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Grant Pierce Jay Jordan "Taj" Reynolds (L) & basketball legend Michael Jordan (YouTube/Getty Images)
ATLANTA -- An Atlanta woman filed a paternity suit on February 8 in Fulton County, claiming that basketball superstar Michael Jordan is the father of her 16-year-old son.
In the lawsuit, Pamela Smith claims the boy, Grant Pierce Jay Jordan Reynolds, also known as "Taj," was born in June 1996.
Smith wants a paternity test to prove that her son is Jordan's. She also is asking the boy's last name be legally changed to Jordan.
She's asking for child support based upon Georgia support guidelines, along with expenses for medical, dental and hospital care not included in her own health insurance.
In a video on YouTube, Taj - an aspiring rapper using the names TajTareef and Taj Jordan - claims to be the son of Jordan. A biographical profile on ReverbNation.com says the Westlake High School 10th grader says he is "already producing his own tracks."
When asked about the lawsuit on Friday, Jordan's representative responded with a "no comment."
ADAIRSVILLE, Ga - One month after a devastating tornado, victims in Adairsville now have an $800 cake to help with the rebuilding.
An auction to raise money for the Bartow Tornado Relief Fund brought dozens of people and a storm of generosity.
"It was slow coming in at first, but the last few days we've been bombarded with donations from furniture, jewelry, a lot of gift cards," said Ken McLeod of Ken's Antiques.
Early on, it was clear that it would be no ordinary auction when bidders paid $100 for a t-shirt.
There were the two young men, ages 8 and 4, who donated $100 cash.
Then there was the bidder who paid $800 for a red velvet cake.
At least 45 people in Adairsville are still without homes, and roughly half of the tornado victims in lack the insurance they need to replace all that is lost.
That includes the Lopez family. Volunteers are mending the section of her mobile home that was torn away during the storm.
"My mom says a tree fell on her car, and she was sad," said Reyna Lopez. "My dad found someone and they fixed it, and now she's happy."
Adairsville is expecting a big influx of college students over spring break to volunteer with the rebuilding effort.
Winter Weather Advisory 10pm Friday through 7pm Saturday
Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for parts of north Georgia through 7 pm Saturday. A disturbance moving into north Georgia will cause only a few light snow flurries overnight into Saturday morning. The area most likely to see a few flurries will be north of a line from Rome to Gainesville.
This will not be a major snow event. We only expect a few flurries in north Georgia as this moisture moves in tonight and mixes with the cold air already in place. The higher elevations could see a little more than an inch of snow. Lower elevations will see less than an inch. Any precip that does fall overnight could cause a few slick spots in north Georgia as temperatures will be hovering right around the freezing mark.
The air is very dry over metro Atlanta and north Georgia. Much of this will evaporate before it hits the ground. Many areas will not see any precip at all. There will be just a few pockets where some flurries will make it to the ground mainly well north of Atlanta.
Here is the official advisory issued by the National Weather Service with the counties included in the advisory: (Sorry for the all caps, that's just how they do it!)
DADE-WALKER-CATOOSA-WHITFIELD-MURRAY-FANNIN-GILMER-UNION-TOWNS- CHATTOOGA-GORDON-PICKENS-DAWSON-LUMPKIN-WHITE-FLOYD-BARTOW- CHEROKEE-FORSYTH-HALL-BANKS- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...CALHOUN...DAHLONEGA...CLEVELAND... ROME...CARTERSVILLE...GAINESVILLE ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 7 PM EST SATURDAY... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR LIGHT SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 7 PM EST SATURDAY. * LOCATIONS...NORTH GEORGIA NORTH OF A LINE FROM ROME...TO CANTON...TO GAINESVILLE...TO HOMER. * HAZARD TYPES...LIGHT SNOW * ACCUMULATIONS...1/2 TO 1 INCH OF SNOW...WITH 1 TO 1 1/2 INCHES IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS. * TIMING...FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING UNTIL 7 PM SATURDAY. * IMPACTS...SLICK ROADS * TEMPERATURES...DROPPING INTO THE UPPER 20S AND LOWER 30S TONIGHT...WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES ON SATURDAY IN THE 30S.
LONDON (AP) - Taco Bell is the latest restaurant chain to acknowledge that its food has been adulterated with horse meat, yanking a variety of ground beef products from its three British outlets and issuing an apology to its patrons Friday.
Meanwhile, in Iceland, a food official said his team had found a beef product from a local producer that contained no meat at all.
Chief meat inspector Kjartan Hreinsson said a brand of beef pie found at a Reykjavik supermarket had "no mammalian DNA."
"That was the peculiar thing," he said. "It was labeled as beef pie, so it should be beef pie."
It should be, but across Europe meat labeled as beef has been found to be contaminated with horse - from frozen food at supermarkets to fast food in restaurants and even school and hospital meals.
Authorities say the fraudulent labeling poses no health risk, but the scandal has drawn attention to the complex supply chains behind processed meat products.
Thousands of products have been tested, and found that contamination is relatively rare. Britain's Food Standards Agency said Friday that of more than 5,400 products tested in Britain, more than 99 percent were clear of horse. Still, a steady drumbeat of brands found to contain horse meat has kept the issue in the headlines. Taco Bell joins a long list of food providers - Nestle, Burger King, Tesco, Birds Eye, Findus and even Ikea - that have had to remove products amid horse meat revelations.
British authorities said Friday that horse DNA had also been found in Birds Eye spaghetti Bolognese and beef lasagna and spicy minced beef skewers from catering company Brakes, which supplies pubs and the House of Commons Food Service.
In a statement, Taco Bell owner Yum Brands Inc. said: "We apologize to our customers and take this matter very seriously as food quality is our highest priority."
The company's presence in Britain is tiny compared to its profile in the United States, where it has more than 5,600 restaurants. Taco Bell stressed that its U.S. restaurants do not use meat from Europe and are not affected.
Yum Brands' statement gave no further detail as to the nature of the supplier, and the company said it would not reveal the information as the matter was being investigated by Britain's Food Standards Agency. A spokesman could not immediately say how long the supplier had been providing food to Taco Bell, or how many customers were thought to have been affected.
Burger King was hit by the horse meat scandal last month when it withdrew patties from an Irish supplier whose products were found to contain horse.
McDonald's said Friday that samples of all its burgers sold in Britain had been tested and none contained horse meat.
As for the Icelandic non-meat pies, Hreinsson said they appeared to have been stuffed with some sort of vegetable matter. He said the municipal authorities are investigating.
(The Associated Press)
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has signed an order authorizing the government to begin cutting $85 billion from federal accounts, officially enacting across-the-board reductions that he opposed but failed to avert.
Obama acted on Friday, the deadline for the president and Congress to avoid the steep, one-year cuts.
Earlier, the White House says automatic spending reductions set to kick in Friday will be put off until as close to midnight Friday night as possible. Call them the Cinderella cuts.
President Barack Obama says he can't do a "Jedi mind meld" with Republican leaders and persuade them to do what he believes is right when it comes to trimming federal spending.
Asked if he could refuse to allow Republican leaders of the House and Senate to leave a White House meeting until a budget agreement was reached, Obama said that's not how a constitutional form of government works.
Obama took questions from the media at the White House after meeting with congressional leaders.
The law, passed by Congress on Jan. 2 simply says that "on March 1, 2013, the president shall order a sequestration for fiscal year 2013." That's budget talk for an $85 billion reduction in defense and domestic spending between now and Oct. 1. Obama can issue that order at any point in the day.
And White House press secretary Jay Carney says that means midnight, Friday - or as close to midnight as possible: 11:59 p.m. and 59 seconds.
Because, Carney's says, Obama is "ever hopeful."
(Associated Press)
A freeze warning is in effect for much of north Georgia Thursday night into Friday (NWS/NOAA)
ATLANTA -- As what amounts to a precursor to possible snow flurries this weekend, a Freeze Warning has been issued for much of north Georgia for Thursday night and Friday morning.
Temperatures are expected to fall into the lower 30s from much of an area from Macon northward.
The National Weather Service advises that many of the newly-budded plants may be at risk for damage from freezing temperatures.
MORE | 11Alive Weather
11Alive's Mike Francis says that snow flurries are possible on Saturday for Metro Atlanta, while areas north of a Rome-to-Gainesville line may expect anywhere from a dusting up to an inch of snow accumulation Saturday.
Low temperatures Saturday morning are expected to near 30 degrees. Skies should clear out later in the day on Saturday, but highs will remain cool, finally climbing into the mid 40s. Sunday morning is expected to be clear and chilly with a low near 30, while Sunday afternoon should get back up to near 45.
Next chance of precipitation after this weekend is Tuesday, when we have a 30 percent chance of rain.
Morgan Andreanna Tukes (Courtesy of Atlanta Public Schools)
ATLANTA -- Hours after 17-year-old Morgan Tukes was scheduled to be released from the Fulton County jail Thursday, she was arrested on a new charge and told she'd have to spend another night there.
She's now been charged in a hit and run case dating back to October of last year.
Tukes is the Grady High School Senior who shot herself in the leg Wednesday in an outdoor courtyard at the Midtown Atlanta school. The judge in her first appearance took note that Tukes apparently had no prior record, and let her out on a signature bond. A signature bond requires no cash. That changed with the new charge, and a new first appearance is scheduled for Friday.
She now remains in the Fulton County jail after being charged Thursday afternoon with the hit and run from October. The police incident report says a City of Atlanta worker was hit by a vehicle that didn't stop. Tukes was, according to police, recognized as the driver of the car.
Atlanta School Superintendent Erroll Davis says that in the incident at the school on Wednesday,Tukes arrived late to school, skipped going through the school's two metal detectors and had someone let her in through a gym door.
Tukes faces misdemeanor charges of reckless conduct, possession of a pistol and disruption of a public school. She's also facing a felony charge of carrying a weapon in a school safety zone.
Tukes was able to make it to the school's medical clinic, where staff called 911. Police said she was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in stable condition.
Grady High was on lockdown for nearly three hours early Wednesday.
The district says the school day started as normal. Students walked through one of two metal detectors.
"They tell you to take your book bag off, take your keys and cell phones out in your bag and then you walk through and they'll wand you down. It's pretty safe," senior Exavier Crutcher said.
"Our schools were not designed to be fortresses, they are designed to be place of learning," Davis said in a press conference after the shooting.
But on Wednesday, students say very little learning took place after the gun went off.
"It's serious that stuff like this goes on in your school, we're just walking around you never know if somebody might go off, might shoot one of us," said Crutcher.
The school went on lockdown, stopping students from getting out, but not the information. Many sent text messages or made phone calls to their parents.
"She called me when this first happened and I dropped what I was doing and I just ran here," said Brunilda Nazirao, who came to the school to pick up her 15-year-old daughter.
"This whole gun culture is so out of control. So disconcerting and its just a sad day for Grady High School. Here at this school, we have kids that are going to change the world and we have kids who are going to be in prison in 10 years. That's the unfortunate thing," said Karen Gaber.
Davis says he's put a new safety plan before the board and believes the district can find the money to hire a full time police officer for every school. He believes if technology can't keep out every gun, maybe relationships can.
"Where they learn the kids, where the kids can confide in them, where they can start to spot emotional problems and issues before they get to this sort of crisis state," said Davis.
At a community meeting Thursday night at the school, the chief of security for the Atlanta Public School System told parents that the plan for police resource officers in every school is one way, long-term, to prevent incidents like this one.
At the meeting, parents praised the way the school responded to the shooting, and praised how well Grady kept parents informed with emails and robo calls.
Chief Marquenta Sands told parents that during her initial review of what happened on Wednesday, she uncovered gaps in the school's security plan.
For example, Chief Sands said she is looking at why students are able to walk outside and then come back in during the school day, after the metal detectors have been shut down for the day.
Many parents said they don't want Grady to become an armed prison camp.
They spoke of their responsibilities in raising their kids so they don't bring guns to school.
"The parents, the people in this room, need to talk to their kids," said one parent to the other parents. "Be open with them. Be honest with them. Tell them, look, this is not the way that you do things."
"I do not believe this is a metal detector issue," said another parent. "This is about this girl, her family, it's not the school's job to raise these children. It's their families' job. It's about the kids, it's about their responsibility. But we really need to be talking to our kids."
Parents also told administrators they were glad their kids used their cell phones to call and text them while they were on lockdown, even though the students were breaking the rules using their cell phones in school.
Parents urged the school board to change that policy.
Chief Sands told parents that in other shooting crises around the country, cell phone calls and texts from inside the facilities have made the situations more dangerous. So, she said, she's going to be looking at that, as she and the Superintendent and the Board try to tighten their overall security plan across the school system.
A member of the Atlanta School Board, Cecily Harsch-Kinnane, told parents that the school board is on the verge of changing the cell phone policy for students, but she was not ready to disclose details. She did say that the new policy would not be more restrictive. She also said it's likely that the board will remove the cell phone ban for elementary and middle school students beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, and require them to observe the same rule that is in place for high school students -- they can keep their cell phones with them during school hours on school property, but the phones must be off.
Also at Thursday night's community meeting:
School administrators said they are installing a system for Grady High School students to make it easy for students to supply anonymous tips about other students who have guns or are violating other laws. Chief Sands said there is evidence that some students may have known the girl in this case had a gun but did not tell anyone.
A school system administrator, David White, the Regional Executive Director of the cluster that includes Grady HS, said the school often calls in police to conduct random weapons and drug sweeps at the school during the school day. White was responding to a parent to asked if police searched the lockers and other areas of the school while the school was on lockdown Wednesday, and White said no, a search was not done then because police were confident after talking with the girl that there was no other threat.
A parent asked if the girl was in a gang. Chief Sands said she is investigating that question, and added that there were possible clues in the girl's social media postings that she might have been involved in a gang. Chief Sands said suppressing gang activity is a priority, and that gangs are a problem city wide, sometimes spilling into school property.
A parent asked the principal, Vincent Murray, if Grady High School's metal detectors have ever caught students with guns, and Murray said, yes, twice.
A parent asked Murray if the girl had a history of problems. Murray said no, "she's not been a troublesome kid, just unfocused."
A parent said her daughter was in a portable classroom during the lockdown, and the substitute teacher could not lock the classroom door. The parent said students were frightened, and some were screaming whenever they thought someone was approaching the door to come in. Chief Sands said the door and the lock will be repaired immediately.
After nearly three years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement released an illegal immigrant from metro Atlanta despite a conviction for assault and history of not complying with the terms of his probation.
Anthony Orlando Williams spend nearly three years at a federal detention facility in Alabama while immigration officials attempted to deport him to his native Jamaica.
According to court documents, Williams was arrested in 2005 for assault, battery and cruelty to children. Williams says at the time he was in the middle of a nasty divorce when he got into a shoving match with his now ex-wife.
Williams eventually pled guilty to misdemeanor assault, battery and cruelty to children in the third degree.
However, court records show he was rearrested in 2010 for failing to comply with the terms of his probation -- specifically missing several court-mandated meetings with his probation officer.
Immigration officials insist Williams was not released because of looming federal budget cuts -- although his release did coincide with hundreds of other detainees set free last week because of cutbacks.
Instead, immigration officials say Williams was released because of a Supreme Court decision ruling that it was unlawful to hold detainees indefinitely if efforts to deport them had been exhausted.
Williams says he is not a danger to the public or a flight risk. "I don't hurt anybody. I don't fight with anybody -- except my ex-wife and that was years ago," Williams said.
49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick scores a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens in the fourth quarter in Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Federal authorities say three Atlanta men are accused of trafficking counterfeit Super Bowl XLVII tickets that were destined for New Orleans.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say 57 fake tickets and about $7,000 in counterfeit money were seized after a Jan. 31 traffic stop in Sumter, Ala., by the Alabama Department of Public Safety.
ICE says 53-year-old Dwight E. Wilcoxson; 47-year-old Anthony A. Hunter; and 45-year-old Darryl A. Wesby are charged with conspiring to transport and sell counterfeit tickets to the Feb. 3 Super Bowl.
Hunter and Wilcoxson are also charged with possession of counterfeit U.S. currency.
It wasn't known Wednesday whether the men have attorneys representing them.
(The Associated Press)
