Relax, I'm not hating on my neighbors to the West.

This "Durham County" is a 6-episode series on the ION network, an acclaimed Canadian import that's won a boatload of Gemini awards (Emmys in America.)

It airs tonight at 10.

It stars Hugh Dillon, who you would recognize if you watch CBS' "Flashpoint." And it's an eerie show, creepy and disturbing like 'Twin Peaks,' a stylish comment on suburbia.

NCIS (6am, USA)  - It's not part of USA's Awards Marathon series, but it's a great marathon nonetheless. It'll get you psyched for the premiere of "NCIS: Los Angeles" with LL Cool J starting later this month. And it should go without saying: 15 hours of Mark Harmon (runs till 9pm).

Band of Brothers (10am, Spike) - Spike is showing the entire 10-episode mini-series today, starting at 10am. Spike is channel 40 on local Time Warner Cable.

Golden Girls Marathon (1pm, We) - And yet another Labor Day marathon. This one runs till midnight.

Manson (9pm, History Channel) - It's the 40th anniversary of the Manson murders, so that explains all the Manson programming I've been seeing lately. This is a two-hour docudrama on the Tate-LaBianca murders that includes archival footage and an interview with former "Manson Family" member Linda Kasabian.

Hoarders (10pm, A&E) - This is the episode of "Hoarders" that I will not be watching: a woman has 75 living and dead cats in her feces-covered, urine-soaked home. I'm no expert, but I say put the lady and the living cats in a no-kill shelter and burn that place down.

Durham County (10pm, ION) - Must-Watch: an award-winning mystery-suspense series from Canada with a particularly appealing title. It has murder, secrets, lies... Did I mention it's called "Durham County?" It stars Hugh Dillon and Justin Louis and runs for 6 episodes. NOTE: ION channel shows up as WRPX (or channel 21) on Time Warner Cable.

Durham County is moving fast to make the most of these hard times. In particular, moving on its long-proposed judicial center.

"The construction market appears to be very hungry," County Manager Mike Ruffin told the county commissioners Monday night. Acting quickly can save the county millions, he said, on a building project estimated to run more than $140 million.

"We have a timeline we're trying to meet," Ruffin said.

Eight contractors showed up for a pre-bid conference on the judicial center project, and as many as 16 firms may end up trying for the contract, Ruffin said.

Timing came up during a discussion of when the Scarborough and Hargett Funeral Home has to move. Its Dillard Street site is part of the property destined for the new courthouse.

Durham County bought Scarborough and Hargett's property in 2006, paying $3.75 million for a tract tax-valued at $1.52 but avoiding an unpleasant condemnation proceeding with the 137-year-old business — third-oldest black-owned mortuary in the United States, according to owner J.C. Scarborough.

Since then, the funeral home has leased the property while waiting on a new building's completion at Mangum Street and Jackie Robinson Drive. With the lease expiring, Scarborough asked for a nine-month extension, but that was too long for building plans according to County Engineer Glen Whistler.

"We have to take possession of the property by Jan. 1 to protect all our interests," Ruffin said.

After several citizens — including City Council candidates Donald Hughes and Darius Little — asked commissioners to give Scarborough a break, Oct. 31 was approved as vacating deadline.

Plans are to clear the site — a process requiring asbestos abatement, Ruffin said — as soon as possible, with the courthouse bidding to be done by year's end. Ruffin said he expects to present a contract for the commissioners' approval Feb. 8, and construction to begin March 1.

Around 7 p.m. Monday night, Geraldine Robinson was getting welcomes and congratulations on just being hired as Durham County's new social-serivces director.

By 9 p.m., she might well have been wondering why she took the job.

County commissioners had just d the internal auditor on her department-to-be, after social-services brass went through more than an hour of grilling and complaint over cutting the money out from under a family-service program.

"As you can see," commissioner Becky Heron told Robinson afterward, "Durham is never dull."

According to Mike Ashe, Durham County's elections director, "a new election cycle" gets started tomorrow.

Yes, we just had an election. In Durham, though, there's an election every year, and Ashe is hosting a lunchtime get-together for political-party chairpeople, their colleagues and the board of elections staff, to talk about appointing precinct officials.

"We are all working together to provide fair and honest elections," Ashe said in an emailed invitation to the press.

Durham voters are electing a mayor and three City Council members this fall. So far, the only candidate to make an official announcement is mayoral hopeful Steven Williams.

However, incumbent Mayor Bill Bell has indicated he plans to run for a fifth two-year term; incumbent council members Cora Cole-McFadden and Howard Clement have also said they will stand for re-election for their Ward 1 and 2 seats and Ward 3 incumbent Mike Woodard shows no sign of planning to quit after a single term.

Candidate filing opens at noon July 3 and closes at noon July 17. The primary election is Oct. 6 and general election Nov. 3.

Thirty-nine worthy nonprofit groups made their pitches for county money this afternoon. If they all began to sound alike, there was at least one reason.

A lot of them were saying the same things. But not many had the numbers to back their claims on the county commissioners' purse- and heart-strings.

Running the county jail is an expensive proposition: $2.6 million a year in inmate medical costs alone, the Durham County commissioners heard this morning.

Correct Care Solutions, LLC, the company that looks after guests in the big white building by the railroad tracks, was making a pitch for more money at the commissioners' work session. The company's presentation brought out some interesting points, like:

• Pharmaceuticals alone cost about $192,000 a year;
• A few patients can skew the curve, thanks to the high cost of, say, HIV drugs;
• One inmate spent nine months in county custody at an average cost of $77,000 per month;
• Some inmates have better odds of getting well in jail than out of it.

At least, that last was the opinion of a judge, according to Correct Care, who told a prisoner to stay in jail until his treatment was finished.

"That's nice, isn't it?" said commissioner Becky Heron.

County Manager Mike Ruffin pointed out that some inmates have resided on the taxpayers' nickel for more than five years. That's due, among other things, to legal maneuvering, judicial delay and high bail.

Even reducing bail doesn't always help, said county health director Gayle Harris: some inmates have opted to stay in jail instead of posting bond and leaving.

Heron responded; "We're running the downtown Hilton here, is that it?"

Durham County is closing most of its offices for Good Friday, April 10. Those include the solid waste and recycling convenience centers, which reopen at 7 a.m. April 11.

Durham County commissioners Chairman Michael Page spent most of his first State of the County speech recounting past achievements, but finished with a somber reminder of the economy.

"We must acknowledge our economic engine has stalled," Page said. "All levels of government are going through unprecedented financial uncertainty."

Durham County got its December sales tax figures Thursday, a few days earlier than expected, and the amounts were better than expected — topping December 2007 take by more than 12 percent.

County budget analyst Keith Lane reported the numbers in a memo to County Manager Mike Ruffin.

"If we ever needed good news, that was good news," Ruffin said, but he cautioned that "one month does not make a trend."

Bargain hunters taking advantage of reduced prices toward the end of the holiday shopping season might account for the rise, Ruffin said. After November sales-tax receipts came in more than 20 percent below those of 2007, he had feared a similar report from December.

December sales-tax figures were not expected until next week.