A cloudy, a mild Monday with rain coming, gusty winds at times. Hi near 60. Tuesday, early rain, then sunshine and breezy. Hi mid 50s. Chilly midweek. Highs mid to upper 40s. Lo's around 30. Mix of sun and clouds Friday and Saturday. Hi mid to upper 50s. Cooler Sunday with a chance of showers. Hi 44.
How about this sunrise for your Monday morning?
If you were going southbound you saw it for miles, if you were going north, you weren't going Sunday late Sunday afternoon. A wreck involving two tractor-trailers around 4:15 - shut down northbound I 81 traffic in Botetourt Co - for several hours Sunday afternoon. At times, traffic was backed up as far as 9 miles. Not one was injured.
Hundreds came out for the Chocolate Festival Sunday, put on by the American Culinary Federation at Hotel Roanoke. You call that a sweet success, I suppose.
Tiger wrapped up another win at the Doral Open Sunday. It was his 76th PGA Tour win with a final-round 1-under-par 71 at the TPC Blue Monster to beat Steve Stricker by two shots. The Masters is a month away. It was his fourth Doral win.
1892- The first public basketball game was played in Springfield, Massachusetts.
1927- Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel opened the famous Roxy Theater in New York City, aka "The Cathedral of the Motion Picture." It cost $10 million to build and seated 6,214, becoming the world's largest movie theater.
1969- Levi started to sell bell-bottomed jeans.
1969- The Jackson Five signed a contract with Motown Records.
Alex Kingston (ER) – 50; Susan Richardson (Eight is Enough) – 61; News correspondent Sam Donaldson - 79; Singer Lisa Loeb is 45; Terrence Howard (Dead Man Down, Iron Man) is 44; Johnny Knoxville is 42; Thora Birch (American Beauty) is 31; Rupert Murdoch IS 82.
Texans love their trucks, but the crooks love 'em more.
Ford, Chevy and Dodge pickups top the list of the most-stolen vehicles in the Lone Star State last year. The Texas Department of Public Safety says fourth on the list is the Honda Civic, followed by a full-size SUV, the Chevy Tahoe. State officials note vehicle theft costs Texans more than any other single crime and topped $621 million in 2011. **OK, there is something 'bout a truck afterall.
According to WiseGeek.org, what is the most used letter in the English language? Ans- Loren got it first. The answer is "E".
Entertainment Dish
Weekend Box Office numbers: If you saw Oz over the weekend, the theater was packed. Oz: The Great and Powerful made $80.2 million. It was the third largest March film opening ever, after The Hunger Games and Alice in Wonderland.
Actress Valerie Harper plans to discuss her brain cancer on the daytime talk show "The Doctors" today.
Kelly Osbourne is still in the hospital after her fainting spell and apparent seizure last week on the set of E's "Fashion Police." There's a report she may have epilepsy.
Hot on the heels of Joy Behar's big exit announcement comes an Us Weeklyreport that says Elisabeth Hasselbeck will not be on The View when next season rolls around. Suposedly, nobody likes her. But ABC says, "Hasselbeck is a valued member of The View and has a long term contract." Stay tuned.
Sad day in Boston today. Rhianna had to cancel a concert over the weekend because she lost her voice.
Actress Sofia Vergara and her fiance, Nick Loeb, have asked a close friend to act as a surrogate and carry their baby
Rick Springfield was arrested Friday morning for neglecting to show up in court. He explained on his Facebook page, "Arrested this am on a bench warrant. I didn't know that I was supposed appear in court a few weeks ago. It was to do with the old DUI charge and it's been cleared up and i am free to go. ... Life is not boring. XOXO". E! News says, all was cleared up when his wife brought the necessary paperwork down to the station.
Girl Next Door Holly Madison - and former Dancing with the Stars celeb and Hugh Hefner girlfriend - has named her baby girl Rainbow Aurora Rotella.
Who killed J.R.? That's the mystery propelling "Dallas" through the rest of its second season as a TNT revival. And that question hangs heavy in the upcoming episode tonight at 9P on TNT, which confirms the sad truth every viewer knew was coming. Back in November, Larry Hagman died of cancer at 81.
TV TONIGHT
ABC: The Bachelor finale is tonight followed by the famous "After the Rose" episode
CBS: Rules of Engagement is the only new episode tonight
NBC: The Biggest Loser and Deception are new
FOX: The Following is new
CW: The Carrie Diaries and 90210 are new
News from Nashville
Taylor Swift's Red and Tim McGraw's "One of Those Nights" hold on for another week as Billboard's best-selling country album and its most-played country song,
Congrats to Jake Owen. His song "The One That Got Away" is his third #1 song.
Luke Bryan was on Chelsea Handler's E! show Chelsey Lately last Thursday night. You know, Blake Shelton has been on her show 10 times. But Chels decided Luke is "the sexier version of Blake". He's younger, more sober, and cooler.
Typically, concerts end on a "high note" right? Not the case with The Band Perry. They recently changed things up in their concert to finish with "Better Dig Two". Kimberly says the crowd "stomps with them and holds up 'two fingers' throughout the finale'."
Talk about your "big blowout"...Alan Jackson and Travis Tritt have been added to the line-up for George Jones' final concert in Nashville in November. George plays the Salem Civic Center next month. A show NOT to miss.
Kasey Musgraves takes her "Merry-Go-Round" to Tampa this weekend to kickoff the "No Shoes Nation" tour with Kenny Chesney. Her new album, Same Trailer, Different Park, is out March 19, Musgraves is up for female vocalist and music video honors at April's Academy of Country Music Awards.
Carrie Underwood celebrated her 30th birthday yesterday or as she put it "the first anniversary of her 29th birthday." That's what you call 29 forever.
The publicist for Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott tells UsMagazine.com the pregnant American country music star is having a girl. And one day, she'll have to tell her baby girl she has a police record. Watch the video for "Downtown." Let's just say Hillary is courtin' trouble.
Keith Urban says he's relieved the voting is in the hands of America now.
STOP THE TEXTING
Texting while driving is claiming more lives. One study says 5,000 people are killed every year. But there's new technology tcould save lives. Text Zapper has come up with a way to disable a smart phone app that disables the ability to text while driving.
The application uses GPS technology to detect the motion of a vehicle. In case the user is a passenger, parents can override the text zapper from their phone.
Note: It's against the law to text while driving in 30 states, but it’s a life saver. Parents think it’s the best thing that’s ever happened
A new survey asked people to name the biggest time wasters in their lives. Suprisingly, household chores came in FIRST. The rest of the top five are: Sitting in traffic . . . waiting in line . . . surfing the Internet . . . and checking email. (PR Newswire)
TECHNOLOGY
Google has unveiled sneakers that talk. The sneaker has a microcontroller on the tongue, plus an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a few other technical goodies. It monitors all the things that are happening down below and then expresses them to you in words.
OK, SPIT!!!!
What does Los Angeles, Boston, Detroit, Miami, and Atlanta all have in common? Answer: They're the Top 5 cities for flossing. On the flip side: Cleveland was the WORST city when it comes to flossing, followed by Seattle, Dallas, San Francisco, and Chicago.
ASK HER OUT
Tip of the day: If you're trying to score a phone number, big guy, do it on a sunny day. A French psychologist asked 5 attractive guys to hit on 500 total women where the goal was to get a phone number. The guys were much more likely to grab her number if the skies were clear and sunny rather than full of clouds.
Imagine that, women were in better moods on sunny days. Thank you, science!
THOSE THREE MAGIC WORDS "I LOVE YOU"
On average, it takes a guy 88 days to say the three magic words, while women take a little longer (134 days). Almost 40% of men say “I love you” within the first month of a relationship, compared to just 23% of women. Overall, it seems men are smashing stereotypes by being quicker to commit than their female counterparts- they’re also usually the first to meet the parents and move in with their partners.
ALOT OF TALK TIME
A new study found the average person spends 90 minutes a day on their phone, whether it's texting, apps, going online, checking email, or making phone calls. That adds up to 22.8 full days a year, or more than three weeks. And if you keep it up for the rest of your adult life, you could spend around three to four YEARS staring at your phone. (Trusted Reviews)
WHAT'S A LITTLE DISTRACTION? ANSWER. A GOOD THING
Here's a new trick to help you make better decisions. A study found if you distract yourself for just two minutes before you decide on something, you'll pick the smarter option. That's because your subconscious can focus on the bigger picture, even when your conscious mind is distracted. (NBC News)
LIFE'S TOP REGRETS
The top five are: Smoking . . . not saving more money . . . getting chubby . . . not doing better in school . . . and falling out of touch with people. (Daily Mail)
Good News Story 
Mill Ends Park is just two-feet in diameter in a median strip in downtown Portland, Oregon. It was created by a newspaper columnist in the 1940s and became an official city park in 1976.
It had a tree, but someone swiped it. Now, Portland parks officials have planted a replacement, a Douglas Fir. Police are still looking for the tree-napper.
But for now, the world's smallest park now has a tree again and the city plans to wrap their arms around it. That's nice.
Lar's Thought of the Day 
Life at its essence boils down to one day at a time. Today is the day! –Jim Stovall
