Survey: professors not political

A new survey of students at Georgia's state colleges and universities suggests most students don't think their professors have political agendas. The Savannah Morning News reports 71% of those questioned strongly disagreed with the statement "Professors in my classes have sometimes inappropriately presented their own political views in class." The State Board of Regents released the survey yesterday.

New record for Savannah port

Georgia's main port is marking a new first. The Georgia Ports Authority says the port of Savannah moved more than 1-million exported 20-foot containers in fiscal year 2008. The Savannah Morning News reports China brought in the most shipments at 175,000. Italy, Turkey, Japan, and the Republic of Korea also topped the list.

TV host apologizes over threat against fan

Williams. (Courtesy Paramount)

A producer from "The Montel Williams Show" has invited a newspaper intern to a taping of the show during which the host would apologize for an angry confrontation with her.

Williams, who was in Savannah Friday to promote free prescriptions for poor people, had already issued a statement of apology to the Savannah Morning News high school intern who had asked him questions related to rising drug costs.

The intern, Courtney Scott, then received on Saturday a letter from Williams sent from the e-mail address of Melanie McLaughlin, president and executive producer of Mountain Movers, Inc., which produces Williams' talk show.

"Regrettably I reacted childishly to the situation and for that I truly apologize to all concerned. I would like to invite Courtney and her family to appear on my show for a public apology," the e-mail said.

"I'll accept, if he's really going to do it," Scott said Saturday. "I don't really think it's his statement. I think his people put it out."

Williams, a patient advocate since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, terminated the Friday interview with Scott after she asked him: "Do you think pharmaceutical companies would be discouraged from research and development if their profits were restricted?"

Later, he confronted her and two other reporters after mistakenly believing they followed him to the Westin Savannah Harbor. But they were there to cover an unrelated assignment.

Williams walked up to Scott and told her that "I can look you up, find where you live and blow you up," according to Joseph Cosey, a Web content producer for the newspaper.

Scott said she filed a police report because of Williams' behavior although she said it was unclear what Williams meant during his confrontation.

(The Associated Press)

Savannah Harbor gets oxygen

Engineers are injecting oxygen into the Savannah River harbor. The project is part of the plan to deepen the harbor.

The Savannah Morning News reports that two, two-story cones that look like tepees, are sitting on a barge in the harbor. They are injecting oxygen into the water to see if they would be effective in replenishing oxygen lost when harbor is deepened from 42 to 48 feet.

Deepening a harbor reduces the water’s oxygen content. This is part of an Environmental Impact study of the proposed deepening. Congress has approved the plan pending the impact study.

Coastal paper cuts circulation

The Savannah Morning News is cutting back its circulation. The paper says it will stop delivery July 30th to subscribers, stores and newspaper racks in 17 counties in Georgia and neighboring South Carolina. The publisher says rising fuel prices, higher postal rates and advertiser pressures forced the newspaper to scale back. The change will cost the Morning News about a thousand subscribers.

Atlanta docs deliver baby on Delta flight

Two doctors from Atlanta hospitals successfully delivered a baby on a Delta Air Lines flight this week, airline and hospital officials said.

Flight 131, with 192 passengers was airborne from Munich, Germany to Atlanta on Wednesday when a woman about 32 to 36 weeks pregnant went into premature labor somewhere over Washington, DC. The flight made an emergency stopover in Charlotte, NC.

Dr. Robert Vincent, a pediatric cardiologist with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and an adult cardiologist from Savannah, Ga. who The Savannah Morning News identified as Dr. Dieter K. Gunkel used medical equipment on the plane to resuscitate the child, who had turned blue with no heart rate.

The baby later was listed in good condition at a neonatal intensive care unit in Charlotte, said Jason Rollins, spokesman for the Atlanta-based pediatric hospital.

After the stopover in Charlotte, the flight continued to Atlanta, Talton said.

(AP)