Man Sentenced for Helping Illegal Immigrants

A 37-year-old Duluth man has been sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of using his employment agency to help illegal immigrants get jobs at Chinese restaurants.

A federal judge on Monday sentenced Liang Yang on charges of conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants. Three years supervised release will follow his prison term.

Authorities indicted Yang and 10 other employment agency operators on April 15, 2008. Only Yang went to trial. The others pleaded guilty to similar charges and have either been sentenced or are awaiting sentencing.

Evidence presented at trial showed the group of employment agencies was a first stop for illegal Latino workers. Prosecutors said Yang served as a broker between the immigrants and the restaurants.

(Associated Press)

Carter Hints at Supporting Obama (Updated)

Former President Jimmy Carter has hinted that he may cast his superdelegate vote for Illinois Senator Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential nominee, according to a report appearing in an African newspaper.

Carter is said to have made the statement on Wednesday at an award ceremony at the Carter Center in Abuja, Nigeria, according to a local news website.

“We are very interested in the primaries. Don’t forget that Obama won in my state of Georgia. My town which is home to 625 people is for Obama, my children and their spouses are pro-Obama.

"My grandchildren are also pro-Obama. As a superdelegate, I would not disclose who I am rooting for but I leave you to make that guess," the website quoted Carter as saying.

Carter's press secretary confirmed the comments Thursday and reiterated the President's intention to remain uncommitted to a specific presidential candidate until the Democratic Party Convention in August.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the race for the White House.

Georgia authorities to exhume 'cold-case' remains

Authorities are planning to exhume an unidentified body in Walker County, Georgia, this week to determine if it matches the DNA of a 19-year-old Ohio coll(ege student missing for nearly 55 years.

The Georgia sheriff's department reopened the case in January in hopes that new technology could solve the mystery of the remains found in the woods in 1953 and later buried in the city of LaFayette's cemetery. The remains turned up about a month after the disappearance of Ronald Tammen, a student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, last seen in his dorm room.

The exhumation will be done Friday. Authorities from Georgia and Ohio are expected to attend.

The DNA extracted from the remains will be compared to Tammens' siblings.

(The Associated Press)