LEVI'S CALL: 2 Georgia Children Reported Kidnapped from Roadside Found Safe

DECATUR, Ga. (AP) - Authorities say they are searching for a man they believe kidnapped two young children after offering help to their mother after the family car broke down along an Atlanta-area
interstate.

Police say the children were subsequently found uninjured with two women, who reported a male acquaintance had asked them to babysit the pair.

DeKalb County Police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said Wednesday the women contacted police after seeing media reports about the missing children. Parish said the man has not been identified, and the two women knew him only by a nickname.

Authorities began searching for 3-year-old Jalen Mattison and his 1-year-old sister Amari Mattison after their mother told police a stranger had driven off with her children after stopping to help when their 1996 Volvo broke down early Wednesday.

 

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UPDATE: 5 Dead After Shooting Near Atlanta

breaking-newsNORCROSS, Ga. (AP) - Five people died when a gunman opened fire in a Korean health spa in an Atlanta suburb and police called the shooting a murder-suicide. Surveillance video showed a man walking into the Su Jung Health Sauna on Tuesday night and getting into an argument with someone, then opening fire, police said.

"It appears he walked in, had some conversation with one of the victims and the shooting started," Norcross Police Chief Warren Summers told WAGA-TV. Investigators had finished interviewing witnesses Wednesday morning, Norcross police Capt. Brian Harr said. He described the shootings as "not random."

"It's probably domestic-related," Harr told The Associated Press, adding that more information would likely be released later Wednesday.

Police said the dead were three men and two women. Four people were found dead inside, and another was taken to a hospital before being pronounced dead, investigators said. Investigators say they believe about 20 people were inside the spa, a stand-alone building on a busy highway in Norcross, when the
gunfire began around 8:30 p.m.

Georgia Joins States Filing 'Birth Control' Bills

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia is among a growing number of states filing legislation challenging a recent Obama administration decision that seeks to guarantee employees of religion-affiliated institutions reproductive health coverage, which would include contraception.

Columbus Republican Josh McKoon has filed Senate Bill 460, which recognizes birth control as beneficial to women and the family planning process, but would not require church-affiliated employers to provide contraception.

Similar bills have been filed recently in Idaho, Missouri and Arizona. They echo a separate proposal in Congress that allows insurance plans to opt out of the requirement on contraception coverage if they have moral objections.

Opposition to the Obama rule led the administration to shift the burden from religious organizations to insurance companies, a solution that did little to satisfy opponents and led to the statehouse challenges.

41NBC.com