Snow Headed To North Georgia; Rain For Atlanta

Snow, sleet and freezing rain are headed to north Georgia; as a result, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the north Georgia mountains from Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon for sleet and ice accumulations from freezing rain.

So, It appears most of metro Atlanta will dodge the snow bullet, with just a slight chance of snow flurries or freezing drizzle.

With the threat of snow, ice, sleet and freezing rain, school officials in two north Georgia counties were prompted to dismiss school early on Friday.

Gilmer County schools will close at 2 p.m. Students in Towns County will be dismissed at 1:30 pm. In Gilmer County, all after school activities, including After School Care, were also canceled, according to officials. Lumpkin County canceled all evening classes and weekend activities.

Man Snaps Picture Of Atlanta Cop Surfing Facebook

An Atlanta man claims he was arrested for catching an on-duty officer chatting on Facebook. Chandler Brown told WSB-TV that he has since filed a formal complaint with the Atlanta Police Department and the mayor's office.

A copy of that complaint shows startling accusations made about the officer allegedly chatting on Facebook when he was on the job.

"It was Thanksgiving night … my friend called me and said, ‘I've been in an accident,'" said Brown, and he immediately hailed a cab and went to the scene on Interstate 85 near Cheshire Bridge Road.

Brown said his friend wanted to leave, and as they pulled off, they were stopped by police because she couldn't leave the scene of an accident. So they were put in the back of an Atlanta police car, and that's when Brown said he noticed something.

"The police officer was chatting on Facebook," said Brown. "I think that's wrong."

So Brown took out his cell phone and took a picture. That's when he claims the officer arrested him.... "Pulled me out of the car, grabbed my phone, and I said I don't think I'm breaking the law here … I'm not under arrest," said Brown.

Brown said the officer then said "Well, you're under arrest now."

Brown said the officer handcuffed him, took the phone and hauled him off to jail.

Brown claims he was never read his rights and the officer wouldn't give him his name. As for that picture, Brown said when officers returned his phone, the picture was gone.

Brown was charged with giving false information to an officer, even though he wasn't involved in the accident.

Brown went to court last week.... "The judge said, ‘There's no evidence here, this is a joke and threw it out," said Brown. That's why now, Brown has filed a formal complaint and hopes to shed light on what he calls a misuse of time and taxpayer money.

"I can't sit on Facebook at work all day and neither can you. Why should someone whose salary is being paid by the taxpayers," he said.

Atlanta Police Department stated they've forwarded the complaint on to the division of professional standards and are looking into it. Late Thursday, Brown, got a call from police saying they are taking his complaint seriously.

Psychologist Accused Of Billing For Fake Sessions

An Athens psychologist will spend two years in prison for defrauding the state's Medicaid program out of more than a half million dollars. A federal court judge in Atlanta sentenced 62-year-old Paul D. Mangum Thursday.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia, he submitted thousands of fraudulent Medicaid claims between May 2003 and April 2009, for treatment he never provided.

As part of his scheme, officials say Mangum submitted claims for patients younger than 21 who at one time had received treatment from him but had stopped.

In one case, he saw one child once a week for only a few months, but then submitted over 100 fraudulent claims for the patient over five years and received thousands of dollars in Medicaid payments for therapy sessions he never performed.

Military Explosive Found In North Fulton

Fulton County Sheriff's Office officials say a mortar round that turned up in Chattahoochee Hill Country Thursday is not a threat. Chattahoochee Hill Police requested assistance after receiving a call from a citizen who reported finding what he believed to be an explosive device inside a cylindrical container underneath a house at along Mixon Road.

When the Fulton County Bomb Unit arrived, bomb technicians determined the device was a military mortar round. After consulting with federal authorities about the condition of the round and the markings on it, the officers removed the device. The mortar round will be turned over to a military explosive ordnance disposal team.

Senate OKs Handsfree Phones While Driving

The state Senate has approved a bill legalizing the use of handsfree cell phone devices while driving.

The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Bill Heath, said the measure brings the state up to speed with current technology, like BlackBerries and Bluetooth devices. Heath, a Republican from Bremen, sponsored the bill after he was contacted by a citizen who was cited under the old Georgia code for the use of a handsfree device.

Current law prohibits driving while using headphones that would impair one's ability to hear. The bill passed unanimously on Thursday. It was the first to win approval in the Senate this legislative session.

WSB; Reuters; National Weather Service

What Is In Salinger's Safe?

So what about the safe? Before we call on Geraldo Rivera, let's just speculate for a moment...

The death this week of J.D. Salinger ends one of literature's most mysterious lives and intensifies one of its greatest mysteries: Was the author of "The Catcher in the Rye" keeping a stack of finished, unpublished manuscripts in a safe in his house in Cornish, N.H? Are they masterpieces, curiosities or random scribbles?

And if there are publishable works, will the author's estate release them?

The Salinger camp isn't talking....rats!

No comment, says his literary representative, Phyllis Westberg, of Harold Ober Associates Inc.

No plans for any new Salinger books, reports his publisher, Little, Brown & Co.

Marcia B. Paul, an attorney for Salinger when the author sued last year to stop publication of a "Catcher" sequel, would not get on the phone Thursday.

His son, Matt Salinger, referred questions about the safe to Westberg.

Stories about a possible Salinger trove have been around for a long time. In 1999, New Hampshire neighbor Jerry Burt said the author had told him years earlier that he had written at least 15 unpublished books kept locked in a safe at his home. A year earlier, author and former Salinger girlfriend Joyce Maynard had written that Salinger used to write daily and had at least two novels stored away.

Salinger, who died Wednesday at age 91, began publishing short stories in the 1940s and became a sensation in the 1950s after the release of "Catcher," a novel that helped drive the already wary author into near-total seclusion. His last book, "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour," came out in 1963 and his last published work of any kind, the short story "Hapworth 16, 1924," appeared in The New Yorker in 1965.

Jay McInerney, a young star in the 1980s thanks to the novel "Bright Lights, Big City," is not a fan of Hapworth and skeptical about the contents of the safe.

"I think there's probably a lot in there, but I'm not sure if it's necessarily what we hope it is," McInerney said Thursday. "'Hapworth' was not a traditional or terribly satisfying work of fiction. It was an insane epistolary monologue, virtually shapeless and formless. I have a feeling that his later work is in that vein."

Author-editor Gordon Lish, who in the 1970s wrote an anonymous story that convinced some readers it was a Salinger original, said he was "certain" that good work was locked up in Cornish. Novelist Curtis Sittenfeld, frequently compared to Salinger because of her novel "Prep," was simply enjoying the adventure.

"I can't wait to find out!" she said. "In our age of shameless self-promotion, it's extraordinary, and kind of great, to think of someone really and truly writing for writing's sake."

Some of the great works of literature have been published after the author's death, and even against the author's will, including such Franz Kafka novels as "The Trial" and "The Castle," which Kafka had requested be destroyed.

Because so little is known about what Salinger was doing, it's so easy to guess. McInernay said he has an old girlfriend who met Salinger and was told that the author was mostly writing about health and nutrition. Lish said Salinger told him back in the 1960s that he was still writing about the Glass family, featured in much of Salinger's work.

But the Salinger papers might exist only in our dreams, like the second volume of Nikolai Gogol's "Dead Souls," which the Russian author burned near the end of his life. The Salinger safe also could turn into a version of Henry James' novella "The Aspern Papers," in which the narrator's pursuit of a late poet's letters ends with his being told that they were destroyed.

Margaret Salinger, the author's daughter, wrote in a memoir published in 2000 that J.D. Salinger had a precise filing system for his papers: A red mark meant the book could be released "as is," should the author die. A blue mark meant that the manuscript had to be edited.

"There is a marvelous peace in not publishing," J.D. Salinger told The New York Times in 1974. "Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure."

And so, the mystery of Salinger's Safe, like so many others surrounding J.D., go unanswered. Many writers, even after they have departed this life, seem to thrive as a result, or even in spite of it.

Passings: Tuskegee Ace Dies At 90

Retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Lee A. Archer, a Tuskegee Airman considered to be the only black ace pilot who also broke racial barriers as an executive at a major U.S. company and founder of a venture capital firm, died Wednesday in New York City. He was 90.

His son, Roy Archer, said his father died at Cornell University Medical Center in Manhattan. A cause of death was not immediately determined.

The Tuskegee Airmen were America's first black fighter pilot group in World War II.

"It is generally conceded that Lee Archer was the first and only black ace pilot," credited with shooting down five enemy planes, Dr. Roscoe Brown Jr., a fellow Tuskegee Airman and friend, said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Archer was acknowledged to have shot down four planes, and he and another pilot both claimed victory for shooting down a fifth plane. An investigation revealed Archer had inflicted the damage that destroyed the plane, said Brown, and the Air Force eventually proclaimed him an ace pilot.

Archer, a resident of New Rochelle, N.Y., "lived a full life," said his son. "His last two or three years were amazing for him." Archer was among the group of Tuskegee Airmen invited to attend President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009. The airmen, who escorted bomber planes during the war fought with distinction, only to face bigotry and segregation when they returned home, were also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for their service in 2007 by President George W. Bush.

Archer was "extremely competent, aggressive about asserting his position and sometimes stubborn," Brown said.

"He had a heart of gold and treated people with respect. He demanded respect by the way he carried himself." Brown estimated that about 50 or 60 of the 994 Tuskegee Airmen pilots are still alive.

Born on Sept. 6, 1919, in Yonkers and raised in Harlem, Archer left New York University to enlist in the Army Air Corps in 1941 but was rejected for pilot training because the military didn't allow blacks to serve as pilots.

"A War Department study in 1925 expressly stated that Negroes didn't have the intelligence, or the character, or the leadership to be in combat units, and particularly, they didn't have the ability to be Air Force pilots," said Brown.

Archer instead joined a segregated Army Air Corps unit at the Tuskegee, Ala., air base, graduating from pilot training in July 1943. After he retired from the military in 1970, Archer joined General Foods Corp., becoming one of the era's few black corporate vice presidents of a major American company.

He ran one of the company's small-business investment arms, North Street Capital Corp., which funded companies that included Essence Communications and Black Enterprise Magazine, according to his son and Brown. Archer was an adviser to the late Reginald Lewis in the deal that created the conglomerate TLC Beatrice in 1987, then the largest black-owned and -managed business in the U.S.

After retiring from General Foods in 1987, Archer founded the venture capital firm Archer Asset Management. Archer is survived by three sons and a daughter. His wife, Ina Archer, died in 1996. Services have yet to be announced.

Links:
Read More about the Tuskegee Airmen
The Legend
The Air Force National Museum
On YouTube: 1, 2

Carrie Underwood to sing National Anthem at Super Bowl

Checotah, Oklahoma's own Carrie Underwood is going to the Super Bowl - and she'll be singing the national anthem. The country superstar won't be alone in singing America's praises. Queen Latifah will perform "America the Beautiful" as well.

Underwood, who used to date Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, joins other big names who have sung the national anthem at the game, includiing Beyonce, Billy Joel and Whitney Houston.

The Feb. 7 Super Bowl in Miami pits the Indianapolis Colts against the New Orleans Saints. The Who will provide halftime entertainment.

Tennessee hires Louisiana Tech's Derek Dooley

Tennessee’s frantic search to find a new coach was over this week, and the Volunteers are turning to Louisiana Tech’s Derek Dooley, who comes from quite a pedigree.

The son of former Georgia coach Vince Dooley and the nephew of coach Bill Dooley, Derek Dooley went 17-20 in three seasons at Louisiana Tech.

The Volunteers hired him after a quick search to fill the vacancy created when Lane Kiffin abruptly resigned Tuesday night, bolting to Southern California after 14 months. Coach Derek Dooley hit the ground running. There is no question he had a lot of catching up to do.

Hired less than three weeks before national signing day, Dooley and his staff not only have to try and keep the recruits who verbally committed to the Lane Kiffin staff, but hopefully use his connections and recruiting acumen to add some of his own.

Kiffin's staff was obviously built to recruit top 10 classes. It was a priority. Dooley's current staff doesn't appear to match up with the previous staff as recruiters and it lost defensive backs coach Willie Mack Garza.

Dooley is unlikely to recruit with all the bells and whistles of the previous staff. He has a reputation of winning recruiting battles once he gets an in-home visit. It's in the living room where Dooley's personality is said to shine. Based on his initial media appearance, it's easy to see how that assessment would be accurate.

Georgia hires Todd Grantham as D-coordinator

Georgia endured plenty of rejection in its search for a new defensive coordinator. The Bulldogs finally got someone to take the job, and insisted he was the right man all along. Todd Grantham, who coaches defensive linemen for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, agreed to a three-year contract worth $750,000 annually to end a search that began six weeks ago and included several high-profile misses.

The Bulldogs have been searching for a new coordinator since Willie Martinez was fired Dec. 2 along with two other defensive assistants.

Grantham previously spent three years as defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns and a total of six years as an assistant with Houston and Indianapolis. He’s also coached in the college ranks, at Michigan State and his alma mater, Virginia Tech.

Grantham was hired on the same day that rival Georgia Tech settled on former Virginia coach Al Groh as its new defensive coordinator.

Like Groh with the Yellow Jackets, Granthan plans to switch from the 4-3 alignment to a 3-4.

“We’re going to be an aggressive, attacking style of defense,” he vowed. “To make plays, you’ve got to have playmakers, and you’ve got to put them in position to make plays. The biggest thing is to evaluate players, learn what our assets are and find ways to help them make plays.”

The Bulldogs failed to make enough plays under Martinez, who was fired after steadily declining results in his five-year tenure as coordinator.

This past season, Georgia ranked 10th in the Southeastern Conference in points allowed (26.4) and seventh in yards allowed (328.4). Over the last two years, the Bulldogs surrendered at least 30 points in 10 of their 26 games.

Linebacker Rennie Curran, the SEC’s leading tackler, and safety Reshad Jones gave up their senior seasons to enter the NFL draft, but the returning players are looking forward to turning around those disappointing numbers.

“Everybody is glad the search is over and we finally know what’s going to happen and we can start learning some new things,” cornerback Brandon Boykin said.

Coca-Cola FIFA World Cup trophy unveiled in Kolkata

German football legend Lothar Matthaus unveiled the Coca-Cola FIFA World Cup Trophy 2010 at a glittering function, making Kolkata the only Indian city to showcase the prized trophy.

The authentic trophy made of 18-carat gold, was unveiled in a five-star hotel in the presence of former Indian soccer greats and a host of leading soccer organizers of the country.

Among those who graced the occasion were former Olympians Sailen Manna, P.K. Banerjee, Samar Banerjee, Nikhil Nandy, and former internationals Prasun Banerjee and Subrata Bhattacharya.

The trophy - 36.8 cm high tall and weighing 6,175 grams - has a base containing two layers of semi-precious malachite while the bottom side bears the engraved year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974.

Experts Warn Of Super Bowl Ticket Scams

They may be the hottest ticket in South Florida, but if you're searching for Super Bowl tickets, beware of scammers, WPLG-TV in Miami warns.

If you go online, you will find all sorts of deals. Some are just too good to be true. One fan told the station that he found a seller on Craigslist listing four Super Bowl tickets for $1,800. But the seller had no photos of the tickets, nor a PayPal account. The online seller also wanted the money sent through an eBay agent.

Those are all red flags that the deal may not be legitimate.

"Those private sites - you've got to be careful buying tickets, because you don't know who you're dealing with," Todd Rubin of Todd's Tickets told the station. The Better Business Bureau said that most legitimate ticket brokers take possession of a ticket and independently verify its authenticity, and only then will they resell the ticket.

"When we buy a ticket from someone, we only pay with a check. We make sure we copy their driver's license, and we also call the stadium to make sure the ticket hasn't been reported stolen," Rubin said.

Brokers at Todd's Tickets also look at the bar code, make sure the ticket is perforated, was printed on good, raised card stock, and has a hologram on the back.

Don't purchase from a seller who wants cash only until you meet the seller in person. At present, Ticketmaster's NFL Ticket Exchange is promoted as the only NFL-approved ticket exchange.

The face value of the tickets start at $1695 for two tickets.

Sports South; The AJC; WPLG-TV; 360 Degrees

360 Degrees: Blog Sponsor Ad - January '10

Fed Chief Bernanke Wins 2nd Term In Closest Vote

Embattled Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke won confirmation for a second term Thursday, but only by the closest vote ever for the crucial post and after withering criticism from lawmakers for bailing out Wall Street while other Americans suffered in recession.

The Senate confirmed Bernanke for a new four-year term by a 70-30 vote, a seemingly solid majority but 14 votes worse than the closest previous vote for a Fed chairman.

The Senate battle over Bernanke's confirmation has been a test of central bank independence, a crucial element if the Fed is to carry out unpopular but economically essential policies. Its decisions on interest rates can have immense consequences, from the success or failure of the largest companies to the typical home-buyer's ability to get an affordable loan to the price of cereal at the grocery or gas at the corner station.

Created by Congress in 1913 after a series of bank panics, the Federal Reserve is an independent agency, supposedly outside politics, but its chairman is typically assailed by lawmakers and others when the economy falls and jobless ranks lengthen.

From WSJ

3 Car Rental Companies Pull Toyotas

Three car rental companies said Wednesday they are pulling thousands of Toyotas from their fleets over faulty gas pedals.

The Pontiac Vibe, made by General Motors Co. in conjunction with Toyota, has also been recalled and will be removed from service by Enterprise Holdings, which operates the Alamo Rent A Car, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental chains.

Toyota Motor Co. announced Tuesday that it was suspending sales and halting production of eight models following last week's recall to repair sticking gas pedals that could make the cars and trucks accelerate without warning.

Avis Budget Group Inc. said that it is immediately removing about 20,000 Toyotas from its rental fleets in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Separately, Hertz Corp. said it would temporarily stop renting vehicles involved in the recall.

Privately held Enterprise said it is also pulling the affected vehicles, which represent about 4 percent of its fleet, but is acting out of "an abundance of caution."

Hyundai Motor's Q4 Profit Nearly Quadruples

Hyundai Motor's net profit nearly quadrupled in the fourth quarter on higher sales following a strong performance during 2009 in the fast-growing Chinese and Indian auto markets.

South Korea's largest automaker and a growing force in the global market, earned 945.5 billion won ($820 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, it said in a statement Thursday. Hyundai Motor Co. reported net profit of 243.5 billion won the same period the year before.

The Ulsan, South Korea-based maker of the Elantra and Sonata sedans and the luxury Genesis said sales during the quarter rose 9.3 percent to 9.65 trillion won from 8.83 trillion won a year earlier.

For all of 2009, Hyundai recorded a net profit of 2.96 trillion won, more than doubling from 1.45 trillion won in 2008. Sales for the year, however, fell 1 percent to 31.9 trillion won from 32.2 trillion.

GM Aims Incentives At Fearful Toyota Owners

General Motors is offering interest-free loans and other incentives to Toyota owners who may want to get rid of their cars due to fears about faulty gas pedals.

GM General Manager of Retail Sales Steve Hill said Wednesday the company is responding to thousands of inquiries from Toyota owners.

The Detroit automaker is offering offer zero percent financing for 60 months on most models. It also will offer $1,000 to Toyota owners toward a down payment on a GM vehicle and up to $1,000 to help to pay off current leases early. The offers run through the end of February.

From the Wall Street Journal Report

Passings: 'Catcher In The Rye' Author J.D. Salinger

J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose "The Catcher in the Rye" shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.

Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author's son said in a statement from Salinger's longtime literary representative, Harold Ober Agency. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H.

"The Catcher in the Rye," with its immortal teenage protagonist, the twisted, rebellious Holden Caulfield, came out in 1951, a time of anxious, Cold War conformity and the dawn of modern adolescence. The Book-of-the-Month Club, which made "Catcher" a featured selection, advised that for "anyone who has ever brought up a son" the novel will be "a source of wonder and delight -- and concern."

Enraged by all the "phonies" who make "me so depressed I go crazy," Holden soon became American literature's most famous anti-hero since Huckleberry Finn. The novel's sales are astonishing - more than 60 million copies worldwide - and its impact incalculable. Decades after publication, the book remains a defining expression of that most American of dreams: to never grow up.

Salinger was writing for adults, but teenagers from all over identified with the novel's themes of alienation, innocence and fantasy, not to mention the luck of having the last word. "Catcher" presents the world as an ever-so-unfair struggle between the goodness of young people and the corruption of elders, a message that only intensified with the oncoming generation gap.

Novels from Evan Hunter's "The Blackboard Jungle" to Curtis Sittenfeld's "Prep," movies from "Rebel Without a Cause" to "The Breakfast Club," and countless rock 'n' roll songs echoed Salinger's message of kids under siege. One of the great anti-heroes of the 1960s, Benjamin Braddock of "The Graduate," was but a blander version of Salinger's narrator.

"'Catcher in the Rye' made a very powerful and surprising impression on me," said Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon, who read the book, as so many did, when he was in middle school. "Part of it was the fact that our seventh grade teacher was actually letting us read such a book. But mostly it was because 'Catcher' had such a recognizable authenticity in the voice that even in 1977 or so, when I read it, felt surprising and rare in literature."

The cult of "Catcher" turned tragic in 1980 when crazed Beatles fan Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon, citing Salinger's novel as an inspiration and stating that "this extraordinary book holds many answers."

By the 21st century, Holden himself seemed relatively mild, but Salinger's book remained a standard in school curriculums and was discussed on countless Web sites and a fan page on Facebook.

On the Web Thursday, there was an outpouring of sadness for the loss of Salinger, as many flocked together on social networks to relate their memories of "Catcher in the Rye." Topics such as "Salinger" and "Holden Caufield" were among the most popular on Twitter. CNN's Larry King tweeted that "Catcher" is his favorite book. Humorist John Hodgman wrote: "I prefer to think JD Salinger has just decided to become extra reclusive."

Salinger's other books don't equal the influence or sales of "Catcher," but they are still read, again and again, with great affection and intensity. Critics, at least briefly, rated Salinger as a more accomplished and daring short story writer than John Cheever.

The collection "Nine Stories" features the classic "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," the deadpan account of a suicidal Army veteran and the little girl he hopes, in vain, will save him. The novel "Franny and Zooey," like "Catcher," is a youthful, obsessively articulated quest for redemption, featuring a memorable argument between Zooey and his mother as he attempts to read in the bathtub.

"Everyone who works here and writes here at The New Yorker, even now, decades after his silence began, does so with a keen awareness of J.D. Salinger's voice," said David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, where many of Salinger's stories appeared. "In fact, he is so widely read in America, and read with such intensity, that it's hard to think of any reader, young and old, who does not carry around the voices of Holden Caulfield or Glass family members."

"Catcher," narrated from a mental facility, begins with Holden recalling his expulsion from a Pennsylvania boarding school for failing four classes and for general apathy.

He returns home to Manhattan, where his wanderings take him everywhere from a Times Square hotel to a rainy carousel ride with his kid sister, Phoebe, in Central Park. He decides he wants to escape to a cabin out West, but scorns questions about his future as just so much phoniness.

"I mean how do you know what you're going to do till you do it?" he reasons. "The answer is, you don't. I think I am, but how do I know? I swear it's a stupid question."

"The Catcher in the Rye" became both required and restricted reading, periodically banned by a school board or challenged by parents worried by its frank language and the irresistible chip on Holden's shoulder.

"I'm aware that a number of my friends will be saddened, or shocked, or shocked-saddened, over some of the chapters of 'The Catcher in the Rye.' Some of my best friends are children. In fact, all of my best friends are children," Salinger wrote in 1955, in a short note for "20th Century Authors."

"It's almost unbearable to me to realize that my book will be kept on a shelf out of their reach," he added.

Salinger also wrote the novellas "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" and "Seymour - An Introduction," both featuring the neurotic, fictional Glass family that appeared in much of his work

His last published story, "Hapworth 16, 1928," ran in The New Yorker in 1965. By then, he was increasingly viewed like a precocious child whose manner had soured from cute to insufferable. "Salinger was the greatest mind ever to stay in prep school," Norman Mailer once commented.

In 1997, it was announced that "Hapworth" would be reissued as a book - prompting a (negative) New York Times review. The book, in typical Salinger style, didn't appear. In 1999, New Hampshire neighbor Jerry Burt said the author had told him years earlier that he had written at least 15 unpublished books kept locked in a safe at his home.

Jerome David Salinger was born Jan. 1, 1919, in New York City. His father was a wealthy importer of cheeses and meat and the family lived for years on Park Avenue.

Like Holden, Salinger was an indifferent student with a history of trouble in various schools. He was sent to Valley Forge Military Academy at age 15, where he wrote at night by flashlight beneath the covers and eventually earned his only diploma. In 1940, he published his first fiction, "The Young Folks," in Story magazine.

He served in the Army from 1942 to 1946, carrying a typewriter with him most of the time, writing "whenever I can find the time and an unoccupied foxhole," he told a friend.

Returning to New York, the lean, dark-haired Salinger pursued an intense study of Zen Buddhism but also cut a gregarious figure in the bars of Greenwich Village, where he astonished acquaintances with his proficiency in rounding up dates. One drinking buddy, author A.E. Hotchner, would remember Salinger as the proud owner of an "ego of cast iron," contemptuous of writers and writing schools, convinced that he was the best thing to happen to American letters since Herman Melville.

The world had come calling for Salinger, but Salinger was bolting the door. By 1952, he had migrated to Cornish. Three years later, he married Claire Douglas, with whom he had two children, Peggy and Matthew, before their 1967 divorce. (Salinger was also briefly married in the 1940s to a woman named Sylvia; little else is known about her.)

Meanwhile, he refused interviews, instructing his agent not to forward fan mail and reportedly spending much of his time writing in a cement bunker. Sanity, apparently, could only come through seclusion.

From The New Yorker, Twitter, Facebook; AP writer Norma Love in Concord, N.H., and Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle in New York contributed to this report.

Destination Phobos: humanity's next giant leap

The largest of Mars's two moons is poised to become our next outpost in space.
— New Scientist

N.L. residents puzzled by 'oversized bullets' in sky

Newfoundland residents are wondering if soaring objects were missiles.
— National Post

'Poltergeist' Actress Zelda Rubinstein Dies at 76

The 4-foot-3-inch actress was best known as the psychic in 1982 horror film.
— Associated Press

Venus Flytrap for Nuclear Waste

New material shows promise for clean-up.
— Science Daily

New Theory of Primate Origins Sparks Controversy

Evolution of humans & other primates may have been driven by volcanic eruptions and the parting of continents.
— LiveScience

Many children 'hear voices'; most aren't bothered

Nearly 1 in 10 seven- to eight-year-olds hears voices that aren't really there, according to a new study.
— Reuters

Historic Area-51 UFO photo comes to light

Norio Hayakawa shares details about 1990 photo.
— All News Web

Faster than the speed of sound: the man who falls to earth

Daredevil Felix Baumgartner plans to skydive from the edge of space.
— The Independent

Pluto's Little Sister Found?

When it comes to objects in the Kuiper Belt, the vast, icy ring that encircles our solar system, size matters.
— Discovery News

It's About Time: A Ouija Board Just For Her

Hasbro has introduced a "just for girls" Ouija board.
— Geekologie

The face of first contact: What aliens look like

A blend of astronomy and earthly biology offers some clues to what is out there.
— New Scientist

Pensioner astonished by 'double banana'

One skin contained two bananas.
— The Telegraph

Humans Caused Demise of Australia's Megafauna, Evidence Shows

Humans and megafauna only co-existed for a relatively short time after people inhabited Australia.
— Science Daily

Experts stunned by swan 'divorce'

It is only the second time in more than 40 years that a "separation" has been recorded at wildfowl sanctuary.
— BBC News

Beware of the Devil Dogs

Nick Redfern weighs in on tales of mysterious black dogs in English lore.
— Mania.com

NASA Garage Sale Includes Shuttles, Engines, Space Suits

Space agency selling soon-to-be-deactivated shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour.
— Wired

The lake that has no bottom ...

A look at the surprisingly prevalent 'bottomless lake' mythos.
— Charles Fort Institute

Historic Bentley snowflakes photos for sale in US

Pictures, believed to be the first ever taken of snowflakes, go up for auction.
— BBC News

The Scientific Study of UFOs: Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

An in-depth examination of the infamous Condon Report.
— The Big Study

White House To Dole Out $8B For Fast Trains

High-speed rail projects in California, Florida and Illinois are among the big winners of $8 billion in grants to be announced Thursday by the White House -- the start of what some Democrats tout as a national rail-building program that could rival the interstate highways begun in the Eisenhower era.

Thirteen rail corridors in 31 states received funds. The White House, which supplied a list of the grants to reporters late Wednesday, billed the program as "high-speed rail," although most U.S. projects won't reach the speeds seen in Europe and Asia. California's trains would be by far the fastest, exceeding the 200 mph achieved by some trains overseas.

Some of the money will go toward trains with top speeds of 110 mph, while other funds -- such as the $400 million allotted to Ohio to connect Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati by rail - will be for trains traveling no faster than 79 mph.

Both the president and vice-president are expected to pitch the program as a boost to the economy at a town hall meeting Thursday in Tampa, Fla. A half-dozen Cabinet members and other senior administration officials were scheduled to fan out across the country for rail events Thursday and Friday. The White House said rail projects will create or save thousands of jobs in areas like track laying, manufacturing, planning, engineering and rail maintenance and operations.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and members of Congress have acknowledged they expect much of the expertise and equipment to be supplied by foreign companies. Except for Amtrak's Acela line between Boston and Washington, there are no high-speed trains in the U.S. and no domestic high-speed rail industry.

Congress set aside the $8 billion as part of the economic recovery plan enacted last year. The money is just a start. Last year, Obama asked Congress in his budget request for an additional $1 billion a year for five years. Congress for this year approved another $2.5 billion that remains to be awarded. And Obama is expected to ask for yet more rail funds when his budget is presented next week. Also, LaHood has hinted that some of the $1.5 billion allotted in the stimulus plan for discretionary transportation projects may go toward high-speed rail.

Japan launched the first high-speed trains in 1964, and France and other European countries followed in the 1980s and 1990s. China has announced plans to expand its high-speed rail system to a network of more than 16,000 miles by the year 2020 at an estimated cost of $300 billion.

In the U.S., only the projects in California and Florida are planned to reach maximum speeds of 150 mph or more, what most transportation experts consider high-speed rail.

Projects awarded the largest grants include:

-- California: $2.3 billion to begin work on an 800-mile-long, high-speed rail line tying Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles and San Diego.

-- Florida: $1.25 billion to build a rail line connecting Tampa on the West Coast with Orlando in the middle of the state, eventually going south to Miami.

-- Illinois-Missouri: $1.1 billion to improve a rail line between Chicago and St. Louis so that trains travel up to 110 mph.

-- Wisconsin: $810 million to upgrade and refurbish train stations and install safety equipment on the Madison-to-Milwaukee leg of a line that stretches from Minneapolis to Chicago.

-- Washington-Oregon: $590 million to upgrade a rail line from Seattle to Portland, Ore.

-- North Carolina: $520 million for projects that will increase top speeds to 90 mph on trains between Raleigh and Charlotte and double the number of round trips.

By spreading the $8 billion among so many states, Obama is ignoring the advice of transportation experts and high-speed rail advocates who said the best way to build continuing political support for the program would be to concentrate on two or three grants large enough to get a high-speed line up and running. Once that happens, they reasoned, other parts of the country would lobby for more money to build their own lines.

"We can't try to touch as many political bases as we can with that money. We have got to do major projects," Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said in a recent interview.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., disagreed. "You really have to look at local and regional approaches to create the political will to expand the program," he said.

Rep. John Mica of Florida, the senior Republican on the House transportation committee, complained that the Midwest lines awarded grants will achieve top speeds of only 110 mph and were "selected more for political reasons than for high-speed service."

Links:

High Speed Rail Viewed As More Pork - Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Michelle Malkin

Developing: Winter Storm Watch Issued For North Georgia

A winter storm watch has been issued for parts of north Georgia on Thursday morning.

Counties under the watch include Banks, Clay, Dawson, Fannin, Gilmer, Habersham, Hall, Lumpin, Rabun, Towns, Union and White counties.

The winter storm watch is in effect from Friday evening through Saturday afternoon. Rain will develop on Friday and then turn to snow by Friday evening across the north Georgia mountains.

The snow could be mixed with sleet and freezing rain at times, especially after midnight Friday and into early Saturday morning. Snow and sleet accumulations could be 3 to 6 inches in the mountains and 1 to 3 inches at lower elevations.

Ice accumulations due to freezing rain are also possible early Saturday morning, especially across portions of northeast Georgia.

Watch for pictures - we'll post them as soon as they start coming in.

Fed Holds Rates At Record Low To Aid Recovery

The Federal Reserve pledged Wednesday to hold rates at record lows to nurture the economic recovery and lower unemployment. But its decision drew a dissent from one member, signaling the Fed's challenge in deciding when to pull back stimulus money it pumped into the economy.

The Fed's statement sketched a mixed picture of the economy. Pointing to weakness, it noted that bank lending is contracting. And it dropped a reference in its previous statement to an improving housing market.

But on the positive side, the Fed said business spending on equipment and software seems to be rising. And it said economic activity "continues to strengthen."

The Fed said it still expects to end a $1.25 trillion program aimed at driving down mortgage rates as scheduled on March 31. Yet it reiterated that it remains open to changing that timetable if necessary. Reports on home sales this week pointed to a still-fragile housing market.

The Fed member who opposed the decision to retain a pledge to keep rates at record lows for an "extended period" was Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Hoenig said the economy has improved sufficiently to drop the pledge, which has been in place for nearly a year.

With the economy on the mend, the Fed this year can focus on how and when to pull back the stimulus money pumped out to fight the financial crisis. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will lead that effort now that his prospects for another four-year term have improved. The Senate is slated to vote on his confirmation on Thursday. Bernanke's term expires Jan. 31.

Bernanke and his colleagues will need to tread delicately. Reeling in the stimulus too soon risks short-circuiting the recovery, sending unemployment higher. If they move too late, they could unleash inflation.

Taking stock of the economy, Fed policymakers said the deterioration in the job market is easing and consumers are spending moderately. But they warned that double-digit unemployment, lackluster income growth and tight credit could crimp that spending.

Against that backdrop, the Fed kept its target range for its bank lending rate at zero to 0.25 percent, where it's stood since December 2008. In response, commercial banks' prime lending rate, used to peg rates on home equity loans, certain credit cards and other consumer loans, will remain about 3.25 percent. That's its lowest point in decades.

Super-low interest rates are good for borrowers who can get a loan and are willing to take on more debt. But those same low rates hurt savers. They're especially hard on people living on fixed incomes who are earning measly returns on savings accounts and certificates of deposit.

In its statement, the Fed says it can keep rates low because inflation shouldn't be a problem. It said "slack" in the economy - referring to factories operating at less than full throttle and the weak labor market - will prevent companies from jacking up prices.

Nonetheless, the Fed "sees the light at the end of the tunnel for the economy," said Sung Won Sohn, economist at California State University. "Uncertainties in the economy have diminished."

With credit clogs easing, the Fed said Wednesday that it plans to wind down by March 8 an emergency lending program - dubbed the Term Auction Facility -- that provides banks with low-cost loans.

It also repeated its intentions of dismantling a handful of other emergency lending programs set up during the financial crisis on Feb. 1, when they are set to expire.

Most of them haven't been used in months by banks or other firms as credit conditions have improved. Those programs include Fed efforts to backstop the "commercial paper" market. This involves short-term financing used by companies for expenses such as salaries and supplies. Another program slated to end bolstered the money market mutual fund industry.

Fed programs to provide emergency loans to investment firms and another program for financial institutions to swap risky securities for super-safe Treasury securities also will end Feb. 1. The Fed also made clear that it will be wind down by then a "swap" program with the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank to provide them with U.S. dollars, which had been in high demand during the crisis.

The end of these programs shouldn't have much economic impact because most have fallen out of use. A recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s is under way, helped by the enormous government stimulus aid. But some question whether the recovery can last once those supports are pulled. And unemployment, now at 10 percent, is likely to remain high and drag on the recovery. Meanwhile, lending is still not back to normal. Banks are still failing.

On Thursday, the Senate has scheduled a vote on his confirmation for a second term. The vote requires a 60-vote majority in the 100-member Senate to overcome procedural obstacles from Bernanke's Senate critics. But Bernanke appears to have solidified his support in the Senate after the White House stepped in to quell rising opposition late last week.

Opponents - a mix of Democrats and Republicans -- are angry over the Fed's role in bailing out Wall Street firms. They also blame Bernanke for failing to detect and address problems, especially a housing bubble, that led to the crisis.

The Wall Street Journal; WSB; CalState University

Late Breaking

Toyota Recalls 1 Million Additional Vehicles

Toyota Motor Corp. says it will recall an additional 1.09 million vehicles in the United States over floor mat problems.

Toyota said the recall would affect five models -- 2008-2010 Highlander, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Venza, 2009-2010 Matrix, and 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe.

The fresh recall comes after the automaker said it would halt sales for the eight models - which make up more than half of Toyota's U.S. sales volume - to fix the gas pedals. Last week, Toyota issued a recall for the same eight models, affecting 2.3 million vehicles.

A private firm said it had identified 275 crashes and 18 deaths because of sudden, uncontrollable acceleration in Toyotas since 1999.

UPDATE LINKS:

Can Toyota Recover?

Fix In The Works

360 Degrees: Blog Sponsor Ad - January 10

Rare Disease Kills A Dozen Dogs At Shelter

The State Agriculture Department imposed a quarantine at the Paulding County animal shelter after dogs contracted a rare form of strep. It's the first time the disease, usually seen in horses, has been reported in dogs in Georgia, researchers said.

"It didn't appear to be anything we've ever seen before. The dog seemed healthy one day and literally dead the next," said shelter director Tracy Thompson.

The animal shelter has been shut down temporarily. The remaining dogs are on penicillin and Thompson said everything is being washed with bleach. The quarantine will be lifted and they'll open back up after they've gone seven days without any of the dogs being sick.

The last day a dog was sick was Jan. 24. The shelter hopes to reopen Monday.

Testing at University of Georgia determined the dogs were getting strep zoo. No one is sure yet how the dogs got the disease. One couple was surprised when they came to drop off their cats at the shelter.

Thompson said Douglas County is helping people in Paulding County find shelters. They can contact the Douglas County shelter to see if they have room to take strays found in Paulding.

County Clerk Accused Of Pocketing $3,800

A former clerk for the Fayette County Solicitors Office is accused of stealing taxpayer money.

Investigators said Sabrina Miller, 38, of Fayetteville, took $3,800 of county funds designated for pre-trial intervention, victim restitution and converted warrant dismissal fees for personal use.

The theft occurred from late 2008 to October 2009 during Miller's employment at the solicitor's office, said investigators. The irregularities were discovered during a review of finances and subsequently reported to District Attorney Scott Ballard. Miller is charged with one count of felony theft by taking.

The State of The Union: Report & Analysis

Obama Declares 'I Don't Quit' In State Of Union

Declaring "I don't quit,'" an embattled President Barack Obama vowed in his first State of the Union address Wednesday night to make job growth his topmost priority and urged a divided Congress to boost the still-ailing economy with fresh stimulus spending. Defiant despite stinging setbacks, he said he would not abandon ambitious plans for longer-term fixes to health care, energy, education and more.

"Change has not come fast enough," Obama said before a politician-packed House chamber and a TV audience of millions. "As hard as it may be, as uncomfortable and contentious as the debates may be, it's time to get serious about fixing the problems that are hampering our growth."

Obama looked to change the conversation from how his presidency is stalling -- over the messy health care debate, a limping economy and the missteps that led to Christmas Day's barely averted terrorist disaster -- to how he is seizing the reins.

A chief demand was for lawmakers to press forward with his prized health care overhaul, which is in severe danger in Congress, and to resist the temptation to substitute a smaller-bore solution for the far-reaching changes he wants.

"Do not walk away from reform," he implored. "Not now. Not when we are so close."

Republicans applauded the president when he entered the chamber, and even craned their necks and welcomed Michelle Obama when she took her seat. But the warm feelings of bipartisanship disappeared early.

Democrats jumped to their feet and roared when Obama said he wanted to impose a new fee on banks, while Republicans sat stone-faced. Democrats stood and applauded when Obama mentioned the economic stimulus package passed last February. Republicans sat and stared.

On national security, Obama proclaimed some success, saying that "far more" al-Qaida terrorists were killed under his watch last year in the U.S.-led global fight than in 2008.

Hoping to salve growing disappointment in a key constituency, Obama said he would work with Congress "this year" to repeal the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. But in a concession to concern about the move among Republicans and on his own party's right flank, Obama neither made a commitment to suspend the practice in the interim nor issued a firm deadline for action.

The president devoted about two-thirds of his speech to the economic worries foremost on Americans' minds, emphasizing his ideas, some new but mostly old and explained anew, for restoring job growth, taming budget deficits and changing a polarized Washington "where every day is Election Day." These concerns are at the roots of voter emotions that once drove supporters to Obama but now are turning on him as he governs.

Declaring that "I know the anxieties" of Americans' struggling to pay the bills while big banks get bailouts and bonuses, Obama prodded Congress to enact a second stimulus package "without delay," specifying that it should contain a range of measures to help small businesses and funding for infrastructure projects. Also, fine tuning a plan first announced in October, Obama said he will initiate a $30 billion program to provide money to community banks at low rates, provided they agree to increase lending to small businesses. The money would come from balances left in the $700 billion Wall Street rescue fund -- a program "about as popular as a root canal" that he made of point of saying "I hated."

Acknowledging frustration at the government's habit of spending more than it has -- and yet placing much blame on Republicans for record deficits, he said he would veto any bills that do not adhere to his demand for a three-year freeze on some domestic spending (while proposing a 6.2 percent, or $4 billion, increase in the popular arena of education). He announced a new, though nonbinding bipartisan deficit-reduction task force (while supporting the debt-financed jobs bill). And he said he would cut $20 billion on inefficient programs in next year's budget and "go through the budget line by line" to find more.

Positioning himself as a fighter for the regular guy and a different kind of leader, he urged Congress to require lobbyists to disclose all contacts with lawmakers or members of his administration and to blunt the impact of last week's Supreme Court decision allowing corporations greater flexibility in supporting or opposing candidates.

Even before Obama spoke, some of the new proposals, many revealed by the White House in advance, were dismissed -- on the right or the left -- as poorly targeted or too modest to make a difference. And one of Obama's economic point men, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was verbally pummeled by Democrats and Republicans alike over his role in the $180 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG Inc., a venting of the public's anger about Wall Street.

GOP: Nation Can't Afford Dem Policies

In the Republican response to Obama's speech, Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia showed no sign of his party capitulating to the president.

In fact, the choice of McDonnell to represent Republicans was symbolic, meant to showcase recent GOP election victories by him and others. McDonnell reflected the anti-big government sentiment that helped lead to their wins, saying in excerpts from his own post-speech remarks that Americans want good health care they can afford, just not by turning over "the best medical care system in the world to the federal government." McDonnell spoke live from the Virginia House of Delegates before an audience of about 300 friends, family, supporters and members of his administration.

McDonnell, in excerpts of his speech released in advance, said Democratic policies are resulting in an unsustainable level of debt. He said Americans want affordable health care, but they don't want the government to run it.

"Top-down, one-size-fits-all decision-making should not replace the personal choices of free people in a free market, nor undermine the proper role of state and local governments in our system of federalism," McDonnell said.

"All Americans agree, we need a health care system that is affordable, accessible, and high quality," McDonnell said. "But most Americans do not want to turn over the best medical care system in the world to the federal government."

Republicans are feeling emboldened following a string of GOP victories at the polls, including a stunning win by Republican Scott Brown last week in a special Senate election in Massachusetts. Since then, Obama has amped up his populist rhetoric and promised a renewed focus on job creation.

Republicans said they want Obama to change more than his rhetoric. They complain that a $787 billion economic stimulus package enacted last year did not do enough to increase employment. And they oppose Obama's plan to let income tax cuts expire next year for families making more than $250,000 a year.

"This isn't about a pivot in terms of his message," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "I think that most Americans know that actions speak louder than words."

McDonnell cited several areas of agreement with the president. On education, he said he agrees with Obama's proposal to increase the number of charter schools. On national defense, he said he agrees with Obama's plan send an additional 30,0000 troops to Afghanistan.

However, McDonnell said, Republicans have "serious concerns" about the administration's treatment of suspected terrorists. The remark was an apparent reference to the arrest of Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a plane as it approached Detroit on Christmas. Some Republicans have complained that the man is being tried in a civilian court rather than a military court.

In a new twist for Republicans, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., will tape a Spanish-language version of the Republican response. Diaz-Balart's speech will be carried by Spanish-language media.

From WSB/ABC; FOX News