Kentucky

LOS ANGELES — The top movie this Thanksgiving weekend is one about Christmas.

The Vince Vaughn/Reese Witherspoon holiday comedy “Four Christmases” debuted at No. 1, earning $31.7 million according to studio estimates.

The Warner Bros. release features Witherspoon and Vaughn as a couple suffering through four separate family holiday gatherings. Since it opened Wednesday, it’s brought in nearly $47 million.

Last weekend’s top draw, the vampire romance “Twilight,” and Disney’s animated family flick “Bolt” each earned more than $26 million.

The latest James Bond film, “Quantum of Solace” was fourth. The weekend’s other new wide release, the Nicole Kidman-Hugh Jackman epic “Australia,” opened at No. (Read the full post about ‘‘Four Christmases’ Gobbles Up Box Office’…)

CINCINNATI — WKRP is back on the air in Cincinnati, but this time it’s for real.

A low-power TV station has changed its call letters to WKRP, the same as the fictional radio station in the 1970s hit series “WKRP in Cincinnati.”

The station changed its call letters to promote its new digital TV signal. It formerly went by WBQC-TV.

General Manager Elliott Block said the new call letters give the station recognition because so many people remember the television sit-com.

The station’s program lineup includes urban and Latino fare with a heavy rotation of Punk’d.

NEW YORK — Playwright and novelist William Gibson, author of such Broadway hits as “The Miracle Worker” and “Two for the Seesaw,” has died at the age of 94.

Gibson died Tuesday in Stockbridge, Mass., according to the Finnerty and Stevens Funeral Home in Great Barrington.

Gibson wrote more than a dozen plays, but it was “The Miracle Worker,” the story of a young deaf and blind Helen Keller forging a relationship with her teacher, Annie Sullivan, that was his biggest success.

The play also is an annual event at Ivy Green, Keller’s birthplace in Tuscumbia, Ala., where it is staged on the grounds where Sullivan actually taught the girl more than a century ago. (Read the full post about ‘‘Miracle Worker’ Playwright Dies’…)

There’s no other way of putting it: Writer-director Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia” is epic in every sense of the word. But while the film is a breathtaking trip Down Under, Luhrmann, the genius behind the hit musical “Moulin Rouge,” knows that the film isn’t a slam dunk by the virtue of its beauty alone.There’s much more to it than that, and he’s challenged by trying to boil it down to a couple of words.”We’ve seen the film with audiences and we know that there’s a connectivity, but selling a film like this — communicating it — is not an easy thing for Fox or any other studio to do,” Luhrmann said in a recent @ The Movies interview. “People are in for broad comedy, passionate romance, action and drama all in one package. (Read the full post about ‘‘Australia’ Emotional Trip Home For Director’…)

Listen up!

Class is in session.

We here in Professorville hope you’re having a dandy holiday weekend. As you’re heating up those turkey and eggs, here are a few things I’m thankful for — and a few things that are simply terrible. In other words: thanks, turkeys.

Thanks: Main Event Mafia
I have to tell you, TNA has been a train wreck for way too long. Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, Sting, Booker T and Scott Steiner working as a group may get it on track again. This new heel group gives the promotion focus as it tries to make stars out of the TNA Front Line, the younger stars who used to populate the X-Division. Kudos for this fine effort. (Read the full post about ‘Professor Wrestling: Thanks, Turkeys’…)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Tuesday: November 25, 2008This is the average unleaded gas prices according to gasbuddy.com.Louisville: $1.66 Travelling North: Indianapolis $1.62 Chicago $1.96 Milwaukee $1.78Travelling East: Lexington $1.64 Columbus $1.61 Huntington WV $1.98Travelling South: Nashville $1.74 Atlanta $1.73 Tampa $1.86Travelling West: St. Louis $1.51 Memphis $1.69New York City $2.35Gas dropping everywhere, except Huntington, WV and Milwaukee.The average price one year ago was $3.07. So, at 20 mpg: -Round trip drive from Louisville to Chicago for Thanksgiving last year cost $92.10. This year: $55.50 Savings $36.60 -Round trip drive from Louisville to Atlanta for Thanksgiving last year cost $128.94. (Read the full post about ‘Gas Prices Down, For Now’…)

MAYSVILLE, Ky. — Three northern Kentucky deputy jailers have resigned after a drunken 22-year-old man was pepper sprayed.

The Ledger Independent of Maysville reported the resignations of Mason County Detention Center deputies David Corde, Sanford Meyer and Terry Baxter.

The newspaper reported surveillance video from the booking room showed Meyer putting a restraint hold on Darrin Irwin after Irwin became argumentative, and later pepper-spraying him.

Jailer Gerald Curtis says the deputies should have used other means to take control of the situation. He said the deputies in attendance when the incident took place on Nov. (Read the full post about ‘Deputy Jailers Resign Rather Than Get Fired’…)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A single-car accident closed the Clark Memorial Bridge between Louisville and Clarksville, Ind.

Watch Raw Video

The crash happened around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday in the northbound curb lane of the bridge.

Detective Phil Russell of Metro Police said the driver of the car was pronounced dead at the scene.

Emergency crews from Louisville and Jeffersonville responded.

The bridge was reopened around 4:30 p.m.

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — President George W. Bush told soldiers at Fort Campbell that the war in Iraq was not over and they would eventually return home in victory.

Bush greeted soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who are returning to the base on the Tennessee-Kentucky line after duty tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thousands of soldiers and their families crowded into an airplane hangar to hear the outgoing president thank them for their service. (Read the full post about ‘Soldiers Cheer Bush At Fort Campbell’…)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville Zoo has euthanized one of its tigers.Watch The StorySinda, an Amur tiger who turned 17 on Nov. 3, died at the Louisville Zoo Tuesday morning. Seventeen is considered to be geriatric for big cats. In September, Sinda was diagnosed with a squamous cell carcinoma, a very aggressive oral cancer.The zoo’s veterinary team consulted with a local oral surgeon, veterinary surgeon and veterinary oncologist to help determine the best course of action. While surgical removal is the treatment of choice, due to the tumor’s size and location, it was considered inoperable. (Read the full post about ‘Tiger Euthanized At Zoo’…)