Posted: 11:19 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010
HOPE Needs Help; Escalade Is Thieves' Top Target; Tied Woman Types SOS With Toes; Why Lady Gaga Avoids Sex; Bill Cosby Says He Is Not Dead (VIDEO)
By Veronica Waters
- HOPE isn't dead, but it will need a makeover to keep it springing eternal. Sales of Georgia Lottery tickets are no longer enough to fund the HOPE Scholarship, and a huge shortfall is projected. It's caused by a "perfect storm" of sorts, with more students than ever before qualifying for the program with B averages. Plus, tuition rises every year at Georgia's public universities. Without enough money to cover every student's expenses, lawmakers may alter the program by eliminating book and fee stipends; instituting an income cap; or making it a grant not tied to tuition.
- Investigators say more than 100 educators should face punishment or scrutiny after they found evidence of cheating at 58 Atlanta schools. The review shows 30 administrators and 48 teachers suspected of changing student answers on the CRCTs. Investigators say the school superintendent, Dr. Beverly Hall, had nothing to do with it.
- A woman on Glenwood Avenue who was tied to her bed by a home invader overnight sends a message for help--with her feet. Police say the 39-year-old used her toes to tap out an e-mail to her boyfriend, since the laptop was next to her on the bed. When Atlanta Police responded to his 911 call, they found Aimee Windom, still bound. She was not injured. The crook got away with her 2009 white Acura. As for why he took her car, but not her computer: she says she convinced the man that she needed to keep it because it has important information for work on it. Windom says when she tried to type with her toes, she discovered it was pretty difficult--so she ended up wrapping her toes around the power cord, and using the cord's tip to tap out her SOS.
- A former assistant to ex-Atlanta Hawk Lorenzen Wright claims his ex-wife threatened him--and that she has the tapes to prove it. Wendy Wilson tells a Memphis TV station that she recorded conversations with Sherra Wright in which she threatened to have her hubby "F'ed up" if she caught him with someone else. Lorenzen Wright asked her to safeguard the tapes, Wilson says. Cops searched Sherra Wright's home Sunday. Her divorce lawyer describes her as a devoted mother of six with money troubles because Wright didn't keep up with his child support payments. The 34-year-old had reportedly not paid the $26,000-per-month since November.
- In KISS news about your health: Is low-carb or low-fat better? New research from Temple University suggests a low-carb diet allows you to lose as much weight as a low-fat one--and it might be better for your heart, too. A two-year study found while everybody improved their cholesterol, the low-carb dieters got nearly double the boost in their "good" cholesterol.
Average weight loss was about the same--7 percent of body weight. - UGA wins a national title: top party school. The Princeton Review's infamous annual list is based on voluntary e-mail surveys of students nationwide. The Athens school has been in the top 10 before, but never headed up the rankings until this year.
- While some Smyrna residents protest, saying they're worried about a gun factory in the front yard, the Smyrna City Council unanimously approved plans by Glock to expand its assembly plant on Highlands Parkway. A rep for Glock tried to reassure neighbors at the meeting there is no safety threat. Glock will level 18 acres to for the expansion; some residents may sue.
- The A-list favorite Cadillac Escalade SUV has a lot of bling, but some owners might not have them very long. The Highway Loss Data Institute says the Escalade is the top target of car thieves; apparently, crooks like a combo of chrome, horsepower and flash. The F-250 crew cab pickup, Infiniti G37 two-door, Dodge Charger HEMI and Chevrolet Corvette Z06 round out the top five.The most theft-proof vehicles include the family-friendly Volvo S80, Honda Pilot and Saturn Vue.
- A second Democrat in the House now faces ethics charges. California Congresswoman Maxine Waters denies any improper behavior. An advisory panel says she arranged a meeting between Treasury officials and representatives of a bank in which her husband had a financial stake.
- Debate starts today, and the Senate hopes to confirm Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court before the end of the week. Solicitor General Kagan would become the fourth woman to sit on the court.
- Lady Gaga is out with a remix album dropping today, just as her Vanity Fair cover debuts for the September issue. She talks sex, drugs and loneliness in the article. Gaga says she is celibate because she fears sex takes away her creativity--through her vagina.
- Bill Cosby is not dead. The funny man says the fourth Twitter-fueled rumor that he has passed away prompted a call from his frantic daughter as well as Malcolm-Jamal Warner's mother and other friends and he concludes, "People are not amused by this." To dispel the rumors of his death, Cosby called into CNN's "Larry King Live" for a live interview with guest host Kyra Phillips. And he says friends of the person who's starting the lies should "just tell them to stop because it isn't funny."
- The KISS 104.1 weather forecast: partly cloudy skies, with a muggy high of 90.
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