Judd, Tourism & Report Card Hoax

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Wynonna Judd to ride the Santa Train

Country music singer Wynonna Judd will be a special guest on the Santa Train later this year when it delivers gifts to children in Appalachia.
The Santa Train, which is sponsored by the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce, CSX Transportation and Food City, will make 14 stops in the mountains of Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee on Nov. 21. Judd, Santa Claus and various volunteers will deliver 15 tons of toys, including six pallets donated by the Children’s Miracle Network, to thousands of people who live along the train route. Judd follows her mother, Naomi Judd, who rode the Santa Train in 2005.
Many local families look forward to this fun holiday event, the annual kickoff to the Christmas shopping season, and a chance to see a featured celebrity roll through their town bearing small gifts and goodwill.

Tourism strides hold steady in Virginia

Despite the prolonged recession, Virginia’s tourism industry remains strong and continues to be one of the state’s largest industries. Figures for 2008 show tourism generated $19.2 billion in revenue, supported more than 210,000 jobs and provided nearly $1.3 billion in state and local tax revenue, according to the governor’s office.
Virginia benefits from travelers taking trips closer to home and the fact that Virginia is within a day’s drive of 60 percent of the U.S. population, according to the Virginia Tourism Corporation. Virginia also expects to see a tourism boost in 2009, thanks to the 40th anniversary of its “Virginia is for Lovers” campaign, America’s longest running state tourism slogan.
We’re glad to see so many people enjoying the beauty and history Virginia has to offer, while supporting the thousands of people employed in this industry. Geography and history are key components to a successful tourism industry in Virginia, even in tough financial times.

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A whopper of a report card hoax

An 11-year-old boy in Huntsville, Ala., told what we hope was the whopper of his young life this week. Police say he faked his own kidnapping to avoid bringing home a bad report card.
The boy told police a man with a pistol snatched him from his middle school and that he was forced into a car and threatened. He claimed he escaped by jumping out of the car. Without his bookbag. You know, the one that contained the bad report card.
The boy later confessed to lying, police told the Associated Press, and his grandfather reportedly called police to apologize. The funniest part of the story? That police were obviously suspicious of the story from the start – who “escapes” from a car with his band instrument, but not his bookbag?
The boy was not charged. No word on the whereabouts of the bad report card. Or the boy’s character and integrity, which seems the thing in greatest peril.

Bad news that might be mediocre news?

Unemployment ticked up slightly in Tennessee last month: Labor Commissioner James Neeley said Thursday that August’s rate was 10.8 percent, up one-tenth of a percentage point from the July rate of 10.7 percent.
While the prolonged high unemployment is painful, Neeley said the close rates in Tennessee during the last several months is “consistent with a labor market that appears to be stabilizing.”
The state’s rate continued to top the national rate of 9.7 percent in August, up from the July rate of 9.4 percent. Tennessee has weathered steep jobs losses in construction and manufacturing, two areas hardest hit during this recession. While the small increase in unemployment is a likely sign of stabilization, jobless rates exceeding 10 percent are seriously bad news for the Volunteer State.