(WSB Radio/AP) Saturday's winter weather is getting the blame for a deadly wreck on I-20 and power outages out for thousands in North Georgia.

The stormed dumped snow and ice on the North Georgia mountains Friday and early Saturday morning. There were a few snow flurries in Metro Atlanta Saturday night.

"The flakes are giant flakes," said WSB's Chris Chandler from Duluth. "I'm from (up) north and the flakes even impressed me."

Late Saturday night, Georgia Power said it had about 2,200 customers without power. Georgia Electric Membership Corporation said it still had 1,200 outages, most were in Rabun County.

There were still some issues with ice on the roads around Atlanta. The DOT closed down the eastbound lanes of I-20 because ice that formed near Lowery Blvd. It's believed to have caused a four-car wreck around 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Ice was also reported in the westbound lanes near Holmes Dr.

Also on I-20, Atlanta police believe the weather caused a deadly wreck in the eastbound lanes near the downtown connector. Atlanta police spokesman Eric Schwartz told WSB Radio in a statement that two people were killed in the crash around 8 p.m. Schwartz said the two victims were involved in a smaller wreck and were standing outside their vehicles talking when they were hit by a third driver who lost control. That driver did stop after the crash. Police did not say if charges would be filed.

Elsewhere, more than 5 inches of dry, fluffy snow was reported in Washington but it was finishing up by late Saturday night, National Weather Service forecaster Matthew Kramar said.

The storm left a wake of damage beginning in northern Texas and Oklahoma, where snow and ice shut down interstates and snapped power lines to thousands of customers.

It left roads icy and snowpacked across the South, and thousands were without power as ice accumulated. Although police said they had to clear hundreds of wrecks overnight, there were no deaths or serious injuries reported.

A central Tennessee woman was killed when a tree weighed down with ice crashed into her mobile home early Saturday, Maury County officials said. In southern Maryland, one person was found dead after a house fire in Accokeek that firefighters said they had a hard time getting to because of the snow. Prince George's County fire department spokesman Mark Brady said the winter storm and snowfall made driving conditions hazardous.

In northern Virginia, the weather caused several multi-vehicle crashes along Interstate 81 in Shenandoah County, Virginia State Police said. Four people were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

The weather also cut short a farewell celebration Saturday at the National Zoo in Washington for young panda Tai Shan, who will be flown to China on Thursday to become part of a breeding program.

In Smyrna, Tenn., southeast of Nashville, a high school bowling tournament was postponed after snow and ice caused the roof to collapse at the bowling alley where it was to be held, according to the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association.

Will O'Halloran, publisher of City Social Magazine in Baton Rouge, La., got caught in the storm in both directions of his monthly trip to pick up the publication from a printer outside Louisville, Ky. At one point he thought his headlights were broken, only to find they were covered in ice.

``People are crazy out there,'' O'Halloran, 49, said over breakfast at a McDonald's outside Nashville. ``Cars spinning, trailers jackknifed. I just tried to keep it at 40 mph and move along.''

North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue declared a state of emergency as some mountain areas got more than a foot of snow throughout the day Saturday. More than a dozen emergency shelters opened across the state, Perdue said.

Associated Press writers Erik Schelzig in Nashville, Tenn., Joyce Garcia in Chicago and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) Ten Americans were detained by Haitian police on Saturday as they tried to bus 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic, allegedly without proper documents.

The Baptist church members from Idaho called it a ``Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission,'' meant to save abandoned children from the chaos following Haiti's earthquake. Their plan was to scoop up 100 kids and take them by bus to a rented hotel at a beach resort in the Dominican Republic, where they planned to establish an orphanage.

Whether they realized it or not, these Americans the first known to be taken into custody since the Jan. 12 earthquake put themselves in the middle of a firestorm in Haiti, where government leaders have suspended adoptions amid fears that parentless or lost children are more vulnerable than ever to child trafficking.

``In this chaos the government is in right now we were just trying to do the right thing,'' the group's leader, Laura Silsby told The Associated Press at the judicial police headquarters in the capital, where the Americans were being held pending a Monday hearing before a judge.

Silsby said they only had the best of intentions and paid no money for the children. She said her group obtained them through a well-known Haitian pastor named Jean Sanbil of the Sharing Jesus Ministries.

Silsby, 40, of Boise, Idaho, was asked if she didn't consider it naive to cross the border without adoption papers at a time when Haitians are so concerned about child trafficking. ``By no means are we any part of that. That's exactly what we are trying to combat,'' she said.

Social Affairs Minister Yves Cristallin told reporters the Americans were suspected of taking part in an illegal adoption scheme.

Cristallin said the 33 children were lodged late Saturday at an SOS Children's Village outside of Port-au-Prince. SOS Children's Villages is a global nonprofit based in Austria.

Many children in Haitian orphanages aren't actually orphans but have been abandoned by family who cannot afford to care for them. Advocates both here and abroad caution that with so many people unaccounted for, adoptions should not go forward until it can be determined that the children have no relatives who can raise them.

UNICEF and other NGOs have been registering children who may have been separated from their parents. Relief workers are locating children at camps housing the homeless around the capital and are placing them in temporary shelters while they try to locate their parents or a more permanent home.

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti sent consular officials, who met with the detained Americans and gave them bug spray and MREs to eat, according to Sean Lankford of Meridian, Idaho, whose wife and 18-year-old daughter were being held.

``They have to go in front of a judge on Monday,'' Lankford told The Associated Press.

``There are allegations of child trafficking and that really couldn't be farther from the truth,'' he added. The children ``were going to get the medical attention they needed. They were going to get the clothes and the food and the love they need to be healthy and to start recovering from the tragedy that just happened.''

Haiti has imposed new controls on adoptions since the earthquake, which left thousands of children separated from their parents or orphaned. The government now requires Prime Minister Max Bellerive to personally authorize the departure of any child as a way to prevent child trafficking.

Silsby said they had documents from the Dominican government, but did not seek any paperwork from the Haitian authorities before taking 33 children from 2 months to 12 years old to the border, where Haitian police stopped them Friday evening. She said the children were brought to the pastor by distant relatives, and that the only ones to be put up for adoption would be those without close family to care for them.

The 10 Americans include members of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho and the East Side Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho, as well as people from Texas and Kansas. Idaho friends and relatives have been in touch with them through text messages and phone calls, Lankford said.

``The plan was never to go adopt all these kids. The plan was to create this orphanage where kids could live. And kids get adopted out of orphanages. People go down and they're going to fall in love with these kids, and many of these kids will end up getting adopted.''

``Of course I'm concerned for my wife and my daughter,'' he added. ``They were hoping to make a difference and be able to help those kids.''

The group described their plans on a Web site where they also asked for tax-deductible contributions, saying they would ``gather'' 100 orphans and bus them to the Dominican resort of Cabarete, before building a more permanent orphanage in the Dominican town of Magante.

``Given the urgent needs from this earthquake, God has laid upon our hearts the need to go now versus waiting until the permanent facility is built,'' the group wrote.

Associated Press Writers Keith Ridler in Boise, Idaho, and Hope Yen in Washington, contributed to this story.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

WASHINGTON (AP) The government's response to the financial meltdown has made it more likely the United States will face a deeper crisis in the future, an independent watchdog at the Treasury Department warned.

The problems that led to the last crisis have not yet been addressed, and in some cases have grown worse, says Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the trouble asset relief program, or TARP. The quarterly report to Congress was released Sunday.

``Even if TARP saved our financial system from driving off a cliff back in 2008, absent meaningful reform, we are still driving on the same winding mountain road, but this time in a faster car,'' Barofsky wrote.

Since Congress passed $700 billion financial bailout, the remaining institutions considered ``too big to fail'' have grown larger and failed to restrain the lavish pay for their executives, Barofsky wrote. He said the banks still have an incentive to take on risk because they know the government will save them rather than bring down the financial system.

Barofsky also said his office is investigating 77 cases of possible criminal and civil fraud, including crimes of tax evasion, insider trading, mortgage lending and payment collection, false statements and public corruption.

One case concerns apparent self-dealing by one of the private fund managers Treasury picked to buy bad assets from banks at discounted prices. A portfolio manager at the firm apparently sold a bond out of a private fund, then repurchased it at a higher price for a government-backed fund. A rating agency had just downgraded the bond, so it likely was worth less, not more, when the government fund bought it. The company is not being named pending the outcome of Barofsky's investigation.

Barofsky renewed a call for Treasury to enact clearer walls so that such apparent conflicts are less likely.

Treasury said it welcomed Barofsky's oversight but resisted the call to erect new barriers against conflicts of interest. The new rules ``would be detrimental to the program,'' Treasury spokeswoman Meg Reilly said in a statement. The existing compliance rules ``are a rigorous and effective method of protecting taxpayers,'' she said.

Much of Barofsky's report focused on the government's growing role in the housing market, which he said has increased the risk of another housing bubble.

Over the past year, the federal government has spent hundreds of billions propping up the housing market. About 90 percent of home loans are backed by government controlled entities, mainly Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration.

The Federal Reserve is spending $1.25 trillion to hold down mortgage rates, and millions of homeowners have refinanced at lower rates.

``The government has stepped in where the private players have gone away,'' Barofsky said in an interview. ``If we take government resources and replace that market without addressing the serious (underlying) concerns, there really is a risk of'' artificially pushing up home prices in the coming years.

The report warned that these supports mean the government ``has done more than simply support the mortgage market, in many ways it has become the mortgage market, with the taxpayer shouldering the risk that had once been borne by the private investor.''

Barofsky's report echoed concerns raised by housing experts in recent months, as home sales and prices rebounded. They warn that the primary reason for the turnaround last year has been billions of dollars in federal spending to lower mortgage rates and prop up demand.

Once that spigot of cash is turned off, they caution, the market will be vulnerable to a dramatic turn for the worse. Daniel Alpert, managing partner of investment bank Westwood Capital, wrote in a report that national home prices are bound to fall 8 to 10 percent below the lows of last spring.

``The lion's share of the remaining decline will occur in markets that saw sizable bubbles but have not yet retrenched,'' he wrote.

Officials from the Obama administration counter that massive federal intervention has helped the housing market stabilize and prevented more dire consequences.

Barofsky's report also disclosed that, while the Obama administration has pledged to spend $75 billion to prevent foreclosures, only a tiny fraction just over $15 million has been spent so far. Under the Making Home Affordable program, only about 66,500 borrowers, or 7 percent of those who signed up, had completed the process as of December.

He said the key to preventing future crises is to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, create and improve loan underwriting and supervision of banks. He stopped short of endorsing specific proposals for overhauling financial regulation, but said many of the proposals would go far to improving the system.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

WILKESBORO, N.C. (AP) An Atlanta-based financial services company is closing collections offices in Georgia, North Carolina and Utah, putting about 740 people out of work.

A spokesman told multiple North Carolina media outlets Friday that CompuCredit Corp. is closing its Wilkesboro collections office March 31.

Spokesman Tom Donahue says the slumping economy is also forcing the company to close offices in Salt Lake City and Duluth and Sandy Springs, Ga.

CompuCredit issues credit card and car loans to borrowers with spotty credit histories. In 2008, the company said it would pay out at least $114 million to settle allegations of deceptive marketing.

Its Web site says CompuCredit also has offices in Las Vegas, Lake Mary, Fla., and St. Cloud, Minn.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) A 30-year-old Georgia man has been charged with shooting a man to death during an argument about making too much noise while people were trying to sleep.

Fulton Police Department spokesman Melissa Parker said Deuntaie Eurico Amos was charged with homicide, aggravated assault and possession of firearm in commission of felony in the shooting death of 27-year-old Richard Sailors.

Parker said Amos surrendered around 5:30 a.m. Saturday, which was several hours after the shooting.

She said an argument started because they were being too loud in the apartment some of the people there were sleeping.

Police recovered the gun and one round.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

GRIFFIN, Ga. (AP) A Spalding County deputy remains in critical condition after being shot in the face but is expected to recover.

Sheriff's office Capt. Tony Ranieri said Deputy Joe Buice was at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta on Saturday. He said the deputy came through surgery fine and is in stable condition.

Police say Buice had taken cover behind his patrol car when Michael Stringer came out of his house firing an assault rifle Friday. One of the bullets passed through the car's windshield, the head rest and then the cage before hitting Buice in the face.

Two other deputies returned fire and Stringer, 38, was killed.

Witnesses said Stringer had been firing at the road before deputies arrived in response to a suicide call. A man driving past the house was injured by glass when a bullet hit a window.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- Former NFL star Herschel Walker stopped Hungarian fighter Greg Nagy in the third round Saturday night to win his mixed-martial arts debut.

Walker drove Nagy into the fence early in the third. After a flurry of punches, referee Troy Waugh called the fight.

"The experience was exciting," Walker said. "This is the hardest thing I've ever done."

Still trim and fit at 47, Walker used his strength advantage to wear down the 26-year-old Nagy (1-2). He appeared to be close to the win near the end of the second five-minute round, but Nagy managed to extend the bout.

Walker was the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner while at Georgia and played professionally for Dallas, Philadelphia, Minnesota, the New York Giants and the USFL's New Jersey Generals.

In his football days, Walker dropped jaws with a workout regimen that included upwards of 3,000 situps and pushups everyday. He also holds a fifth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Walker, a 1992 U.S. Olympian in the two-man bobsled, turned his attention to MMA about 2½ months ago when he moved to San Jose, Calif., to train at renowned American Kickboxing Academy.

Despite some raggedness, his first fight went far better than those of former baseball slugger Jose Canseco, who lasted just 78 seconds in his debut last July, or ex-NFL receiver Johnnie Morton, who was carried out on a stretcher.

Among those in Saturday night's crowd was New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, whose TV interview was met with boos from Miami Dolphins fans in the arena.

The Predators had just staggered home off a four-game trip, losers of five straight in regulation despite outshooting their opponents in each game.

Arnott provided the difference scoring his first goal since Jan. 2. He got the puck off the opening faceoff of the third period, skated up and snapped a shot past Johan Hedberg for his 13th this season to put the Predators ahead to stay.

Joel Ward and Martin Erat each had a goal and an assist, and Jerred Smithson added a goal.

Bryan Little had two goals, and Chris Thorburn scored short-handed. Atlanta ended a two-game winning streak after failing to score twice with the man advantage after Arnott's goal.

The turnout was good on a night people were urged to stay at home due to icy roads from a winter storm, but not close to the announced crowd of 16,646.

The Thrashers had a small but loud group to watch the first game between these Southern teams only four hours apart. It's not much of a rivalry with the teams in separate conferences, and this was just the 12th game in this series.

The Predators desperately needed a victory to start a four-game homestand to avoid slipping even further in the Western Conference before a four-game trip going into the Olympic break. They were coming off a 4-2 loss at Detroit on Friday night where the Predators lost despite outshooting the Red Wings 48-28 the most shots on the road in franchise history.

Ward got them started quickly, scoring on the Predators' third shot. He backhanded a shot by Erat that Hedberg stopped with his glove but didn't smother to stop play at 3:59 of the first. Smithson made it 2-0 at 9:27 when he stopped a pass with his left skate, spun around and put a wrister past Hedberg from the slot just in front of the crease.

Little got Atlanta on the board with a power-play goal at 13:57 with a slap shot from the slot off a pass from Todd White.

Nashville bogged down again in the second period, wasting 1:24 of a five-on-three. The Predators got lucky the whistle blew to wipe out Evander Kane's goal on a two-on-one breakaway at 6:55 of the second, and then Erat made it 3-1 at 11:12. Erat scored on a slap shot from the high slot off a pass Ward sent to him just after he skated across the blue line.

It didn't last long.

Thorburn ruined a Nashville power play as he backhanded the puck off the rebound of Marty Reasoner's shot at 12:23. Little tied it up at 3-3 with his own backhanded goal off the rebound of Ilya Kovalchuk's shot at 15:02.

NOTES: Nashville improved to 20-3-1 when scoring first and 6-4 in the second game of a back-to-back set. ... The Predators sent forward Andreas Thuresson to AHL Milwaukee earlier Saturday.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Dwight Howard had 31 points and 19 rebounds and the Orlando Magic coasted to a 104-86 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.

The Magic took over first place in the Southeast Division with the victory and beat the Hawks for the third straight time this season. Rashard Lewis added 17 points, Ryan Anderson had 16 and J.J. Redick had eight points and a career-high seven assists as the Magic reserves had 32 points and 11 assists.

Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford had 19 points apiece for the Hawks, who shot only 39.5 percent in the game. Al Horford, selected to back up Howard in the All-Star Game, had only four points and four rebounds against Howard.

The Magic led 58-54 in the middle of the third quarter when Howard led a 16-2 spurt to make it 74-56. The Magic center had eight points in the run, including a coast-to-coast fastbreak that ended in a three-point play.

Howard tipped a defensive rebound toward halfcourt, beat Hawks' guard Mike Bibby to it, then dribbled the rest of the way for a dunk with Bibby hanging on his back. That made it 68-54 and though Johnson interrupted the run with a driving layup, the Magic went on to score six straight points and seize control of the game.

The only time the Hawks got the deficit under 10 after that was when Johnson made a 3-pointer that cut Atlanta's deficit to 81-72 with 8:41 left in the game.

Howard and the Magic reserves responded with a 14-5 run capped by Anderson's 3-pointer that made it 95-77 with 4:11 left.

A tip-in by Johnson gave the Hawks a 16-6 lead to start the game, but the Magic went on a 15-2 run to end the quarter with a 21-18 lead.

Anderson and Redick combined for 12 points in the second quarter as Orlando's reserves pushed the advantage to 42-34 before Atlanta's offense came alive.

The Hawks hit five straight jumpers, including a 10-footer by Crawford that cut the deficit to 46-44 with five seconds to play in the half.

However, Josh Smith fouled Jameer Nelson as he attempted a shot from just inside halfcourt and the Magic point guard made all three free throws to give Orlando a 49-44 halftime lead.

Notes: Magic coach Stan Van Gundy will be the East coach in the All-Star Game if the Magic defeat Detroit on Sunday. ... Orlando has beaten Atlanta six straight times. The average margin of victory is 18.5 points. ... Mike Bibby is shooting 13 of 40 in his past five games for the Hawks.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) Kentucky State coach Clarence Moore doesn't believe Georgia Tech looks like a Final Four team even if the Yellow Jackets spanked his own team by nearly 50.

``I've seen a few games this season, and I don't see a leader out there,'' said Moore, a senior reserve when Georgia Tech advanced to the 2004 national title game. ``To me, it looks like guys are trying to find themselves.''

Glen Rice Jr. scored 15 points, D'Andre Bell added 14 and No. 22 Georgia Tech breezed to a 98-50 victory Saturday over Kentucky State. The Yellow Jackets (16-5) have won four of five and improved to 11-1 at home, dipping out of the Atlantic Coast Conference to take on a Division II school from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Six years ago in an NCAA tournament regional final at St. Louis, Moore had 14 points and five steals to help Georgia Tech beat Kansas in overtime and advance to the Final Four.

Yellow Jackets coach Paul Hewitt may have his most talented team since then, but it starts only one senior in Bell. Derrick Favors and Mfon Udofia are freshmen, Iman Shumpert is a sophomore and Gani Lawal a junior.

Moore thinks the team needs to find a coach on the floor.

``You have to have a vocal leader and someone who is willing to get on guys and know that he's going to catch it at some point as well,'' Moore said. ``I would love to say that I was that guy and maybe some people would have said it.''

Kentucky State hung with Georgia Tech until Troy Johnson cut the lead to 17-15 with a 3-pointer. The Yellow Jackets responded with a 48-14 charge that ended on Shumpert's dunk with 18:12 remaining.

Hewitt, who pulled his starters a few minutes later, agreed with Moore's assessment.

``Absolutely, that 2004 team collectively understood,'' Hewitt said. ``You had Jarrett (Jack), who understood what it meant to play every possession like it was an important possession. This team doesn't understand that yet, and it's something we've talked about.''

Jarrod Gay had 16 points to lead the Thorobreds (4-13), who hit just 28.3 percent from the field. Tony Johnson added eight for Kentucky State while shooting 2 for 11.

Lawal and Lance Storrs each finished with 11 points for Georgia Tech, which outscored the Thorobreds 33-9 on the fastbreak and 24-9 off turnovers. Kentucky State committed 21.

The Yellow Jackers were coming off a 79-58 home win earlier this week over Wake Forest, and will take a big jump back up in competition when they travel to No. 8 Duke on Thursday.

Lawal was pleased to get some rest and let the reserves play.

``It was good in preparation for (Duke),'' Lawal said. ``They did a good job.''

Rice, a reserve guard, was 6 for 6 from the field, including three 3-pointers. Lawal, a junior forward who's considered a potential late first-round NBA draft pick, became the 16th Georgia Tech player to score 1,000 points.

Shumpert finished with eight points for Georgia Tech. The starting guard missed six games to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, but he's averaged 11.6 since returning.

Reserve center Brad Sheehan pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for the Yellow Jackets.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Georgia found out Saturday night what No. 1 Kentucky already knew: South Carolina's never out of it with Devan Downey.

The Gamecock senior star had 33 points, including the driving, go-ahead basket with 50 seconds to go, in a 78-77 win over the Bulldogs.

Downey's performance followed a 30-point showing in a 68-62 victory over the top-ranked Wildcats last Tuesday night.

``To see a guy, he's the guy that has to be stopped, he's option one, two and three for us, and still put up 30 a game at this level,'' South Carolina coach Darrin Horn said. ``That's pretty special.''

More and more fans around the Southeastern Conference have discovered that, too.

A week ago, Downey hit an improbable driving bank shot with 5 seconds left that looked like it beat Florida before the Gators' Chandler Parsons trumped him with a buzzer-beating three.

Then came Kentucky, where Downey continually drove past freshman star John Wall and floated buckets and bankers over Patrick Patterson and DeMarcus Cousins.

This time, Downey rescued the Gamecocks (13-8, 4-3 SEC) down the stretch, when more than few people in the Colonial Life Arena wondered if the spark they saw a few nights earlier would be there.

South Carolina trailed 63-54 with less than 10 minutes left when Downey got going, scoring half of his team's last 24 points.

The capper came in the final minute, Downey driving through and around four Bulldogs to lay in a banker high off the glass.

``At the end, the ball's in my hands,'' Downey said. ``There's no other way.''

Georgia had its chances to win after Downey's last basket.

Trey Thompkins slipped under the hoop for what seemed a simple put-in that sailed over the rim and out of bounds.

Then, after Downey fouled Dustin Ware, the Bulldogs' most reliable foul shooter missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 3.5 seconds left.

On Ware's miss, Georgia coach Mark Fox chose to put three players back to keep Downey from a game-winning coast-to-coast drive. Instead Ramon Galloway collected the rebound and South Carolina held on.

Fox said his strategy was as much his confidence in Ware third in the SEC at 82.8 percent from the line as his fear of Downey's talent.

``We're competing and we keep responding through each experience to get better,'' Fox said. ``As difficult as this is to get on the bus with, we'll go back to work.''

No one's worked harder than Downey this season. The senior, the SEC's leading scorer, has 30 or more points in five of seven league games.

Downey's focused completely on his team's showing, pushing aside his amazing run.

``It's the run the team's on,'' he chided one questioner.

With Downey, anything seems possible for South Carolina.

Sam Muldrow had a career-high 19 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double in 70 career games.

The Gamecocks looked done when Thompkins nailed a 3-pointer to move in front 63-54 with 9:26 to go.

Muldrow began South Carolina's rally with a bucket, then blocked Thompkins' shot to set up a basket for Brandis Raley-Ross.

Downey hit a 3 to keep things going and Raley-Ross added one from behind the arc to draw the Gamecocks within 70-67.

Downey tied it a minute later with a 3-pointer. And then, after Thompkins' bucket, made two foul shots to knot it at 74-all.

Ware gave Georgia its final lead, 77-76, after a 3 with 1:16 to play.

It ended a crazy week around campus that began with South Carolina's landmark win over Kentucky. Horn was a national radio guest and Downey's stellar performance in leading the Gamecocks to their first victory over a No. 1 team was shown again and again.

Horn, who went recruiting the morning after the Kentucky win, stressed the importance of returning to work ready to improve.

It looked like the Downey and the Gamecocks listened.

Downey opened with two straight 3s and added a third basket as the Gamecocks broke on top 12-7.

But South Carolina couldn't sustain the momentum and the Bulldogs pulled ahead as Thompkins and Travis Leslie took control.

Thompkins' final basket of the half with 1:29 left made the lead 36-30 when the Gamecocks got a boost from an unlikely source in freshman Stephen Spinella.

Spinella, who averaged less than 8 minutes a game this year, drilled two 3-pointers in less than 25 seconds to tie the score.

Leslie, though, made both ends of a 1-and-1 to send Georgia to the locker room ahead 38-36.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

KABUL (AP) The Taliban on Saturday denied reports that their representatives met with a U.N. official to discuss prospects for peace in Afghanistan, calling them ``futile and baseless'' rumors.

The U.N. in Afghanistan has not confirmed the meeting between the Taliban and the world body's local chief, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide.

But U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Eide, who is leaving his post within weeks, wanted to ``get his own conclusion about the mindset of some of the Taliban members.''

``The (Taliban) Leadership Council considers this mere futile and baseless rumors,'' a statement e-mailed to news organizations said of the reported meeting. ``The Leadership Council once again emphasizes continuation of Islamic jihad against all invaders as a mean to frustrate these conspiracies.''

Afghan President Hamid Karzai told a conference on Afghanistan in London on Thursday that he would offer jobs and homes to Taliban fighters willing to renounce violence and would reach out to leaders of the hardline Islamic movement.

The Afghan leader will convene a peace jirga or conference to bring together Afghan leaders, members of civil society groups and clerics.

U.S. officials have endorsed plans to offer peace to low and mid-level Taliban fighters but remain skeptical of entering into deals with Taliban leaders, who harbored Osama bin Laden. The Taliban refusal to hand over bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S. triggered the Afghan war.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

DETROIT (AP) Toyota said it began shipping gas pedal parts to its dealers Friday for use in fixing the millions of cars and trucks recalled because of accelerators that could become stuck.

Company spokesman Brian Lyons said he did not know when the parts would arrive or how long it would take the automaker to complete repairs on the 4.2 million vehicles worldwide 2.3 million of them in the U.S. covered by the recall. He said Toyota has not yet decided whether to repair the accelerators or replace them altogether.

Toyota will release details sometime next week about how it intends to solve the problem, Lyons said.

The parts ``are on their way to the dealers in preparation for the recall launch,'' he said.

Until Friday, Toyota had been sending the components to its factories, angering some dealers who have not had parts to repair their customers' cars since the recall was announced on Jan. 21. But Lyons vehemently denied any suggestion that the factories were being given priority over dealerships, as some dealers suspected.

Some dealers said they should get the parts first, so that they can fix the cars already on the road.

Earl Stewart, owner of a Toyota dealership in North Palm Beach, Fla., said his mechanics might not know the details of how to fix the gas pedals, but they know how to install new ones.

``That's absolutely stupid,'' he said of sending the parts to factories. ``It makes no sense at all.''

On Friday, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda made his first public comments about the recall. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he told Japanese broadcaster NHK: ``I am very sorry that we are making our customers feel concerned.''

``People can feel safe driving in the current situation,'' he added. ``Please trust that we are responding so it will be even safer.''

Toyota told employees in an e-mail it is buying full-page ads Sunday in 20 major newspapers to reassure customers.

Meanwhile, Consumer Reports, an influential publication for car buyers, has suspended its ``recommended'' status for the eight recalled models, dealing another blow to the Japanese automaker's reputation in the U.S.

``Although incidents of sudden acceleration are rare, we are taking this action because the vehicles have been identified as potentially unsafe without a fix yet being available to consumers,'' said Jim Guest, president of Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports.

Toyota dealers have been complaining for days that the automaker has left them in the dark about the nature of the gas pedal problem, when and how it will be fixed, and what to tell customers fearful their accelerators will get stuck and cause their cars to crash.

Toyota owners likewise were both confused about what to do with their cars and angry that the company had no answers on when a fix would be available.

``I've got a $30,000 vehicle and they don't know how to fix it,'' said Johnathan Jones, a salesman from Fort Mitchell, Ala., who said he won't put his 10-year-old twins in his 2009 Toyota Tundra. ``To me, it's a big safety hazard with my children.''

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has attributed five deaths and 17 injuries to unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles since 2006, but it could not say whether any of those involved vehicles covered by the recall.

Toyota stopped selling eight U.S. models, including the top-selling Camry, on Tuesday. It also announced that it will stop building them until the problem is fixed.

The company presented a remedy on Thursday to NHTSA and is awaiting a decision before proceeding.

``We're not ready to launch this program yet,'' Lyons said, adding that letters must be sent to customers and mechanics must be trained on whatever solution the company ultimately decides on.

The automaker blamed the problem on condensation in the pedal assembly, which includes the pedal, a curved arm that goes into the engine compartment, and springs that send the pedal back to its resting position when the driver eases up on the gas.

The condensation creates friction that can cause a delayed return of the pedal or, in rare cases, sticking, Lyons said. Toyota has also said the accelerators stick only in rare cases.

Toyota said that not all of the models listed in the recall have the faulty gas pedals, which were made by CTS Corp. of Elkhart, Ind.

The recall in the U.S. covers 2.3 million vehicles and involves the 2009-10 RAV4 crossover, the 2009-10 Corolla, the 2009-10 Matrix hatchback, the 2005-10 Avalon, the 2007-10 Camry, the 2010 Highlander crossover, the 2007-10 Tundra pickup and the 2008-10 Sequoia SUV. The recall has been expanded to models in Europe and China.

The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is launching an investigation. It has scheduled a Feb. 10 hearing titled ``Toyota Gas Pedals: Is the Public at Risk?'' and asked Yoshi Inaba, chairman and CEO of Toyota Motor North America, to testify. Separately, a House investigative panel is planning a Feb. 25 hearing.

Associated Press Writers Ken Thomas and Stephen Manning in Washington and Brian Skoloff in North Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) No need to cross state lines to get the big-jackpot lotto tickets. Dozens of states, including Georgia, will begin selling both Mega Millions and Powerball tickets on Sunday, moving the U.S. a step closer to having a national lottery.

By the time all the states sign on to the new system this spring, the nation's two biggest lotteries will be sold in 43 states plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

``We expect there will be larger jackpots faster. We expect there to be more winners,'' said Margaret DeFrancisco, co-chair of a committee for both lotteries and president and CEO of the Georgia Lottery Corp.

Powerball, with drawings on Wednesdays and Saturdays, is played in 31 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S Virgin Islands. Twenty-three of those places will sell tickets for Mega Millions beginning with the Feb. 2 drawing. Mega Millions, with drawings on Tuesdays and Fridays, is played in 12 states. Ten of them will sell tickets for Powerball starting with the Feb. 3 drawing.

The change could end the tradition of driving into a border state to buy tickets for another game when jackpots climb.

Ermelinda Ribero, a Powerball customer at Angie's State Line Package Store on the Connecticut/Massachusetts line in Enfield, Conn., usually buys her Mega Millions tickets in her hometown of Longmeadow, Mass. She said Friday that the change will let her make one stop instead of two.

``Since I never win in Massachusetts, maybe I'll win here,'' she joked.

Customers at Casey's General Store in the southeast Iowa city of Keokuk, just across the Mississippi River from Illinois, have been talking about the change, said general manager Michelle Walker.

``They've asked for sure when the right date is and when they'll be able to start purchasing,'' said Walker, who added that she herself will also stop driving into Illinois to buy Mega Millions.

In downtown Savannah, Ga., a sign went up Friday at Chirag Patel's convenience store, advertising Powerball tickets that previously required a drive across the Savannah River into South Carolina.

``Regular players, they ask, 'When are you going to start?''' he said. ``One way or the other, people want to be a millionaire in this economy.''

The estimated jackpot for Friday's Mega Millions drawing was $144 million, and it was $90 million for Saturday's Powerball drawing both before the Sunday cross-selling begins.

Some retailers aren't expecting a flood of new business. Brian Chapel, owner of Everett's Liquor Store in South Beloit, Ill., right across the state line from Beloit, Wis., said Illinois offering Powerball tickets should help offset any potential losses from Wisconsin Mega Millions customers staying in their state.

Plus, he said, most of his lottery customers are regulars, sometimes stopping in daily to play other Illinois-specific games.

``People pick where they buy their tickets based on the retailer,'' Chapel said.

Powerball and Mega Millions have been working on the logistics since October. Most states not yet cross-selling the tickets are expected to approve the change by spring, said Tom Shaheen, president of the Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs Powerball.

DeFrancisco said that assuming customers like the change, lottery officials will soon focus on a true national lottery. They hope that will happen by spring 2011, but haven't sorted out many details, including a name or drawing frequency.

Mega Millions holds the record for the largest U.S. lottery jackpot $390 million on March 6, 2007. The largest Powerball jackpot was $365 million on Feb. 18, 2006.

In Mega Millions, players pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers five different numbers from 1 to 56 and one number from 1 to 46. The jackpot is won by matching all six winning numbers, the odds of which are 1 in 175 million.

The game is played in: California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, Washington state. Those not yet selling Powerball tickets are: California, Ohio.

In Powerball, players pick six numbers from two different pools of numbers five numbers from 1 to 59 and a Powerball from 1 to 39. Odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 195 million.

Powerball is played in: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Colorado, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, U.S. Virgin Islands, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

Those not yet selling Mega Millions tickets are: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Savannah, Ga., Todd Richmond in Madison, Wis., and Stephanie Reitz in Enfield, Conn., contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) An Augusta area woman faces charges after authorities say she joined in a high school brawl.

Richmond County school safety Lt. Richard Roundtree says authorities charged 38-year-old Lawanda Lovett with disorderly conduct for her involvement in the fight at Josey High School.

Police also arrested her 18-year-old daughter Tequila Lovett, and five other students. School officials say all six students are suspended pending a school tribunal.

Lt. Roundtree says the mother had checked in with the school's office before going to where the fight started. Officials are reviewing review surveillance video to determine which two students started the fight.

Eleven students went to jail at the school following a Jan. 6 brawl at the same school.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) Georgia will get more than $1 million in federal funds to promote employment and job training among low-income, older workers.

The funds are part of the Senior Community Service Employment Program.

The U.S. Department of Labor Friday announced $225 million in additional funding for the program for fiscal 2010.

The funding was provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010.

The program is a community service and work-based training program for older workers. It provides part-time, community service-based job training for unemployed, low-income individuals age 55 or older.

Through this program, older workers have access to SCSEP services as well as other employment assistance available through the work force investment system.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) A lawsuit by a passenger rights advocate seeking at least $11 million from Delta Air Lines Inc. for allegedly conspiring to obtain hacked e-mails from her computer has survived a challenge from the airline.

A federal judge in Houston has rejected Delta's request to throw out the lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake said in an order dated Thursday that a reasonable person could conclude that it was more likely than not that it was Delta that hacked into Kate Hanni's computer and stole her files.

Hanni, of FlyersRights.org, alleges that Delta wanted to derail her efforts to protect air travelers from lengthy tarmac delays and other inconveniences.

Delta, based in Atlanta, denies wrongdoing.

The judge said Delta had motive and means and despite the carrier's explanation that it came upon the e-mails through legal means, there is genuine dispute about how Delta got them. Sim is allowing the case to move forward. No trial date has been set.

A Delta spokesman declined Friday to comment on Lake's ruling.

Hanni and her group have been a thorn in the side of the airline industry, pushing Congress to enact a passenger bill of rights at a time when airlines have been suffering from big revenue declines due to the drop-off in demand for air travel during the recession.

In late December, the Department of Transportation imposed new rules on airlines, including one that limits tarmac delays to three hours. Hanni and her group supported the limit.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) Georgia's mental health system is in trouble again with federal authorities, who say seven state psychiatric centers remain unsafe and the state must do more to move the mentally ill into outpatient care.

The U.S. Department of Justice has slapped Georgia with a federal discrimination lawsuit accusing the state of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by improperly segregating hundreds of Georgians with mental illness and developmental disabilities in institutions. The department's civil rights division also filed a motion seeking the appointment of a federal monitor to protect patients ``from harm to their lives, health and safety.''

Federal prosecutors listed several violent incidents a killing, a rape and several suicides at state mental hospitals in 2009 and 2010. They said patients confined in Georgia's mental hospitals are still exposed to ``egregious harm.''

The state's new mental health chief disputed that, arguing the state has made huge strides in improving care at its psychiatric facilities.

``The people we serve are safer (and) are getting better care,'' state Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Dr. Frank Shelp said Friday.

Georgia has set up a new department to supervise behavioral health care in Georgia. Gov. Sonny Perdue is also proposing an additional $70 million in funding for mental health over the next two fiscal years, the only state agency to see its funding rise during Georgia's budget crunch.

Additionally, the state said it would stop offering care for adult mental health patients at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, where some of the worst cases of abuse had been reported. In November, federal officials found so many shortcomings at Central State, with patients attacking one another and receiving poor treatment, that state officials announced the facility would no longer accept new patients.

Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley said Friday the Obama administration has suddenly ``changed the rules of the game'' by now requiring the state expand outpatient community services.

``They have been saying fix the hospitals, fix the hospitals, so that's what we've been doing,'' Brantley said. ``We're making progress to the goal line here but they keep changing where the goal is.''

Brantley said even before the new Justice Department filing, the state had asked for a status conference with the federal judge overseeing the case to offer a report on improvements in the system. No date has been set yet.

Among the allegations by federal prosecutors:

In 2009, the state failed to properly supervise someone who had previously killed. That individual assaulted and killed another individual in the hospital.

In 2008, hospital staff failed to intervene in a fight. One person involved in the fight was knocked unconscious and died a few days later from blunt force trauma to the head.

In 2009, staff failed to supervise an individual who went on to rape someone.

In 2009, an individual committed suicide by tipping his bed up and hanging himself from it. Justice Department experts have repeatedly warned hospital staff that these beds should be bolted to the floor.

Just this month the state failed to adequately supervise an individual who expressed suicidal thoughts. The next day she committed suicide.

The seven hospitals are: East Central Regional Hospital, Georgia Regional Hospitals at Savannah and Atlanta, Southwestern State Hospital, Central State Hospital, West Central Georgia Regional Hospital and Northwest Georgia Hospital.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

GRIFFIN, Ga. (AP) Spalding County authorities have identified a deputy who was shot and critically injured while responding to a suicide attempt in Griffin Friday.

Deputy Joe Buice has been with the department for less than a year. Capt. Tony Ranieri says he and an unidentified man are both in critical condition Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta suffering gun shot wounds to the head.

Police later shot and killed the unidentified suspect. Ranieri says police responded to the man's East McIntosh Road residence at around 4:30 p.m. Friday for a possible suicide threat.

Ranieri says when officers arrived, the suspect began shooting. Ranieri says the suspect managed to shoot Buice and the unidentified female victim, who was driving by, before two officers also responding to the scene shot him.

He says the suspect also shot another car, driven by a man, but nobody was injured.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio)  A Lawrenceville man is charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, after police say he severely beat a small dog in front of his own two children.

The 2-year-old Dachshund, named Rocky, has a fractured skull, possible broken leg, a disfigured eye and a broken nose.  Rocky's eyes were also injured after Dainley Dewarne Green allegedly attacked the small dog.

Green was arrested on Thursday, January 28, and is currently being held at the Gwinnett County Jail without bond.

Stacy Bourbonnais with the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office tells WSB, the dog is very skittish and emotionally scared after the violent encounters.  Bourbonnais said Rocky is especially afraid of men.

"Outwardly you don't see the injuries because they're all internal," Bourbonnais told WSB.  "But he is expected to fully recover."

Sheriff's deputies were alerted to the situation when Mr. Green's wife tried to get a restraining order against her husband after reportedly beating the dog in front of her and the children.

When deputies arrived at the home, they found the dog with blood shot, swollen eyes and unable to move.  Rocky was quickly placed in the custody of Gwinnett Animal Control where he is still recovering.

ATLANTA (AP) Four firefighters were terminated Thursday and they are being investigated by police for their response to a house fire that killed an elderly woman.

The DeKalb County firefighters responded to a 911 call from the home about 1 a.m. Sunday and left after they didn't see any signs of flames or smoke.

But according to an investigative report, they didn't follow department procedure to approach the home, verify the address and make contact with the 911 caller.

Most of the firefighters who responded to the call stayed in their vehicles, only getting out to help the trucks turn around in the cul-de-sac near the home, according to the report.

About six hours later, a neighbor called 911 to report the same house was fully engulfed in flames. Ann Bartlett, 74, was found dead inside from smoke inhalation.

``These officers didn't follow policy, and that's why they're being terminated,'' county public safety director William Z. Miller said Friday.

Police in Dunwoody, a northern Atlanta suburb, have launched a criminal investigation into the fire department's response, police Chief Billy Grogan said.

The four firefighters are acting officer in charge William Greene, Capt. Tony L. Motes, Battalion Chief Lesley Clark and Battalion Chief Bennie J. Paige. A fifth firefighter, Capt. Sell Caldwell, has been put on leave with pay as an investigation into his actions continues, DeKalb County spokeswoman Shelia Edwards said.

Paige did not immediately return a call for comment Friday. There were no public phone listings for the rest of the firefighters and it was not known if they had retained attorneys.

Bartlett's daughter, Ruth, said Friday she hopes ``every firefighter learns from this.'' She said her family wants an apology from the firefighters.

``We know those four men feel awful,'' she said in a telephone interview. ``First, we were very shocked. Then we were very sad, and as the facts started to unravel, we became mad. Now as we see they are resolving and taking actions they deem appropriate, we are starting to heal.''

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

WASHINGTON (AP) Regulators shut down two banks in Georgia Friday, along with a big bank in California, and one each in Florida, Minnesota and Washington. That brought to 15 the number of bank failures so far in 2010 atop the 140 shuttered last year in the punishing economic climate.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over First National Bank of Georgia, based in Carrollton, Ga., with $832.6 million in assets and $757.9 million in deposits and Community Bank and Trust of Cornelia, Ga., with $1.2 billion in assets and $1.1 billion in deposits.

Community Southern Bank, also based in Carrollton, Ga., agreed to assume the deposits and assets of First National Bank of Georgia.
The two shuttered banks in Georgia followed 25 bank failures there last year, more than in any other state.

The government's resolution of First National Bank of Georgia is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $260.4 million. That of Community Bank and Trust is estimated to cost $354.5 million.

The failure of Los Angeles-based First Regional Bank, with nearly $2.2 billion in assets and $1.9 billion in deposits, is expected to cost the federal deposit insurance fund $825.5 million.

The FDIC all took over Florida Community Bank of Immokalee, Fla., with $875.5 million in assets and $795.5 million in deposits; Marshall Bank of Hallock, Minn., with $59.9 million in assets and $54.7 million in deposits; and American Marine Bank of Bainbridge Island, Wash., with $373.2 million in assets and $308.5 million in deposits.

First Regional Bank's collapse followed the shutdown of several large California banks in the last months of 2009. California was one of the states hardest hit by the real estate market meltdown, and many banks there have suffered under the weight of soured mortgage loans. Last year saw the failure of 17 banks in the state.

First-Citizens Bank Trust Co., based in Raleigh, N.C., agreed to buy the deposits and $2.17 billion of the assets of First Regional Bank. The FDIC retained the remaining assets for later sale. In addition, the FDIC and First-Citizens agreed to share losses on $2 billion of the failed bank's loans and other assets.

SCBT, a national bank based in Orangeburg, S.C., is assuming the assets and deposits of Community Bank and Trust. United Valley Bank, based in Cavalier, N.D., is buying the assets and deposits of Marshall Bank.

Miami-based Premier American Bank, N.A., a new bank with a national charter set up last week, is buying the deposits and $499.1 million of the assets of Florida Community Bank. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later sale. In addition, the FDIC and Premier American Bank owned by the investment firm Bond Street Holdings agreed to share losses on $305.4 million of Florida Community Bank's loans and other assets.

Columbia State Bank, based in Tacoma, Wash., is assuming the assets and deposits of American Marine Bank.

Florida Community Bank's resolution is expected to cost the fund $352.6 million and Marshall Bank is expected to cost $4.1 million. The hit to the fund from American Marine Bank is estimated at $58.9 million.

As the economy has soured, with unemployment rising, home prices tumbling and loan defaults soaring, bank failures have accelerated and sapped billions out of the federal deposit insurance fund. It fell into the red last year.

The 140 bank failures last year were the highest annual tally since 1992, at the height of the savings and loan crisis. They cost the insurance fund more than $30 billion. There were 25 bank failures in 2008 and just three in 2007.

The number of bank failures is expected to rise further this year. The FDIC expects the cost of resolving failed banks to grow to about $100 billion over the next four years.

The agency last year mandated banks to prepay about $45 billion in premiums, for 2010 through 2012, to replenish the insurance fund.

Depositors' money insured up to $250,000 per account is not at risk, with the FDIC backed by the government. Besides the fund, the FDIC has about $21 billion in cash available in reserve to cover losses at failed banks.

Banks have been especially hurt by failed real estate loans, both residential and commercial. Banks that had lent to seemingly solid businesses are suffering losses as buildings sit vacant. As development projects collapse, builders are defaulting on their loans.

If the economic recovery falters, defaults on the high-risk loans could spike. Many regional banks hold large concentrations of these loans. Nearly $500 billion in commercial real estate loans are expected to come due annually over the next few years.

In his State of the Union address this week, President Barack Obama said he will initiate a $30 billion program to provide money to community banks at low rates, if they boost lending to small businesses. The money would come from balances left in the $700 billion bailout fund.

Hundreds of banks, including major Wall Street institutions, received taxpayer support through that politically unpopular rescue program, enacted by Congress in October 2008 at the height of the financial crisis.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio)  A woman who claimed she was attacked at a Cobb County park has been charged with making up the story.

Cobb County Police Officer Joe Hernandez tells WSB 32-year-old Tarrah Lynn Connon of Marietta, told police she was attacked while at Harrison Park by a man dressed all in black.  Mountain View Elementary School and Lassiter High School were both locked down for sometime as police searched for the suspect.  She was taken to Kennestone Hospital for treatment.

"Investigators found numerous inconsistencies just regarding the events that were alleged to have occurred and the injuries and just everything, in regards to all of her claims," said Hernandez. 

She was charged with false report of a crime, a misdemeanor.

"I can say at this point, for the residents of that area - anyone who does business in that area - the area is safe and this event never happened," said Hernandez.

As for a motive?

"I have no idea at this time.  That is something I guess she would have to say in front of a judge in court," said Hernandez.

ATLANTA (AP) Joe Johnson was already looking ahead to the playoffs as he sought perspective on the Atlanta Hawks' first season sweep of the Celtics in 11 years.

Johnson scored 16 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter to help the Hawks beat Boston 100-91 to complete the four-game sweep.

The Hawks (30-15) completed the four-game sweep of the regular-season series to move one-half game ahead of Boston (29-15) for second place in the Eastern Conference.

Johnson says the Hawks will have to prove it again in the postseason.

``It means nothing, to be honest,'' Johnson said. ``It just means we swept them in the regular season; the postseason is a totally different game.''

Jamal Crawford had 28 points as the Hawks recovered after Boston cut a 14-point deficit to one in the third quarter.

Paul Pierce led Boston with a season-high 35 points.

The Celtics have lost five of seven, including losses to Orlando and Atlanta in back-to-back days.

``I don't really know if we could have won the game tonight, the way the Hawks were playing,'' said Boston coach Doc Rivers. ``Especially coming off a back-to-back, this is a tough team to play.''

Pierce said the Celtics ``play in spurts.''

``That seems to be the problem right now,'' Pierce said. ``Overall, I liked our fight tonight, but it wasn't enough.''

Kevin Garnett had 15 as Boston's only other scorer in double figures.

Johnson scored nine of the Hawks' first 11 points of the fourth period.

``I just wanted to assert myself and be aggressive and make plays,'' Johnson said.

Johnson said Crawford, Josh Smith (12 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks) and Al Horford (11 points, 8 rebounds) carried the team in the first three periods.

Crawford said Johnson ``turned the switch on,'' in the final period.

``He's fun to watch when he gets it going like that,'' Crawford said.

Crawford made three 3-pointers including a halfcourt shot to end the first period and led the team with six assists.

``We can look anybody eye to eye,'' Crawford said. ``We can stand up. I think we're going to get better. This shows our growth.''

The Hawks were celebrating with their sellout crowd and most Boston players were already off the court as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

``That's the kind of atmosphere you want, a playoff atmosphere,'' Crawford said. ``I was kind of fired up.''

Johnson, named to his fourth straight All-Star team on Thursday, made only 3 of 13 shots from the field in the first three quarters before finding his touch to help the Hawks fend off the Celtics' comeback. Atlanta led 74-73 at the start of the fourth before pushing the advantage to 11 points.

The Hawks' last season sweep of the Celtics came with three wins in 1998-99. Their last 4-0 sweep was in the 1995-96 season.

The Hawks completed the sweep one day after having two players Johnson and Horford named to the All-Star team for the first time since 1998.

Emotions rose in the third period soon after Hawks coach Mike Woodson began complaining that his team had been called for five fouls while Boston had none.

With 7:42 remaining in the period, Smith was called for a flagrant foul and Boston's Kendrick Perkins drew a technical after Smith grabbed Perkins from behind to stop a shot. Players from both teams swarmed around the two.

Woodson drew a technical foul from official Tony Brothers after complaining about the flagrant foul on Smith. Zaza Pachulia drew another technical for protesting after he was called for a foul with 2:50 remaining in the period.

The Celtics made 19 of 20 free throws in the third to cut into Atlanta's lead.

``They didn't win a championship not being a physical team,'' Woodson said. ``They're still a great team defensively and they get after you.''

The Hawks led 53-41 at halftime despite a slow start from Johnson, who made only one of eight shots in the half.

Crawford's halfcourt shot to end the first period gave Atlanta a 23-22 lead its only lead of the period.

NOTES: The reported attendance of 18,732 was the Hawks' fourth home sellout of the season. ... Rasheed Wallace was called for his NBA-leading 13th technical foul in the second period. ... G J.R. Giddens, now with Maine of the NBA Development League, saw a doctor on Friday and is facing surgery on his left knee. The Celtics assigned Giddens to Maine on Jan. 21. ... The Celtics swept the 2008-09 season series 4-0.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio)  A 22 year old party host is acquitted in the death of a teenage party goer.

The Barrow County jury found Anthony Perry not guilty of reckless conduct in the death.

18 year old Leland Martin was a student who attended Perry's post-prom party in the winter of 2007. 

Perry was 19 at the time.

Investigators say Martin drank over a fifth of Ever-Clear, passed out, then died.

Perry's stepmother pleaded guilty to eight misdemeanor counts related to hosting the party.  She was sentenced to 30 days in jail, along with four years probation.

The victim's parents have filed a civil suit against both Perry and his stepmother.

(WSB Radio)  A judge in Athens has ruled that a Gainesville woman can pursue her lawsuit against a UGA frat member who she blames for injuries she suffered after a night of drinking.

But, the judge has also absolved the fraternity, Sigma Chi, of blame in the case.

The woman, who has not been identified, says she was served liquor at the September 2008 party, even though she was wearing a wristband that indicated she was underage.

She claims the fraternity member took her upstairs, removed her dress, and put her in his loft bed.

She fell out of the bed and suffered injuries to her face. 

(WSB Radio) A member of the notorious 30 Deep gang is going away for a long time.

A DeKalb County judge has sentenced 21 year old Dominique Copeland to 16 years in prison, along with 9 years probation, for his role in a robbery and shooting of a clothing store on Flat Shoals Avenue in 2007.

During the robbery, Copeland shot the store owner in the leg.

The 30 Deep gang is blamed for a long list of crimes in the metro area in recent years, from blue jeans robberies to fatal shootings.

Members of 30 Deep are suspected in the murder of bartender John Henderson at The Standard on Memorial Drive a year ago. One gang member has been charged in that killing.

(WSB Radio)  Powerball comes to Georgia this weekend.

The multistate lottery debuts in the state on Sunday, joining MegaMillions.

Lottery players will need to learn a new calendar .

"MegaMillions is on Tuesdays and Fridays," says Georgia lottery president Margaret DeFrancisco.  "Powerball will be on Wednesdays and Saturdays."

DeFrancisco says having Powerball in the state will keep lottery players, who had been driving into South Carolina to play, in the state.

Powerball tickets go on sale in Georgia on January 31. The first Powerball drawing in Georgia will be held February 3.

(WSB Radio)  Two Stone Mountain High School students have been charged in last week's accident that killed a 14 year old girl while she was walking.

"Saheed Saunders and Tomcum Siripanhya were charged with reckless driving, racing, improper passing and homicide by vehicle," says DeKalb County police spokesman Jason Gagnon.

Both 17 year olds have bonded out of jail.

Gagnon tells WSB, the two were going 55 mph in a 25-35mph speed zone when Saunders lost control of his crown vic, ran up on the sidewalk and struck Tanesha Williams and two other students.

Siripanhya, who was driving a BMW, left the scene, but then came back.

(WSB Radio)  The family of a Dunwoody woman who died, along with her two pets, in a house fire, is asking for an apology by the DeKalb County Fire Department. 

Ruth Bartlett, the daughter of 74-year-old Ann Bartlett, met with city officials who said the four officers, who are on paid administrative leave, clearly did not follow proper policy and procedure.

"They have been willing to meet with us," she says.  "They have been very remorseful.  They have been very forthcoming with their information, so we appreciate that element of the issue."

Bartlett called 911 around 1 o'clock Sunday morning to say she started a fire somehow with her oxygen device. 

Firefighters came, but when they didn't see smoke, they left without contacting the homeowners. 

Five hours later, at least nine neighbors called 911 when they awoke to find their neighbor's home an inferno. 

She, along with her dog and cat, died in the fire. 

Authorities found her body in the garage.  They believe she tried to escape, but the fire knocked out power to her garage and she was trapped inside. 

The family hasn't decided if they'll take legal action.

(WSB Radio)  A deal has been reached for the sale of the old General Motors plant in Doraville. 

New Broad Street Companies of Orlando today announced that it is under contract with General Motors LLC to purchase and redevelop GM's former plant. The 165-acre site is located 15 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta, bounded by I-285, Peachtree Industrial Blvd., and a MARTA line.

New Broad Street president David Pace said his company has been in discussions with GM and their advisor, CB Richard Ellis, for more than 18 months.

"This is the best urban infill site in the country for a large transit-oriented development," said Pace. "It will be clean and green, incorporating environmental remediation of the former industrial site with best practices for sustainable development."

New Broad Street specializes in large-scale mixed-use projects, including the redevelopment of the 1,100-acre former Orlando Naval Training Center property into Baldwin Park which commenced in 2001. Today the shuttered navy base property is a thriving community with more than 8,000 residents and 125 businesses, generating in excess of $30 million in annual tax revenue to local governments.

New Broad Street and General Motors are keeping contract terms and the purchase price confidential, but indicate they reflect the special qualities of the site tempered by the realities of today's real estate market. CB Richard Ellis spokesperson Will Yowell said that price wasn't the only factor in this transaction, and that General Motors was equally focused on reaching agreement with a highly qualified and capable buyer intent on creating a new economic engine on the property where automotive production ceased in September 2008.

An early-summer closing is anticipated at which time Pace said initial development concepts and timing details will be disclosed.

(WSB Radio)  Gwinnett County Police have arrested four people, including a juvenile, in a fraud involving debit cards. 

Police say Cortes Luciano worked at a fast-food restaurant on Pleasant Hill Road and used a skimmer to get customers' credit card information when they paid for their food.

One of the at least 26 victims, says they charged 400 bucks with her card.

"The only time it's ever out of my hands is when I have to hand it over to pay for something, instead of swiping it myself," says Missy Vogel.  "So I knew it had to be something along those lines."

At least two more arrests are expected.  Police say the scam lasted several months.

 Kaitlyn Brenneman and Julio Sanchez-Molina have also been arrested.  A juvenile was arrested and then released to his parents.

(WSB Radio)  So, what do you have on the back seat of your car?  Some CDs cases?  An old McDonalds wrapper?  Maybe some loose change?

For a Ball Ground man, his car contained quite a surprise.

76-year-old Tye Kuykendall bought a clunker that had been confiscated in a drug arrest and had been sitting in an impound yard for three years.

The car had a smell of gasoline and, while trying to get the odor out, he made his discovery; $200,000 of counterfeit cash, hidden in a secret compartment.

He contacted authorities who confirmed the money was fake.  Where the phoney cash came from is still under investigation.

(WSB Radio) -- Facing a budget shortfall of $56 million for the 2010-2011 academic year, the DeKalb County Board of Education held the first of three public hearings Thursday night on next year's spending plan.

Although nothing is set in stone, Superintendent Crawford Lewis is looking at eliminating certain academic programs, including Montessori, magnet schools, special education and pre-k.  Dr. Lewis is also considering staff cuts at the administrative level and in the classroom.

Hundreds of parents and teachers packed the school board meeting to voice their opinions, but only thirty people were allowed to speak.  One parent told the board "these cuts would, not could, destroy our community and destroy our kids' potential ."  Another said "every decision you make needs to be based on does this make a great public school."  A veteran teacher added "our teacher's salaries must not be cut."

The superintendent and the board also received criticism for the new three-year contract Dr. Lewis just signed, which included a $15,000 raise, pushing his annual salary to $255,000 a year..  Lewis defended his pay hike.  He told Channel 2 Action News "you should know that in the last eight months I gave up $30,000 that, for whatever reason, the media has chosen not to report."  DeKalb Schools' documents confirm the superintendent's claim.  According to official personnel records obtained by WXIA TV, Dr. Lewis did not accept a 4 percent pay raise in 2009 that would have increased his salary by $10,000.  In addition, Dr. Lewis refused another $20,000 in compensation that he was contractually entitled to.

The DeKalb County Board of Education has until May to approve the budget for next year.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- The death of a DeKalb County fifth grader last year prompts legislation aimed at strengthening Georgia's anti-bullying law.

The family of Jaheem Herrera says he hanged himself at home last April after being bullied at school. His mother Masika Bermudez also claims she was never notified by the school of an incident in a school bathroom where her son was choked until he became unconscious .

House Bill 927 would require all parents be notified of any bullying incident.  It also requires police to be called when any physical altercation occurs.

"Current state law with respect to bullying is horrendously inadequate.  We clearly need to strengthen it... and I think that we are on the road to strengthening it with this bill," says sponsor Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Atlanta).

The measure would expand the definition of bullying to include cyber bullying.  It would also apply to elementary schools.  Currently only middle and high schools fall under the law.

"I think the climate that has been precipitated over the last few years in elementary school, middle school, and high school is just getting to the point where something needs to be done.  I reviewed Georgia's law on bullying and found it woefully ineffective and it only covered sixth through 12th grade," says Gerald Griggs, the attorney for Bermudez who spoke during a subcommittee hearing on her behalf.

While current law allows schools to transfer bullies to alternative schools on the third offense, HB 927 would allow schools to do so at any time.  That prompted concern by some committee members.

"(I'm concerned) when it's that single offense, whether or not we run the risk of elevating every single childhood act to an act of bullying if you have overly aggressive enforcement," says Rep. Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta).

An independent study by DeKalb schools into the Herrera case found that bullying was not the cause of the student's suicide.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- Georgians would be under year round water restrictions under a bill introduced in the state House.

Rep. Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City) is calling on statewide water restrictions daily between 10am and 6pm.

"If we really want to be serious about conservation, we could limit outdoor watering of lawns and gardens to a time that made more sense," she tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.

Buckner says during the hottest time of the day as much as half of the water evaporates.

"If we make it statewide, you don't have all the confusion of 'is this an odd day or even day and which am I supposed to do'.  It's just blanket good sense," she says.

Under the bill, local governments would still have control as to enforcement and fines.

By WSB Radio News Reporter Pete Combs

Santiago, Dominican Republic -

The aircraft is a large, single-engine Cessna Caravan, considered by its pilots the only plane capable of this dangerous job. The mission is vital. This food, water and medicine are desperately needed in the hard-hit town of Leogane, at the epicenter of the January 12^th earthquake. Leogane is about 15 miles west of the Haitian capital, but is cut-off because of broken roads and impossible logistics.

It was clear to Jean-Marc Brissou that something had to be done. Brissou works for Notre Dame University's Children's Project in Leogane. He's trying to get the supplies in for both orphans and patients at the local hospital.

"Actually, a friend and I were talking about it" shortly after the initial earthquake, Brissou says. The discussion led them to a straight patch of road with a crooked past.

"There was an illegal plane that landed right there with cocaine in it. And I said, 'Hey, if  an illegal plane can land there, then why can't a legal plane do it?"

Brissou contacted the police chief and the United Nations, which maintains a battalion of Sri Lankan peacekeeping troops in Leogane. He also contacted Notre Dame, which in turn contacted an organization called Corporate Aviation Responding to Emergencies - CARE USA.

That's how Eric Zipkin and his company, Tradewind Aviation, got involved.

"As of now, there has really been no ability to get supplies from Port-au-Prince," Zipkin says, leaning into the cabin of a Tradewind Cessna Caravan. We're on the ramp at the airport in Santiago as one of his two aircraft is preparing to launch for Leogane. A surprisingly young-looking man, Zipkin, whose company operates out of Connecticut and Puerto Rico, gets a gleam in his eye.

"It's kind of challenging, but it's a mission designed for a Caravan."

Indeed. The road-turned-runway is only about 2500 feet long. It's narrow - only two lanes, bordered by heavy woods on one side and a high stone wall on the other. The Caravan, with its high wing, can barely clear the wall. But the proximity of the trees to the roadway means there's no room for error and no room to turn around.

Over the next 24-hours, Zipkin and his young corps of pilots work on plans to get supplies into Leogane. They contact Ken George, the logistical genius at G.O. Ministries in Santiago. His organization arranges humanitarian trips for missionaries who want to work on the island of Hispaniola. His 18-years' experience in Santiago give him priceless contacts, great credit, a hangar and the ability to purchase food, water and medicine as fast as CARE USA flights can fly them out.

But those trees along the road in Leogane, they're an ongoing headache. Zipkin, his pilots and Brissou negotiate with the land owner, who doesn't want the trees cut down for any reason - even if it means enabling supply flights that can save countless lives. Zipkin's delegation, however, is persistent. Finally, one of his pilots flies in a chain saw. Mission accomplished.

Still, getting a plane the size of a Caravan onto that stretch of road is one hell of a challenge.

"You land over a bridge on a slight downhill slope," Zipkin says. "One of the biggest challenges is trying to turn the airplane around because the shoulder of the road is kind of soft. So we want to try and stop where we can unload and then go to the end of the runway and take off again."

But security is a problem. There's a refugee camp alongside the makeshift runway. Zipkin and Brissou strike a deal with the Sri Lankan troops, who will shut down the road and keep the refugees away from the planes while they're on the ground.

That's as good as this deal is going to get, says Zipkin. Time to fly.

Our course takes us over the mountains that separate Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The flight is beautiful - there are lakes on both sides of the border in the mountain region. On the Dominican side, sprawling ranches dot the mountainsides, the weekend dachas of the nation's upper-crust. There are no such luxuries on the Haitian side of the border. The fundamental differences between these two countries are jarring. I find myself wondering what is so dysfunctional about Haiti when its neighbor is clearly so much more capable.

We fly directly over Port-au-Prince. I've stayed away from the Haitian capital because it's already so well-covered by the media. But my colleagues there are either unable or uninterested in covering the rest of Haiti and that's just the story I aim to tell. Still, the devastation clearly visible below is jaw-dropping. How could anyone have survived down there?

Soon we're descending, circling the makeshift runway, looking for huge Blackhawk helicopters that are landing in a constant stream nearby. The US military is establishing an operations base in Leogane, preparing to help restore order and deliver more badly needed supplies. But that operation takes a lot of time to establish. The people of Leogane need food, water and medicine in the meantime. That's why Tradewind continues to fly.

A UN military truck is parked at the end of the runway. The message to the pilots is clear: You have this much room to land and no more. Failure means a collision that could prove deadly. There really is no room for error.

But the 20-something pilots at the controls of this Caravan are brash. In another day and age, they'd be fighter pilots or aviation pioneers, with the world as their runway. They think this is cool. Oh, to be young again, confident and seemingly invincible.

A gust of wind catches us near the ground and the Caravan drifts to the left just as we cross over the bridge spanning a small stream. There's no room for error and the kids at the controls work hard to keep the nosewheel on the center of the road. The plane touches down, bounces, veers a little more, then settles on the road. The pilots quickly reverse thrust and we're thrown against the seatbelts. That's okay... I'm watching the UN truck grow bigger and bigger in the windshield. We stop with about 75-yards to spare.

On the ground, the plane is quickly surrounded by both Sri Lankan troops and hundreds of clamoring Haitians. The pilots greet the UN commanders as old friends - comrades in arms against the hunger and sickness that threaten these refugees.

The plane is parked just across from part of the refugee camp and draws quite a crowd. But I sense these people aren't interested in the unusual sight of an airplane parked on a local road. In fact, they hardly look at the plane. They're looking at the food and water being unloaded from the plane into the bed of a pickup truck. They look at the pilots and me as if we owe them money.

I slip behind the crowd to get a picture. As I walk back to the road, I'm stopped by a pretty young woman, obviously pregnant. By the looks of her, she's due soon. There is a feral look about her as she motions with her hands and says something to me in Creole. She's asking if I will pay to sleep with her.

Suddenly, the desperation of these refugees is more than apparent. I walk away from the woman, back to the plane, where a young boy explains what I've begun to suspect. "We're hungry," he says with a heavy accent.

"How long has it been since you last ate?" I ask. For some reason, that's a hard question to get across. I repeat myself a few times, amplifying, motioning with my hands. Contrary to what a lot of Americans think, talking louder doesn't get the point across any better to someone who doesn't understand our language. But slowing down does.

It's been two days since this boy has eaten. Others, he indicates, have been without food longer. 

That's why they've been staring at us and the supplies we brought. That's why the Sri Lankan troops are carrying their automatic weapons at the ready. These people are hungry and they'll do anything to feed themselves and their families. But this food isn't for them.

As they watch behind the stern Sri Lankans, the pickup truck engine revs and it disappears in a cloud of dirty exhaust fumes, headed for the Notre Dame facilities closer to what's left of downtown. The Haitian refugees seem to relax, some shrugging their shoulders in resignation. But there'll be another plane in a couple of hours, they seem to be saying to themselves. Maybe that will bring OUR food.

So, with stomachs growling, with babies crying, they settle back toward their tents made of sheets, blankets and bits of plastic. And I move down the road, away from Leogane, taking with me the memory of this bitter irony, imagining how it tastes in the hungry mouths of people who have lost everything - even the ability to feed themselves.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- House and Senate Republicans join together on a package of bills aimed at creating jobs in Georgia.

The measures, sponsored by Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ranger), include tax credits for new businesses that start up in Georgia as well as for companies that hire the unemployed. State fees would also be waived for new businesses.

"You reduce the taxes and the burdens and the barriers to creation of jobs, and we're committed to doing that.  And as a result Georgia will be the leader and the economic  beacon to the rest of the country," says Graves.

The bill would also reduce capital gains taxes for all Georgians if the budget allows.

Under another bill, there would be a gradual phase out of the sales tax deposit on small businesses.

"We need to send out a message to everyone... if you're a business and you want to create jobs and operate in a state that will reward you for doing so, Georgia is the place to be," says Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers.

Gov. Perdue vetoed a similar measure that lawmakers passed last year saying the state could not afford it.

(WSB Radio)  Women may soon have another choice when it comes to a pill that prevents pregnancy.

The most widely used emergency contraceptive pill, is only effective if women take it within three days of having sex. It is sold under various brand names including Levonelle and Plan B.

A new drug ulipristal acetate, sold as ellaOne in Europe only with a doctor's prescription appears to be more effective and a woman has more time after unprotected sex to take the pill to prevent pregnancy.

Experts tracked nearly 1,700 women aged 16 to 36 who received emergency contraception within three to five days of having unprotected sex. About half got Plan B while the rest got ellaOne.

Compared with Plan B, which becomes less effective over time, ellaOne appears to work consistently well over five days in women who have unprotected sex.

Health officials, however, warned that this should not give women a false sense of security.

EllaOne is expected to cost about three times what you pay for Plan B.

(WSB Radio) A manhunt is underway for a suspect who attacked a woman on a trail at Harrison Park around 9:30 this morning. The man was dressed in all black.

The woman was taken to Kennestone WellStar Hospital to be checked out. No word on her condition.

School officials put nearby Lassiter High School and Mountain View Elementary School on lockdown for a while.

ATLANTA (AP) North Georgia is in for some cold weather with snow likely.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for parts of north Georgia from Friday evening through Saturday afternoon.

Cold rain, possibly mixed with snow at higher elevations, is expected in north and central Georgia on Friday.

With temperatures dropping to around freezing Friday night, that could transition to snow, sleet and freezing rain in north Georgia Friday night and early Saturday.

The weather services says the north Georgia mountains may get 3 to 6 inches of snow and sleet, with 1 to 3 inches expected at lower elevations across the northern part of the state.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio)  Marietta officials say the homeowners where a huge sink hole nearly swallowed up their house must act quickly to repair it.

"The consultants have completed their preliminary analysis of the sound testing at the sinkhole," says city spokesman Matthew Daily, "and they have determined that there is no cause yet, but that there is no immediate threat to the water, or the power lines underground, or to the city roadway."

The sinkhole opened this week near the home on Powder Springs Road and Chestnut Hill Drive.  Work crews estimate the hole is 50 feet by 40 feet in size, and as deep as 25 to 30 feet in some places.

Daily tells WSB they believe an underground mine shaft may be to blame.  The residents at Charlton Place are encouraged to repair it before Friday's expected bad weather.

(WSB Radio)  A Clayton County judge says he does not trust a 14-year-old charged in stealing from a Navy reservist. 

The 14-year-old, who admitted to stealing two laptops from Karen Ray who was serving in Bahrain, also admitted to stealing guns from her next door neighbor. 

Judge Steven Taske was blunt when the teen appeared in court on Wednesday.

"Right now, he is a high risk," says the judge.  "I cannot afford him to walk out the door.  I cannot trust him because he was under an order of community detention and he broke it."

Ray, who had to come back to the U-S to deal with this, is stunned that the suspect is just 14.

"I was in Bahrain, serving my country, and, because of a 14 year old, I had to come back," she says.  "I don't understand."

A detective, who testified during the hearing, says the boy not only told them about breaking into Ray's house, but then told them how he had broken into the neighbor's home and stole the guns.

The teen's attorney says his client does not understand the charges against him, is in the 8th grade and can barely read. The attorney has asked for a competency hearing.

(WSB Radio)  A Henry County man, accused in the murder of his estranged wife, is attempting to convince a jury that someone else did it.

Change Jones says he is innocent in the death of his wide, Natasha Jones.  She was a teacher at Creekside High School.

Jones is representing himself at his trial.

He is trying to convince jurors that an unidentified pubic hair that was found near his wife's body belongs to a man she was seeing.

Jones claims that man is responsible for sexually assaulting, then murdering, his wife.

Prosecutors dispute the claim, saying forensic tests prove the hair does not belong to the man.

(WSB Radio)  A Gwinnett County woman is under arrest, charged with arson.

52 year old Judith Laura Anderson is accused of setting her home on Gates Mill Drive, Lawrenceville, on fire.

"We believe she set the house on fire, then left the home through a back door, near the master bedroom," says Gwinnett County Fire Captain Tommy Rutledge.  "Investigators have not listed a motive in the case.  They've not given much specific information about the case"

Rutledge tells WSB, Anderson's cat died in the January 9th fire, but it's not known if she will be charged with animal cruelty.

"Investigators were able to collect evidence from the scene that they were able to send to a forensics fire lab," says Rutledge.  "They able to obtain evidence from the samples sent to the lab that a liquid accelerant had been used."

The fire caused heavy damage to the wood frame home. 

Anderson is charged with first degree arson. 

(WSB Radio) Two of the five men who lived in a Cherokee County home that burned to the ground overnight are being treated for minor injuries.

Cherokee County Fire Department spokesman Tim Cavender told Channel 2 Action News "a gentleman in his mid 50s jumped from a window and had some abrasions to his face and some cuts to his face as well."  An 18-year-old who escaped from the house suffered an injury to his foot.

The blaze was called in to 911 around 1:30 Thursday morning.  When firefighters arrived at the home on Suzanne Drive in Woodstock, the one story ranch was 75 percent involved.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but firefighters didn't see anything at the scene that would lead them to believe the fire was of a suspicious nature.

(WSB Radio) Accused of fondling one female student's breast in his office and making lewd comments to another teenage girl, Lassiter High School counselor Frank Robinson could learn within a week if the Cobb County Board of Education will terminate him for his alleged indiscretions.

During a tribunal hearing on Wednesday, Robinson maintained his innocence.  He said "I'm sitting here today to tell you I stand firm and that I did nothing wrong."  He added "I know in my heart of hearts I didn't do anything wrong."

In her closing statement to the tribunal, school district attorney Nina Gupta said "Robinson treated his high school like his own personal singles bar."  She noted that during the course of her investigation, "Robinson was deceptive, he was evasive and he lied."

Several Lassiter students testified on the counselor's behalf.  Dawn Hamilton said "he would never say anything he's accused of saying or do anything he's accused of doing."  Brittany Rosstime said "never once did he make me feel uncomfortable, never once did he do anhthing inappropriate." 

Robinson's attorney, Warren Fortson, closed the hearing by emphatically stating "Frank is innocent!"

Robinson was arrested by Cobb County police on December 19th.  He's charged with two counts of sexual battery.

TOKYO (AP) Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it will recall an additional 1.09 million vehicles in the United States over problems with gas pedals and floor mats a fresh blow to the world's top automaker as it struggles to salvage its safety reputation.

The new recal would affect five models 2008-2010 Highlander, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Venza, 2009-2010 Matrix, and 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe, Toyota said.

The announcement came just a day after Toyota said it would suspend U.S. sales of eight models including the Camry, America's top-selling car to fix faulty gas pedals that could stick and cause acceleration without warning.

Last week, Toyota issued a recall for the same eight models, affecting 2.3 million vehicles. In late 2009, Toyota recalled 4.2 million vehicles over concerns that floor mats could bend across gas pedals, causing sudden acceleration.

The sales suspension in the U.S. Toyota's biggest market could endanger the company's fledgling earnings recovery. Toyota only returned to the black for the July-September quarter with net income of 21.8 billion yen ($241 million) after three straight losing quarters.

Investors continued to dump shares in the global auto giant Thursday. Toyota dropped 3.9 percent to 3,560 yen even as the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average gained 1.6 percent to close at 10,414.29. Toyota tumbled 4.3 percent Wednesday.

``It is still uncertain how this recall problem will affect Toyota's profits. But investors are worried it could really pressure the company's overall earnings,'' said Masatoshi Sato, market analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. Ltd.

Fitch Ratings warned Thursday the massive recalls and sales suspension could dent Toyota's recovery, especially in the vital U.S. market.

Fitch placed Toyota's credit rating of 'A+' on watch negative, meaning the rating could be downgraded. That could increase the interest rate Toyota pays on any debt.

``The recalls and sales and production suspension cast a negative light on Toyota's reputation for quality, just as the company emerges from an unprecedented downturn in the auto industry,'' Fitch said in a statement.

Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma said Toyota decided to recall more vehicles due to the risk of accelerator pedals becoming stuck in the mats.

Toyota said in a statement it will fix or replace the accelerator pedals for the recalled vehicles to avoid the risk of floor mat entrapment. The company said it will replace floor mats as well for the latest recalled vehicles.

In March of 2007, Toyota started getting reports of gas pedals being slow to rise after being depressed for acceleration. Engineers fixed the problem in the Tundra pickup early in 2008.

But troubles persisted in other models, eventually leading to last week's recall and the plans to suspend sales and shut down of six factories while Toyota tries to fix the problems.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio) -- New figures from the Georgia Department of Labor show the preliminary unadjusted unemployment rate in the metro Atlanta area rose to 10.1 percent in December, up one-tenth of one percentage point from November.

Meanwhile, the number of unemployed workers in the area increased by 3,252, from 266,170 in November to 269,422 in December.

In December 2008, there were 208,158 jobless workers in the metro Atlanta area, when the unemployment rate was 7.6 percent. The number of payroll jobs in metro Atlanta in December 2009 was 2,276,000, a loss of 105,300, or 4.4 percent, from 2,381,300 in December 2008. 

Statewide, the number of payroll jobs in December 2009 was 3,859,800, a decrease of 175,000, or 4.3 percent, from 4,034,800 in December of 2008. The over-the-year losses came in trade, transportation and utilities, manufacturing, construction, and professional and business services. On a positive note, educational and health services added 11,200 jobs over the year.

Meanwhile, the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 10.3 percent in December, matching the record high reported last July. The jobless rate was up two-tenths of a percentage point from a revised 10.1 percent in November. The rate was up 2.8 percentage points from 7.5 percent at this same time last year. The national adjusted unemployment rate is 10.0 percent. For 25 of the last 26 months, Georgia's unemployment rate has exceeded the national unemployment rate. And, since the recession began in December 2007, Georgia's workforce has shrunk by 121,257, or 2.5 percent, from 4,823,467 to 4,702,210. 

(WSB Radio) -- A carjacking suspect is dead and the victim is hospitalized in critical condition following a shootout Wednesday night in south DeKalb County.

The two men exchanged gunfire just before 11 p.m. in the 2100 block of Sterling Ridge Drive, off of Snapfinger Road.

DeKalb police spokesman Jason Gagnon told WSB's Mark Alewine "the suspect was able to commandeer the victim's vehicle, driving it down the road several hundred feet before striking a tree."

The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.  The victim is being treated for multiple gunshot wounds at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

"We're still investigating all angles of this to try and figure out what happened," said Gagnon. 

In his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, he said businesses are the engine of job creation. That's why he's proposing that Congress take $30 billion from the Wall Street bailout to help community banks make loans to small businesses.

Obama also is proposing a small business tax credit that would help a million small businesses, as well as eliminating capital gains taxes on small business investments.

Obama appeals to Congress to save health care bill

Obama has implored lawmakers not to abandon his health care overhaul, and he's also taking part of the blame for its near collapse.

The president urged Democrats and Republicans to let temperatures cool and take another look at the legislation that passed the House and Senate last year. Obama said his administration and Congress have gotten closer than ever to insuring millions more.

The legislation is stalled in Congress after Democrats lost a Massachusetts Senate seat last week and their filibuster-proof majority.

Republicans say nation can't afford Dem policies

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell says the nation can't afford the spending Democrats have enacted or the tax increases they've proposed.

In the Republican response to the president's State of the Union address, McDonnell said Democratic policies have left the country with an unsustainable level of debt.

He says the government is ``simply trying to do too much.'' And he adds that while Americans want affordable health care, they don't want the government running it.

He did, however, cite several areas of agreement with the president. He says he agrees with Obama's proposal to increase the number of charter schools, and with his plans to send 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan.

McDonnell was picked to deliver the Republican response after he was elected in a state Obama and the Democrats had swept in 2008.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- A House committee decides it needs to take a better look at a couple of bills that would ban texting while driving in Georgia.

Members of the House Public Safety Committee raised questions with the bills authors on how to enforce such a law.

"How will our uniform officers be able to determine if I'm texting or I'm just talking on the phone?  How will they determine that if someone's just going down the highway?" asked Rep. Gloria Frazier (D-Hephzibah).

Rep. Doug Collins (R-Gainesville), an attorney, also raised the same concerns.

"I'm not saying I'm against this, but one of the jobs of the committee process is to perfect bills to make a bill that gets out that actually can be workable.  We have put out plenty of bills from this legislature that are completely disastrous in application," he says.

Rep. Amos Amerson (R-Dahlonega), sponsor of HB 944 that would levy fines up to $300, says he's not sure how to answer the question of enforcement right now.

"I consider this bill much like the seat belt bill... more counties and more state patrol (troopers) are starting to enforce seat belt laws where they've been ignored in the past.  I'm sure they will come up with a method of doing this," he told committee members.

Rep. Alan Peake (R-Macon), sponsor of HB 938 which only carries a fine of $100 for texting while driving but adds two points against the license of the violator and makes it a misdemeanor, also thinks law enforcement will be key in developing a plan.

"Enforcement is going to be a difficult issue but that's why we'll get input from law enforcement how to deal with it.  The bottom line on this issue is that it is a clear and persistent danger to the citizens on our roads and we've got to address it," he tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.

Both bills have been assigned to a study committee and are expected to go back to the full committee next week.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- A state lawmaker has introduced a bill in the House that would prevent school systems that furlough their teachers and other employees from giving pay increases to administrators.

Last month, DeKalb County's school board voted a $15,000 bonus for Superintendent Crawford Lewis despite complaints from teachers, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers who took furloughs as well as lost contributions to their tax sheltered annuity.

"At the end of the day I'd prefer the state to stay out of it, but if the locals won't do what's right, then we do have to step in.  But really this isn't just aimed specifically at DeKalb, I think its good legislation for the entire state," says Rep. Ed Rynders (R-Albany), sponsor of HB 977.

He tells WSB's Sandra Parrish that while state money couldn't be used for raises,  the bill would allow the use of local funds but only after a public hearing is first held.

(WSB Radio)  Cobb County is stiffening its enforcement of the ban on serving alcohol in nude dance clubs.

The county is planning to add new language to the already existing ordinance to make sure the message is clear.

The new measure would prohibit any person from performing with exposed genitals anywhere liquor is served.

A public hearing on the new provision was held last night, but no one testified about the proposal.

A second public hearing on the measure will be held on February 23.

(WSB Radio)  Months after she disappeared. a Buckhead therapist is now wanted by police.

Colleen Higgins is accused to taking off with hundreds of thousands of dollars she borrowed from clients and friends.

She told them in 2008 that she needed the money to pay legal bills that resulted from a lawsuit against her.

But, when the loans weren't repaid, the lenders contacted the police. 

Officers discovered Higgins' office phone had been disconnected, and she had vanished.

Higgins has not been seen since.  Her condo was placed in foreclosure.

She now faces eight charges of theft by deception.

(WSB Radio)  Plans are in the works to widen Roswell Road.  At first glance, it looks like a popular idea.

The public got its first look at the proposal at a hearing in Sandy Springs last night.

"It's hard to cope with, you know, how to get people to understand how to get into this location," says James Brooks, owner of the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, near where the construction project is proposed.  "Eventually we'd just have to shut the business.  Because, if it's not paying for itself and we can't afford the rent and the other stuff, there's no sense in keeping it open."

Under the plan, the section of the roadway that crosses I-285 would go from five lanes to six lanes.  Construction would begin within the next few months.

Traffic along Roswell Road has been a longtime concern for drivers, particularly when it comes to the bridge over I-285.

"I ride it quite a bit and, sometimes, it can be frustrating," says one driver.  "You just have to count to ten and, somehow, keep your composure."

"We get traffic backed up, blocks in both directions, from the bridge, north and south, on Roswell Road," says Mayor Eva Galambos.  "People who want to make a left turn will have a dedicated lane in both directions."

Sandy Springs project manager Keith Kuntz says they also plan to install a median in the vicinity of the bridge. 

Construction would take between 12 and 18 months.  During that period one lane could be closed, meaning the traffic logjam at the location could even get worse. 

(WSB Radio) Maybe the third time will be the charm in bringing Haitian orphans to the US.  On Tuesday, a Christian group from metro-Atlanta flew to Haiti in hopes of bringing back orphans to their anxiously-awaiting adoptive parents.  But Dan Lynch of Plumbline Ministries tells WSB while they did drop off supplies, they were not able to bring back any children.

"It's moving at a slow pace, but you know, it's one of those things that you kinda expect with the travesty that's happened in Haiti," said Lynch.

Although they weren't able to bring back children, they were able to drop off much-needed medical supplies.

"We were able to take close to $6000 worth of medical supplies and medicines - highly-needed morphine and pain killers and antibiotics and crutches - probably 30 pairs of crutches which is a great thing," said Lynch.

He says they'll fly out for a third time next week in an effort to bring orphans back.

"We are definitely gonna try.  We're gonna be working through phone and e-mails.  A lot of it is waiting for the powers that be to start letting the children come back out," said Lynch.

The group flew last Friday and then again on Tuesday to Haiti from Briscoe Field in Gwinnett County.

(WSB Radio) Atlanta police are investigating the circumstances leading up to a fatal pedestrian versus car accident on the Downtown Connector. 

The deadly crash happened just before 9 o'clock Tuesday night near the Grady Curve on I-75/85 underneath the I-20 bridge. 

Three northbound lanes of the interstate were closed for nearly two hours and the scene was cleared just before 11pm. 

APD accident investigators are trying to determine if the victim, who has not been identified, committed suicide.

(WSB Radio) -- A beefed up police presence and increased public awareness is leading to a decrease in violent crime in Midtown and Downtown Atlanta.

New statistics released by APD Zone 5 shows there was only one armed robbery in the area between January 17th and January 23rd.  That's a dramatic reduction from the last six months of 2009 when Georgia Tech students and other Midtown and Downtown residents were robbed at gunpoint or knife point on almost a daily basis.

Zone 5 Commander Major Khirus Williams attributes the decline to a collaborative effort between all police jurisdictions, private security and public security efforts.  He told Channel 2 Action News "visibility plays a large part in the success of Zone 5."

Georgia Tech student Shaw Patel believes public awareness is also key.  He said "there's police officers handing out flyers about safety during the night."  Student Chris DeSantis agrees.  He said "I actually moved here from Philadelphia, which I think is struggling with a lot of the similar problems that Atlanta is, and it certainly seems like they've got it better organized down here."

The latest crime report did note an increase in property crimes.  Most of the incidents involved thefts from vehicles of GPS units, mp3 players and laptop computers.

It is also a symbol of the dramatic failings of the aggressive growth strategy Toyota Motor Corp. pursued under former President Katsuaki Watanabe, a cost-cutting expert, who led the Japanese automaker to the No. 1 spot in global vehicle sales, dethroning General Motors Co. in 2008, analysts say.

The sales suspension to fix gas pedals that could stick and cause acceleration without warning was announced in the U.S. late Tuesday and affects eight models including the Camry America's top-selling car and Corolla, another popular model.

Toyota is also halting production at six North American car-assembly plants, beginning the week of Feb. 1, and gave no date on when production could restart. Last week, Toyota recalled the same eight models, involving 2.3 million vehicles.

The automaker's shares fell 4.3 percent in Tokyo trade.

A Toyota official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the sales suspension could hinder the company's ability to meet its forecast for 6 percent growth in global vehicle sales this year.

Although Toyota's Japan plants are not affected, the problem could spread to Europe, where a similar accelerator part is being used, and could affect millions more vehicles.

The problem part comes from one U.S. supplier and does not affect models that use parts from different suppliers, said another Toyota official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Analysts said the production stoppage signaled a more serious crisis for Toyota than recalls, which are fairly routine for automakers.

``It's an abnormal situation, and there is no way to compare it with anything else,'' said Yasuaki Iwamoto, auto analyst with Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo.

He said the problem should serve as a wake-up call for Toyota to be more careful with maintaining quality. There is no quick fix to a tarnished brand image, Iwamoto said.

Despite the recent recalls, Toyota has still done well on quality surveys, and leads the world in hybrids, which show off top-grade green technology.

But the latest U.S. problems mirror the spate of quality problems that plagued Toyota several years ago in Japan, its home market.

In 2006, Watanabe acknowledged lapses in quality control in Japan. One sparked a criminal investigation by the Japanese government into accidents suspected of being linked to vehicle problems. No one was charged.

At that time, Watanabe appeared at a news conference in Tokyo, bowing deeply to express remorse to consumers and dealers. Later, he acknowledged overzealous growth was behind the quality problems.

``Under Watanabe's growth strategy, it was difficult to maintain a balance between speed and quality,'' Iwamoto said. ``The problems came about because of the strains that came from his expansion efforts.''

Watanabe, who took office in 2005, was replaced last year by Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota's founder. Toyoda, seen as a charismatic figure that can bring together not only employee ranks in Japan but suppliers and dealers, has repeatedly said his company is in a crisis that could peril its survival.

He has also avoided the past fanfare involved in announcing sales targets.

Toyota quietly gave global sales targets Tuesday that showed it was optimistic about getting on track to recovery since the financial crisis in late 2008 sent demand crashing, especially in the key North American market.

Toyota said it expected to sell 2.19 million vehicles in North America in 2010, up 11 percent from 2009. Globally, Toyota said it was planning sales of 8.27 million vehicles this year, up 6 percent from 2009.

But those numbers could change with the latest developments. Also at risk are Toyota's earnings.

Last year, Toyota reduced its loss forecast for the fiscal year through March 2010 to 200 billion yen ($2.2 billion) from its initial projection for a 450 billion yen ($5 billion) loss, citing a gradual recovery in global demand.

Toyota announces earnings Feb. 4.

Mamoru Katou, analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research, said he could not calculate the exact damage to Toyota's results because the duration of the sales suspension was still undecided. But he said it was certain to be significant, especially if the suspension continues for a month or two.

He said Toyota was likely reorganizing production plans, such as switching suppliers, and shipping in parts from Japan. ``The problem is extremely serious,'' said Katou. ``The models are precisely those Toyota had been preparing to sell in big numbers.''

The Japanese automaker said the U.S. sales suspension includes the following models: the 2009-2010 RAV4, the 2009-2010 Corolla, the 2007-2010 Camry, the 2009-2010 Matrix, the 2005-2010 Avalon, the 2010 Highlander, the 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia.

Toyota sold more than 34,000 Camrys in December, making the midsize sedan America's best-selling car. It commands 3.4 percent of the U.S. market and sales rose 38 percent from a year earlier. Sales of the Corolla and Matrix, a small sedan and a hatchback, totaled 34,220 last month, with 3.3 percent of the market and sales up nearly 55 percent from December of 2008.

The auto company said the sales suspension wouldn't affect Lexus or Scion vehicles. Toyota said the Prius, Tacoma, Sienna, Venza, Solara, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser and select Camry models, including all Camry hybrids, would remain for sale.

The announcement follows a larger U.S. recall months earlier of 4.2 million vehicles because of problems with gas pedals becoming trapped under floor mats, causing sudden acceleration. That problem was the cause of several crashes, including some fatalities.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- Some state lawmakers are hoping this will be the year they pass a bill to ban racial profiling by police in Georgia.

Senate Bill 325 by Sen. Gloria Butler (D-Stone Mountain) would not only ban the practice, but require annual police training and that officers document the race, gender, age, and ethnicity of anyone they pull over.

"If you don't collect data and numbers, you have nothing to measure... you have no information to form opinions," she says.

A similar measure in 2004 came down to the last day of the session, but lawmakers in the House and Senate were unable to reach a compromise.

Butler was joined at a news conference by a host of other Democratic lawmakers as well as members of the ACLU and a group of faith-based and community activists called Atlanta Building Leadership for Empowerment or ABLE.

"We know that if your skin color is darker than mine or your religion is other than Christian, you're likely to be racially profiled in the state of Georgia by law enforcement," says ABLE's  Tracy Blagec, who is white.

Sen. Donzella James recalls a situation involving her youth minister son who was detained by Union City Police after leaving a McDonalds.

"They put him on the ground... they patted him down.  They wanted to know why was he in a luxury car and why was he dressed up... he was in his family car," she says.

 A similar bill is expected to be introduced in the House as well.

Police tell the Athens Banner-Herald that the suspect was riding a bike when he started following a 17-year-old around 6:30 p.m.

When the teen started walking faster, the man caught up, grabbed the teen's arm and dragged him into some woods. Police say the attacker started ripping off the teen's clothes and realized when he took off the teen's pants that his victim was male.

Witnesses had already called 911 and the victim was sitting on the ground crying in the rain when police arrived.

Police say the attacker will likely face criminal attempted rape and false imprisonment charges if he's caught.

Information from: Athens Banner-Herald, http://www.onlineathens.com

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- A Republican state lawmaker has unveiled a constitutional amendment that would legalize betting on horse racing in Georgia.

State Rep. Henry Geisinger (R-Roswell) says more than anything the proposal would bring jobs to the state.

"This is a form of gambling, but horse racing is very labor-intensive and each horse at a track will generate anywhere from four to seven jobs," Geisinger tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.

The measure would need to be passed with a two-thirds vote in the House and the Senate. It would then need to receive approval from Georgia voters at the ballot box this November.

Communities could then hold local referendums to allow a track or satellite center where people could watch and bet on races worldwide.

The proposal is expected to draw opposition from social conservatives in the state who generally don't like gambling.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau/AP) -- Top legislative leaders are telling lawmakers to take six more days unpaid furlough days before the end of the fiscal year.  They have taken five since August.

Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston say the days were added to further trim the state's cash-strapped budget.

"We have furloughed teachers, we have furloughed state troopers, state employees across the board and I think it's only fair we do the same," says Ralston. 

The 11 furlough days are expected to save the state $170,000.

The General Assembly would have to agree to the furlough days because their salaries are controlled by state law.  Legislators earn $17,341 a year and also bring in $173 in per diems for days they work on state business.

Ralston says a bill is currently in the works that would require future furlough days be mandatory for legislators.

Santiago, Dominican Republic - I'm dirty, tired, hungry and thirsty. Standing on the general aviation ramp at the airport here in Santiago, in the brilliant Caribbean sun, seemingly a million miles from the death, devastation and despair in Haiti.

I have to go back.

This airport hosts what may well be the most effective aid delivery operation on the entire island of Hispaniola. G.O Ministries, working with Corporate Aviation Responds To Emergencies (CARE USA), is pumping planeload after planeload of food, water and desperately needed medicine into quake-ravaged Haiti.

Drops on a sponge. That's my metaphor for the aid filtering into areas outside of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. No matter how much aid gets in, more is needed. Like drops on a sponge, the aid is instantly absorbed, disappearing almost before the planes bringing it in have come to a full stop on the ground. And still there is almost universal hunger, thirst and suffering.

I've just left Port-de-Paix, Haiti, a city on the island's north shore, across the strait from Tortuga. This part of Haiti is far from the quake zone, although there are signs of damage in some of the poorly-constructed buildings. The measure of the earthquake here, about 90-miles from Port-au-Prince, is more in terms of human tragedy. As I reported earlier, that city of approximately 200,000 is fast becoming overrun with refugees bused out of Port-au-Prince and unceremoniously dumped in this city to the north. The hospitals here are also overrun with earthquake victims, out of room, short on doctors and out of medicines to treat even the most basic infections.
"Has anyone heard anything about getting doctors or medicine?" asks missionary Keith Lashbrook, the orphanage's founder. No one has heard anything new. We know another CARE USA flight is coming in at around 9:30 this morning, but no one knows what - or who - will be on it.

The ride to the airport is a death challenge. A dozen of us - the five Coloradoans, missionary Vance Cherry, five Haitians and me are hanging onto each other to keep from falling out as the driver executes one zany maneuver after another, trying to hurry along roads that are choked and unmaintained.
The five Haitians bouncing in the back of the truck along with the rest of us are the oldest boys from the orphanage. Their job is to secure the runway. The last flight in, yesterday (the flight on which I arrived), was almost a security disaster and Lashbrook is afraid of losing control of the crowd. With so many valuable supplies coming in and such rampant hunger, the slightest hint of violence will be enough to scare away any more of these crucial supply runs.

The missionaries and the orphanage boys deploy up and down the 2200-foot runway. They form a human cordon in front of the tiny ramp where the aircraft will unload. There is no sign of local or national police. But then, when I landed just yesterday, the three paramilitary officers I saw on the ramp did nothing to control the restless crowd. It seems we're on our own.
Almost immediately, we hear a turbine engine whine overhead. It's the same plane I flew in on yesterday. After buzzing the unimproved airfield, the pilot lands at the approach end, almost hitting a farm animal that is wholly unimpressed by the sound of screaming engines and the whir of deadly propellers. Owner David McInnis climbs out of the Pilatus P-12 and mutters, "Damned donkey. I just about gave it a buzz-cut."

Almost immediately, the second plane, A twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2 flies overhead and moments later, there is another roar of reversed engines, another choking cloud of dust and the tiny ramp, surrounded by cinderblock walls, becomes so crowded that neither plane can turn around.

Scott Martin, a pilot from Merrimack, Massachusetts, climbs down from the MU-2. "Damned donkey," he says. That one beast of burden seemingly has a reputation that spans the Caribbean.
The planes are quickly unloaded and the orphanage's biggest boys are able to keep passers-by and grafters out of the ramp area.

It's time for me to leave.

Martin ushers me into the copilot seat of his MU-2. It's cramped. I have to cross my legs and do my best to tuck them under my seat, trying to keep them away from the flight controls.

Martin, a pilot since he was 16, taxis back to the approach end of the runway for his take-off.
"I got some goats over here, they get a little ticked off when we come by," he says over the plane's intercom. "And they got that donkey," he chuckles. "I almost gave that guy a reverse-Mohawk, because I wasn't going to give up any runway."

 
Indeed, this runway is mighty short for most planes. An Air Force C-130 wouldn't be able to take-off or land.

"See the guy on the end of the runway?" Martin asks as he begins to roll. The throttles are at maximum. "He's there to say 'take off by here.'" We pick up speed, racing toward the man standing in the middle of the dirt strip. He doesn't budge. We get closer. "Oh, dude, move, move, MOVE!" Martin yells. At the last possible moment, the man steps out of the way as we roar scant feet over his head. The rest of our flight to Santiago, Dominican Republic, is uneventful.
Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is a beautiful place from the air.

Far above the poverty and the anguish of Haiti, Hispaniola is a brilliant, green gem rising from the azure ocean. So landing in Santiago is something of a surprise. The runway is only eight-years old, smooth and wide. The control tower clears us for landing and in moments, we're on a wide, clean ramp, parked with other aircraft donated to the rescue effort.
Martin is headed for Port-au-Prince next to pick up a group of orphans he'll take to Fort Lauderdale. There's no room on this flight for me. But down the flight line, there are a couple of Cessna C-208 Caravans, huge, high-wing, single-engine aircraft known for their ability to get into some of the roughest, shortest runways on Earth.

"Those guys are really something," Martin says, shaking his head. I can't tell if it's awe or sarcasm. "They land on roads."

I have to go back. And I'm going with them.

(WSB Radio)  Gwinnett County Police say a 911 call led them to a stash of drugs, guns, and cash. 

Police originally believed Pros Hong was the victim of a home invasion.  But, when they searched a home in the Village Chase  subdivision off of Lawrenceville, that impression changed.

"Police discovered a large amount of marijuana, along with several handguns and assault rifles," says Gwinnett County Police Corporal David Schiralli.  "One of the guns was reported stolen from another police agency here in Georgia."

Investigators also found $100,000 in cash.

Police believe the house was a stash house that was targeted by rival drug dealers.

(WSB Radio) A metro-Atlanta adoption agency and a Christian group will try once to bring Haitian orphans back to the US. 

Dan Lynch, with Plumbline Ministries, says Friday's flight, whose plane was provided by the KidrKids Foundation, went to Haiti, but they were unable to bring home orphans.  He says while frustrating, they're not giving up.

"We do have some adoptive parents set up to go with us this time.  If everything goes through, hopefully we'll be able to bring the adoptive parents in, and with their paperwork , to get the kids out," said Lynch.

They will not be going to Haiti empty-handed.  "We do have 200 pounds of desperately-needed medical supplies, bone saws, bone drills, morphine coming in with a doctor out of Minneapolis," said Lynch.

Lynch says although things are moving slowly, he has faith things will work out.

"It's just one of those things.  You've got to keep praying and asking God to move.  He's a big God and I think we'll able to get it done in good time," said Lynch.

(WSB Radio)  Canton Police have arrested a man who stole two flat-screen TV's by posing as a security guard. 

Detective Herman Rivas tells WSB he probably thought it would be easier to pull off the crime at the Target in Canton.

"He obtained a shopping cart, proceeded to go the electronics section and took two Polaroid 19" color televisions and put them in the shopping cart, covered the with a sweater, and proceeded to walk out the store," said Rivas.

He was caught on surveillance video and once released to the public, someone recognized him and he was arrested.  Rivas says this wasn't the first time for 48-year-old Ronald Mark Clark of Woodstock.

"We found out that he was also arrested sometime in December for the same thing - shoplifting at a Wal-Mart on Bells Ferry Road wearing the same security uniform," said Rivas.

He was also arrested for shoplifting in Dunwoody and he's believed to have shoplifted at another Target on Perimeter.  In those cases, he was not wearing a uniform.

(WSB Radio) -- Some Dunwoody residents critical of the DeKalb County Fire Department's response to a fire that claimed the life of an elderly woman are applauding the county public safety director's internal investigation of what happened. 

Tom Brooks lived next door to the victim, identified as Ann Bartlette, for several years.  He told Channel 2 Action News "I'm glad they're looking into it because it (the emergency response) does seem odd."

Brooks added "I just hate the whole situation and how everything happened there.  We're just really going to miss her."

Bartlette's body was found in the rubble of the fire several hours after firefighters arrived at the scene on Houghton Court.  The woman's dog also died in the blaze.

ATLANTA (AP) The head of the world's busiest airport is leaving his post.

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport general manager Ben DeCosta announced Monday that he will leave when his contract expires in June.

He has managed the city of Atlanta-owned airport for 11 years but says he decided it was time for a ``change in direction'' after talking to his wife about it.

Mayor Kasim Reed said in a statement he will conduct a national search for a replacement. DeCosta's contract is up on June 30.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Photo: AJC

The home burned to the ground, and emergency officials found the body of an elderly woman in the remains of the house, according to fire officials.

A call reporting a fire on Houghton Court was disconnected as the dispatcher was getting information from the caller.

The dispatcher tried several times to reconnect, and firefighters were sent to the area. When they arrived, however, they found no signs of a fire.

About five hours later, a call reporting a fire in the same area. Firefighters arrived to find a house fully engulfed in flames.

County public safety director William Miller put acting officer in charge William Greene, Capt. Tony L. Motes, Capt. Sell Caldwell, and Batt. Chief Lesley Clark on leave with pay as the department conducts an internal investigation, according to a statement released late Monday night.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- Anyone arrested on a felony charge in Georgia would be required to give a DNA sample under a bill being introduced in the House this week.

Rep. Rob Teilhet (D-Smyrna) is sponsoring the bill that 21 other states and the federal government now use. DNA samples would be taken at the same time fingerprints and mug shots are taken.

"What more fundamental purpose of government is there other than to protect citizens from crime," he told reporters in a news conference that included family members of crime victims.

Joan Berry of Lawrenceville spoke on behalf of her daughter Johnia who was murdered in Tennessee in 2004.  Her killer was eventually caught through a forensic DNA match.

"The Johnia Berry Act was passed in Tennessee and that same year there was an arrest made due to a DNA match," she says.

Teilhet admits the new law would be an added burden on the GBI which maintains Georgia's DNA database.

"There is a backlog now... one of the things we as a state have to do is simply decide that consistent with our values this is a priority.  We're going to clear the backlog and we're going collect more samples and run them to prevent these crimes in the future," he says.

Even those airlines scheduled to add new aircraft in the next few years could slow down the pace of deliveries if the economy takes a turn for the worse and air travel does not pick up. Fuel prices also have risen in recent months, adding to the uncertainty.

Delta, the world's biggest airline, said Monday it will spend roughly $300 million per year through mid-2013 to add more entertainment options in coach cabins, lie-flat seats for international premium customers, airport VIP lounges and other customer service enhancements.

Some of the money will also go to improving fuel efficiency.

Delta, based in Atlanta, said that rather than invest in new aircraft, it wants to spend money to improve the consistency of services offered to different groups of customers. The airline is taking delivery of only four new aircraft this year, according to a spokesman, who said Delta's plans beyond 2010 will be disclosed later.

In contrast, United Airlines said in December that it was ordering 50 new airplanes with list prices totaling more than $10 billion. The unit of UAL Corp., based in Chicago, won't take any deliveries of the planes until 2016. It also has extensive rights to defer the orders.

American Airlines plans to take delivery of 45 new Boeing 737s this year as part of its effort to replace some of its aging aircraft. The unit of AMR Corp., based in Fort Worth, Texas, took delivery of 31 new 737s in 2009. It has said it will commit to eight more deliveries in 2011.

Both United and American also have made customer service improvements in recent years. United said in October 2007 that it would spend nearly $4 billion over the next five years on improvements for both customers and employees aimed at producing revenue and efficiency. American has refurbished aircraft interiors and upgraded business class seats on international flights.

Delta said it will complete the modification of 269 pre-merger Northwest Airlines aircraft to feature Delta's blue leather seats, updated lighting and increased overhead bin space, as well as other amenities.

Delta also will install winglets vertical stabilizing fins projecting from tips of aircraft wings on more than 170 Boeing 767-300ER, 757-200 and 737-800 aircraft to extend aircraft range and improve fuel efficiency by as much as 5 percent.

Delta President Ed Bastian said the airline's investment in improvements to existing aircraft is within the level of capital spending Delta has historically laid out.

Delta, which bought Northwest in October 2008, is scheduled to release fourth-quarter and full-year 2009 financial results on Tuesday. It is expected to post a loss for the fourth quarter and for 2009.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

In a report issued on Monday, state Department of Natural Resources officials said they had recommended that Oxendine and the other hunters complete the course.

On Jan. 17, Oxendine's stepson shot a 59-year-old bystander with about 30 shotgun pellets during a weekend hunting trip at a northwest Georgia quail preserve. The victim was treated and released at a nearby hospital.

State law requires anyone born after January 1961 to complete a hunting safety education course in order to hunt or receive a hunting license. Oxendine was born in 1962.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio)  The earthquake that struck Haiti two weeks ago was the strongest in that country in more than 200 years.

The 7.0 magnitude quake devastated the capital city of Port au Prince and may have killed upwards of 200,000 people.

So, could a similar quake hit in the U.S?  It's possible and in places you might not imagine.

We all know about California and major earthquake faults near San Francisco and Los Angeles.  They've been waiting for "The Big One" since 1906, when San Francisco was nearly destroyed.

But other American cities, some not that far from Atlanta, are also in danger of a massive quake, and those cities are not that prepared in case one hits.

"Memphis is one fairly close to Atlanta," says Dr. Glenn Rix, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Georgia Tech.  "St. Louis, to a similar extent.

"The New Madrid Seismic Zone lies between St. Louis and Memphis, closer to Memphis," Rix says.

He tells WSB, while the New Madrid fault might not be as well known as the San Andreas fault, its potential for destruction is just as serious.

"Earthquakes in the central United States have the potential to be every bit as large as California earthquakes," says Rix.  "But, small to moderate size earthquakes happen less frequently in the New Madrid zone."

The New Madrid zone was the site of three earthquakes about 200 years ago.  From December 1811 to February 1812 three quakes, all estimated to be 7.7 or stronger magnitudes quakes, struck the area.  While the human toll was minimal, because of the sparse population, the quakes were strong enough to change the course of the Mississippi River, pushing it miles to the east.

Another major earthquake fault lies not too far to our east, and had a major quake hit about 125 years ago.

"In 1886 there was a magnitude estimated to be 7.3 earthquake in Charleston, South Carolina," says Rix.  "It was very damaging at the time.  Obviously today it would be even more damaging simply because it has a higher population."

Other major U.S. cities that sit on, or near, major earthquake faults are Seattle and Salt Lake City.  Even cities in the northeast aren't immune from earthquakes.

"In the New England states, as well as southern Canada there, there is an earthquake zone capable of generating sizable earthquakes," he says.

So, what about Atlanta?

"We're a sufficient distance from them that, if there were to be a large earthquake on one of those faults (New Madrid or Charleston), we would not likely see extensive damage here in Atlanta," Rix says.

The nearest major fault to Atlanta is the Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone, near the border between Alabama and Tennessee.

"That zone, I don't think, is capable of generating earthquakes as large as New Madrid or Charleston," he says.

Atlanta may be immune from major earthquakes, but other cities are not.  Are they prepared in case one hits?  Rix says no.

"In older cities, east coast cities, like St. Louis and Memphis, there are these older buildings, in many cases unreinforced masonry or brick buildings, that are very prone to damage during an earthquake," Rix says.

Building codes are supposed to meet certain standards concerning seismic activity.  But, Rix says, in some cities, especially Memphis, those codes haven't been adopted for new buildings, and retrofitting hasn't been done for older ones.

"There is a resistance to adopt modern seismic building codes that will increase the chances that a building will survive an earthquake," Rix says.  "And, if people are unwilling to adopt seismic building codes for new construction, they're probably even less willing to incur the expense of retrofitting these older structures to make them more seismically resistant."

Engineering advances have enabled building designers to create structures that are intended to save lives, even at the cost of the building itself.

"The seismic code provisions that we have here in the United States, what are they intended to do?" asks Rix rhetorically.  "They're intended to protect life safety.  What they are not intended to prevent is damage to the building.  Those are two different things.

"We could have a building that is heavily damaged and is, essentially, unusable, but did not collapse and kill people," Rix says.  "That's the goal.  So, here in the United States, we've done a good job of developing these codes with life safety in mind."

"It's our great hope that a large earthquake, near a U.S. city would have a minimal loss of life because the code was intended to specifically prevent the loss of a large number of lives through building collapses, like we're seeing in Port au Prince," he says.

As for the threat of a massive quake hitting near Seattle, or Salt Lake City, or St. Louis, or Charleston, or Memphis, Rix, and others, believe it's not a question of if, but when. 

"We, naively, ignore, these less frequent, but, potentially, much more catastrophic events," he says.  "Eventually that's going to catch up with you.  At some time and at some place, that's going to catch up with us."

Rix says people in places like Memphis might be complacent because their city hasn't been hit by a major quake in nearly 200 years.  Of course, the same was true for Port au Prince.

"Someone in Haiti was probably saying the same thing two weeks ago."

(WSB Radio)  Soaking rains on Sunday led to flooding and evacuations in Peachtree City.

Firefighters in boats had to rescue residents of the Tinsley Mill condominium complex, after many of the local creeks and streams got close to flood stage.

The wet weather also caused some heavy flights delays to and from Atlanta.

Some arriving flights into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were delayed closed to five hours due to the weather.

(WSB Radio)  Governor Sonny Perdue has devised a way to ease Georgia's budget problems, but his solution is sure to bring a fight.

The governor wants to divert about $34 million from the lottery to pay for grants and scholarships that used to be funded by the state's general fund.

Diverting the money would be greater strain on the HOPE scholarship program, which is funded by the lottery.  HOPE is already having trouble keeping up with growing demand and would, in turn, have to draw on its reserves.

The constitutional amendment that created the lottery almost 20 years ago bars the use of lottery money to replace state funding for existing programs. 

(WSB Radio)  Firefighters are trying to figure out how a fire started at a Dunwoody home, a fire that killed an elderly woman and a dog.

Relatives told firefighters an elderly woman lived in the ranch-style house on Houghton Court.

Fire officials say the house was engulfed in flames when they arrived and there was little chance to rescue the victim.

"The floor had burned through and had fallen into the basement," DeKalb Fire Captain Eric Jackson tells WSB.  The collapse prevented a quick entry by fire crews.

"We needed to let that determination and let the firefighters know so that, during the salvage and overhaul process, we wouldn't have any firefighters falling down into the basement," says Jackson.

The identity of the victim has not been released.

(WSB Radio)  Police are puzzled after a deadly car crash in Coweta County, where a car drove into a pond.

The single vehicle accident occurred near the Newnan Crossing bypass.

Investigators say they don't believe the crash was intentional.

"This was definitely an accident," says Gina Snider, with the city of Newnan.  "We had one victim, a fatality, and there was one vehicle involved."

The car, apparently, slid off of the roadway and landed in a retention pond.

Snider tells WSB, another accident occurred in the same area just a week ago.

Officials are trying to determine ways to make the road safer.  One possibility is a guard rail to keep cars from sliding off of the road and into the pond.

The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said David Hendrix, 29, shot Jimmy Cooper, 47, in the leg at a home on Wagon Trail. Cooper was taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital with a non-life threatening injury.

The Cobb County police SWAT team executed a search warrant at Hendrix's home in Marietta and found his vehicle, but he was not there.

Hendrix and Cooper are acquaintances. It is unclear what prompted the shooting, the Sheriff's Office said.

Anyone with information on Hendrix's whereabouts should call police.

(WSB Radio) There are reports out of Haiti that a body has been pulled from an earthquake-ravaged hotel in Port-au-Prince that may be the remains of a missing college student from south Georgia. 

Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida will not confirm if their privately-funded search and rescue team has recovered the body of Courtney Hayes.  The Coffee County native is one of four Lynn University students and two professors who went missing after the magnitude 7 quake hit the Carribean nation nearly two weeks ago.

Eight Lynn University students survived the earthquake and are now back in the United States.  The group was in Haiti on a school-sponsored mission trip to help the poor.  They were staying at the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince.  The building was flattened by the earthquake.

As of 6pm Sunday, the Lynn University Website would only confirm that a search and rescue team had completed another day's work at the Hotel Montana.  School officials do not know if the search and rescue team will resume its operation on Monday.

The family of Courtney Hayes says it has had no contact with the State Department, which would be the government agency that notifies next-of-kin about deaths of American citizens in foreign countries.

CAIRO (AP) Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden issued a new audio message claiming responsibility for the Christmas day airline bombing attempt in Detroit and vowed further attacks.

The message suggests that bin Laden wants to show he remains in direct command of al-Qaida's many branches around the world.

In a short recording carried by the Al-Jazeera Arabic news channel, bin Laden addressed President Barack Obama saying the attack was a message similar to that of Sept. 11 and more attacks against the U.S. would be forthcoming.

``The message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of the previous messages sent by the heroes of the Sept. 11,'' he said.

``America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine,'' he added. ``God willing, our raids on you will continue as long as your support for the Israelis continues.''

On Christmas Day, Nigerian national Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up the Northwest Airlines flight he was sitting on as it approached Detroit Metro Airport. But the bomb he was hiding in his underwear failed to explode.

He told federal agents shortly afterward that he had been trained and instructed in the plot by al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula originally took credit for the attack, but by issuing this message, bin Laden is indicating that he himself is ordering attacks, rather than just putting his seal of approval on events afterward.

Analysts had previously suggested that al-Qaida's offshoots in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and elsewhere were operated independently from bin Laden, who is believed to be somewhere in Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

There was no way to confirm the voice was actually that of Bin Laden, but it resembled previous recordings attributed to him.

In the past year, bin Laden's messages have concentrated heavily on the plight of the Palestinians in attempt to rally support across the region.

Many analysts believe that bin Laden is worried about Obama's popularity across the Middle East with his promises to withdraw from Iraq and personal background, so the al-Qaida leader is focusing on the close U.S.-Israeli relationship.

The suffering of the Palestinians, especially in the blockaded Gaza Strip where 1,400 died during an Israeli offensive there last year, angered many in the Arab world.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Andy David, dismissed the latest al-Qaida message and its attempt to link Israel with attacks on the U.S.

``This is nothing new, he has said this before. Terrorists always look for absurd excuses for their despicable deeds,'' he said.

The last public message from bin Laden appears to have been on Sept. 26, when he demanded that European countries pull their troops out of Afghanistan. The order came in an audiotape that also warned of ``retaliation'' against nations that are allied with the United States in fighting the war.

Associated Press Writers Paul Schemm in Cairo and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

WASHINGTON (AP) Voter discontent with the direction of the government, economy and the health care overhaul helped send Republican Scott Brown to his Senate victory in Massachusetts, a poll says.

About 63 percent of Massachusetts voters in Tuesday's election said the country is seriously off track, and Brown won two-thirds of those voters, according to the poll by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University's School of Public Health.

In contrast, Barack Obama had solid support from the more than 80 percent of Massachusetts voters in the presidential election who viewed the country as off-course in November 2008.

Nearly two-thirds of those who supported Brown over Democrat Martha Coakley said their vote was intended partly to show opposition to the Democratic agenda in Washington, including the health care overhaul. Still, rather than just blocking proposals, three-quarters said they wanted to see Brown work with Democrats to get GOP proposals into legislation in general; nearly half said that specifically about the health care legislation.

The findings cover voter sentiment in Massachusetts but offer a hint of broader political shifts nationwide that have put Democrats on the defensive.

Brown's victory in the race to succeed the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy cost Democrats their filibuster-proof total of 60 votes. That means Republicans will be able to stop or seriously slow down legislation at will. The GOP victory was also a poor omen for November's elections.

Among other poll findings:

Half of Massachusetts voters believe government should do more to solve problems; that's down from 63 percent when Obama was elected. The large pool of voters who saw government as overreaching helped Brown claim victory.

Health care and the economy were cited as the most important issues. Among voters for Brown, those issues were closely followed by the economy, jobs and ``the way Washington is working.''

About 43 percent of Massachusetts voters back the health care proposals supported by Obama and congressional Democrats, while 48 percent oppose them. The majority of those who opposed the measures backed Brown, saying the Democrats' plan would make things worse for their families, the country and Massachusetts.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

KABUL (AP) Afghanistan on Sunday postponed parliamentary elections until September due to a lack of funding a move likely to be welcomed by Western countries pressing for reforms after a fraud-marred presidential poll.

The Independent Election Commission has said it still needs about $50 million from the international community to meet the vote's estimated budget of $120 million.

That funding has not been forthcoming, according to commissioner Fazel Ahmed Manawi. He also attributed the delay to security concerns and logistical challenges at a news conference to announce the decision.

The vote, which had been scheduled for May 22, will be held on Sept. 18 instead, Manawi said.

U.S. lawmakers and other critics had pressed for a postponement in the wake of last August's disputed poll that re-elected President Hamid Karzai, warning that holding the vote without substantive electoral reform could undermine support for U.S. aid to the insurgency-wracked country.

Chief U.N. envoy Kai Eide also said earlier this month that there is a provision in Afghan law that permits the elections to be postponed for a few months.

Karzai had insisted the constitution, which specifies the elections be held by May, must be observed.

But Manawi said Sunday that the government would not be able to provide all the funding for the vote and needed more help from donor countries.

The August presidential vote was so tarnished that U.N.-backed fraud investigators threw out more than a million ballots enough to force Karzai into a second-round vote. The runoff was later canceled when Karzai's top challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out.

Another flawed vote would erode support for Karzai's government at a time when he has pledged to battle corruption and improve services. Some nations also are concerned that having to guard polling stations in May would be a distraction for the 30,000 U.S. reinforcements and thousands of other foreign troops recently deployed with orders to stall the Taliban's momentum.

A suicide bomber in southern Helmand province targeted U.S. troops in a market Saturday, killing two Afghan children, officials said.

The U.S. military has already announced that two U.S. service members were killed Saturday in a bombing in southern Afghanistan, but did not specify if it was the same attack, pending notification of their families.

Helmand government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi said the bomber was targeting U.S. troops on a foot patrol and three civilians also were wounded in the attack in the Khan Neshin district.

NATO said in a statement that the two civilians killed were children.

Associated Press writers Heidi Vogt in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

WASHINGTON (AP) David Plouffe, who led Barack Obama's winning campaign for the White House, will play a larger role in advising the president as reeling Democrats try to rally in this important election year.

Plouffe's primary job on behalf of the White House will be to devise, coordinate and analyze strategies for the House, Senate and governor's races in November, according to an administration official.

As one of Obama's most trusted advisers, Plouffe clearly will have a larger imprint, operating through the Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America, Obama's political organization.

The timing is significant because Democrats, just one year after Obama came into office, are the ones on the defensive now.

The upset victory by Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts in claiming the seat long held by Democrat Edward Kennedy embodied a national sense of frustration in the economy and Washington's ability to fix it. Obama has bemoaned a public sense of detachment from what he's been trying to accomplish, and now Senate Democrats have lost the 60-vote bloc they need to overcome Republican opposition to Obama's health care plan.

So re-emerging is Plouffe. The administration official said Plouffe always was going to play a larger role at some point after finishing his campaign book, but a change in the political environment accelerated the timetable.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal decision-making, said no one at the White House was in line to be demoted because of Plouffe's arrival.

Obama asked Plouffe to get more involved. Even before the polls closed in the special election to succeed Kennedy, who died in August, the president called Plouffe to the White House to talk.

The next day, Plouffe said that Brown's victory was not a repudiation of Obama's agenda, as Republican leaders suggested. He expressed some outspoken frustration, though, about the effort by Democratic candidate Martha Coakley, saying ``even a mediocre campaign in Massachusetts probably would have won.''

Plouffe (pronounced pluhf) has remained in regular touch with Obama and White House staff, and been an advocate for Obama's health care plans.

On the night Obama won election, the candidate hailed Plouffe as an unsung hero and promoted him as the leader of nothing less than the best campaign in U.S. history.

Most governor's seats, more than one-third of the Senate, all 435 House districts and state legislatures will be on the general election ballot this year. Democrats must protect far more seats than Republicans, and the political environment is not in their favor. The outcomes could significantly affect Obama's agenda.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) An international team of rescuers unearthed a shop clerk in good condition from deep beneath the concrete and wooden wreckage of a hotel grocery store Saturday, 11 days after an earthquake crumbled Haiti's capital.

Dozens of onlookers wearing masks against the stench of the city's decaying bodies cheered when Wismond Exantus, clad in a black T-shirt and black pants, was carried from a narrow tunnel on a stretcher and placed in an ambulance. He braced one arm with the other.

``I was hungry,'' Exantus told The Associated Press from his hospital bed soon after the rescue. ``But every night I thought about the revelation that I would survive.''

Exantus, who is in his 20s, said he survived initially by diving under a desk when the rubble started to fall around him. Trapped in such a small space, he had lie on his back the entire time and survived by drinking cola, beer and cookies.

``I would eat anything I found,'' he said. ``After the quake I didn't know when it was day and when it was night.''

``It was God who was tucking me away in his arms. It gave me strength,'' he added.

One of the man's brothers, Jean Elit Jean Pierre, said Exantus worked as a cashier in the grocery store on the ground floor of the Hotel Napoli. The brothers persuaded rescuers to save Exantus, who has a different name because he had it changed.

From his hospital bed, Exantus turned to his family and said, ``When you are in a hole I will try to reach out to you, too.''

Earlier Saturday, the United Nations announced the Haitian government had declared an end to rescue operations. Still, dozens of international teams continued to pick through rubble of the Jan. 12 quake.

Saturday's rescue effort started when one of the man's brothers helped get a Greek search team to the site after hearing Exantus' voice, said Apostolos Dedas, a mission leader for the Greek team.

``It is very emotional. It is the best thing that can happen to you when you are a rescuer,'' Dedas said.

Lt. Col. Christophe Renou, a French Civil Protection official who was part of the rescue team, said rescuers used chain saws, heavy duty drills and hand saws to dig a narrow tunnel to the man and got him water while working to extract him. Renou said the man was buried under 16.5 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) of debris, mostly wood and concrete.

The rescue teams said they sent two women into the tunnel because only they could fit.

Carmen Michalska, a Scottish woman who is a member of the Greek team, found Exantus wedged between shelving and debris, and a French female rescuer used a saw to cut away the last bit of debris. When Exantus emerged, ``He was smiling and he was just really happy to get out,'' Michalska said. ``He said, 'Thank you.'''

Renou speculated the man survived because the building was mostly wooden, which created some air spaces. He said he was not sure if anyone else was trapped in the collapsed store and the team was using radar to check the rubble for signs of life.

``What happened in that spot there is a miracle,'' Renou said. ``We are really happy he is alive.''

Exantus said he thought other people might have been trapped when the building collapsed. ``There were times I heard rustling,'' he said.

Rescues have become increasingly rare since the magnitude-7.0 quake leveled the city, killing an estimated 200,000 people. Before the latest rescue, U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said 132 people had been pulled alive from collapsed buildings.

Experts say the chance of saving trapped people begins diminishing after 72 hours.

Associated Press Writer Mike Melia contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

LILBURN, Ga. (AP) A 19-year-old from Lilburn was hospitalized after crashing his car into a telephone pole while sending a text message on his cell phone.

Lilburn police spokesman Bruce Hedley tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Soheb Roy suffered head trauma in the Friday morning wreck in Lilburn. Hedley says Roy was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center, where he was believed to be in serious but stable condition.

Hedley says the impact had enough force to break the telephone pole in two. As a result, the road was blocked for much of the day.

Police say they plan to charge Roy with improper use of a cell phone while driving and failure to maintain his lane. They say neither alcohol nor drugs played a role.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

DANIELSVILLE, Ga. (AP) Madison County officials say county emergency medical workers paid colleagues to work their shifts and then signed time cards to collect payment for the shifts they didn't work.

Madison County Commission Chairman Anthony Dove said former EMS director Dwayne Patton was aware of the practice that had gone on for years.

Dove says commissioners will decide at their meeting Monday what to do about the situation.

Dove says he and District Attorney Bob Lavender decided the county will handle and disciplinary actions. He also said he doesn't believe there was criminal intent.

Dove began investigating the EMS department two weeks ago after Patton suddenly resigned after 19 years on the job, citing stress and health concerns. Patton couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) Columbus police say a 52-year-old man suffered serious injuries when he was assaulted while on a three-day drinking binge.

Police tell the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that the man suffered a collapsed lung and broken ribs, among other injuries, during the Jan. 17 attack. They say he was unable to talk to police until four days later because of his injuries.

He was listed in unsatisfactory condition at The Medical Center.

Police say the man was on a three-day drinking binge when he was approached by an unknown person or persons outside his apartment complex and beaten with an unknown object.

Nothing was reported taken.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) Jan Jones this month became the most powerful woman in the history of the Georgia Legislature.

But the newly-elected speaker pro tem of the Georgia House said there's another title she's far more accustomed to: Mom.

``My kids think it's sort of funny,'' the mother of four ages 14 to 22 said in an interview with The Associated Press. ``They bring you right back down to earth.''

Jones, 51, may have shattered the glass ceiling at the Georgia Capitol, where slightly more than 80 percent of the Legislature is still male. But she said she's been somewhat surprised by all the attention her gender has brought.

``It's one piece of me,'' the Republican from Milton said. ``An important piece of me, but one piece.''

Still, it may prove to be an enormous asset for a Republican Party still recovering from the sex scandal that brought down the state's powerful House Speaker Glenn Richardson. The Hiram Republican stepped down Jan. 1 after allegations of an affair with a female lobbyist. Richardson's fall led to charges that Georgia's Capitol had become a ``good old boys'' club under GOP rule.

Jones' election on Jan. 11 to the second highest position in the House seems sure to blunt at least some of that criticism.

The ascent of a female power broker in the Georgia legislature also may touch up its image. The Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University ranked Georgia 38th out of 50 states when it came to the percentage of women legislators. Just 45 of the state's 236 legislators are women.

``It's refreshing to see a woman in a place that's been dominated by males,'' said state Rep. Brooks Coleman, a Duluth Republican who's worked with Jones on education issues.

``And she is exactly the kind of woman you would want: intelligent, compassionate, hardworking. She knows how to keep all the balls in the air.''

Jones was born in Warner Robins. Her father was in the U.S. Air Force and the family bounced around from California to Alaska to Canada. But their roots were in Dublin, Ga., and the state always felt like home.

Jones received a journalism degree at the University of Georgia and, for a time, harbored dreams of being an investigative reporter. Instead, she went on to receive a master's degree in finances from Georgia State University and married her husband, Kalin, a lawyer.

She was a stay-at-home mom for about a decade but also worked as a marketing executive for HBO and ran a childcare placement business. But it was her work as a community activist that set her on the path to politics.

When Jones and her family moved to the fast-growing suburbs in north Fulton County more than a decade ago, she became immersed in a plan that would have annexed the sprawling unincorporated areas of the county into Alpharetta.

``All of a sudden people started to ask me, 'when are you going to run for office?''' she said.

``I wasn't the kid who ran for class president,'' she said. ``I didn't know I was preparing for this but I realized really I had.''

She ran for a House seat in 2002 and has been on the rise ever since. She was elected GOP majority whip in 2008, another first for a woman.

At the state Capitol, she's been particularly active on education issues, including charter schools. Jones has a clear philosophy when it comes to schools: the closer the decision-making is to the parent and the local community the better.

She's also been pushing a divisive proposal that would split Fulton County in two, cutting off the more affluent and predominantly white suburbs to the north from the poorer, black neighborhoods to the south.

Jones said the proposal has nothing to do with race and is aimed instead at making Fulton County with about 1 million residents more responsive by making it smaller. The plan would re-create Milton County to the north.

At her new state Capitol office, glass Republican elephants line the shelves. So does a Wonder Woman lunch box, a gift from her election as whip.

But Jones describes herself as rather boring.

``I don't play tennis, I don't play golf. I wish I was more fun,'' she laughs. ``Fun to me is sitting down and writing an analysis of the education budget so others can understand it.''

Jones' rapid rise has stirred the inevitable rumor that she may run for governor down the road.

She said the idea has never occurred to her.

``I like the legislative process. It's messy. It's complicated,'' Jones said. ``I love being in the House and that is honestly where I see myself.''

And as much as she downplays her gender, she knows she's now a symbol.

``It is visible affirmation that women are at the table,'' she said.

``And it does mean something to my daughters.''

Georgia General Assembly: www.legis.ga.gov

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

CUMMING, Ga. (AP) A former youth minister at a small Gainesville church has pleaded guilty to child molestation.

The Times in Gainesville reports that 38-year-old Phillip Glenn Terrell was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison, 15 to serve and the rest on probation. He must also register as a sex offender and is barred from working with children.

Terrell told Judge David Dickinson he lives with regret for molesting the then-14-year-old son of a church member at two Forsyth County locations in 2006.

Terrell still faces charges in Hall County of molesting the victim and another boy at the church and is expected to plead guilty to those charges next month.

Forsyth County District Attorney Sandra Partridge says prosecutors agreed to a negotiated plea agreement to spare the victim from having to testify.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says DeKalb County police may have erred when they let a DeKalb County commissioner go after an accident even though she had outstanding warrants.

DeKalb County officials responded to an accident Wednesday evening involving DeKalb County Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton. Officers found she was wanted on four warrants issued a year ago by the Gwinnett County sheriff for bad checks.

``DeKalb should have reached out to Gwinnett to request confirmation (of the wanted person),'' Terry Gibbons, deputy director of the GBI's Georgia Crime information Center, told the newspaper. ``If it came to our attention that this wasn't done, we would certainly want the agency to look at their procedures and process to see if there were extenuating circumstances or retraining was needed for the officer.''

DeKalb County police spokeswoman Officer Mekka Parish on Saturday referred questions to the county CEO's office. County spokeswoman Shelia Edwards did not immediately return messages Saturday from The Associated Press.

Edwards told the newspaper on Friday that police officials couldn't speak to the paper and she wouldn't release a copy of the police department's written procedure for handling wanted persons.

It still isn't clear why DeKalb County police didn't notify authorities in Gwinnett County.

Sutton said she was aware of the warrants, which were issued in January 2008 for bad checks written to Costco. According to the Gwinnett County sheriff's department, the checks were for $300 to $400 each.

Sutton repaid the retailer Thursday afternoon and then had Costco call contact a judge, who recalled the warrants. Magistrate Judge Gene Cantrell said there was no special treatment, adding: ``I didn't know who this person was.''

But defense attorney Bill Atkins told the newspaper most people who pass bad checks are taken to jail and then spend several days trying to get charges dropped after the money is paid.

Atkins, the Gwinnett County sheriff's office and the Georgia Sheriff's Association all told the newspaper that standard procedure would have been for DeKalb County police to notify Gwinnett County officials and then take Sutton to jail.

All warrants are entered into GBI's Georgia Crime Information Center. Gibbons said an officer who sees that a person has an outstanding warrant, should send an electronic message to the agency that issued the warrant, which then has 10 minutes to tell the original officer whether to hold or release the suspect.

Sutton said she couldn't comment on police policies and procedures.

``But I can say in this instance that I was grateful that officers at the scene allowed me to contact my lawyer and resolve this matter quickly,'' she said in a statement. ``I did exactly what they asked me to do.''

An internal police memo says the officer told Sutton to go ``directly from the scene of the accident to Gwinnett Sheriff's Office to get the matter resolved.''

Gwinnett County sheriff's spokeswoman Stacy Bourbonnais said Sutton never went to the sheriff's office.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Antero Niittymaki has no answers for why he is so successful against the Atlanta Thrashers.

Jeff Halpern scored in the fifth round of the shootout and Niittymaki topped Atlanta again in the Tampa Bay Lightning's 2-1 victory on Saturday night.

Niittymaki made 37 saves, including three strong stops during overtime, and improved to 15-0 against Atlanta.

``I can't explain it,'' Niittymaki said.

Steven Stamkos netted Tampa Bay's only goal. The Lightning have won six of their last eight home games.

``It's nice to find a way to win when you didn't play your best,'' Tampa Bay coach Rick Tocchet said. ``He (Niittymaki) was incredible. He got us the two points.''

Nik Antropov scored for the Thrashers, who have lost 13 of 15 on the road. Johan Hedberg stopped 24 shots.

``Moose (Hedberg) played unbelievable, and we had a lot of point-blank chances on Niittymaki,'' Thrashers center Rich Peverley said.

Tampa Bay's Kurtis Foster had a fourth-round shootout goal disallowed after a video review. After his initial shot was stopped by Hedberg, the puck went off his leg and into the net. A shooter is not allowed to score a rebound goal during the shootout.

Atlanta left winger Slava Kozlov was a healthy scratch, which ended his franchise record of 251 consecutive games. He has not scored in 16 games.

Antropov put the Thrashers ahead at 5:23 of the first period.

Stamkos tied it at 1 during a power play just over two minutes later. The goal came after Atlanta defenseman Pavel Kubina who was given an interference penalty on the play and Lightning forward Martin St. Louis collided in the Thrashers' zone.

``We had control of the game pretty much the whole way,'' Atlanta coach John Anderson said. ``The goal they scored was a 4-on-3. That was a phantom call. He ran into our guy and we got a penalty.''

Anderson was also ``not happy'' coming away with only one point.

``We don't get the two and we give a team that's right behind us the chance to tie us,'' Anderson said.

Atlanta and Tampa Bay, the 12th- and 13th-place teams in the Eastern Conference, are three points behind the eighth-place New York Rangers.

NOTES: Thrashers G Kari Lehtonen (back surgery) started a conditioning assignment with Chicago of the AHL. He stopped 32 of 37 shots in a game against Peoria. ... Stamkos has five goals and 10 points in 10 games against Atlanta. ... Tampa Bay rookie D Victor Hedman was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch for Thursday's game with Toronto.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Pearl said he warned his players Georgia was a dangerous opponent. The Bulldogs then showed why.

Trey Thompkins scored 21 points and Georgia led by double digits most of the way to beat Tennessee 78-63 on Saturday and end the Vols' seven-game winning streak.

Georgia ended Tennessee's streak of 10 straight wins in the series, including eight straight under Pearl.

``I thought we played hard,'' Pearl said. ``This wasn't that we weren't handling success. We didn't get beat because we came in here overconfident and didn't respect the opponent. We got beat by a better team today. It was clear.''

Georgia (9-8, 1-3 Southeastern Conference) made 7 of 12 3-point attempts to give first-year coach Mark Fox his first SEC win. Georgia's 0-3 start in the conference included losses by eight points at No. 3 Kentucky and by four points to No. 21 Mississippi.

``It's a big confidence-builder,'' said Travis Leslie, who had several jams and 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as he continues to emerge as a scoring complement to Thompkins. ``It was a great win and we need to keep moving on so we can get other wins like this one.''

Scotty Hopson led Tennessee (15-3, 3-1) with 19 points and was the only Vols player to make a 3-pointer. The Vols made only 3 of 16 attempts beyond the 3-point line, including 3 of 6 by Hopson, who also was the only Tennessee player to make a 3 in the Vols' 63-56 win at Alabama on Tuesday night.

``I'm just obviously disappointed,'' Pearl said. ``I thought we'd get much better looks against the zone. This is two straight games now that Scotty is the only guy who has made a 3-ball. When you go against a 2-3 zone, you've got to be able to shoot a little bit.''

Georgia took the lead for good less than 3 minutes into the game.

``Our guys deserve credit for playing well and making the plays they had to because they beat a good basketball team,'' Fox said.

Georgia, which beat Tennessee for the first time since Feb. 21, 2004, had a 35-24 advantage on the glass. Thompkins, a sophomore, had eight rebounds and three steals.

``We got smashed, we got beat horribly on the rebounds,'' said Tennessee's Kenny Hall. ``We were not executing, lacked poise. ... We weren't getting stops. We were just going back and forth, and when you're down by 20 points, that's not going to work.''

Hall said Georgia's dominance in rebounds was not the result of superior size.

``It was just the fact that it felt like they wanted it more,'' Hall said.

Bobby Maze added 11 points and Hall had 10.

Senior Wayne Chism, who had only 6 points, launched an air ball on Tennessee's first possession, setting the pace for a poor first half. The Vols led 4-2 before Georgia scored 12 straight points. Leslie had a breakaway reverse jam following a steal, and Jeremy Price added another jam for a 14-4 lead.

``We played very well on both ends of the floor in the first half,'' Fox said. ``We were fortunate to play with the lead, which made the game much easier. That first half might have been as well as we have played all year.''

Thompkins had 14 points in the first half, including a dunk to give Georgia a 40-20 lead.

The Bulldogs, backed by a rare sellout crowd of 10,523, led 42-27 at the half. It was Georgia's first sellout since Feb. 7, 2007 against Florida and its first win over a top 10 team since Feb. 14, 2004 against then-No. 8 Kentucky.

Chism was escorted to the locker room after sustaining a hyperextended left knee with 9:22 remaining in the first half. He returned less than 2 minutes later.

Tennessee guards Cameron Tatum and Melvin Goins played for the first time since they were reinstated to the team one week ago. Pearl suspended Goins and Tatum, along with forward Tyler Smith and center Brian Williams after the four were arrested on misdemeanor gun, drug and alcohol charges during a traffic stop in Knoxville on Jan. 1.

Goins had 2 points. Tatum had 1.

Williams is indefinitely suspended. Smith was dismissed from the team Jan. 8.

The Vols were denied their first 4-0 start in the conference in 21 years.

``At some point we were going to lose a game,'' Pearl said. ``You know you're going to lose a game on the road in the SEC. There won't be a lot of people who win here. I'm certain of that.''

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) Haiti's government has declared the search and rescue phase for survivors of the country's devastating earthquake over, the United Nations said Saturday.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 132 people were pulled from the rubble alive by international search and rescue teams.

Spokeswoman Elizebeth Byrs told The Associated Press that rescue teams still searching through the rubble would not be prevented from carrying out whatever work they felt necessary. ``It doesn't mean the government will order them to stop. In case there is the slightest sign of life, they will act.''

But she added: ``Except for miracles, hope is unfortunately fading.''

Humanitarian relief efforts are still being scaled up in the capital Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, Leogane and other areas affected by the quake, Byrs said.

The decision comes the day after two people emerged from beneath the rubble of the stricken Haiti capital a stunning 10 days after the quake, temporarily reviving fading belief that others may have survived.

The rescues briefly punched through the grief shrouding legions of survivors as they stream from the city's desolation or find refuge in its hundreds of squalid, makeshift camps. On Saturday, some are expected to gather for the funeral of the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Msgr. Joseph Serge Miot, near the ruins of his cathedral.

Far away, celebrities and artists made impassioned pleas Friday for charitable donations during an internationally broadcast telethon.

``The Haitian people need our help,'' said George Clooney, who helped organize the two-hour telecast. ``They need to know that they are not alone. They need to know that we still care.''

The 7.0-magnitude quake killed an estimated 200,000 people, according to Haitian government figures cited by the European Commission. Countless dead remained buried in thousands of collapsed and toppled buildings in Port-au-Prince, while as many as 200,000 have fled the city of 2 million, the U.S. Agency for International Development reported.

Scores of aid organizations, big and small, have stepped up deliveries of food, water, medical supplies and other aid to the homeless and other needy in seaside city. But obstacles remained at every turn to getting help into people's hands.

``I want to leave but I don't have any money. I don't know where to go,'' said Demonere Mirlande, a 33-year-old mother who lost her home but survived along with her three young children.

Amid the wreckage, rescuers were looking for survivors Friday. The Israeli team that saved 21-year-old Emmannuel Buso said relatives approached asking for help.

They pulled away the debris of a two-story home and called out. To everyone's surprise, Buso responded.

The slender student and tailor with deep-set eyes emerged so ghostly white that his mother told rescuers she thought he was a corpse. In an interview with The Associated Press, he described coming out of the shower when the quake hit.

``I felt the house dancing around me,'' Buso said from a bed in an Israeli field hospital. ``I didn't know if I was up or down.''

He told of passing out in the rubble, dreaming at times that he could hear his mother crying. The furniture in his room had collapsed around him in such a way that it created a small space for him amid the ruins of the house. He had no food. When he got desperately thirsty, he drank his urine.

``I am here today because God wants it,'' Buso said.

Also Friday, an 84-year-old woman was said by relatives to have been pulled from the wreckage of her home, according to doctors administering oxygen and intravenous fluids to her at the General Hospital. She was in critical condition.

Rescuers said they were encouraged but all too aware that few trapped people can survive for that long.

``Statistically you can say that the chances of survival is very low,'' said Fernando Alvarez Bravo, a representative in Mexico for rescue crews founded during the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, and still at work in Haiti on Friday. ``But the hope it gives the population to recover and find their loved ones helps them to recover quickly. They don't feel abandoned.''

The rescues came two days after many international search teams began packing up their gear and other aid groups remained to grapple with challenges of helping survivors.

In the three miles (five kilometers) or so between Port-au-Prince and hard-hit Carrefour, satellite images show 691 blockages on the road collapsed houses or other debris the U.N. reported.

In just one day, however, the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort had made a difference. The giant white ship, which dropped anchor on Wednesday, had treated 932 patients and performed 32 surgeries by midday Thursday, USAID reported.

President Rene Preval's administration as working with the United Nations Development Program and other aid groups to restore electricity and telecommunications, reopen banks, businesses and money-transfer houses, and to provide at least low-paying jobs to Haitians desperate for income.

But it could take as long as three or four months to restore electricity in Port-au-Prince, which is now using generators.

Amid a scarcity of goods, prices have tripled for some products in Haiti, a poor Caribbean nation where 80 percent of the people survive on less than $2 a day.

``Inflation is eating them alive,'' said U.N. Development Program worker Eliane Nicolini.

Associated Press writers contributing to this story include Jonathan M. Katz, Michelle Faul, Alfred de Montesquiou, Paul Haven and Vivian Sequera in Port-au-Prince; Frank Jordans and Eliane Engeler in Geneva; and Morgan Lee and Charles J. Hanley in Mexico City.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio) A Metro Atlanta mission group, hoping to bring orphans eligible for adaption back to Georgia, returns empty-handed.

A private jet carrying members of God's Plumbline Ministry of Marietta left Gwinnett County's Briscoe Field Friday to take doctors, medicine, and food to the victims in Haiti's earthquake zone.

"They went in and started saving lives immediately," said Sheila Lynch with God's Plumbline Ministries. "There was no red tape at all."

But the Haitian government would not allow the group to take back the orphans because they were flying out on a private jet, donated by Kids-R-Kids of Duluth. The mission said the Haitians won't allow kids to leave on non-military or governmental planes without proper U.N. paperwork.

"I get it that they're trying to protect the children," said Lynch. "But from my perspective it was really heartbreaking."

Lynch believes the U.N. is worried about the risk of child-trafficking and is clamping down on adoptions.

However, the 22 orphans were picked up by Heartline Ministries, the the international adoption agency God's Pumbline is working with, and flown back to Orlando.

Lynch says she can make another trip to Haiti to pick up more orphans as long as she brings the adoptive parents and the proper papers.

"If I can bring their (adoptive) parent with with me, then I can release them into their parents," she said after their plane landed in Lawrenceville Friday night.

She hopes to bring back five or six as early as Tuesday.

LONDON (AP) Britain raised its terror threat alert to the second-highest level Friday, one of several recent moves the country has made to increase vigilance against international terrorists after a Christmas Day bombing attempt on a Europe-U.S. flight.

The threat level was raised from ``substantial'' where it had stood since July to indicate a strong possibility of a terrorist attack to ``severe,'' meaning such an attack is considered highly likely.

In making the announcement, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the raised security level means that Britain is heightening its vigilance. But he stressed that there was no intelligence suggesting an attack is imminent.

``The highest security alert is `critical,' and that means an attack is imminent, and we are not at that level,'' he said on British television.

Johnson declined to say what intelligence the change was based on, or whether the move was related to the failed Christmas bombing attempt, when U.S. authorities say a young Nigerian named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear during a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Abdulmutallab, who allegedly had links to extremists based in Yemen, had studied as a university student in London.

``It shouldn't be thought to be linked to Detroit, or anywhere else for that matter,'' Johnson said. ``We never say what the intelligence is.''

He said the decision to raise the threat level was made by the U.K.'s Joint Terrorism Analysis Center. He said the center kept the security threat level under constant review and made its judgments based on a range of factors, including the ``intent and capabilities of international terrorist groups in the U.K. and overseas.''

Friday's changes came days after Britain suspended direct flights to Yemen's capital in response to the growing threat from al-Qaida-affiliated militants based in that country. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said his government also was creating a new terrorist no-fly list, and targeting specific airline passengers for tougher security checks.

The measures followed a discussion between Brown and President Barack Obama on Tuesday. They match similar moves made by U.S. authorities last week to enhance security at airports and on planes, as intelligence officials warned that al-Qaida's branch in Yemen was continuing to plot attacks on the United States.

The stepped-up security in the U.S. included more air marshals on flights to and within the U.S. and additional screening at airports around the world.

Brown said Britain and other nations face a sharply growing threat from al-Qaida-affiliated terrorists based in Yemen and an area of north Africa that includes nations such as Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Officials and analysts say Britain's new alert level could be related to the emergence of a steady stream of threat information since the thwarted Christmas Day attack.

In Washington, a senior U.S. official said late Friday that the British move would have followed a specific threat, but the official would not discuss details.

However, the official said the United States did not believe the heightened alert was related to upcoming conferences the British government is hosting on Yemen and Afghanistan next week in London.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is to attend those meetings on Wednesday and Thursday and those plans remain unchanged, the official said. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, a Capitol Hill official told The Associated Press the intelligence community has detected increased terrorist ``chatter'' so far in 2010 that is, conversations and messages that suggest a possible elevated level of activity or planning.

But several said they know of no new specific threat that led to the British action. Instead, they noted that the British had lowered their threat level several months ago and were likely raising it to reflect the U.S. government's threat level.

The U.S. officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss foreign intelligence publicly.

Britain's five-tiered alert system which starts at ``low'' and passes through ``moderate,'' ``substantial,'' and ``severe'' before hitting ``critical'' is similar to the U.S. system of color-coded terrorism advisories.

The British government downgraded the alert level to ``substantial'' in July without explaining the decision. The level last stood at ``critical'' in June 2007, after authorities foiled car bomb attacks on a London nightclub and a Scottish airport.

In the United States, the alert level for the aviation sector is currently at ``orange,'' indicating a high risk of terrorist attacks. It has not been changed since 2006, after terrorist plans to blow up jetliners en route to the U.S. from Britain were discovered. The alert level for the rest of the country is at ``yellow,'' indicating a significant risk.

Britain's decision to raise its terror threat alert came as India put airline passengers through extra security screenings and sky marshals were placed on flights. India put its airports on high alert amid reports that al-Qaida-linked militants planned to hijack a plane.

Associated Press writers Devlin Barrett, Matthew Lee, Eileen Sullivan, Lolita Blador and Pamela Hess contributed to this report from Washington.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

NEW YORK (AP) On his final ``Tonight'' show, Conan O'Brien said walking away instead of accepting a demotion is the hardest thing he's ever had to do.

Despite the rancor that led to his $45 million buyout, the red-haired comic urged fans not to be cynical and said their support made a sad situation ``joyous and inspirational.'' He thanked his viewers and even thanked NBC for more than 20 years of employment but not before getting in a few final jabs during an earlier monologue.

O'Brien, who keeps a collection of guitars in his office, strapped one on to join Will Ferrell, ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons and Beck for a raucous rendition of ``Free Bird.''

O'Brien will be replaced March 1 by the man he took over for seven months ago Jay Leno. In the interim, reruns will fill the slot, followed by Winter Olympics programming next month.

Faced with the flop of its prime-time Leno experiment, NBC sought to move him back to 11:35 p.m. and asked O'Brien to move ``Tonight'' a half-hour later, past midnight. O'Brien refused, opening buyout negotiations that ended early Thursday, and triggering a remarkable period of late-night comics taking brutal shots at NBC and at each other.

Despite his sense of loss, O'Brien told fans Friday that ``I really feel this should be a happy moment.

``Every comedian dreams of hosting the `Tonight' show and, for seven months, I got to,'' he said. ``I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second. I've had more good fortune than anyone I know, and if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-Eleven parking lot, we'll find a way to make it fun.''

Although, he quickly added, ``I don't want to do it in a 7-Eleven parking lot.''

Earlier, he showed a package of clips from his seven-month stint, including the mock run from New York to California used on his first ``Tonight'' show, and ended it with a placard saying ``To Be Continued.''

His future is uncertain. Fox has expressed interest in having him do a late-night show, but the network is checking with its affiliates to see if they would support it. Under his exit deal, O'Brien is free to start another show after Sept. 1. He's not allowed to give interviews or make other television appearances for three months.

Tom Hanks joined as a guest before dashing off to a telethon for Haiti. Steve Carell did a mock NBC ``exit interview'' and shredded O'Brien's key card. Neil Young sang ``Long May You Run'' and thanked O'Brien for supporting new music.

During his monologue, O'Brien tossed around a few ideas about what NBC might do with the studio it constructed for him when he moved to California from New York in the middle of last year.

One suggestion: ``Leave the studio cold and empty and rename it `the world's largest metaphor for NBC programming.'''

O'Brien told the audience that ``we have exactly one hour to steal every single item in this studio.''

As soon as fans had been let in the studio, workers walked around to unscrew and remove signs posted all over that said ``Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien: Audience.''

Although NBC had sought to keep O'Brien, who hosted the 12:35 a.m., New York-based ``Late Night'' for 15 years while waiting for his shot at ``Tonight,'' executives said the network was losing money with his show. O'Brien had lost half the audience that Leno had drawn in the time slot, slipping behind CBS' David Letterman in the ratings. O'Brien's managers said he needed more time and blamed some of the ratings troubles on the sinking fortunes of Leno and the local news programs that preceded ``Tonight.''

Fans waiting to see the final show expressed their support. Three fans from San Diego put up a tent and camped overnight in the rain to get in.

``He's just generally a likeable guy,'' said Lesley Vamous, a fan from Australia. ``I think that's why I like him and I watch him. He seems like an approachable guy, and most of the things he does are kind of funny.''

Juliet DiFranco of West Toluca Lake, Calif., said she couldn't watch Leno like she did before. ``He just seems like such a jerk for not retiring,'' DiFranco said.

O'Brien didn't mention Leno in his closing statement, according to a transcript.

He asked his viewers not to be cynical.

``I hate cynicism,'' he said. ``It's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.''

Associated Press writer Natalie Rotman and photojournalist Matt Sayles contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

NEW YORK (AP) Though the all-star telethon was titled ``Hope for Haiti Now,'' for most of its two hours, it was filled with tear-jerking, depressing moments, from mournful songs and grim-faced pleas from celebrities to the suffering faces of the quake-battered victims themselves.

It took Haiti's own native son to lift Friday evening's despairing tone to one of hope and even revival.

``Enough of this moping, man, let's rebuild Haiti, let's show 'em how we do it where we come from!'' Wyclef Jean, the singer and producer, shouted after singing the downbeat ``Rivers of Babylon,'' with a Haitian flag around his neck.

He segued into the joyful tune ``Yele'' with an island beat, as musicians danced around him, singing the refrain: ``Earthquake, we see the earth shake, but the soul of the Haitian people will never break!''

Jean showcased the resilient spirit of a nation in the midst of catastrophe. On Jan. 12, a powerful earthquake struck the already impoverished country, killing an estimated 200,000 people, displacing many more and reducing much of Haiti to ruins.

The telethon, shown on all the major networks and streamed live on many Web sites, was quickly put together by George Clooney and MTV Networks, along with the help of others, to raise millions of dollars for the Caribbean country.

The list of participating celebrities rivaled any top awards show: Justin Timberlake, Brad Pitt, former President Clinton, Muhammad Ali, Beyonce, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Halle Berry, and many more. Luminaries like Steven Spielberg worked the phone banks, talking to donors.

``Hey Steven Spielberg, it's really cool to talk to you,'' one woman said to the Academy Award-winning filmmaker.

John Mayer called in a $500,000 donation before the telethon began, according to a representative for MTV. Officials did not have an immediate total for the relief funds raised by the telethon.

Some stars like Matt Damon and Clint Eastwood recounted tragic moments from the quake; others like Denzel Washington offered inspirational words. Most of the musical performances were downcast, emotional songs. John Legend sang ``I Feel Like A Motherless Child.'' Kid Rock, Keith Urban and Sheryl Crow sang ``Lean On Me.'' Beyonce, with Coldplay's Chris Martin backing her on piano, revised her hit ``Halo'' with new lyrics: ``Haiti we can see your halo, we pray you won't fade away.''

Madonna provided one of the few upbeat moments with her choir-backed performance of ``Like A Prayer.''

Jay-Z, Rihanna and U2's Bono and The Edge debuted a new song, ``Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour),'' as Jay-Z rapped from London: ``When the sky falls, and the earth quakes, we gon' put this back together, we won't break.''

The telethon was broadcast from New York, London, Los Angeles and Haiti, where CNN's Anderson Cooper interviewed quake victims and anchored news clips of the tragedy.

Haitians were able to listen on Radio One Haiti.

A crowd made up mostly of Haiti's wealthier elite gathered Friday night at Break Time restaurant, one of the only still open in Port-au-Prince, and one of the only places residents could watch the telethon.

Owner Patrick Alexis said he enjoyed seeing the celebrities but was skeptical the money would get to people who need it.

``It's easy to do a telethon on behalf of the Haitian people, but who will really get the money? I know my country, I know my people, I know the leaders,'' he said.

Rabbel Bertrand, 16, who was heading to New Jersey to because his school collapsed, was surprised by the attention on his country.

``I didn't realize all those celebrities knew Haiti. When you talk about Haiti, people usually just talk about the bad things,'' Bertrand said.

Viewers can purchase performances from the evening on Saturday by way of iTunes for 99 cents, with those proceeds going to relief aid as well.

The telethon won't be the last major celebrity effort for Haiti; BET plans to hold its own all-star telethon on Feb. 5, with Diddy and Queen Latifah as hosts. It will also be aired on MTV and VH1.

Editors: Associated Press Writer Mike Melia in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, contributed to this report.

On the Net:

http://www.hopeforhaitinow.org

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) A former Fulton County sheriff's deputy has been convicted for her role in the obstruction of a federal investigation into an inmate death.

In a statement Friday, the U.S. Attorney's office in Atlanta says 46-year-old Mitnee Markette Jones of Atlanta was convicted late Thursday. She was found guilty of: filing a false incident report with the intent to hinder a federal investigation, making a false statement to an FBI agent, and obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors say Jones and two co-workers falsified documents and misled investigators after the death of Richard Glasco, a mentally ill Fulton County jail inmate found dead in his cell in March 2008.

One former detention officer, Derontay Langford, pleaded guilty in the case in September and another, Curtis Brown, is awaiting trial.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio/AP) Police are investigating after a car hit two DeKalb County school buses in separate incidents.

DeKalb County Schools spokesman Dale Davis said the car hit the first bus near Towers High School just after 3 p.m. Friday. He said no students were on that bus.

Davis said the driver continued on and fled the scene, only to strike another bus a few blocks down the road.

He said five students were on the second bus but there were no injuries.

Police are looking for the driver. They have recovered the vehicle , which is believed to be stolen.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) John Isner is one of two American men standing at the Australian Open.

Isner advanced to the fourth round along with Andy Roddick. It's only the second time the 24-year-old player has gone that far at a Grand Slam.

Fresh off his first ATP title win in Auckland this month, the big-serving Isner defeated 12th-seeded Gael Monfils of France 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5).

Until he defeated Roddick in the third round at the U.S. Open, Isner hadn't gotten past the first round of his last five majors. But his strong performance at Melbourne Park doesn't surprise him.

``I've worked hard in the offseason, I put in the time,'' said Isner, ranked 28th. ``I kind of deserve to be where I am now.''

Andy Murray, who faces Isner, said he may have the best serve on the tour.

``He gives guys a lot of problems,'' Murray said. ``He's 6-foot-9-inches with a huge serve.''

That serve and his aggressive playing style boosted Isner into the top 50 for the first time in 2009 . He is among the top American men in the ATP rankings, behind No. 7 Roddick and ahead of No. 29 Sam Querrey.

Roddick advanced with a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (3) over Feliciano Lopez of Spain

In September, Isner outplayed Roddick to reach the fourth round of the U.S. Open. He won a fifth-set tiebreaker and finished with 38 aces.

He hasn't lost a match in 2010, and his success makes him a candidate for the U.S. Davis Cup team. Veterans Roddick and James Blake have decided not to play this year.

But his focus is on Murray, who has not dropped a set in the tournament.

It will be their first meeting, and Isner noted Murray was ``good at everything.''

``It's going to be a challenge to hold serve,'' Isner said. ``That's going to be my No. 1 focus, first and foremost, is holding serve, and taking it from there. As long as I'm doing that, I know I'll be in the match.''

Yet he doesn't seem worried at all, still riding the momentum of his Auckland success.

``I know that's where my ranking is going, and I'm going to get there,'' said Isner, who led Georgia to the 2007 NCAA team championship. ``After beating (Roddick), there's nobody I'm scared to play. If I play my game and I play well, I like to think I can beat anybody.''

That includes Murray.

``Even though he hasn't won a Slam, he's always a guy that's going to be heard from,'' Isner said. ``I think that's the same here. Hopefully, I can put an end to his run.''

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) A national child advocacy group monitoring the state's foster care system is planning to meet with the agency to discuss allegations of continued abuse and neglect.

New York-based Children's Rights claims in a new report that the state has relaxed monitoring and enforcement of private agencies contracted to provide homes for foster children and that abuse and neglect have risen among Atlanta's foster children.

Child safety has always been the agency's priority, said Dena Smith, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services, which includes the Division of Family and Children's Services.

``We've done great things in the sense of keeping children safe,'' Smith said on Friday. ``Even this report says that we've done better than ever.''

The division has been under a consent decree since 2005. The agreement stems from a 2002 class action lawsuit in which Children's Rights claimed that Georgia's child protection agencies were overburdened and mismanaged. The group alleged that children languished for months in dangerous shelters, and others lived in dirty and overcrowded conditions.

Under the terms of the decree, DFCS agreed to independent monitoring and periodic progress reports.

Friday's report covers the first six months of 2009 and was issued by independent monitors appointed by the court to track the state Division of Family and Children's Services' progress under the terms of the settlement. It is the seventh report issued to date.

Related to the report's findings, Children's Rights also sent a letter dated Jan. 19 to Department of Human Services counsel Brenda Woodard requesting a meeting to discuss the group's concerns.

While the report points out that some case managers still have far too many children under their watch and that the agency is taking too long to place children in permanent homes, the agency has made improvements in case manager visits to children in foster care and visits among siblings in foster care.

The report also accuses the state of relaxed monitoring and enforcement of private agencies contracted to provide homes for foster children. Smith said more resources have been directed to monitoring those providers and that DFCS is meeting regularly with those agencies.

``This will reflect in a positive way in our next reporting period,'' Smith said.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) Republican gubernatorial hopeful Nathan Deal used campaign contributions to secure a $250,000 line of credit from a bank whose board chairman has ties to the Republican congressman, a campaign spokesman said Friday.

Harris Blackwood told The Associated Press that the campaign placed $250,000 in a certificate of deposit with the Chattahoochee Bank of Georgia which then issued a line of credit for the same amount to Deal's gubernatorial bid. Last week, Blackwood would not say specifically what Deal had used as collateral for the line of credit.

Blackwood said the money has to remain in the bank until the loan is paid back.

The maneuver effectively allows the Deal campaign which has been among the fundraising leaders in the race to appear to have more money on hand than it does. The $250,000 placed into a CD can still be counted as cash on hand even though it is being used to secure the line of credit, Blackwood said.

Deal has reported raising $1.6 million since entering the race for governor in May. His most recent campaign filing showed that he had over $940,000 left in the bank.

Blackwood said the line of credit is not an attempt to pump up Deal's campaign totals. He said Deal borrowed the cash to pay for startup expenses for the race.

``It was just a way to keep money flowing without dipping into cash on hand,'' Blackwood said.

Rick Thompson, former executive secretary of the state ethics commission, said the transaction appeared to be legal because Deal had collateral for the bank line. Thompson suggested the move was likely designed to artificially boost Deal's bottom line.

``I can't see why else he would do it,'' Thompson said.

The scramble for cash has been intense in the crowded race for governor as 12 candidates fight to appear viable in advance of party primaries in July.

On Sunday, The Associated Press reported that Deal and state insurance Commissioner John Oxendine had each tapped $250,000 lines of credit.

Oxendine used his Duluth home to secure the line from Brand Banking Co., whose chief executive is a generous campaign supporter.

Deal was provided a line of credit from the Chattahoochee Bank of Georgia. The chairman of the bank's board is Jim Walters, a contributor to Deal and to Deal's son. Walters also leases space to the elder Deal's campaign in Gainesville. Walters and one of his companies have contributed $24,400 to Deal's gubernatorial campaign and another $1,000 to the campaign of Deal's son, Jason, for Superior Court.

Deal said he is paying fair market rent for the campaign space.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) Atlanta All-Star Joe Johnson was one of 10 NBA players donating $1,000 for every point he scored Friday night to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

Johnson scored 19 points Friday against the Charlotte Bobcats.

The players taking part, all clients of the Wasserman Media Group, included Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose, Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol, rookie Tyreke Evans of Sacramento and Washington veteran Antawn Jamison.

A total of 47 players from the agency planned to donate a minimum of $500,000 to the fund. Former President Bill Clinton was at the Lakers' game against the Knicks, where he planned to announce the program at halftime during an ESPN interview.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) The Charlotte Bobcats were one of the hottest teams in the NBA.

The Hawks took care of that with two dominating quarters.

Jamal Crawford scored 24 points, Al Horford had 23 and Atlanta overwhelmed the Bobcats in the first and third periods on the way to a 103-89 victory Friday night that snapped Charlotte's six-game winning streak.

The first-place Hawks made 11 straight shots in the opening period and raced to a 16-point lead. Charlotte turned it around in the second, closing the gap to 47-43 by halftime.

Then, just like that, Atlanta turned it back on again. The Hawks made 12 of 18 shots, converted a trio of three-point plays and stretched the margin back out to 22 points.

``This is a game about runs,'' said Josh Smith, one of five Atlanta players in double figures. ``They were able to get on a run in the second quarter and early in the fourth, but we were able to fight it off and make a run of our own. It's always good when you can pull out the fire extinguishers and put out their runs.''

Charlotte had won nine of 10, including the last six to tie a franchise record. The Bobcats were coming off the biggest victory in team history, a 39-point blowout of Miami, in which they set another team mark by allowing only 65 points.

The Hawks had more than that (67) in the first and third quarters.

``They didn't affect anything we did,'' said Gerald Wallace, who led Charlotte with 25 points. ``We just came out tonight and played terrible ball. We didn't share the ball. We didn't hit the open man. We didn't make the extra pass. Defensively, we didn't rotate, we didn't help out.''

The Hawks made 15 of 20 in the first quarter. Joe Johnson led the way with 11 points, while Charlotte had a hard time just holding on to the ball; the Bobcats turned it over seven times, leading to 12 Atlanta points.

``We take bad shots and turn it over,'' Charlotte coach Larry Brown said. ``That's incriminating.''

As if the first quarter wasn't bad enough for the Bobcats, point guard Raymond Felton had to be helped off the court after spraining his right ankle in the final minute of the period.

He was cutting through the lane at the offensive end when he stepped on Crawford's left foot and twisted the ankle. Felton went down in severe pain, then was taken to the locker room with arms wrapped around the shoulders of two team officials, putting no weight on his foot. While X-rays were negative, Felton didn't return after testing his ankle at halftime and the Bobcats aren't sure if he'll miss any more playing time.

Even without Felton, Charlotte managed to change the flow of the game in the second quarter. Wallace and Stephen Jackson both knocked down all three of their shots, Charlotte hit 11 of 17 overall and the Hawks suddenly went cold (7 of 20).

Jackson finished with 24 points.

Charlotte headed to the locker room with all the momentum, but the Hawks figured things out during the break. Running at every opportunity, Atlanta returned to its dominating form of the opening quarter, creating all sorts of easy baskets and three-point opportunities. Horford scored nine points in the period, Johnson added eight, while Marvin Williams and Josh Smith chipped in with six apiece.

The Bobcats didn't quit. They got as close as nine with a little over two minutes remaining, but Crawford snuffed out the comeback with a 3-pointer from the corner.

``We knew that team was not going to stop,'' he said. ``They're one of the hottest teams in the league. We met the challenge tonight.''

NOTES: The Hawks signed G Mario West to a second 10-day contract before the game. ... Charlotte C Tyson Chandler will be examined Saturday and may be able to remove the walking boot from his left foot (stress reaction). He had to put the boot back on after doing some running Tuesday. Chandler has missed 14 games since being hurt a month ago. ... Hawks coach Mike Woodson had a batch of letters on his desk from second-graders in Charlotte, asking him to support Wallace for the All-Star game. ... Chad Ochocinco of the Cincinnati Bengals attended the game after visiting an Atlanta children's hospital. ... Boris Diaw and Nazr Mohammed both missed dunks for the Bobcats. ... Wallace got clipped in the nose going for a loose ball in the first quarter, leading to a brief delay while the bleeding was stopped. He also tweaked his left ankle but played through it.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

The new alert means the government considers a terrorist attack highly likely. Home Secretary Alan Johnson says while Britain is heightening its vigilance, there's no intelligence suggesting an attack is imminent.

Johnson isn't saying whether the move has anything to do with the failed Christmas Day bombing aboard a Detroit-bound jetliner, or what intelligence it's based on.

He says the decision was based on a range of factors, including the ``intent and capabilities of international terrorist groups in the U.K. and overseas.''

The move comes just days after Britain suspended direct flights to Yemen's capital in response to the growing threat from al-Qaida-affiliated militants there.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- State lawmakers get down to business on ethics reform later today.  Members of both the House and Senate Ethics Committees hold a joint hearing with experts on the issue.

"We have very strong ethics laws now... the question is enforcing them.  And I think that's the issue we have to address," says House Ethics Committee Chair Rep. Joe Wilkinson.

He tells WSB's Sandra Parrish they'll hear from current and former members of the State Ethics Commission, government watchdog group Common Cause, and several attorneys who have handled ethics complaints.

"It sends a clear signal that this is a new day in the Georgia General Assembly that the House and Senate will be working so closely together," Wilkinson says.

A couple of bills already filed this session include monetary caps on gifts from lobbyists.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- With unemployment in Georgia at 10.3 percent, Gov. Perdue is announcing a public/private partnership with Microsoft to help those who are out of work get free computer training.

The computer software giant is offering 30,000 vouchers to Georgians for Microsoft Windows and Office online training, Microsoft Business Certification exams, and advanced technical professional level online training.

"If we want to continue to see the high tech industry flourish, we need to have a willing and ready workforce to take advantage of those technologies," says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

He says it's part of the company's nationwide effort called "Elevate America" to train up to 2 million people during the next three years.

The program is being initiated here through Georgia's Work Ready Program that helps unemployed Georgians jump start their job search and improve their core job skills.

"It's an initiative that we believe will provide thousands of Georgians with expanded educational opportunities," says Perdue.

The online applications for the vouchers are available on a first come-first serve basis at www.gaworkready.org. They're also available through participating Workforce Investment Act (WIA) One Stop Centers and at select Goodwill locations.

(WSB Radio)  It looks like the 2010 Georgia governor's race will go down to the wire.

A new poll, released by Rasmussen Reports, shows John Oxendine and Roy Barnes in a statistical tie.

The insurance commissioner leads the former governor, 44% - 42%, within the poll's margin of error.

The poll also shows Barnes defeating any other Republican candidates, but also by slight margins.

On the Democratic side, Attorney General Thurbert Baker is running second and would lose in the general election by double digits to either Oxendine, former Secretary of State Karen Handel, or Congressman Nathan Deal.

The poll, which was conducted this week, shows both Barnes and Oxendine leading in their respective primaries.

(WSB Radio) Atlanta police are investigating the fatal shooting of a man who was killed in his bedroom.

Officers were called to the home at 156 Dahlia Avenue, at about 330 this morning, on a report of shots fired.

When they arrived, they discovered the victim, a man in his mid 20's, dead in his bedroom, shot once.

"It appears the victim in this case was inside of his bedroom when a single projectile penetrated the house, striking the victim in the head," says APD homicide Major Keith Meadows.

It was initially thought the man was shot by a stray bullet, but police now say the victim was the intended target.

According to investigators, the man had gotten into an altercation with a group of men at a local nightclub.  When he left, the others followed him home, then shot him through the bedroom window.

Meadows tells WSB, neighbors have talked to investigators about the events leading up to the shooting.

"They saw a small group of individuals standing outside just prior to the shooting," says Meadows. "It would appear that nine shots were fired, and one of those shots penetrated the residence."

No arrests have been made and the victim's name has not been released, pending the notification of his family.

(WSB Radio) DeKalb County firefighters are putting out hot spots this morning after they responded overnight to a two alarm blaze at an apartment complex off of Briarcliff Road.

The fire damaged or destroyed 18 units of the Park at Briarcliff Apartments on Willow Lake Drive in Decatur.

No one was hurt and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Atlanta chapter of the American Red Cross is helping dozens of people left homeless by the fire, which was reported just after 3am Friday morning.

(WSB Radio)  Jere Wood has been mayor of Roswell for a long time.  And now, thanks to his efforts, his time might be running short.

The city council, at the insistence of Wood, has voted to impose term limits on the mayor's position. 

Under the measure, the next mayor, whether it's Wood or someone else, will be limited to three terms.

Wood argued for the limits, saying they force mayors to have to become leaders, rather than becoming complacent.

Wood was elected to a fourth four year term last month.  He was first voted into office in 1997, defeating W.L. "Pug" Mabry, who had been Roswell's mayor for 32 years.  One of Wood's campaign promises at that time was to get Roswell term limits for the mayor.

During his first two terms as mayor, Wood tried to convince the city council to approve limits, but was unsuccessful.

The council, this time, passed term limits with only one dissenting vote.

(WSB Radio)  A strange sound at the Lindbergh Center MARTA station forced the shutdown of service there.

A station agent heard the sound coming from a trash can in the station and contacted authorities.

Both northbound and southbound service was suspended, while police investigated.

While a search of the station was taking place, MARTA implemented their emergency plan, using buses to carry passengers past the Lindbergh Center station until service resumed.

MARTA's headquarters are located adjacent to the Lindbergh station.

(WSB Radio)  A counselor at Lassiter High School, who is facing criminal charges for sexually assaulting a student, is fighting to keep his job.

Frank Robinson, whose hearing before a school tribunal continues on Friday, has his supporters, who chanted, "We support our coach," at the hearing.

There is even a Facebook website proclaiming his innocence. 

The 17-year-old girl is sticking by her story as well as another student who claims Robinson made inappropriate comments to her. 

Robinson's attorney claims the two girls have hidden agendas.

"Whatever the agenda is, there was a hidden agenda," says attorney Warren Fortson, who says the seriousness of the hearing cannot be understated.

"His whole life depends on it," Fortson says.  "He's facing criminal charges.  He's facing losing his job.  He's facing losing his license.  It's very serious."

Fortson will present his side on Friday.

"I think we're going to show the board that, from the school system's standpoint, it's about one of the most sloppy investigations of an incident on their part."

(WSB Radio)  The Atlanta Police Homeland Security Unit is helping investigate a series of propane thefts from a Moreland Avenue store.

That's because the stolen tanks can be used used to make methamphetamine--but they could be also be used in explosives.

The APD says between New Years and January 13th, thieves made off with a total of 22-tanks, the kind people use in their gas grills.

Surveillance video has given investigators the description of a vehicle possibly involved in the thefts, a 2008 or '09 burgundy -and-black Volkswagon Jetta.

(WSB Radio)  There's a warning out from police in Woodstock.

"We're urging citizens to lock up their vehicles, if they are parked outside overnight" says police spokeswoman Brittany Duncan,  "and to take all valuables out of plain view."

Duncan says someone has been breaking into people's cars, mostly in residential areas. 

"They're primarily targeting unlocked cars," Duncan tells WSB.  "They're stealing things such as electronics, any cash in the vehicles, any loose change in the vehicles, and credit cards."

The thieves tried using a stolen credit card, attempting to purchase an Xbox with it.  That purchase was declined. 

The crooks, described as two men and a woman, are in their 20's and may be driving a white Ford Taurus or Mercury Sable.

(WSB Radio) -- A DeKalb County Commissioner says she had no idea Gwinnett County had sworn out for warrants for her arrest for writing bad checks.

But when Sharon Barnes Sutton found herself in a fender bender on LaVista Road Wednesday, the investigating officer informed her of the warrants and advised her to check with authorities soon.

"Questions have arisen as to an incident involving one of our local commissioners  and actions one of my police officers took," said William Miller head of DeKalb's Department of Public Safety.  "That incident is under review.  I do not have any answers as to why the officer took the action that he did."

Late Thursday, a Gwinnett judge dismissed the warrants against Sutton. 

"I had no knowledge, and I didn't write - everything didn't happen at one time," Sutton told Channel 2 Action News.

The charges stemmed from when Sutton wrote four bad checks - each for $300 to $400 - at the Costco in Duluth in January 2007.

Sutton said she paid Costco the $1000 in cash Thursday. 

Sutton, who lives in Stone Mountain, won election to the commission in 2008 and serves on the budget committee.  She teaches business and career technology for DeKalb schools.

17-year-old David Gormley has been charged with four counts of felony eavesdropping and is free on $40,000 dollars bond.

Lt. Tony Wooten with the Dawson County Sheriff's Department told WSB's Jennifer Griffies "we believe the phone was put on the video mode and placed in areas where it could be concealed and face the toilet itself in the bathrooms to videotape potential people that came in to the restroom."

Dawson deputies have identified a dozen victims, four under the age of 16. Investigators say several other people caught on video have not been identified.

The illegal surveillance took place at the Chic-fil-A on Georgia 400 at Highway 53, the Grace Community Church in Dawsonville and at Gormley's home.

Gormley was fired by the fast food restaurant. Lt. Wooten said there is no evidence the teenager distributed the videos online or via text message.

Meriwether County sheriff Steve Whitlock told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday that the 12-year-old boy told his teacher about the killing. The teacher reported it to the Division of Family and Child Services, who contacted police.

The pet's death allegedly took place at the family's Warm Springs home.

Whitlock said 38-year-old Lynn Middlebrooks Geter faces one charge each of animal cruelty, child cruelty and battery.

He said she was arrested Friday and remained in the Meriwether County jail Thursday evening. It was not immediately known if she had a lawyer.

Meriwether County is located about 90 minutes southwest of Atlanta.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

NEW YORK (AP) If it wasn't already official enough by airtime Thursday, ``Tonight Show'' host Conan O'Brien left no doubt that he is leaving.

He did it, of course, with jokes.

In his monologue, he apologized to the guests he had scheduled for next week, including President Barack Obama, the Queen of England and ``our good friend, Elvis Presley.''

He confided that his separation from the network meant ``NBC dropped off all my CDs and picked up its lava lamp.''

And he shared some unusual terms of the agreement, including his returning ``the Etch-A-Sketch my contract was written on,'' and that, ``Effective today, NBC will stop paying for (announcer) Andy Richter's medical marijuana.''

But seriously, folks: With Thursday's show, O'Brien was just one day away from bidding NBC good riddance in a $45 million deal for his exit from ``The Tonight Show,'' while leaving his immediate future in television a question mark.

The contentious two-week battle that would allow NBC to unseat O'Brien (and move Jay Leno back to the program he hosted for 17 years) came less than eight months after O'Brien took the ``Tonight'' throne from Leno.

Under the deal, O'Brien will get more than $33 million, NBC said. The rest will go to his 200-strong staff in severance.

What happens next for O'Brien?

``We don't know,'' said his manager, Gavin Polone. ``While we have had expressions of interest, we have not had any substantive conversations with anybody.''

Ideally, said Polone, O'Brien ``wants to get back on the air, doing the show he's doing now, as soon as possible.''

There has been much speculation on where that might be. ABC (which airs ``Nightline'' and ``Jimmy Kimmel Live!'') has said it wasn't interested, while Fox, which lacks a network late-night show, expressed appreciation for his show but nothing more. Comedy Central has also been mentioned as a future home.

Meanwhile, O'Brien might conceivably conduct off-camera business with his soon-to-be-ex-bosses.

``We do have a continuing development relationship with Conan's (production) company,'' said Marc Graboff, chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. ``So we still keep the door open.''

Leno, whose weeknight prime-time hour ends Feb. 11 after just five lackluster months, will return to ``Tonight'' on March 1.

Noting O'Brien's imminent departure from NBC, Leno reminded his audience Thursday night, ``I have chosen to stay on the Titanic,'' then added hopefully, ``I don't believe the iceberg is that big.''

He will continue to tape from the same Burbank stage where currently he hosts his prime-time show. The staff of ``The Jay Leno Show'' is expected to be kept mostly intact with the transition to ``Tonight.''

Leno's viewer appeal will also prove intact when he resumes his rivalry with CBS host David Letterman, predicts Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment.

``We believe Leno will be very competitive right away,'' he said, ``and that over time Leno will be the late-night leader again.''

Compensation for O'Brien's staff and crew was the final hurdle in negotiations between NBC and O'Brien. O'Brien was said to have been ``dug in'' on the issue out of concern for the workers, while NBC said this week that it had already agreed to pay ``millions of dollars to compensate every one of them'' and deemed it a public relations ``ploy.''

On Wednesday night's show, speaking of a push to get a severance deal for his staff from NBC, O'Brien joked, ``At first they thought I was gullible. They said the staff would be taken to a big farm, where they'd be allowed to run free forever.''

Clearly, the differences were worked out.

``Conan appreciated what NBC did to take care of his staff and crew, and decided to supplement the severance they were getting from the network out of his own pocket,'' Polone said.

O'Brien will be free to start another TV job after Sept. 1, NBC said. His final show will be Friday, with Tom Hanks scheduled to appear as well as Will Ferrell his first guest when O'Brien debuted as ``Tonight'' host last June.

O'Brien landed the ``Tonight'' show after successfully hosting ``Late Night,'' which airs an hour later, since 1993. But he quickly stumbled in the ratings race against Letterman. Under Leno, the ``Tonight'' show had been the ratings champ at 11:35 p.m. Eastern, but he proved an instant flop with his experiment in prime time.

Last week, NBC announced that the five-hour vacancy in prime time left by Leno will be filled by scripted and reality fare calculated to bring NBC affiliates a more robust lead-in audience for their local news than Leno had been delivering. A provisional slate of shows will include new and veteran NBC dramas, a comedy panel series produced by Jerry Seinfeld, and ``Dateline NBC.''

It had been no secret that the 46-year-old O'Brien was scoring puny ratings numbers on ``Tonight,'' averaging 2.5 million nightly viewers, compared with 4.2 million for Letterman's ``Late Show,'' according to Nielsen figures.

It was even more obvious that ``The Jay Leno Show,'' airing weeknights at 10 p.m. Eastern, was a disaster. Mostly justified by the network for its bargain-basement production budget, it not only was critically slammed but also found a disappointing popular response. It has averaged 5.3 million nightly viewers since its fall debut about the same number that watched Leno's final ``Tonight'' season, in a time slot when far fewer viewers are available. By comparison, the season's top-rated 10 p.m. network drama, CBS' ``The Mentalist,'' has an average audience of 17 million.

But few observers expected the abrupt upheaval that erupted publicly just two weeks ago, when two Web sites posted unsourced stories that the 59-year-old Leno's show would soon be canceled or moved into O'Brien's late-night domain.

Days later, NBC executives unveiled a plan to restore Leno to 11:35 p.m. with a half-hour program, then slide O'Brien's ``Tonight Show'' to 12:05 a.m., followed by ``Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,'' also pushed back a half-hour.

Disgruntled affiliate stations, which have lost viewers and advertising revenue for their late local newscasts since ``The Jay Leno Show'' premiered, appeared to spur NBC's sudden changes. The 210 local NBC stations saw their late news audience drop, on average, by 25 percent in November compared with the previous year among desirable 25- to 54-year-old viewers, with the Leno experiment costing the stations collectively $22 million over a three-month period, according to the research firm Harmelin Media.

In a clear vote of no confidence, some rebellious stations were threatening to drop ``The Jay Leno Show'' and air their own programming.

The network had been counting on O'Brien's cooperation, and wanted an answer quickly, so it could have the reconfigured lineup ready to launch after the Winter Olympics, which will dominate NBC's schedule from Feb. 12-28. But O'Brien threw a wrench into NBC's plans, and triggered a public relations firestorm for the network, when he issued a statement rejecting the offer to delay his show to make room for Leno's return.

The escalating mess furnished plenty of material for jokes by competitors of Leno and O'Brien, as well as the two NBC hosts at its center, who bashed each other and their network.

On Wednesday's monologue, Leno said the rainy weather in California ``couldn't have come at a worse possible time. Today was the day NBC was supposed to burn down the studio for the insurance money.''

A couple of hours later, O'Brien cracked, ``I should have known something was up when NBC sent me that 2010 calendar that only went up to January.''

Online, many leaped to O'Brien's defense and applauded his stand against NBC. ``Team Conan'' became a popular Twitter topic for viewers who pledged their allegiance to O'Brien.

For many observers, this clash of talk-show hosts recalled the late-night follies played out by NBC in the early 1990s as the network wavered confoundingly over who Letterman or Leno should inherit ``The Tonight Show'' from Johnny Carson.

The current revival was set in motion nearly six years ago, in what was hatched by NBC executives as a farsighted strategy to ensure an orderly transition.

In the fall of 2004, the network announced that O'Brien would take over for Leno in 2009. That move by NBC endorsed by Leno, despite his clear aversion to leaving ``Tonight'' was designed to keep O'Brien from jumping ship when his contract expired. As years passed and Leno strengthened his grip as the late-night ratings leader, NBC anguished over how to keep him usefully occupied on the network elsewhere than ``Tonight,'' and safely out of reach of rival networks who were courting him.

In late 2008, the network caught the public and the industry by surprise with its virtually unprecedented scheme: a new Leno hour ``stripped'' in prime time from Monday through Friday.

``A lot of people were shocked,'' Leno joked to reporters when the plan was announced. ``They didn't know NBC still had a prime time.''

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

"We are volunteering our aircraft. We are dropping off some medical staff and then picking up staff persons who have been over there doing some relief work. And, the hope is to bring back some orphans who are already up for adoption," said Taylor.

Eight people will arrive in Haiti and then eight aid workers and eight children will fly back.

"Our president and vice president, Pat and Janice Vinson, overheard a conversation at church and decided to offer whatever assistance they could to get people there. This is their way of giving back because they feel so blessed," said Taylor.

KidsRKids, headquartered in Duluth, was founded in 1985 has 166 offices around the country, 50 in Atlanta.

(Port de Paix, Haiti) -- I sit on the roof of an orphanage in the north Hatian town of Port de Paix. As the sun set magnificently this evening, I could see the mountains to the west and south and to the north, the narrow waterway that separates Haiti from Tortuga. This is a land of breathtaking beauty. It is also a land of soul-wrenching poverty and desperate need.

I came to Haiti aboard a Pilatus P-12, a high-performance, single-engine aircraft made to operate out of rough, unimproved airstrips the world over. I can't think of an airstrip rougher or more unimproved than the dirt and gravel runway here in Port de Paix. The aircraft's owner, David McInnis of Belleview, Washington, volunteered both his time and his plane for this dangerous duty. But he admits he didn't expect this: on short final into the 2200-foot long strip, he suddenly spots a boy and a donkey wandering onto the runway. The boy scrambles out of the way of the landing plane. The donkey slowly meanders out of the propeller's path scant seconds before touchdown.

Welcome to Haiti.

As the plane rolls off the runway and onto a makeshift ramp, it's surrounded by more than a hundred Haitians. Some are curious at seeing an advanced airplane like the P-12. Some are anxious to see what it brings to them. A police officer shoos them away, but they return, unable to restrain themselves.

I've come to Haiti with a team of church members from Colorado. They're here to help repair the damage sustained by the Lashbrook Ministries orphanage and chapel. Even here, 90 miles north of the quake's epicenter, there is noticeable damage. Inside the chapel, support beams are deeply cracked and will have to be replaced.

"It's a lot of work," says one of the Coloradoans. But then, that's why he's here.

Things move fast here in Port de Paix. Upon landing, we were told we would go to the town's two hospitals, both overrun with injured quake refugees. But after a bouncy ride through the cobblestone streets of Port de Paix to the orphanage and the home of Minister Keith Lashbrook, our hosts say it's simply too late in the day.

"It's okay to walk between the orphanage and my house after dark," Lashbrook explains. "But I wouldn't go any further than that. Not after dark."

Two of the Coloradoans shake their heads. They're paramedics. They know time lost could mean lives lost. The medicines we brought from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, thanks to a program called Corporate Aircraft Responding to Emergencies (CARE), are desperately needed.

"Three or four days after the big quake, they come," says Pastor Cellouis Andy, an associate of Minister Lashbrook's. "People were burned or had broken arms or other parts of the body. They come."

They come by the busloads, simply dumped here in Port de Paix. They're refugees from Port-au-Prince, many of them wounded in the tremendous quake that destroyed much of the Haitian capital last week. They come by car, although that's terribly expensive. Andy says some have even walked the 90 miles from Port-au-Prince.

"We don't have enough doctors, nurses, we don't even have enough medical supplies," says Andy.

That's a sentiment echoed by Minister Lashbrook. Seeing me writing a text message on my cell phone, he asks me to message Robin Eissler, the CARE dispatcher (referred to here simply as The Miracle Worker) and ask when the next plane will arrive and what it will bring. She responds a moment later, saying the next plane in comes tomorrow, but it won't carry the medicine Port de Paix needs.

"That's bad," Lashbrook says, rubbing his malaria-numbed left hand. "We need that medicine. People are dying because they don't have it."

I text Robin again. From her office in Austin, Texas, she writes back, "There's no more medicine at the hangar. Do you have any resources?"

Who, me?

I discuss this with the Coloradoans for a few moments. They're all writing home to see if their spouses can send antibiotics and pain medicines. They say they cleaned out the pharmacy at the Wal-Mart in Longmont before they left, so they're not sure where to turn.

"Won't the UN and the NGO's (non-governmental organizations - charities like the Red Cross and Salvation Army) get medicine here if it's needed that badly?" I ask.

Lashbrook gives me the stinkeye. "Not when we need it," he says sardonically. He says he's learned through bitter experience that aid sent to Port-au-Prince rarely makes it this far north. The refugees make it, he says, but the medicine doesn't. That, he says, is the way things work here.

It's late up here on the roof. The stars twinkle above, unhindered by the brightness of lights you would find in an American city this size. This is indeed another world, beautiful on one hand, but frighteningly alien on the other. A dog wanders up to the roof and looks at me indifferently.

Welcome to Haiti, he seems to say. Then, with an almost bored expression, he curls up on the concrete beside me and goes to sleep.

(WSB Radio) A second driver possibly involved in Wednesday's deadly accident in front of Stone Mountain High School is talking to DeKalb County Police.

Spokeswoman Mekka Parish tells WSB a 17-year-old Stone Mountain High School student, who was driving a BMW, who may have contributed to the crash is being questioned.

"The driver of that BMW did contact our detectives.  They're continuing to talk with him as well as witnesses in trying to determine his level of involvement, if any involvement, in this accident," said Parish.

The driver of the Crown Vic, 17-year-old Shaeed Saunders, has not been charged so far, but that could change. "The range of charges for the driver of that Crown Vic are vehicular homicide, reckless driving, and possibly passing improperly," said Parish.

They also think that Saunders was speeding.  "Our detectives do believe he was traveling at a high rate of speed when he was attempting to pass that BMW.  How that speeding will factor into those charges is yet to be determined," said Parish.

Is it possible that the two Stone Mountain High School students were drag racing?

"At this point, our detectives are looking into all scenarios as possible contributors to that accident," said Parish.

14-year-old Tanesha Williams was killed when the Crown Vic lost control on Central Avenue, ran up onto the sidewalk, and hit her and two other students.  14-year-old Brianna Rowell and her brother 16-year-old Benjamin Omozusi remain hospitalized.

1/21/10

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- Now that three days of budget hearings have wrapped up at the State Capitol, lawmakers must now decide how to balance the needs of the state versus its dwindling revenue.

On Thursday, budget writers heard from the state's social services departments most of which are all facing cuts.

Department of Human Resources Commissioner BJ Walker is facing $150 million in cuts for personnel services in the 2011 budget.

"The choice is either furloughs or layoffs," says Walkers whose employees have already taken 12 furlough days so far and now face three additional ones this year.

"I've done that with the full cooperation of my staff by asking them... and it's been complete every time they want furloughs rather than layoffs," she says.

In the Department of Community Health, Commissioner Rhonda Meadows told budget writers that no amount of furloughs or layoffs will help fill a $506 million gap in Medicaid funding.

"I've honestly done my homework again and again, and I cannot find $506 million to fill that hole," she says.

She says she would support any new revenue source including a proposal by Gov. Perdue for a 1.6 percent fee for hospitals and managed care companies.

The one department with proposed increases to its budget in both 2010 and 2011 is Behavioral Health as the state tries to meet the requirements of a federal court order to improve services in mental health.

"We have in the budget enough to meet our obligations under that agreement," Commissioner Frank Shelp tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.

He says more than money, his department needs a professionally trained and organized workforce.

Shelp says the announcement this week of the partial closing of the mental hospital in Milledgeville is due to the dwindling number of patients.

(WSB Radio)  The Marietta Police Department issues a BOLO for a missing 13 year old. She may be in danger.

Jennifer De-Anda, 13 years of age, was reported missing to the Marietta Police Department. She was last seen in the area of Richard Street in Marietta. Jennifer De-Anda's mother suspects her daughter is involved with a gang and is possibly being sexually exploited.

She was last seen wearing a blue Marietta Middle School t-shirt, gray pants, and black boots. She is of medium build and is approximately 5'01". She also has a tongue piercing.

Anyone with information about Jennifer or knows of her whereabouts is encouraged to contact Detective Mark Erion with the Marietta Police Department at (770) 794-5363 or call the confidential Tip Line (770) 794-6990.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- Georgia wins a small victory in its water wars with Alabama and Florida. 

The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a motion by the two states to dismiss Georgia's appeal of a July ruling that said Lake Lanier cannot be used a drinking source for metro Atlanta.

The decision may mean the 11th Circuit will hear Georgia's arguments in the case.

Gov. Perdue appealed last summer's ruling while at the same time vowing to work with Alabama and Florida to come up with a water sharing agreement.

Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley says the ruling should only help Georgia in its negotiations.

"The more Alabama and Florida see the potential for this ruling to be overturned, they've got to think that a long term solution is in their best interest," says Brantley.

Last month following a meeting with the three governors in Alabama, Perdue said the states are close to reaching an agreement.

Tanesha Williams, a 14-year-old freshman, was walking with friends Wednesday afternoon near the 4600 block of Central Drive when a driver apparently lost control of his vehicle and veered onto the sidewalk, according to DeKalb police.

Photo: AJC

Another female and male student were also struck.

The driver of the car, Shaheed Saunders, 17, was also injured. It is unclear as whether the driver was also a student.

Investigators tell WSB's Richard Sangster that Saunders apparently took a curve too fast, illegally passed another driver and lost control of his dark green Crown Victoria.

Tanesha was quiet and reserved, her friend said Thursday.

Alexandria Stamper, 14, said she met Tanesha in the sixth grade at Stone Mountain Middle School.

"I was the only person she would talk to," Stamper told the Alanta Journal Constitution as she was walking to school Thursday morning. "She was a very cool person when you got to know her."

"I think she didn't really feel that good about herself. She looked up to me. I would encourage her whenever I saw her to hold her head up because she was always walking like she was sad," Stamper said.

Stamper picked up a teddy bear Thursday morning and added it to a memorial for Williams that students had erected at the accident site.

(WSB Radio)  Former North Carolina Senator and presidential candidate John Edwards has admitted he is the father of a baby born to a woman with whom he had an affair.

In a written statement released to various media outlets Edwards, who was the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate in 2004, admitted paternity of the girl, born two years ago to Rielle Hunter, a woman who worked for the Edwards presidential campaign. 

Edwards statement:

"I am Quinn's father. I will do everything in my power to provide her with the love and support she deserves. I have been able to spend time with her during the past year and trust that future efforts to show her the love and affection she deserves can be done privately and in peace.

It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter and hopefully one day, when she understands, she will forgive me. I have been providing financial support for Quinn and have reached an agreement with her mother to continue providing support in the future.

To all those I have disappointed and hurt these words will never be enough, but I am truly sorry."

A former Edwards aide, Andrew Young, initially claimed paternity of the child shortly before the 2008 presidential primary contests began. Young is scheduled to release a book on Feb. 2 that details the scandal

(WSB Radio) A chain of dental clinics , which includes offices in Georgia, will fork over millions of dollars to settle charges against it.

The Justice Department claims Small Smiles Clinics did substandard work on kids.

Forba Holdings, the parent company of Small Smiles, will pay $24 million to settle the charges.  They've also agreed to monitoring by the FBI for the next five years.

Small Smiles has clinics in 21 states, treating mostly Medicaid patients.

The complaint from federal investigators is that the work done on the children was shoddy and, at times, unnecessary.

(WSB Radio) A Smyrna man has been charged with severely beating his infant child.  Smyrna Police Officer Michael Smith tells WSB they began an investigation five months ago when the mother of the infant came to pick the child up from the father on August 1st, and found him severely injured.

"The child received fractures to both wrists - arm regions, the right leg, also received several fractured ribs and multiple bruises around the face, head, ears, around the back, and the chest region as well," said Smith.

23-year-old Markice Anthony Moore, who has been charged with felony child cruelty, turned himself in on Wednesday.

The child is now in the custody of its mother.

"I've been doing the job for approximately ten years now, and I have never seen a child that has ever been injured to that extent," said Smith.

(WSB Radio)  A former Paulding County middle school teacher is arrested on sex charges. 

Authorities don't know how long the relationship between 40-year-old Shanna Detwieler and a 14-year-old boy lasted.

"The investigators are describing the activity, or the action, in this incident as inappropriate sexual conduct," says Corporal Brandon Gurley with the Paulding County Sheriff's Office.  "She's been charged with one count of child molestation and one count of sexual battery."

Gurley tells WSB the incident did not occur on school grounds and the boy was not her student.

There's no indication, at this point, that this relationship stemmed from any school activity or school relationship," says Gurley.

(WSB Radio)  The idea of trolleys in Atlanta is a topic of discussion in Washington, thanks to one high placed backer of the proposal.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed will meet today with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and will join other mayors in meeting with President Obama.

The mayor says his top goal is to get money for the Peachtree Streetcar Project.

"As it relates to Atlanta, I came here to do one thing," Reed says.  "And that is to see that Atlanta gets its fair share of federal dollars that are being deployed throughout the country.

"What I want Washington to do is to make that, as they make spending decisions to deploy stimulus funds, that we have a direct opportunity to receive those funds at the city level as opposed to sending those dollars to the state."

Reed is in the nation's capital for the National Mayor's Conference.

The mayor sees the trolleys as more than just a transportation project, but as economic development.

"If we fund the Peachtree streetcar, as I'm working to do, that would generate between 1400 and 1800 jobs within the next 24 months."

MILTON, Ga. (AP) Police say a suspect who burglarized a Milton home liked the location so much that he returned later in the day and tried to break in a second time.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Wednesday that 22-year-old David Hughes has been charged with burglary, attempted burglary and first-degree forgery.

Police say a 15-year-old resident overheard the alleged burglar talking on the phone downstairs around 3 p.m. on Jan. 9.

The teenager apparently recognized the man's voice as that of Hughes, who was a former family friend. Police said the teen called his parents but the suspect left before they arrived.

Hughes, who was arrested Friday, is accused of returning to the home about two hours later.

The homeowners discovered that several blank personal checks were missing and one of them was cashed by Hughes.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ATLANTA (AP) The state's biggest court system will soon grapple with budget cuts that could top $2 million.

But Fulton County judicial leaders said Wednesday they are grateful that the county commission didn't cut the system deeper. They worried cuts that could have exceeded $4 million would have forced major reductions in pretrial programs that focused on defendants with problems with drugs and mental health.

The county's judicial leaders have launched an unusually aggressive effort to sway lawmakers, including posting fliers around the courthouse with signs announcing the courts are closed below a caption that reads ``Think It Can't Happen Here?''

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio) -- The head of the Georgia Department of Revenue wants to know how a woman with a criminal record got a job in his agency.

The employee in question, Lisa Michele Darden, is charged with stealing a check worth $27,000 from the department.

"It goes on, it's human nature," said Commissioner Bart Graham.  "You put people around money and in desparate times, they'll do desparate things."

Graham declined to say how his agency discovered the theft.  Dardenw as working in the state processing center which handles tax refunds, returns and payments.

Darden has a criminal history.  Her record shows more than a dozen arrests in the past 15 years.  She's pled guilty to charges of theft and forgery and was on probation during this most recent arrest.

"She clearly shouldn't have been working here in the first place if everything had been forthright and accurate on the front end," Graham said.  "We'll deal with that as we go through the relationship no only with that temp agency but all the temp agencies."

The Department of Revenue uses several temp agencies to recruit temporary workers.  Graham says the agencies are supposed to conduct criminal background checks on all applicants. 

It is unclear if that was done for Darden or if the woman provided false information on her application.  The department does employ its own full time criminal investigators who check employees for criminal history and tax problems annually.

WASHINGTON (AP) Wounded in Massachusetts, frustrated Democrats on Wednesday urged the White House to focus on jobs and the economy not the health care overhaul that's now at risk and pressed President Barack Obama to more forcefully make their case against Republicans ahead of potentially disastrous elections this fall.

On the day after the improbable Senate election of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts, Obama and his Democratic Party raced to re-evaluate their midterm election strategy, adjust their health care approach and assuage an angry electorate. The embarrassing defeat to the GOP in a Democratic stronghold was a bitter end to the president's first year in office, and it triggered furious party soul-searching.

``I would like the Democratic Party as a whole including its leader, the president, to speak clearly about the differences and to define those differences,'' Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Senate Democrats' campaign effort, told The Associated Press. And it's not just about Republicans and Democrats, he said: ``We have to do a much better job of both engaging and delivering to independent voters.''

Obama himself owned up to a failure to communicate.

In a year of hopping from crisis to crisis, he told ABC News, ``we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values.''

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., put it more simply, assessing the message Massachusetts sent. ``Economy, economy, economy,'' she said.

``We need a jobs bill. We need short-term, focused strategies to create jobs, real fast,'' said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. ``If the dominant message isn't about jobs and spending, we'll be making a difficult challenge exponentially more difficult.''

At the Capitol, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., declared, ``If there's anybody in this building that doesn't tell you they are more worried about elections today, you should absolutely slap them.''

Indeed, there was a grim sense among Democrats that if the GOP could win in a traditionally deeply liberal state, Massachusetts, it could probably win anywhere.

Said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.: ``Every state is now in play.''

Democrats still have majority control of both the House and Senate. But Tuesday's GOP upset for the seat long held by the Sen. Edward Kennedy following Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey last fall for Democratic-held gubernatorial seats was a sign of serious trouble this fall. Even when the economy is strong, the party holding the White House historically loses seats in midterms.

Despite the loss that gave Republicans a 41st vote in the 100-seat Senate, neither Democrats nor most Republicans said they thought control of Congress could be up for grabs. But both parties expect big Republican gains, and fewer Democratic seats would make it more difficult for Obama to pass his agenda.

``I'm not under any illusion that we can take anything for granted. We have to fight,'' said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.

On the anniversary of his inauguration, Obama faced a need to reevaluate both his policy specifically his endangered health care plan and his politics in a White House stunned by a shift in the mood of the electorate from just a year earlier. Voters were hopeful and supportive then. They are cranky and belligerent now. Of utmost concern: independent voters who have fled to the GOP after a year of Wall Street bailouts, enormous budget deficits and partisan wrangling over health care.

``The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office. People are angry, and they're frustrated. Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years,'' Obama told ABC in an interview.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters: ``That anger is now pointed at us because we're in charge. And rightly so.''

From the White House to Capitol Hill, Democrats appeared more determined than devastated after the Massachusetts outcome as they huddled to chart a new way forward.

Obama's sweeping health care overhaul was the most urgent matter at hand.

The president and his fellow Democrats wrestled with options now that they were one vote shy of the 60-vote Senate supermajority they were counting on to block Republican delaying tactics.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declared the overall measure dead and added: ``The president ought to take this as a message to recalibrate how he wants to govern, and if he wants to govern from the middle we'll meet him there.''

In light of Brown's victory, Obama said it's time to come together around a bill that can draw Republican support, too.

``The people of Massachusetts spoke,'' Obama said in the interview.

Said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: ``We will move forward with their considerations in mind, but we will move forward.''

Just how remained to be seen.

In the longer term, Democrats said the White House should do more to reduce unemployment, given that economists expect joblessness to remain near 10 percent through November.

The White House already has begun pivoting to a jobs agenda, and Gibbs said of the president: ``We will have him continue to focus on the economy and jobs.''

Several Democratic officials characterized the party rank-and-file lawmakers as frustrated by a seeming White House hesitation to get involved in high-stakes races until it's too late, like the Senate race in Massachusetts as well as the Virginia and New Jersey contests last fall.

These Democrats, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid angering the White House, say there's a sense that Obama and his advisers are too cautious and more focused on his 2012 fortunes than on helping Democratic candidates get elected in 2010. They want Obama to use his White House perch to embrace his role as Democratic Party chief.

``There's no doubt that the White House, which has a big megaphone, needs to make sure that the contrasts are very clear to the public,'' Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the House Democrats' campaign committee, told the AP.

To be sure, Obama has started laying out a sharper contrast with Republicans by hammering them for opposing his proposed bank bailout tax. He's sought to paint Democrats on the side of taxpayers and Republicans on the side of special interests and Wall Street, trying out that pitch when he rushed to Boston in an effort to save Democrat Martha Coakley. It didn't work in just two days.

Said Menendez: ``We knew we had a winning argument. We just got it too late in Massachusetts.''

Despite Coakley's loss, Democrats urged their House and Senate candidates to embrace Obama's Wall Street vs. Main Street contrast to tap into voter anger.

Senate Democrats were examining their campaigns to ensure messages are calibrated to the volatile electorate and candidates are focused on jobs, the economy and spending. An edict went out from Menendez that candidates should aggressively define themselves as change agents and their Republican opponents as representing a step backward.

Republicans, for their part, reveled in Brown's victory. They have found what they believe is a surefire recipe for GOP candidates to win against a popular president focus on opposition to his policies, downplay overtly political Republican ties, and embrace voter anger with populist appeals to ride an antiestablishment wave.

Associated Press Writers Jennifer Loven, Laurie Kellman, Ben Evans, Sam Hananel, Larry Margasak, and Jim Abrams contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio) -- The Georgia Department of Labor reports that the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 10.3 percent in December, matching the record high reported last July.

The jobless rate was up two-tenths of a percentage point from 10.1 percent in November.

The December jobless rate was up 2.8 percentage points from 7.5 percent at this same time last year. The national adjusted unemployment rate is 10.0 percent. For 24 of the last 25 months, Georgia's unemployment rate has exceeded the national unemployment rate. And, since the recession began in December 2007, Georgia's workforce has shrunk by 121,257 or 2.5 percent, from 4,823,467 to 4,702,210. 

The number of payroll jobs in December decreased 175,000, or 4.3 percent, from December of 2008. The metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of job losses during the same period are Dalton, down 6.0 percent; Valdosta, down 5.8 percent and Macon, down 5.5 percent. The metropolitan areas with the smallest percentage of job losses are Rome, down 0.8 percent, Warner Robins, down 1.6 percent; and Albany, down 1.9 percent. Only Hinesville showed an increase in jobs, up 100, or 0.5 percent. Statewide, the over-the-year losses came in trade, transportation and utilities, manufacturing, construction, and professional and business services. On a positive note, educational and health services added 11,200 jobs over the year.

The recall by Graco Children's Products Inc. includes certain model numbers of its Passage, Alano and Spree Strollers and Travel Systems. The Atlanta company received seven reports of children placing their fingers in a stroller's canopy hinge as the canopy was being opened or closed. Five children had their fingertips severed and two children received cuts on their fingertips.

The strollers were made in China by Graco and sold at AAFES, Burlington Coat Factory, Babies R Us, Toys R Us, Kmart, Fred Meyer, Meijer, Navy Exchange, Sears, Target, Wal-Mart and other retailers nationwide from October 2004 to December 2009.

In announcing the recall Wednesday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said the strollers pose an amputation and laceration hazard to children when opening or closing the canopy. The company advised consumers to stop using the strollers and contact Graco to receive free protective hinge covers.

The recall involves strollers made between October 2004 and February 2008. The model numbers and manufacture dates are on the lower inside portion of the rear frame, just above the rear wheels.

The recalled strollers have been on the market for five years. But Graco said in a statement Wednesday it has moved quickly to provide a corrective measure and is working closely with the safety commission.

This is the second major recall in recent months of strollers that led to fingertip amputations and injuries. Last November, about a million Maclaren strollers were recalled after there were 12 reports of children's fingertips being amputated by a hinge mechanism.

The safety commission is now examining all strollers with the designs that have caused the fingertip amputations, said spokesman Scott Wolfson.

``CPSC is taking a larger look at the entire product line to determine what steps need to be taken to keep children safe in and around strollers,'' he said.

For more information about the recalled strollers, consumers can call 800-345-4109 or visit http://www.cpsc.gov and http://www.gracobaby.com.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

``I kept thinking, what a pity to leave so early, with so little accomplished,'' Benito Revolus said, that miracle now a reality.

Despite a severely infected leg, a punctured lung and numerous gashes and bruises, Revolus' smile grew ever wider as he recounted his story, lying on the lawn of the damaged headquarters of Medecins Sans Frontieres or Doctors Without Borders, a French aid group.

``Sometimes, I still can't believe I'm here,'' Revolus said.

Revolus was being treated for a stab wound at another hospital and was lying in the middle of a three-level bunk bed when the earthquake hit Jan. 12, killing an estimated 200,000.

``I thought it was the end. The ceiling collapsed before I even understood what happened,'' Revolus said. Others in the room fled, but he couldn't because the top section of his bed collapsed on him, piercing through his left thigh and pinning him to the ground.

But the top bunk also provided the breathing space that kept him alive leaving him just enough to turn his chest around when the pain became unbearable.

Doctors typically consider three days the maximum time a seriously injured person losing blood can survive underground. But Revolus spent five days under several feet of rubble, with nothing to drink or eat. ``I got so, so hungry,'' he said, smiling again.

``That Benito got out of there was unusual,'' said Susan Shepherd of New York, the MSF coordinator in Haiti. ``He's a lucky guy.''

Revolus wasn't so surprised. ``I never completely lost hope,'' he said, though he acknowledged it was very difficult to remain optimistic when his shouts drew no response. And he knew that having no other survivors with him diminished his chances of rescue.

With nothing else to do, Revolus spent his lonely vigil praying and reflecting on his life. ``I thought about how sad my mum must be because of me,'' he said, adding he was certain he felt her prayers.

He also did an accounting of his good and bad deeds.

``I asked God to free me, and I promised him I wouldn't waste my second chance,'' said Revolus, who had initially been hospitalized after being stabbed in a fight over money.

His first step would be to forgive all old scores, he said, and then he pledged to ``never play at the lottery again.''

Revolus said tiny cracks in the debris helped him track the days, allowing him some idea of whether the sun was out or not.

He said it was just after dawn on the fifth day, Saturday, that God answered his prayers, and probably his mother's as well.

``I heard three taps from a hammer,'' he said, showing how he took a stone to tap back three times.

For the rest of the day, he heard a jackhammer, circular saws and pliers working. About 4 p.m., he heard a foreigner say in broken French: ``My friend, I'm here with other friends, and we're going to get you out.''

Five minutes later, someone lifted a slab above him and Revolus felt a rush of warm tropical light from Haiti's late afternoon sun.

``Then I saw a human face. It was a young white man, grinning,'' Revolus said. ``He said, 'Good afternoon,' and I answered, 'Thank you. Thank you.'''

He described the rescue team as American, with bright yellow uniforms and plastic helmets. The team began applauding, aware that finding someone alive so late in the rescue effort was a small miracle.

Since Saturday, a handful of others have been pulled out alive, including 69-year-old Ena Zizi, who was rescued from the Roman Catholic compound and flown to the Dominican Republic for treatment on Tuesday. The last confirmed rescue was overnight Tuesday, when Lozama Hotteline, 26, was pulled from a supermarket in midtown Port-au-Prince, smiling and singing hymns.

A Taiwanese team of rescuers was still busy Wednesday at a gas station where they had located two people alive the day before. But it rained overnight and a magnitude-5.9 tremor shook the Haitian capital in the morning. All this has made the debris more compact, said Dr. Yi Ting Tsai. The two survivors believed inside weren't giving any sign of life Wednesday, he said.

Revolus knows he's ``unbelievably lucky'' to have been dragged out. Once he can walk again, he hopes to be able to travel to the United States to meet the firefighters who saved him.

``I'd like to visit them to say thank you,'' Revolus said. ``And maybe they can also help me get a visa to live in America.''

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio)  A Marietta man has been charged in the murder of his two-year-old niece.  Marietta Police Officer Jennifer Murphy tells WSB they were called to a home on Franklin Road on Friday where they found the little girl unconscious.

"Once the officers arrived on the scene, they discovered a two-year-old female that appeared to be suffering from a head injury," said Murphy.

The child was taken to the hospital.

27-year-old Humberto Hernandez-Pineda, the child's uncle, was charged that night with cruelty to children and aggravated battery.  Charges were upgraded to felony murder when the child died on Monday.

Murphy would not say how the child died.

(WSB Radio) -- One teen has died, three others are hurt after they were hit walking home from Stone Mountain High School.

Tanesha Williams, 14, a freshman at the school died shortly after being taken to the hospital.

DeKalb County Police Spokeswoman Mekka Parish tells WSB three of them were hit while on the sidewalk.

"A car was traveling eastbound on Central Avenue and for unknown reasons, it lost control and struck three pedestrians," said Parish.

All three were taken to the hospital.  Two have moderate injuries, a teen girl is in critical condition.  The driver, a teen who may also be a student at Stone Mountain High School, was also taken to the hospital.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- State School Superintendent Kathy Cox is urging lawmakers to pass a bill that would give local school systems more flexibility in making decisions on class size and certain expenditures in an effort to deal with the state's budget crisis.

She told a joint session of House and Senate budget writers that the Department of Education is facing an additional $480 million in cuts this school year requiring three more furlough days for teachers.

"There isn't a school system out there that isn't going to find any of this incredibly difficult and of course... every teacher in the state no matter where they teach is feeling the effects of this," she tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.

Cox is pushing HB 908 that suspends certain requirements such as class size mandates for local systems through July 1, 2013.

"They need to be able to decide where's our priorities based on the data... where do we need to have class sizes of 21 and where could we possibly have class sizes of 27," she says.

Cox says had the department not received federal stimulus money last year, it would be another $417 million in the hole.

She says at least one school system in Georgia, Peach County, decided to go to four-day weeks this year in an effort to save money.  That was possible under legislation passed by lawmakers last year.  She says more school systems may be forced to do the same.

(WSB Radio)  The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention's plane is now being used to help get supplies and equipment into earthquake ravaged Haiti.

The CDC's Tom Skinner tells WSB's Sabrina GIbbons the plane has already made trips in and out of Port-Au-Prince and they plan to continue the trips through the weekend. The plane has been loaded with water, food, medicine and tents.

At this time, CDC recommends that U.S. travelers avoid all nonessential travel to Haiti. Conditions in Port-au-Prince remain hazardous.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta confirms  that one of its health workers assigned to Haiti, 31-year-old Diane Caves, has been missing since the earthquake. Caves has been working on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS relief in Haiti. She lives in Metro Atlanta with her husband, Jeff Caves. She hasn't been heard from since the quake.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) A strong earthquake has hit Haiti, shaking buildings and sending people running into the streets.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the preliminary 6.0 magnitude quake hit at 6:03 a.m. (1103 GMT) Wednesday about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince.

It says the quake struck at a depth of 13.7 miles (22 kilometers).

AP reporters in the Haitian capital say the temblor sent scores of people fleeing into the streets.

The pacific tsunami warning center said the earthquake was located too far inland to generate any tidal waves in the Caribbean.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio)  The woman who once headed the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP is under arrest, charged with embezzling from that organization.

Judith Hanson, former executive director of the local organization, is accused of taking $275,000.

The thefts were discovered in October.

According to police, officials with the local NAACP contacted them after an internal investigation indicated that a significant amount of money was unaccounted for.

After a police investigation, it was determined that Hanson and her aide had used the funds to pay off personal checks.  It was also discovered that Hanson and Saundra Douglass had applied for American Express cards fraudulently, then used the NAACP money to pay for them.

Police say the embezzlement took place over a six year period, with the two women doctoring the group's financial records to cover up the thefts.

The 67-year-old Hanson was arrested on Monday on charges of felony theft. The charges were upgraded to theft by deception, theft by conversion, credit card fraud and unauthorized use of a credit card.

(WSB Radio)  The Atlanta City Council is considering a sales tax increase to help finance public safety improvements.

The penny per dollar tax would go towards purchasing new fire trucks, police cars and improved safety equipment and facilities.

The council took up the proposal at their meeting Tuesday, but any such tax is still a few years off and still needs to go through a long process.

First the tax would have to win the approval of the city council and Mayor Kasim Reed.  After that, the measure would go before the state legislature. 

If it passes the legislature, then the proposal would be put on the ballot, as a referendum, for Atlanta voters in 2011.

If it reaches final approval, then the tax would be put into effect in 2012.

(WSB Radio)  Fulton County Police have arrested a man involved in a double shooting Tuesday afternoon at a home on Birdseye Trail.

"There's one subject, a 43 year old male, who's deceased," Officer Scott McBride tells WSB.  "There's one 42 year old female who was injured."

The woman, who was shot in the arm with the rifle, is expected to survive.  

20-year-old Steve Austin, who lived with the couple, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of homicide..

As for a motive, "at this point it's unclear," says McBride.  "We are still interviewing Mr. Austin and still investigating."

(WSB Radio)  Cobb County police are interviewing possible witnesses in the murder of a woman at an apartment. 

Just before 6 o'clock Tuesday night police  received a frantic call from a man who said he found his wife dead, in a pool of blood, in a unit at the Crescent Square Apartments on Austell Road.

"When officers arrived on the scene, they did discover the body of a female deceased inside the apartment," Cobb County Police Sergeant Dana Pierce tells WSB.

Police say they don't have a motive but they have several clues in the case because of things that happened prior to the murder. 

"We're going to be talking to those witnesses to determine what they observed was going on around here," Pierce says. 

 Several people, including the man who found the woman, were questioned.

(WSB Radio) -- Fulton County's budget problems ease. 

County Commission Chairman John Eaves says when the county first prepped the 2010 budget, it appeared the county would have cut spending by 16-percent.  Hundreds of employees were going to be laid off, programs were going to cut and county employees faced a four percent salary reduction.

"The news is much better now than it was a couple of months ago," Eaves said.

The county now has $42 million dollars in unexpected revenue from property taxes, interest income, and money left unspent by departments.

"We started [working on the budget] in November," Eaves said.  "We had to go with our best guestimates, and so we erred on the side of conservatism."

Commissioner Robb Pitts says the county should have known to expect the revenue.

"I was a little concerned that if the money was there we should have known without creating the hysteria that was created saying we're goinna have these massive layoffs," said Pitts.

Salaries in the 2010 budget will not be touched.  Only 50 jobs will be lost.  County departments will get back $26 million.

"This was an opportunity for us to right size Fulton County government," said Pitts.  "We still have too many employees, and what we're doing now is prolonging a problem we're going to have to deal with in the 2011 budget."

BOSTON (AP) In an epic upset in liberal Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown rode a wave of voter anger to win the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy for nearly half a century, leaving President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in doubt and marring the end of his first year in office.

Addressing an exuberant victory celebration Tuesday night, Brown declared he was ``ready to go to Washington without delay'' as the crowd chanted, ``Seat him now.'' Democrats indicated they would, deflating a budding controversy over whether they would try to block Brown long enough to complete congressional passage of the health care plan he has promised to oppose.

``The people of Massachusetts have spoken. We welcome Scott Brown to the Senate and will move to seat him as soon as the proper paperwork has been received,'' said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said he would notify the Senate on Wednesday that Brown had been elected.

The loss by the once-favored Democrat Martha Coakley in the Democratic stronghold was a stunning embarrassment for the White House after Obama rushed to Boston on Sunday to try to save the foundering candidate. Her defeat on Tuesday signaled big political problems for the president's party this fall when House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates are on the ballot nationwide.

Brown's victory was the third major loss for Democrats in statewide elections since Obama became president. Republicans won governors' seats in Virginia and New Jersey in November.

``I have no interest in sugarcoating what happened in Massachusetts,'' said Sen. Robert Menendez, the head of the Senate Democrats' campaign committee. ``There is a lot of anxiety in the country right now. Americans are understandably impatient.''

Brown will become the 41st Republican in the 100-member Senate, which could allow the GOP to block the president's health care legislation. Democrats needed Coakley to win for a 60th vote to thwart Republican filibusters. The trouble may go deeper: Democratic lawmakers could read the results as a vote against Obama's broader agenda, weakening their support for the president. And the results could scare some Democrats from seeking office this fall.

The Republican will finish Kennedy's unexpired term, facing re-election in 2012.

Brown led by 52 per cent to 47 percent with all but 3 percent of precincts counted. Turnout was exceptional for a special election in January, with light snow reported in parts of the state. More voters showed up at the polls Tuesday than in any non-presidential general election in Massachusetts since 1990.

One day shy of the first anniversary of Obama's swearing-in, the election played out amid a backdrop of animosity and resentment from voters over persistently high unemployment, Wall Street bailouts, exploding federal budget deficits and partisan wrangling over health care.

``I voted for Obama because I wanted change. ... I thought he'd bring it to us, but I just don't like the direction that he's heading,'' said John Triolo, 38, a registered independent who voted in Fitchburg.

He said his frustrations, including what he considered the too-quick pace of health care legislation, led him to vote for Brown.

For weeks considered a long shot, Brown seized on voter discontent to overtake Coakley in the campaign's final stretch. His candidacy energized Republicans, including backers of the ``tea party'' protest movement, while attracting disappointed Democrats and independents uneasy with where they felt the nation was heading.

A cornerstone of Brown's campaign was his promise to vote against the health care plan.

Though the president wasn't on the ballot, he was on many voters' minds.

Coakley called Brown conceding the race, and Obama talked to both Brown and Coakley, congratulating them on the race.

The Democrat said the president told her: ``We can't win them all.''

Brown will be the first Republican senator from Massachusetts in 30 years.

Even before the first results were announced, administration officials were privately accusing Coakley of a poorly run campaign and playing down the notion that Obama or a toxic political landscape had much to do with the outcome.

Coakley's supporters, in turn, blamed that very environment, saying her lead dropped significantly after the Senate passed health care reform shortly before Christmas and after the Christmas Day attempted airliner bombing that Obama himself said showed a failure of his administration.

Days before the polls closed, Democrats were fingerpointing and laying blame.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, head of the House Democrats' campaign effort, said Coakley's loss won't deter his colleagues from continuing to blame the previous administration.

``President George W. Bush and House Republicans drove our economy into a ditch and tried to run away from the accident,'' he said. ``President Obama and congressional Democrats have been focused repairing the damage to our economy.''

At Boston's Park Plaza Hotel, giddy Republicans cheered, chanted ``USA'' and waved the ``tea party'' version of the American flag.

Even before Brown won, the grass-roots network fueled by antiestablishment frustrations, sought credit for the victory, much like the liberal MoveOn.org did in the 2006 midterm elections when Democrats rose to power.

GOP chairman Michael Steele said Brown's ``message of lower taxes, smaller government and fiscal responsibility clearly resonated with independent-minded voters in Massachusetts who were looking for a solution to decades of failed Democrat leadership.''

Wall Street watched the election closely. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 116 points, and analysts attributed the increase to hopes the election would make it harder for Obama to make his changes to health care. That eased investor concerns that profits at companies such as insurers and drug makers would suffer.

Across Massachusetts, voters who had been bombarded with phone calls and dizzied with nonstop campaign commercials for Coakley and Brown gave a fitting turnout despite intermittent snow and rain statewide.

Galvin, who discounted sporadic reports of voter irregularities throughout the day, predicted turnout ranging from 1.6 million to 2.2 million, 40 percent to 55 percent of registered voters. The Dec. 8 primary had a scant turnout of about 20 percent.

Voters considered national issues including health care and the federal budget deficits.

Fears about spending drove Karla Bunch, 49, to vote for Brown. ``It's time for the country, for the taxpayers, to take back their money,'' she said. And Elizabeth Reddin, 65, voted for Brown because she said she was turned off by the Democrat's negative advertisements, saying: ``The Coakley stuff was disgusting.''

Liz Sidoti reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Beth Fouhy, Bob Salsberg, Steve LeBlanc, Karen Testa, Kevin Vineys and Stephanie Reitz also contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

WASHINGTON (AP) A stinging loss Tuesday in Massachusetts has cost President Barack Obama and the Democrats their 60-vote Senate majority, sending health care overhaul to the emergency room in fragile condition.

The president's top domestic initiative is not dead by any means, and leaders vowed to push ahead as if the damage could be repaired.

But rank-and-file Democrats splintered on how to save the bill even before the Massachusetts results were official. Republicans said don't even bother: The election of state senator Scott Brown sent a message that the health care bill should be scrapped.

Obama and party leaders anxiously worked through fallback options none good. The main idea involves persuading House Democrats to pass a Senate bill that many of them have serious problems with. Another alternative calls for Senate Democrats to promise to make changes to the bill later on.

After a year of improbable twists and turns, the unthinkable happened Tuesday. Democrats lost Edward M. Kennedy's seat to a Republican upstart, and with it faced the prospect of not being able to pass the legislation that was Kennedy's dream just when it seemed to be on the verge of enactment.

Democrats don't appear to have enough time to resolve differences between the House and Senate bills and get cost and coverage estimates back from the Congressional Budget Office before Brown is sworn in.

``How do we do it with 59?'' lamented liberal Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.

Independents turned against the sweeping health care legislation and the Democratic base lost its enthusiasm, Weiner continued. Democratic lawmakers must show they got the message by regrouping, considering a time-out on health care and perhaps passing a more modest bill, he argued.

Moderate Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., said the Senate should not hold any further votes on health care until Brown is seated.

But other Democrats said they feel the need to act even more urgently.

``There is only one guarantee that if we don't pass something the notion of trying to put Humpty Dumpty together again is a real long shot,'' said Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., son of the late senator. ``If you understand the legislative process, it's a lot easier to pass something and fix it later.''

The legislation would expand coverage to more than 30 million Americans now uninsured, while attempting to rein in health care costs.

But the defeat of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley leaves Obama and Democratic leaders facing a series decisions fraught with political risk. Democratic lawmakers would have to move in virtual lockstep to enact the bill, even as Republican opposition intensifies.

That could be too much to ask from rank-and-file Democrats demoralized by losing a seat held in an almost unbroken line by a Kennedy since 1953. Efforts to woo a Republican convert could increase. But with polls showing voters souring on health care overhaul the president could be abandoned by lawmakers of his own party.

The cleanest option calls for the House to quickly pass the Senate bill and send it to Obama for his signature. That ignores at least two significant problems.

Labor unions are adamantly opposed to an insurance tax in the Senate bill, and they successfully negotiated with Obama last week to weaken it in key respects. Second, a core group of anti-abortion Democrats says the Senate bill's provisions on restricting taxpayer funding for abortion are too weak.

On top of that, many House Democrats do not believe the Senate bill provides enough aid to make health insurance affordable.

``The Senate bill clearly is better than nothing,'' said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. He refused to speculate on whether House Democrats could be cajoled into voting for it without changes.

Before Tuesday's election results were in, rank-and-file Democrats were sending mixed signals on whether the House should try to pass the Senate bill, but only a handful rejected the idea outright.

``I think it's important for us to pass legislation. I haven't completely analyzed it myself, but if that's the only option in town, then maybe that's what we ought to do,'' said Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., who represents a swing state district.

But Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., sponsor of a House-passed provision restricting taxpayer funding for abortion, said he could not back the Senate bill.

House objections have led to a second fallback option: getting the Senate to accept changes to its bill as a condition for House passage. It involves a complicated legislative choreography that could take several weeks to play out.

Without 60 votes needed to overcome Republican delaying tactics, that strategy would require Senate Democratic leaders to use a special budget-related procedure to pass the changes with only 51 votes. It's guaranteed to enrage Republicans, and it's not clear that Senate Democratic leaders have political support to pull it off.

To complicate matters, additional legislation may be required to resolve disputes about abortion funding and illegal immigrants. In the meantime, the drumbeat from opponents of the legislation could be deafening.

Even more uncertain are the chances for persuading Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe to come along, since she opposed the Senate version.

Snowe, who supported a version of the Senate bill in committee, remains an intriguing figure in the endgame.

Obama called Snowe on Friday to discuss health care. They have spoken regularly and Gibbs said Obama continues trying to win her over.

Democratic congressional leaders put on a show of resolve. In 1994, Democrats failed to act on President Bill Clinton's health care package and lost control of Congress.

``Our goals remain the same,'' Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., said. ``Our strategy may vary but our goals remain the same.''

Associated Press writers Erica Werner, David Espo and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- A leader in the state Senate is ready to introduce legislation to overhaul Georgia's property tax system.

Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers says the bill includes some 40 changes to the state's current system.

Among the proposals is an automatic yearly assessment of all property rather than the current system of only when the property has been reassessed.

"This is extremely important because without that notice of assessment, you have no right to appeal," says Rogers.

He would also like to make the appeals process year-round. Currently an appeal must be filed within a certain amount of time of having received a notice of reassessment.

As far as valuations go, Rogers would like property to be taxed according to its purchase price during the first year.

"If you buy a house this year (in) a free and open market, arms length transaction... that's got to be the maximum assessed value for your next tax bill," he says.

When appealing a property's assessment, the bill calls for the board of appeals to make a unanimous decision if the assessment is raised.

Rogers says he's had input from both city and county government officials on the plan.

(WSB Radio) Raunchy gifts from a jury prompt the Supreme Court to intervene in a Georgia death-penalty case.

In a 5-4 ruling, the high court directed the federal appeals court to decide whether Marcus Wellons received a fair trial despite the fact that jurors sent a judge and a bailiff sexually explicit chocolates.

Wellons was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 15-year-old India Roberts in 1989.  She was a sophomore at Campbell High School.

WSB Legal Analyst Ron Carlson says death penalty cases are the most serious of all mitigations.

"We all wonder - what gave rise to jurors sending court officials a chocolate penis and breasts in a case involving rape," said Carlson.

Carlson says while Cobb County Superior Judge Mary Staley, who handled the case, may be able to supply a plausible explanation, a resolution is necessary.

"From beginning to end, judiciial proceedings conducted for the purpose of deciding whether a defendant shall be put to death, must be conducted with dignity and respect.  The disturbing facts of this case raise serious questions concerning the conduct of the trial," said Carlson.

1/19/10

Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, told a luncheon audience in Atlanta Tuesday he was impressed with how security forces limited casualties during the brazen attacks in Kabul, but acknowledged the attacks were impressive as well.

Seven Taliban militants assaulted the center of Kabul on Monday with suicide bombings and gun battles near the presidential palace and other government buildings. Twelve people were killed, including the attackers.

Still, Petraeus said the U.S. military is seeing some progress in Afghanistan with a gradual increase of thousands of U.S. soldiers arriving as part of a troop surge in the country.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

A week after the magnitude 7.0 quake struck, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said the U.N. food agency distributed rations for nearly 200,000 people. It is a small percentage of the 3 million to 3.5 million the U.N. says have been affected. Ban said the U.N. goal is to increase the number of people receiving food to 1 million this week and at least 2 million in the following two weeks.

``The situation is overwhelming,'' Ban told reporters.

But he said ``initial difficulties and bottlenecks'' in delivering relief items are being overcome and U.N. relief operations ``are gearing up quickly.''

He cited a new system at the airport giving priority to humanitarian flights, the opening of five new land corridors to deliver aid and U.S.-led efforts to open port facilities possibly sometime next week. In addition, badly damaged hospitals are starting to function with help from international medical teams, water supplies are increasing and more tents and temporary shelters are arriving, he said.

Assistant Secretary-General Edmond Mulet, the acting U.N. envoy to Haiti, described the situation on the ground as ``quite stable and normal.''

``Food has been taken from destroyed supermarkets and shops, which is almost a normal situation in these kind of circumstances,'' Mulet told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York by videoconference. ``But we have not seen at all any kind of violent actions or rampages or swarms of looters or people attacking or aggressive actions against anybody. ... I would say it's not more different than the situation we had before the earthquake.''

Tens of thousands of people are still sleeping in the streets or under plastic sheets in makeshift camps, and many shout at any foreigner for food and water. Relief workers say they fear visiting some parts of the city because of looting and violence by desperate survivors.

U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said starting Tuesday the U.S. military will use its helicopters to bring more relief supplies to secure areas to increase the flow of goods, in addition to what's arriving by air and by road from the Dominican Republic, which shares an island with Haiti. U.S. helicopters will also start taking food to outlying areas which have been difficult to reach for local distribution, he said.

The resolution adopted by the Security Council Tuesday will add 2,000 troops to the 7,000 military peacekeepers already in the country and 1,500 police to the 2,100-strong international police force.

U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said the extra soldiers are needed because of requests to escort humanitarian convoys. He said the U.N. also needs extra troops to secure aid delivery routes, and for a reserve force in case security deteriorates further.

How quickly the troops and police get to Haiti depends on offers from the 191 other U.N. member states. Le Roy said the neighboring Dominican Republic has offered to send an 800-strong battalion to secure the road from Port-au-Prince to the Dominican border, and they could arrive this week. Mulet said 20 Chilean police have already arrived and he believes Brazil will be sending more troops and France will be providing police.

Mulet said 3,500 troops are now in Port au Prince, patrolling and escorting aid convoys. He expressed hope that most of the additional troops will be on the ground in less than two weeks.

About 2,000 Canadian soldiers, sailors and air crew, including two warships, are already deploying to the towns of Jacmel and Leogane, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince, said Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay.

While the Canadian troops work south of the capital providing aid, the Americans will be concentrated in Port au Prince, Mulet said.

He said the Canadians and their heavy machinery are needed quickly to open roads, including the main road from Port au Prince to Jacmel.

The United Nations in the coming days will be signing memorandums of understanding with the Americans and Canadians on the division of labor, he said.

``What we have agreed in principle is that the U.N. is in the lead. We are the ones coordinating everything here,'' Mulet said.

The American and Canadian troops will try to speed up the delivery of humanitarian assistance by providing security at distribution points and escorting aid convoys, Mulet said.

As for aid, Emilia Casella, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program, said the goal is to rapidly get in 4.2 million rations of high-nutrition children's food, and 10 million total rations.

The U.N. headquarters in Port au Prince collapsed, and the chief of the country's mission, Hedi Annabi, and his deputy were among the dead.

Late Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of U.N. staff joined the secretary-general for a minute of silence in the lobby of U.N. headquarters, where the flag that flew over the collapsed headquarters building had been placed on a wall.

Ban, who was presented with the flag when he visited the flattened remains of the building on Sunday, bowed before the flag and a wreath of white flowers. He then led the staff outside for a brief candlelight vigil in tribute to the dead and missing.

Le Roy said 46 U.N. personnel died in the earthquake and 318 are still unaccounted for 277 Haitians and 40 international staff.

Associated Press Writers Bradley S. Klapper and Eliane Engeler in Geneva, David Stringer in London and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- If you don't get your tax return in early and electronically, you could be in for more delays in receiving your tax refund from the state.

Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham says the state paid out just over $2 million last year in interest payments to 270,000 Georgians who received their refunds as late as August 25th.

He tells WSB's Sandra Parrish that his department is facing nine percent budget cuts again this year in addition to three more furlough days.

"The earlier you file the better because this budget still contemplates no second or third shift in our processing center and everybody in the department is taking furlough days this year," Graham says.

Only 55 percent of Georgians filed electronically last year.

"If you file electronically you'll get your refund anywhere from three to ten days in your account... early in the season by paper it'll be a few weeks, but later in the season there's going to be a risk that it could be an extensive delay," Graham says.

(WSB Radio) The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of 20 models of Dorel Asia cribs with both drop sides and fixed front rails.

The death of a 6 month old child in Iowa prompted the recall. The baby strangled after getting trapped in the crib when the drop-side hardware broke. The child's parents were using the crib after trying to repair it themselves.

Some of the cribs were also recalled because a child can be trapped if one of the slats is broken or damaged. This damage can occur while the crib is in use as well as when it is being put together, taken apart or shipped.

The cribs were sold nationwide at various stores including Wal-Mart, Sears and Kmart.

To receive a free repair kit to prevent this hazard, contact Dorel Asia at 866-762-2304. More information is available online at http://www.dorel-asia.com.

(WSB State Capitol Bureau/AP) -- Gov. Sonny Perdue warned legislative budget writers the state is facing an even worse budget gap after he leaves office at the end of this year.

Perdue is projecting a $2.6 billion budget gap for the fiscal year that will begin July 2011. That's largely because federal stimulus dollars will dry up. Additionally, the state is expecting increased demand for services, like Medicaid.

For the fiscal year that ends June 30, Perdue has hacked $1.2 billion from the $18.6 billion spending blueprint. As part of those cuts, he is recommending three additional furlough days for teachers and all state employees over the next six months.

"If we can save $100 million by asking our teachers to take three non-instructional days of furlough, that means the equivalent would be a layoff of over 2000 teachers to the state," he says.

For the next fiscal year Perdue is projecting modest growth and has budgeted $18.2 billion.  He says he will not look to furloughs as a budget cutting measure in 2011.

But he says while the state is projected to see growth, it doesn't mean more money will be available.  He says the state will have to fund formula increases to Medicaid and Education that were promised as a result of taking federal stimulus money.

Perdue is planning to increase funding in the newly created Dept. of Behavioral Health.  The increase is part of a court order to improve state services in mental health.

He's recommending an additional $20 million for the current budget and more than $50 million in the 2011 budget for behavioral health.

Perdue is also recommending an 1.6 percent fee for all hospitals excepts for the state's seven public ones to pay for Medicaid reimbursements.

"We faced two choices... a 16 and a half percent cut in provider reimbursement rates or finding revenue elsewhere," he says.

Perdue made the same proposal last year but lawmakers instead chose to wait on federal stimulus money to fill the hole.

About 37,000 Silver Glitter Tea Lights; Gold Glitter Tea Lights are being recalled because the flame from the tea lights can ignite the glitter on the candle, posing a fire hazard. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has received three reports of the glitter burning. No injuries have been reported.

This recall involves two styles of tea lights. A clear box of 24 silver glitter tea lights with SKU 2410335 and a clear box of 24 gold glitter tea lights with SKU 2410322. The SKU number is located on the bottom of the packaging. They were sold from September 2009 through December 2009 for about $10.

Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- AAA is weighing in on a couple of bills that would ban texting while driving.

One of the bills introduced by Rep. Alan Peake (R-Macon) would ban all drivers from texting while at the wheel with a fine up to $100.

"Texting while driving has really proliferated especially over the last few years.  It's not just a teen driver issue," says the auto club's Kevin Bakewell who's supporting the measure.

He says Georgia would become the 20th state to ban texting while driving if the legislation passes.

Rep. Amos Amerson (R-Dahlonega) has introduced a similar bill but with fines up to $300.  Both lawmakers expect the differences in their measures to be worked out in committee.

(WSB Radio) -- Police in Gwinnett County are looking for the men whose overnight gun battle accidentally killed a teenage boy.

Corporal David Schiralli tells WSB's Bob Coxe the 13 year old victim was in his bed, in his family's unit at the Holland Park Apartments, when the gunfight broke out just before 10 last night: "There was some sort of altercation in the parking lot. One of the rounds from the discharged firearm went through the window where the child was sleeping."

The boy was pronounced dead at Gwinnett Medical Center. He's been identified as Tre Shambry. Police are looking for the shooters, who may not even have known how much damage they did.

The incident happened about 3 a.m. in the 7000 block of Old National Highway near Riverdale, according to Fulton police spokesman Scott McBride.

McBride said the thieves backed a Dodge Ram pickup through the front doors of the store, then smashed open the ATM that was just inside the doors.

The truck was found abandoned a short time later on nearby East Village Court. It had been stolen from Union City, McBride said.

(WSB Radio)  A Gwinnett County jury has acquitted a Dacula woman in the malice murder of her husband.

Kent Alexander was stabbed in the abdomen in December 2007. 

Prosecutors claimed that Laurie Alexander stabbed him after she caught him texting another woman, with whom he was having an affair.

She maintained that she was passed out on Xanax and cannot remember what happened that night.

Her attorneys argued that Mr. Alexander was so drunk, with a blood alcohol level of .34, that he could have, possibly, stabbed himself.

The acquittal frees Mrs. Alexander, who's been in jail for the past two years.

(WSB Radio)  A plea deal is possible for the accused Wal-Mart slapper.

61 year old Roger Stephens is scheduled to go on trial beginning today, as jury selection is set to begin.

Stephens has been in jail since August, after he allegedly smacked a two year old at the Wal-Mart on Rockbridge Road, in Stone Mountain.

Stephens, apparently, lost his cool when the child would not stop fussing. 

He faces charges of first degree child cruelty.

(WSB Radio)  Cobb County police are working on solving a murder mystery.

The victim, a man in his 30's, was found shot to death in a bedroom of a house on Ling Drive, near the Douglas County line, on Sunday night.

The woman who lives at that house had been pulled over for driving erratically on nearby Blair Bridge Road.

"The driver was pretty frantic at the time," says Cobb County Police Officer Joe Hernandez.  "She had said that she had gotten a call that said that something had happened at her house, possibly a break-in, and she was trying to get home immediately."

She led police to the house where the body was found.

The victim's name has not been released and police are working to pin down his relationship to the woman.

(WSB Radio)  Briscoe Field Airport in Lawrenceville may soon be in private hands. 

On Tuesday, Jan. 19, the Board of Commissioners will consider a resolution to begin studying the benefits of such a proposal.

Board Chairman Charles Bannister said the final application will not be submitted for at least a year.

"We are just beginning a lengthy procedure that will include a throrough public involvement process in addition to environmental and economic studies as we move forward," Bannister said. 

Last Thursday, a request was issued for a consultant to help prepare a preliminary application to the FAA. 

If the message is approved, the County will select a consultant next month and deliver the official application to the FAA.

ATLANTA (AP) Since June, motorists on I-20 east of Atlanta have looked up at two billboards to see an infamous blast from the past Eddie Lawrence, the middleman in the horrific 1992 shotgun murder of Sara Tokars and now a prisoner in the federal Witness Protection Program. It may seem odd that a criminal in that top-secret program would have his face plastered on highway billboards. But Lawrence, a two-bit con man who graduated to setting up a murder, was always a bit off-kilter.

The billboards were rented by Berneda Lawrence, who married Lawrence five years ago in prison and self-published a book about his case. Mrs. Lawrence and her husbands family have been working to spring from prison the 45-year-old convict, who once received what some called the ``deal of the century'' to testify in the racketeering and murder trials that put Fred Tokars, the victims husband, in prison for life.

``The family wants him out,'' said Lawrences son Brandon, 24, whos the spitting image of his father. ``I know some people are not sympathetic, but he did his part, he did his testimony. He had a deal and they should live up to their bargain.''

Exactly what that ``bargain'' was or even if there ever was one has gotten murkier over the years. But it seems Lawrence, who always fancied himself a slick operator, may have outsmarted himself when he tried to secure an even better deal after the trials.

Finding out much about Lawrence from federal or state authorities is difficult.

The state Department of Corrections Web site lists Lawrence as being in ``other custody.'' It does not show a photo of him, as it does for most prisoners, and it has no identifying information such as hair color, height or weight. The federal site does not list him at all. A Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman could not find a record of his imprisonment and said she could not comment on him if he is not in the systems rolls.

But Lawrence is in custody, Berneda Lawrence says, in a federal facility that resembles ``a college dorm.''

``Hes on the third floor and stays by himself,'' said his wife, who knew him before he got into trouble. ``They allow him so much time outside but (he) can only look up, not out, because of the tarps on the fences (so the prisoners cant be seen). They can only see the sky. It can break your spirit.''

That Lawrence remains in secretive federal lockup 17 years after the murder leaves a hard-nosed former federal prosecutor bemused and Fred Tokars defense attorney furious.

``Theres no threat to Lawrence, there never was; its a joke,'' said Jerry Froelich, his voice rising in anger. ``He should be in the state system serving hard time. Instead, hes in a cushy prison.''

Buddy Parker, who prosecuted Tokars, said ``there were concerns Fred would conduct violence against Eddie. But those concerns are far gone.''

Lawrence was a business associate of Fred Tokars, a part-time judge and attorney who prosecutors contended laundered money for drug dealers. Authorities introduced evidence of an underworld of Tokars associates where witnesses were murdered and people were tortured.

Tokars, Lawrence contended, wanted his wife dead so she wouldnt get his assets in a divorce. Lawrence testified he hired a hit man, a crackhead named Curtis Rower, and the two kidnapped Sara Tokars Nov. 29, 1992, when she arrived home from a trip with her young sons. She was killed by Rower by a shotgun blast to the head. It happened in front of the boys and became a sensational case for media.

Prosecutors needed a star witness to make their case, and Lawrences attorneys, Mark Spix and Bruce Harvey, worked out what was called a ``sweetheart deal.'' Lawrence pleaded guilty to federal racketeering and state murder charges and, in 1994, was sentenced to 12 1/2 years federal time and life in state prison with the possibility of parole. The sentences were to run concurrently. At the time, it was thought Lawrence could serve fewer than 15 years total.

``That was a real deal of the century,'' Tom Charron, the former Cobb County district attorney said with irony, noting Lawrence is still incarcerated. ``There was no deal that we would go along with parole. There might have been a statement we wouldnt fight his parole.''

Charron thinks the parole board has gotten tougher over the years. ``It seems to me this parole board doesnt look at (releasing inmates doing life) until they reach 20 years.''

Both Charron and Parker said Lawrence was needed as a witness because he was the one link in the conspiratorial chain who could testify against Tokars, the mastermind, and the triggerman Rower, now serving life in state prison.

But the supposed ``deal'' for early release it does not seem to be written anywhere in official records probably fell apart in 1997, when Lawrence wrote the FBI claiming he lied in his testimony and wanted his guilty plea rescinded. The following year saw the bizarre spectacle of Lawrence in court questioning Froelich, Harvey, Spix, Parker and Bobby Lee Cook, the courtly North Georgia lawyer after whom the TV character ``Matlock'' was based. Lawrence was not given a new trial.

``My recollection is (Sara Tokars family) would support parole,'' said Parker, who is now in private practice. ``But once Lawrence pulled that dumb act, they pulled their support. Im confident hed be out now if he was consistent with his prior cooperation.''

Joni Ambrusko, one of Sara Tokars sisters, said the family opposes parole. ``All the killers deserve the death penalty,'' she said. ``Think of Ricky and Mike (the Tokars sons) running through the field with their mothers brains on them. And these guys will watch the Super Bowl in a couple weeks?''

Parker said that as long as Lawrence remains in federal prison, getting parole will be hard. The state ``has no incentive to give him parole because they are not paying to incarcerate him,'' he said. ``If hed ask my advice, Id say, Get your ass back to Georgia where theyd have to look at you. ``

Scheree Moore, spokeswoman for the state Board of Pardons and Paroles, said the board has reviewed Lawrences case twice most recently in 2008 and wont consider him again until December 2015.

``He made a deal with the feds, not the state,'' she said. ``Hes going through the normal consideration anyone else receives.''

Spix believes the feds wont release him to state custody ``because if he goes into the state system, they cant protect him.'' Spix has no love lost for Lawrence, who came to court calling the attorney a schemer. Still, Spix said the state may be setting a bad example. Criminal cases are often solved with neer-do-wells ratting out other scoundrels. ``If (authorities) let it be known they are playing games with those who cooperate, then theyd have less people testifying.''

Berneda Lawrence, who long ago served in the Navy and fell in love with Lawrence while writing him letters while he was imprisoned, lives near Lithonia in a sparse townhome plastered with photos of her husband.

She would not say who paid for the billboards, which an industry analyst estimated cost $1,000 a month. Froelich believes it comes from money Lawrence squirreled away.

The book she has self-published is really a collection of her correspondence with Lawrence, who constantly writes about religion and pens poems. She says he is accomplished working with leather and does a little gardening in prison.

As to why her husband got involved with murder, she said, ``He said he was young. ... Fred showed him how easy it was to participate in criminal activity. He said it was easy.

``Hes 45 now. Hes older. But you cant go back and change things.''

Lawrence, in one of his writings, summed up his own situation.

``Life is a series of misadventures. It is ignorance in the beginning, pain in the middle and sorrow in the end.''

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio) -- Arson investigators with the Palmetto Fire Department are reviewing witness claims that juveniles are to blame for twin house fires in the Carlton Woods subdivision off of Hutcheson Ferry Road in south Fulton County. 

The 911 call about the fires at unoccupied homes side by side on Carlton Pointe Drive came in around 4 Monday afternoon.

Palmetto Fire Chief Henry Argo told Channel 2 Action News "some children were seen around the structures prior to the fires starting."

If kids are responsible, Argo said "this is very serious and the most disturbing situation to say the least."

Fatimah Boyd lives across the street from the houses that burned.  She told Channel 2 Action News "it's very scary, because you never know, they (suspected arsonists) might come to my house."

Boyd is not surprised children may have started the fires.  She said some kids in her subdivision are "notorious for doing things in the neighborhood."

The two fires appear to have originated under the front porches of the newly built homes.  Both structures will likely be ruled total losses by insurance adjusters.

(WSB Radio) -- The mother of a 5-year-old boy who fell down an elevator shaft at the Kennsington MARTA station wants to know why the transit agency did not make the public aware that that there was a problem with the elevator.

Felicia Ballard told Channel 2 Action News "there was nothing to say that this levator was out of order or that they were fixing this elevator, no there was nothing."

The accident happened around 9 o'clock Monday morning.  DeKalb Fire and Rescue Captain Eric Jackson told WSB "the boy was on the second floor of the station, leaning against the elevator door, when the door somehow became disengaged and the child fell 12 to 15 feet onto the top of the elevator car.  Jackson added "the boy was conscious and alert when firefighters pulled him up using a rescue basket."

Although he went to the hospital twice complaining of head and back pain, Felicia Ballard said her son was not seriously hurt.  She said "It could have been much, much worse, we are really truly blessed."

MARTA spokeswoman Cara Hodgsen told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the agency is investigating the accident, but no one from MARTA has been in contact with the Ballard family.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) The staggering scope of Haiti's nightmare came into sharper focus as authorities estimated 200,000 dead and 1.5 million homeless in the quake-ravaged heart of this tragic land, where injured survivors still died in the streets, doctors pleaded for help and looters slashed at one another in the rubble.

The world pledged more money, food, medicine and police. Some 2,000 U.S. Marines steamed into nearby waters. And ex-president Bill Clinton, special U.N. envoy, flew in to offer support. Six days after the earthquake struck, search teams still pulled buried survivors from the ruins.

But hour by hour the unmet needs of hundreds of thousands grew.

Overwhelmed surgeons appealed for anesthetics, scalpels, saws for cutting off crushed limbs. Uncounted thousands of survivors sought to cram onto buses headed out of town. In downtown streets, others begged for basics.

``Have we been abandoned? Where is the food?'' shouted one man, Jean Michel Jeantet.

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) said it expected to boost operations from feeding 67,000 people on Sunday to 97,000 on Monday. But it needs 100 million prepared meals over the next 30 days, and it appealed for more government donations.

``I know that aid cannot come soon enough,'' U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in New York after returning from Haiti.

``Unplug the bottlenecks,'' he urged.

In one step to reassure frustrated aid groups, the U.S. military agreed to give aid deliveries priority over military flights at the now-U.S.-run airport here, the WFP announced in Rome. The Americans' handling of civilian flights had angered some humanitarian officials.

Looting and violence flared again Monday, as hundreds clambered over the broken walls of shops to grab anything they could including toothpaste, now valuable for lining nostrils against the stench of Port-au-Prince's dead. Police fired into the air as young men fought each other over rum and beer with broken bottles and machetes.

Hard-pressed medical teams sometimes had to take time away from quake victims to deal with gunshot wounds, said Loris de Filippi of Doctors Without Borders. In the Montrissant neighborhood, Red Cross doctors working in shipping containers and saying they ``cannot cope'' lost 50 patients over two days, said international Red Cross spokesman Simon Schorno.

Amid the debris and the smoke of bodies being burned, dozens of international rescue teams dug on in search of buried survivors. And on Monday afternoon, some 140 hours after the quake, they pulled two Haitian women alive from a collapsed university building. At a destroyed downtown bank, another team believed it was just hours from saving a trapped employee.

The latest casualty report, from the European Commission citing Haitian government figures, doubled previous estimates of the dead from the magnitude-7.0 quake, to approximately 200,000, with some 70,000 bodies recovered and trucked off to mass graves.

If accurate, that would make Haiti's catastrophe about as deadly as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed an estimated 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

European Commission analysts estimate 250,000 were injured and 1.5 million were made homeless. Masses are living under plastic sheets in makeshift camps and in dust-covered automobiles, or had taken to the road seeking out relatives in the safer countryside.

On the capital's southern edge, thousands of people struggled to get onto brightly painted ``tap-tap'' buses heading out of town.

``We've got no more food and no more house, so leaving is the only thing to do,'' said Livena Livel, 22, fleeing with her 1-year-old daughter and six other relatives to her father's house in Les Cayes, near Haiti's western tip.

``At least over there we can farm for food,'' she said.

She said she was spending her last cash on the ``insanely expensive'' bus fare, jacked up to the equivalent of $7.70, three days' pay for most Haitians, because gasoline prices had doubled.

The European Union and its individual governments boosted their aid pledges for Haiti to euro422 million ($606 million) in emergency and long-term aid, on top of at least $100 million pledged by the U.S.

A dirt-poor nation long at the bottom of the heap, Haiti will need years or decades of expanded aid to rebuild. After meeting with Haitian President Rene Preval and other international representatives in the neighboring Dominican Republic, Dominican President Leonel Fernandez said Haiti would need $10 billion over five years.

For the moment, however, front-line relief workers want simply to get food and water to the hungry and thirsty.

The U.N. humanitarian chief, John Holmes, said in New York not all 15 planned U.N. food distribution points were up and running yet. ``That's a question of people, trucks, fuel, but the aid is scaling up very rapidly,'' he said.

The priorities are clearing roads, ensuring security at U.N. distribution points, getting this city's seaport working again and bringing in more trucks and helicopters, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in Rome.

Evidence of the shortfall could be found at a makeshift camp of 50,000 displaced people spread over a hillside golf course overlooking the city. Leaders there said a U.S. 82nd Airborne Division unit had been able to deliver food to only half the people.

The 1,700 U.S. troops on the ground in Port-au-Prince were to be reinforced by 2,000 Marines, who Marine Corps Capt. Clark Carpenter, a spokesman, said were off shore Monday. Other U.S. help was on the way, including two U.S. civilian crane ships that could unload cargo at the quake-damaged port.

Getting clean water into people's hands was still a dire concern.

``People can survive a few days without food but we must try to avoid major outbreaks of waterborne disease,'' said Brian Feagans, a spokesman for the aid group CARE.

Clinton and accompanying daughter Chelsea pitched in, helping unload cases of bottled water from their plane to a U.N. truck.

Some aid groups and foreign officials have blamed the U.S. military for slowing down aid deliveries, saying the American units that took charge of the small Port-au-Prince airport last week gave priority to U.S. military flights.

Doctors Without Borders said Monday its specialists were 48 hours behind on performing surgery for critically injured patients because three cargo planes loaded with supplies were denied clearance and forced to land almost 200 miles away in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The WFP's Sheeran said things would change. She announced an agreement with the U.S. so that ``we now have the coordination mechanism to prioritize the humanitarian flights coming in.''

At the airport, a U.S. military spokesman said the parking ramp designed for 16 large aircraft at times was holding 40. ``That's why there was gridlock,'' said Navy Cmdr. Chris Lounderman. He said about 100 flights a day were now landing.

The U.S. Air Force itself resorted to an air drop of aid Monday. A C-17 from Pope Air Force Base, N.C., parachuted pallets of food and water into an area outside Port-au-Prince secured by U.S. forces. The Americans have been reluctant to use air drops for fear of drawing unruly crowds.

There remained a ``huge demand for lifesaving surgery for those who suffered terrible injuries,'' Doctors Without Borders reported. The U.S.-based Partners in Health, coordinating aid at Port-au-Prince's central hospital, reported ``a desperate need for all the resources required to run a hospital,'' including surgical instruments, anesthesia gear, alcohol, sutures, and saws.

Clinton, visiting the hospital, reported its staff had to use vodka to sterilize equipment. ``It's astonishing what the Haitians have been able to accomplish,'' he said.

More than 1,000 patients awaited surgery at the hospital, Partners in Health said. Right outside the U.S.-run airport, one man died as Navy helicopters scrambled to evacuate patients to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, the military reported.

Across the city, thousands of abandoned bodies had been picked up by government crews, but residents dragged still others to crossroads, hoping municipal garbage trucks or aid groups would deal with them.

Looting and violence added to the casualties. Riot police opened fire mostly in the air to break up a mob of several hundred fighting over rum bottles in a burning shop. One teenage boy was hit in the thigh by a shotgun blast. ``Friends! Save me! Save me!'' he cried, curled up in a pool of blood, one foot almost severed. A medical aid truck happened by and picked him up.

The ranks of Haitian police and U.N. peacekeepers trying to restore order in this stricken city had themselves been decimated in the quake, which destroyed the U.N. headquarters.

In New York on Monday, U.N. chief Ban asked for 1,500 more U.N. police and 2,000 more peacekeepers to join the 9,000 or so U.N. security personnel in Haiti. Alain Le Roy, the U.N. peacekeeping chief, said a ``tremendous'' number of requests had come in to escort humanitarian convoys. Haitian police had returned to the streets in only ``limited numbers,'' he said.

The Security Council was expected to approve the reinforcements on Tuesday.

Associated Press writers contributing to this story included Tamara Lush, Jonathan M. Katz, Michelle Faul, Kevin Maurer in Port-au-Prince; Ramon Almanzar in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; Raf Casert in Brussels; Larry Margasak and Pauline Jelinek in Washington.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers about a counterfeit and potentially harmful version of Alli.

Lab tests conducted by GlaxoSmithKline revealed that the counterfeit version did not contain orlistat, the active ingredient in its product. Instead, the counterfeit product contained the controlled substance sibutramine. Sibutramine is a drug that should not be used in certain patient populations or without physician oversight. Sibutramine can also interact in a harmful way with other medications the consumer may be taking.

The fake Alli was sold over the internet. The counterfeit Alli product looks similar to the authentic product, with a few notable differences. The counterfeit Alli ia missing a "Lot" code. It is packaged in a plastic bottle that has a slightly taller and wider cap with coarser ribbing than the genuine product and they contain larger capsules with a white powder, instead of small white pellets.

Consumers who believe they have received counterfeit Alli are asked to contact the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations by calling 800-551-3989 or by visiting the OCI Web site (http://www.fda.gov/OCI).

(WSB Radio)  Good news concerning crime in DeKalb County.

The county's murder rate is down, sharply, to its lowest level in almost a decade.

Crime statistics show the murder rate fell over 40% from 2008 to last year, dropping to its lowest level since 2000.

Overall crime for DeKalb was also down markedly, falling 19%.  It's the greatest drop of any municipality in metro Atlanta.

The only crime that increased in 2009 compared to the year before was rape.

Crime statistics show burglaries down 15 percent and car thefts 22 percent.

(WSB Radio)   The Georgia Department of Labor will hold its job summit today, in hopes of pulling the state out of its economic downturn.

The summit will bring together, "the best and brightest minds in Georgia," says Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond.

"It will be a bipartisan gathering to come together to develop a comprehensive strategy for creating jobs and spurring economic development in our state," Thurmond tells WSB.

The theme of the summit is "Shaping Georgia's Economic Destiny," and it will be held at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, on Spring Street.

The state's unemployment rate stands at 10.0%, but Thurmond says the more alarming number is the state's under employment rate, which is closer to 17%.

"We've done some extensive work on profiling not just the unemployed but the under employed and who's discouraged," says Thurmond.  "One of the challenges that the employment and training system has faced is the disproportionate number of men who have lost jobs during the recession."

The summit, which runs until 4 in the afternoon, is open to the public, free of charge.

(WSB Radio)   Haitian refugees could be coming to Georgia in the wake of the earthquake.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency says the federal government has contacted them to inform the agency that Georgia is being considered as a possible repatriation site for American citizens living in Haiti.

There are about 45,000 people who meet the criteria.

Florida and New Jersey are the other states under such consideration.

According to GEMA, if Georgia is chosen, then the most likely locations for the American-Haitians would be either Hartsfield-Jackson Airport or Dobbins Air Reserve Base.

The feds are considering Georgia because the state has a recent history with people who fled Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina, as well as handling refugees from the Lebanon conflict.

It is up to the federal government to develop a plan for the Americans who are in Haiti.  Once that plan is finalized, then the feds will notify the states to let them know what is expected and how the plan will be implemented.

(WSB Radio)   A prayer is answered for a Metro Atlanta Haitian family.

Ernst and Terrese Jean Pierre have been trying to reach her brother back home.  After days of trying, they finally did. 

"I called everybody in the area," she says. 

The spoke with him by phone for only a short time before the connection was lost, but it was enough time to lift the spirits of the couple.

They didn't find out if her brother was injured in the earthquake, but they do know that he is alive.

"Wow," Ernst says.  "Amazing.  Miracles never cease to happen."

Ernst says the quake hit people who were  already struggling to survive.

"They don't have much, but they try to make a living with what they have," he says.  "And now this.  So, it makes it harder to survive."

ATLANTA (AP) Atlanta police have arrested nine teenagers they say rammed a vehicle through the entrance to a downtown Atlanta clothing store early Sunday and made off with nearly $50,000 worth of designer jeans.

It happened at Focus Clothing Store shortly after 2:30 a.m. A surveillance camera video showed several men bursting through an iron gate in front of the store's windows in a Ford Taurus.

Police say the teens then did another smash-and-grab at a convenience store. Police following up on two stolen cars later tracked the teens to a house where they say the items were scattered outside.

Police identified those charged as adults as 19-year-old Jarquez Hood and 17-year-old Deandre Williams. The seven juveniles range from 14 to 16 years old.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

BOSTON (AP) His agenda potentially imperiled by the outcome of a close Senate race, President Barack Obama was set to lend his prestige to Democrat Martha Coakley, whose effort to succeed the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy has gone from shoo-in to nail-biter.

Obama and Coakley planned to appear together at a Sunday afternoon rally at Northeastern University in Boston.

It was the latest and highest profile assist for Coakley, the state attorney general facing a strong challenge from Scott Brown, a Republican state senator.

Coakley campaigned Saturday with Kennedy's widow, Vicky, who has also appeared in a television ad for Coakley. On Friday thousands attended a rally for Coakley headlined by former President Bill Clinton and the state's senior senator, John Kerry.

Even in Massachusetts, a solidly Democratic state represented by the proudly liberal Kennedy for 47 years, Brown has been riding a wave of populist anger over Obama's proposed health care reform plan, taxes, and government spending. A mere blip in the polls until recently, Brown has captivated Republicans and many independents by his promise to slow the Obama agenda in Washington.

Polls show the race too close to call for Tuesday's special election.

Campaigning Saturday, Coakley called Obama's visit ``pretty cool'' but said it didn't indicate her candidacy was in trouble.

``I don't think he has to come, I think he wanted to come. He was excited to come,'' Coakley told reporters. ``Who wouldn't want the president of the United States campaigning for her in a historic race?''

Since taking office a year ago, Obama's track record for helping other Democrats hasn't been stellar. He campaigned hard for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine who ran for re-election last year and in Virginia for Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine. Both lost.

The president was also rebuffed after making a high profile pitch for his home city of Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics. After traveling to Copenhagen last fall to personally make the city's case, the International Olympic Committee rejected Chicago's bid on the first ballot.

Nonetheless, the joint appearance by Obama and Coakley is in many ways marriage of a necessity.

Coakley is depending on his star power to boost Democratic turnout, particularly among blue collar and minority voters who might not be motivated to vote. And Obama, whose political muscle has weakened amid the still struggling economy and his push for a controversial health care package, will see much of his legislative agenda threatened if Coakley loses.

If elected, Coakley could be the 60th vote to end GOP filibusters. Brown tells voters he looks forward to becoming ``the 41st vote'' to block the president's initiatives.

Campaigning Saturday, Brown appeared unconcerned about Obama's visit.

``I hope he has a safe trip and enjoys himself and has a good trip looking around a great state,'' Brown said.

During Obama's appearance, Brown planned to campaign in Worcester, a blue collar city in central Massachusetts.

Associated Press writer Glen Johnson contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)