Latest news, weather and high school sports for Albany and Southwest Georgia

(AP) -- FLIGHT DIVERTED
    Source: Former Air Force member claims explosives
   
    AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - U.S. officials say an American citizen on
a flight from Paris to Atlanta claimed to have a fake passport and
said he had explosives in his luggage.
    The officials say the man was a member of the U.S. Air Force
until last year. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on
condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. They would not
say what rank he held or the type of discharge he received.
    Officials told the AP that federal air marshals intervened on
the plane Tuesday and the flight was diverted to Bangor, Maine.
    Delta originally said the Airbus A330 would continue to Atlanta,
but an airport announcement alerted passengers that they'd be
spending the night in Bangor. The airline was arranging for
transportation and lodging at a local hotel.
    Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott says there are 235 passengers
and 13 crew aboard the Airbus A330, which landed safely just after
3:30 p.m. at Bangor International Airport.
    Federal officials met the aircraft at the airport. The TSA says
the passenger is being interviewed by law enforcement.
   
FLIGHT DIVERTED-FATHER
    Dad: FL man detained on flight never in trouble
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - The father of an ex-U.S. Air Force member who was
detained on a trans-Atlantic flight after allegedly claiming he had
explosives in his luggage and a fake passport says his son lives a
squeaky clean life and has never been in trouble before.
    Richard Stansberry told The Associated Press that the man
detained after Tuesday's flight was diverted to Maine is
26-year-old Derek Stansberry of Riverview, Florida.
    He says government officials questioned him and told him his son
was being detained.
    Stansberry says he has no idea what happened. He says his son
served four years in the Air Force before leaving last year for a
job in the private sector.
    There were 235 passengers and 13 crew aboard Delta Air Lines
Flight 273. The Paris-to-Atlanta flight landed safely just after
3:30 p.m. at Bangor International Airport.
   
MISSING STUDENT
    Police find missing Savannah student's truck
   
    SAVANNAH, GA (AP) - Savannah police say they have found a
missing 19-year-old college student's truck with a body inside.
    They found the truck in a creek near the campus of Armstrong
Atlantic State University.
    Savannah-Chatham County police spokeswoman Gena Moore says
authorities haven't yet identified the body.
    Moore confirmed the vehicle discovered Tuesday afternoon
belonged to Bryce Tarter, who has been missing nearly three months.
    Tarter's white 2000 Nissan Frontier was found submerged in the
waters of Hoover Creek.
    Tarter of Kittery, Maine, was last seen January 31st leaving the
Armstrong campus, where he was a student. He had been to a party in
Statesboro earlier in the evening.
   
XGR--CLOSED TRANSIT SYSTEM
    Senate opens door to revive Clayton transit system
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - A proposal that would allow Clayton County to
hold a referendum to pay for its closed public transit system has
passed the Senate.
    C-Tran, Clayton's struggling bus system, closed earlier this
month after the county said they could not afford it. The county
commission voted last year to end its contract with MARTA,
Atlanta's public transit system, which also operated C-Tran.
    The system started six years ago and provided about 2.1 million
rides during the last fiscal year.
    Supporters say the bill passed on Tuesday in a 42-to-two vote
would clear the way for commissioners to approve a local option
sales tax referendum in July that could get the bus system up and
running before the end of the year.
    The measure must now clear the House.
   
IMMIGRATION
    Senate calls for resolution on federal immigration
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - The Georgia Senate has adopted a resolution
calling for President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress to secure
America's borders and fix the country's broken immigration system.
    Senator John Wiles, a Republican from Kennesaw, proposed the
legislation, which passed by a vote of 34-to-nine. The measure
cites "mounting difficulties in dealing with the rampant
unemployment of citizens and lawful workrs who have waited in line,
played by the rules and legally joined the American family" and
says Georgia's security and economy is threatened by illegal
immigration.
    Wiles says any immigration reform proposed by Congress and
enacted should not reward people who have come here illegally or
provide amnesty to those who broke the law.
   
SEAT BELT HOLDOUT
    House adopts seat belt changes
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia is poised to join the rest of the nation
in requiring adults in pickup trucks to wear seat belts.
    The Georgia House voted 132-to-29 Tuesday to end Georgia's
distinction as the last state in the nation to specifically exempt
adults in pickups from buckling up. The Senate already adopted the
measure. It now goes to Governor Sonny Perdue.
    Supporters of the change have come to legislators for years
armed with frightening statistics about the number of lives that
could be saved, accidents avoided and medical costs saved if the
law was tweaked.
    But attempts to pass a tougher seat belt law have for years been
blocked by mostly rural legislators who see the rule as unnecessary
regulation.
   
MILITARY PORN-CHARGES
    Army officer indicted on child porn charges in GA
    
    ATLANTA (AP) - A federal grand jury has indicted a 41-year-old
U.S. Army lieutenant colonel from Peachtree City on charges of
producing and possessing child pornography.
    U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Patrick Crosby says Edgar
Pagan-Torres, who was indicted Tuesday, automatically entered a
plea of not guilty with his first court appearance.
    He pleaded guilty last month in Puerto Rico to criminal charges
related to molestation allegations.
    According to the indictment, Pagan-Torres was assigned to a
military installation in Puerto Rico from 2004 to 2007. In 2008, a
year after he and his family relocated to Peachtree City, a female
relative accused him of molesting her and another female relative.
    In 2009, family members told authorities in Puerto Rico.
Authorities later uncovered sexually explicit videos involving the
two relatives.
    A call to Pagan-Torres' federal defender was not immediately
returned.
   
XGR--GENEROUS GEORGIANS
    Bill OK'd allowing Georgians to give to state
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - State citizens with Georgia on their minds would
be able to give money to the state's general fund under a proposal
that been approved by the Senate.
    Senators unanimously supported the measure in a 50-to-zero vote.
The bill also allows the state to promote and solicit from citizens
on their income tax return forms voluntary contributions for lupus
and kidney research programs.
    Senator Bill Heath, a Republican from Bremen, says the unique
proposal was a result of complaints that the state income tax was
not high enough and that there is currently no way for citizens who
may wish to financially contribute to Georgia to do so.
    The General Welfare Contribution Fund would be tallied by
February 1st of each year and the coffer's totals would be made
available to the public.
   
PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION
    Atlanta club accused of pregnancy discrimination
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Dreamz ATL, a large nightclub in Atlanta, is
accused of discriminating against a pregnant employee in a lawsuit
filed Tuesday.
    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the suit
on behelf of Latayea Cuthbertson, a former waitress. According to
the suit, when Cuthbertson informed a manager of her pregnancy in
July 2009, he told her she should not be working then removed
Cuthbertson from the work schedule.
    Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the
Pregnancy Discrimination Act, prohibits employers from
discriminating against employees on the basis of sex or pregnancy.
    Robert Dawkins, regional attorney for the EEOC's Atlanta
District Office, says the manager also cut her means of support at
the very moment she and her upcoming family needed it most.
    Phone numbers listed for Dreamz were disconnected and management
did not immediately return an e-mail from The Associated Press
seeking comment.
   
YALE DOCTOR KILLED
    More names found on man accused in doc's killing
   
    NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - A police report says a doctor accused of
killing a former colleague was found with information on two other
people and 1,000 rounds of ammunition when he was arrested.
    Forty-four-year-old Lishan Wang was arraigned Tuesday in the
fatal shooting of a Yale University doctor who had worked with him
at a New York City hospital where Wang had been dismissed. Vajinder
(vah-JIN'-der) Toor was killed Monday outside his Branford home.
    The police report released Tuesday says printouts on two other
people directly involved in Wang's dismissal were found in his van.
The names were not disclosed.
    Branford Police Lieutenant Geoffrey Morgan tells The Associated
Press he does not know what Wang intended to do with the
information.
    Wang did not enter a plea Tuesday. He is held on $2 million
bail.
   
YALE DOCTOR KILLED-COLLEGE
    Man charged in Yale killing worked at Morehouse
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - A Morehouse School of Medicine spokeswoman says
the college was "horrified" to hear that a former employee is
charged in the killing of a Yale University doctor.
    Morehouse medical school spokeswoman Cherie A. Richardson said
in a prepared statement Tuesday that 44-year-old Lishan Wang
resigned from his job at the Atlanta college in February. She says
he had worked as a postdoctoral fellow for a year.
    Richardson says Morehouse is not involved in the investigation
into the shooting in Connecticut. She says Morehouse officials are
unaware of any relationship between Wang and Vajinder Toor, who was
shot five times Monday outside his Branford, Conn., home.
    Police are holding Wang on $2 million bail in the killing.
   
UTILITY REGULATOR
    GA utility regulator decides against another term
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - The head of a state panel that regulates
electricity, natural gas and transportation in Georgia has decided
against seeking re-election.
    Public Service Commission chairman Robert Baker announced
Tuesday that he will not run for a fourth term.
    In a written statement, Baker says deciding to step down was not
easy. He says the commission's moves to deregulate transportation,
natural gas service and telecommunications have created hundreds of
jobs and given the residents of Georgia more choice.
    Baker was initially elected to the commission in 1992. He was
the first Republican voted into statewide office since
Reconstruction.

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