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

(AP) -- GEORGIA PRIMARY
    Candidates ramp up campaigns as primary approaches
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - With just under two months until the primary
election, Memorial Day weekend means it's time for political
candidates to ramp up their campaigns.
    And with only three incumbents in statewide races and crowded
fields on both sides of the aisle, name recognition is low.
    Emory University political science professor Merle Black says
the candidates need to make a big effort to make their names known
to voters, especially in the lower-level races.
    Candidates are planning appearances Monday at parades, barbecues
and ceremonies to shake hands with existing supporters and gain new
ones.
   
AUTISTIC TEEN TASED
    GBI investigating tasing of autistic teen on Tybee
   
    TYBEE ISLAND, GA. (AP) - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has
launched an inquiry into the tasing of an autistic teenage by
police on Tybee Island.
    GBI special agent in charge in Statesboro Micah Ward says Tybee
Police Chief James Price asked for the investigation. Ward says the
investigation is to determine whether police did anything illegal.
The results will be turned over to the district attorney.
    Authorities say 18-year-old Clifford Grevemberg, who also has a
heart condition, was wrestled to the ground and tased by two Tybee
officers who suspected the teen was intoxicated. Grevemberg
suffered a broken front tooth and scrapes on his face and knee in
the May 21 incident outside of a bar. He was charged with
disorderly conduct and released later that evening.
    Family members say Grevemberg has never consumed alcohol.
   
TODDLER DEAD
    4-year-old boy dies after being pinned by SUV
   
    DECATUR, GA. (AP) - A toddler has died after he was pinned
between an SUV and a house.
    DeKalb County police spokeswoman Mekka Parish says the
4-year-old Gabriel Hinton's father was working on a Chevrolet
Suburban parked at the top of the inclined driveway at the home and
had walked away to get jumper cables.
    Parish says the vehicle somehow shifted into neutral and rolled
back, striking the child and forcing him into a grill that was in
use.
    The boy suffered blunt force trauma, second- and third-degree
burns and went into cardiac arrest. He was transported to Grady
Memorial Hospital, where he died.
    Parish says the boy's mother attempted to remove the SUV but was
unsuccessful. Three DeKalb officers pushed the vehicle and freed
the child.
   
PARKS PROBE
    Columbus mayor orders probe into parks department
   
    COLUMBUS, GA. (AP) - The mayor of Columbus is calling for a
police investigation into the city's parks and recreation
department after a recent audit questioned its spending.
    Mayor Jim Wetherington says he wants a comprehensive examination
of the issues raised in the report. He did not say the
investigation is criminal.
    The audit, released last week, raised concerns about how credit
cards and cash were handled and asks questions about the city's
funding of a travel basketball team sponsored by Nike.
    Parks and Recreation Director Tony Adams has until June 8 to
file a written response to the audit.
   
CHURCH MOVE
    Old Buffalo church to be reborn in Atlanta suburb
   
    BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - For decades, countless people from Buffalo
have made the move from Rust Belt to Sun Belt. Maybe it was only a
matter of time before one of its buildings would follow.
    A Roman Catholic parish near Atlanta has begun raising $16
million to import, piece by piece, a closed Buffalo church. The
99-year-old St. Gerard's would get a second life as Mary Our Queen,
in an up-and-coming parish.
    Supporters see it as "preservation through relocation" of a
unique structure that since being closed in 2008 already shows
signs of deterioration.
    Buffalo's bishop and former parishioners support the move, but
the city council is not convinced.
    The council wants to amend city law so that a preservation board
would have to review any future proposal to move out property.
   
KING ON BROADWAY-JACKSON
    Samuel Jackson could play MLK on Broadway
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Samuel L. Jackson is being considered for a
Broadway production about the life of Martin Luther King Jr.
    Atlanta theater director Kenny Leon says Jackson performed the
lines for the role of the civil rights leader this week at a script
reading of "The Mountaintop" in New York. The drama focuses on
the night before King's assassination and could head to Broadway
this fall or next spring.
    Jackson and Leon met as school acquaintances when the two
attended college at Atlanta University Center institutions Clark
College and Morehouse College and have become closer as both of
their careers have blossomed.
   
FRENCH OPEN-GINEPRI
    Ginepri upsets 2003 French Open champion Ferrero
   
    PARIS (AP) - Unseeded Robby Ginepri (gih-NEP-ree) is the only
U.S. man in the French Open's fourth round after upsetting 2003
champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.
    The 98th-ranked Ginepri, of Kennesaw, Ga., beat the 16th-seeded
Ferrero of Spain 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4 Saturday in a match that
lasted more than three hours.
    Ginepri was 1-7 in 2010 before the French Open.
    This is Ginepri's second trip to the fourth round at Roland
Garros. He also made it that far in 2008, but lost in the first
round in six other appearances at the clay-court Grand Slam
tournament.
    His best showing at a major tournament was reaching the 2005
U.S. Open semifinals.
    The other U.S. man who reached the third round this year in
Paris, Andy Roddick, lost Saturday.
   

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