Official: 1 adult, 4 kids killed in Georgia fire

NEWNAN, Ga. (AP) — A woman and four young children died early Saturday as a fire engulfed a home in west Georgia, and authorities said only an 11-year-old girl who was woken by her mother escaped. The woman died trying to save the remaining children.

Firefighters were alerted at 1:17 a.m. Saturday to the blaze at the single-story home in Newnan, about 40 miles southwest of Atlanta. Georgia state Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens ruled that the fire was accidental and appeared to have originated in an electrical panel in the home's den area, said Glenn Allen, the commissioner's spokesman.

The fire killed Alonna T. McCrary, 27, as well as her 5-year-old daughter Eriel McCrary and 2-year-old daughter Nikia White, according to Allen. Two other children — Messiah White, 3, and McKenzie Florence, 2 — also died. Allen said the two were sleeping over at the home.

A fifth child, 11-year-old Nautica McCrary, escaped the burning home and was taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. Allen said she has since been released.

Newnan police Chief Buster Meadows said the older girl's mother was able to get her safely out of the burning house.

"The mother woke her up and told her to run," Meadows said. "There was someone outside who she ran to, and the mother went back after the others. Neither her nor the other four children made it out."

By the time firefighters arrived, Meadows said, the house was completely engulfed in flames.

Neighbor Jemeka Beadles said McCrary's running back into the home was a testament to the kind of mother she was.

"She did what any woman would do in that situation," Beadles said.

Beadles said Eriel had recently graduated from pre-kindergarten. "Her mom had just put all her little graduation pictures on Facebook with her cap and gown on," she said. "It seems unreal, it just seems so unreal."

McCrary's cousin, Tamara Terrell, said she had lived in the house for nearly four years before McCrary moved in. Terrell cried as she sat with others across the street and recalled having problems with the home's gas and electrical system before she moved out in January. Terrell said McCrary moved into the house the next month.

But landlord Glenn Marlowe, of Moreland, said, "There was never an electrical problem in the house, period." He said he hadn't owned the home for very long and couldn't provide additional information.

Coweta County property records show that the landlord's wife, Peggy Marlowe, has owned the house since March 2011. Tax records list her as the owner of six residential properties in the county, including the house where she and her husband live in Moreland.

Firefighters found the charred remains of a smoke detector inside the home but it was unclear whether the device worked, Allen said.

The burned house was still surrounded by yellow tape 12 hours after the fire. Its brick walls were charred and the roof had gaping holes exposing the rafters. Soot covered a car parked in the driveway.

Before noon, friends and relatives had started a makeshift memorial of items left beside the mailbox. Neighbors tied a cluster of balloons— one reading "We Love You" — to the mailbox and left candles, teddy bears and a small cross. A pair of bicycles, one pink and one purple, also had been left near the growing memorial. One neighbor used spray paint to write a Bible verse on a blanket, then left it on the lawn.

Neighbors said the fire devastated the close-knit community, but they vowed to stay strong for the surviving child and for one another.

"We're country folks. We did a lot of things together — raised our kids together, played together, we cry together, we eat together," Belinda Beasely said. "We don't have that much, but we learn to love each other and appreciate what we got."

____

Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Ga., contributed to this report.

Via Yahoo News!

Sides to square off over Georgia immigration law

Atlanta (CNN) -- Supporters and critics of Georgia's controversial new immigration law faced off in court Monday, but a federal judge said he had not reached a decision in the case.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash Jr. said he hopes to issue a written ruling before July 1, when the law is scheduled to go into effect.

Attorneys representing plaintiffs in the class-action suit asked Thrash to issue a temporary injunction that would stop the law, known as HB 87, while the court considers the case.

"HB 87 is deeply flawed and fundamentally unconstitutional," said Omar Jadwat, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Attorneys representing the state filed a motion to dismiss the case.

"Sometimes the law is harsh, there's no question about that, but that doesn't make it unconstitutional," said Devon Orland, senior assistant attorney general for the state.

Thrash asked numerous questions during the two-hour hearing.

"Don't you concede that this provides local law enforcement with a tremendous amount of discretion?" he asked Orland.

He repeatedly asked about the purpose of the bill and said it could be used to target Hispanics.

"We like the people at the restaurant. Let's not bother the cook or the guy that does the mayor's yardwork. They're a nice family. But we're going to make it so difficult for everybody else they're going to leave," he said.

"Let's not forget, just because we're economically dependent on something unlawful, doesn't change it to being lawful," Orland countered, arguing that the law does not allow racial profiling.

As attorneys made their arguments, a small group of protesters rallied outside the federal courthouse in downtown Atlanta, chanting, "What do we want? Injunction. When do we want it? Now!"

The law, which is aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration, allows police to ask about immigration status when questioning suspects in certain criminal investigations.

It also allows the imposition of prison sentences for people who knowingly transport illegal immigrants during the commission of a crime and says that workers convicted of using fake identification to get jobs could be sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $250,000.

"Georgia's immigration scheme will undermine federal immigration enforcement priorities by subjecting countless individuals in Georgia to detention," the lawsuit says.

Organizations and individuals who are plaintiffs in the case fear discrimination and racial profiling, according to the suit.

Attorneys representing the state argue that those fears are unfounded.

"Any such fear is purely hypothetical and speculative in light of the clear terms of HB 87 that prohibit unconstitutional racial profiling and require criminal conduct before any verification of immigration status would enter the realm of possibility," says the attorneys' brief supporting their motion to dismiss the case.

The ACLU, the National Immigration Law Center, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Asian Law Caucus are representing plaintiffs in the Georgia lawsuit.

Several organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, have filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the lawsuit. The governments of 12 Latin American countries also filed friend-of-the-court briefs.

"Mexico respectfully submits that, if HB 87 is allowed to take effect, it will have a significant and long-lasting adverse impact on U.S.-Mexico bilateral relations, and on Mexican citizens and other people of Latin American descent present in Georgia," the Mexican government said in its brief.

The Georgia lawsuit is the latest battle in a nationwide skirmish between state and federal officials over who controls immigration enforcement.

Arizona's controversial law aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration catapulted the issue onto the national stage last year, drawing a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice, which argues the law is unconstitutional.

Lawmakers in at least 20 states weighed similar proposals during the past year, according to the National Immigration Forum.

Earlier this month Alabama's governor signed what he billed as tough illegal immigration legislation, requiring police to check the status of anyone they suspect may be in the country illegally when stopped for another reason.

Last month, a federal judge in Utah blocked a strict immigration enforcement law in that state just 24 hours after it went into effect. And the ACLU filed a similar lawsuit against a new Indiana immigration law, also scheduled to go into effect July 1.

In April, a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Justice Department and against Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed Arizona's law last year. Brewer announced last month that the state would appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Earlier this month a spokeswoman for Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said Georgia's legislation is markedly different from the Arizona law.

"These organizations falsely claim HB 87 is a copycat of Arizona's legislation. It is not," Press Secretary Stephanie Mayfield said.

CNN

Hundreds of Georgia hospital patients exposed to TB

Atlanta (CNN) -- Nearly 700 patients and 100 employees at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta have been exposed to tuberculosis after coming in contact with a hospital employee carrying the disease, a hospital spokesman said Thursday.

The Georgia Department of Community Health and the hospital have identified 680 patients who were exposed to tuberculosis between November and February, said hospital spokesman Lance Skelly.

Patients will begin getting tested for tuberculosis next week, Skelly said. To date, no patients or employees have reported symptoms of tuberculosis, he said.

The hospital and the department began notifying people about the exposure this month, after an Emory employee was diagnosed in April with the infectious disease, he said. The employee did not know he had tuberculosis when he came in contact with employees and patients, the hospital said.

The hospital took extra precautions by contacting patients who were in the hospital for 90 days before the day the employee is known to have developed the disease, Skelly said. "That is a major reason the numbers are so much higher."

All hospital employees are screened for the disease and must receive screenings each year, it added. A hospital statement did not say whether the employee had been screened.

About 11 million people in the United States are infected with latent tuberculosis, which is symptom-free and is not contagious.

Of those, 5 to 10 percent go on to develop active tuberculosis, which can be spread to others through the air, such as through coughing or sneezing. It can be fatal if not properly treated.

Symptoms of tuberculosis include chest pain, a bad cough (possibly with blood), weakness and a fever. While tuberculosis usually impacts the lungs, the kidneys, brain and spine may also be affected.

Both the number and rate of tuberculosis cases has been on the decline since 1993, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The number of reported deaths nationwide dropped from 644 in 2006 to 544 in 2007, the most recent year for which such data is available, the CDC said.

CNN

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Georgia governor signs controversial anti-illegal immigration law

Protesters set up outside the governor's office and there were threats of boycotts against the state.NEW: Mexico says legislators "ignored the many contributions" of immigrantsThe bill lets law enforcement officers ask about immigration status in investigationsLatino groups decry the measure, threatening lawsuits and boycotts

Atlanta (CNN) -- Despite protests outside his office and boycott threats, Georgia's governor signed into law Friday one of the toughest anti-illegal immigration measures enacted by an individual state.

The measure, which Gov. Nathan Deal inked about a month after it cleared the Republican-dominated Georgia Legislature, allows law enforcement officers to ask about immigration status when questioning suspects in certain criminal investigations.

HB 87 also imposes prison sentences of up to one year and fines of up to $1,000 for people who knowingly transport illegal immigrants during the commission of a crime. It also asserts that workers convicted of using fake identification to get jobs could be sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $250,000.

"This legislation is a responsible step forward in the absence of federal action," Deal said after the bill signing. "Illegal immigration places an incredible burden on Georgia taxpayers."

As they have throughout the debate, leaders in the local Latino community railed against the measure. Among them were several dozen people who demonstrated Friday outside the governor's office at the state Capitol, chanting, "Shame on you."

The legislation drew threats of lawsuits targeting the bill, as well as boycotts aimed at forcing the government's hand. The group Southerners on New Ground is calling for a national boycott of conventions and vacation travel to Georgia, while a blog entry on the website of the group Somos Georgia warned, "Veto HB 87 or Boycott! It's your choice, Governor Deal!!"

"This is the beginning of a road that we'll travel that will take a long time," Teodoro Maus, president of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, said Friday in Atlanta.

Similar efforts have been pursued -- with some success -- targeting other states that have passed legislation aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. Nonetheless, anti-illegal immigrant bills can still be found from coast to coast.

The National Conference of State Legislatures found that, in 2010 alone, more than 1,400 bills were introduced aiming to give individual states more of a role in immigration enforcement. Of those measures, 208 laws were enacted, 10 were vetoed, and 138 resolutions were adopted.

The best-known such effort was in Arizona. Among other things, that legislation would have required local law enforcement officers in Arizona to apprehend and help deport illegal immigrants.

The U.S. Justice Department sued, arguing that only the federal government has that authority. Last month, a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Justice Department and against Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed SB 1070 into law last year. Brewer has asked the Supreme Court to lift the court order that is blocking enforcement of parts of the law.

Wade Henderson, the head of the advocacy group Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, blasted what he called Georgia's "odious piece of legislation." He said it was a "copycat" of the Arizona law and effectively legalizes "racial profiling."

"Georgia's lawmakers have not learned from Arizona's mistakes," Henderson said Friday in a statement. "These laws presume everyone is guilty, contradicting the fundamental American presumption that those accused are innocent until proven otherwise."

The Mexican government added Friday that it "regrets" Deal's decision to sign the law.

"The legislators and state executive ignored the many contributions of the immigrant community to the economy and society of Georgia," the Mexican government said in a statement.

But some who support the Georgia legislation -- including Deal and Phil Kent, a spokesman for the conservative group Americans for Immigration Control -- said it is not about discrimination but rather about protecting taxpayers.

"The illegal immigrants in our state have been swamping our hospitals and schools," Kent said. "It's a very expensive proposition. We just want to make sure that people are welcome here and that they come here legally. And then we can cut back on the illegal immigration."

President Barack Obama's administration has opposed such state-specific measures, including fighting them in court, saying that having as many as 50 different immigration policies (one for each state) would be counterproductive from a law enforcement standpoint and damaging from an international relations standpoint.

Asked about HB 87 last month by CNN affiliate WSB, Obama defended the federal government's actions.

"The truth on the matter is we've done more on enforcement than any previous administration," the president said. "We have more border patrols; we have had serious crackdowns on employers who are hiring undocumented workers."

CNN

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Undocumented Georgia university student allowed to stay in U.S

Student Jessica Colotl says the decision is "like a big present"She is scheduled to graduate from Kennesaw State University next weekColotl has been facing possible deportation to Mexico since she was arrested last yearActivists on both sides of the immigration debate have used her case as a rallying point

Atlanta (CNN) -- U.S. immigration officials have decided that an undocumented college student apprehended by authorities after driving without a license can stay in the United States for another year, the student said.

Reached by phone as she rushed to class Tuesday evening, Kennesaw State University student Jessica Colotl said the decision was "like a big present."

Officials at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency could not be immediately reached for comment.

Colotl, who is scheduled to graduate next week with a degree in political science, became a lightning rod in the immigration debate last spring. Activists on both sides of the immigration debate said her case was a symbol of a broken system.

Colotl has been facing possible deportation to Mexico.

Her legal problems started in March 2010, when police stopped her car on the Kennesaw State campus and accused her of stopping the flow of traffic in a university parking lot.

Born in Mexico but living in the United States since she was 11, she could not produce a driver's license, so she handed over as identification an expired passport from Mexico.

She was arrested the next day and turned over to immigration officials.

She spent more than a month in the Etowah Detention Center in Alabama.

Friends came out in force and marched on campus in her defense. In May, she was released, and her deportation was deferred for a year, which will allow her to finish her studies.

But she was quickly arrested on a warrant for the Cobb County Sheriff's Office and released on $2,500 bail.

"I'm just trying to live the American dream and finish my education," she said at the time.

Cobb County participates in a federal program that allows jail officials to initiate deportation procedures for inmates believed to be in the country illegally.

Immigration officials last year allowed her to stay until she finished finish her studies after pleas from the community and the university's president.

CNN's Dan Gilgoff and Jessica Ravitz contributed to this report.

CNN

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Georgia passes anti-immigration bill

Georgia passes immigration billSTORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Georgia anti-illegal immigration bill may be nation's most effective, supporters sayBill awaits governor's signatureACLU threatens to sue, other groups plan boycottsRELATED TOPICSGeorgiaImmigration Atlanta (CNN) -- Unmoved by threats of boycotts and lawsuits, the Georgia Legislature has joined Arizona in passing what may be one of the nation's toughest anti-illegal immigration laws.

The Republican-dominated state House and Senate passed House Bill 87 Thursday during the final hours of the 2011 Georgia General Assembly. The bill must be signed by Georgia GOP Gov. Nathan Deal before it can become law.

The bill, among other things, allows law enforcement officers to question suspects in certain criminal investigations about their immigration status. It punishes people who transport illegal immigrants during the commission of a crime and imposes hefty prison sentences on those who use fake documents to get jobs.

Deal has not committed to signing the bill, however he promised to support this kind of legislation when he campaigned for governor last year.

After the vote, the bill's author, Republican state Rep. Matt Ramsey, declared, "We have done the job that we were sent to do."

Ramsey said the bill addresses issues forced on the states because of the federal government's decades-long failure to secure the nation's borders.

The bill passed both chambers after lengthy debate. Opponents argued that the bill could encourage racial profiling and discrimination. They also said the measure could hurt the image and the economy of the state.

Supporters blamed illegal immigrants for overcrowding Georgia's schools and forcing taxpayers to shoulder the burden of paying for emergency room medical care for undocumented residents.

"People come here, legally or illegally, to fulfill the dreams that they have for themselves and their families," said state Sen. Vincent Fort, an Atlanta Democrat and an opponent of the bill.

State Sen. Renee Unterman, a suburban Atlanta Republican who supported the legislation, countered, "they are illegals, they are going to use our services."

In the end, neither chamber's vote was close. The state Senate passed the measure by 37 to 19. The Georgia House, which provided final passage for the bill, approved it in a 112 to 59 vote.

The Thursday vote marks the second time in five years that Georgia lawmakers passed an anti-illegal immigration bill heralded as one of the toughest in the nation. In 2006, the state Legislature passed a bill, later signed into law, requiring government contractors and public employers to run the names of people they hire through a federal database to determine if they are legal residents of the United States.

House Bill 87 requires private businesses with more than 10 employees to use the same database also. The system is called E-Verify. The legislation enables state and local law enforcement officers to arrest illegal immigrants. It also imposes prison sentences of up to one year and fines of up to $1,000 for people who knowingly transport illegal immigrants during the commission of a crime.

Workers convicted of using fake identifications to get jobs could be sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $250,000.

The business community, including the influential agricultural lobby, strongly opposed the E-Verify provision. In a last-day compromise, however, House and Senate lawmakers added language to the bill exempting businesses that employ fewer than 11 workers from having to use the federal database.

Republican state Sen. John Bulloch, who chairs the chamber's Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, said, "in the end, I still don't like it but it's a good bill."

D.A. King, an anti-illegal immigration activist and longtime lobbyist for tougher laws, called the measure "one of the most well thought-out, potentially effective, immigration enforcement bills in the country."

"On the state level, this will set a new bar," King said.

Protesters held a candlelight vigil outside the Georgia Capitol Thursday evening. At the gathering, 7-year-old Jazlie Camacho, told the crowd, "I am here to make sure they take this law away."

Jazlie is an American-born citizen, but her parents are from Mexico.

Paulina Hernandez, a member of a group called Southerners on New Ground, said her organization will call for a boycott against the state.

"We are not willing to tell the nation that Georgia is a state worth investing in because they don't have the best interests of their people in mind."

Several legal and activist groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, are already planning lawsuits in an attempt to block implementation of the measure. They hope the courts will agree with them.

In Arizona last year, a federal judge halted implementation of that state's anti-immigration law after the Obama administration filed suit. The president's lawyers argued that the federal government, and not the state, has the sole authority to regulate immigration.

Last week, a federal appeals panel upheld the lower court's order blocking the enactment of the most controversial provisions of the Arizona statute, which is known as Senate Bill 1070.

The court rulings have not deterred legislatures in other states from introducing copycat anti-illegal immigration bills. Among them are Utah and Indiana, as well as Georgia.

"The Georgia law is one of the best written and potentially most effective," said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors stricter immigration control. The Indiana bill, meanwhile, has gathered attention because Gov. Mitch Daniels is considered a potential 2012 presidential candidate, Krikorian said.

In Indiana, Daniels would like to see a strong E-Verify provision, but is less adamant about granting law enforcement officers greater authority to question some suspects about their legal status, according to analysts.

Daniels' preference for the E-Verify portion over the law enforcement portion could be because of the recent court of appeals ruling on the Arizona law, analysts said.

"The decision casts new doubt on the constitutionality of the Arizona law, and will likely further dampen efforts to enact S.B. 1070-like bills in other states, where economic concerns have already caused state legislators to reconsider or abandon them," according to an analysis from the Migration Policy Institute.

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Georgia Woman Reportedly Admits to Sending Pig's Foot to Rep. Peter King

AP

Rep. Peter King speaks at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee on Capitol Hill March 10.

A Georgia woman reportedly has claimed responsibility for the severed pig's foot that was sent to Rep. Peter King, apparently in protest over the hearing he held on radical Islam. 

Jacquelyn Barnette, who described herself as Muslim, told the New York Post she sent King the package, which also contained an anti-Semitic note, this month. 

The U.S. Postal Service intercepted the package before it ever reached King's office. 

"I thought the letters explain themselves," Barnette told the Post. 

Asked about her comments, King told Fox News she "seems to be a disturbed person." 

"I'll let the police decide how to deal with her. I don't want to do anything to encourage her or others like her," he said. 

In March, King, R-N.Y., held high-profile congressional hearings on Islamic radicalization in the U.S., saying he aimed to confront the threat of homegrown extremism. 

Though the note contained anti-Semitic messages, King is not Jewish. The note also reportedly told King to "kiss my black, Muslim-American a--."

Click here to read more at The New York Post.

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Georgia mother found alive, well after disappearing for 6 days

Missing woman's husband speaks outSTORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: "The case of Wazineh Suleiman is closed," a Georgia county sheriff says NEW: The sheriff says he won't divulge her location or explain why she went missingHer father says she's "in good condition"; he doesn't know what happenedThe woman left their five children alone at their Bartow County home Friday nightRELATED TOPICSMissing PersonsGeorgiaLaw Enforcement (CNN) -- Not divulging why she left, a Georgia sheriff said Thursday that a mother of five who disappeared last week is safe, healthy and not about to face criminal charges.

"The case of Wazineh Suleiman is closed," Bartow County Sheriff Clark Millsap told reporters in Cartersville. "She is in a safe location, she is alive, she is well."

Suleiman hadn't been heard from since last Friday night, when her husband arrived home to find the couple's children, ages 6 through 12 alone, and no sign of his wife since she'd left him uncharacteristically profane text messages.

Millsap on Thursday refused to explain why Suleiman may have gone missing, saying only that "why she left is her business, and not ours."

"Our main concern was to make sure that she was safe and we have discovered that," the sheriff said. "Anything that is going on at her residence is her business and her husband's business."

Since being found, the woman told authorities that she does not want "to let anyone know where she is" -- a request Millsap said law enforcement officers will respect. Police also have not offered details about how or where she was found.

The sheriff said that no criminal charges will be filed against anyone in the case.

Earlier Thursday, her father, Basem Jaber, said only that Suleiman was "safe" and with members of the sheriff's department. He said he did not know why his daughter went missing, saying only he was very happy she'd been found and he expected to see her for the first time later Thursday afternoon.

"She's good, she's in good condition," he told reporters Thursday outside the Bartow County sheriff's office.

Suleiman's husband, Abed Suleiman, has said that, after attending Friday prayers, he brought home four pizzas at his wife's request and the family ate dinner together. He then set out for Kentucky on a turkey hunting trip with a male friend.

When Abed Suleiman and his friend were about an hour from home they were informed that turkey hunting season was to begin the following weekend. They immediately turned around, the husband said.

The friend corroborated the story and receipts back it up, Millsap has said.

Wazineh Suleiman was last heard from that night, according to her husband of 14 years, in the form of profanity-laced text messages that she sent him.

"It's over and I'm throwing the phone out the window,'' read one of the messages. Others contained curses, including the f-word, he said,

"She would never, ever send me a text message or use that word in front of me or to me at all," Abed Suleiman said Wednesday on HLN's "Nancy Grace."

"That's the way she is,'' he said. His 30-year-old wife is a kindergarten teacher's assistant.

When he arrived home last Friday around 9 p.m., Abed Suleiman found his five children home alone, something he said had never happened before at night.

His oldest child told him their mother had been gone 10 minutes.

The husband said he thought Wazineh Suleiman had gone to a Walmart to rent a video. But police say there is no evidence she ever made it to Walmart.

Later that evening, Abed Suleiman called police to report her missing.

Until Thursday, the biggest development in the case came Tuesday, when the family's 2004 Nissan Armada was found in an empty parking lot near Interstate 75.

Abed Suleiman, a pharmacist, said Wednesday that his wife's credit cards hadn't been used since she went missing.

The couple filed for bankruptcy in August. Abed Suleiman said, "I have a good income and I bought two very expensive properties in south Florida" that they ended up being unable to afford.

HLN's Philip Rosenbaum contributed to this report.

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