Usher, Reba, Miranda Lambert Among Highlights During Blake Shelton’s Tornado Benefit

Blake Shelton assembled an impressive collection of friends last night (May 29) in Oklahoma City for his Healing in the Heartland benefit concert, including Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Luke Bryan, Rascal Flatts, Vince Gill, Darius Rucker, Usher and Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic.

The aim was to raise money to help those affected by last week’s devastating tornado in the city of Moore, Oklahoma. The hour-long broadcast was shown on NBC, CMT, Bravo, and other channels. Throughout the show, viewers were urged to donate to United Way’s tornado relief fund.

The broadcast was packed with stellar performances, and there were numerous high points. One of them was certainly the duet between Voice coaches Shelton and Usher, who performed Michael Buble’s ”Home.”

Several of the participants were either born, raised, or currently have homes in Oklahoma, including Shelton, Gill, Tedder, Lambert, Reba, and the Flatts’ Joe Don Rooney. 

Gill sang a moving, solo acoustic version of “Threaten Me With Heaven,” while Reba performed with a full band on “Everyday People,” a song she cut with Carole King on her 2007 album Duets. Rucker performed “True Believers” and Tedder (who appeared without his OneRepublic bandmates) sang the song “Counting Stars” off the band’s latest album, Native.

Another moment that stood out came courtesy of Lambert. When the Texas native (and currently Oklahoma resident) took the stage to sing her powerful ballad “The House That Built Me”  she was visibly emotional. And by the second verse, she was reduced to tears.

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Letter to Obama intercepted; similar to ricin-laced letter to Bloomberg

(CNN) -- Officials intercepted Thursday a letter addressed to the White House that was similar to threatening letters sent to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a group he founded.

The off-site facility that screens mail addressed to the White House turned the letter over to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force for testing and investigation, U.S. Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said.

A U.S. law enforcement official said the letter was addressed to President Obama.

The letters sent to Bloomberg and his group are suspected of containing poison. Preliminary tests indicate ricin was found in the letters, New York Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said Wednesday.

A memo the mayor's office sent to employees Thursday said the envelope sent to Bloomberg "contained a small amount of ricin," which "did not appear to be in a form that could be inhaled or otherwise readily ingested. Touching the envelope or letter should not be a risk."

If inhaled, injected or ingested, less than a pinpoint of ricin can kill a person in 36 to 48 hours by causing failure of the respiratory and circulatory systems. There is no known antidote for the toxin, which is derived from castor beans.

Officials have not said whether any such substance was found in the letter sent to the White House.

The law enforcement official did not know the status of testing on anything found in the letter and did not disclose whether there was a message. But the source said the letter appears similar to the notes sent to Bloomberg and Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

The letter sent to the White House was postmarked in Shreveport, Louisiana, the official said -- just like the letters to Bloomberg and his group, the law enforcement source said.

The person who wrote the letters to Bloomberg and his group threatened anyone who tried to seize the writer's guns would be "shot in the face," a source with knowledge of the letters said Thursday.

The letter addressed to Bloomberg's office was opened at the city government's mail facility, in a biochemical containment box. The employee who handled the letter has no symptoms of illness, and there's no reason to believe any employees are at risk from being in the building where it was delivered, the mayor's office memo said Thursday.

Bloomberg met with employees at the facility Thursday and "thanked them for their dedication," his office said. The letter to the mayor's organization was opened by Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, in Washington on Sunday.

Suspected ricin has been included in letters in the past few months sent to Obama and other officials. In April, letters were sent to Obama; Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi; and Sadie Holland, a judge in Lee County, Mississippi. James Everett Dutschke of Tupelo, Mississippi, has been charged with possession and use of a biological agent in connection with that case. The new letter to Obama is not believed to be related to the Mississippi case, the law enforcement official said.

Baby rescued from toilet pipe

DID STUDENT’S ‘HOT FOR TEACHER’ COLLEGE ESSAY MERIT THIS FIERY REACTION?

Blake Shelton’s ‘Healing in the Heartland’ Live

Multiple ways to donate to Okla. tornado victims: 

1. Text “Rebuild” to 52000 to make a 1-time $10 donation

2. Call 1-800-890-4999

3. Donate through United Way

Home with the bells on

  Over the Memorial Day weekend, Glenn met a 94 year old farmer who dispensed some very common sense solutions about how to fix the problems facing the country. He told Glenn about his dad, a mule train driver, who would transport supplies across the land. They were tough guys, some weren’t even that friendly, but they all lived by one rule: if you saw a man on the side of the road who had a flipped wagon, you helped him reload. And if you stopped and helped, the other driver would give you the chain of bells from the mule in the front of his team. The bells were a symbol for honor, and the only way to get another set of bells was to help another person who was stuck. That’s how you got your honor back. The farmer told Glenn that his dad always promised when he left the house that he would be “home with bells on”. In other words, he would always return home with his honor. Wouldn’t it be a better world if people still lived that way?

Town of Beverly Throws Costly Parade for Hometown Pop Singer, Then Cancels Memorial Day Parade

On May 4, the town of Beverly, Massachusetts threw a huge parade and concert for 19-year-old “American Idol” contestant Angie Miller, who made the top three in the competition.“It’s a great chance to show off our fair city,” Mayor Bill Scanlon said. The city spent $31,200 on security, cleanup and other costs associated with the events, he said.

So it must have looked like an odd contrast in American values when the town of Beverly, Massachusetts then canceled its parade for Memorial Day 23 days later, a tradition for more than 100 years. Thousands turned out for the pop star, but few turn out for the heroic fallen:     

BEVERLY, Mass. (AP) — Veterans in suburban Boston gathered in a park to mark Memorial Day this year rather than hold a parade because of failing health and dwindling numbers.

The city of Beverly called off its parade this year because so few veterans would be able to march. The parade has been a fixture in the town since the Civil War.

Jerry Guilebbe is the city’s Director of Veterans’ Services. He says it can be difficult for older vets to take part.

Vietnam veteran Ron Innocenti tells WBZ-TV he hates canceling because of the message it sends to current service members. But he does understand the reason.

World War II Navy veteran Bill McPherson tells NECN he’s upset about parade cancellation but ‘‘there aren’t that many of us left.’’

Scanlon said Fox and “Idol” didn’t pay any of the costs, but the tens of thousands of dollars of city expenditures were worth it:

As for the cost to the city, Scanlon said, “It’s kind of our national advertising for the year.”

Footage of Miller’s visit shot by Fox TV will be shown on tomorrow’s “American Idol,” a show that attracts about 12 million viewers.

“It’s national publicity for the city,” Scanlon said. “When you think of what people pay to advertise on the Super Bowl, this is kind of our opportunity at that.”

Scanlon said “American Idol” did not help pay for the hometown visit.

The Boston Globe noticed the contrast on Sunday:

Robert Gilbert, commander of Beverly Vietnam Veterans, was resigned to the parade's cancellation.

"You have to be realistic about this," he said. "The past few years, there were very few people who attended."

At another Beverly parade earlier this month, for American Idol contestant Angie Miller, who had returned to her hometown, the route was packed, Gilbert said.