(WSB Radio) The American Association of Retired People is warning the elderly beware of the free lunch!

The AARP says a common setting for fraudsters to engage their victims is through a free lunch or dinner offer, by which an individual is solicited to attend and learn more about investing in retirement. Many of these invitees have received 10 or more invitations to these "free" events.

Once at the seminar, half of attendees surveyed said the presenter asked for personal information, such as contact or financial information, and nearly 46 percent reported that the presenter attempted to make a follow-up appointment at their home.

According to a new survey from AARP, 78 percent of surveyed Americans age 55 and older indicated they are very or somewhat concerned about financial scams affecting them or someone they know.

http://www.aarp.org/

(WSB Radio) -- An hour apart and a mile away.

Atlanta police are investigating the overnight thefts of three big-screen TVs in a pair of smash-and-grab burglaries at downtown bars just a mile apart.

Investigators were comparing security video from the Rise Sushi Lounge on Marietta Street and The Original Chocolate Bar on Trinity Avenue to see if the two burglaries were related.

WSB's Richard Sangster reports the first incident happened just after 2 a.m. at the sushi bar, about a block west of CNN Center on Marietta Street.

Less than an hour later, police received an alarm call from the Chocolate Bar a mile away on Trinity Avenue.

There, thieves tossed a cinder block through the front door, then stole two 40-inch flat screens.

(WSB Radio) -- A suspicious package found outside The Temple synagogue Friday morning turned out to be harmless.

"It was a black plastic bag with newspapers inside," Atlanta police spokesman Eric Schwartz said.

The package caused some tense moments outside the synagogue just south of the Brookwood Amtrak station.

WSB's Jon Lewis says the package was reported at about 6:30 a.m.

Fire Capt. Rick Perdue said a caretaker discovered the package, about a foot and a half long and six inches wide in a driveway.

Two lanes of the busy street in Atlanta's midtown area were blocked by fire trucks and police cars.

A dynamite blast blew a hole in the side of The Temple in 1958. No one was injured in the blast, and no one was ever convicted in the case.

(WSB Radio) -- He strikes just before noon.

Or are there six different men who simply look similar?

Seven banks from northwest Atlanta to Dunwoody describe this lunchtime bandit striking often just before noon, wearing a variety of baseball caps pulled low on his face, making off with untold amounts of cash, and eventually driving away in a burgundy or maroon Chevrolet Tahoe missing a rear hub cap.

Or maybe seven different guys with uncanny resemblance have managed to pull separate bank heists -- twice at the same bank, and three out of the last four Fridays -- and escaped in eerily similar getaway SUVs.

Federal and local authorities and area bank security officials are calling this mystery suspect a serial bank robber.

"It's very plausible that if he's hitting one bank (in an area), he could be responsible for others nearby," FBI spokesman Special Agent Stephen Emmett told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The man's M.O. changes slightly from one incident to the next. He usually strikes at or just before noon, but there have been afternoon and early morning robberies. He shows no obvious appearance of a weapon to reinforce the demand for money, but he has appeared on occasion to have shoved his hand into his pocket, creating the facade of an armed robbery.

Sometimes he uses a demand note, sometimes not.

Sunglasses, or ball cap pulled down low, never looking up to the camera.

A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of this robber.

(WSB Radio) -- Two men are hospitalized and Gwinnett County police are looking for the suspects who allegedly shot them outside an apartment complex in Norcross. 

Gwinnett Police Corporal David Schiralli tells WSB's Mark Alewine the victims asked for help just before 10 Thursday night at the intersection of Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Buford Highway.  Schiralli says "One of our officers happened to be in the area when the victims rolled up upon him, at which point they flagged him down, where then he summoned for medical assistance."

The unidentified men were taken to a local hospital, but their conditions are unknown.

The victims were shot in a car parked at the Valiencia Park Apartment on Peachtree Corners Circle.  Investigators are talking to witnesses and residents of the complex trying to determine a motive and identify potential suspects.

ATHENS, Ga. - The University of Georgia football team made final preparations for its upcoming Southeastern Conference Eastern Division clash with Kentucky by working out for 90-minutes at the Woodruff Practice Fields on Thursday.

Georgia started the dress rehearsal at approximately 6:40 p.m., which is a little over an hour and a half later than the Bulldogs' normal Thursday routine. Head coach Mark Richt explained that the practice schedule was altered to accommodate a Swahili class function in which several players were involved.

"We had probably up to as many as 20 players involved in the class," Richt stated. "They had an event this afternoon, and that's why we actually met with our players this morning at 6:20 and finished about 7:30 a.m. just in time for them to go to class or study hall. We waited until the event was over and gave them about an hour to make sure they could eat and get dressed."

Under the lights, Georgia (6-4, 4-3 SEC) finalized the game plan for its final SEC contest of the 2009 season against Kentucky (6-4, 2-4 SEC). With a win on Saturday, the Bulldogs can lock up second place in the Eastern Division. Both teams will enter the contest coming off of wins last week that made them bowl eligible. Georgia rallied past 25th-ranked Auburn, 31-24, in Athens while Kentucky posted a 24-13 road win over Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs and Wildcats each erased halftime deficits in their respective victories as UGA trailed 14-7 and UK was behind 13-10.

Saturday's game will mark the 63rd time Georgia and Kentucky have met dating back to 1939, and the Bulldogs hold a 49-11-2 advantage.

Richt also expressed his sorrow for the loss of Georgia mascot Uga VII, who died unexpectedly Thursday morning in Savannah.

"I was very shocked and sad to hear about Uga VII," Richt said. "I got a chance to talk to (Frank W.) Sonny (Seiler) today actually and hear a little bit about it. You never think something like that can happen that quickly, but it certainly did. I'm sad we won't have him on the sidelines anymore.

"I don't know if it's unprecedented or not," Richt added about not having a live mascot at Georgia's game on Saturday. "Ever since Uga I there's probably been a game or two where there hasn't been a mascot at all, but this ball game there won't be one which will be kind of different."

The WSB Tailgate Show at 3:45 p.m.; Kickoff at 7:45 p.m.

(WSB Radio) -- The Church of Scientology is one step closer to relocating its Georgia headquarters from Dunwoody to Sandy Springs.

On Thursday night, the city's planning commission recommended approval of a rezoning request that will allow the religious group to renovate a vacant office building on the corner of Roswell Road and Glenridge Drive. 

The approval, which will be forwarded to the Sandy Springs City Council for a vote on December 15th, was granted after an attorney for the Scientologists submitted a renovation plan that did not add square footage to the building, placed a maximum occupancy for the building at 170 and included restriping and repaving of the parking lot to create 111 parking spaces.

Fearing increased traffic and noise in the mostly residential area, more than 700 people who oppose the rezoning have signed a petition asking the City Council to vote no on the Church of Scientology's request.  The petition drive is also supported by the boards of directors of sixteen Sandy Springs' neighborhood associations.

ATLANTA (AP) The first county-by-county survey of obesity reflects past studies that show the rate of obesity is highest in the Southeast and Appalachia.

High rates of obesity and diabetes were reported in more than 80 percent of counties in the Appalachian region that includes Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, according to the new research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The same problem was seen in about 75 percent of counties in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina.

The five counties with the highest rates were Greene and Dallas counties in Alabama and Holmes, Humphreys and Jefferson counties in Mississippi. All are small, rural counties in the west central areas of each state, and each reported obesity rates of around 44 or 43 percent. The national adult obesity rate is roughly 26 percent.

The statistics are estimates for the year 2007 based on surveys, census figures and other information for that and other years and include a margin of error. The obesity rates in many counties were about the same, so it's difficult to say any county or counties was clearly the single most obese county, CDC officials said.

The CDC also released Thursday county-specific data for diabetes Type 2 is closely tied to obesity. Counties with the lowest rates of both obesity and diabetes were out west Boulder County, Colo., Santa Fe County, N.M., and Summit County, Utah, were at the top of each list.

Just under 13 percent of people in those counties were obese, and only about 4 percent reported diabetes, the CDC found.

There are a range of possible explanations for counties in the South and Appalachia have the highest rates of obesity and diabetes, experts said. A culture that embraces fatty, unhealthy foods and shuns exercise may be one. Genetics may be another. Income and education probably have a lot to do with it, too people living in poor communities may not have the money to eat healthier, more expensive foods or may not have access to gyms or safe jogging trails, they said.

The Alabama counties at the top of the list are low-income, mostly African-American communities that probably ended up high on the list because the estimates assumed higher rates of obesity and diabetes in counties with those demographics, said Dr. Jim McVay, director of the health promotion and chronic disease for the Alabama Department of Public Health.

``I can't say that those are accurate,'' he said of the CDC estimates.

Some experts said they hope the county estimates will highlight the problem and persuade local officials to focus more attention on combating the problems.

``In the end, it comes down to those that have to direct resources at the local level,'' said Dr. Miriam Vos, assistant professor of pediatrics at Atlanta's Emory School of Medicine. ``It's not something that can change as easily at the federal level.''

McVay said local efforts are important, but ultimately obesity comes down to individual behavior and trying to change that. ``How do you influence people to make lifestyle changes? That's the question,'' he said.

The study was published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)