Georgia's First Swine Flu Death

Georgia health officials have reported the state's first swine flu death - a 43-year-old Cobb County woman. The Georgia Department of Community Health confirmed the death Friday and said the woman had underlying medical conditions, but did not immediately release additional information. The number of U.S. swine flu cases has surpassed 37,000 and deaths hit 211. Officials believe those cases - which sought treatment and underwent testing - are just the tip of the iceberg. They estimate more than 1 million Americans have been infected with the virus, though many probably had only mild illness.

(Associated Press)

More Stimulus Road Projects On The Way

Another 22 road projects are set to go for construction next month. The state DOT says the new round of work represents more than $56-million certified from the federal stimulus. The work includes resurfacing 20 miles of road on Interstate 575 in Cobb and Cherokee counties. It also includes bridge replacements in Tattnall, Gordon-Murray, Bulloch, Candler and Atkinson counties, along with safety work to be done in other counties.

The department says that so far 63 highway system stimulus projects valued at $119 million have been awarded. It says another 43 worth an estimated $250 million will be awarded within a few weeks.

Cobb County Tops Grad Rates

A new study shows Cobb County has one of the highest graduation rates among the nation's 50 largest public school districts. According to the "Diplomas Count" report released by Editorial Projects in Education on Tuesday, the 100,000-student suburban Atlanta school district graduated 68 percent in 2006. That's far above the state average of 55.9 percent and just trailing the national average of 69.2 percent. The annual study looked at the change in graduation rates from 1996 to 2006. Georgia's rate improved less than a percentage point in that time, compared to the national average's improvement of nearly three percentage points from 66.4 percent.

(Associated Press)

Parents Angry Over Fake Graduation Tickets

Faced with angry parents, Cobb County school officials say they will examine graduation tickets to determine how many are fake. At least 100 people, with legitimate tickets, say they were turned away from South Cobb High School's graduation ceremony because there wasn't enough space for everyone. The ceremony Saturday was held at Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta. Recovering from surgery, Regina Howard says she was among those turned away and missed her son's graduation. Gabriella Calderon was among the graduates who got their diplomas with a dose of disappointment and some tears. She thought her mother would see her graduate, but she also was not seated.

Information from: WSB-TV, http://www.wsbtv.com/index.html

(Associated Press)

2nd Georgia Swine Flu Case Confirmed

State health officials say Georgia now has a 2nd case of swine flu, or the H-1/N-1 virus. It has been confirmed in a 14-year-old boy in Henry County - his illness prompted the closing of a private school there for 14 days. Meanwhile, the director of the State Division of Public Health says there are 3 more suspected cases, and they're likely to be confirmed for the virus. Those cases involve a 3-year-old boy in Cobb County, an 8-year-old Clayton County girl, and a 36-year-old pregnant woman in DeKalb County. Officials stress that the three and the 14-year-old in Henry County, all have mild symptoms of 'H-1/N-1', and are at home. The first case in the state was a Kentucky woman who traveled to La Grange, and landed in the hospital there.

Governor Sonny Perdue on Monday gave an update on the virus in Georgia:

"...We are still taking all precautions for those who have flu-like symptoms. At this current time there seems to be no pandemic, epidemic of flu symptoms over the state... The fact is, aside from the visitor that we had in La Grange, none of these patients are hospitalized, they are being treated at home..."

Perdue says rapid result testing kits for the virus will soon be available in Georgia.

Cobb EMC Offices, Board Member Homes Searched

State authorities joined those with Cobb County Wednesday in searching the offices of Cobb Electrical Membership Corporation. As part of an ongoing investigation, the homes of the CEO and board members were also searched. In all, Cobb County’s district attorney say warrants were issued for five locations. The DA declined to give details, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports agents were looking for evidence connected to theft and racketeering at the electric cooperative. Customer-owned Cobb EMC has about 190,000 customers in four northeast suburban counties in metro Atlanta.

Georgia Jobs Cut with F-22 Raptor Jet

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the Pentagon will end the F-22 fighter jet and presidential helicopter programs run by Lockheed Martin Corp. 2,000 workers in Cobb County currently assemble parts of the jets. The Pentagon has contracted to buy 183 F-22 from Lockheed Martin. More than 140 have been built. Current orders would keep the Marietta assembly line open until late 2011.

(Associated Press)

10,000 Foreclosed Properties on Market in April

EquityDepot.net says more than 10,000 foreclosed properties are scheduled to be sold on courthouse steps in the Atlanta area in April.

EquityDepot.net, which tracks foreclosures, says the 10,130 figure breaks the previous record of 8,425 that were scheduled for sale in March.

In the new foreclosure numbers, Fulton County leads with 2,181 properties scheduled for sale, followed by Gwinnett, DeKalb and Cobb counties.

The Georgia Labor Department says the jobless rate in metro Atlanta is 8.7 percent, the highest rate reported since the measurement was standardized in 1976.

Foreclosure sales are held on courthouse steps the first Tuesday of each month.
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Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
http://www.ajc.com

(AP)

Faith-Based Group Wins Right to Meet After Hours in Classrooms

A faith-based group will be able to meet after hours in classrooms free of charge under a settlement with the Cobb County school system. The school system has agreed to allow nonprofit groups to use classrooms free under the agreement ending a lawsuit filed last month by Child Evangelism Fellowship. The group accused the suburban Atlanta district of violating the First Amendment by charging it to hold after-school meetings in classrooms while allowing other organizations, such as the Boy Scouts, to use the space free of charge.

(Associated Press)

Search for escaped inmates

Two escaped prison inmates are on the run in northwest Georgia. The Department of Corrections says 53-year-old Johnny M. Brown and 48-year-old Michael A. Tweedel escaped from Hays State Prison near Trion on Monday morning. Brown is serving two 10-year sentences for armed robbery in Cobb County. Tweedel is serving a life sentence for armed robbery, hijacking a vehicle and aggravated assault and battery in Clarke County.

(Associated Press)

Strong turnout for early voting in Cobb Co.

Looking over the sample ballots at the West Park Government Center, Monday, Oct,13, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Today, early voters in Cobb County waited patiently on line to cast their ballot in over 60 national, state and local races.

Voters waited upwards of an hour and a half to cast their ballots – a process that took about ten minutes.

Shannon Dunn is the director of elections and registration for Cobb County:

"As of Friday evening, we had voted 17,000 plus, in person here.”

Election officials at the West Park Government Center kept order as the line of voters snaked towards the entrance.

Numerous signs forbid electioneering within 150 feet of the building.

No campaigning with 150 feet of the West Park Government Center polling station, Monday, Oct 13, 2008. (Dave Bender)

One voter who appreciated that strictly-enforced rule is Florence Cadran, Massachusetts -born, but now a resident of Cobb County:

“I don’t remember them having the early voting in Massachusetts – but when I’d go there’d be 30-40 people from every different politician that was there with their signs – in your face – so it was almost like walking through a corridor to get to the voting place, so this is much nicer.”

Voters waited patiently in line to cast their ballots, Monday, Oct. 13, 2008, (Dave Bender)

Dunn she’s not spooked by the prospect of early voting concluding on October 31st -- Halloween eve.

Click here for more GPB News election coverage.

GBI criminal tip sheets go 'Minority Report'

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is joining seven other state law-enforcement agencies using an automated intelligence-gathering and evaluation system.

“We required a system that could help us improve our decision-making capabilities and operational effectiveness,” said Don Robertson, GBI Project Administrator. “We also manage vast amounts of data across multiple systems, so breaking down barriers to real-time data sharing is of paramount importance.”

The system analyzes numerous sources of collected data, according to the manufacturers, Memex, Inc., of Vienna, Va.

The system “enables law enforcement to efficiently predict, prevent and respond to threats in real-time,” company officials say, by allowing officials to sift through massive amounts of intelligence data, including emails tips, leads and other clues, in order to predict patterns of possible future criminal behavior.

Police departments in Albany, Cobb County, Columbus, Gwinnett County, the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office, and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office are also using the system, the company said in a release.

The system's touted prediction abilities echo the 2002 science fiction film, Minority Report, in which a “precrime” unit apprehended criminals just prior to the commission of their deeds.

In the movie, however, psychics were relied upon for their ability to visualize a violent crime before it occurred.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the GBI.

Government prayer case in federal court

Group prayer in government meetings is what the federal appeals court in Atlanta is taking on today.
The arguments center around whether some Cobb County institutions should be allowed to open meetings with prayer.

Critics say they are overtly Christian prayers that send the message the religion is sponsored by the county.

A federal judge has already refused to ban the practice that is fairly common in Georgia. Each day the General Assembly is in session, Christian leaders routinely ask lawmakers to bow their heads in the name of Jesus.

Obama evokes MLK , seeks 'mandate for change' in Georgia

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Monday he doesn't just want to win the White House -- he wants a mandate. And that includes competing in Georgia, a state that hasn't awarded its delegates to a Democrat in 16 years.

"I intend to win right here in the great state of Georgia," Obama told some 300 donors.

They had paid a minimum of $2,300 apiece and crowded into the upscale Atlanta restaurant 103 West to hear him speak. It was the first of two Atlanta fundraisers the Illinois senator headlined Monday night to stock his campaign warchest for the coming general election battle with Republican John McCain.

Obama evoked the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his hometown, warning Democrats not to forget "the fierce urgency of now."

"We want a mandate for change and we're not just going to run in the same old states and have just everything hinge on Florida," Obama said.

"We're going to try and transform this political map."

He will host a town hall meeting today on the economy in the GOP stronghold of Cobb County.

Georgia Republicans went on the attack against Obama before he'd even arrived in the state. In a conference call with reporters, Georgia's two U.S. senators -- both Republicans -- blasted the Illinois senator on taxes, gas prices and the war in Iraq.

Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson said Georgians need to know about Obama's voting record, which they allege is out of step with many of the state's conservative voters. The Georgia Republican Party also issued a blistering press release taking aim at Obama's decision to forgo public financing for his campaign, among other things.

There's been talk that Georgia could be up for grabs in the November general election. And in South Carolina, two of Obama's top supporters said Monday he would put paid staff on the ground there, in another break with the recent Democratic strategy of bypassing a GOP-dominated state in the general election.

Isakson predicted Monday that Republican candidate John McCain would carry Georgia. He said the Obama camp is touching down in the state in what will be a futile attempt to engineer a win in Dixie.

"I think they would like nothing better than to crack a Southern state," Isakson said.

Chambliss, who's running for re-election this year, praised Obama for bringing new voters into the process.

"I have to commend him for that," Chambliss said. "But we want to make sure that people understand really how this guy has voted and what he stands for."

A spokesman for the Georgia Democratic Party said it was telling that Republicans launched such a coordinated offensive against Obama.

"Don't let our senators fool you -- Georgia is not as red as they would have you believe," Martin Matheny said.

Obama on Monday also received a plug from Georgia Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Vernon Jones on Monday who praised him for battling in the state unlike some previous Democratic presidential candidates "who wrote the South off."

The last Democrat to carry Georgia in a presidential contest was Bill Clinton in 1992.

Jones' comments came a few days after a mailer from his campaign made waves with the Obama camp. The flier featured a composite picture of Jones and Obama under Obama's signature slogan: "Yes We Can!

The Obama campaign issued a statement which said "despite what this mailer inaccurately suggests, Sen. Obama will not endorse a candidate in the U.S. Senate primary in Georgia." Jones brushed aside such criticism on Monday and said the flier merely shows that he's supporting Obama.

Jones volunteered that he can help Obama.

"For Sen. Obama to win Georgia he's going to need conservative Democrats like myself, obviously that's the great need," Jones said.

State's top NAACP official wants probe into Cobb County case

Georgia’s top NAACP official is calling for a state investigation into sentences given to two young white women in a recent bank robbery case. Edward DuBose says he’s asking the state attorney general to look into the so-called ‘Barbie bandits’ case in Cobb County. DuBose wants to know why the court gave the two women less jail time than two black men in the case. Last month 20-year-old Heather Johnston received 10 years probation for her guilty plea. 19-year-old Ashley Miller got two years in jail with eight years probation. The accomplices--both black--received harsher sentences. Michael Chastang was sentenced to 10 years behind bars for masterminding the scheme--bank teller Bennie Allen received five years in jail for the February 2007 bank robbery.

Six Flags water rides may go dry

Officials with Six Flags over Georgia are considering the closure of three of its water rides because of the drought.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports officials with the amusement park called a meeting with Cobb County to go over water restrictions. The rides under consideration for closure are Skull Island, Splashwater Falls, and Thunder River.

Cobb County is reportedly looking to the state's Enviromental Protection Division for guidance on restrictions. There is no timetable for a decision to be made.

Six Flags is scheduled to open March 1st for weekends, and May 23rd for daily operation.

Young Cobb Co. vandals assisted

Cobb County police have charged a 46-year-old Marietta man for allegedly helping middle school students vandalize neighborhood Christmas decorations. Officials say John Scott Hayes drove the students around in the back of his pick-up truck as they went house to house damaging holiday displays.

Abducted woman found near Six Flags

McConnell-Hancock. (Final Harvest Church)

A pregnant Ohio attorney who had been missing since Wednesday was found alive Saturday behind a suburban Atlanta amusement park, and police said she reported having been abducted. There were no immediate arrests.

Karyn McConnell-Hancock, 35, who is six months pregnant, told Cobb County police that two men and a woman abducted her. She was last seen outside a juvenile court building in Toledo, Ohio, around 9 a.m. Wednesday, police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce said.

The suspects reportedly dumped her out of a vehicle in Georgia on Saturday morning, and she wandered to a back gate to the Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park, Pierce said. The woman flagged down a motorist, who called police at about 6:45 a.m. The park is located in Austell, 15 miles northwest of Atlanta.

She appeared to be in good health. The motorist she flagged down described her as disoriented, according to Toledo police spokeswoman Capt. Diana Ruiz-Krause.

Details on where she was between Wednesday and Saturday, descriptions of her alleged abductors and the vehicle they were driving were unclear. Ruiz-Krause said McConnell-Hancock called her husband Thursday afternoon to say she had been kidnapped. Police were unable to trace the call, which was brief.

The woman's car has not been located, Ruiz-Krause said.

By midday Saturday, the FBI had been called in to assist, Pierce said. An FBI spokesman in Atlanta, Stephen Emmett, declined to comment, referring questions to his counterpart in Ohio. The FBI office there declined to make a spokesman available for comment.

McConnell-Hancock had been having trouble with a client and had received suspicious phone calls, her husband told police in Ohio.

Georgia authorities were interviewing McConnell-Hancock Saturday. Toledo police were making arrangements to travel to Georgia and escort her back to Ohio.

McConnell-Hancock is a former city councilwoman in Toledo.

(Associated Press Writers Stephen Majors and Emily Zeugner contributed to this report from Columbus, Ohio)

Cobb County to vote on water-saving toilets

Following Governor Perdue's order that public utilities reduce water consumption, one metro-Atlanta county will vote tonight on a new water-saving rebate plan for its customers. Federal law says all new construction must include low-flow, water-saving toilets. Now, officials in Cobb County want to offer customers in older homes, a chance to turn in their outdated water guzzling fixtures for newer models. They're willing to pay up to $100 per unit to persuade residents and businesses to do just that. Kathy Ngyuen is with Cobb County's water system. She says the plan was slated to kick off in 2008, but current drought conditions forced an early implementation:

"The Governor has mandated that all water utilities in the 61 counties in Georgia, achieve a 10 percent reduction over winter use. What that essentially means is a serious reduction in indoor water use and we think this program will be very effective in helping us achieve that."

The county has set aside $100 dollars to pay for the low-flow toilets, which use less than 1-1/2 gallons of water per flush versus the older models which can use up to 5 gallons each time they're flushed. Nearly 90,000 customers of the Cobb County water system are eligible to participate, and can receive up to $100 for each unit installed, to a maximum of three.

Cobb County student in hospital with bacterial meningitis

A high school student in Cobb County has landed in the hospital with bacterial meningitis. A county school spokesman says parents will be notified by e-mail about the sick student, who attends Walton High School in Marietta. The school is asking parents to let them know if their child has symptoms. Those include high fever, intense headache, neck stiffness, nausea and vomiting. Bacterial meningitis is passed from person to person by close direct contact over several hours. It is treated with antibiotics.