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(AP) -- GEORGIA PUBLIC DEFENDERS
   GA report defends public defender system
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - A legislative oversight committee is defending
the state's public defender system.
    The report issued Wednesday by state Senator Preston Smith says
that the hard work by the public defender system has been "largely
overshadowed by ideological crusaders who consistently work to
hijack and manipulate the system."
    It said the system cannot "satisfy those who seek to provide
expensive private attorneys for free to those accused of crimes."
    Civil rights groups have filed several legal challenges against
the struggling system, most recently on behalf of about 200
convicted indigent inmates who say they don't have lawyers to file
their appeals.
    It recommended that state funding for conflict cases involving
multiple defendants be returned to the county level so it can be
managed there.
   
GIRL IN LANDFILL
    Person of interest in Florida girl's death extradited
   
    GREEN COVE SPRINGS, FL (AP) - A man who is a person of
interest in the slaying of a seven-year-old girl has been
extradited from Mississippi to Florida.
    Jarred Mitchell Harrell is jailed in Clay County on $1 million
bond. He appeared in court over closed-circuit television Wednesday
morning and was appointed a public defender.
    Harrell was arrested February 11th in Meridian, Mississippi, and
faces 29 counts of possession of child pornography.
    Authorities say Harrell is wanted for questioning in the death
of Somer Thompson. She disappeared in October while walking home
from school in Orange Park, a Jacksonville suburb. Her body was
found in a south Georgia landfill two days later.
    A public defender's office spokesman says its not clear whether
the office will continue to represent Harrell or if he will hire
his own attorney.
   
LEGISLATORS-TAXES
    List of lawmakers who owe taxes delivered
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia's revenue commissioner has provided a
list of state legislators who haven't paid their taxes to the
chairmen of the House and Senate ethics committees.
    It wasn't immediately clear how many names were on the list but
they were all House members. House Ethics Committee Chairman Joe
Wilkinson told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it was fewer
than the 19 lawmakers who it was revealed last year failed to file
their state income taxes. He declined to provide a specific number.
    Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Dan Moody said there were no
senators on the list.
    Last year the House and Senate passed a measure allowing ethics
committees to investigate and sanction legislators who fail to pay
their taxes. The names of the legislators are kept confidential.
   
SUSPECT HITS OFFICER
    Officer injured after hit by fleeing suspect
   
    COLLEGE PARK, GA (AP) - College Park police are looking for a
would-be thief they say tried to run over an officer after police
caught him red-handed ripping off parts from a car Wednesday.
    Police say it happened around 6:15 a.m. Authorities say the
suspect had just stolen a wheel from a white Ford Focus at the
Southern Heights apartment complex.
    The car's owner called police. Officers tried to surround the
suspect. But he jumped into a red Pontiac G-6, revved the engine
and drove toward police. They opened fire. The suspect hit one of
the officers as he rammed his way out. The suspect was last seen
speeding down Camp Creek Parkway.
    The officer who was hit suffered a minor leg injury and was back
at work later Wednesday morning.
   
TOYOTA SUPPLIER-INVESTIGATION
    FBI raids Toyota supplier Denso in antitrust probe
   
    NEW YORK (AP) - Toyota supplier Denso Corporation says the FBI
and Department of Justice have raided its U.S. headquarters as part
of an antitrust investigation.
    Denso spokeswoman Julie Kerr says the supplier's office, located
in Southfield, Michigan, was raided on Tuesday. She says the
company is cooperating with the investigation, but declined to
offer details of what the government was looking for.
    Kerr says the investigation is unrelated to Toyota's recent
recalls. Denso is a major parts supplier for Toyota and is one of
two suppliers of its gas pedals. While gas pedals from the other
supplier were involved in Toyota's sticky accelerator recall,
Denso's have not been implicated.
   
GINGRICH-HEALTH
    Gingrich: Pass smaller health bills
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that
Democrats should push a series of small bills tackling individual
healthcare issues rather than trying again to approve a sweeping
overhaul.
    Gingrich said he believes that the bipartisan health care summit
President Barack Obama is set to host Thursday is little more than
a "a public relations dance." He said he expects that Obama,
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
are making "a last, desperate effort to pass a bill through
reconciliation," a parliamentary tactic that would disallow
Republican filibusters.
    Gingrich said that Reid trying to use reconciliation to pass the
bill would be "an act worthy of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela."
   
GEORGIA-BRYANT LAWSUIT
    Ex-football player settles with UGA
   
    ATHENS, GA  (AP) - A former University of Georgia cornerback has
reached a $400,000 settlement with the school's athletic
association over an insurance policy dispute.
    Decory Bryant's settlement comes weeks after an Athens-Clarke
County judge dismissed a lawsuit that claimed the athletic
association failed to secure him a $500,000 insurance policy before
he suffered a career-ending injury.
    Athletic association attorney Ed Tolley said Wednesday it was a
sign the "athletic association had committed to helping" Bryant
all along.
    Bryant's football career ended in 2003 with a neck injury. He
claimed that a school official failed to complete the paperwork
that would have paid him if an injury ended his career.
   
CHICKEN WING BANDITS
    Bandits rob delivery man of chicken wings
   
    COLUMBUS, GA (AP) - Columbus police are on the look out for a
pair of apparently hungry criminals who robbed a pizza delivery man
of an order of chicken wings.
    It happened Tuesday night. A 19-year-old Domino's Pizza delivery
man tells Columbus police he had driven to a Kings Mountain Road
home around 8:50 p.m. when two suspects approached.
    Police say the suspects pointed a chrome pistol at the man and
asked for money. Moments later, the suspects demanded the victim
"give me the wings."
    Police say both suspects then fled from the scene with $36 worth
of hot wings.
    The delivery man was uninjured.

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