Posted: 11:53 a.m. Friday, Sept. 24, 2010
Holiday Hiring Going Up; 1 In 5 Gay/Bi Men HIV+; Bishop Long Prepares Sunday Sermon; Michelle Obama To Turn Off Nick; Saving Lady Gaga's Meat Dress
By Veronica Waters
- Georgians will see the "help wanted" sign hanging out this holiday hiring season, starting in mid-September. Retailers nationwide are looking for 600,000 temps through New Year's. Macy's alone is expected to pick up 65,000 workers; ToysRUs will hire another 10,000. Analysts say seasonal jobs this year will be up 100,000 from last year.
- KISS news about your health: the diabetes drug Avandia will stay on the market, but there will be strict rules about who can use it. Because of the drug's risk of prompting heart attacks and strokes, the FDA says Avandia should only be used for type 2 diabetic adults who have exhausted every other medication and option for controlling their blood sugar.
- Sobering new statistics from the CDC on HIV and AIDS. One in five gay and bisexual men is infected with HIV--so says a study of Atlanta and 20 more major cities--and the numbers are worst for men of color. Dr. Jonathan Mermin says a higher proportion of black gay and bi men--28%--are positive, compared to 16% of whites and 18% of Hispanics. Numbers also reveal that younger men ages 20-24 and black men are the most likely not to know they're infected. Overall, less than half of 1 percent of Americans have the virus that causes AIDS.
- Bishop Eddie Eddie Long will give one of the biggest sermons of his life when he takes the pulpit this Sunday at New Birth. He's expected to respond to allegations that he coerced three young men into sexual relationships with cash and lavish gifts. It will be his first time speaking publicly since the trio of former church members filed lawsuits against him, seeking unspecified damages. His attorneys promise to fight the "ugly charges." The megachurch bishop sent out a Twitter message Thursday: "Thanks for all the prayers and support! Love you all.''
- Two state transportation boards, one led by Governor Perdue, decide today whether to move forward on a plan to extend the tolls on Georgia 400. The governor says he thinks metro Atlantans will want to keep paying the 50-cent toll once they realize how clogged the highway would be if it was free. When the toll was established, lawmakers said it would be canceled after the bonds to pay for 400 were paid off--and that'll be next summer. But state leaders who depend on the revenue may have a hard time keeping that promise. They've got $67 million in new road projects in the pipeline that the toll money could fund.
- First Lady Michelle Obama will symbolically pull a switch taking Nickelodeon, its sister networks and their websites off the air and offline for three hours tomorrow. She's telling kids to "shut down your computers and put down your cell phones" and instead, go outside and get active for a "Worldwide Day of Play." Nick has contributed time for public service announcements for Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign to combat childhood obesity, and is donating $50,000 to schools and community groups. Mrs. Obama got the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice first-ever "Big Help" award last March.
- Gwinnett County vice officers arrest a pair of cross-dressing hookers in an undercover prostitution sting in Norcross. Officers say the loitering "ladies" approached officers as a duo, offering their services. The suspects have been identified as 19-year-old Tyrell Hugley of Baltimore and 19-year-old Matthew Hatchett of Norcross. Three other people--women--were nabbed in the sting.
- Did you have trouble getting to your news feed and Farmville yesterday? Well, don't panic. Facebook says their site is working again after a software glitch caused its worst outage in four years, sending some users into a panic for about 2.5 hours. Facebook had to literally turn off the website and turn it back on to fix the problem.
- The financial troubles dogging Republican gubernatorial nominee Nathan Deal are pushing some members of the GOP in Georgia over to the Roy Barnes campaign. "Republicans for Roy" has launched with a website and facebook page. For the 2nd time in a week, Deal has amended his financial disclosures and says he plans to liquidate a $750,000 IRA to pay down some of his debt.
- One hundred and forty-one new jobs are coming to Douglas County. Illinois-based Medline Industries is opening a manufacturing plant in Douglasville; the company makes medical supplies for healthcare providers.
- Saturday Night Live returns for its new season tomorrow with a second black cast member joining Kenan Thompson. Jay Pharoah is known for his celebrity impressions including of President Obama and Will Smith. Here's Thompson in one of his popular recurring sketches, "What Up With That?"
- More Americans are shacking up. New Census stats show whether it's for love or money, the number of opposite-sex unmarried copules who live together jumped 13% this year, to 7.5 million. A sluggish job market may be a factor, as people lean on each other for financial help. The numbers of same-sex couples living together was not statistically different from 2008.
- Lady Gaga's meat dress will be preserved for posterity. She claims she wore the curious couture to the MTV Video Music Awards this year to demonstrate that she's not just a piece of meat in the music industry. It's going to be dried into beef jerky. The designer, Franc Fernandez, says the dress will be put through a process to cure it so it won't rot. He blogged about the process of making the meat dress. Believe it or not...Ripley's says Lady Gaga is not the first to wear meat. A Chicago woman had a gown created of bacon and salami.
- The KISS 104.1 weather forecast: sunshine with a high near 91.
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