THE SHOW: 12/03/09 - GRAMMY'S / TIGER EXPOSED / KEYS UNLOCKED THE DOORS / SHAQ THE MAC!! / GET YOUR HANDS OUT MY COOKIE JAR!!

LOCAL BUZZ:
"Sommet Center Could Become Nashville Arena"

*NASHVILLE, Tenn. - One of Nashville's most recognizable venues could get a name change Thursday. The Metro Sports Authority will discuss changing the name of the Sommet Center back to the Nashville Arena.
This comes one week after The Nashville Predators Hockey Club announced it had terminated the naming rights agreement with the Sommet Group of Tennessee, because the group has not been paying.
The Sommet Group admitted they have withheld payments, because they said the hockey club has not been acting like a partner. The downtown Nashville arena where the Predators play became known as the Sommet Center in May 2007. Before that the arena was formerly known as the Gaylord Entertainment Center, because the hospitality company bought the naming rights and was a minority owner of the NHL franchise. It has also been called the Nashville Arena.

*Hoping to restructure its debt, the entity that owns the country club at Fairvue Plantation in Gallatin filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week.
"We've been working with our lenders to try to restructure our debt, so this is a way to be able to do it," said Chris Wicke, a spokesman for Fairvue Club Properties LLC and its president, Leon Moore.
The filing comes two months after Moore sent Fairvue Plantation residents a letter to inform them of a temporary cut in services, such as a reduction in evening hours during the week for a la carte dining.
Shortly thereafter, one of the development's two 18-holes golf courses was closed until March 1.
The bankruptcy filing reflects a tough environment for country clubs and the luxury real estate industry. Homes listed for sale at Fairvue Plantation currently run between $380,000 and $1.3 million.
Fairvue Plantation is a prominent Sumner County development combining residential property with country club amenities, including the 18-hole golf courses. The plantation stretches along five miles of the Old Hickory Lake shoreline in Gallatin.

*NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Thousands of Tennessee National Guardsmen will be leaving their homes this weekend for final preparations before they head to Iraq and Afghanistan.
The deployments include the state's largest guard unit, the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, which has more than 3,000 soldiers from 45 towns.
On Sunday, the guardsmen will head to Camp Shelby, Miss., for two months of training before deploying to Iraq.
In addition, 175 soldiers from the 1171st Transportation Company from Dresden and Tiptonville leave Friday bound for Fort Bliss, Texas, before heading to Iraq.
A Regional Corps Advisory Group, made up of 16 soldiers, departs Tuesday from Nashville for Camp Atterbury, Ind. They will be deployed to Afghanistan.

*CHARLOTTE, Tenn. - Thousands of missing dollars from the Dickson County clerk's office could be a case of embezzlement. The case is being investigated by the district attorney general's office, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the state comptroller's office. "In this time period, everybody's struggling including the [Dickson] county," said Dan Alsobrooks, district attorney general for the 23rd Judicial District.
Alsobrooks said he's awaiting the results of an audit inside clerk Phil Simons's office. Simons confirmed to the county commissioners, a female staffer has been fired amid suspicion of the missing money.
Simons also speculated the cash was smuggled out in a covert manner: in a way that still allowed the weekly books to balance.
NewsChannel 5 is not identifying the woman, who's come under scrutiny, but faces no criminal charges yet. Her attorney vehemently denied any wrongdoing on his client's part, and insisted she did nothing inappropriate or illegal.
The missing money reportedly totals between $10,000 and $15,000, though the county does have insurance, according to Alsobrooks.
"Employees of the clerk's office, like all of those governmental agencies, are bonded," said Alsobrooks. "If there's a loss, they'll be insured. There should not be any loss to the county, ultimately."
Alsobrooks said charges would likely fall under the category of theft, and the severity and number of charges and the seriousness of any punitive measures would depend entirely on the amount of money that was stolen. He said Monday's convening of the grand jury would likely come too soon, and the clerk's office case would probably have to wait until February to be heard.
Clerk Simons's office handles wheel tax revenue and vehicle registration renewals, and would have occasion to take in plenty of cash on a day-to-day basis.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - On April 10, residents in Murfreesboro's Stones River Park neighborhood were in a state of shock after a tornado touched down destroying much of the subdivision.
Immediately after the storm, many families did not know how long it would take to rebuild. The areas that were hit by the Good Friday storm are still far from perfect, but things are moving in the right direction.
"It looked like a bomb had gone off," said resident Rebecca Larson. "It was something you shouldn't see here."
Homes were ripped to shreds and debris littered the neighborhood. Nearly eight months later almost all signs of the storm are gone.
"It looks like a new beginning," said resident Allan Larson.
The Larson family plans on staying for good. They hope to have their home built and ready to move in by spring.
A handful of homes remain boarded up. News Channel 5 has learned the owners of those houses have not settled their claims with insurance companies.
For the most part neighbors are happy with the progress.

*By TIM ARANGO-After nearly nine months of negotiations, Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, finally reached an agreement on Thursday to acquire NBC Universal from the General Electric Company.
The deal valued NBC Universal at about $30 billion.
The agreement will create a joint venture, with Comcast owning 51 percent and G.E. owning 49 percent. Comcast will contribute to the joint venture its stable of cable channels, which includes Versus, the Golf Channel and E Entertainment, worth about $7.25 billion, and will pay G.E. about $6.5 billion in cash, for a total of $13.75 billion. For now, the network will remain NBC Universal, but ultimately Comcast could decide to change the name.
Almost immediately, the transaction reshapes the nation’s entertainment industry, giving a cable provider a huge portfolio of new content, even as it raises the sector’s anxieties about the future.
In a joint statement announcing the agreement, Brian L. Roberts, the chief executive of Comcast, said the deal was "a perfect fit for Comcast and will allow us to become a leader in the development and distribution of multiplatform ‘anytime, anywhere’ media that American consumers are demanding.” The deal’s genesis lies in frequent flirtations over the last several years between Comcast and General Electric, although serious talks began in March. For Comcast, the purchase is the realization of its long-held ambition to be a major producer of television shows and movies.
News of the negotiations broke in late September, and in the ensuing weeks G.E. worked to resolve details with Comcast, while simultaneously negotiating to buy out a 20 percent stake in NBC Universal held by Vivendi, the French telecommunications conglomerate. It was this last part that proved difficult.
G.E. and Comcast’s part of the transaction has essentially been complete for weeks, but the final step was held up by the negotiations between G.E. and Vivendi. Vivendi will receive about $5.8 billion for its stake.
Jeff Zucker, the current head of NBC Universal, will stay on as chief executive and would report to the chief executive of Comcast, Steve Burke. In a statement released by the companies Thursday morning, Mr. Zucker called the deal the "start of a new era” for NBC.
The deal could take up to 18 months to pass regulatory muster. Although Comcast is based in Philadelphia, NBC’s headquarters will remain in New York, the joint release said.
Most of NBC’s value is in its lucrative cable channels — USA, Bravo, SyFy, CNBC and MSNBC. The NBC network and Universal Studios will comprise only a small portion of the joint venture’s cash flow.
In some respects, G.E.’s decision to sell reflects the deteriorating state of the broadcast television industry, and a desire to exit a business that never quite fit well with its industrial side.
NBC has been mired in fourth place among the major broadcast networks, and the economics of the broadcast television business has deteriorated in recent years amid declining overall ratings and a decline in advertising. By contrast, cable channels have continued to thrive because they rely on a steady stream of subscriber fees from cable companies, such as Comcast.
Mr. Roberts, the Comcast chief executive, failed in 2004 with a hostile takeover bid for the Walt Disney Company. Since then, the company has taken a less ambitious approach to content, buying a stake in MGM and building up smaller cable channels and regional sports networks.
Shortly after news of the deal leaked in September, G.E. and Comcast signed a standstill agreement, which effectively blocked other bidders from entering the fray. Previously, G.E. had sought to entice Time Warner. More recently Rupert Murdoch, who controls the News Corporation, considered making an offer for NBC Universal.
An earlier version of this article mischaracterized a financial aspect of the deal. The agreement valued NBC Universal at $30 billion, that was not the value of deal itself.

"Pleasure P child molestation allegations"

*R&B singer Pleasure P has become the center of a child molestation scandal. The former member of Pretty Ricky is rumored to have been convicted of child molestation, a case that was covered up by his record label Blue Start Entertainment, back in 2006. Following the conviction, members of the group Pretty Ricky began to separate themselves from Pleasure P, aka Marcus Cooper. Eventually he left the group but went on to have a solo career.
The daughter of Pleasure P’s lawyer is now coming out on Twitter to reveal what she says is the truth about the R&B star. She says that he molested several children, including a 3-year old boy and a 4-year old girl who are his niece and nephew. This is the Twitter page of the woman who is speaking out against Pleasure P. Why is she speaking? Because apparently Pleasure P is very behind on his lawyer bills.
Though Pretty Ricky hasn’t come out with any details about Pleasure P being a child molester, they’ve now confirmed that they kicked him out of the group and that he did not leave on his own, as many had originally thought.
Below are documents that MediaTakeOut.com has posted to the site that show that Pleasure P’s 3 year-old nephew, whom he supposedly molested, was taken out of his home. It specifically states, "No unsupervised contact between the child and Marcus Cooper, maternal uncle, and Marcus Cooper shall not reside at home with the child if placed with."

*Alicia Keys has learned to ignore the tabloids. Her career had been scandal-free until earlier this year, when rumors of a romance with married producer Swizz Beatz surfaced and the gossip sites branded her a "home wrecker." Keys tells Uptown magazine, "When I first started out, [people talking about me] bothered me because I didn't understand it... I felt I had to speak out about things and clear my name. But as time went on, I realized it was a waste of energy... People will take [your business] and run with it in whichever direction they choose."
Keys played a special concert at New York's Nokia Theater on Tuesday night in honor of World Aids Day. Jay-Z joined her on stage for their chart-topping "Empire State of Mind."
Keys' new disc, The Element of Freedom, arrives December 15th. --Jamila Daniel

*Beyonce led all comers last night with 10 Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year for I Am...Sasha Fierce and Record of the Year for "Halo." Her "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" is up for Song of the Year (the songwriters' award). She's also up for Best Female Pop and R-&-B Performance awards.
*Black Eyed Peas, Maxwell and Kanye West each grabbed six nominations -- the Peas are up for Album for The E-N-D and Record for "I Gotta Feeling." Kanye has two irons in the fire for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group -- for "Make Her Say" with Kid Cudi and Common, and "Amazing" with Young Jeezy. And he has three nominations in the Best Rap-Sung Collaboration category -- for "Ego" with Beyonce, "Knock You Down" with Keri Hilson and Ne-Yo, and "Run This Town" with Jay-Z and Rihanna. Maxwell's nods include Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Love You" and Best Male R-&-B Vocal Performance for "Pretty Wings."
*The Best Rap Album nominees are Universal Mind Control by Common, Relapse by Eminem, R.O.O.T.S. by Flo-Rida, The Ecstatic by Mos Def and The Renaissance by Q-Tip.
*Up for Best Rap Solo Performance -- Drake for "Best I Ever Had," Eminem for "Beautiful," Jay-Z for "D-O-A (Death of Auto-Tune)," Kid Cudi for "Day 'n Nite" and Mos Def for "Casa Bey."
*The 52nd annual Grammy Awards air live on C-B-S on January 31st from L-A.

"!!Is Shaq Cheating On Shaunie…Again?!"

*Another cheater bites the dust. The same credible source who hipped us to the Shaq and Shaunie O’Neal cheating/divorce drama almost two years ago has given us more juicy info. And it aint looking good for the homie Shaquille.
Said source tells YBF that they have run across emails regarding a secret sexual relationship between Shaq and Wizards baller Gilbert Arenas’ fiance Laura Govan. And Laura is actually friends with Shaunie. Drama!
Allegedly, Laura and Shaq have been friends in public…and more than friends in private…for the past 5 years. Supposedly they’ve been flying to each others’ towns and meeting up at different events. They even allegedly spent time together last Christmas when Shaq was still playing in Phoenix. Laura just so happened to be there "visiting her sister”.
Hard to believe? Yeah we thought so too. Until we were given the emails. Check them under the cut….
Laura likes to go by "Lonnie Govan” and "Lonnie G” and Shaq used multiple email addresses to correspond with her over the past months

A HEALTHY NOTE:
"Fruit Flies Can Shed Light On High Cholesterol, Obesity In Humans"

*How do fruit flies get high cholesterol and become obese? The same way as people do - by eating a diet that's too rich in fats.
More importantly, according to two new studies led by a University of Utah human geneticist, fruit flies use the same molecular mechanisms as humans to help maintain proper balances of cholesterol and a key form of stored fat that contributes to obesity. The findings mean that as researchers try to learn more about the genetic and biological processes through which people regulate cholesterol and fat metabolism, the humble fruit fly, also called Drosophila, can teach humans much about themselves.
"Not a lot is known about these regulatory mechanisms in people," says Carl S. Thummel, Ph.D., professor of human genetics at the U of U School of Medicine and senior author on the two studies. "But we can learn a lot by studying metabolic control in fruit flies and apply what we learn to humans."

*Have you been asked to bring your W-2 form to church? According to A-O-L's Black Voices, more and more African-American ministers are asking their members to hand over their tax forms to be sure they're tithing enough.
-But the site's Dr. Boyce Watkins says you should be suspicious if a minister asks to see your financial documents. He writes, "No one's getting my W-2 forms except the I-R-S. The request for such crucial financial information leaves the church dancing on the thin line between a legitimate religious organization and a good old-fashioned cult."

??Kenny Asks??:

Have you ever been asked to bring your W-2 to church? How did you react?
What would you do if your preacher asked to see your tax documents?
Do you think preachers who ask to see tax documents are just trying to encourage tithing? Or are they looking to enrich themselves?
Do you feel uncomfortable having a prosperous preacher? Or do you find it inspiring?

TODAY IN BLACK HISTORY:
"First Black Miss World"

December 3, 1970 ~The first Black Miss World was Jennifer Josephine Hosten who won the honor on this day.

We love that Kelis is out and about so soon after having a child, but we wish she'd left this wig back at home with baby Knight.