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<p>TLANTA - Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced Tuesday that he will 'separate' Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran from the department. The Chief was terminated just after noon, Reed said.</p> <p>The announcement came as Cochran scheduled to return to work following a one-month suspension.</p>

Mercedes-Benz USA is expected to announce it will move its headquarters to the Atlanta area from New Jersey, ending a more than 40-year connection to the state where it employs about 1,000 people. The announcement could be made as soon as Tuesday, according to two people briefed on the matter. Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler AG DAI, +0.70% , has been based in Montvale, N.J., since 1972. Reports of a possible move first surfaced in December.

<p>The Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency approval for a new diagnostic kit to test blood for the deadly Ebola virus, even as doctors are reporting a survival rate in one hard-hit area that has climbed to about 70 percent.</p>

On the weekend before Christmas, last-minute shoppers descended upon Buckhead to pick up last-minute gifts for their friends and family. And protesters, who in recent weeks have taken to Atlanta's streets over the non-indictments of police officers responsible for the killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y., decided to stage one of their most disruptive demonstrations yet by shutting down a major intersection near two of Atlanta's biggest shopping centers. Atlanta Police this afternoon arrested more than a dozen protesters who blocked traffic for more than 90 minutes at Peachtree and Lenox roads...

McDonald’s and its franchisees illegally retaliated against employees for participating in union-related activities, the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer alleged Friday in a case with sweeping industry implications. NLRB general counsel Richard Griffin announced Friday he will issue 13 complaints involving 78 charges against franchises and McDonald’s USA, LLC. Though many of these alleged labor violations were committed by independent franchise owners, Griffin ruled earlier this year that McDonald’s can be held liable for those actions as a so-called joint employer, leaving the corporatrion — and potentially other franchisors — exposed to such claims. McDonald’s said the decision will...

Who Really Discovered America? Did ancient Hebrews reach the shores of the North and South American continents thousands of years before Christopher Columbus? What evidence is there for Hebrew and Israelite occupation of the Western Hemisphere even a thousand years before Christ? Was trans-Atlantic commerce and travel fairly routine in the days of king Solomon of Israel? Read here the intriguing, fascinating saga of the TRUE DISCOVERERS OF AMERICA! William F. Dankenbring A stone in a dry creek bed in New Mexico, discovered by early settlers in the region, is one of the most amazing archaeological discoveries in the Western...

A U.S. healthcare worker who had been in West Africa and may have been exposed to the Ebola virus is being transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, a hospital spokeswoman said on Wednesday. The patient will be monitored and observed for signs of infection. The hospital said it did not have a time of arrival and was unable to share more details "out of respect for patient privacy and in accordance with the patient's wishes." It did not say where the patient is currently located or when he or she returned to the United States.

(CNN) -- Witnesses are crediting a family's German shepherd with shielding its owners from gunfire in an Atlanta road-rage incident (video also)

Years ago, I encountered a piece in Feminism & Nonviolence Studies entitled “Feminist, Prolife, and Atheist,” by Kathryn Reed. At the time, I had no idea that atheism was in my future. What really stuck with me was not the title, or even the body of the article, but one of the subheadings: “Converting Abortion Clinics To Peacetime Use.” The idea of “peacetime use” has been on my mind a lot lately, as the pro-life movement has seen a record number of abortion businesses close in recent months. On a whim, I thought I’d put together a list showing how...

Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran has been suspended without pay for one month because of authoring a religious book in which he describes homosexuality as a “sexual perversion” akin to bestiality and pederasty. Mayor Kasim Reed’s spokeswoman Anne Torres said the administration didn’t know about “Who Told You That You Are Naked?” until employees came forward with complaints last week. . . . Cochran has been ordered to undergo sensitivity training and has been barred from distributing copies of the book on city property after a number of firefighters said they received them in the workplace.

Janice Mathis with Rainbow Push Coalition says she’s never seen anything like it, nothing so deliberate and focused on a particular incident that was about to happen. According to Mathis, “I’ve seen meetings sort of like this in the aftermath of Jena, or in the aftermath of Trayvon, but I’ve never seen anything like this in preparation for an announcement.” Close to 200 metro Atlanta law men and women, administrators from various jurisdictions, members of clergy and civil rights organizations, along with high school and college students gathered Thursday afternoon inside the chambers of the DeKalb County School Board. They...

Bank Robbery Suspect Who Fatally Shot Himself During Chase Was Former Atlanta Police Lieutenant Police said Dodd was a former lieutenant with the Atlanta police and was visiting Matteson from Georgia Wednesday, Nov 19, 2014 • Updated at 4:05 PM CST A man suspected of robbing a bank Friday morning and leading police on a car chase through the south suburbs before fatally shooting himself has been identified as a former lieutenant with the Atlanta Police Department. Maurice Chester Dodd, 44, died of a gunshot wound to the head and his death was ruled a suicide, according to the Cook...

Jabari Sadler demonstrates the disarm.  You can see the bullet hole in the door. In a home invasion in Atlanta, a father protected his wife and children with a successful disarm of one of the invaders. Multiple people were on separate floors of the three level home when the four invaders broke the door down.  It appears that only one home invader had a gun.  He was left guarding the family on a lower floor while the three other invaders rushed upstairs and gathered TVs, phones, and other valuables. The grandmother was hiding under a bed on the third...

Kellogg’s was a sponsor of the Atlanta Gay Pride March and festival last month. Apparently, Tony the Tiger wants to make sure you and your kids “wear your stripes with pride,” gay pride that is. According to the American Family Association’s (AFA) Facebook page, “[t]hey even put an ad in the ‘Pride Guide.’” Also displayed on the ad is Human Rights Campaign (HRC), who considers Kellogg one of the “BEST PLACES TO WORK,” due to its support "for LGBT Equality."

<p>Election returns from the Georgia Senate and gubernatorial contests will be closely watched tonight for what they might tell us about race, region and politics in the age of Obama.</p> <p>Democrats are hoping for evidence of a demographic realignment they could benefit from -- if not now, then perhaps in the coming years. And Republicans are looking to hold firm, maintaining their firewall among Southern white voters who have grown more and more Republican in recent years.</p>

A human blockade temporarily formed on I-75/85 northbound Wednesday evening as protesters halted traffic. The incident was part of a protest in response to the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of a 18-year-old African-American by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo. Atlanta police spokesman Officer John Chafee said a number of protesters were present on the Downtown Connector near Freedom Parkway. Their presence blocked traffic for a short time. No arrests were made in connection to the protest, he added. . .

A patient who was transported to Emory University Hospital on Sept. 9 with Ebola virus disease was discharged from the hospital on Oct. 19, 2014. In coordination with the CDC and Georgia Department of Public Health, the patient was determined to be free of virus and to pose no public health threat. The patient has asked to remain anonymous and left the hospital for an undisclosed location. He will make a statement at a later date.

Nina Pham, one of the two nurses who contracted Ebola in Dallas, is expected to be moved to a National Institutes of Health isolation unit in Bethesda, Maryland, a federal official with direct knowledge of the plans told NBC News on Thursday. The transfer could happen later Thursday, but the official cautioned that plans were evolving. Pham, 26, was diagnosed with the virus on Sunday after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, who contracted Ebola in Liberia, flew to Dallas and later died. The other nurse who contracted Ebola in Dallas, Amber Vinson, was flown on Wednesday to Emory University Hospital in...

October 15, 2014 FoxNews.comThe second nurse infected with Ebola at a Dallas hospital after treating a man who later died of the virus was flown by private jet Wednesday to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for further treatment in a specialized isolation unit. The patient was identified earlier in the day as 29-year-old Amber Vinson as authorities expressed concern that she took a domestic flight — reportedly to prepare for her wedding in Cleveland — just one day before coming down with symptoms of the deadly disease. "The second health care worker should not have been allowed to travel by...

A second Dallas-based nurse who was recently diagnosed with Ebola after treating a man who later died of the virus has arrived in Atlanta for treatment. Helicopter footage from local television stations showed 29-year-old Amber Joy Vinson leaving a jet and being helped into an ambulance Wednesday night. A police motorcade escorted the ambulance as it traveled to Emory University Hospital, which has already treated three Americans diagnosed with the virus.