THE SHOW: 12/29/2009 - MARY J MAKIN' HITS / NELLY ROBBED! / TERROR UPDATES / ELVES NEED LOVE TOO

Local Buzz:
"Fire That Destroyed UT Ag Lab Was Accidental"

*KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A fire that destroyed a laboratory on the University of Tennessee agricultural campus was accidental.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reported state and Knoxville city investigators found water leaked onto a light fixture, causing a short circuit that started the blaze Monday.
The fire at McCord Hall was reported about 2:20 p.m.
Assistant animal sciences professor Brynn Voy told the newspaper she was on the second floor and heard glass popping and saw smoke and flames after the fire alarm sounded.
Voy said she was one of only a few people in the building.
Classes are out for the holiday break.
Firefighters contained the blaze to the lab area of the building. No injuries were reported.

*NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A two alarm apartment fire sent residents running from their homes overnight.
The fire happened at the Brandywine Apartments on Edmonson Circle around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Residents said they were woken up by the alarm system going off. Ten units were destroyed or heavily damaged, and five other units suffered minor damage.
No one was hurt, and the Red Cross was at the scene helping many of the victims.
Fire investigators will now try to determine what caused the fire.

*NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Police spent Tuesday morning trying to figure out who was behind a deadly late-night shooting in North Nashville.
Police were called out to the scene in the 1900 block of 12th Avenue North around 8 p.m. Monday. The victim, a man in his 20s, was found shot to death and lying in the street.
So far, police said they do not have a suspect or a motive in this case.
Police asked that anyone with any information to call police.

*PARIS, Tenn. - An elderly woman missing for more than a week was found dead. A litter cleanup crew found 85-year-old Gertrude Weber's car Monday afternoon at the bottom of concrete overpass on Highway 218 in Paris.
Weber's body was found inside the vehicle. Authorities said they believe the 85-year-old was the victim of a car crash.
Weber had been reported missing after she was last seen on Dec. 19.
The THP started an investigation into the cause of the crash.

"British anger at China execution"

*The Chinese ambassador Fu Ying has been summoned to the Foreign Office amid a growing row between the UK and China over the execution of a British man.
Akmal Shaikh, 53, a father-of-three from London, was executed in China after being convicted of drug smuggling despite claims he was mentally ill.
Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis told the ambassador "China had failed in its basic human rights responsibilities."
The Chinese Embassy said Mr Shaikh had no previous record of mental illness.
Mr Lewis said after the meeting: "I had a difficult conversation with the Chinese Ambassador today.
"I made clear that the execution of Mr Shaikh was totally unacceptable and that China had failed in its basic human rights responsibilities in this case, in particular that China's court had not considered the representations made about Mr Shaikh's mental condition.
"It is an important element of a mature bilateral relationship that we are able to speak frankly about issues on which we disagree and that those concerns are heard."
Ambassador Fu Ying was summoned to the Foreign Office after the execution sparked condemnation from the UK government.
The execution by lethal injection took place despite repeated calls from his family and the British government for leniency, citing his mental state, saying that he suffered from bipolar disorder.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was "appalled" at the execution, however China warned criticism of the case would harm UK-China relations.

*STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Fire tore through an apartment here early Monday, killing six children and three adults, officials said.The blaze was reported about 4 a.m., and firefighters worked into the afternoon, shoveling piles of burned debris from the charred unit, on the second floor of a two-story red-brick apartment building in a complex called Academy Crossing.
"I opened my door, and all I saw was flames coming out of the front of the apartment, and the glass just blew and made a sound like a bomb,” said Ramona Doss, who lives across the parking lot in another building. "It’s a tragedy.”
The children killed were 4 months to 6 years old, said the county coroner, Michael Hunt, and the adults were women, one who was 25 and two who were 19. Mr. Hunt said he did not know how the victims were related.
The victims were all in the same apartment. The fire chief, Rodger Mann, said investigators did not yet know what caused the blaze, which he described as the worst in recent memory in Starkville, a city of about 24,000 full-time residents that is home to Mississippi State University, the state’s largest university. Starkville is about 115 miles northeast of Jackson, Miss., and roughly the same distance southeast of Memphis.
Chief Mann said a private company had recently inspected the complex and found no problems.
"A fire investigation is like a puzzle,” he said. "We’ve got to get enough pieces of the puzzle to get a picture of what happened.”
The owner of the Academy Crossing complex, Mildred Rollins, said she had no comment and referred questions to the apartment’s insurance agent, Dale Stafford of the State Farm Insurance Company, who said it was too early to comment.
Several neighbors said the complex had electrical and other problems, but Mr. Stafford said no electrical problems had been reported to the maintenance department.
The authorities did not release the victims’ identities. Chief Mann said he thought they included a woman who lived in the apartment and people who were visiting her. Only three of the building’s eight apartments were occupied.

Nelly is offering a 10-thousand-dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of the man who broke into his suburban St. Louis home earlier this month. Nelly was not home at the time but police say one of three occupants saw and confronted the intruder, a male in his 20s or 30s.

"TYRA BANKS ENDING TALK SHOW"

*Tyra Banks announced yesterday that the upcoming fifth season of her popular talk show will be her last. The supermodel turned junior T-V mogul says she wants to concentrate on producing films, telling People.com, "I've been loving having fun, coming into your living rooms, bedrooms, hair salons for the past five years... My next huge steps will allow me to reach more women and young girls to help us all feel as fierce as we truly are" by bringing "positive images of women to the big screen."
Questions:
Are you sad to see the Trya Show go?
Is canceling her talk show just another imitation of Oprah?
Who would you like to see host a talk show?

*On December 29th, 1907, Robert Weaver was born. He would go on to become the first African-American appointed to a presidential cabinet when President Lyndon B. Johnson named him to head the newly created Department of Housing and Urban Development.

*Eating unhealthy foods is often easier than eating healthy foods -- but over the long haul, it really wears your body out. All that time you saved by eating fast food ends up getting wasted by the fact that you're not as efficient and energetic as you would have been if you would have eaten right.
How is your diet right now? Your body will tell you. Here are some physical and emotional signs you're not eating properly:
1. Skin Tone -- The food you eat directly affects your skin tone. If you're eating properly, your skin should be pink and healthy. If you're not eating the right foods, your skin will be dull, flaky or scaly.
2. Energy -- If you feel tired and sluggish most of the time, you may not be getting enough nutrients from your food. Poor nutrition affects your mood, thought processes, and energy levels.
3. Brain Power -- Memory lapses, problems concentrating, slow brain processing and other cognitive problems can stem from not eating healthy foods.
4. Mood Swings -- If you're not eating properly, your blood sugar levels, hormones, and brain chemicals will spike and crash, which affects your mood. Some foods can contribute to depression, while other foods improve your mood.

*Samuel Kabia left behind Sierra Leone's violent landscape and eventually came to Nashville eight years ago, working his way up from Belmont University landscaper to, just this month, Belmont University master's degree holder.But he never forgot the people of his village trying to survive in the aftermath of a bloody civil war. Now Kabia's determination to revitalize Rufoindu by helping orphans and launching a school has become infectious, attracting the support of his fellow Belmont graduates and others. After a trip home in 2005, Kabia, 49, launched the nonprofit Rufoindu Education Project for Orphan Children, funding it with his earnings from the landscaping job plus a second one at Burger King, all while attending school.
"My village was deplorable and burned," he said. "Many orphans. No money, no education, no supplies. Nothing. It was a place with a lot of diamonds used to get arms and ammunition."
Kabia and many of his countrymen fled Sierra Leone in the 1990s because of the brutal struggle over their coveted treasure — diamonds. About 2 million of the nation's 6 million residents were displaced, with many fleeing to Liberia, Guinea and refugee camps in The Gambia, according to the United Nations' refugee agency.
"Campus lends hand"
Kabia, a high school economics and geography teacher in his homeland, went with his family to The Gambia, seeking a new life away from civil war.
He, his wife and two children were resettled in Nashville in 2001 with the help of the United Nations and Catholic Charities. Since then, 6,000 Sierra Leone refugees have been resettled in this country, with 30 families assigned to Tennessee.
Kabia started working as a landscaper at Belmont University soon after his arrival. Four months into his job he began his undergraduate studies — a free perk of being an employee. He and his wife had another child, and he began work on his master's in education.
After he started raising money for orphans, people noticed. He gained support on campus with classmates and fellow employees, said Belmont spokesman Greg Pillon. They helped Kabia get his nonprofit status.

*"It's just nice to meet another human that shares my affinity for elf culture.
Georgia