Wednesday, November 28, 2012

30 TENN. COURTHOUSES EVACUATED AMID THREATS
Someone called in bomb threats, and 30 courthouses in Tennessee had to be evacuated yesterday and searched. That means thousands of dollars in expenses. There were no bombs found, but the FBI, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and the Highway Patrol are all investigating. The Davidson, Rutherford, Wilson and Williamson county courthouses were among those which had NOT received threats as of yesterday afternoon. There was a similar bomb threat hoax last week at 28 courthouses in Oregon.

JOB FAIR WED FOR UPS POSITIONS
UPS is hiring, at a job fair today in Antioch. You need to be at the Goodwill Career Solutions Center on Murfreesboro Pike in Antioch...  between 10 and 2, dressed for an interview, resume in hand. 

POWERBALL JACKPOT UP TO 500 MILLION
Have you bought a powerball lottery ticket? With tonight's multi-state Powerball jackpot up to a record 500-million-dollars, many people who normally don't buy tickets will be snatching them up. The ticket sales today will make the jackpot larger. What would you do with 500 MILLION dollars?  Actually, the cash payout right now would be 327 million dollars, before taxes. The deadline to buy a ticket is 9:59 tonight.

COUNCILMAN WANTS TO REVISIT LIFETIME HEALTH BENEFITS
Just two-weeks after the Metro Council voted to continue life-time health benefits for themselves and their spouses, with taxpayers picking up 75% of the tab. One council member, Phil Claiborne, says he wants council members to reconsider that. He'd like to see

FIRST "GIVING TUESDAY" FOLLOWED CYBER MONDAY
You have Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and now there's a new national initiative that just kicked off yesterday, "Giving Tuesday." Apparently it's not caught on too well yet... not many people knew about it. But local non-profits are hoping it'll get as popular to GIVE on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving as to shop the day after. If you missed it, many of them have websites where you can give anytime.

DANCING WITH THE STARS HAS A WINNER
Melissa Rycroft has finally won something! She was the bachelorette who was chosen by bachelor Jason .. thenhe cahnged his mind. Then on Dancing with the stars.. she took third place.... but last night, Melissa won the championship on now has a "Dancing With the Stars" to take home the mirrorball trophy. 

CHINA THINKING OF CHANGING ITS ONE-CHILD POLICY 
China is thinking of easing its one-child policy and letting some couples have two kids. It might keep so many baby girls from being abandoned, and the Chinese society is aging, and there aren't enough young people to take care of the elderly. 
 
BIG TOBACCO LIED, AND HAS TO PAY
A federal judge has ruled that major tobacco companies have to launch an ad campaign that admits the tobacco companies lied for decades about the health risks associated with smoking. The judge says the ads have to be published in a variety of media forms for as long as two years.  

ON YOUR TV TONIGHT:
It's time for more Christmas specials on TV. Tonight: it's Christmas at Rockefeller Center... Mariah Carey and Cee Lo Green sing at the tree lighting, then it's "Saturday Night Live" with a compilation of its most popular holiday sketches. On ABC, it's "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Oh, and "It's a Wonderful Life" is on Saturday on NBC. And thank you to Kim Leslie who's put together a LOVELY list of Holiday specials, what times they're on locally, and what channels. You'll find it under "On the Mix Morning Show" at www.mix929.com

NEW LAW SAVES THOUSANDS IN CHECKS JOBLESS PEOPLE SHOULDN'T BE GETTING
The state's new unemployment law is working. It requires proof that you're looking for work if you're drawing unemployment. So far hundreds of people have been caught, and 100 thousand dollars have been saved. The Tn Department of Labor says people are not necessarily trying to defraud the government, that some just don't know they're supposed to be trying to find a job while they're drawing the unemployment. Now those who got the money but weren't following the law may find that money coming back out of their tax returns next year. 

RESCUED DOGS TAKEN TO WILSON COUNTY
If you want to help those more than 60 dogs rescued from horrible living conditions in Ashland City recently... they've been take to Wilson County’s "New Leash on Life"... and you can always donate dog food and supplies. The Animal Rescue Corps is taking care of the dogs until they're assessed for placement and then taken to adoption and rescue shelters around the country.

STEWART COUNTY SCHOOLS CLOSED
If you haven't gotten your flu shot yet, it's not too late. Stewart County schools have been closed the rest of the week because so many kids are out sick with either a stomach virus or the flu.  Classes will be back in session on Monday.
 
COPS RECOVER 2 TRUCKLOADS OF STOLEN STUFF FROM ONE BUSY BURGLAR
Putnam County officials have finally gotten a break in the case of more than a dozen burglaries that have occurred over the past two months. Police have arrested a man in Putnam County after they discovered a large amount of stolen property. Investigators said over $100,000 worth of items were stolen. 
33 year old Andrew Depriest Friday night was spotted driving a car matching a vehicle reported leaving one of the crime scenes.  Police found cash, jewelry, guns, TVs, and laptop computers. They needed two trucks to haul the items to the property room of the police department.
"We recovered probably between $75 and 100 thousand dollars' worth of stolen property. At The time of his arrest,  Depriest was actually on probation and house arrest. Didn't even slow him down. He's already been linked to 15 burglaries in Putnam and Van Buren counties and more charges are pending.