Paula Deen’s ‘Today’ Show Appearance Ends In Tears

Despite her teary mea culpa on NBC’s “Today” show, two additional companies decided to part ways with Paula Deen Wednesday afternoon.

Caesars announced its decision to strip Deen’s name from four of its buffet restaurants, while Wal-Mart Stores Inc. disclosed shortly after its plans to sever ties with the culinary figure.  The world’s largest retailer said it will not be placing “any new orders beyond what’s already committed.”  The Bentonville, Ark.-based company has carried a range of products under the Paula Deen moniker since 2011.

Smithfield Foods dropped Deen on Monday, while the Food Network announced Friday that it was not renewing Deen’s contract after she had skipped her initial “Today’ show appearance that morning and released a series of apology videos via YouTube that afternoon.

The celebrity chef dissolved into tears during Wednesday’s interview with Matt Lauer as she attempted to explain how she wasn’t a racist- although a deposition filed and leaked last week revealed her use of racial slurs in the past.  It was an odd disparity between the Paula Deen known for her cheery, comforting disposition, and the Paula Deen who appeared on the “Today” show, defeated, exhausted and “heartbroken.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/entertainment/television/Paula-Deen-dissolves-into-tears-during-Today-show-interview.html#xzsWkWCDIPGfUZ1l.99

North Carolina Businesses Along I-95 Tally Tolling Impact

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Editor’s note:  $19.20 to drive across North Carolina and gas is more than $3.50 a gallon!  This will push more people to trains, buses and airplanes OR onto alternate routes.

Plans to charge a toll on Interstate 95 in North Carolina will make it more difficult for businesses to quickly and cheaply ship goods up and down the East Coast’s chief thoroughfare, critics say.

North Carolina, Virginia and Missouri all are considering tolls as a way to pay for expanding and upgrading interstates. Supporters say drivers from other states will pay much of the costs.

But like most highways, I-95 is itself a hub of businesses drawn to the asphalt link to markets from Maine to Florida.

Food Lion, Wal-Mart, and Lowe’s are some of the companies with North Carolina distribution centers, each employing hundreds of workers, near the highway. The world’s largest hog slaughterhouse operated by Smithfield Foods and one of the nation’s largest food-service distributors for restaurant chains built near the interstate.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/ap/602081_NC-businesses-along-I-95-tally-tolling-impact.html#ixzz1ojH6dDfe