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ATLANTA, GA—ROBERT P. COPELAND, 48, of Marietta, Georgia, pleaded guilty today in federal district court to committing a five-year long investment scam that defrauded more than 125 victims of more than $28 million. United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said, “This is yet another tragic case in which dozens and dozens of victims lost their hard-earned money in what turned out to be a massive and long-running investment fraud scheme. This case is particularly disturbing because the defendant was a lawyer and many of his victims were senior citizens, some of whom lost their life savings. The defendant is now...

SWISS ARMY KNIFE IN THE CAR = A FELONY? More from Cobb County, Georgia. It seems that a Cobb County student, Will Chandler, was found with a Swiss Army knife in the center console of his car. I can tell you that I have a Swiss Army knife in the console of my car right now. The difference is, this kid is actually going to be charged with a felony! That's right, folks ... a felony! Bad kid? Nope .. he has no record of disciplinary problems at his school. Do you have any idea what a felony conviction does...

While politicians have hacked and sloughed their way through the issue of illegal immigration, one sheriff in Atlanta has taken matters into his own hands by doing what the law already allows law enforcement to do -- begin deportation proceedings against illegal aliens who are charged with crimes. Cobb County is a large, upscale and well-run county just north of the city limits of Atlanta. Once known for a more radical conservative tone, the county is now thought of as a moderate-to-conservative area more interested in promoting economic growth and the arts than promoting political agendas. I say that because...

The federal appeals court in Atlanta on Thursday declined to rule on the constitutionality of controversial Cobb County evolution disclaimers because the court said it did not have enough information to make the decision. The ruling was the latest twist in a nationally watched case that has raised questions of local authority over schools and whether Cobb's sticker -- which called evolution "a theory, not a fact" -- runs afoul of the First Amendment. The ruling means more arguments from lawyers and, perhaps, a new trial. -snip- The 11th Circuit noted that all parties in the case agree that some...

ADF filed friend-of-the-court brief in defense of textbook stickers which accurately stated that evolution is a theory ATLANTA — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit today vacated a lower court decision that declared Cobb County science textbook stickers which stated “evolution is a theory, not a fact” unconstitutional. The court was critical of the district court for issuing its ruling against the stickers despite holes in the evidentiary record in the case and remanded the case back to the district court for new proceedings. “No school should be in trouble for simply stating the facts. That’s what...

Topics for the day: Katrina Debit Cards, Able Danger Hearings, More Newt, Cobb County, Georgia SPLOST. read on...

A deal between Apple and Georgia’s Cobb County School District that could ultimately result in 63,000 iBooks has been stopped cold because of a lawsuit filed by a former county commissioner. Superior Court Judge S. Lark Ingram ordered the iBook deployment to stop on Friday. Heralded as the largest ever “one-to-one” computing initiative, Cobb County’s “Power to Learn” program used money earmarked from a special tax fund Georgia taxpayers in individual counties can request called Special Purpose Location Option Sales Tax, or SPLOST. How this tax override was represented to voters is central to the judge’s decision, according to the...

Cobb County wants to spend nearly $70 million for 63,000 students and teachers to get state-of-the-art Apple laptop computers, complete with Microsoft Word and iTunes. After months of negotiations, Superintendent Joseph Redden announced the cost and scope of a potential deal with Apple Computer. If the school board approves the first phase of the four-year, $69.9 million proposal, the first iBook G4 laptops would be distributed this spring. By fall, four high schools would be outfitted as demonstration sites. Within a year, high schoolers could be working with a computer that, at 5 pounds, weighs less than most textbooks. Within...

Big Bossman Passes Away At Age 42 Ray "Big Bossman" Traylor suddenly passed away Wednesday night at his home. He was 42. Traylor had a very successful run as The Big Bossman in the WWF years ago, and another semi-successful stint with the WWF in the late 90s as a somewhat repackaged Bossman. His cause of death is a mystery right now. He did not have any known health problems. ----- More On The Death Of The Big Bossman The ABC affiliate in Atlanta, WSB, is reporting that The Big Bossman died last night due to a massive heart attack....

Burned By Mark Hartwig “We know what they’re really up to.”That has been the Darwinist message from the very beginning of the Cobb County controversy, which I wrote about in the last update. Unfortunately, some journalists got royally burned last week by reporting that message as if it were an established fact.Last Thursday, the Cobb County (Ga.) school board voted unanimously—in the teeth of an ACLU lawsuit—to let district science teachers “teach the controversy” about origins. The 7-0 vote, the approved the following policy: It is the educational philosophy of the Cobb County School District to provide a broad-based curriculum;...