A bank foreclosure and eviction goes horribly wrong when the former homeowner took four firefighters hostage in a suburban Atlanta, Georgia neighborhood on Wednesday.

The gunman who took four Georgia firefighters hostage Wednesday has been shot and killed, reportedly by SWAT-team members. One police officer was wounded, and all four firefighters have been taken to the hospital for minor injuries. The hostage scene erupted Wednesday afternoon after firefighters responded to a 911 call from a man saying he was having a heart attack at a home near Atlanta, police said. The gunman reportedly was holding the firefighters hostage over demands his utilities and cable be turned back on.

Initially five firefighters were held, but the gunman released one in order to move the fire truck.

NBC Atlanta 11 Alive:

According to authorities, police used a "flash bang grenade" to distract the suspect when they felt their officers were in "immediate danger" on the scene.

All four of the firefighters taken hostage are safe and sustained superficial wounds during their recovery effort and one Gwinnett County officer was injured. According to authorities, the officers injuries are non-life threatening.

A sheriff's deputy said the gunman is upset that the house is in foreclosure, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

According to property tax records, the home where the firefighters were being held was foreclosed on in November 2012 by Wells Fargo, and the mortgage then sold to Fannie Mae.

Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Edwin Ritter said the unidentified gunman was facing eviction and wanted the power turned back on.

The identity of the deceased has not yet been released pending notification of next of kin.

Dr. Paul Broun, a Republican congressman representing Georgia's 10th district and chairman of the United States House Science Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, spoke at the Liberty Baptist Church Sportsman's Banquet on September 27, 2012, in Hartwell, Georgia. Also a medical doctor by trade, Broun made clear just how substantial an impact the bible has in his everyday decision-making:

"God's word is true. I've come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell. And it's lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior. You see, there are a lot of scientific data that I've found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I don't believe that the Earth's but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That's what the Bible says."

"And what I've come to learn is that it's the manufacturer's handbook, is what I call it. It teaches us how to run our lives individually, how to run our families, how to run our churches. But it teaches us how to run all of public policy and everything in society. And that's the reason as your congressman I hold the Holy Bible as being the major directions to me of how I vote in Washington, D.C., and I'll continue to do that."

A hardcore biblical literalist on the House Science Committee should come as no surprise though, considering another prominent member of the committee is Rep.Todd Akin, but it's still beyond embarrassing for our nation.

I am a bit surprised now that we're not being forced to celebrate a "National Flat Earth Day," or something of that sort.

[Via]

A recent Atlanta news report details instances of foreclosure fraud in Georgia and how Georgia officials fail to take prosecutorial action despite a new law that makes foreclosure fraud a felony, punishable by fines and jail time.

Voting Rights Act: The State of Section 5

by Suevon Lee ProPublica, Aug. 30, 2012,

Aug. 30: This post has been updated.

A single provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been playing a key role on the election front this year. Section 5 has blocked photo voter-ID laws, prohibited reduced early-voting periods in parts of Florida and just Tuesday barred new redistricting maps in Texas.

It's the reason South Carolina is in federal court this week to try to convince a three-judge panel its photo voter-ID law will not disenfranchise minorities. It's the reason that Texas went to trial on the same issue last month — and on Thursday, lost.

Not surprisingly, then, Section 5 is increasingly the target of attack by those who say it is outdated, discriminatory against Southern states and unconstitutional.

Under the provision, certain states and localities with a history of anti-minority election practices must obtain federal approval or "preclearance" before making changes to voting laws. In present day, that requirement is burdensome, "needlessly aggressive" and based on outdated coverage criteria, two petitions filed in July with the U.S. Supreme Court argue.

Section 5 applies to nine states — Texas, South Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia and Alaska — and currently to parts of Florida, California, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota, Michigan and New Hampshire. The original coverage formula looked at whether states imposed unfair devices like literacy tests in November 1964, whether less than 50 percent of the voting-age population was registered to vote as of that date, or if less than 50 percent of eligible voters voted in the November 1964 presidential election. In 1975, the formula expanded to include jurisdictions that provided election materials only in English when members of a language minority made up more than 5 percent of voting-age citizens.

Momentum is building at the highest levels to narrow or even eliminate this provision. In a 2009 majority opinion to a Section 5 challenge from Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 in Texas, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that preclearance and the coverage formula "raise serious constitutional questions," though the justices didn't settle them at the time. In January, in a separate concurrence to the judgment in the Texas redistricting case, Justice Clarence Thomas stated that Section 5 is unconstitutional (for more on how that case reached the Supreme Court, see our previous explainer).

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CBS Atlanta 46

Tocco Collins knew there were problems with the Atlanta home she rented for herself and her children, but the company that she paid her rent to, the Real Estate Connection, promised that they would take care of everything.

Via:

The single mother of 12 said she waited seven months, but nothing was repaired. Collins said shortly thereafter, disaster struck.

"My biggest nightmare came of August 2011 when my light box caught on fire. Georgia Power disconnected my service because it was too dangerous," Collins said.

Collins and her family have been using a generator for the last 10 months. She said she stopped paying rent when her supposed landlord refused to make repairs. They took Collins to court in an attempt to get her evicted and that is when she said she discovered the shocking truth.

"No one could provide the deed to the house. The people renting me the house don't own it," Collins said.

Now the "fake" landlords have disappeared, Collins has no place to live and she said the state is trying to take her children.

Occupy Atlanta is now working with the family, and the group hopes that with the public's help, they can purchase a home for them. Volunteer plumbers, electricians, and carpenters will do renovations. Occupy Atlanta already has a good deal of experience working within their community, and helping families in need. I'll keep you posted on any updates.

Roswell's 'Chicken Man' Presumed Dead After House Explosion: MyFoxATLANTA.com

Tragic: Andrew Wordes, 53, of Roswell, Georgia wanted to raise chickens on his property more than anything, however city ordinances prohibited livestock in his area, and officials refused to grant a permit for him to do so. Many citations and code violations later, Wordes -- who became known locally as the "Chicken Man" -- was sent to jail over the chickens and fell behind on his mortgage and soon faced eviction. Friends and neighbors say that the the ongoing legal troubles "took a toll on Wordes".

Via:

On Monday, Wordes called a reporter with the local news and asked him to come to the house. When Mike Petchenik, the reporter, pulled up in the WSBTV truck, he saw Fulton County Marshalls trying to speak to Wordes through the front door. They were trying to evict him from the home.
Wordes denied them entry to his home and refused to come out.

In a two hour stand-off, Wordes spoke to Petchenik on the phone, and told him to get the Marshals off his property. His last words to Petchenik were: "I appreciate everything, brother. I appreciate everything you've done. I can't tell you what's going to happen, it ain't pretty, though."

Antonio Johnson, one of the Marshals on the scene said: “Once he advised us to leave his property, we retreated. And that’s when the explosion happened.”

The explosion shook both the house and the neighborhood and the remains of a charred body were found, which has now been confirmed to be that of Wordes.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) drafts model legislation to be replicated in states across the country, including harsh anti-union laws. In Georgia, a state that was a cradle of the Civil Rights Movement, proposed legislation would levy fines of up to $10,000 per day against groups organizing rallies. Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams talks about how SB 469 would stifle free speech: “While we celebrate democracy abroad, they’re seeking to stifle it at home.”

This video is from Occupy Atlanta, taken during their protests on Monday at local Chase Bank branch offices. The protests led to the arrests of 14 occupiers who say their efforts won't be deterred.

AJC:

Occupy Atlanta protests at five Chase banks led to 14 arrests Monday in the Atlanta area, according to police.

In the city of Atlanta, six protesters were arrested at the Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard branch in west Atlanta as locks were being placed on the doors, Sgt. Curtis Davenport with Atlanta police told the AJC.

Eight other protesters were arrested at a branch off Moreland Avenue in DeKalb County, Mekka Parish, DeKalb police spokeswoman, said Monday afternoon.

Sofia Lipko, one of the Occupy Atlanta organizers, told the AJC the latest arrests won't deter the group's efforts to fight what she said was corporate greed.

"I think every bank had a different reaction," Lipko, who was not among those arrested Monday, said in a phone interview. "In Mechanicsville, they (police) were giving no warning. There were six (protesters) handcuffed and arrested.”

This video is the successful appeal of one Georgia couple, Ken and Meredith Williams to convince Bank of America to finally close on the couple's home loan. The pair launched a no-holds-barred social media campaign against the bank, to convince them to close a loan that had been delayed for more than two months.

“All I want is to have a home, and a front yard for my garden gnome. Bank you’ve got to close this loan!” Williams sings at the end of the song. “We can sign the papers and grab a beer, then you take my money for 30 years. Bank you’ve got to close this loan!”

In late September, a senior mortgage officer told the Williamses that the $203,000 loan they had applied for to buy a home in Decatur, Ga., would close on October 31st, according to a timeline the couple posted on closeourloan.wordpress.com, a blog they created to broadcast their plight.

But after numerous delays, the loan was still pending as of mid-December. What's more, the couple was now being charged $50 a day by the home's seller for not having closed the deal earlier, WSB-TV reported.

That's when Ken and Meredith decided to make some noise: Ken made a theatrical appeal through a YouTube music video while Meredith banged the social media drums of Twitter and WordPress. She tweeted to @BofA_help, Bank of America's customer service Twitter handle, got her friends to send similar tweets, and created the "Close Our Loan" blog to host the couple's YouTube escapades and a timeline detailing their loan troubles.

"Why can't a house go fast when a buyer's got cash, preapproval and two cats," sings Williams, as he dances in front of a Bank of America office. "It takes time, obviously, a month or even two, but now we're looking at three!"

Ken Williams made the video on Saturday and posted it to YouTube on Sunday afternoon. By 10 a.m. on Monday morning, Bank of America called the couple.

He said the matter “escalated really fast” and the couple received phone calls from a representative of the bank’s CEO.

[Via, Via, Via]