Tuesday, August 28, 2012

TROPICAL STORM ISAAC
If you have friends or family in Louisiana, Mississippi -- even Florida or Alabama -- you may want to check on them. Tropical Storm Isaac is headed their way. It's expected to be a Category One Hurricane by the time it hits, with winds between 75 and 95 miles an hour. That will cause mainly damage to trees and unanchored structures, but since it’s a slow-moving storm, it could dump up to 20 inches of rain, and cause a 10 foot storm surge of water.  The Red Cross and Salvation Army have people ready to feed and shelter those who are flooded or evacuated, and are asking for cash donations if you'd like to help.

Depending on where Tropical Storm Isaac hits, and how strong it is, it'll be either a devastating power of nature, or an excuse to have a Hurricane party as some folks in the southeastern U.S. do when storms and hurricanes develop. Some families get out candles and stay inside and play board games.

DOZENS OF MILITARY AIRCRAFT MOVED FROM GULF COAST TO SMYRNA
Dozens of military planes and helicopters from Pensacola, Florida have been moved to the Smyrna Airport until Isaac moves through.

ISAAC AFFECTS NASHVILLE GAS PRICES
Here's how Tropical storm Isaac’s effects have seeped into your life, already: gas prices jumped at least 7 cents in the past couple of weeks, and are expected to keep going up.
Isaac approached oil platforms and brought production in the Gulf of Mexico to a halt on Friday.

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER OFFERS DISCOUNT FOR PREMARITAL COUNSELING
Since half of weddings end in divorce, there's a wedding photographer who says he wants to help the situation. Jason Mundie of Atlanta says after he found that pre-marital counseling can cut chances for divorce by 30 percent, he’s decided to offer couples a discount if they get premarital counseling. For every hour of premarital counseling they get, Mundie gives them a one percent discount- up to ten percent - off their wedding photography package

FAA TO STUDY USE OF ELECTRONICS IN FLIGHT
You know how the airlines always make you turn off your cell phone and electronic devices before the plane takes off? Yeah, that's not going to end for at least a year. But,  you may be able to eventually use iPads or tablet computers. The Federal Aviation Administration says it's starting a process to study which devices will or won't really interfere with the plane's electronics. They say they won’t have any conclusions until at least March of next year. And the FAA said allowing cell phone use during flights isn't even a consideration.

POT USE DROPS YOUR IQ
An international team of scientists studied a thousand people in New Zealand and found that those who started using marijuana before age 18, while their brains were still developing, lost an average of about eight IQ points.
Researchers found that the more people smoked, the greater the loss in IQ, and quitting, didn’t reverse the effect. The IQ loss was greatest in those who started smoking marijuana when they were adolescents.

WHAT IS ‘AVERAGE’ FOR MEN, WOMEN TODAY?
How would you describe yourself? About average? A Gallup survey claims the average man today weighs 196 pounds, and the average woman, 160. However, the averages are based on how much people CLAIMED they weighed, not actual weigh-ins, so it’s far from scientific. (Do you know ANYONE who tells the truth about how much they weigh?)

METRO SCHOOL BUS AND CAR COLLIDE
One person is recovering after crashing head-on into a Metro school bus Monday. The bus had just left West End Middle School when the car crashed into it near the intersection of Woodlawn and Bowling.  None of the kids on the bus were hurt. 

2ND YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK VISITOR DIES, TWO DEAD FROM LEGIONAIRRE'S
There’s some weird stuff going on around the country. Two people have died from Hantavirus -- that's carried by rodents -- after visiting Yosemite [[ yo-SEM-it-ee ]] National Park in California.
    And at least 8 people are sick, and two people have died from an outbreak of the respiratory illness Legionnaires' Disease at a Chicago hotel. 

ROBIN ROBERTS LEAVES GMA FRIDAY
After announcing in July she would take medical leave, Robin Roberts has set the date. Friday, Aug. 31, will be the Good Morning America anchor's last day on-air before she takes an extended medical leave for myelodysplastic syndrome (commonly called "MDS").   Beginning on Monday, Sept. 3, Roberts, 51, will start the preparations to undergo a bone-marrow transplant. Roberts's sister, Sally, will act as the bone marrow donor.

VANDY NURSE CHARGED WITH CHILD ABUSE
A Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nurse is facing child abuse charges after his son was found walking alone along Genoa Drive and his other son was found unattended on the porch.  Jose Rosa allegedly admitted to leaving the twin boys home alone while he took his other children to school, but said he had locked them in their room.