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(AP) -- STEP SHOW CONTROVERSY
    Step show prize to be shared after Internet stir
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - After days of controversy over a white group's
win in a step competition, sponsor Coca-Cola says the second-place
team will share top honors.
    Coca-Cola said in a statement Thursday that a review of the
scoring from Saturday's national contest revealed a "scoring
discrepancy" that it declined to explain. This is the first year
of the Sprite Step Off competition, but step contests are typically
dominated by black sororities.
    Step is a historically black art form of rhythmic stepping and
clapping. A YouTube video of the winning performance by a group of
white Zeta Tau Alphas from the University of Arkansas generated
hundreds of comments, some of them inflammatory.
    Coca-Cola said Thursday the Alpha Kappa Alpha team from Indiana
University, whose members are black, would share first place.
   
GRANDSON KILLED
    German grandmother indicted in child's death
   
    ATLANTA, GA (AP) - The grandmother accused of drowning her
five-year-old grandson while on vacation in Florida has been
indicted in the boy's death.
    Court data shows a Franklin County grand jury has indicted
71-year-old Marianne Bordt on charges of premeditated murder and
aggravated child abuse.
    Bordt, a German national, was arrested on January 4th after she
told police she didn't want her grandson to grow up in a divorced
home.
    The boy's parents had joint custody of Camden after they
divorced.
   
CAMPAIGNING COUPLE
    GA couple runs for state's top jobs
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - The wife of Georgia gubernatorial candidate
DuBose Porter says she's planning a campaign of her own - for
lieutenant governor.
    Carol Porter is the first Democrat to enter the race for the
state's second-highest office and will face off against Republican
incumbent Casey Cagle in November.
    The novelty of a husband and wife hitting the campaign trail is
sure to generate buzz around Georgia, as the couple takes their
message to the voters.
    DuBose Porter is a longtime Democrat and is currently serving as
House minority leader. His campaign has struggled to raise money
against former Gov. Roy Barnes, largely seen as the Democratic
front-runner.
    In January, Carol Porter wowed audiences as a stand-in for her
husband at an event and questions swirled about whether she would
run for office herself.
   
ITUNES-10 BILLION
    10 billionth song sold by Apple's iTunes
   
    NEW YORK (AP) - Apple's iTunes has sold its 10 billionth tune.
    Apple said Thursday that its online music store crossed the
threshold Wednesday when 71-year-old Louie Sulcer (SUL'-sir) of
Woodstock bought "Guess Things Happen That Way" by Johnny Cash.
    iTunes had promoted the 10 billion mark and celebrated the
milestone by giving Sulcer a $10,000 iTunes gift card.
    Introduced in 2003, iTunes became the top overall music retailer
in the U.S. in 2008.
   
SCHOOLS-RESTRAINT
    Many states don't regulate seclusion, restraint
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - A new federal report shows that 19 states do not
regulate the use of seclusion as a disciplinary tactic in schools.
    The U.S. Department of Education report released this week stems
from Education Secretary Arne Duncan's query to state school chiefs
last year on policies for confinement and restraint of chronically
misbehaving students.
    The report shows that even though several states have some type
of policy, many of those policies are weak and don't clearly define
proper disciplinary measures for teachers dealing with
sometimes-violent children.
    For the first time, federal lawmakers are considering
legislation that would prohibit restraint and seclusion in most
circumstances and require training for educators on effective
behavior management.
    The bill passed the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee
earlier this month.
   
MILITARY SPOUSES-GRANTS
    Military spouses angry that DoD halts job grants
   
    SAVANNAH, GA (AP) - Military spouses across the U.S. are in an
uproar over the abrupt suspension of a popular grant program that
paid for college courses and career training.
    The Defense Department last week halted the program, which
offered military spouses $6,000 grants for college tuition or
professional licenses and certificates. The program debuted a year
ago.
    Rebecca Duncan, a Navy wife in Corpus Christi, Texas, says she
felt "slapped in the face." She was approved for a grant to
pursue an applied sciences degree, but the program shut down before
she could enroll in classes.
    The military says grants were stopped because thousands of
applicants overwhelmed the program's budget. About 98,000 spouses
were enrolled before grants were suspended.
    The Defense Department says the halt is temporary, but hasn't
said when it will resume.
   
GIRL IN LANDFILL
    Harrell facing child molestation charge in Fla.
   
    GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) - A man considered a person of
interest in the slaying of a 7-year-old Florida girl appeared in
court for the second time in as many days.
    Jarred Mitchell Harrell went before a Clay County judge Thursday
on charges of child molestation and a dozen counts of child
pornography.
    The 24-year-old had already been charged with an additional 29
counts of possession of child pornography.
    An arraignment is scheduled for March 10. He remains held
without bond.
    Authorities plan to question Harrell about the death of Somer
Thompson, who disappeared in October while walking home from school
in a Jacksonville suburb. Her body was found in a south Georgia
landfill two days later.
   
YOUNG-CIVIL RIGHTS
    Young says activists' focus should be on economy
   
    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A longtime civil rights activist and
former United Nations ambassador says the civil rights fight must
move to an economic front.
    Andrew Young urged Jackson State University students Thursday to
pursue degrees in economics rather than law during comments he made
at a program honoring Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior.
    Young says Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and others
helped modify the nation's laws so they could have meaning for
those who were once slaves. Now in a capitalist society, he says
many minorities don't have access to capital.
    Young worked alongside King during the civil rights movement. He
later served as the nation's ambassador to the U.N. and the mayor
of Atlanta.

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