Hello, everybody. Earlier tonight in his first primetime news conference, President Obama pulled no punches when he pressured Capitol Hill to give the okay on that life-or-death stimulus bill.

This comes as over 11 million Americans are now out of a job (600,000 of them in January alone), and the president started his day with a town hall meeting in Elkhart, Indiana, where the unemployment rate is triple the national average. And here in Alaska, legislators are debating on whether or not to up the minimum wage here from $7.15/hour to $8.75. I don't know how much I made when I started working in 1995, but it's $8.50/hour for me now.

Alaska is somewhat recession-proof for now, but when tourist season gets underway in spring, it's going to be an even tough time hiring people. At least we in Fairbanks don't have any dead neighborhoods; if you saw Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" when the cameras panned to a decrepit area of Flint, Michigan with abandoned houses and overgrown sidewalks while talking about joining the Marines or Army as the only major jobs available, you know what I'm talking about.

At least I am recession-proof myself...but, for how long?

Now...the 51st Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, when Robert Plant and Alison Krauss dominated the night with five awards including Album of the Year ("Raising Sand") and Record of the Year ("Please Read The Letter") while Adele beat out Duffy and the Jonas Brothers for Best New Artist. Coldplay also won big for Song of the Year ("Viva La Vida"), and Jennifer Hudson, still high from her memorable rendition of the national anthem at last weekend's Super Bowl, picked up Best R&B Album honors for her self-titled "Jennifer Hudson."

Other winners included Carrie Underwood (Female Country Vocal Performance, "Last Name"; and boy, was she a knockout during her performance!), the late George Carlin (Comedy Album, "It's Bad For Ya"), and Al Gore (Spoken Word Album, "An Inconvenient Truth").

But of course the big story happened away from the show, when Chris Brown was arrested for alleged domestic violence. It is believed to be that his rumored girlfriend, Rihanna, may have been involved in the incident and canceled her performance at the awards with Justin Timberlake in his place.

The fashions? I thought Kate Beckinsale, Katy Perry, and Underwood hit the high notes, while Bai Ling and the very pregnant M.I.A. hit flat.

Now back to Brown before I close things up: I have nothing else to say except for the fact that his career may be toast if he did beat up Rihanna. What a shame. So long and stay strong.