie he's headlined since 2002's Signs.

"Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are fighting the break-up rumors"

*The couple was looking very much together at Saturday's Directors Guild of America Awards in L-A. Brad was reportedly very attentive to Angie, pulling out a chair for his significant other and continually touching her back. One eyewitness said, "They would whisper in each other's ears and laugh. They looked really happy." The unmarried couple reportedly visited a high-powered lawyer last month either to get a divorce or to protect their assets -- depending on which tabloid you believe.

"JOE JACKSON WANTS MICHAEL'S MEDICAL RECORDS"

*Joe Jackson has filed court papers demanding that U-C-L-A Medical Center release Michael Jackson's medical records, because he's looking to sue whoever's responsible for the death of his son. According to his legal documents, Joe thinks the medical records will reveal what really happened to Michael and will help him determine how much he'd be able to collect from those responsible for Jacko's death.

"REAL HOUSEWIVES DAUGHTER FOUND GUILTY OF ASSAULT"

*The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Danielle Staub won her court battle against a co-star's teenage daughter who was accused of assaulting the embattled reality star.
19-year-old Ashley Holmes, the daughter of "Real Housewife" Jacqueline Laurita, was found guilty of simple assault for pulling out Staub's extensions at a fashion show. Holmes was fined 189 dollars.
Staub also filed complaints against cast-mates Laurita and Teresa Guidice in the incident, but later dropped the charges.

Good News:
"HONORING CHICAGO'S FIRST BLACK HOSPITAL"

*Chicago's first black hospital will be lauded during Black History Month. This afternoon, doctors and nurses will discuss the original 1891 opening of Provident Hospital and Training School -- now known as Provident Hospital of Cook County. Founded by Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, the facility was Chicago's first hospital owned and run by blacks. The three-story brick building had 12 just beds.

Relationship:
"Things That Test Your Relationship"

*Some relationship road bumps can trip you up for one very good reason -- you didn't see them coming! Here are a few potential relationship pitfalls, so you know what to look for ...
1. You get a big break at work: When one of you scores a big promotion, the other could be a bit resentful if they're not exactly climbing the corporate ladder. To remedy this -- remind your partner how instrumental they were in your accomplishments.
2. You develop a new interest: Even though all couples should have a life outside the relationship, sometimes when one of you takes up a new interest it can put a damper on your connection. Try and bring your partner into the outside activity -- if it's dancing, for example -- teach them your new moves or bring them out dancing.
3. Your best couple friends split up. Sometimes when friends split up, it makes you overanalyze the minor problems in your own relationship. Instead of creating new problems, use your friends' breakup as an ice-breaker for a heart-to-heart with your partner. And don't let your friends' break-up make you both take sides -- because usually the man relates to the male experience, and the woman relates to the female experience.
4. You kick a bad habit: If only one of you changes, it can put a lot of pressure on your bond. Sometimes the other person feels judged, like, "Do I have to be a better person, too?" not to mention the mood swings they have to put up with from the person who has given up the bad habit. While it's good to enlist each other's help, don't try and recruit each other. You don't want to be negative or pressure your partner to join you.~ Cosmo
QUESTIONS???:
Did your relationship hit an unexpected road bump? What was it -- and did the relationship survive? What's been the biggest test of your relationship so far?

A health note:
Today in Black History:
1st Black to Speak in US House of Representatives

February 1, 1871 ~Jefferson Long of Georgia became the first Black to make an official speech in the House of Representatives. He opposed leniency to former Confederates.

Mess of the Day:
"Reach For The Stars"

*Oh! There are just so many colors and patterns and ink and booty. I'm dizzy, I want off this ride.~California

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." ~Dushaine Higgins, Jamaica