Monday, October 29, 2012

RESCUE WORKERS MOBILIZING FOR SANDY VICTIMS. HOW YOU CAN HELP
If you want to help, you can text a 10 dollar donation to the Salvation Army or the Red Cross. The money will be added to your next phone bill. To donate to the Red Cross, text REDCROSS to 90999, and to give ten bucks to the Salvation Army, you can text MIDTN to 80888. Both groups already have people on the scene and more on standby! 

GENERATORS AND OTHER STORM STUFF
Hurricane Sandy is hitting the east coast of the U.S., and thousands of people have already been evacuated from their homes. So you'll get a better idea of why the storm is such a big deal, you have to realize what they're facing. Many of the people in New York and other cities that'll be hit by the storm (and possibly an 11 foot wall of water when the storm surge hits), live in APARTMENTS. That means some of their homes could be completely underwater, others will be without power, in freezing cold, wet conditions. They'll be trying to make their food last, unable to cook anything. Even those who get generators don't have anyplace to run them, with no driveways or yards. Power is expected to be out for up to two weeks, afterwards.

CRUISE SHIPS IN THE STORM
At least five cruise ships are in the waters being churned up by Hurricane Sandy.

SANDY BRINGS SNOW TO TENNESSEE
Guess what Sandy is bringing to Tennessee?  Snow! The weather service says we could get up to 4 inches in the higher elevations of East Tennessee and southwest Virginia starting this morning.The rest of us get windy conditions and cold weather.

TN. GAS PRICES HIGHER BECAUSE OF SANDY
Gas prices are expected to go back up becuase Hurricane Sandy -- which is reported to have surpassed Hurricane Lili in 1996 as the second largest Atlantic storm over the past 24 years -- has shut down refineries along the coast.

FLIGHTS CANCELLED AT NASHVILLE AIRPORT
If you're headed to the Nashville airport today, you'll wanna check your flights ahead of time. Flights in and out of town are cancelled if they go through -- or to -- the northeast

SANDY IMPACT ON STOCKS, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
There New York Stock Exchange has cancelled floor trading, and other U.S. financial markets are closed today with Sandy headed toward the nation's largest city. The shutdown could last through tomorrow.  And the federal government and all school systems from Fredericksburg to D.C. are closed today. Federal offices elsewhere should still be open.
 
STORM SLAMS HALLOWEEN FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW
Since Halloween is Wednesday, kids here had this past weekend for halloween fun and they get to trick-or-treat on Wednesday night. But children in New England are losing out on trick-or-treating for the second year in a row, unless they had the forethought to go this past weekend. They had a Nor'easter last year, and Hurricane Sandy this year.

TITANS LOSE
The Tennessee Titans are now 3-and-5.  They lost 19-to-13 in overtime yesterday to the Indianapolis Colts. The Titans play again on Sunday, at LP field, against Chicago.

LOCAL TEAMS' WINS AND LOSSES THIS WEEKEND
Other local teams played this weekend as well: the Vols lost to South Carolina (38-35,) and Vandy beat the University of Massachussetts (49-7). 

FLU VACCINE MAY PROTECT YOU FROM A HEART ATTACK
Getting a flu shot this season may not only greatly lower your risk of influenza this year, it may also lower your risk of heart disease. A new review from Canada suggests people who received the flu vaccine were 50 percent less likely to experience a heart attack or stroke, and 40 percent less likely to die from one, compared with people in the unvaccinated control group.

UNEMPLOYMENT DECLINES IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE
How about some good news? Unemployment is going down in Middle Tennessee. We're at 6.4%, down from 7.2% last month.

GOVERNOR HASLAM IN "TIME MAGAZINE"
Governor Bill Haslam is in "Time Magazine" this week... talking about education. He says for one thing, education funding should be tied to graduation rates.  

NASHVILLE WAR HERO FACES MURDER CHARGE
Hillwood High School graduate Brandon Thomas served three tours of duty and is a decorated veteran for his service in the U.S. military.  He's part of the respected Thomas family who owns and operates the poplar Sperry's restaurants in Nashville. However, he's now charged with murder after a recent incident in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His friends and family insist he did nothing more than protect himself during a violent attack. On Oct. 18, there was a fender bender that lead to road rage incident in a Save-A-Lot parking lot in Pittsburgh.  Witnesses said a 55 year-old man named Vaughn Semonelli pinned Thomas in his Hummer, came up to the car and punched him in the face.   Thomas, 30, grabbed a gun and shot twice, killing Semonelli.   Thomas is a father of three, a veteran of three tours of duty, a staff sergeant paratrooper and a mortar man with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Thomas earned three purple hearts and a bronze medal of valor.  He now faces murder charges.
   Members of Thomas' brigade have leapt to his defense and have written the Pittsburgh district attorney 32 letters in eight days asking that the charges be dropped.   The soldier's mother said Brandon has never been anything but a good soldier, a good man and the leader of his family.   "He's my oldest son and he's always be held in the highest regard by his family, and his two younger brothers. He was always our hero in our family. He always stepped up when he had to be a man," said mother Leah Vaughn. "We know that Brandon would never ever take a life unless he was fearing for his own or other people around him."  There is a huge effort by the 173rd to raise money in his defense. The family is hoping all charges will soon be dropped against their son.

CH. 4 REPORTER'S VIRAL FISH VIDEO
A few weeks ago on a quiet lake in Cheatham County, a fish got a bit squirmy with a Channel 4 reporter. It was caught on video, she posted it, and since then, it's gotten nationwide attention.
Channel 4's Carley Gordon's "Carley's Clumsy Carp Commotion" has been shown on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 program, NBC's Today show and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! She says, "I think deep down I've always secretly hoped that my reporting would end up on national television, but this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."