Large Breasts on Nolensville Road?

  by Christian Grantham - September 19th, 2007 - 3:34 pm| Weirdness | 3 comments

That’s what several upset viewers are telling us they are seeing on Nolensville Road. The callers are concerned that children will see the anatomically correct breasts outside Jonathan’s Bar. After some quick research, we found out that they are there as part of Jingle Jugs for life tour.

According to the website, Jingle Jugs raises awareness for breast cancer: “the tour will consist of a convoy of vehicles, including a 53’ semi-truck trailer, artistically decorated outside, and retrofitted inside as a combination bar/grille/art gallery that will be opened to the public. This traveling breast museum will also display over 100 sets of plastic breasts (Jingle Jugs) uniquely decorated by many different artists. The creators of Jingle Jugs have partnered with multiple Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapters, who are using this product to raise funds for their national fraternity as well as for breast cancer research. A percentage of the proceeds from the sales of Jingle Jugs during this month-long tour will go to breast cancer organizations nationwide.”

UPDATE: 09-20-07 11:41a.m. - More from our report from Wednesday night’s newscast. Watch the video.

Federal Judge: TN lethal injection violates Eighth Amendment

  by Christian Grantham - September 19th, 2007 - 2:23 pm| Crime | no comments

Kleinheider has the story and the text of the order enjoining the state from executing Edward Jerome Harbison by lethal injection.

For the reasons stated herein, the court finds that the plaintiff’s pending execution under Tennessee’s new lethal injection protocol violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States the court finds that the plaintiff’s pending execution under Tennessee’s new lethal injection protocol violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Case 3:06-cv-01206 Document 147 Filed 09/19/2007 Page 55 of 56 Constitution. The new protocol presents a substantial risk of unnecessary pain; that risk was know to Commissioner Little, and yet disregarded. Accordingly, the court will enter judgment in favor of the plaintiff and enter injunctive relief against the defendants, barring them from executing the plaintiff under the new protocol.

Father of Miss Tennessee 2006 found dead

  by Christian Grantham - September 19th, 2007 - 11:48 am| Investigation | no comments

Dr. Bruce Pancake, father of Miss Tennessee 2006 Blaire Pancake, was found dead in his Chattanooga office Sunday. Dr. Pancake was to be in Nashville today to faces several charges from the state Health Department that included gross malpractice and unprofessional, dishonorable or unethical conduct.

Read the full text of the state’s charges against Dr. Pancake.

Breaking: water main break in South Nashville

  by Christian Grantham - September 19th, 2007 - 10:51 am| Public Safety | no comments

We’re watching a water main break that happened around 10 a.m. near the intersection of Wallace and Nolensville Road.

The break may be affecting area water supply, including to Southern Hills Medical Center.

UPDATE 12:03pm - live video is coming into the news room now and we’re going live with the story in a minute or two. I’ll link the video here once we put it up on WKRN.com

UPDATE 12:12pm - Wallace Road is closed off and water can be seen running down Wallace and onto Nolensville Rd. Area businesses are experiencing low water presure. The hospital is reporting critically low water supply.

UPDATE: 1:49pm - More on WKRN.com. Click here for video.

Dangerous pit bull euthanized in Clarksville

  by Christian Grantham - September 19th, 2007 - 8:59 am| Animals | 4 comments

A follow up to a story we reported about two pit bulls involved in an attack and mauling in Clarksville. The AP wire reports this morning that the 24 year old owner of the pets has been arrested and one of the dangerous animals has been euthanized. The other is scheduled to be euthanized after authorities observe the animal for 10 days because it attacked a human.

Police have arrested Tiffany Demitrice Taylor — eight counts of allowing dogs to roam free and one count of providing a false report. Police say Taylor initially denied owning the dogs.

This isn’t the first time Taylor has had a run in with the law because of her pit bulls. In 2005, Taylor turned over another pit bull after it bit a child in the face. The Leaf Chronicle cites Animal Control Director David Selby as saying that when a male pit bull is allowed to roam freely his natural instincts emerge.

Such incidents led officials in Sparta to ban people from owning pit bulls in 2005. You can view the city’s ordinance here. Anyone found to own or in any way possess a pit bull dog within the corporate limits of Sparta is charged with a misdemeanor and a fine.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Animal set on fire in grocery store parking lot

  by Christian Grantham - September 19th, 2007 - 5:39 am| Animals | 3 comments

A disturbing story out of East Nashville: a man called 911 to report a dog or cat had been set on fire by several people and was being followed and filmed on cell phones. It happened in the parking lot of the C.B. Foods on Shelby Avenue around 11 p.m. Monday night. This is the third time an animal was reported to have been set on fire in the past month.

Caller: There’s a group of five black guys that have set fire, some sort of dog or cat or something and they’re filming it with their camera.

911: They’ve set fire to an animal?

Caller: Yes. It’s walking around on fire, trying to get away from them and they’re, they’re filming it with their cell phones.

UPDATE: 12:48pm - Animal Control called to say they now have video surveillance of this incident and a couple of leads they are following. They ask that anyone with more infomration please call them.

Gangs and MySpace

  by Christian Grantham - September 18th, 2007 - 3:16 pm| Crime | no comments

Tonight on News2 at 6, Erin Steinbruchel has a report on gangs in schools. Click the graphic in this post and look at how Nashville gangs are using MySpace to recruit members. This particular profile is of a local 21 year old “Allah Hu Akbar” under “Kurdish Pride Gangsta.” If you didn’t think gangs were one click away from your child, check out the profile’s friends list to see the profile of several teens from the Nashville area. Some of these teens could be your neighbors, your child’s friends, or even your own children.

Glencliff High School will host a parents only forum to talk about gangs and MySpace tonight from 6-8 in the auditorium. The event is hosted by the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Metro Police’s Gang Task Force Division. That leads us to this question:

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Click here to watch this segment.

Volcano Discovered?

  by Christian Grantham - September 18th, 2007 - 2:48 pm| Uncategorized | no comments

This has to be one of the most interesting calls I’ve gotten here in the news room. Jack Dryden from Chapel Hill says he was doing online research on Darfur and was looking at the terrain in the surrounding area via Google Earth when he noticed something, well, strange. There in Kenya, below the A1 was something that looked like lava. Dryden believes he has discovered a volcano that no one knows about from his home in Chapel Hill! Dryden says he has spoken with geologists who say there is no volcano at that location. Could this be?

We Weather Forecasters Are Being Teased!

  by Davis - September 18th, 2007 - 12:01 pm| Weather | no comments

We forecasters are quite dependent on computer models for a long range or 7 Day forecast.  Sometimes the models giveth, and the models they taketh away.   I call that being teased!  Check out:

http://www.news2wkrn.com/weather/?p=4310

from our weather blog nashvillewx.com

Welcome to WKRN News Extra!

  by Christian Grantham - September 18th, 2007 - 7:59 am| Uncategorized | 5 comments

Thanks for stopping in. It will take a little time to get the new blog rolling, but we hope to provide viewers an inside look into the WKRN news room experience. You can expect breaking news coverage here as well as insight into the stories we cover from anchors, producers, managers, the news desk. Reporters will also post about the stories they cover and provide more information than they could fit into their 2 minute stories.

We also hope to hear from you. Your news tips and feedback will help us see the stories through your eyes and help us report the stories that are important to you. We also hope to share information that won’t always make it into our newscast, but that you might still find important. You may even find the story behind the story that we might not have seen.

I’ll add more features to the site today and over time. If you have a particular feature you’d like to see here, let me know in comments.