DIONNE WALKER

Associated Press Writer
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Comedian Katt Williams jailed in Ga. over burglary

Comedian and rapper Katt Williams was released on bond Monday after police said they arrested the entertainer for breaking into a home and stealing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and coins.

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Georgia's child custody employment program expands

Already a father of two in 2006, Martez Fitzpatrick figured supporting a third child wouldn't much strain his budget.

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Ga. court rules against millionaire's mistress

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday against the mistress of a millionaire, saying she is not entitled to receive $7,900 a month for the rest of her life as provided under amendments to his will.

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Former refugee recycles US hotel soap for Uganda

Nearly two decades after he arrived in this country, Ugandan Derreck Kayongo is still bowled over by one subtle display of American wealth: the endless array of soaps available in stores.

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Appalachian tourism efforts hampered by economy

Along the quiet banks of Lake Russell, where bees buzz and grass blows lazily in the wind, Elbert County's top development official envisioned a resort that would bring vacationers' dollars to the declining granite quarrying hub.

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AP Enterprise: Bullying laws give scant protection

Recent student suicides have parents and advocates complaining that anti-bullying laws enacted in nearly every state are not being enforced and do not go far enough to identify and rid schools of chronic tormentors.

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Airport chapels offer haven to more faiths

Ordained a United Methodist minister, the Rev. Chester Cook has now become a jack of all faiths.

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Atlanta close to tearing down last housing project

The nation's bulldozer attack on crime and poverty will soon make Atlanta — home of the first public housing development — the first major city to eliminate all of its large housing projects.

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Minimum wage hike could threaten low earners' jobs

A federal minimum wage increase that takes effect Friday could prolong the recession, some economists say, by forcing small businesses to lay off the same workers that the pay hike passed in better times was meant to help.

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Rappers tone down sparkle but not swagger

The hip-hop world is a less bling-bling place these days.

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Shelters slowly adapt to help transgender homeless

Twelve years heading the Salvation Army's downtown homeless shelter had done little to prepare Janeane Schmidt for the recent night when a soft-spoken biological male transitioning into a female walked in.

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Atlanta 'giving meters' program off to slow start

Six months after Atlanta business leaders set up parking meter-like machines to accept spare change donations and discourage panhandling, just $500 has been deposited — not much help for beggars who say they can sometimes raise $300 in a day on their own.

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Airports' homeless resist efforts to remove them

Life has taken Roger Gleen up and down the East Coast, and on this night the weary traveler settles into a chair in the corner of the world's busiest airport.

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FBI raid on Ga-based food charity raises questions

For more than a decade, Angel Food Ministries seemed like a godsend for families who purchased its low-cost food boxes and the churches that shared millions in revenue for distributing the goods.

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US churches to discuss evolution vs creation

After a lifetime in the church, the Rev. William L. Rhines Jr. lately has started to question one of the Bible's fundamental teachings, that God created man. It's an especially touchy topic in his Wilmington, Del., congregation, where generations of black worshippers have leaned on faith to endure the indignities of racism.

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EBay top bidder: Take our money, keep your stuff

It started as a family joke: Facing snowballing medical expenses for their two young disabled children, Gregg and Brittiny Peters quipped they might need to sell everything they owned to stay solvent. As the bills tipped $10,000, however, the idea was no longer funny.

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Late wrestler's doctor pleads guilty in drug case

The personal doctor to a professional wrestler who killed himself, his wife and their 7-year-old son in 2007 pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally distributing prescription drugs to patients, one of whom died.

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Ga. homeless ministry tends their feet, dignity

Bryan Flournoy sits in a downtown church, sipping coffee and taking inventory of his life: He's 33 and homeless. He's a stranger in Atlanta, where a bus dropped him off from California last month. He needs a place to live, and he needs it yesterday.

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Economy threatens cities' fights vs. homelessness

Beneath the glowing red curlicues of the Coca-Cola headquarters sign, case worker Hylda Jackson bargains with one of Atlanta's left behind.

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Muslim scarf arrest prompts court worker training

City court workers including a municipal judge in an Atlanta suburb will undergo sensitivity training after police arrested a Muslim woman for refusing to remove her religious headscarf before attending a hearing.

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Ga. judge jails Muslim woman over head scarf

A Muslim woman arrested for refusing to take off her head scarf at a courthouse security checkpoint said Wednesday that she felt her human and civil rights were violated. A judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court, said police in Douglasville, a city of about 20,000 people on Atlanta's west suburban outskirts.

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Lenders criticize gov't mortgage aid program

Hundreds of lenders told federal housing officials Thursday that a $300 billion mortgage aid program requires too many losses for consumers and lenders to realistically help 400,000 Americans avoid foreclosure.

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Salvation Army tries text messages to raise funds

The Salvation Army's ubiquitous holiday bell ringers will have a new tool as they try to raise funds through the holidays — text messaging.

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Push to register felons to vote could aid Obama

Undaunted by the heat, James Bailey spent his late-summer afternoons walking Virginia's bleakest neighborhoods on the hunt for ex-cons — each a potential voter who might cast the decisive ballot in this hotly contested state.

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Va. Catholic bishop sorry after abortion mixup

Catholic leaders in Richmond are apologizing after a mix up enabled a 16-year-old illegal immigrant in a Catholic charity's care to get an abortion with help from charity staffers.

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