What's Trending Today
 
 
Winter Weather Advisory until 10a this morning.  Wintry mix of rain and sleet with some snow this morning, changing over to rain. Hi 39. Thanks to the Canadian air that's in place.  Another round of rain tonight and early Saturday as we flirt with the freezing mark, with some locations especially north and west of Roanoke get some additional icing.  Tonight 32.  It'll be overcast later. Hi 54.  Sunday, sunshine hi 52. Monday. Mostly cloudy. Hi 51. Cloudy and rainy Tuesday. Hi mid 40s. lows mid 30s.

 
 
The midwest is one big snowy wreck. Snow on the ground affecting 20 states.  60 million people - 20% of the population- were under winter weather warnings, watches and advisories yesterday. Fortunately, today, the storm has weakened.
 

The end for the Postal Service's Roanoke distribution center could be sooner than expected. It could happen this summer, instead of July 2014.  There's a meeting Monday in Greensboro.

The Va. Museum of Transportation has scheduled a news conference this morning. It could relate to the future of the J Class #611 locomotive.  The news release promises information on a "strategic undertaking." Museum leaders, representatives of the National Railway Historical Society and the Norfolk and Western Historical Society will be there.

Former Cave Spring and Duke star J.J. Redick has been traded from the Orlando Magic to the Milwaukee Bucks in a six-player trade.
 
 

HOOPS FROM THURSDAY

ACC Men:  (6) Duke 88, Virginia Tech 56 

Big South Men:  Charleston Southern 92, VMI 69


 

USA South Men Quarterfinals:

Christopher Newport 74, Averett 58

Ferrum 73, Maryville 71

 

Big South Women:

Liberty 75, UNC-Asheville 43 - LU wins 8th straight overall, 10th straight on the road

 

ODAC Women:

Lynchburg 51, Bridgewater 47 

Eastern Mennonite 68, Washington & Lee 58 

Guilford 76, Randolph-Macon 48

Virginia Wesleyan 60, Shenandoah 47

 

Men's and women's ODAC tournament continues thru Sunday at the Salem Civic Center.
Sunday is the Daytona 500 and the Oscars.  
 
 

Lookin' Back

Today is Be Humble Day and Margarita Day.

1631, Thanksgiving was first observed

1732, The first U.S. president, George Washington, was born at his parents' plantation in the Virginia Colony.

1935, it became illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House

1956, Elvis Presley entered the music charts for the first time with "Heartbreak Hotel"

1959, The first Daytona 500 race was held in Daytona Beach

1980, the U.S. hockey team upset the Soviets in the Olympics

Cuttin' Cake

Actor Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks, Sex and the City) is 54; Paul Lieberstein (Toby Flenderson on The Office) is 46; Actor Thomas Jane (Hung) is 44; Actress Drew Barrymore (Grey Gardens, 50 First Dates) is 38;   Announcer Don Pardo is 95

 

Joke of the Day

Two barbershops were in red-hot competition. One put up a sign advertising haircuts for 7-dollars.

His competitor put up one that read, “We repair 7-dollars hair cuts."

 

Weird News Today

Police in North Carolina said someone stole a parked truck and led them on a 20-minute chase that reached speeds of 70 miles per hour. The driver turned out to be a 12-year-old girl who had been in a fight with her father. **Can 12 year olds even reach the pedals?

Monday was a pretty icy day in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but a good day for Dashiell Kolbe, because he just made the final payment on his Toyota Highlander. Yep, it was a great day... until a bus, swerving to avoid a spinning vehicle, slid into Kolbe's fully owned Toyota Highlander.

Smarter Than Question
 30 year's ago, most did this, today it's only one in five.  What is it? wow! No winner.  The answer is (drum roll) learned to drive a stick shift.
 
Entertainment Dish
 
American Idol last night - five guys were eliminated in Sudden Death rounds. Here's who stays: Elijah Liu (FYI: Nicki Minaj wants to have his children) Curtis Finch Jr., Charlie Askew, super-talented Devin Velez, and Paul Jollery.  Add that bunch to the ladies from Wednesday night. Next week10 more contestants will join them.

Remember these ladies?  Former Spice Girl and Dancing with the Stars contestant - Mel B - will replace Sharon Osbourne on America's Got Talent.  She joins remaining judges Howard Stern and Howie Mandel.
 
 
Diane Lane is a single woman! Woo-hoo!  Moving to Splitsville: Josh Brolin and Diane Lane are calling it quits after 8 years.    Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher's relationship is headed to the next level.  They're moving to one address.  Check out News from Nashville to see who Selena Gomez has reportedly been dating.  Take that Bieber.
 
Sick Bay: Lady Gaga checked herself into the hospital on Wednesday to undergo hip surgery. The 26 year old announced earlier this month she would need the surgery following an injury during a performance on the Born This Way Ball tour.
Soledad O'Brien tells The Hollywood Reporter she will 'miss getting up early' for CNN mornings. "The Starting Point" anchor explains the show was understaffed and lacked promotion.  She's starting her own production company and would be willing to take an on-air role at another network.

Actor Lou Myers died in his native Charleston, West Virginia on Tuesday, following a heart-related emergency. He was 77.  Myers is best for his role as cranky chef/restaurant owner Mr. Gaines on the college-themed Cosby Show-spinoff A Different World. 

The White House Correspondents' Association has chosen Conan O'Brien as the featured act for its annual dinner on April 27.

Next Tuesday on Good Morning America,  the next group of dancing celebrities on Dancing with the Stars.

 

 

TONIGHT ON TV

ABC: Last Man Standing is new followed by Malibu Country and Shark Tank, both new

CBS: Undercover Boss is new followed by the premiere of CSI: NY and a new Blue Bloods

NBC: Dateline and Rock Center are new

FOX: Kitchen Nightmares and Touch are new

CW: Nikiti is new

 

NEW IN THEATERS THIS WEEKEND   Dark Skies (PG-13) and Snitch (PG-13)


NEW ON DVD THIS WEEKEND    Released Tuesday, February 19.
• Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season
• Argo
• Monsters, Inc. (Ultimate Collector's Edition)
• Anna Karenina
• Sinister
• The Six Million Dollar Man: Season 3

 

 
News from Nashville
 

Blake Shelton plays Reba's meddling brother in his buddy Reba's sitcom, "Malibu Country" which airs March 1st on ABC.

Jason Aldean opened his 2013 Night Train tour last night in Louisiana. Jason will be in New York City next weekend to play a SOLD OUT show at Madison Square Garden.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton have landed in Men's Health Magazine's HOTTEST CELEBRITY COUPLES OF 2013. The couple was ranked 7th overall in the issue that includes Prince William and Kate Middleton and the Obamas.

(Photo: Christopher Polk / Pascal Le Segretain, Getty Images)

It's a storm warning:  Is Hunter Hayes about to come off the market?  Could be, as it's being said that he and singer/actress Selena Gomez -- who recently ended her very public two-year romance with Justin Bieber -- were seen flirting and exchanging numbers.  

Miranda Lambert had a "big fan moment" recently at the Grammy's and she and Beyonce' got some hang time.

Taylor Swift has snagged back the top spot on the country albums chart for her album Red.

Lee Brice and Dustin Lynch have joined the lineup for the Academy of Country Music's ACM Party for a Cause, a two-day music festival in Las Vegas leading up to the 48th annual ACM Awards.  The Band Perry and Dierks Bentley will headline the party.

Justin Moore will perform a 45-minute set at the Daytona 500 Sunday and pay tribute to some local heroes during the show.  He's teamed up with Crown Royal to launch the annual Your Hero's Name Here program, and the hero who gets the most votes will win the naming rights to the Crown Royal Presents the "Your Hero's Name Here" 400 at the Brickyard NASCAR race in July. 

Can Blake Shelton do it again on The Voice?  There will be two new judges to complete against?  The next season kicks off March 25 on NBC.

 

Lar's This & That

 

I WANNA BE RICH

If you suddenly became a MILLIONAIRE, would you still use coupons and hunt for deals? In a new survey, 90% of women said . . . ABSOLUTELY.   68% say they shop for deals because they WANT TO . . . and NOT because they have to. (CNBC)

 

 

THE WOMEN OF DAYTONA

Who's the fastest girl in Daytona?  If you thought Danica Patrick having the pole position was something,  keep an eye out for Christmas Abbott in the pits for Clint Boyer.  Christmas has a gun tattooed on her hip to remind her of her tour of duty in Iraq. She can also squat 225 pounds!

 

LIGHT UP

It may sound like it's a little out of context, but Doctors say people who quit smoking by age 44 live nearly as long as those who never smoked.  It's a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Read it.  Do you believe it?

 

 

TOO MANY APPS, NOT ENOUGH TIME

Are we suffering app overload? People download a lot of apps, but they abandon 95 percent of them, according to a a new study (by Nuance). Bottom line: We keep using the same apps. Facebook, YouTube, Google Play, Google Search, and Gmail were the top five apps in both 2011 and 2012.

 

IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY  Wink

If you ask Twitter where the happy people are, it'll tell you the state of Hawaii and the city of Napa. Researchers uncovered the happiest places in our country based on how often we used negative and positive words in our tweets. Happy words include "lol," "haha," "good," "nice," "sleep," and "wine." "Rainbow" was the happiest word; "earthquake" was one of the saddest. Based off that, here are Twitter's happiest states: 

1) Hawaii
2) Maine
3) Nevada
4) Utah
5) Vermont 


Top five saddest states:

1) Louisiana
2) Mississippi
3) Maryland
4) Michigan
5) Deleware 

Researchers discovered that wealthier areas had higher happiness levels while areas with high rates of obesity were "sad."

 

 

OUR COFFEE CUP IS HALF FULL

Believe it or not, America's coffee obsession peaked in 1946. Back then, the average American drank 48 gallons a year. That's around 17 ounces a day . . . or about two coffee mugs.

Today,  we drink 23 gallons a year, or about eight ounces a day . . . more like ONE mug.  Why?  Because we have more ways to get caffeine today, and we're more likely to buy coffee at stores than to brew large amounts at home or at work. (Marketwatch)

 

 

ARE YOU READY YET? WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE


Women spend a year and three months of their lives putting on make-up or an average of 474 days putting on cosmetics.

Most time — a quarter — is spent on the eyes.

The Specialist Make-up Services poll found 93 per cent ALWAYS used slap on a night out and half had to have it on for work.

The firm’s Debra Robson said: “Semi-permanent make-up saves time.”

So what are fella's slow at doing?

(Source: The Sun) 

 

WOULD YOU BUY GAS BEFORE A TEST DRIVE?

You know where gas prices are right now.  The question is where they're headed.  Would you pay $5 a gallon?  There are reports, that some car dealerships across the country are adapting to gas prices by making potential customers PAY FOR GAS on test drives. For now, they'll do it when people want longer test drives or multiple test drives . . . but who knows?   Let's hope this doesn't catch on.  **Of course we hoped the same about baggage fee's with the airlines.

 

Good News Story 

Good things happening in our backyard.  That alone tugs at my heartstrings.

Patrick Henry High School students performed a concert last night to raise money for ANOTHER school. 

The P.H. Jazz Ensemble Band is made up of 35 students.  For the first time, they played their music to help raise money for Forest Park Academy.

The money will help pay for students at Forest Park to take a trip to Washington D.C., enabling the students to learn about the capitol and what's happening in our country.

Very nice.  I know Director Cyrus Pace is proud of his Jazz Ensemble.

 

Lar's Thought of the Day

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.   Henry David Thoreau