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<p>A fallen soldier returned home to a hero’s welcome Wednesday.</p> <p>The body of Cpl. Matthew Phillips arrived Wednesday morning at 9:35 a.m. at Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport in Gainesville aboard a chartered jet from Dover Air Force Base.</p> <p>It was met by an honor guard from the U.S. Army, which placed the casket into a waiting hearse for the trip to a funeral home in Cumming where his body will lie in repose until a funeral on Saturday.</p>

The media already have gone over the top with their coverage of Sen. Barack Obama's international man-of-mystery tour. The endless photo sessions with the troops, foreign leaders, waving crowds -- it's just the most contrived pack of junk I've ever seen. But shame on the folks running the McCain campaign. They knew this week of endless glory for Obama was coming. Their response? They tell McCain to attend a baseball game, hold another boring town-hall meeting, have his photo taken with another Bush, and visit an oilrig. Sounds like the work of strategists bound and determined to destroy their candidate....

Kennesaw, GAGeorgia's 6th & 11th Districts Monthly Meeting is every third Saturday at 9 a.m. The meeting takes place at the Golden Corral on Barrett Pkwy in Kennesaw. Date: Saturday, July 19, 2008Time: 9:00 AM Repeat on the third Saturday of the month until 07/20/2008 This event does not require an RSVP. Registered users can request event reminders. Register

In fact, as much as he despised Clinton, Barr thinks President Bush is worse. "What George W. Bush has done to the fabric of our constitutional government, to separation of powers, to a government of limited powers is absolutely unforgivable," he said. That prospect is greatest in Barr's home state of Georgia. Obama is already running ads targeting an untapped pool of African Americans and younger voters. State polls suggest Barr's single-digit following pulls mostly from McCain. "If Barr can win 5 or 6 points of the total vote -- it's an if but it's conceivable -- then Obama could...

McALLEN - The strain of salmonella that sickened people across the country was detected in jalapeños distributed by a Rio Grande Valley company, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported Monday. Peppers from Agricola Zaragoza carried the saintpaul strain of salmonella. This is the first time the agency found the strain in food since the outbreak was announced in June. The FDA has not determined how or where the peppers were contaminated, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. It has been testing produce from distributors all over the country. Agricola Zaragoza is recalling jalapeños it has shipped...

Specialist Matthew Philips was killed in the attack on the base in Afghanistan on Sunday, July 13. He will be laid to rest on Saturday, July 26 at 1:00 at Coal Mountain Baptist Church in Cumming, Georgia. His body will be taken from Ingram's Funeral Home, in downtown Cumming, north on Highway 9. The church is on Highway 9, the burial will be at Coal Mountain Cemetery just down the road from the church following the service. Please join me if you can to show our support for his family and our brave military by lining the road with supporters....

“The Appalachian voting bloc will be critical in the … 2008 presidential election,” former Democratic National Committee executive director Mark Siegel says. Yet his broad statement comes with its own geopolitical caveat: location. “It all depends on what part of Appalachia you are talking about,” says Siegel. “If they live in Pennsylvania and Ohio, then, yes, without a doubt they are the key voters. If they live in West Virginia, then no, because for the Democrats that is not a state that is in play.” Appalachia is not a single state but a region that has its own unique frame...

A major American city has undergone big demographic changes overnight. Will others follow? ___ There is really only one way to put it: Atlanta is becoming whiter, and at a pace that outstrips the rest of the nation. The white share of the city's population, says Brookings Institution demographer William Frey, grew faster between 2000 and 2006 than that of any other U.S. city. It increased from 31 percent in 2000 to 35 percent in 2006, a numeric gain of 26,000, more than double the increase between 1990 and 2000. The trend seems to be gathering strength with each passing...

A Bainbridge man refused to be robbed when he was accosted around 5 a.m. Saturday morning. The complainant, a resident of Spruce Street, told BPS that he was sitting on his front porch smoking a cigar and drinking a cup of coffee. According to the resident, a man wearing a mask and carrying a large knife approached and demanded that he hand over his wallet. The citizen said he told the masked robber that he had to go inside the house to get the wallet. The homeowner returned, not with his wallet in hand, but instead wielding a pistol, which...

Last July, Paul Broun shocked Georgia pundits when the poorly funded physician narrowly defeated a longtime legislative leader in a GOP primary for a special election in an overwhelmingly Republican U.S. House seat. Party grandees were convinced Dr. Broun's victory was a fluke and this year backed a challenge from state Rep. Barry Fleming, who hails from the district's population center of Augusta. Mr. Fleming promptly raised nearly $1 million and proceeded to throw the kitchen sink at Dr. Broun, including mailers chiding him for failing to bring home earmarks for the district. Well, Dr. Broun will be going back...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will cut its workforce by 8 percent, or about 189 jobs, and eliminate all of its geographically targeted news sections as part of a cost-cutting plan announced Wednesday.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will cut its workforce by 8 percent, some 184 jobs, and eliminate its "geographically targeted news sections" as part of a cost-cutting plan the paper announced Wednesday. "The moves come amid an advertising revenue slump that has ravaged the newspaper industry and has been made worse by rising costs for fuel and newsprint," the paper reported. The paper reported that "job cuts, which will occur between August and October, will mainly affect the news and advertising departments at the company. They will be accomplished through voluntary buyouts, layoffs and job eliminations." The company currently has about 2,300...

Federal officials said Monday that Gwinnett is now the focal point of competing metro area Mexican drug cartels trafficking cocaine and methamphetamines due to its burgeoning Hispanic population and transportation infrastructure.

Sign of the times: Atlanta road signs to be gender neutral Complaint results in Men at Work and Men Working Ahead signs being changed to read Workers Ahead Atlanta, Georgia (14 July 2008) - Call it another sign of the times. The City of Atlanta has accepted the complaint of a women's magazine editor and will begin using gender neutral language on its road construction signs. Those signs that now read Men at Work or Men Working Ahead are being replaced or altered to read Workers Ahead. The Atlanta Public Works Commissioner agreed to the change after Cynthia Good, founder...

ALBANY, GA (WALB) - A Florida woman armed with some puppy love is on her way to lift some soldier's spirits. Kathy Alexander and her 13 pooches hope to bring warm fuzzy feelings to wounded soldiers across the nation. The dogs have been providing pet therapy to nursing homes for over 10 years, but in the next month they will be traveling to military bases across the country. Their first stop is Fort Benning where they hope to bring smiles to the men and woman serving our country. -snip-

For those voters who think Ralph Nader and Bob Barr are too conventional, the Green Party this weekend named former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Georgia, its 2008 presidential nominee. At the Green Party's nominating convention Saturday in at the Chicago Symphony Center, McKinney received 313 out of 532 votes cast in the first round of balloting. "I am asking you to vote your conscience, vote your dreams, vote your future, vote Green," McKinney told the convention's 800 or so attendees. "A vote for the Green Party is a vote for the movement that will turn this country right-side-up again." McKinney, a...

A high school senior from Georgia won the National Right to Life oratory competition this past weekend, emphasizing in his speech how abortion “is but a branch to the Post Modernist root.” “They cannot say that an unborn child is or is not a person, because hey, it’s all relative. It may be a human to you, but not to me,” Blake Adams from Powder Springs, Ga., expressed in his entry titled “Truth.” Before winning the national competition Saturday evening in Washington, Blake had won his district competition in Cobb County, the Georgia state competition, and the preliminaries at...

Two of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s children are suing their brother, accusing him of wrongfully taking money from their parents' estates. Bernice King and Martin Luther King III allege that Dexter King took "substantial funds" out of Coretta Scott King's estate and "wrongfully appropriated" money from their father's estate. The suit, filed Thursday in Fulton County Superior Court, serves as a very public fissure in an iconic family that has always professed unity, particularly as questions have swirled around some of their financial dealings. In a written statement Friday, Dexter King called the suit "inappropriate and false." "I'm...

Fazal Khan wanted his American-born sons to recite the Quran from memory. So he sent them to a religious school in his native Pakistan in 2004. Noor, now 17, and Mahboob, 16, didn't like it at Jamia Binoria, a prominent madrassah in Karachi, describing it as a world of black and white compared to the color of Atlanta. "I want to go home badly," Noor said in a 2005 interview that appears in a new documentary film about the school. "I think about what I could be doing and what I am doing." After four years and publicity that focused...

Governor Sonny Perdue today announced the appointment of a working group tasked with investigating innovative ways to create long-term, comprehensive education reform to make Georgia more globally competitive. This working group...build off the work of the Investing in Educational Excellence (IE2) Task Force and review a provocative national report called Tough Choices or Tough Times to determine how Georgia might reform its education policies and practices to cause needed change for its educational system. ...focus specifically on several areas of education policy reform: Moving students to postsecondary-level work as soon as they demonstrate the necessary ability; Enhancing the quality of...

BAGHDAD – Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, are redeploying back to Fort Stewart, Ga., this month. The 2nd BCT deployed in May 2007 as the fifth surge brigade.  Its mission was to block accelerants from entering Baghdad, protect the local population, defeat sectarian violence, continue to increase the capacity of the Iraqi Security Forces, foster local governance and economic systems, and to set the conditions for long-term self-reliance.  The 2nd Brigade, as part of Multi-National Division Center, primarily conducted operations southeast of Baghdad, which included population centers in Abu Waitha, Hawr Rajab, Adwaniyah, Madhariyah and...

Contrary to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution headline, he didn’t actually say he was innocent. He said he had done nothing wrong. That’s not the same thing. According to an earlier story on this case, he confessed to killing his daughter, and explained that he had done it to cleanse his family’s honor. When he appeared before the judge, it is unlikely that he changed this story. He just said he didn’t do anything wrong. And by the lights of the Islamic culture from which he comes, which thinks that a father killing a daughter who has sullied his family’s honor is...

judge Tuesday for a temporary order stopping officials from arresting anyone caught with a weapon. GeorgiaCarry.org filed a federal lawsuit July 1, the day a new gun law took effect in Georgia

Just seven months after Michael Vick was sentenced to federal prison, the fallen Falcons quarterback found himself in a "precarious financial position" and filed for bankruptcy protection. One of his creditors is the Falcons. In Chapter 11 documents filed in federal court in Virginia on Monday, Vick cites debts of between $10-50 million dollars. He also cites assets in the same range. In the court documents, Vick lists seven creditors, including the Falcons, that are owed a total of $12.8 million. The debt to the Falcons is for $3.75 million, listed as a pro rated signing bonus. The documents indicate...

All part of his daring master plan to make his name as widely reviled among the right as Ralph Nader’s is among the left. Polls in Georgia and North Carolina over the last two weeks show Mr. Barr winning 8 percent and 6 percent respectively of the presidential vote, and in both cases helping keep likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama within striking distance of Mr. McCain in those states — which, taken together, account for more electoral votes than Florida, Pennsylvania or Ohio… [InsiderAdvantage pollster Matt] Towery said North Carolina and Georgia are exactly the places that Mr....

It's something no parent wants to hear, their child telling them someone sexually abused them. But one Augusta mother says those are the words she woke up to this morning. Deputies arrested a man accused of molesting the woman's 11-year-old son. Edwin Hernandez is behind bars, and accused of molesting an 11 year old boy! Richmond County investigators were called out to a home on Heather's Way in South Augusta early Wednesday morning. The child's mother called 911 after her son told her Hernandez performed a sex act on him. She then chased him out of her home with a...

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- One day while driving with her father, Hannah Salwen noticed a Mercedes stopped next to a homeless man sitting on the curb. "I said to my dad, 'If that guy didn't have such a nice car, then that guy could have a nice meal,' " the 15-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia, recalled. And so began the tale of what the Salwen family calls "Hannah's Lunchbox." Watch why family wants to give away $800K » It started as family discussions about what they needed versus what was enough. Hannah's father Kevin, an entrepreneur, is on the board of...

When modern society collides with powerful traditions from the Dark Ages, women die: Police: Arranged marriage led father to kill daughter A Clayton County man faces murder charges in the strangling death of his 25-year-old daughter early Sunday over her desire to end an arranged marriage. Chaudhry Rashad, 54, apparently got mad during an argument in which the victim, Sandela Kanwal, told him she wanted out of the marriage, Clayton police officer Timothy Owens said. Authorities were called to their Utah Drive home in Jonesboro just after 3 a.m. Sunday. Kanwal lived with her father when she was not with...

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. (MyFOX Atlanta) – A Clayton County man was behind bars Sunday, accused of killing his own daughter. Police said the father was angry because he felt his daughter was disgracing the family. Investigators said 54-year-old Chaudhry Rashad was so outraged at his daughter, Sandela Kanwal, and her plans for divorce that he killed her after a heated argument at the family's home. Investigators said Rashad confessed to strangling the 25-year-old woman.

A Clayton County man faces murder charges in the strangling death of his 25-year-old daughter early Sunday over her desire to end an arranged marriage. Chaudhry Rashad, 54, apparently got mad during an argument in which the victim, Sandela Kanwal, told him she wanted out of the marriage, Clayton police officer Timothy Owens said. Authorities were called to their Utah Drive home in Jonesboro just after 3 a.m. Sunday. Kanwal lived with her father when she was not with her husband, who is in Chicago, Owens said. She hadn't seen the husband in three months, he said. Both Rashad and...

Atlanta, GA (AHN) - High level of formaldehyde have been detected in trailers and mobile home occupied by victims of Hurricane Katrina, says a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Formaldehyde, a preservative commonly used in construction materials, is carcinogenic and can cause breathing problems. The trailers were provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to hurricane victims in 2005. The agency no longer provides them, but the mobile homes are still in use.The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California was tasked by CDC to measure formaldehyde concentrations in trailers and emissions from specific...

A judge in Georgia has thrown out an air pollution permit for a new coal-fired power plant because the permit did not set limits on carbon dioxide emissions. Both opponents of coal use and the company that wants to build the plant said it was the first time a court decision had linked carbon dioxide to an air pollution permit. The decision’s broader legal impact was not clear, either for the plant, proposed to be built near Blakely, in Early County, Ga., or for others outside Georgia, but it signaled that builders of coal plants would face continued difficulties in...

You could call it the Atlanta version of "High Noon." Top city officials will announce Tuesday that despite a new state gun law that went into effect at midnight, they will have anyone carrying a weapon at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport arrested. The state lawmaker who sponsored the new gun law says if they do, the city will immediately be sued. And state Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica) said the plaintiff in the lawsuit could be himself. "I have a permit, and I have family I have to pick up at the airport tomorrow [Tuesday]," Bearden told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on...

A state judge has blocked construction of a power plant on grounds that its emissions permit does not set a cap on carbon dioxide. Global warming alarmism wins another round. Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore of the Fulton County, Ga., Superior Court invalidated on Tuesday a government permit issued in 2007 for construction of a coal-fired plant in the southwestern part of the state. She based her decision on last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that forced the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate CO2 as a pollutant, even though it is harmless to humans and animals and is necessary to...

Lawmaker won't bring weapon today; will rely on court case to challenge banA state representative decided not to carry a gun into the Atlanta airport in defiance of the firearms ban there, saying he'll let a gun-rights group fight the ban in court. State Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica), who sponsored a new law that that took effect Tuesday and allows licensed gun owners to carry in public places, had vowed to take a gun to Hartsfield-Jackson when picking up his father. But Tuesday morning, Bearden said he reconsidered his strategy.... "That showdown will still happen, but it will take...

THE interim between the primaries and the parties’ nominating conventions is, according to ancient writ, a fertile period for presidential campaigns to talk about how they plan to expand the political map in the fall. This year is no different. Barack Obama’s strategists are suggesting that the first African-American presidential nominee of a major political party can parlay increased turnout among black voters into a string of victories in the South. Given that roughly half of all African-Americans live in the 11 former Confederate states, the idea seems intuitive enough. It’s also wrong. Prying Southern electoral votes away from the...

Georgia court cites carbon in coal-plant ruling Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:18pm EDT HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Georgia state court on Monday invalidated a permit to build a 1,200-megawatt coal-fired power plant, citing the developers' failure to limit emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming. An environmental group immediately praised the decision, predicting it would lead to reconsideration of many coal-fired power plants under development in the country. The order, from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore, reversed an air permit issued earlier this year....

You could call it the Atlanta version of "High Noon." Top city officials will announce Tuesday that despite a new state gun law that went into effect at midnight, they will have anyone carrying a weapon at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport arrested. The state lawmaker who sponsored the new gun law says if they do, the city will immediately be sued. And state Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica) said the plaintiff in the lawsuit could be himself. "I have a permit, and I have family I have to pick up at the airport tomorrow [Tuesday]," Bearden told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on...

"Batman the Ride" at Six Flags Over Georgia. It was the second Batman ride-related death at the Cobb County park. According to the police and a statement from the amusement park, the boy and a friend climbed over two 6-foot fences -- the park perimeter fence and a second one surrounding the ride -- to get to the roller coaster. Park officials said there were numerous signs warning would-be intruders of the danger. The victim was decapitated when the ride struck him, police said. The youth was not identified. "The areas where the individuals entered were clearly marked with signs...

A 17-year-old South Carolina boy on an church outing was killed Saturday when he was struck by the popular "Batman the Ride" at Six Flags Over Georgia. It was the second Batman ride-related death at the Cobb County park.

Thank you for joining nearly 1.2 million of your fellow Americans in signing the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" petition. Congress has heard the message loud and clear, but your Member of Congress, Jim Marshall, has not signed the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" petition. This is why we need your help to declare this July 4th Energy Independence Day! Today, Friday, June 27, Congress is scheduled to recess for the Fourth of July and will return to Washington, DC on July 7. During the 10-day recess, your Representative, Jim Marshall will be holding townhall meetings, attending parades,...

Date/Time: 6/24/2008 2:25:24 PM Title: Klibanoff resigns from Journal-Constitution Posted By: Jim Romenesko Memo from Atlanta Journal-Constitution managing editor/news Hank Klibanoff To: The AJC staff From: Hank Date: June 24, 2008 I don't have an anecdotal lede, a way to foreshadow a suspenseful ending, or some clever device to hook you. I have some news that is difficult to write and best served straight up: I am leaving the paper. This is just about the hardest thing I've ever done. In an action-packed six years here, I have fallen fully in love with this newsroom, this staff, this company. We've...

UNION CITY, Ga. -- A 16-year-old home invasion suspect is recovering from gunshot wounds after a Union City man said the teen kicked in the back door of his townhome Saturday. The 28-year-old homeowner said the teen rang the doorbell, but when no one answered, the suspect went around to the back of the townhouse. Police said the resident got his gun and shot the teen in the shoulder after the suspect kicked in the back door and entered the home. Police said the homeowner then chased the suspect through a nearby wooded area.

Holly Springs, Georgia. From the "This Is Going Too Damn Far" File comes word via USA Today that this north Atlanta suburb is now charging a $12.00 "fuel surcharge" on all moving violations. The city of Atlanta might be next. Argh.

June 19, 2008 — A New InsiderAdvantage / PollPosition survey conducted June 18 of registered likely voters in the November presidential contest shows Sen. John McCain leading Sen. Barack Obama by a single point in Georgia, making the race in Georgia a statistical tie. Libertarian Bob Barr, a former Republican Congressman from Georgia, received 6 percent of the vote. The telephone survey of 408 registered likely voters is weighted for age, race, gender, and political affiliation. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 5%. It was conducted with InsiderAdvantage’s research partner Majority Opinion Research. PollPosition is InsiderAdvantage’s new...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution eliminated 21 jobs in its information technology department, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, which added the June 18 cuts were part of a restructuring. AJC spokesperson Jennifer Morrow told the paper that 30 full-time positions were eliminated but nine of them were open, resulting in 21 employees cut. The job cuts come less than two months after the paper announced a restructuring of its circulation department, cutting 62 positions and reducing distribution operations down to 49 counties. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the paper saw a daily circulation drop of 8.5% to 326,907, in...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Some cash-strapped US municipalities are resorting to slapping fuel surcharges onto tickets issued to speeding drivers in order to fill dwindling city coffers hit hard by skyrocketing gas prices. Beginning July 1, the Georgia town of Holly Springs, near the city of Atlanta, will add a surcharge of 12 dollars for each moving violation as a means to avert a budget deficit brought on by high fuel prices. "It's a creative and innovative idea of our police chief," said Holly CothranDrake, spokeswoman of the city administration which on Wednesday received queries from several American municipalities that are...

State Rep. Ron Sailor on Tuesday pleaded guilty to laundering what he believed to be $375,000 in drug money for an undercover officer posing as a drug dealer. Sailor, 33, a Democrat who represents parts of DeKalb and Rockdale counties, agreed to resign his position in the legislature. Shortly after his arrest three months ago, Sailor admitted his wrongdoing and began providing information for a public corruption investigation. "It is an active and ongoing investigation," U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said after the guilty plea. Sailor provided "useful information in opening windows into public corruption we were unaware of before his...

No one who has been following Barack Obama's upstart path to the Democratic presidential nomination should be surprised at his campaign's claim that he does not need to win Florida and Ohio to have a chance at winning it all in November. Obama has been pursuing an ambitious national strategy from the start. I'm probably the only candidate who, having won the nomination, can actually redraw the political map," Obama replied to a question about his strategy from a Concord, N.H., woman at a house party last August. Pacing around the old Victorian home, the wooden floor creaking, Obama went...

The Georgia Department of Corrections transferred 433 felons to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation proceedings in 2007, the most recent year for which state and federal data are available. That's more than twice as many as the 189 handed over to the agency in 2002. At least three child molesters who were illegal immigrants had served time in Georgia prisons but escaped the attention of federal authorities. All three were released back into the community. Two or three times a week, air transports arrive at the Columbus airport to pick up detainees and take them to Mexico or...