Truck Hijacking At Atlanta, Georgia

Police are searching for two men they say shot a truck driver in the head and then stole his semitrailer loaded with furniture in Atlanta, reports wjbf.com of Augusta, Georgia.

Investigators say the truck driver was leaving the Norfolk Southern train yard early Tuesday morning when he was held up by two men and shot in the head, states wjbf.com.

Atlanta police Captain Terrell Griffin said driver Warren Hardie suffered a “graze wound” to his head and was in stable condition at Grady Memorial Hospital.

WSB Radio reports that police found the cab of the J.B. Hunt Transport truck east of the city in DeKalb County, but were still searching for the trailer.

“We’re looking for a JB Hunt truck, a white cab, white trailer and the vehicle has homegood items, which is furniture,” Griffin said, according to wsbtv.com

The theives reportedly attached the trailer to a different cab. The truck’s cab had a GPS tracker but the trailer does not.

Teachers Sent To Jail For Cheating Scandal

TYT Network

Most people would understand if teachers involved in a cheating scandal were fired, but sent to jail?  Eleven former Atlanta educators have been convicted of “racketeering” for their involvement in a scheme to inflate students’ test scores on standardized exams.

According to sources, they face up to 20 years in jail.

Adult Cigarette Smoking Is At An All-Time Low

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the percentage of adults who smoke in the U.S. dropped from 20.9 percent in 2005 to 17.8 percent in 2013.

This information comes from new data published by Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

That is the lowest prevalence of adult smoking since the CDC’s Nation Health Interview Survey (NHIS) began keeping such records in 1965.

The report also shows the number of cigarette smokers dropped from 45.1 million in 2005 to 42.1 million in 2013, despite the increasing population in the U.S., the CDC said in a press release.

“There is encouraging news in this study, but we still have much more work to do to help people quit,” said Tim McAfee, M.D., M.P.H., director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.

“We can bring down cigarette smoking rates much further, much faster, if strategies proven to work are put in place like funding tobacco control programs at the CDC-recommended levels, increasing prices of tobacco products, implementing and enforcing comprehensive smoke-free laws, and sustaining hard-hitting media campaigns,” he said.

http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/emory/2014/11/28/smoking-all-time-low/19605983/

Nurse’s Discharge Leaves Just One Ebola Case In U.S.

A nurse’s release Tuesday from an Atlanta hospital leaves a single person in the United States now battling Ebola, though she and others — including President Barack Obama — stressed the fight against the deadly virus isn’t over.

“While this is a day for celebration and gratitude, I ask that we not lose focus on the thousands of families who continue to labor under the burden of this disease in West Africa,” said 29-year-old Amber Vinson.

Smiling broadly and occasionally brushing aside tears, Vinson was surrounded by relatives as well as Emory doctors and nurses.

Nurse Nina Pham from Dallas, who also had Ebola, was released Oct. 24 from a National Institutes of Health hospital in Bethesda, Md.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Kaci Hickox traveled from New Jersey to Maine, where her boyfriend is a senior nursing student at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.  Hickox, who spent the weekend in a quarantine tent in New Jersey, said she never had Ebola symptoms and tested negative in a preliminary evaluation. She also sharply criticized New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for ordering mandatory quarantines.

Hickox, told CNN that her “basic human rights have been violated,” and was released Monday, two days after testing negative for Ebola.  She was seemingly powerless to challenge her banishment to a quarantine tent in Newark.

The nurse’s treatment, as well as the quarantine policies of New York and New Jersey, have been criticized as heavy-handed.

Former Ebola patient Rick Sacra, a doctor infected in Liberia, likened the mandatory quarantine for returning health-care workers in New York and New Jersey to a “police state approach.”

Atlanta Hawks Owner Bruce Levenson Sells Team; Claims He’s Racist

Atlanta Hawks owner Bruce Levenson is on his way out of the NBA. He’s decided that he will sell the team before the completion of an NBA investigation into a 2012 e-mail claiming that the team needs to attract more white spectators.  

In an odd twist, Levenson reported the email himself, possibly because of the NBA’s nuclear reaction to Donald Sterling.

Levenson, one of the NBA owners to speak out against Sterling, has issued an apology.  Here is an excerpt:  

In trying to address those issues, I wrote an e-mail two years ago that was inappropriate and offensive. I trivialized our fans by making clichéd assumptions about their interests (i.e. hip hop vs. country, white vs. black cheerleaders, etc.) and by stereotyping their perceptions of one another (i.e. that white fans might be afraid of our black fans). By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans.

Following Levenson notifying the league office the e-mail, the NBA commenced an independent investigation regarding the comments.

Adam Silver, the commissioner of the National Basketball Association wrote this statement: 

“Prior to the completion of the investigation, Mr. Levenson notified me last evening that he had decided to sell his controlling interest in the Atlanta Hawks. As Mr. Levenson acknowledged, the views he expressed are entirely unacceptable and are in stark contrast to the core principles of the National Basketball Association. He shared with me how truly remorseful he is for using those hurtful words and how apologetic he is to the entire NBA family – fans, players, team employees, business partners and fellow team owners – for having diverted attention away from our game.

“I commend Mr. Levenson for self-reporting to the league office, for being fully cooperative with the league and its independent investigator, and for putting the best interests of the Hawks, the Atlanta community, and the NBA first.

“We will be working with the Hawks ownership group on the appropriate process for the sale of the team and I have offered our full support to Hawks CEO Steve Koonin, who will now oversee all team operations.

“The NBA and its teams have long had in place anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies in order to facilitate respectful and diverse workplaces. Earlier this summer, the league re-doubled its efforts by, among other things, making it mandatory for all league and team personnel to receive annual training on these issues.”

What makes this case different than that of Donald Sterling is that he brought it to the commissioner’s attention himself.   

Levenson said he regrets the email sent to the team’s co-owners and general manager Danny Ferry tand deems it “inappropriate and offensive.” In a statement released by the team, Levenson said he sent the email due to his concerns about low attendance and a need to attract suburban whites.

“After much long and difficult contemplation, I have decided that it is in the best interests of the team, the Atlanta community and the NBA to sell my controlling interest in the Hawks franchise.”

The letter, while racist, also seemed about business. Long story short:  The racism claim doesn’t seem as strong as with Donald Sterling.  He also brought it to the attention of the NBA himself.   

It is not immediately clear whether this is just a ploy to make it easier for him to sell the team.  Perhaps there will be more information on this soon.