(WXIA) -- 2012 was an incredible year, with many milestones and many news stories that affected everyone here in Metro Atlanta, across the nation and around the world.
We have compiled the most viewed stories from 11Alive.com -- the stories that captured your imagination and made you want to know more.
We start our list with the most-viewed story of the year.
By the way, what's your favorite story of the year? You can vote here through January 7.
ROSWELL, Ga. -- Roswell Police say Ben and Henry Cleary have been found safe and sound in Austin, Texas.
Authorities say a citizen recognized Daniel Cleary and his sons from the Amber Alert on the news and called police around 5PM.
Police arrived and saw Daniel Cleary and his two sons, Ben and Henry Cleary, exiting a hotel room at Crossland Economy Suites in Austin. They took Cleary into custody without incident. The boys were not harmed.
Austin Police say they also recovered a handgun and a large sum of money.
Nine-year-old Ben Cleary and 7-year-old Henry Cleary had not been in touch with their mother since Dec. 22. They were last seen with their father, 46-year-old Daniel Cleary.
The boys' mother, Theresa Nash, said her sons visited the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga with their father. Daniel Nash shut off his cell phone on Dec. 23 after making one final call near Nashville. Nash told 11Alive that her sons' father had also emptied his house, abandoned his car and purchased a gun, and she had feared for her children's safety.
Nash is on her way to Texas to bring the boys back home to Roswell.
Daniel Cleary is being held at the Williamson County Jail.
Stay with 11Alive for updates on this developing story.
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After a nation-wide Levi's Call, two brothers have been found safe in Texas.
2012 was an incredible year, with many milestones and many news stories that ...
(WXIA) -- 2012 was an incredible year, with many milestones and many news stories that affected everyone here in Metro Atlanta, across the nation and around the world.
We have compiled the most viewed stories from 11Alive.com -- the stories that captured your imagination and made you want to know more.
We start our list with the most-viewed story of the year.
By the way, what's your favorite story of the year? You can vote here through January 7.
TUCKER, Ga. -- DeKalb County Fire crews are still working to extinguish a two-alarm fire at an ACE Hardware store in Tucker.
When crews arrived at the store, located at 4365 Cowan Road, they found heavy smoke and flames showing.
According to officials, they were having water pressure issues while fighting the fire and had to run additional lines from about 1,000 feet away in both directions.
Crews were kept about 40 feet away from the structure as they fought the fire due to the amount of hazardous items inside the store. Among the dangerous chemicals at the store were more than 500 gallons of propane and 700 gallons of kerosene.
No injuries have been reported.
The store has since collapsed.
ROSWELL, Ga. -- Authorities released new photos in the Levi's Call issued for two Roswell boys who are believed to be traveling through Tennessee with their father.
Nine-year-old Ben Cleary and 7-year-old Henry Cleary have not been in touch with their mother since Dec. 22. They were last seen with their non-custodial father, 46-year-old Daniel Cleary.
The boys' mother, Theresa Nash, said her sons visited the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga with their father. Daniel Nash shut off his cell phone on Dec. 23 after making one final call near Nashville. Nash told 11Alive that her sons' father also emptied his house, abandoned his car and purchased a gun, and she fears for her children's safety.
The photos show the boys with their father at a Chattanooga Walmart on December 23 and 24. They also released a still image of the Jeep they are believed to be traveling in with black luggage on the roof and towing a trailer.
Ben Cleary is described as 4 feet 8 inches tall and 66 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Henry Cleary is 4 feet 5 inches tall and 60 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes.
Both boys were wearing light blue winter vests when they were last seen.
Daniel Cleary is about 6 feet tall and 220 pounds, with grey hair and brown eyes. He and the children are believed to be traveling on Interstate 40 on the west side of Nashville in a 2002 silver Jeep Grand Cherokee with Georgia temporary tag 10742627.
Nash said Daniel Cleary has family in California and Nevada, and may be heading to one of those two states.
Anyone who sees the Clearys is asked to call 911 or Roswell Police at (770) 640-4160.
A view from WCAU's helicopter shows the scene of the Thursday morning wreck on the New Jersey Turnpike (WCAU Philadelphia)
MOUNT LAUREL, NJ (WXIA) - Three people from a Stone Mountain family were killed in an accident Thursday on the New Jersey Turnpike in Mount Laurel, authorities said.
An 18-year-old woman, from the same family, survived the accident with what police said were minor injuries and was taken to Cooper University Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Police said the family's dog also died in the collision.
Our Philadelphia sister station, WCAU, said the wreck happened at about 10 a.m. in the southbound lane at milepost 39.9, when a tractor-trailer hit a silver Toyota Camry from behind and bumped a Ford Edge. Police said that as the tractor-trailer jackknifed, the Camry was crushed and apparently pushed into another tractor-trailer.
The roadway was closed at the scene of the wreck for more than five hours, police said.
Investigators said the Camry's 51-year-old male driver, a 49-year-old female and 12-year-old male passenger were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
Police said all the victims were in the Toyota. They have not released the names of the victims, but said they are from Stone Mountain, Ga. The cause of the wreck is under investigation.
View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.
(The Associated Press & WCAU Philadelphia contributed to this report)
Fire crews battling two-alarm fire in Marietta.
MARIETTA, Ga. -- Cobb County firefighters were on the scene of a one-alarm fire in a multi-story structure in the Willows Condominiums on Riverlook Parkway early Thursday evening.
Fire officials said there was heavy damage to the center of the building, and that the roof had fallen in.
"With the damage to the building, I imagine it'll be torn down and rebuilt," said Lt. Dan Dupree of the Cobb County Fire Department.
The blaze is considered a one-alarm fire, with several additional units called in for support. Firefighters spent 90 minutes and roughly 90,000 gallons of water corralling the fire, the cause of which is currently unknown.
ROSWELL, Ga. -- An AMBER Alert has been issued for two Roswell boys who are believed to be traveling through Tennessee with their father.
Nine-year-old Ben Cleary and 7-year-old Henry Cleary were last seen with their non-custodial father, 46-year-old Daniel Cleary, and were supposed to be returned to their mother at 2 p.m. Thursday.
Ben Cleary is described as 4 feet 8 inches tall and 66 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Henry Cleary is 4 feet 5 inches tall and 60 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes.
Both boys were wearing light blue winter vests when they were last seen.
Daniel Cleary is about 6 feet tall and 220 pounds, with grey hair and brown eyes. He and the children are believed to be traveling on Interstate 40 on the west side of Nashville, Tenn., in a 2002 silver Jeep Grand Cherokee with Georgia temporary tag 10742627.
Anyone who sees the Clearys is asked to call 911 or Roswell Police at 770-640-4160.
ATLANTA -- Now that Christmas gifts have been opened, and decisions made on what will be kept and what will be returned, it's time now to go through the house and figure out what will stay and what will go to charity.
A key is to make your donations by next Monday to get a tax deduction on this year's income tax.
A must is dealing with a reputable and known non-profit charity, recognized by the IRS.
MORE | Donation resource page
Getting that tax break is a motivation but not the only one.
"We come over with stuff we don't need, and we hope other people can use it. We do it before the end of the year...it comes off our tax return, "said Chip Franzoni, a donor to Goodwill of North Georgia.
When it comes to tax breaks, Jennifer Howard says, "It doesn't hurt, but it's nice to know that my stuff is used by somebody who probably needs it or would like to use it."
Best things to donate?
Shoes, books, CD's and DVDs, cell phones, computers and working kitchen appliances.
But Donald Woods of the Salvation Army says they are mainly looking for clothing.
"One of our greatest needs right now is clothing. We can use the furniture, we take cars, we take just about anything you want to get rid of, but mainly it's the clothing," he said.
Goodwill of North Georgia reminds donors to be careful before dropping things off.
"Check your pockets. Check the back pocket of your favorite jeans that you are intending to donate. Check luggage. Check purses. Make sure you clear all of those things out before you donate them," said Elaine Armstrong of Goodwill.
The IRS reminds donors to get receipts or have bank records to back up what you plan to deduct.
GRIFFIN, Ga. -- "My Sunday School room is gone. It's ashes now for sure," Mary Murphy said.
Just one day after Christmas, her church of more than 70 years burned to the ground. There is no official word but most of the church congregants believe lightning to be the cause.
New Salem Baptist Church was founded in 1866 and has been in its current location since the 1950's. It's the kind of church where members have married, raised kids, and buried loved ones for generations, counting on one another to help them pull through the tough times.
Now they'll need each other more than ever. It was a total loss. Everything, gone for good.
"I could never picture this church looking like this. My Grandmother just passed away this passed August. It's just been a really hard time," church member Breanna Chaney said. "It's always been a big foundation, and a great place full of family and friends."
Pastor Mike Barnes vows that the church will rebuild. He says a church is about people and not just a building. But still, he's struggling to explain it to himself and everyone else.
"Seeing the people hurt and lives radically changed," he said was the hardest part. "They're unsure of the future and when one part of the body of Christ hurts they all hurt."
For now, the church will meet in their undamaged fellowship hall across the street. Deacon Robert Roper who raised two boys at the church knows just how hard the road ahead is, but he also knows just how they'll pull through.
"God builds his church with people, and it's the people that matter," Roper said. "And we still have the people and we'll come back and rebuild."
Former President George H.W. Bush on hand on Salute To Service day before the Houston Texans play the Buffalo Bills at Reliant Stadium on November 4, 2012 in Houston, Texas. (Bob Levey/Getty Images)
HOUSTON (KPRC) -- Former President George H.W. Bush is in the intensive care unit at Methodist Hospital, fighting a stubborn fever that is on the rise.
As a result, he is now on a liquids-only diet, family spokesman Jim McGrath said.
The 88-year-old Bush was moved to ICU on Sunday. Doctors continue to treat his fever with Tylenol, but still haven't nailed down a cause for the fever.
RELATED | Spokesman: George H.W. Bush's fever is rising
McGrath said Bush remains upbeat as he continues to receive visitors.
"All the kids are making their own plans to come back to Houston to visit him and help him rally -- rally to recovery," said McGrath.
Bush's daughter, Dorothy, arrived on Wednesday for a visit. His sons, former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, will be paying a visit in the coming days.
The 41st president has been hospitalized since Nov. 23 with a lingering cough caused by bronchitis. Doctors were ready to send him home after a short string of good days, but changed their minds after Bush suffered a series of setbacks, including a few low-energy days and now a stubborn fever.
Santa (a.k.a. Fulton County Judge Jackson Bedford) escorts a member of the U.S. Armed Forces through Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.
ATLANTA -- For American troops the war in Afghanistan is winding down and there is no better barometer than Christmas Day at the USO at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport.
Normally the USO is a centerpiece of frantic activity as military personnel deploy for the war zones.
But this Christmas Day, a shocking contrast.
Over the last 9 years on Christmas Day, more than 400 troops crowded a festive USO lounge before most of them lined the balcony outside the USO, next crossing the Hartsfield-Jackson Atrium with children and families in tow--hearing resounding cheers and shouts of thanks.
It's happened every year since 2003.
But now a dramatic change.
No troops are marching across the Atrium this Christmas and none are deploying to Afghanistan.
In the Terminal, an empty military checkin counter, an empty balcony over the Atrium and a near empty USO--sure signs the war is winding down.
But it has not deterred a corps of volunteers from laying out a full course Christmas banquet for any military personnel stopping by.
"We have the chefs here. We have gifts for the troops and for military children we have gifts. It's a wonderful atmosphere. We are here for the military and always will be," said Mary Lou Austin, President of the USO at Harstfield-Jackson.
Someone else who will always be there is Santa.
He's Judge Jackson Bedford of the Fulton County (Georgia) Superior Court.
"I was deployed over a Thanksgiving and a Christmas. I was flying from a Carrier off the coast of North Vietnam and so I know how it feels to be away from home." Bedford said.
Its a feeling shared by Army Private Peter Ryan as he transits to another base, facing deployment to Afghanistan.
"You think about family back home celebrating Christmas and they are worried about you, and just as much as you are worried about them and what they are doing," Ryan said.
"I am thinking about my Mom more than anything. My Mom wants me home so its hard not being home with her, " Ryan added.
Troop deployments are expected to pick up in January as the steady rotation of military personnel will continue in and out of Afghanistan through 2014.
WXIA -- Tonight, heavy showers come back to the area. Those will change over to thunderstorms late, and some of them will be severe. East winds will be 10-15mph gusting up to 25mph. Overnight temperatures will remain relatively steady in the low 50s.
Sign up for mobile severe weather alerts here.
Showers and thunderstorms continue through Wednesday morning, and then taper off as we approach the afternoon. Temperatures will peak in the early morning, and then gradually fall throughout the day. For example we will have temperatures around 50° at 8am, then mid 40s by noon, then down to the low 40s by 3pm. Some snow flurries are possible in the higher elevations of Georgia late afternoon and into the evening. Total accumulations would likely be up to ½ inch at best. It will also be breezy from the South around 15-20mph, gusting up to 30mph.
Sunshine finally returns in full force on Thursday, but temperatures really struggle to get higher than the upper 40s for the day.
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SPALDING COUNTY, Ga. -- The Spalding County Sheriff's Department has made an arrest in the murder death of 9-year-old Skylar Dials.
According to Sheriff Wendell Beam, Shane Clifton Collett, 40, of Griffin, was arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping and concealing a death. Collett is being held in the Spalding County jail without bond. He was taken in for questioning a few hours after Dials' body was found in the woods around 2 am Saturday. She was only a few hundred yeards from her own house.
"It's a tragedy," Beam said. "It makes it worse here at Christmas but it would be sad anytime. We just ask that all of the citizens keep the family in their prayers, and keep your own kids close."
Collett lives next door to the Dials in the home of his girlfriend's father. The GBI said his girlfriend has a daughter the same age as Dials, and the two were playmates.
Deputies say the child left her house Friday afternoon to visit the playmate's house. A few hours later, the family went to the neighbor's house, but Skylar wasn't there. That kicked off a search involving law enforcement, neighbors and volunteers.
Sheriff Beam says the investigation is ongoing. The GBI said Dials had contact with Collett Friday. An autopsy to determine the cause of death was performed Saturday with results to be released in the coming weeks.
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Volunteers are pulling on their Santa hats, phone lines are set, and tracking screens are ready. NORAD Tracks Santa is primed for its 57th annual goodwill mission.
Santa trackers start taking calls today, telling children - and some adults - when Santa is due at their house. The last shift won't end until nearly 24 hours later.
The number is 877-HI-NORAD or 877-446-6723.
Updates will be posted online on Facebook and Twitter (https://twitter.com/NoradSanta).
The operation is based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., home of the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
NORAD Tracks Santa began in 1955 when a newspaper ad listed the wrong phone number for kids to call Santa. They wound up calling the Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD's predecessor.
Click here to track Santa
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SPALDING COUNTY, Ga. -- The Spalding County Sheriff's Department has made an arrest in the murder death of 9-year-old Skylar Dials.
According to Sheriff Wendell Beam, Shane Clifton Collett, 40, of Griffin, was arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping and concealing a death. Collett is being held in the Spalding County jail without bond. He was taken in for questioning a few hours after Dials' body was found in the woods around 2 am Saturday. She was only a few hundred yeards from her own house.
"It's a tragedy," Beam said. "It makes it worse here at Christmas but it would be sad anytime. We just ask that all of the citizens keep the family in their prayers, and keep your own kids close."
Collett lives next door to the Dials in the home of his girlfriend's father. The GBI said his girlfriend has a daughter the same age as Dials, and the two were playmates.
Deputies say the child left her house Friday afternoon to visit the playmate's house. A few hours later, the family went to the neighbor's house, but Skylar wasn't there. That kicked off a search involving law enforcement, neighbors and volunteers.
Sheriff Beam says the investigation is ongoing. The GBI said Dials had contact with Collett Friday. An autopsy to determine the cause of death was performed Saturday with results to be released in the coming weeks.
MARIETTA, Ga-- Cobb County Police investigators are searching for a man they say murdered his ex-wife in the Marietta home they used to share at 3960 Tall Pine Drive.
Police say Saturday around 11am authorities resonded to a 911 call and found Donna Nations Kristofak, 48, unresponsive. She was transported to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, where she died a short time later.
According to Officer Mike Bowman, the victim's ex- husband, John Stephen Kristofak, 58, is facing charges of aggravated assault and His whereabouts remain unknown. He was last seen driving a late-model, brown Chevrolet Equinox with the Georgia tag BUV 2635.
According to neighbors the couple divorced about a year ago.
Laurie Marks has a son who was involved in sports along with the Kristofaks' older son.
"They were a great couple. We had them and their two sons over numerous times. We don't know what happened," said Laurie Marks.
Marks' son, Shane, reached out to his friend after the murder.
"My friend was actually home asleep. He said he heard his mom screaming and ran down to the garage. That's when he saw his dad stabbing his mom," said Shane Marks.
11Alive News has learned John Kristofaks was recently released from jail after serving time on a felony conviction of stalking.
Family friends say the person he was accused of stalking was his ex-wife.
Cobb County police say Krisofak is considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information is asked to call 9-1-1.
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SPALDING COUNTY, Ga. -- The Spalding County Sheriff's Department has made an arrest in the murder death of 9-year-old Skylar Dials.
According to Sheriff Wendell Beam, Shane Clifton Collett, 40, of Griffin, was arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping and concealing a death. Collett is being held in the Spalding County jail without bond. He was taken in for questioning a few hours after Dials' body was found in the woods around 2 am Saturday. She was only a few hundred yeards from her own house.
"It's a tragedy," Beam said. "It makes it worse here at Christmas but it would be sad anytime. We just ask that all of the citizens keep the family in their prayers, and keep your own kids close."
Collett lives next door to the Dials in the home of his girlfriend's father. The GBI said his girlfriend has a daughter the same age as Dials, and the two were playmates.
Deputies say the child left her house Friday afternoon to visit the playmate's house. A few hours later, the family went to the neighbor's house, but Skylar wasn't there. That kicked off a search involving law enforcement, neighbors and volunteers.
Sheriff Beam says the investigation is ongoing. The GBI said Dials had contact with Collett Friday. An autopsy to determine the cause of death was performed Saturday with results to be released in the coming weeks.
MARIETTA , Ga - Hundreds of people waited in line for more than an hour to get into the Cobb County Gun Show Saturday, as the debate over gun laws heats up. People told 11 Alive they were trying to stock up on guns and ammunition before the country's gun laws changed.
The issue has come under scrutiny after 26 students and staff members were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Police say the gunman, Adam Lanza, was armed with several guns, including a Bushmaster AR-15 style rifle. In the wake of the shooting, President Barack Obama is calling on Congress to reinstate a ban on assault weapons.
At the gun show in Marietta, some people said they were concerned a ban on assault weapons could lead to further restrictions. "I believe (lawmakers) will make some recommendations that will limit my Second Amendment rights," said Steve Nettles of Acworth.
Other people at the gun show indicated they were worried about their own personal safety. Tammy Jenkins, who works for an attorney, said she bought a weapon so she can protect herself, if something were to happen at her office. "(Newtown) has come to make us realize what can happen," said Jenkins.
Courtesy of Spalding County Sheriff's Department
SPALDING COUNTY, Ga. -- The Spalding County Sheriff's Office is investigating the disappearance of a 9-year-old girl.
The child, Skylar Dials, was last seen on the 600 block of Yarbrough Mill Road in Griffin around 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
Skylar was last seen wearing a red and white Aeropostale sweater, pink and silver sneakers, pants and silver earrings.
According to a reports, Skylar's face is characteristic of someone who may have had a stroke on one side.
Anyone with information pertaining to the whereabouts of Skylar should contact the Spalding County Sheriff's Office at 770-467-4282.
Friday night, authorities were searching door to door.
Phillip Haynes, Roswell, GA, December 21, 2012
ROSWELL, Ga. -- Earlier this week, a Metro Atlanta mother came forward in response to the mental health issues raised in connection with the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.
Her own, 25 year old son, she told 11Alive News, is dealing with mental illness and she hadn't been able to get help for him, or convince him to get help. He was choosing to remain homeless. She kept struggling on his behalf, and wanted other families suffering from, and dealing with, mental health issues to know they are not alone.
On Friday, there was a positive development:
The transformation in Phillip Haynes, between Tuesday and Friday, is stunning.
Phillip Haynes on Tuesday was homeless, sullen, frightened, and choosing to deal all alone with his mental illness that includes Bipolar Disorder. And, on that Tuesday, he was again refusing his mother's renewed attempts to hospitalize him.
"So you're going to stay here, then [on the streets]?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm not going to go into a facility," he replied.
____________________
One Mother's Battle with Her Son's Mental Illness
____________________
But, Phillip Haynes three days later was smiling, upbeat, engaging:
"Now I'm doing really good.... I'm just excited about things to come, good things."
He was grateful, hopeful.
"I just tried to reach out to him as best I could," his mother, Denise Haynes, said Friday night.
Denise said that since her face-to-face encounter with Phillip on Tuesday, she continued talking with him.
So did his father.
And 11Alive News learned about a program that would turn out to be just what Phillip needed, and told Denise about it: Grady Memorial Hospital's mental health professionals have an outreach to the homeless, part of the Assertive Community Treatment, "ACT," team. They make house calls on the streets, seeking the homeless and others to offer them help.
"I have people from Grady helping me, and I couldn't be more grateful," Phillip said.
Phillip agreed to take part in that out-patient help from Grady. It turns out a big reason he was refusing his family's attempts to get him into medical treatment was that he simply did not want to be admitted to a hospital.
Phillip is the one who called the ACT team. He and his mother were sitting in her car in a convenience store parking lot Friday and she made one more pitch to him about how brave it would be for him to seek help.
"I sat with him and I said, 'You're doing a wonderful thing if you do this, and getting help is, everybody has trouble in their lives and you have some, and it's okay to get help.' And at that point he took out the card [from the ACT team member] and called him on my phone. And set up an appointment. I was very surprised and elated at the same time. I was so happy... He said [over the phone], 'I will agree to meet with you,'.... I was almost frozen and trying so hard to not react. I've been holding back and when I'm by myself I cry all the time. And I was trying my best to try to... keep him calm so he could follow through."
It was important, Denise said, that Phillip is the one who made that phone call for help.
"Because he is the only person that can do that. And I could make all the suggestions I want, but ultimately it is his choice. It is his choice."
She took deep breaths as she spoke of this moment she can only hope is a positive turning point in her son's troubled life, she was trying to stay composed for the reporter and news camera.
The minute he agreed, she said, to the out-patient care, she offered to rent him a room at an extended stay motel in Roswell, and he accepted immediately with thanks.
And that afternoon, Phillip was settled in his room and having his first meeting with a Grady mental health professional.
"The best part about it," Phillip said, "is they're working with me and they're going to come out and see me, I think they're going to kind of make something personal for me, based upon my past history and my current situation. I couldn't thank them enough."
"I can't either, I can't thank them enough, either," Denise said later, fighting back tears.
Denise said that since Tuesday, as she continued to try to get Phillip into treatment, she's heard from other families struggling with seemingly unsolvable issues of mental health who have encouraged her, and thanked her for bringing the struggle into the open, and for not giving up on Phillip.
"Up and up, things are moving up," Phillip said with a smile. "And that's all I can ask for, really. Just happy for things I have, especially right around Christmas."
He's eager to get a job, any job, and maybe someday buy a car.
"I have never given up hope," Denise said, "and I hope that no one else [dealing with mental illness in a family] does either. Because you can see in communities where you might feel like you're pushed aside that there really are some great people out there [eager to offer support and help]. And where I might not have ever thought that there were, I am convinced that there are, I'm 100 percent convinced. And grateful, as my son says. Grateful.... I pray he continues to cooperate and get the help he needs. Certainly a wonderful way to start Christmas."
BARTOW COUNTY, Ga. -- Two people are dead as a result of a car crash on Interstate 75 in Cartersville Friday afternoon.
The Georgia State Patrol said the car was traveling in the right lane near exit 293 when it was forced out of the lane by a tractor trailer. Witnesses said the vehicle hit a guard rail and was launched into a support pillar for an overhead sign. The SUV burst into flames.
The driver and passenger were pronounced dead on the scene. The crash killed Maria Tabuena, age 29, of Calhoun and her passenger, 4-year old Melina Trichell. They were in a 1998 Ford Expedition.
The driver of the tractor trailer involved did not stop.
Georgia State Patrol officers are searching for a tractor trailer described as a late 90's long nose Peterbilt truck. The truck was maroon and pulling a silver trailer and will have damage to the right side. Witnesses said the the truck was dirty and in need of a wash.
Anyone with details should call the Georgia State Patrol office in Cartersville at 770-387-3701.
The accident happened at about 1:30PM and wasn't cleared until after 5:00PM. It caused heavy delays on Interstate 75 northbound near exit 293 as a result of the accident.
ATLANTA -- Every day home on leave from war is a gift.
And the service members sleeping Thursday night in chairs and on carpets at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson Airport could only hope they'll be home in time for Christmas.
It was one of the busiest travel days of the season for the troops, and their trips home were interrupted indefinitely by bad weather -- not in Atlanta where they were changing planes, but at multiple other airports where they were trying to go.
"So you can imagine the impact that the weather has" on everyone, said the USO's Mary Lou Austin.
These are troops who take it to the Taliban in Afghanistan, but they were stopped cold in their tracks on their way back home by the snow storms shutting down airports throughout the Midwest.
"They've been released on leave, they're going home for the holidays, so this is really, really, really very important to them," Austin said.
Austin was armed with extra food, and volunteers and staffers around the clock, to take care of the troops for what may be days of unexpected camping in the USO's facilities at the airport.
"We have the best lounge chairs in the airport," she said with a smile, speaking of the amenities in the USO lounge on the second floor overlooking the airport's atrium.
One of those lounge chairs is home, for now, for U.S. Army Captain Julie Cordes, who can't get to Chicago.
"I have a husband and two children hanging out, waiting on me," she said, smiling as she thought of them.
She made it all the way to Atlanta from Afghanistan in record time -- "We got very lucky, got all the way to Atlanta before we had any delays."
She started to laugh, gently,
"I'm getting random email from my daughter -- 'Mom, are you coming home?' Question marks, question marks."
At least 4,000 troops transferred through Hartsfield Jackson this day alone.
And no one knows yet how many of them are trying to get on standby lists for other flights which are all, already, booked through Christmas Eve.
Capt. Cordes is thinking of her family, but she's also thinking of all the troops in Afghanistan who did not get Christmas leave this year.
"It's a lot of really long days" for soldiers during their tours of duty, "I can tell you everyone I work with, they're very engaged in the future of Afghanistan, it's a 24-hour proposition there. People don't sleep a lot [over there], they really don't."
Until they get to Hartsfield Jackson.
As she spoke, another soldier was sleeping soundly in another one of the "best lounge chairs in the airport," stuck here by the weather, maybe sleeping to music, thinking of the promise he might have made to his family this year -- "I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams...."
Ask Mary Lou Austin of the USO if she needs anything, right now, besides donations of money, for the USO and the troops, and she will tell you, yes -- some fresh fruit: apples, bananas. And orange juice.
____________________
LINK: USOgeorgia.org
404-761-8061
ATLANTA, Ga. -- Parental Guidance, one of the films opening on Christmas Day, was filmed in metro-Atlanta.
While Billy Crystal and Bette Midler grab top billing, a local character actor plays a memorable and funny role in the new feature film which was inspired by Crystal's own experiences as a grandparent.
In the comedy, a Dunwoody home, Piedmont Park and Ocee Park in Johns Creek play starring roles.
Another Atlanta highlight among Hollywood heavyweights Bette Midler and Billy Crystal is Rhoda Griffis of Vinings, who plays a perfectionist violin teacher.
Griffis, a North Carolina native has called Atlanta home for 20 years. Past the first round of auditions, but before landing the part, the director offered Griffis advice on the character she might play in the feature film.
"'I'd like her to be Eastern European. Old old Eastern European,' the director explained to Griffis. "And I was like OK. I hung up, going 'What in the world?' So, I got on YouTube and looking. I had no idea what that accent was."
Griffis studied quickly to master the accent and persona. She also had a week and a half to become a convincing violin teacher.
That's where Anne Page, the Orchestra Director at the Lovett School came in.
"I've never been asked this. I've played a long long time," Page said while beaming.
The violin teacher crammed her 52 years of training into a 45-minute crash course for Griffis.
"She wanted to look like a violin teacher who was angry and mean. Full of rage," Page said.
Griffis also had to grasp the basics in order to be a convincing violin teacher in the feature film.
"Number one you never touch the varnish," Page said. "You have to hold it at the neck."
Griffis landed the role. One of her favorite moments on set was working with the Divine Miss M, Bette Midler.
"Something Bette Midler does in one of the scenes, where she's telling me off, she totally came up with that," Griffis explained. "She did it twice and came up with different jokes and the one they used is flawless. That's her. That wasn't written."
Acting in theatre since the age of seven, more recently, you may have seen her work in Hunger Games, Walk the Line, and The Blind Side.
"I'm one of Sandra Bullock's friends at the table. She was always having lunch. We're very opinionated."
She also appeared played the General's vixen wife, Lenore Baker, in the Lifetime TV series Army Wives.
"I was a very misunderstood character," Griffis said.
Griffis has appeared in more than 30 features films and 33 TV series. She does a lot of voice over work and just wrapped a commercial for Wendy's. Due to Georgia's aggressive tax incentive, Griffis is finding more and more work in her hometown.
"There's so many wonderful projects shooting on our backyard," Griffis said. "I think there's another good thing about people coming to Atlanta, we're not as botoxed and tightly pulled so we look real. Like real people."
Also real, her new film. Griffis says Parental Guidance offers a real, and really funny perspective on American families.
"This is just a feel good movie and I think it's really timely. We all need to just go to the theatre and laugh."
AUSTELL, Ga. -- Police investigators believe alcohol and speed may have been contributing factors in an early Thursday Cobb County crash that claimed the life of a 25-year-old man and injured three teenagers.
The crash, at the intersection of South Gordon Road and Songwood Drive in Austell, happened when the driver lost control in a curve
striking a curb. The car spun around, left the roadway and struck a tree. Three occupants were ejected.
25-year-old Michael A. Rogers of Atlanta was killed. Transported to area hospitals with serious injuries were 18-year-old Thomas Dawson of Atlanta, 18 year-old David C. Shepard (Jr.) of Austell and 19-year-old Najhel J. Fuller of Smyrna.
Anyone with information about it is asked to call (770) 499-3910.
11Alive News
Three people were killed in the crash just before 2 a.m. Wednesday.
CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The state patrol has identified the three men killed in an early Wednesday morning wreck involving two tractor trailers on Interstate 75 in Bartow County.
Killed were 43-year-old George Benjamin White of Hiram, 36-year-old Jermaine Duriel Smith of Douglasville and 58-year-old Hugh Bruce Duling III of Powder Springs.
White was the driver of the northbound truck that crossed the median and struck a concrete support pillar. Smith was a passenger in White's vehicle. Duling was the driver of the southbound tractor trailer that struck a support structure in the roadway brought down by White's truck.
The wreck affected traffic for more than 10 hours. State transportation officials say Interstate 75 was closed after the wreck early Wednesday morning. Authorities say the crash happened shortly before 2 a.m. in Bartow County, near exit 296 and the intersection of Cassville-White Road.
The wreck The wreckATLANTA -- Another sign of the times -- the latest protection for children:
Bulletproof backpacks.
The bulletproof backpacks for schoolchildren are able to stop pistol rounds, not rifle rounds.
No one's claiming that they're the perfect defense for kids.
But since Friday parents have been buying all they can find, on-line, for around $200 to $300 dollars each.
"It's designed to stop anything up to a .357 Magnum," said Richard Brand in Salt Lake City, Utah, who spoke with 11Alive's Jon Shirek in Atlanta Wednesday via Skype.
Brand's company, AmendmentTwo.com, makes lightweight body armor for police and the military.
And earlier this year, at the request of parents, he said, the company also started making bulletproof backpacks for schoolchildren, made to the same rigorous standards as the adult body armor is.
"It's qualified and it's officially approved for police officer and military use. Most of your standard handguns is what this will be able to stop, the most common threats out there."
Brand said he regrets to have to say that since Friday, on-line sales of the bulletproof backpacks for children have exploded, twenty and thirty times normal. He regrets it, he said, because the company never expected the sudden interest and is scrambling to set up some sort of non-profit to distribute the children's backpacks.
"We don't want to make a profit on this, we just want to protect people."
Another maker of police body armor pointed out that a stack of books inside a regular backpack can also stop a bullet.
Still, what a skill for a child to be asked to learn:
"So get behind it, crouch behind it, cover as much body as you can, and keep it between you and the threat," Brand said, as he held one of his products up to his chest.
During the Cold War of the 1950s and '60s, school children were taught how to protect themselves, in case of nuclear attack and the atomic bombs that they were told could explode at any moment.
"You have to know what happens when an atomic bomb explodes," said the narrator in an old instructional film shown in classrooms to countless students during those years, showing children diving to the floor and ground at the sudden flash of The Bomb. "First, you duck and then you cover. And very tightly you cover the back of your neck and your face...."
Now, the lesson for many schoolchildren is -- shield yourself with your bulletproof backpack.
____________________
Richard Brand, Amendment2.com, Salt Lake City, Utah:
Amendment2.com is a ballistic, body-armor company. We've developed an incredible technology, over the last couple of years, and we actually have ground-breaking military protection. And right now, our material is so light and so flexible that we've claimed we can put it into anything. Armoring cars, armoring houses, armoring boats, armoring planes....
And [months ago] when parents saw this product, they asked us if we could put it into a backpack to help protect their children. Of course we were willing to do that, there's nothing more valuable than our children.
[The company makes the bulletproof backpacks, and also bulletproof inserts that can fit into regular backpacks]
This [insert] right here weighs less than a pound, and it's extremely flexible, it weighs about three-quarters of a pound, and it can be easily inserted into a backpack. And so now you've got complete ballistic protection that is easily removed and put in, so parents can put this into any backpack at any time.
What we actually use is "RynoHide," that's our technology that we've developed.
[It's sewn into the backpacks]
This is a brand new technology. We have just passed the National Institute of Justice testing. And what that means is, is that it's shot over 400 times. At velocities much higher than the standard handgun. And NIJ does a rigorous test, proving our product's ability to stop bullets and to keep from penetrations at normal ballistic speeds.
It's qualified and it's officially approved for police officer and military use.
It's designed to stop anything up to a .357 Magnum. That would be bullets up to 1400 feet per second, and slower.... Most of your handguns is what this will be able to stop. With more material, we can stop greater threats.
We hope it goes unnoticed [and unobtrusive when worn], but we want [children] to be aware that their backpack is a tool for protection if they get into a bad situation.
Run away, get away, do not use this for protection, get away from the threat. If you find yourself trapped, or in a situation where you cannot get away, then do your best.... Bring it to your front as a shield for your vitals. So get behind it, crouch behind it, cover as much body as you can, and keep it between you and the threat.
Our sales [of the backpacks] are far beyond anything we had ever honestly hoped they would be. We're used to selling [body armor] to military and law enforcement [not to parents wanting backpacks]. We never expected this to explode. Our sales have become beyond the demand right now. Up more than 20, 30 times the [normal] interest in these products, this is not what we want. We're in the business to save lives. We will do everything we can to get our armor into as many hands to protect people. But at this point, with these backpack inserts and backpacks, we're trying to get them into the hands of the people. We don't want this to be at the expense of the parents. We want to find other networks, other [non-profit] ways to get this product out, we don't want to make a profit on this, we just want to protect people.
Courtesy of Atlanta Police Department
UPDATE: Atlanta police say 57-year-old Jimmie Brown has been found safe and in good condition.
Police asked for help in locating Brown, who suffers with schizophrenia, after he was last seen around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday near 17th Street in NW Atlanta.
ATLANTA -- The National Rifle Association on Tuesday issued its first statement since the tragedy in Newtown, CT, saying the NRA will offer some proposals on Friday "to help make sure this never happens again."
The NRA's "four million moms and dads, sons and daughters... were shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders in Newtown.... The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again," said the statement.
Republican House Leaders met at the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, and then told reporters that many of the most passionate, gun-freedom advocates in the House are willing to discuss regulations.
Rep. Jack Kingston, (R) GA, was quoted by Reuters as saying, "There may be more support of discussion at this point among the pro-gun Democrats and Republicans.... Mental health is a huge part of it. No rational person squeezes the trigger in the face of a 6-year-old."
And in Atlanta Tuesday night, that's what State Senator Vincent Fort, (D) Atlanta, was saying.
Fort believes there now may be ways for gun-rights advocates and gun-control advocates in the legislature to figure out "a comprehensive approach," addressing mental health issues and getting at the causes of violence, as well as banning assault weapons, statewide.
"If it means people disagreeing and debating and discussing, and have a conversation about this, so be it. But to do nothing is a crime in and of itself," Fort said. "If we do nothing, I know kids, more children, will die. We have to come together."
Sen. Fort said he is drafting legislation now and expects to introduce it when the legislature reconvenes next month. He called it "a very complex issue" that is going to require input and ideas and solutions from both sides of the aisle.
"All legislators are troubled by this." Fort said. "The question is, will they have the courage to engage in a sincere debate? ....What I think we need to do is look at a whole range of options. This is a very complex issue. People on both sides, I think, need to accept that complexity, and look at mental health issues" involved with those crimes that have been "perpetrated by young men who have personality disorders, emotional problems.... One of the things in the state of Georgia and around the country, we've cut back mental health services. We've got to understand that the mental health issues, in dealing with them, are absolutely critical.... I think we need a comprehensive approach that includes looking at mental health, that looks at, you know, gun show loopholes.... And if we can do a ban [on assault weapons] in the state of Georgia, I think that would be an advance on this issue."
Reuters contributed to this article
11Alive News has learned that two metro Atlanta men who recently pled guilty to federal drug trafficking charges have been operating a Sandy Springs facility for recovering addicts for several years.
In October, federal prosecutors announced the indictment of Drew T. Green, Thomas Malone Jr. and eight others for drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy, alleging they were operating one of the largest synthetic drug cartels in the country.
Federal prosecutors say Green and Malone's company Nutragenomics sold millions of dollars worth of chemicals used to manufacture so-called designer drugs like synthetic marijuana and bath salts.
"I've come to a point where I refuse to use the term synthetic marijuana. It gives these poisons too much credence," said Lance Dyer whose son Dakota committed suicide after smoking a synthetic marijuana product named "Mr. Miyagi."
"These drugs are literally poisons."
According to the federal indictment, Nutragenomics manufactured and marketed "Mr. Miyagi" to stores in dozens of states.
The U.S. Attorney's Office confirmed that Green and Malone have pled guilty to the most serious of the charges they were facing -- drug trafficking.
11Alive News has learned that at the same time Green and Malone were building their synthetic drug empire they also founded a non-profit organization whose mission was to help people struggling with addiction and mental illness.
According to the Georgia Secretary of State's Office, the Pam Green Foundation was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2010.
The annual registration with the Secretary of State's Office lists the same CEO, Drew T. Green, and the same physical address as Nutragenomics.
The Pam Green Foundation is currently operating a "Sobriety Living Home" for recovering addicts at a Sandy Springs duplex.
Sandy Springs recently cited the facility for zoning violations because they did not have permission to operate a halfway house or rehab center in that neighborhood.
But Dyer, who's scheduled to testify at Green and Malone's sentencing in January, says he questions the motives of the facility's founders.
"What drug dealer wants a drug addict to get better?" Dyer said.
Neighborhood Santa brings North Pole to Austell
AUSTELL, Ga. -- At first glance, it may look like Santa's famous home. But in reality, this heavily-decked holiday house is located just a few miles outside of metro Atlanta.
Eighteen years ago, Richard Ellis jokingly told his wife he'd like a Santa costume for his birthday, saying if he received one, he would sit outside on the porch and greet children. His wife, Joyce, accepted the challenge; Ellis received the costume.
His began in a rocking chair outside of his front door. As more and more children began to visit, he traded the chair in for a sleigh and beefed up the outside decorations.
Now, the bright house on Brookwood Drive is almost legendary in Austell. Ellis says as it gets closer to Christmas, he is likely to see dozens of children in a given night.
"I've been doing this for so long, I've watched some of the kids grow up and they come back and bring their children," he laughed.
He says drivers will often stop to take pictures or even get out and look at the display.
The display itself is a grand one; it takes about a month to set up and includes inflatables, moving reindeer and a yard full of lighted trees, angels, signs and candles.
Ellis said he does it so children will continue to believe in Christmas.
"I'll keep doing it as long as I can," he said. "It's one of the best things I could do."
(Duffie Dixon, 11Alive News)
DECATUR, Ga. -- The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has placed DeKalb County Schools on probation through 2013.
The accrediting agency held a news conference at noon Monday following an intense investigation.
MORE | Read the SACS report here
"We want to see sustained progress," SACS president Mark Elgart said of the school district during the press conference. He added that SACS believes it will take more than a year to reach that goal, as "there are no proper checks and balances to explain where the money went."
"If we're going to change a school system, it needs to start with those that lead the school system," Elgart added.
In October, a SACS team of investigators spent more than 40 hours interviewing school principals, board members, staff and even people in the community.
RELATED | DeKalb Schools respond to SACS criticism
MORE | SACS investigating DeKalb County Schools
Parents have vented anger at the DeKalb School board in the past year over everything from failing to get a handle on budget issues, to layoffs and furloughs and the dismantling of the beloved Fernbank Science Center.
Elgart has said the DeKalb School Board "isn't a board anymore. It's actually nine political leaders who have their own alliances and allegiances."
"They pursue their own interests, in spite of what the system needs. It's their interests that are in charge of what happens," Elgart said in an interview last week.
At Monday's conference, Elgart warned that if the school district doesn't take "proactive action" to place students' needs above those of board members, the system's loss of accreditation is "imminent."
School Board Chairman Eugene Walker declined to comment Monday on specific accusations contained in the report.
Dr. Walker said the board will do everything necessary to save the school system's accreditation.
"Any time you have an elected group of people, they have positions that they contend for, but it's not that, in my opinion, we've been that disagreeable.... We heard what they [SACS investigators] were saying. We're going to change the culture to be more inclusive and transparent, where we can be rest assured, and everyone we represent can know, that we're doing our best for our youngsters.... This probation is somewhat of a setback to us, but a serious wake-up call, and we're going to address the things that SACS pointed out to us."
The DeKalb County School District released a statement Monday afternoon about Elgart's report:
Today, members of the DeKalb County Board of Education, along with the Superintendent and Senior Team, met with AdvancED and Dr. Mark Elgart, President and CEO of AdvancED.
During this meeting, Dr. Elgart reviewed the Special Review Team Report from the October 17-19, 2012 visit. As a result, the District is now being placed on Accredited-Probation until December 31, 2013.
The District has received this information and will work collaboratively to review the findings and begin to address the required actions. The District still remains fully accredited ad students' academic status remains unchanged.
ATLANTA, Ga. -- Parents seemed pleased to see police officers patrolling area schools on Monday. But the state warns police are only one in a list of nearly 100 items schools should consider in its overall safety plan.
Most districts throughout metro Atlanta say they'll team up with their local police department to create a visible law enforcement presence until the holiday break.
Gwinnett is going as far as arming every one of its 102 schools with an officer.
The decision follows the mass shooting Friday at an elementary school in Connecticut that left 20 children and 6 adults dead. The majority of victims were children ages 6 and 7.
According to Sgt. Brian Doan, an officer will be staffed at all 102 school campuses.
"We want to calm students and let them know that they are safe. This is a proactive step and something we do to make sure that there are no copy cat incidents and that the schools are secure," said Doan.
Every school district in metro Atlanta told 11Alive it would review its safety plan this week to check for weaknesses. The state has also offered to audit the plans at the school's request.
Garry McGiboney, the Associate Superintendent of Policy for Georgia's Department of Education, says the most common mistake isn't about gadgets or policy. It's about practice. Schools too often forget to practice the plan they worked so hard to create.
After Columbine, every school was required to develop a safety plan on how to evacuate the building or lockdown a classroom. But beyond that, it's up to each school or district to decide whether to have security cameras, onsite officers, or even which doors to lock.
"We encourage schools to have the perimeter, all outdoor doors locked so there have limited access to the building. All visitors would have to come through the front," said McGiboney.
Some schools are even looking now at locking each classroom door as well. The state's safety assessment challenges districts to consider everything from evacuation routes and lighting to emergency vehicle access and property maintenance.
PHOTOS | Sandy Hook ES shooting victims
In DeKalb County, resource officers are used in all high schools and middle schools. Some pull double duty when they're called to elementary schools if needed.
According to spokesperson Lillian Govus, there are no immediate plans to change or alter individual security plans but said discussions are likely in the coming weeks.
"We feel that our schools are pretty secure now with resource officers, locked doors between the pick up and drop off times and security cameras to see who is asking to be let in," said Govus.
In a letter sent to parents, Superintendent of Decatur City Schools, Dr. Phyllis Edwards, said:
"Principals and I will meet together to review several safety topics this Monday, and adjust any plans as needed. We will also ask that you help us by following the procedures and ensuring that others do as well. In times like these, it is important that we follow our normal routines as this will convey as sense of calm and security to the children."
CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. -- A Clayton County police officer is fighting for his life at Grady Memorial Hospital after a shootout at the Motel 6 in Stockbridge Monday afternoon.
The Clayton County Police Chief says two officers responded to a domestic dispute between a man and woman around 2:15 p.m.
PHOTOS | Clayton County officer-involved shooting
The man ran away and one officer chased him. That's when the officer and suspect exchanged gunfire. The officer was shot and the suspect killed.
The woman involved in the fight was taken into custody.
The officer, 24-year-old Sean Callahan was taken to Grady and is in very serious condition. He's been on the job for four months in Clayton County.
According to Clayton County Police Chief Gregory Porter, Callahan was shot twice in the head area. He moved to the Intensive Care Unit after surgery at about 9:30 on Monday night.
Witnesses described a series of gunshots coming from outside their motel rooms. "Everybody thought it was construction because they were working on a room," said Warren Parham, was in a room with his three year old son.
"It was so loud I had to tell my youngest to get down on the floor because I didn't know if they would come through the wall," he said.
"We opened the door up and looked and the only thing that I seen is him (suspect) rounding the corner of the back building," said Joe Fiouris.
Fiouris said he saw the suspect walking his dog around the motel before the shooting. He said the woman who was arrested was his girlfriend.
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Late Saturday afternoon, authorities in Newtown, Connecticut, released the names of the victims in Friday's tragic elementary school shooting rampage.
All six adults killed in the shooting were women, police said Saturday afternoon. They said eight of the 20 children who were gunned down were boys, the remaining 12 were girls. All 20 of them were either 6 or 7 years old.
The names and birthdates of the adults killed were: Lauren Rousseau (June 1982), Mary Sherlach (2/11/56), Victoria Soto (11/04/85), Anne Marie Murphy (7/25/60), Dawn Hochsprung (6/28/65) and Rachel Davino (7/17/83).
The names and birthdates of the children: Charlotte Bacon (2/22/06), Daniel Barden (9/25/05), Olivia Engel (7/18/06), Josephine Gay (12/11/05), Ana M. Marquez-Greene (4/4/06), Dylan Hockley (3/8/06), Madeleine F. Hsu (7/10/06), Catherine V. Hubbard (6/8/06), Chase Kowalski (10/31/05), Jesse Lewis (6/30/06), James Mattioli (03/22/06), Grace McDonnell (11/4/05), Emilie Parker (05/12/06), Jack Pinto (05/05/06), Noah Pozner (11/20/06), Caroline Previdi (9/07/06), Jessica Rekos (5/10/06), Avielle Richman (11/17/06), Benjamin Wheeler (09/12/06) and Allison N. Wyatt (07/03/06).
Newtown officials said Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Dawn Hochsprung was gunned down while lunging at the gunman as she tried to overtake him. Board of Education chairwoman Debbie Liedlien says administrators were coming out of a meeting when the gunman forced his way into the school and ran toward them.
Authorities continued Saturday to try together put a reason for the shooting.
Connecticut State Police said the lone gunman, identified as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown and killed 26 people, including 20 children Friday morning. Newtown is about 60 miles northeast of New York City in Fairfield County.
Lanza died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Late Friday afternoon, police said that Lanza's older brother, Ryan was being questioned in connection with the shooting. Authorities in Hoboken, NJ, are saying that Lanza's girlfriend and another friend of his have been reported missing. There is no word as to whether or not that is connected to the shooting.
NBC News says the weapons used by Lanza in the shooting were registered to his mother.
Late Friday evening, The Associated Press said they had learned that Lanza's mother did not have any connection to Sandy Hook Elementary School. Most news organizations had reported that Lanza's mother was a kindergarten teacher at the school.
NBC News reported that most of the shooting occurred in a single classroom, along with the school's main office.
An emotional President Barack Obama, speaking from the White House about the tragedy Friday afternoon, said the nation had endured too many tragedies like this one in the past few years.
"Each time I learn the news I react not as a president but as anybody else would as a parent.
"That was especially true today.
"I know there's not a parent in America that doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.
Our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these children and the families of the adults we lost."
Shots broke out at the school after 9:30 a.m., according to Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance. He confirmed there were several fatalities, but said final numbers wouldn't be released until all next of kin had been notified.
PHOTOS | Conn. elementary school shooting
NBC News reported Lanza among the dead and that he was dressed all in black.
Two 9mm handguns were recovered at the scene, which Lt. Vance said had been secured. The school superintendent's office said the district had locked down schools as a preventive measure to ensure the safety of students and staff immediately after the shooting.
Groups of students - some crying, some holding hands - were escorted away from Sandy Hook by their teachers. Some witnesses reported up to 100 shots.
"I heard a boom-boom,'' said 5-year-old Eva.
Her mother, Terese Lestik, was relieved to find her daughter unhurt. A reverse 911 call went out to parents about the incident.
"I'm horrified,'' Terese Lestik said. "I just pray for whoever is hurt." Sandy Hook has 39 teachers and about 650 students in kindergarten through fourth grade.
Fourth-grader Bear Nikitchyuk was heading back to his classroom when he heard someone kicking a door. "I looked behind me and all I saw was smoke and I smelled smoke. I heard shots fired. The second grade teacher grabbed me and pulled me into her room."
The unidentified teacher locked the door and huddled about 20 kids in cubbie closets until police banged on the door. The teacher first balked at letting the police in until she was convinced they were police. The children eventually exited out the school's back door, through playground and walked to a nearby firehouse used as a staging area for fleeing kids and faculty.
Alexis Wasik, a third-grader at the school, said police were checking everybody inside the school. She said she heard shots and saw her former nursery school teacher being taken out of the building on a stretcher, but didn't know if the woman had been shot.
"We had to walk with a partner," said Wasik, 8. One child leaving the school said that there was shattered glass everywhere. A police officer ran into the classroom and told them to run outside and keep going until the reach the firehouse, The Hartford Courant reported.
Counselors and crisis response staff from state mental health services, children and family services, public health and the Red Cross are working with federal and local officials on the scene, Gov. Dan Malloy's office said.
A spokesman for Malloy said the governor had received a call from President Obama and was assured he would receive whatever federal assistance he needed. The president was expected to address the nation at 3:15 p.m.
Friday's shooting was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history and the latest in a series of mass shootings in the U.S. this year, including Tuesday's shooting shopping mall outside Portland, Ore. and this summer's movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo.
In Georgia, flags will fly at half-staff to mourn the victims of Friday's shooting. Gov. Nathan Deal signed an order Friday that requires U.S. and state flags be flown at half-staff through sunset on Dec. 18.
Extra precautions are being taken at schools in Metro Atlanta in the wake of the shooting. Gwinnett County Police said Friday they plan to provide an extra presence in and around school buildings next week to prevent copy-cat incidents.
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- The Gwinnett County Police Department will have extra patrols at schools beginning Monday monring.
The decision follows the mass shooting Friday at an elementary school in Connecticut that left 28 people dead. The majority of victims were children ages 6 and 7.
According to Sgt. Brian Doan an officer will be staffed at all 102 school campuses.
"We want to calm students and let them know that they are safe. This is a proactive step and something we do to make sure that there are no copy cat incidents and that the schools are secure," said Doan.
In DeKalb County resource officers are used in all high schools and middle schools. Some pull double duty when they're called to elementary schools if needed.
According to spokesperson Lillian Govus there are no immediate plans to change or alter individual security plans but said discussions are likely in the coming weeks.
"We feel that our schools are pretty secure now with resource officers, locked doors between the pick up and drop off times and security cameras to see who is asking to be let in," said Govus.
In a letter sent to parents Superintendent of Decatur City Schools, Dr. Phyllis Edwards, said:
"Principals and I will meet together to review several safety topics this Monday, and adjust any plans as needed. We will also ask that you help us by following the procedures and ensuring that others do as well. In times like these, it is important that we follow our normal routines as this will convey as sense of calm and security to the children."
President Barack Obama waves as he leaves the White House for Connecticut
NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the nation is failing to keep its children safe, and he's promising to do what he can to change that.
The president spoke at a memorial service in Newtown, Conn., for the victims of Friday's elementary school massacre that left 20 children and six women dead. The gunman, who also killed his mother, took his own life as police were arriving.
The president met with victims' families before addressing the evening memorial service. He was less than specific about what he would push for, but declared, "We have an obligation to try."
He closed his remarks by slowing reading aloud the first names of each of the 26 victims.
Privately, Obama told Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy that Friday was the most difficult day of his presidency.
Associated Press
What happens to all the items people return to Amazon?
In some cases, they are resold by an Atlanta Company called Auction Liquidators. The company has opened its Collier Road warehouse to the public for a holiday closeout sale that began Friday, December 7th. The inventory consists of electronics, toys and a variety of other items.
Auction Liquidators is located at 1017 Collier Rd NW, Suite F.
Hours are 10-6 Sunday and 9-6 Monday through Saturday.
The sale continues through December 22nd with further markdowns throughout the month. Auction Liquidators also has an online store where much of the inventory can be viewed. Click here to shop.
Finders Keepers Furnishings in Decatur has all Christmas décor on sale for 50 percent off original prices starting December 10th. The consignment store is located at 2753 East College Avenue in a building that houses several other consignment stores as well.
35 local artists and artisans are teaming up for a Pop up Market at Town Brookhaven. They will showcase their wares 12 to 5 Sunday, December 9th with additional hours the weekend of December 15th.
The Town Brookhaven Pop Up Market is sponsored by the Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces in an empty storefront near CineBistro. Town Brookhaven is a Live Work Play development featuring restaurants, retail and apartments. The address is 804 Town Boulevard, just south of Oglethorpe Unversity.
Walmart has been offering a weekly toy rolllback and this past week let online shoppers vote for the toy they wanted to see marked down. The voting was between two toys: the Lego City Park Café and Bratzillaz Dolls. The voting is now over and Walmart will announce which toy will go on Rollback Tuesday morning.
If the City Park Cafe wins, the price drops to $24.97 starting Tuesday. If the Bratzillaz get the most votes, it goes down to $16.97.
Both prices are at least $5 lower than any other stores we checked. Both Target and Toys R Us offer to match competitor's prices, though some exclusions apply.
Atlanta-- It was the trip of a lifetime for several dozen cancer patients at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. They not only got to board a real Delta jet for a trip to the North Pole Saturday morning, they rode to the international terminal in limousines escorted by Atlanta police officers.
"She didn't know this was happening today," said Heather Speed of her daughter Riley. "She thought she was just going to go see Santa and sit in his lap at the mall."
Instead, they were flown at "light speed" up to the North Pole. The flight only took an hour, and when they got out, they were greeted by Santa Claus and falling snow. Many parents said it was a rare occasion for their kids to be overcome with laughter.
"It touches my heart," said Jamil Thomas. "When she's in the hospital, she's just sitting there taking treatments and there's not too much to smile about-but now there's something to smile about."
And coming so soon after a shooter targeted young children like these, many who were watching said it was a reason for all of us to start smiling again.
"Sometimes the good news helps push out the bad news," said Delta Captain Thomas Duda. "Providing the holiday spirit, keeping peoples' hearts happy and full, hopefully will guide us in the right direction."
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Late Saturday afternoon, authorities in Newtown, Connecticut, released the names of the victims in Friday's tragic elementary school shooting rampage.
All six adults killed in the shooting were women, police said Saturday afternoon. They said eight of the 20 children who were gunned down were boys, the remaining 12 were girls. All 20 of them were either 6 or 7 years old.
The names and birthdates of the adults killed were: Lauren Rousseau (June 1982), Mary Sherlach (2/11/56), Victoria Soto (11/04/85), Anne Marie Murphy (7/25/60), Dawn Hochsprung (6/28/65) and Rachel Davino (7/17/83).
The names and birthdates of the children: Charlotte Bacon (2/22/06), Daniel Barden (9/25/05), Olivia Engel (7/18/06), Josephine Gay (12/11/05), Ana M. Marquez-Greene (4/4/06), Dylan Hockley (3/8/06), Madeleine F. Hsu (7/10/06), Catherine V. Hubbard (6/8/06), Chase Kowalski (10/31/05), Jesse Lewis (6/30/06), James Mattioli (03/22/06), Grace McDonnell (11/4/05), Emilie Parker (05/12/06), Jack Pinto (05/05/06), Noah Pozner (11/20/06), Caroline Previdi (9/07/06), Jessica Rekos (5/10/06), Avielle Richman (11/17/06), Benjamin Wheeler (09/12/06) and Allison N. Wyatt (07/03/06).
Newtown officials said Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Dawn Hochsprung was gunned down while lunging at the gunman as she tried to overtake him. Board of Education chairwoman Debbie Liedlien says administrators were coming out of a meeting when the gunman forced his way into the school and ran toward them.
Authorities continued Saturday to try together put a reason for the shooting.
Connecticut State Police said the lone gunman, identified as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown and killed 26 people, including 20 children Friday morning. Newtown is about 60 miles northeast of New York City in Fairfield County.
Lanza died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Late Friday afternoon, police said that Lanza's older brother, Ryan was being questioned in connection with the shooting. Authorities in Hoboken, NJ, are saying that Lanza's girlfriend and another friend of his have been reported missing. There is no word as to whether or not that is connected to the shooting.
NBC News says the weapons used by Lanza in the shooting were registered to his mother.
Late Friday evening, The Associated Press said they had learned that Lanza's mother did not have any connection to Sandy Hook Elementary School. Most news organizations had reported that Lanza's mother was a kindergarten teacher at the school.
NBC News reported that most of the shooting occurred in a single classroom, along with the school's main office.
An emotional President Barack Obama, speaking from the White House about the tragedy Friday afternoon, said the nation had endured too many tragedies like this one in the past few years.
"Each time I learn the news I react not as a president but as anybody else would as a parent.
"That was especially true today.
"I know there's not a parent in America that doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.
Our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these children and the families of the adults we lost."
Shots broke out at the school after 9:30 a.m., according to Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance. He confirmed there were several fatalities, but said final numbers wouldn't be released until all next of kin had been notified.
PHOTOS | Conn. elementary school shooting
NBC News reported Lanza among the dead and that he was dressed all in black.
Two 9mm handguns were recovered at the scene, which Lt. Vance said had been secured. The school superintendent's office said the district had locked down schools as a preventive measure to ensure the safety of students and staff immediately after the shooting.
Groups of students - some crying, some holding hands - were escorted away from Sandy Hook by their teachers. Some witnesses reported up to 100 shots.
"I heard a boom-boom,'' said 5-year-old Eva.
Her mother, Terese Lestik, was relieved to find her daughter unhurt. A reverse 911 call went out to parents about the incident.
"I'm horrified,'' Terese Lestik said. "I just pray for whoever is hurt." Sandy Hook has 39 teachers and about 650 students in kindergarten through fourth grade.
Fourth-grader Bear Nikitchyuk was heading back to his classroom when he heard someone kicking a door. "I looked behind me and all I saw was smoke and I smelled smoke. I heard shots fired. The second grade teacher grabbed me and pulled me into her room."
The unidentified teacher locked the door and huddled about 20 kids in cubbie closets until police banged on the door. The teacher first balked at letting the police in until she was convinced they were police. The children eventually exited out the school's back door, through playground and walked to a nearby firehouse used as a staging area for fleeing kids and faculty.
Alexis Wasik, a third-grader at the school, said police were checking everybody inside the school. She said she heard shots and saw her former nursery school teacher being taken out of the building on a stretcher, but didn't know if the woman had been shot.
"We had to walk with a partner," said Wasik, 8. One child leaving the school said that there was shattered glass everywhere. A police officer ran into the classroom and told them to run outside and keep going until the reach the firehouse, The Hartford Courant reported.
Counselors and crisis response staff from state mental health services, children and family services, public health and the Red Cross are working with federal and local officials on the scene, Gov. Dan Malloy's office said.
A spokesman for Malloy said the governor had received a call from President Obama and was assured he would receive whatever federal assistance he needed. The president was expected to address the nation at 3:15 p.m.
Friday's shooting was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history and the latest in a series of mass shootings in the U.S. this year, including Tuesday's shooting shopping mall outside Portland, Ore. and this summer's movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo.
In Georgia, flags will fly at half-staff to mourn the victims of Friday's shooting. Gov. Nathan Deal signed an order Friday that requires U.S. and state flags be flown at half-staff through sunset on Dec. 18.
Extra precautions are being taken at schools in Metro Atlanta in the wake of the shooting. Gwinnett County Police said Friday they plan to provide an extra presence in and around school buildings next week to prevent copy-cat incidents.
ATLANTA, Ga. -- It was Sunday night in an Edgewood Avenue bar called Church. The owner, Grant Henry was seated at a table.
As the evening progressed, he realized his iPhone had disappeared. A day later, he looked at surveillance video and realized a patron of his bar had apparently swiped it.
"It looked like a bunch of frat boys," Henry said. The iPhone is sitting on the table one moment. One of the men moves toward the table -- and the phone disappears.
"Here's the problem: alcohol," said Henry, who has a license to sell alcohol. "I know I have a part in it. But people should not steal."
Three weeks earlier, alcohol had nothing to do with the theft of Holly Keyes' iPhone. Working at an antiques shop, she took her eyes off her iPhone just long enough to have it stolen. "I put it on the counter for a moment. And that's all he needed, was one moment." Surveillance video at the store shows a man grabbing the phone and walking off.
Neither alleged culprit has been identified, nor have the phones been recovered.
Atlanta police don't specificaly keep records about the theft of iPhones. But police say there is evidence that thieves are being much more brazen about stealing iPhones and other electronics in bars and other public settings.
"We have literally had laptops stolen from them while they are typing. They come by and they snatch them very quickly," said Carlos Campos, APD spokesman.
Last year, Atlanta police produced a flyer warning bar and coffee shop patrons to safeguard their electronics. Keyes and Henry second that.
"If we can catch enough people who are taking them, it will discourage people from doing it," Henry said.
11Alive's Help Desk has some suggestions to safeguard your phone.
Lock the phone.
Make sure phone tracker apps like Find My iPhone are installed.
Wipe your personal data remotely.
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- A lone gunman, now identified, killed at least 27 people, including 20 children, in a terrifying shooting spree at a Connecticut elementary school Friday morning.
The shooting happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the town of Newtown, about 60 miles northeast of New York City in Fairfield County, Conn.
NBC News and CNN identified the shooter as 20-year-old Adam Lanza of Hoboken, N.J. The Associated Press quoteed a law enforcement official, saying that Lanza died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Late Friday afternoon, police said that Lanza's older brother, Ryan was being questioned in connection with the shooting. Authorities in Hoboken, NJ, are saying that Lanza's girlfriend and another friend of his have been reported missing. There is no word as to whether or not that is connected to the shooting.
NBC News says the weapons used by Lanza in the shooting were registered to his mother.
Late Friday evening, The Associated Press said they had learned that Lanza's mother did not have any connection to Sandy Hook Elementary School. Most news organizations had reported that Lanza's mother was a kindergarten teacher at the school.
NBC News reported that most of the shooting occurred in a single classroom, along with the school's main office.
An emotional President Barack Obama, speaking from the White House about the tragedy Friday afternoon, said the nation had endured too many tragedies like this one in the past few years.
"Each time I learn the news I react not as a president but as anybody else would as a parent.
"That was especially true today.
"I know there's not a parent in America that doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.
Our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these children and the families of the adults we lost."
Shots broke out at the school after 9:30 a.m., according to Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance. He confirmed there were several fatalities, but said final numbers wouldn't be released until all next of kin had been notified.
PHOTOS | Conn. elementary school shooting
NBC News reported Lanza among the dead and that he was dressed all in black.
Two 9mm handguns were recovered at the scene, which Lt. Vance said had been secured. The school superintendent's office said the district had locked down schools as a preventive measure to ensure the safety of students and staff immediately after the shooting.
Groups of students - some crying, some holding hands - were escorted away from Sandy Hook by their teachers. Some witnesses reported up to 100 shots.
"I heard a boom-boom,'' said 5-year-old Eva.
Her mother, Terese Lestik, was relieved to find her daughter unhurt. A reverse 911 call went out to parents about the incident.
"I'm horrified,'' Terese Lestik said. "I just pray for whoever is hurt." Sandy Hook has 39 teachers and about 650 students in kindergarten through fourth grade.
Fourth-grader Bear Nikitchyuk was heading back to his classroom when he heard someone kicking a door. "I looked behind me and all I saw was smoke and I smelled smoke. I heard shots fired. The second grade teacher grabbed me and pulled me into her room."
The unidentified teacher locked the door and huddled about 20 kids in cubbie closets until police banged on the door. The teacher first balked at letting the police in until she was convinced they were police. The children eventually exited out the school's back door, through playground and walked to a nearby firehouse used as a staging area for fleeing kids and faculty.
Alexis Wasik, a third-grader at the school, said police were checking everybody inside the school. She said she heard shots and saw her former nursery school teacher being taken out of the building on a stretcher, but didn't know if the woman had been shot.
"We had to walk with a partner," said Wasik, 8. One child leaving the school said that there was shattered glass everywhere. A police officer ran into the classroom and told them to run outside and keep going until the reach the firehouse, The Hartford Courant reported.
Counselors and crisis response staff from state mental health services, children and family services, public health and the Red Cross are working with federal and local officials on the scene, Gov. Dan Malloy's office said.
A spokesman for Malloy said the governor had received a call from President Obama and was assured he would receive whatever federal assistance he needed. The president was expected to address the nation at 3:15 p.m.
Friday's shooting was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history and the latest in a series of mass shootings in the U.S. this year, including Tuesday's shooting shopping mall outside Portland, Ore. and this summer's movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo.
In Georgia, flags will fly at half-staff to mourn the victims of Friday's shooting. Gov. Nathan Deal signed an order Friday that requires U.S. and state flags be flown at half-staff through sunset on Dec. 18.
Extra precautions are being taken at schools in Metro Atlanta in the wake of the shooting. Gwinnett County Police said Friday they plan to provide an extra presence in and around school buildings next week to prevent copy-cat incidents.
ATLANTA -- Friday night in Atlanta, parents bringing their children to Lenox Square Mall to visit Santa spoke of how grateful they are for the small moments in life, and how the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut magnifies the beauty of every moment with their children.
Atlanta City Detention Center
ATLANTA -- Snitching is nothing new in the criminal justice system. An inmate who provides prosecutors with information that helps convict other criminals can get time off his or his sentence in return. USA Today conducted an extensive investigation into federal court records that unveiled a seemly side of snitching deals. Some of that seemly activity happened in Atlanta.
USA Today reporter Brad Heath said it's more common in federal court because inmates receive stricter sentences. "Almost everybody who gets charged with a federal crime ends up being convicted and almost everybody that is convicted is looking at a long sentence and one of the very few ways out is to give information to the government," he said.
Over the past five years USA Today found almost 50-thousand defendants got reduced sentences in exchange for cooperating with the government. That is one of every eight people convicted of a federal crime.
Heath said the pressure to turn evidence in exchange for a lighter sentence can go to extremes. His report cites four cases at the Atlanta City Detention Center as examples of how far inmates will go to get that information.
"What was going on there was inmates in the jail were offering to sell information to their fellow inmates so that they could turn around and give it to the FBI or to other agencies in the hopes of getting a sentence reduction," Heath said.
In November 2011 Sandeo Dyson was convicted of selling information to defendants who paid him between $5,000 and $10,000. According to the article another inmate, Marcus Watkins, conducted the same type scheme. "Here in Atlanta you see prisoners basically setting up a marketplace to buy and sell it," Heath said.
"Two of the guys (Watkins and Dyson) running these kinds of enterprises have said in court records that agents knew about what they were doing and approved of what they were doing," Heath said. However the US Attorney's Office told a judge in October that an investigation found those allegations were false.
There is no way to know how often informants acquire information from brokers like Dyson and Watkins because judges typically seal that information.
One federal official, who didn't want to be identified by name, told 11 Alive News the fact the government is prosecuting such cases is an indication it is not condoned. He said there is no evidence federal agents turned a blind eye to that type of activity.
You can follow Kevin on Twitter @kgrowson
WASHINGTON, D.C./ATLANTA -- A loophole that permits software companies to sell cyberstalking apps that operate secretly on cellphones could soon be closed by Congress. The software is popular among jealous wives or husbands because it can continuously track the whereabouts of a spouse.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill Thursday that makes it a crime for companies to make and intentionally operate a stalking app. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., also would curb the appeal for such inexpensive and easy-to-use programs by requiring companies to disclose their existence on a target's phone.
Stalking and wiretapping already are illegal, meaning it's against the law in most cases for a husband or wife to secretly install the software on a spouse's cellphone. Franken's proposal would extend the criminal and civil liabilities for the improper use of the apps to include the software companies that sell them.
The proposal would update laws passed years before wireless technology revolutionized communications. Telephone companies currently are barred from disclosing to businesses the locations of people who make traditional phone calls. But there's no such prohibition when communicating over the Internet. If a mobile device sends an email, links to a website or launches an app, the precise location of the phone can be passed to advertisers, marketers and others without the user's permission.
"What's most troubling is this: Our law is not protecting location information," said Franken, chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on privacy, technology and the law.
The ambiguity has created a niche for companies like Retina Software, which makes ePhoneTracker and describes it as "stealth phone spy software." It's available online for about $50.
"Suspect your spouse is cheating?" the company's website says. "Don't break the bank by hiring a private investigator."
An emailed statement from Retina Software said the program is for the lawful monitoring of a cellphone that the purchaser of the software owns and has a right to monitor. If there is evidence the customer doesn't own the phone, the account is closed, the company said. The program is not intended or marketed for malicious purposes and doesn't facilitate stalking, the statement said.
But Franken and supporters of his bill said there is no way to ensure the rules are followed. These programs can be installed in moments, perhaps while the cellphone's actual owner is sleeping or in the shower. The apps operate invisibly to the cellphone's user. They can silently record text messages, call logs, physical locations and visits to websites. All the information is relayed to an email address chosen by the installer.
Even when people discover the software on their phones, they don't know what to do, said Rick Mislan, a Rochester Institute of Technology professor who specializes in mobile security and forensics. "Law enforcement usually won't help them because they've got bigger fish to fry," he said.
Franken's bill is a common-sense step to curb stalking and domestic violence by taking away a tool that gives one person power over another, victims advocacy groups said.
"It's really, really troubling that an industry would see an opportunity to make money off of strengthening someone's opportunity to control and threaten another individual," said Karen Jarmoc, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Franken's bill would make companies subject to civil liability if they fail to secure permission before obtaining location information from a person's cellphone and sharing it with anyone else. They also would be liable if they fail to tell a user no later than seven days after the service begins that the program is running on their phone. Companies would face a criminal penalty if they knowingly operate an app with the intent to facilitate stalking.
The bill includes an exception to the permission requirement for parents who want to place tracking software on the cellphones of minor children without them being aware it is there.
A domestic violence case in St. Louis County, Minn., helped persuade Franken to introduce his bill. A woman had entered a county building to meet with her advocate when she received a text message from her abuser asking her why she was there, according to congressional testimony delivered last year by the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Frightened, she and her advocate went to the local courthouse to file for a protective order. She got another text demanding to know why she was at the courthouse. They later determined her abuser was tracing her movements with an app that had been placed on her cellphone. The woman was not identified by name in the congressional testimony.
Franken said that while doing research for the bill, he heard similar stories from women in Iowa, Wisconsin, Arizona and several other states.
An organization representing software companies opposes Franken's bill because it said the user consent requirement would curb innovation in the private sector without adequately addressing the problem of cyberstalking. Voluntary but enforceable codes of conduct for the industry are more effective methods for increasing transparency and consumer confidence, said David LeDuc, senior director for public policy at the Software & Information Industry Association.
Those concerns resonated with the Judiciary Committee's top Republican and one of its senior Democrats. The bill could have unintended consequences for an industry that is growing and creating new jobs, said Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Both senators voted for the bill, however.
"Legislation has always had a tough time catching to may of these technological changes," said an Emory University professor in Atlanta Thursday night.
Ramnath Chellappa, Ph.D., professor of Information Systems and Operations Management at Emory's Goizueta Business School, said it's not clear how the legislation could be enforced, given the difficulty that average people would have of even knowing that someone had installed the spyware on their smartphones.
"These are the unimagined, unanticipated consequences of technology," he said. "A person should know what is being collected about them. So whether it is a spouse or whether it is somebody else, if they're collecting information about someone else without their knowledge, I think that would violate, perhaps, many existing laws, right now.
11Alive's Jon Shirek asked, "How does somebody detect whether that software is on their phone, or can they?"
"If you're not a technically savvy person, perhaps it would be very difficult to detect," Dr. Chellappa said. "The combination of the mobile technology and the GPS technology simply takes this to a whole other, new place.... Literally, every single moment (is tracked) where you could be" without knowledge or consent or subpeona. "Things we have seen in spy movies have all come to reality."
People often do give their consent to companies that request to track their locations in order to receive coupons from the businesses on their phones, for example, when they are near the businesses. The difference, Dr. Chellappa said, is that the phone customer has given consent, compared with victims of smartphone cyberstalking who have not.
