Free Republic

Bishop-designate David P. Talley. Credit: Archdiocese of Atlanta. Atlanta, Ga., Jan 3, 2013 / 10:54 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI has named Atlanta priest Monsignor David P. Talley, a convert to Catholicism, as the newest auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory said Jan. 3 that he announced the appointment “with great joy.” “The Holy Father has selected a wonderful member of this zealous local presbyterate for the episcopacy and I know that he will bring all of his many gifts and talents to this new office,” he said in a statement. The...

A home invasion robbery suspect died overnight when he jumped out a second-floor apartment window, apparently after his intended victims opened fire on the alleged intruders. The incident happened at an apartment complex on Lancashire Circle near Stone Mountain. Channel 2 Action News reported that a couple with two small children live in the apartment, and exchanged gunfire with the suspects.

ATLANTA — A 77-year-old grandmother says she used a gun to protect her home from a burglar. Rita James told Channel 2’s Amanda Cook that a man tossed a brick through the bedroom window of her northwest Atlanta home Wednesday afternoon. James said the man tried to crawl through her window. “He got to cleaning the glass out of the window as much as he could,” James said.

Monday was a busy day for Transportation Security Administration agents on the lookout for weapons at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Within a two-hour period, agents confiscated three guns from travelers and police arrested them, , according to Channel 2 Action News. So far this year, TSA agents have confiscated 87 guns at the airport, one of the busiest in the nation. By comparison, 69 guns were taken from travelers last year at Hartsfield-Jackson.

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- It's been more than a week since the Coastal Empire Fair shooting and a local organization is taking action to help put a stop to gun violence in the city. The Georgia Coastal Southern Christian Leadership Conference is working on a Savannah gun buyback program targeting youths in the community. The group is working on finding locations where gun owners can drop off their weapons, no questions asked, and receive a $50 voucher in return.

BRUNSWICK, GA. | No charges will be filed against the owner of a handgun that an 8-year-old boy brought to C.B. Greer Elementary School last week, said Rodney Ellis, chief of the Glynn County school system’s police force. School police investigator Ricky Hilburn determined that the .25-caliber pistol belonged to a close friend of the child’s family and that the boy found the gun while visiting the elderly man, Ellis said. The man was in another part of the house and was unaware the second-grade student was looking around, Ellis said. The boy found the gun in a shoebox stored...

ATLANTA — On Monday afternoon, the Georgia Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case out of Gwinnett County in which a Mexican citizen claims the state law requiring driver’s licenses discriminates against illegal immigrants. Fernando Castillo-Solis also argues that the 287(g) program, which is used in Gwinnett’s jail as well as others, including Cobb’s, allows law-enforcement officers to racially profile. The state statute at issue regarding driver’s licenses, section 40-5-20, indicates that those charged with driving without a license may not be prosecuted if they get a valid license before their court date. The Cobb Sheriff’s Office has been...

The executive director of GeorgiaCarry.org, a state gun rights group, took to the airwaves yesterday on Atlanta’s NBC 11 Alive to weigh in on Wednesday’s shooting at Pastor Creflo Dollar's World Changers Church International, a College Park megachurch. Jerry Henry faced questions from news anchor Ted Hall and assertions by disarmament advocate State Senator Donzella James to explain why his group believes the choice should be left to the churches. Henry’s group is leading a fight to overturn a state law dictating disarmament, and has submitted a petition to the United States Supreme Court, presenting a single question: "Does a...

Undocumented immigrants are surviving tougher immigration laws implemented in Georgia and other southern states by utilizing a surprising tool: social media. It has become an instrument to help them navigate the streets and remain undetected by police. Mario Sevilla, 24, is a construction worker; his day begins at 5 a.m. His five brothers and sisters live in Sonora, Mexico, and they all rely on the money that he can earn and wire back home. Lately, Sevilla has used social media to risk-taking road trips as far away as Tennessee to get to work. “The first thing that I do in...

ATLANTA — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta had told its parishes, schools and other organizations to end their support for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity over a lingering abortion dispute. That directive from religious leaders came in a memo Monday. It criticized grants given by some Komen officials to Planned Parenthood to support breast screenings. Planned Parenthood also provides abortions, which are against Catholic religious teachings. But that’s not the case in Atlanta. The local Komen affiliate told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it has never given funding to Planned Parenthood Southeast. “Komen Atlanta remains...

A burglary suspect was shot late Wednesday after she allegedly kicked in the door of an apartment in southwest Atlanta. The incident happened just before midnight Wednesday at an apartment complex on Continental Colony Parkway. A woman inside the apartment got a gun and fired several shots, striking the suspect three times in the chest, Channel 2 Action News reported.

ATLANTA - A homeowner opens fire on a pair of armed robbers at his southwest Atlanta home early Sunday morning. He tells FOX 5 News that the gunmen surprised him when he arrived home. He says he feared he would not survive a violent confrontation with armed gunmen. The shootout left his porch splattered with blood. The homeowner, who works as a security guard, did not want to be identified. He says he turned the tables on the robbers who jumped him at his house on DeSoto Avenue as he arrived home around 5:30 p.m.

<p>Chipper Jones said he was asked the other day how he would feel about himself if he were a Mets fan. “I would respect the body of work,” Jones said, “but I would hate his guts.”</p> <p>Chipper Jones received a brief standing ovation at the start of his farewell visit to Queens.</p>

A former fifth-grade teacher implicated in a cheating scandal reportedly gave students the illegal assistance because she thought they were “dumb as hell.”... Schajuan Jones, who taught a fourth-grade class across the hall from Smith’s former room, overheard her talking to another teacher about the test. “The words were, ‘I had to give your kids, or your students, the answers because they’re dumb as hell,’” Jones was quoted as saying about the interaction between Smith and the unidentified third teacher.

Jorge Buenrostro is a recent graduate of Westside High School who wants to go to college and then join the Air Force, but he could be a traffic stop away from being forced onto a bus headed for Mexico.Buenrostro, 17, was among a group of youths at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church in Macon on Saturday meeting with an attorney in an effort of gain a temporary reprieve from the threat of deportation.They were applying for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a federal initiative recently ordered by President Barack Obama. It allows those who arrived here illegally when they...

So, now we have a situation in which the three regions that did pass the tax will have to match only 10 percent of the cost of a project approved for the fund, while our region and the eight others that rejected T-SPLOST will have to pony up 30 percent of the cost of a project. Unless we miss our guess, constituents and local-level officials will be hammering their respective legislators to fix this problem. Given the fact that 75 percent of the state will be pushing for a solution, something should happen under the Gold Dome, where the side...

By 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Niki Watson was trying to find a solution to a new problem: What would she do when the money ran out? The Gun Buyback/Peace Day she had organized was more successful than she expected. By 1:30, she had collected 13 handguns and rifles, but had only five of the promised $70 gift cards and 2½ hours to go. She did receive donations from Deon Grant and Sizemore Person­nel, she said, but the turnout at Antioch Baptist Church was greater than she expected. She was determined not to turn anyone away. In the end, she took in...

T-SPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) looks to be going down in flames. Good sign that tax payers are fed up?

Today’s GeorgiaCarry.org v. Georgia (11th Cir. July 20, 2012) upholds the ban against a challenge under the Free Exercise Clause and the Second Amendment. An excerpt (some paragraph breaks added): [A.] In 2010, the Georgia legislature, apparently concerned that the carrying of [knives and handguns] and long guns would likely present an unreasonable risk of harm to people who assemble in eight specific locations [including "place[s] of worship”], enacted a statute barring the unrestricted carrying of weapons or long guns in those locations. This statutory bar does not apply, however, to a [concealed carry] license holder if, on arriving at...

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Georgia's law that bans guns in places of worship. The decision came on an appeal filed by a Thomaston minister who challenged the relatively new Georgia law that eliminated the "public places," but specifically listed where firearms are prohibited to eight places, which included places of worship such as churches, synagogues and masques. The preacher said the ban forced him to choose between two constitutional protections — the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom to worship how he pleased and the Second Amendment right to carry arms. A federal judge in Columbus upheld...