The Firm (9pm, NBC) - Mitch is released from jail after being cleared as a suspect in Martin Moxon's death. Also, Tammy and Abby delve into a mysterious list that Moxon left behind.

Too Cute (9pm, Animal Planet) - A new installment in Animal Planet's "Too Cute" series chronicling the first few months of three litters of puppies. And we can only presume from the title, some ducklings.

The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 (9:30pm, UNC-EX) - An Independent Lens documentary with long-unseen footage shot by Swedish television journalists shows a fresh perspective of America's black power movement, featuring scenes of Harlem, Brooklyn an Oakland. Also, interviews with notables such as Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis and Eldridge Cleaver. The documentary is accented with contemporary remarks from black artists, activists and scholars, including Eyrkah Badu, ?uestlove, Melvin Van Peebles, Talib Kweli and Sonia Sanchez.

2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards (10pm, IFC) - Seth Rogan hosts the annual awards gala honoring independent films. Presenters include Bryan Cranston, Ed Helms, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Kate Beckinsale. The Best Feature nominees are "50/50," "Beginners," "Drive," "Take Shelter," "The Descendants," and "The Artist."

An Idiot Abroad: The Bucket List (10pm, Science) - Along Route 66, Karl Pilkington meets the Amish, New age therapists, and a high school choir.

We continue to get letters from readers about the IFC and TABLE's decision to break ties with PORCH. Most have said they don't understand why the IFC and TABLE will no longer accept PORCH's food donations, but today we got a letter that offered an alternative view.

Elizabeth Garfunkel works for the IFC, but was also a PORCH neighborhood coordinator. She welcomed PORCH when it started, but as the group's mission changed, it eventually created competition for funding for other hunger-relief groups, she wrote.

We're continue to report this story. What questions to do you have? Send comments or questions to me at kferral@newsobserver.com or send your letter to the editor to editor@nando.com.

Here's a look at today's local headlines:

ROWAND'S RESURRECTION (OR CHUTZPAH): Somerhill Gallery owner Joe Rowand (left) declared bankruptcy after closing shop, owing artists hundreds of thousands of dollars for work he sold but did not pay them for. Now he's back. Read Dave Hart's story to find out why some area artists are ready to do business with him again.  

FOOD PANTRIES LEAVE DONOR: Leaders of the PORCH leave-your-donations-on-the-front-step program say it's all a misunderstanding. The IFC and TABLE food program say PORCH was potentialy threatening their donor base. Read about this food fight on today's front page and get a longer version here on the OrangeChat blog.

FOOD TRUCKS CONTINUED: I thought Katrina Ryan made cogent points Monday night. Of course, the council has to consider the whole community. Tough decision, as the protracted discussion shows. Katelyn Ferral has our report from the council meeting.

More letters on the police raid on the old Yates Motor building (we're seeing more in support of the department the further out from the incident we get), Flo Johnston talks Hannukah and we look at this week's arts offerings, among much more.

And if you haven't suggested a theme for this year's Readers' Writes issue, tell us what you'd like to write or read about and you could win a Chapel Hill News or Duham News T-shirt as our thanks.

Thanks for reading,

Mark

Two local hunger-relief groups have broken ties with another that collects food from front porches throughout Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

Earlier this month, the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service and the TABLE organization told PORCH (People Offering Relief for Chapel Hill Carrboro Homes) they would no longer accept its food donations.

PORCH collects non-perishable food from porches every month and distributes bags of groceries to eight area pantries and food programs. Those programs included the IFC, which runs a food pantry, and TABLE, which provides food to elementary students during the weekends and holidays when they’re not receiving free or reduced-price lunch at school.

IFC executive director Chris Moran said the IFC is no longer accepting PORCH’s food because PORCH’s mission has changed. In addition to collecting food, PORCH has a direct food service program called Food for Families, where it uses monetary donations to buy fresh food for Burmese refugees and others it says may have trouble using food pantries.

“It’s not about not wanting PORCH’s food, it’s about the fact that the PORCH’s mission has changed from collecting food to ... developing their own food service programs,” Moran said Monday. “When those situations arise, there’s going to be ultimately less donations to all of the groups they originally agreed to support because they’ve developed something that’s new that we hope donors will help to support.”

Happiness wasn't in on the conference call with Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal for their show "Rhett & Link: Commercial Kings" because IFC didn't send us a screener. (Don't you love the irony of a show about marketing with a flaw in its marketing plan?)

But we want to support our Tar Heels. So when IFC was gracious enough to send the transcript from the conference call, we selected some choice nuggets and decided to share.

One thing we learned, the guys are doing something new during the encore presentations of their shows:

This development broke too late to get into today's N&O and Wednesday's CHN. Please go to newsobserver.com to read the full story.

The Inter-Faith Council for Social Service may be going back to the drawing board – at least to reconsider its role as a provider of emergency shelter services in Orange County.

Several Town Council members asked the IFC to consider removing a 17-cot emergency shelter component from its proposal to expand and relocate the Community House men’s transitional housing program out of downtown Monday.

“We challenge you to see if you can do that. It would be a phenomenal statement; one that I think would cause rejoicing throughout our entire community. So that is my request of the applicant,“ said Councilmember Matt Czajkowski.

The special-use permit application for the new IFC men's homeless shelter was released late yesterday. Here's a look at what the organization is proposing for its new facility.

The new Community House would be a two floor, 52-bed transitional housing facility with room for 17 cots on the first floor to serve as an overnight emergency shelter. The property total is 79,000 sq. feet built upon a 1.66 acre tract leased by the UNC to the Town of Chapel Hill.

Transitional housing will be able to accommodate up to 52 men, with resident dining for 28. The building will include offices, counseling and meeting areas and free medical/psychiatric clinic for residents.

The 52-bed transitional area breaks down like this:

-Two 10 bed dormitories with bunk beds for 20 residents

-Five quads to accommodate 20 residents

-Six doubles for 12 residents

Sustainability features include:

-geothermal heat pumps

-light roof color

-extended roof overhangs

I reported this morning on a new report recommending some changes to the fraternity system at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The report, written by 1979 alum Jordan Whichard - a former publisher of the Daily Reflector, the newspaper in Greenville, emphasizes the need for more involvement by alumni in the operations of fraternities on the Chapel Hill campus.

Currently, alumni involvement is strong in some areas, weak in others, and Whichard wants a new alumni association to create a formal sounding board and source of advice and guidance for fraternity members.

You can read Whichard's report by clicking on the attachment below.

I was interested in what fraternity leaders thought of this, but had no luck contacting any before deadline yesterday.

But UNC-CH student Tucker Piner, the current head of the Interfraternity Council, was good enough to answer some questions via email from Copenhagen, where he is spending the summer.

Here are some of his thoughts.

IFC director Chris Moran spoke to the United Church of Chapel Hill today, the second of two talks about the homeless shelter the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service hopes to open next door in 2012.

Moran emphasized that poverty, more than mental illness or substance abuse, is behind most homelessness. Words have meaning, he said, asking people to drop terms like soup kitchen and shelter and use the terms the IFC uses: Community Kitchen and Community House.

When the shelter moves, he repeated, the kitchen will move to the agency's Douglas Building on Carrboro's Main Street. There it will become part of a new food program called FoodFirst that will promote local agriculture and higher quality nutrition for recipients.

Moran opened with lyrics from folk troubadour Woody Guthrie. He quoted Joan Osborne's 1995 hit "What If God Was One of Us."

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home

"I love Joan Osborne," Moran said. [Me too, check out 2002's covers album "How Sweet It Is"]

"I use these lyrics a lot," he continued. "We are really all God, and God is all of us." 

He quoted philosophers Seneca, Gandhi and a Jewish wise man that went by too fast for me. He even quoted '70s rock band Styxx.

Not much news, though.

The IFC has hired local architect Jim Spencer to remake the Main Street headquarters for the FoodFirst program. And he said the IFC is ready, if the county pays for it, to continue providing emergency shelter for homeless people who don't enter its transitional model when it opens.

No word on where that would be. He said the town has other uses for the current shelter, in the old muncipal building at 100 W. Rosemary St.