Week of January 28, 2009

Stimulous package - Not a single Republican supported President Obama's

economic recovery package on the House floor. It passed 244-188, with 11

Democrats joining the Republicans. The solid Republican opposition, led by

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio), raises questions about whether

the new era of bipartisanship that Mr. Obama promised during the campaign is

truly within reach, or if Washington remains stuck in its acrimonious ways. Most

immediately, the vote may mean that Democrats have to make more

compromises in the Senate version of the recovery package, which is scheduled

for a vote next week. IHouse Republicans said their unified vote Wednesday was

the natural consequence of the Democrats' refusal to incorporate their

recommendations, particularly on cutting the amount of spending in the bill.

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits has reached an all-time

record, the government said, as layoffs spread throughout the economy. The

Labor Department reported that the number of Americans continuing to claim

unemployment insurance for the week ended Jan. 17 was a seasonally adjusted

4.78 million, the highest on records

dating back to 1967.

More than a million people stranded

in darkness in the wake of an icy

winter storm could face a lengthy wait

for electricity to course through their

frosty homes, even as federal help

was promised to two states hit

hardest by the blast.

Late Wednesday, President Barack

Obama signed requests from

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe for federal emergency declarations. Crews - even the

National Guard in Kentucky - worked around the clock to resurrect power lines

downed by thick ice in both states. Officials in states from Oklahoma to West

Virginia fought to do the same.

House Republicans defeated a bill that would have delayed the USA's transition

to digital TV by four months to June 12 to give consumers more time to prepare.

The USA should become an all-digital TV market on Feb. 17, as originally

planned. Digital TV, or DTV, offers clearer pictures, more choice and more

channels to people who receive over-the-air TV signals. Cable and satellite TV

customers aren't affected (this will be overturned by President Obama next

week).

Week of January 28, 2009

President Barack Obama promised to help lower Americans' mortgage costs with

a new plan, coming soon, that would revive the financial system and "get credit

flowing again." Obama and his top advisers are weighing how to structure the

remaining $350 billion that Congress approved last year to save financial

institutions and lenders from collapse. The new president also warned there is no

single action that would allow his administration to fix the struggling U.S.

economy.

New Gov. Pat Quinn is wasting no

time working to prove he's nothing like

his predecessor — impeached and

ousted Rod Blagojevich. Quinn will live

at the Executive Mansion, he wants to

reopen the state parks Blagojevich

closed and he doesn't want his name

plastered on Illinois Tollway signs

when Blagojevich's is removed. Amid

the work of running the state, part of

Quinn's new job is painting himself as

the anti-Blagojevich, which he has

started doing with actions both big and

small."I don't think that'll take too much

trying on my part. I don't think in any

way I have a style that's similar to my

predecessor," Quinn said Friday, a day

after Blagojevich became the first Illinois governor to be booted from office.

The economy shrank at a 3.8 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing

in a economy is contracting in the current quarter at an even faster pace. The

new figure, released Friday by the Commerce Department, showed the economy

sinking at a much faster clip in the October-December period than the 0.5

percent decline logged in prior quarter.

ExxonMobil reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for

full-year earnings by a U.S. company, even as fourth-quarter profit tumbled 33%.

The previous record for annual profit was $40.6 billion, which the world's largest

publicly traded oil company set in 2007.

College Basketball - Seven days after then-top-ranked Wake Forest suffered its

first loss of the season, the Demon Deacons held off No. 1 Duke 70-68

Wednesday night on James Johnson's layup with 0.8 of a second to play.

Amazing!

Week of January 28, 2009

Technology/Entertainment - Movies-by-mail service Netflix announces that

business was booming. And the service gave most of the credit to the appeal of

near-instant delivery of films streamed to subscribers' TV sets via Xbox 360

game systems, some Blu-ray Disc players, Net-enabled TV sets and set-top

boxes. Growing availability of video content at home, work and on the go via

YouTube, Hulu, Fancast and other video sites is making us a nation of

multitasking video consumers, says analyst James McQuivey of Forrester

Research. "What is happening, overall, is people are spending more time with

the TV and PC screen because of all these easily accessible video sources,"

McQuivey says. "Netflix is one of the many enablers of this new addiction." Its

subscriber base jumped to nearly 9.4 million at the end of the year, compared

with 8.7 million in September.

Ashton Kutcher awoke to the sound of his

neighbor's jack-hammering construction

and responded with an expletive-laden

video blog. But, after a change of heart, the

star took to his Twitter and video site

Qik.com to apologize to his neighbor. "I've

calmed down from my morning spazz-out.

You're very vulnerable at 7 AM," he said in

a video posted on Qik.com on Thursday

afternoon. "I like my alarm clock to be a

nice tune, like John Mayer or something like

that. But in light of reflection, I just want to

say, I will be more tolerant of my neighbor's

construction in the morning, as he tolerated

my construction at my home."

Move over Bret Michaels, VH1 is adding a rock star of the football field to their

celeb-reality TV show roster. Terrell Owens of the Dallas Cowboys is being

filmed for a new show on the cable channel, VH1. The plot of Terrell's show

offers echoes of VH1's 2007 series, " Scott Baio Is 45 & Single," which found the

former "Joanie Loves Chachi" star re-examining his personal life and

commitment issues.

Spice Girl Geri Halliwell is engaged to Italian yacht-

company owner Fabrizio Politi. According to the Spice

Girl's reps, the couple's engagement took place over

the holidays.

More Music News - Bruce Springsteen says he

shouldn't have made a deal with Wal-Mart. This

month, the store started exclusively selling a

Week of January 28, 2009

Springsteen greatest-hits CD. Some fans were critical because Springsteen has

been a longtime supporter of worker's rights, and Wal-Mart has faced criticism for

its labor practices. Springsteen's team didn't vet the issue as closely as it should

have, and that he "dropped the ball on it." Springsteen went on to say: "It was a

mistake. Our batting average is usually very good, but we missed that one. Fans

will call you on that stuff, as it should be."

The news that Phish would be returning to the road this upcoming March with a

tour to follow starting in June, was greeted by fans of the band with a collective

euphoria that seemed almost Obama-esque. While the group dubbed "the most

important band of the '90s" by Rolling Stone has technically been broken up

since their "farewell" at the Coventry Festival in 2004, that has not stopped the

quartet from performing together in nearly every possible configuration during the

past few years, including their first "public" performance since the breakup at

their tour manager's wedding in New York late last year.

Top TV Last Week -

American

Idol"

FOX

(Wednesday)

American

Idol"

FOX

(Tuesday)

CSI: Crime

Scene

CBS

Investigation

Two and a

CBS

Half Men

House

FOX

CSI: Miami

CBS

Week of January 28, 2009

Grey's

ABC

Anatomy

60 Minutes

CBS

Criminal

CBS

Minds

10.

Cold Case

CBS

11. Neighborhood

ABC

Ball

12.

Lie to Me

FOX

13. Eleventh Hour

CBS

14.

FOX

15.

Fringe

FOX

Hallmark Hall

16.

Of Fame:

CBS

Loving Leah

17.

NCIS

CBS

Extreme

18.

Makeover:

ABC

Home Edition

19.

CSI: NY

CBS

20.

Lost

ABC

Hot Hits This Week Thanks R&R…

BEYONCE SINGLE LADIES (PUT A RING ON IT)

9956 +685

63.685

MUSIC WORLD/COLUMBIA

FEwATkCsO LB YuO'DOrN1

IS JUST DANCE

113 LADY GAGA

STREAMLINE/KONLIVE/CHERRYTREE/INTERSCOPE 9898 +132 62.398 2

TAYLOR SWIFT LOVE STORY

8718 +445

51.156 3

BIG MACHINE/UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC

T.I. FEAT. RIHANNA LIVE YOUR LIFE

DEF JAM/GRAND

8004-670

48.181 4

HUSTLE/IDJMG/ATLANTIC

BRITNEY SPEARS WOMANIZER

7249

44.995 5

JIVE/JLG

1076

BRITNEY SPEARS CIRCUS

6628 +983

44.072 6

JIVE/JLG

KANYE WEST HEARTLESS

6468 +765

39.761 7

ROC-A-FELLA/DEF JAM/IDJMG

Week of January 28, 2009

PINK SOBER

5740 +802

31.142 8

LAFACE/JLG

JASON MRAZ I'M YOURS

5479-614

28.99410

ATLANTIC/RRP

KEVIN RUDOLF FEAT. LIL WAYNE LET

IT ROCK

4876-542

29.051 9

CASH MONEY/UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC

ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS GIVES YOU

HELL

4799 +954

26.40311

DOGHOUSE/DGC/INTERSCOPE

KATY PERRY HOT N COLD

4726-600

25.18813

CAPITOL

NICKELBACK GOTTA BE SOMEBODY

4541-112

20.22619

ROADRUNNER/RRP

AKON RIGHT NOW (NA NA NA)

KONVICT/UPFRONT/SRC/UNIVERSAL

4474-533

22.95615

MOTOWN

PUSSYCAT DOLLS I HATE THIS PART

4286 +611

26.035

INTERSCOPE

VERONICAS UNTOUCHED

4286 +369

19.603

ENGINEROOM/SIRE/WARNER BROS.

FRAY YOU FOUND ME

3873 +288

20.651

EPIC

KELLY CLARKSON MY LIFE WOULD

SUCK WITHOUT YOU

3570 +1679

21.556

RCA/RMG

T.I. WHATEVER YOU LIKE

3422-575

21.302

GRAND HUSTLE/ATLANTIC

KANYE WEST LOVE LOCKDOWN

3313-874

23.57

ROC-A-FELLA/DEF JAM/IDJMG

RIHANNA REHAB

3185-628

14.362

SRP/DEF JAM/IDJMG

DAVID COOK LIGHT ON

3085 +24

12.898

19/RCA/RMG

NE-YO MISS INDEPENDENT

2672-712

19.462

DEF JAM/IDJMG

KATY PERRY THINKING OF YOU

2656 +633

13.267

CAPITOL

JOHN LEGEND FEAT. ANDRE 3000

GREEN LIGHT

2423 +449

8.437

G.O.O.D./COLUMBIA