The special election to replace a Georgia legislator who pleaded guilty to money laundering appears headed for a runoff, pitting a national guardsman against a minister.

Dee Dawkins-Haigler, a political consultant who is also an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, received 164 votes in yesterday’s election.

With less than the required “50 percent plus one” majority, Dawkins-Haigler will likely face a June 10 runoff against her apparent runner-up, national guardsman and former police officer Malik Douglas, who received 99 votes.

The day before the election, Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel announced Douglas’s name would be allowed to remain on the official ballot.

Keep Reading …

MONDAY: No storm clouds today. Just sun and lots of wind. But that wind is slowing the cleanup and recovery.

Homeowners and construction crews are battling to keep tarps from blowing off the roofs of damaged homes. And the winds are slowing utility crews in their efforts to restore electricity to tens of thousand of residents — in some cases knocking out power in neighborhoods unaffected by the Mother’s Day storm.

The National Weather Service has confirmed half a dozen tornadoes struck parts of Georgia yesterday, including the suburban Atlanta neighborhood in Clayton County from where we’ve been doing our live reports (click on the video for a look behind the scenes).

Meteorologists estimate these twisters carried winds between 120 and 130 miles per hour, which would categorize them as EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

In Clayton County alone, the storm damaged 163 homes. Local authorities have deemed 45 of those homes uninhabitable.

Clayton is just one of 19 Georgia counties, from the northern part of the state to the coast, reporting damage from Sunday’s storm.

My colleague Marianne Silber continues our coverage today.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

SUNDAY: The Atlanta bureau is en-route to Ellenwood — a suburban Atlanta community hit hard this morning by a storm system that has spawned tornadoes and heavy winds across much of the Midwest and Southeastern United States.

A Georgia Power spokeswoman tells me 87,000 residents are still without electricity statewide, 11,000  of them here in Metro-Atlanta. But the vast majority of those without power, 63-thousand residents, are concentrated in the center of the state — near Macon.

Georgia Power says one of the biggest obstacles is fallen trees. Utility crews are having to cut their way through debris to get to affected areas.

Rescue crews complain of similar problems. According to Georgia Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Lisa Janak, 19 Georgia Counties are reporting damage.

This morning’s storm system struck Georgia barely two months after the EF-2 tornado that ripped through downtown Atlanta. The city still shows scars from that storm, with windows boarded up on some of the downtown skyscrapers.

Among the buildings damaged in that March tornado — the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Disaster Assistance. SBA spokesman Richard Daigle compares it to “when the firehouse catches fire,” but insists it did not slow the agency down in processing grants and low-interest loans for businesses and individuals who sustained uninsured losses.

Good thing. His office will, no doubt, find itself busy once again as this active tornado season continues to unleash its fury.

This story seemed straight forward this morning when I started: How many detainees who are released or transferred from Gitmo have wound up on the battlefield again with the goal of killing Americans? But the more you report this story, the more you realize, the Pentagon doesn’t have a good handle on how many detainees are involved and some lawyers argue that their clients, the detainees, got radicalized after spending years in Gitmo without charge.

Cully Stimson, a former senior policy adviser on detainees to the president, told me that these detainees are trained to lie. It is part of their terror training – that is why Stimson says - it can be so hard to make the case they are enemy combatants. Stimson put it this way:

“You find a guy, who says he’s a sheep herder in the mountains of Afghanistan, he has 25k cash on him and a GPS recorder and he’s found with 200 rpgs. Is he a sheep herder? No. And so this is a typical type of cover story.”

According to the Pentagon’s statistics, and I mention the source because it’s always important to know the source and their agenda, of the 500 detainees released from Guantanamo Bay, about 36 are confirmed or suspected of returning to the battlefield. That is roughly 7 percent.

Among the group, Mohammed Nayim Farouq (top left) who according to military officials, quickly renewed his relationship with the Taliban and Al Qaeda after his release in July 2003.

Also, a Russian, Ruslan Odizhev, (bottom) who was killed in June 2007 after being transferred along with 7 other detainees to Moscow in 2004.

And Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi, (top right) who the military now links to a suicide bombing in mosul last month that killed 7. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today that some countries don’t even want the detainees back - period.

“I think we do as careful a vetting job as we possibly can before releasing these people. There are a lot, um, there are a lot of, prisoners down there frankly, that we would be prepared to turn over to their home government , but the home government isn’t prepared to receive them.”

I learned today that the conditions of each detainee’s transfer can vary dramatically. They could be transferred back to their home country and the only condition is that their passport is handed over. Each case is negotiated separately between the us and the host country.

A source familiar with a number of detainee cases told me the real problem is that there is no process at Gitmo. There is no way for a court to decide who should be held and who should be freed. And that in some cases, these guys become so angry and so frustrated, that if they didn’t hate the us before they got to Gitmo, they do now.

What should we do? Because the problem of possible radicalization is more pronounced in Iraq where, one contact claims, more than 20,000 are being held.

With the popularity of the other drug sub videos in my previous thread, I have decided to add one more provided to me from the Coast Guard. This one is infrared for the most of it, but the last part of the video goes back to a standard look. It is amazing when you see how much of the submersible really is under the Pacific Ocean and this video shows it. You can also see how dangerous it becomes for our men and women fighting the war on drugs. Tough enough to approach a boat on top of the water moving at a good clip, now look at the drug runners out the hatch, preparing to abandon the sub and trying to sink it at the same time.

In the last six months the U.S. Coast Guard along with the U.S. Navy have found 42 submersibles headed north towards the United States and off the coast of Central America.

That is double the number found in the previous five years combined. These subs can carry as much as 10 tons of drugs or even weapons and some of the latest models can move 15 knots. This is obviously troubling and makes our war on the cartels that much more difficult.

We are currently at Coast Guard Island in Alameda California, where the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sherman is located. The ship has recently returned from operations off of Central America, where finding these subs is proving difficult. They are primitive but effective and built similar to the subs used in the civil war. Usually about six inches or so sticks above the water, which is almost impossible to spot.

During the day the subs sit, preserving their cover for movement at night. Here is some great raw video provided by the U.S. Coast Guard.

For James Lee Woodard, the title of this blog is not a theoretical question.

He sat behind bars for more than 27 years for a murder he didn’t commit. At one point, he was offered parole if he would just admit his guilt. But he didn’t. Woodard chose to remain behind bars because he knew he didn’t commit the crime of which he was accused and convicted.

Beverly Ann Jones was found raped and murdered in a Dallas river bottom on Dec 31st, 1980. James Lee Woodard was her boyfriend. Police arrested him a few days after the murder. He was tried and convicted and sentenced to life in prison. From the beginning, he proclaimed his innocence and offered witnesses who could back up his story that he wasn’t with the victim the night of the crime. Year after year, he had appeals and filed court papers in hopes of getting someone, anyone, to listen. Each attempt failed. But Woodard said, “I knew in my heart that one day something would happen.”

That day came today. Twenty-seven years and four months after walking into prison, Woodard is finally a free man. A hearing today in a Dallas District Court allowed Woodard to be released. It came through an extraordinary set of circumstances. A group called the Innocence Project of Texas worked with the Dallas County District Attorney’s office to review his case. It’s part of a controversial pilot program District Attorney Craig Watkins got approved last year. The program started a“Conviction Integrity Unit” within the D.A.’s office to investigate claims of innocence. The Innocence Project says if it weren’t for this new unit, James Lee Woodard would still be sitting in a prison cell.

Instead, a semen sample found on the victim was located in storage and put through new DNA testing late last year. A forensic pathologist concluded the person who committed the rape was also most likely the person to have committed the murder. James Lee Woodard’s DNA didn’t match the sample. Both Woodard’s attorneys and the D.A. agreed Woodard should be freed. In court, Watkins offered Woodard an apology. Even District Judge Mark Stoltz seemed moved by the case, telling Woodard today he wasn’t receiving justice, rather, “You’re just getting the end of injustice.”

In court when asked about the first thing he wanted to do when he was released, Woodard said, “Breathe the fresh free air.” He faces an uncertain future. His mother died while he was still behind bars. A niece was there to meet him after he was freed. For now, Woodard says he’ll take a couple days, “…just to look at things, let it sink in.” Then he’ll start trying to help men like him who are still behind bars.

How pervasive these cases are is open to debate. But what’s certain is that whoever really did kill Beverly Ann Jones — never had to pay for it.

Photo courtesy of AP

The steam is still rising at the National Press Club after the speech by Dr. Jeremiah Wright, the much controversial pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, and, for some 20 years the minister of presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

First of all, please understand that Dr. Wright says many, many truthful things. He talks about the love of Jesus for all mankind, he talked about how your theology determines how you view people, society, what’s right, or wrong. This is sound theological points that deserve an “Amen.”

“Your belief about God is the beginning of your wisdom,” according to Dr. Tim Keller author of The Reason for God. “All your reseasoning, proceeds from there.”

 So I have no objections to Dr. Wright’s points about how society is ordered as to do how we understand God. And, if God is a white male then it follows that you would believe all power belongs to white males. If God is revengeful, and wrath-filled, then it would follow that you would believe there should be sharp and harsh punishment for certain kinds of people.

Generally speaking, after hearing Dr. Wright this morning, it is not surprising that what he says would make sense to anyone sitting in his pews Sunday after Sunday. For people who need bolstering spiritually, economically and personally, Dr. Wright’s statements are empowering. For those unsure what their place in society can or should be, Dr. Wright’s theology is a bold shot in the arm.

Keep Reading …

We are nestled in the mountains of inland north San Diego County. A light breeze has drifted through the orchard next to our satellite truck most of the day. I can picture myself sitting in a hammock strun between two trees with a book in hand. While the normalities of everyday life may not be available (Internet access, restaurants), a spring day in the clean air and amongst the agricultural is truly delightful. We have already reported live for FOX, FOX Radio and FOX Business eight times, with more to come.

Our story should concern every American, from sea to shining sea, mountain range to orchard, because as California farmers run out of water and these trees run out of time, the sounds of saws now echo through once serene groves of hass avocados. As owner Jerome Stehly said to me “You want your food grown close to home. You don’t want all of your food grown offshore or being put on ships and being shipped for weeks. Fresh produce needs to come fresh.”

According to Brian Thomas at the Metropolitan Water District, “The first time that we’ve actually called upon the growers to cut back 30% is this year, 2008. It’s in response to lower water supplies primarily from the state water project.” Keep Reading …

You never know what you’ll see when you’re out doing live shots. When we arrived at the Coliseum in San Angelo this morning to do live shots on the children from the YFZ Ranch, we spotted an unusual site. A man and woman were taking their Texas Longhorns out for a spin around the neighborhood

The Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America says around the time of the Civil War, there were millions of Texas Longhorns in Texas. But by the 1920s, the animals were close to extinction.

Now, the population has been built back up, enough so that a couple were able to cruise by our sat truck.