Free Republic

A federal judge on Monday sentenced a man who pleaded guilty to slapping a crying toddler on an Atlanta-bound flight to serve eight months in federal prison. Joe Rickey Hundley was accused of using a racial slur to refer to the 19-month-old boy, who's black, and hitting him under the eye as the flight from Minneapolis descended to the Atlanta airport last February. He pleaded guilty in October to simple assault after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors. As the plane descended into Atlanta, the child started crying. Hundley leaned over to Bennett and "told her to shut that (N-word)...

ATLANTA - A former aerospace executive who slapped a crying toddler on an airplane and used a racial slur against the child, who is black, received an eight-month prison sentence on Monday for an incident his attorney blamed on his alcoholism. Joe Rickey Hundley, who apologized in court to the child's mother, was accused of striking the 19-month-old boy in the face on board a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta last February.

...sparking outrage among her Real Housewives Of Atlanta cast-mates Her grandfather was famous civil rights leader Hosea Williams. But Porsha Stewart appears embarrassingly ignorant about her country's history. The 32-year-old reality star revealed that she thought the Underground Railroad was a real train on Sunday night's episode of The Real Housewives Of Atlanta. Porsha and her cast-mates were seen going on a so-called Freedom Trail tour in Savannah, where they visited a church used as part of the Underground Railroad, the term given to the network of people who helped slaves escape from the South to the North during the...

Atlanta police said the armed robber got away on foot and may be hurt. The clerk, who was able to take a gun from the robber, is OK. There's no word on whether anything was taken during the attempted robbery.

Seriously? The “Real Housewives of Atlanta” cameras captured Porsha Stewart’s crumbling marriage and messy divorce from her pro-football hubby, Kordell Stewart, but on Sunday night’s episode the reality show caught Porsha’s most cringe-worthy moment yet. As the ladies of the Bravo show headed on a Freedom Trail tour in Savannah, Stewart revealed that she thought the Underground Railroad was a real, physical train. Yikes.

Monday night will be an emotional one for the San Francisco 49ers and their fans, as the team's matchup with the Atlanta Falcons will be the last regular-season game at Candlestick Park. For Tony Gonzalez, who will be on hand with the visiting Atlanta Falcons, it will also mark his final visit to the site where he experienced what he calls the "strangest thing that ever happened to him." On a conference call with Bay Area reporters, Gonzalez recalled how during a game between his then-team, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the 49ers at Candlestick Park he was pushed out...

A deal for hundreds of millions of dollars in public money to draw the Atlanta Braves north of their downtown home is pitting conservative tea party activists against the elected and civic leaders in the staunch Republican county, with opponents saying the use of public money to help a private business is not what American capitalism should be about. The argument for the deal is simple, says Cobb County Commission Chairman Tim Lee and other supporters. Almost $400 million in county bonds and immediate infrastructure improvements, with debt payments approaching $600 million over 30 years - will generate enough economic...

Just think, the Ted will be as old by then as the GA Dome is now with the Falcs abandoning that! [roll eyes]Happy Black Friday from ff

Brian McCann, the best-hitting catcher in Atlanta Braves history, is about to become a New York Yankee and the highest-paid catcher in baseball history. The Braves free agent and seven-time All-Star agreed to terms Saturday with the Yankees on a five-year, $85 million contract that includes a sixth-year vesting option that could push the total value of the contract to $100 million, a personal familiar with negotiations said. The deal was pending a physical exam. “It’s a bittersweet day for him,” said McCann’s agent B.B. Abbott. “He has a special place in his heart for Atlanta.”

‘Now, this here tale didn't happen just yesterday, nor the day before.’Twas a long time ago. And in them days, everything was mighty satisfactual. The critters, they was closer to the folks, and the folks, they was closer to the critters, and if you'll excuse me for saying so, 'twas better all around’----Uncle Remus from Disney’s Song of the South.

... 71 percent of the 2,500 black students in APS who took the Mathematics II exam in 2011, failed and only 1 percent, 25 students, passed with distinction (Pass Plus). By contrast, only 21 percent of white students failed with 79 percent passing and 23 percent of those passing with distinction. In Fulton County, where 62 percent of black students failed the Mathematics II exam, 90 percent of the white students passed, 32 percent with distinction. The failure rates and achievement gaps throughout most of the school districts in the metro-Atlanta area are astonishing. The consequence of this reality is...

... Department spokesman John Chafee says a man was shot in the leg and a woman was shot in the arm Sunday afternoon. Chafee says the shooting happened on Northside Drive near Markham Street, about three blocks south of the Georgia Dome, where thousands gathered to watch the Falcons play the St. Louis Rams.

For the third straight day, high temperatures in Atlanta are breaking records for how low they are. Saturday’s high was 66 degrees as against the normal high in the upper 80s. The temperatures put a chill over, “It’s kind of a freak of nature that it’s even cold – it’s August and we’re wearing jeans and coats, and it’s very weird,” said Regan Koski, event manager for Decatur’s Blues, Barbecue and Bluegrass Festival. “I’m from Atlanta, and I still can’t believe this weather. It’s crazy,” Wynn said. “I would expect this in November. Not in August. Not in Atlanta.” Thursday...

Banks still might have a future in Atlanta, media sources reportThe Atlanta Falcons have waived Brian Banks, a Los Angeles linebacker who was imprisoned for five years after being convicted of a rape that never happened. Banks, 28, spent five years in prison and five years on probation following his conviction of rape and kidnapping charges a decade ago. The woman who made the charge when Banks was a 16-year-old football standout later recanted her accusation. The conviction was overturned by a California court last year.

In between bowls of chicken poodle soup and deciding to provide air cover for al-Qaeda in Syria, our Dear Leader, Barack Hussein Obama, found time to meet with mayors from our crumbling major cities. From Justin Sink of The Hill: *** "President Obama told a collection of big-city mayors Tuesday at the White House that he would continue to use executive actions to combat gun violence plaguing major cities. In the meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder and the mayors of 18 cities from across the nation, Obama discussed commonly applicable strategies to reduce youth violence. 'He also vowed to...

A former Atlanta third grade teacher tearfully testified Monday that she gave in to pressure from an administrator to cheat on standardized tests. Stacey Smith, who taught at Usher-Collier Heights Elementary School, said testing coordinator Donald Bullock dropped off test booklets at the end of a day when students had been taking the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test in 2009.

Courageous and Compassionate Christian Woman Prevents School Shooting The Story: Yesterday a mentally ill man carrying an AK-47 rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition entered an elementary school outside of Atlanta. The potential tragedy was averted when a courageous and compassionate Christian woman talked the gunman into giving himself up. The Background: "He had a look on him that he was willing to kill," said Antoinette Tuff, a school clerk. "He said he didn't have any reason to live, and he knew he was going to die today." According to the Washington Post, Tuff began telling him the story of...

ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) - Atlanta's high temperature on Thursday was only 73 degrees which is the coolest high temperature on record for August 15. The previous record was a high of only 77 degrees from 1908. The average high temperature for this time of year is 88 degrees, putting Thursday's high 15 degrees below average. Atlanta has seen a cooler-than-average summer due to a lot of rain. We're about 15 inches above average on rainfall this year.

Maggots found in Atlanta airport sandwich, food inspections enhanced ATLANTA — Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport officials tell Channel 2 Action News they are enhancing the way they inspect restaurants inside the airport after a man showed Channel 2 Action News a sandwich he purchased from an airport vendor had maggots. The passenger told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri he bought a sandwich at an airport restaurant Wednesday morning. When he opened it he said he was stunned to find maggots on it. Joel Woloshuk says he got out his phone and recorded video of the bugs crawling on his focaccia...

An Atlanta crook picked the wrong Waffle House to target early Monday morning. That’s because when the bandana and hoodie-wearing bandit walked into the restaurant and pointed a gun at patrons, one of them reached for his gun and fired back. Police say the suspect entered the Waffle House in south Fulton County just before 2 am, brandishing a pistol and demanding money. “Nobody move and open the cash register,” the suspect, 20-year-old Ashton Macafee, allegedly said according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC). What he didn’t know was that seated together at a booth were off-duty Atlanta police officer...