Happy Monday and Last day of the month! 6/30/2008

Another Monday has come and gone and we thank you for tuning in and checking out our Carolina Country Cruizin' blog. Here's what you missed this morning

PETA has set their sights on Jessica Simpson after she was photographed wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan “Real Girls Eat Meat.” The shirt is believed to be a dig at vegetarian Carrie Underwood, who previously dated Simpson’s boyfriend Tony Romo. In response, PETA doctored a photo of Simpson to read “Only Stupid Girls Eat Meat” and listed “five reasons only stupid girls eat meat.”

As the number of salmonella cases blamed on tomatoes continues to rise, the government is looking into whether they are even to blame. The widening outbreak – with 810 people confirmed ill – means whatever is making people sick could very well still be on the market. What really has officials worried is that the latest victim became sick on June 15th, long after the outbreak began on April 10th and weeks after government warnings stripped supermarkets and restaurants of many tomatoes.
According to CNN, if tomatoes aren’t to blame, it could cost the industry $100 million

A 375-pound bear was rescued from drowning in the Gulf of Mexico. The large bear had wandered into a neighborhood of the Florida panhandle community of Apalachicola over the weekend when it was hit by a tranquilizer dart shot by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists. But it managed to escape and bolt into the ocean before the sedation went into effect. That was when biologist Adam Warwick jumped into the water to save the bear from drowning. He managed to get the beast to shore, where a backhoe loaded it on a truck. The bear was then relocated to Osceola National Forest.

An Iowa man who tried to pay a $100 bond in dirty money will spend a week in jail for contempt of court. The man was arrested in May for driving a truck with a defective tire. Instead of paying a fine, he opted for a trial and a Scott County judge required him to post bond. On Thursday, he brought a box of crumbled money and a bucket of pennies to the court office. A court clerk said there were bugs in the box and the pennies were covered in an unknown substance; they used rubber gloves to count the cash. Judge Christine Dalton found the man in contempt of court and told the bailiff to arrest him.

Virginia hairdresser Kelly Gray offered eBay bidders a chance to buy a spot in her wedding party as a bridesmaid. The winning bid is from Dr. Pepper Snapple, which is contributing $10,000 to the wedding next April 19th. They’ll also supply the drinks. Gray may even get a bridesmaid out of the deal, too. The company plans to launch a Web site to find her a bridesmaid or provide a surprise guest. Gray and fiancé Karl Gau came up with the auction idea because they were worried about paying for the wedding.

Ever wonder why kids run around grinning with boundless energy and enthusiasm, while most grownups always seem tired? The reason, according to this hilarious Web site, is that many people over the age of 21 suffer from “Adultitis,” a condition marked by “chronic dullness, mild depression, high stress levels, and the inability to smile.” Grumpy grown-ups can learn more about this fictional condition at Adultits.Org, where they’ll find extensive info on common symptoms such as fatigue, anxiousness, discontentment, and lack of laughter.www.adultitis.org


Tennesseans are the “textiest” customers in the Southeast, sending and receiving the most text messages per month according to the Big City Wireless Use Study. Verizon Wireless customers in Nashville earned the No. 1 spot as the state’s “‘textiest city” with customers sending and receiving 819 million text messages from January to April 2008. Knoxville landed the No. 2 position with over 420 million text messages during that same time period; Chattanooga earned third place with 408 million text messages.

Flint, Michigan's new police chief is saying no to crack. Acting Flint Police Chief David R. Dicks announced that officers will begin arresting people wearing pants or shorts that sag too low, exposing rear ends. The crackdown on buttocks is an apparent response to "significant" complaints from citizens, according to Dicks. Under the chief's orders, any sworn officer who sees "sagging/exposing buttocks" will have probable cause to make an arrest under the city's disorderly person ordinance -- a misdemeanor punishable by a 500-dollar fine and three months in jail.

The victim in last week's incident at a Tim McGraw concert in Washington state is speaking out. Last week, Tim intervened as a woman had her hair pulled and was knocked to the floor by a charging fan. Jo Anne Hume, tells K-I-N-G T-V in Seattle that the man at the center of the ruckus, Marcus Nirschl, landed on top of her. She says, "One second I'm standing there enjoying the concert and the next second I have chair and a 300-pound person on top of me and I am on the floor." Nirschl claims that the whole thing was an accident and that he never intentionally grabbed Hume. He also says that he's contemplating a lawsuit. Hume says that there were no security guards in the front row to help her. She also says that she'll support Tim if a lawsuit is filed against him.

What’s cooking
6:50

After last year's rigorous Soul 2 Soul 2 Tour Faith Hill is sitting it out this summer. Though Faith has grown to love performing live, she's glad to be home performing her most important role -- mom to Maggie, Gracie and Audrey. She says, "I'm a wife, I'm a mother, and those things come first.

Brooks and Dunn will get their star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame during a ceremony in Los Angeles on August 4th. According to their website, other stars getting their stars that day include Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the late George Harrison.

Sugarland is performing a free eight-song set in Los Angeles, California Wednesday for Yahoo Music's Live Sets. The band is encouraging their fans to come out and support the show and to bring a pal. Additional information can be found on their website Sugarland-dot-com. –

Will Ferrell is talking about the Land of the Lost he's filming for release next summer. He says the new take on the old low-budget T-V show doesn't involve many computer graphics to create a dinosaur-inhabited world. He says, "We really use the adventure to setup the comedy, and were able to comment on these situations that you would love to see characters comment on. It's a lot of new stuff for me, but like anything else, you learn to adapt. Luckily we built these amazing, beautiful sets, so we didn't have to imagine every single thing that you would on a movie that has [computer graphics] on everything."

8:50
In case you didn't know, Kenny Chesney hates cats, but loves dogs. And if he didn't have a career in country music, he'd probably own a dive shop. He revealed these things in an exclusive backstage interview after his Today show concert on N-B-C. he told the reporter that his favorite thing to do in his down time is to be out on his boat watching the sunset to Bob Marley tunes. And speaking of tunes, he says his I-Pod is so jammed with downloads that he could put it on shuffle and not hear the same song for more than three weeks.

Miranda Lambert just added another animal to her family Hank Lambert-Shelton -- a dog that boyfriend Blake Shelton found hanging around by the lake near his home in Oklahoma. Miranda says that Blake sings "Yankee Doodle" to him but changes the words to "Hanky Doodle." Miranda calls it "their special song."

Dierks Bentley made history earlier this month as the first country artists to compete in X-Box 360's Game With Fame program.. Dierks played Halo 3 from the comfort of the recording studio where he was working on his next album, but Halo 3 is a pastime on his tour bus. He says, "We get a lot of anger and competition out."

Jo Dee Messina’s next CD is being delayed. The as-yet-untitled CD was slated for an August 12th release, but it now appears that the earliest the music will drop is in September. “I’m Done” is the first single from the project.

A flight attendant on a private plane who claims Jennifer Lopez's guard dog took a chomp out of her leg on a flight from New York to California two years ago is looking for five-million dollars for her troubles. Lisa Wilson claims the alleged bite, by Lopez's German shepherd, Floyd, caused her to fall over and injure her back, leaving her unable to work.

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*All stories provided by Premiere, Jones and Metro networks*