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A Glennville man was cited for disorderly conduct June 11 after allegedly brandishing an AK-47 assault rifle at a Hinesville basketball court during a dispute over a foul call. Hinesville police were dispatched to the Liberty County Recreation Department basketball courts after receiving a report that a man had pulled an AK-47 out of the trunk of his car and threatened another man with it. When police arrived, they found the area “very crowded,” according to the report. They were told that the man who had produced the gun was sitting on the bleachers. Police made contact with the man,...

ATLANTA – If the example one Georgia insurance company offered is true of the others, coverage under the individual plans to be offered in October under federal health reform will be about 45 percent higher than what a middle-aged family of five could get today. “I am very concerned that the full implementation of ObamaCare will drastically increase the price Georgians pay for health insurance,” said Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens.

Family and friends in northwest Georgia are rallying to raise funds for a young father who was left paralyzed after he dove into a creek to save a 4-year-old girl from drowning. Michael Patterson, 43, broke his neck in three places Saturday after he dove headfirst into a shallow creek in Rockmart to try to save toddler Javea Jones, who had fallen in. Javea's mother, Carlissa Jones, told WSBTV that her daughter was being swept downstream with her head underwater when Patterson, who was with his 9-year-old son, Cole, went in after her. "He jumped in head first, and after...

After sending a subtantial volume of email in last few weeks to Sens. Chambliss and Isakson, I was unable to get through on any of their phone comment/contact lines this morning. And I will keep trying. I hope this means we are frying the phone lines in opposition to the cloture vote on S.B. 744 early this afternoon. Today is the day when your activism and loud(er) voice can make the difference. Please take a moment... Spend a dime.

REX, Ga. — Police are trying to figure out who knocked over a monument dedicated to an ancestor of first lady Michelle Obama. “When I saw it, I shed a few tears,” Vicki Smith told Channel 2’s Linda Stouffer. Smith helped get the monument to Rex. It’s a tribute to Melvinia Shields, the great-great-great grandmother of Obama. Shields was born into slavery in 1844 and later moved to Georgia. Clayton County Commissioner Sonna Singleton said the monument company will have to lift the heavy stone to check for cracks after someone pushed it off the foundation block. “It was our...

JONESBORO, Ga. - Police are trying to determine if the man found shot to death outside of a Clayton County home on Saturday night was the same man that broke into a neighboring home with two other men. According to information obtained by FOX 5 News, a man arrived at his home located in the 9000 block of Sterling Ridge Lane near Jonesboro around 10:30 p.m. to find someone had forced their way inside. The homeowner, who was armed with a handgun, confronted three burglars ransacking his house. Gunfire was exchanged between the homeowner and the burglars and ended up...

And now we have our first named storm of the season, Andrea... TS Andrea gained strength over the course of the day, becoming more organized; however the computer models form a consensus that the storm is not likely to reach Category 1 strength prior to landfall. Andrea is projected to make landfall along the Florida coast between Crystal River to Apalachicola, with the Big Bend area most likely target. Gulf Coast Florida is currently under a Tropical Storm Warning until 8PM Friday, from Boca Grande to Ochlocknee river. The southeast US coast is under a Tropical Storm Watch during the...

Early Sunday morning, an alleged intruder was shot to death at a Warner Robins home. That's according to a news release from the Warner Robins Police Department. Ronald Lewis Burnett, 36, was found by officers unconscious and lying on the ground outside the house at 205 Thomas Boulevard. He was taken to the Houston Medical Center and pronounced dead, having sustained an apparent gunshot to the chest. Officers were told that Burnett tried to break into the house and was shot by 32-year-old homeowner, Travis Lucas. That happened around 1:25 a.m. Sunday. Neighbor Danielle Haring says she heard at least...

For the Rev. Ernest Easley, the decision to cut ties with the Boy Scouts was simple. The Bible says homosexuality is a sin. The Boy Scouts do not. “We are not willing to compromise God’s word,” said Easley, pastor of the 2,300-member Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., which has sponsored Boy Scout Troop 204 since 1945. Easley, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee, said his church will shut down its troop at end of the year because of a recently adopted policy to allow openly gay scouts. He’s urging other Baptists to do the same. Roswell...

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) is calling his vote to confirm Attorney General Eric Holder “the worst vote I ever took in the United States Senate,” saying Holder should resign in light of recent scandals. “I did my due diligence, turned out I was wrong. And everything that’s happened since that has proven I was wrong. … It’s ruined his credibility in terms of being attorney general,” Isakson said. “Something’s going to come to a head, because this is very serious business.” Isakson was one of 19 Republicans in the Senate who voted with Democrats to confirm Holder.

Video link. Georgia Senator Johnny Isackson "not sure which way he will vote on immigration reform." His office also barred activist D.A. King from a meeting because "previous meetings with him were 'unproductive'."

Police in Hinesville have made an arrest in a shooting early Sunday morning involving a homeowner and intruder. According to police, a Fort Stewart soldier, living at the Colonial Park Condos, 1100 Pineland Ave., was upstairs with his wife shortly after midnight when he heard someone enter his residence. He then went downstairs and confronted the intruder with a firearm. The two men exchanged gunfire. The homeowner was taken by medical helicopter to Memorial Health University Medical Center. A man later showed up at Liberty Regional Medical Center in Hinesville with a gunshot wound. He said he had been shot...

Georgia Institute of Technology has announced a partnership with Udacity to offer an online Masters Degree in Computer Science for $7,000, down 80% from the existing cost of $40,000 for the on-campus, instructor led program. Suddenly, masters programs around the country will have to compete with Georgia Tech‘s $7,000 program, and that won’t be easy or fast in coming. The traditionally taught graduate degree in computer science at Georgia Tech is a very well regarded program that is in high demand and has very positive outcomes in terms of jobs and earnings. Georgia Tech graduates tend to do very well...

The Senate Judiciary Committee has increased the already-sizable length of the “Gang of Eight” immigration reform bill to more than a thousand pages during the markup process ... The first version of the bill that was filed by the eight senators--Marco Rubio (R-FL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), John McCain (R-AZ), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ)--totaled 844 pages. An updated version, filed just before the bill went to the committee markup, stretched 867 pages in length. The new bill towers over previous versions in length, clocking in at 1,076 pages. It...

A House Republican group is launching an ad campaign against four incumbent Democrats this week that aims to tie the lawmakers to the Internal Revenue Service, a government agency under scrutiny after officials admitted earlier this month to targeting conservative groups applying for nonprofit status. The National Republican Congressional Committee will dispatch thousands of trucks to drive around the districts of Democratic Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick and Ron Barber of Arizona, Collin Peterson of Minnesota and John Barrow of Georgia on Tuesday with versions of this billboard:...

The senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee said President Obama's national security speech will be "viewed by terrorists as a victory."

About two dozen members of the Dalton Tea Party gathered outside the Internal Revenue Service office on Professional Boulevard in Dalton on Tuesday during the lunch hour protesting the agency on the national level for singling out conservative groups for extra scrutiny. “They went way overboard in demanding information and throwing up obstacles to some groups and allowed groups that weren’t conservative to sail through. That isn’t fair,” said Warren Tatum.

On Sunday, President Obama gave a commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta. “Keep setting an example for what it means to be a man,” he told the graduates. “Be the best husband to your wife, or boyfriend to your partner, or father to your children that you can be.” That’s what Obama said, according to the New York Times, USA Today, Politico, and dozens of other news organizations. But Obama never uttered those words. Here’s what he actually said: “Be the best husband to your wife, or your boyfriend, or your partner.” That’s not a small difference in wording....

A hot microphone caught Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) coordinating which way members of the “Gang of Eight” who serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee would vote on immigration bill amendments, Breitbart News has learned. “Do our Republicans have a pass on this one if they want?” the microphone caught Schumer saying.

There's poop in public pools, according to a new report. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found genetic material from E. coli bacteria in 58 percent of public pools they tested during the summer of 2012. This shows that "swimmers frequently introduced fecal material into pools," which could spread germs to other people, the researchers wrote in their report. E. coli bacteria are normally found in the human gut and feces. They also found genetic material from bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa, whichcan cause skin rashes and ear infections, in 59 percent of pools. The fecal material...

ATLANTA - A federal grand jury has indicted state Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) on charges that he misappropriated almost $1 million in charitable funds. Brooks, 67, was charged by a federal grand jury in a 30-count indictment that includes charges of mail, wire and tax fraud. The indictment charges that Brooks misappropriated charitable funds from Universal Humanities, a charity he founded in 1990, and the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, according to a release from U.S. attorney Sally Yates. "Mr. Brooks exploited two charitable organizations for his own personal financial gain which came at the expense of the intended...

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) will not run for Senate in 2014. “[O]ur assessment at this point is the House is the battleground for politics in this country right now,” Price told the Marietta Daily Journal. “[T]hat’s where we’ll be offering for reelection in 2014.” His decision to stay out of the race suggests that Karen Handel, the former secretary of state and an ally of Price, will launch a campaign. Reps. Jack Kingston, Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey are all already in the race.

"Superficial" "A source close to the Senate negotiations [says] that two senators who voted against the background check bill would vote for it after minor, superficial changes." - Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC, May 6, 2013ACTION: Senators who voted pro-gun last month are under intense pressure - by Senate Democrats and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s hit ads - to switch their votes.  We need to keep applying the heat and let them know that gun owners are ready to help in any Senate campaign, no matter which state, to defeat ANY SENATOR who votes for gun control.LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FROM WASHINGTON, DC. It’s...

A Riverdale man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Atlanta to a $400,000 food stamp scheme. Herbert Dix, 49, admitted to defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture and possessing forged Women, Infant and Children (WIC) vouchers while running a store in Griffin, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “Many people rely on government assistance to feed their families and children,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in the news release. “This conviction demonstrates our commitment to prosecute those who defraud the USDA of funds meant for the neediest families.” Dix was indicted last July on 18 counts of WIC fraud...

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss is joining President Barack Obama for a round of golf today, with Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Mark Udall, D-Colo., rounding out the foursome.

SAVANNAH, Ga. May 5, 2013 (AP) Less than two months after British forces captured Savannah in December 1778, patriot militiamen scored a rare Revolutionary War victory in Georgia after a short but violent gunbattle forced British loyalists to abandon a small fort built on a frontiersman's cattle farm. More than 234 years later, archaeologists say they've pinpointed the location of Carr's Fort in northeastern Georgia after a search with metal detectors covering more than 4 square miles turned up musket balls and rifle parts as well as horse shoes and old frying pans. The February 1779 shootout at Carr's Fort...

Police are investigating after a CNN anchor says she was robbed of her iPhone in midtown. Atlanta police said Carol Costello was talking on her cellphone while walking south in the 1100 block of Piedmont Avenue Thursday around 4:30 p.m.

When a black mob attacked two reporters in Norfolk, Va., last year, the editor of the Virginian-Pilot newspaper said it was just a “street altercation” and he had no proof of racial motivation. But even the most diehard denier of the epidemic of black mob violence around the country will find this case difficult to explain away: Three white men in Georgia were allegedly robbed and assaulted and almost killed in April by a group of black people, all because of the color of their skin. At least that is what the victims told the local sheriff. Most examples of...

A teenager had the scare of his life when an off duty police sergeant pulled a gun on him for holding up the drive through line at McDonald's. DeKalb County, Georgia Police sergeant Scott Biumi, 48, was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault after allegedly pulling a gun on a customer at the drive-through line at McDonald’s.

“Like previous campaigns criticizing other Confederate Memorials, he sees the petition to remove the carving of Jefferson, Lee and Jackson as an attack on the truth.”

ATLANTA (AP/WAOK) – The University of Georgia will ban backpacks in the school’s football stadium during its commencement ceremony on May 10.

WOODSTOCK, Ga. — A Cobb County family says they’re having a hard time sleeping after someone left a burning cross and bloody deer meat on their front lawn. ... Sunday night around midnight, Louis and his brothers were at their home when they noticed something glowing outside. They were shocked by what they found outside. “We just see a flaming cross right there on the ground and we’re just shocked, like, what?” Louis said. Louis said he was primarily concerned about the safety of his brother’s four children and his pregnant girlfriend inside the home.

CHATSWORTH, GA (WRCB) - Hundreds of people in one north Georgia town are not allowed to drink their water. The water treatment plant in Ramhurst is temporarily shut down after someone broke in and changed the chemical settings. It's affecting about 400 Murray County residents. Local, state and federal officials are investigating who's to blame. Officials with Chatsworth Water Works say the source of the problems is at the Carter's Lake Water Treatment Plant in the Ramhurst area. Saturday workers noticed someone had changed some chemical settings. First, officials issued a "boil advisory" but the Environmental Protection Department bumped it...

A major flooring company is considering building a new factory – and hiring more than 2,000 workers – in northwest Georgia, an area hit hard by layoffs after the housing bust. Two people with direct knowledge of the potential plan told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution a deal to bring the factory to Georgia is pending. They declined to name the manufacturer, but a third person familiar with the plans said the company is Engineered Floors, founded by former Shaw Industries chief Bob Shaw. The jobs announcement, which could come in the next two weeks, would be larger than the Baxter International...

VICTORY: Georgia Gov. Signs Expansion of Illegal Alien Crackdown (SB160) By John Hill on April 26, 2013 Way to go, Peach State! Gov. Nathan Deal yesterday signed S.B. 160 – a tough expansion of Georgia’s H.B. 87, the Arizona-style law cracking down on illegal aliens, which passed in 2011. The La Raza lobby was left stunned and upset, believing Deal would bend to the prevailing GOP pressure for immigration appeasement in Washington, and veto it. They were sadly mistaken. Passed in the final hours of the General Assembly’s 40-day session – and despite fierce lobbying against it by ethnic...

The suspects accused of raping and molesting a 13-year-old mentally disabled girl videotaped part of the crime, authorities said. District Attorney Pat Head would not say what the videotape revealed, but said he did not plan to show it to the grand jury. Up to 25 males — ages 12 to 25 — raped and molested the girl for 12 hours after luring her off of a bicycle and into an apartment building, police said Wednesday. Eight suspects have been arrested and warrants were issued for three others sought in the Oct. 13-14 attack, Cobb County police spokesman Dana Pierce...

Speaking on the House floor yesterday, Representative Hank Johnson (D., Ga.) stood up for some of the most important victims of congressional gridlock: children’s birthday parties and comedians trying to make their voices high-pitched.

The new owners of Hostess are starting up production again. But there's no mention of labor unions. The maker of Twinkies and Ding Dongs was involved in a crippling labor dispute last year, ultimately leading to the company shutting down and selling its assets. Roughly 15,000 of 18,500 employees lost their jobs.

April 23, 2013 New Congressional Quest: End Prison Phone Call Price Gouging Bridget Johnson The Congressional Black Caucus Working Group on Prison Telecomm Reform is protesting high call costs for phone-homers behind bars. The CBC group will hold a press conference with former inmates and family members “to expose the often exorbitant rates that prisoners and their families are being charged for telephone calls and to announce the CBC response to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to resolve the issue after more than a decade of delay,” according to D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s (D)...

There’s something sick about an administration which is so pro-Islamic that it can’t even tell the truth about the people who are trying to kill us,” Mr. Gingrich said ... Mr. Gingrich accused the White House of being unwilling to discuss threats from some Muslims. And he slammed President Barack Obama for mounting a “war” on the Catholic Church over contraception but apologize to Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the burning of Qurans.

... Forsyth County investigators say 48-year-old Scott Biumi, a sergeant with the DeKalb County Police Department, got upset with 18-year-old Ryan Mash, who is a senior at Lambert High School. They say Biumi got out of his car and the two exchanged words before Biumi drew his weapon and pointed it at Mash. "I'm just like, 'I don't want to die. I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean for any of this to happen,'" Mash recalled. ... Mash said Biumi told him, "You don't want to mess with me," before putting his hand on Mash's shoulder and pulling out his gun....

During a hearing into the constitutionality of voter identification laws enacted across the country, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) tore into claims by the Department of Justice that those laws were racially discriminatory. In the space of five minutes, Gowdy knocked down the claims, one by one, that a voter ID law passed in South Carolina in 2011 discriminated against African-Americans or was dissimilar to laws the Justice Department had cleared in a variety of other states. Gowdy began by noting that, when the Palmetto State’s voter identification law was passed, a third of the state’s congressional delegation were African-American; former...

On Saturday, I gave a speech to a local Tea Party group that posed the question of whether or not America can still be considered the land of the free. I have come to the conclusion in recent days that America is in fact no longer the land of the free. I have decided that the title is something that we gave up long ago. We live in a nation of constantly expanding state power. Whether it be modern examples like the Patriot Act and the NDAA or historic examples like Japanese internment and the Alien and Sedition Acts, the...

Alexander Ayotte Burr Chambliss Coburn Collins Corker Flake Graham Hoeven Isakson Kirk McCain Toomey Wicker

The man shot while driving on Interstate 20 in DeKalb county during rush hour has died. He was driving a Maybach -- a rare luxury car that sells for upward of $400,000. Now, police are working to figure out who he was and find the person witnesses saw fire at him from a white SUV. "It sounded like a bazooka,” an unidentified witness said about the shooting. ... An off-duty Atlanta firefighter pulled over at the sight of the stopped sedan and found a man inside shot multiple times. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in critical condition, but...

The Republican plan to block debate on Senate Bill 649, which requires background checks on almost all gun purchases and transfers, failed spectacularly Thursday morning when sixteen Republican Senators joined almost all of the Democrats to vote in favor opening debate on the bill. Among those voting to defeat the filibuster were 9 Democrats with “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association, and 12 A-rated Republicans (out of 16 Republican “ayes”). Two Democrats, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK), joined the majority of Republican Senators who tried to prevent debate, much less a vote, on the bill....

BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- The defense for the teen accused of killing a Brunswick baby wants evidence released that may connect another local woman to the crime. Action News uncovered startling new details in the death of 13-month-old Antonio Santiago. According to police, 17-year-old De'Marquis Elkins murdered the Brunswick baby nearly two weeks ago. Now his attorney, Kevin Gough, claims someone else may have plotted to have the baby killed and used Elkins as the trigger man. Action News isn't releasing the woman's name because she hasn't been charged with a crime. "I know she hasn't been involved in anything. I...

A gunman was barricaded in a home in Georgia on Wednesday with four firefighters he took as hostages after they responded to what appeared to be a medical emergency call, officials said. The man initially held a fifth firefighter captive in the home, in Suwanee, about 35 miles northeast of Atlanta, but let that person leave to move a fire truck, police and fire officials said. Officials were not releasing details about what happened inside the house or a possible motive but said the hostages did not appear to have been harmed.

A barricaded gunman is holding five Gwinnett County firefighters hostage Wednesday, police said. A SWAT unit has responded to the scene in the 2400 block of Walnut Grove Way in Suwanee. The fire department apparently went to the scene for a medical call, police said. No other information was immediately available.

This is a northeast suburb of Atlanta in Gwinnett County SUWANEE — Five Gwinnett County firefighters are being held hostage at home in Suwanee. Gwinnett County police spokesman Cpl. Edwin Ritter said that, as of 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, a gunman was holding the handful of firefighters hostage at a home at 2440 Walnut Grove Way, not far from the intersection of Collins Hill and Taylor roads. "It appears that the fire department responded to this residence for some type of medical call," Ritter said. "I have very little information on the motive at this time." The police department's SWAT team...