School Bus Driver Fired Over Facebook Post

Yet another worker has been fired for speaking up on social media and has become a cause celebre in the process. Johnny Cook was a bus driver for the Haralson County Middle School in Georgia. In late May, a student boarding the bus told Cook he was still hungry because he was forty cents short for the reduced lunch. He told Cook that he wasn't even given any lunch, not even the peanut butter offered to everybody, reports Atlanta TV station WXIA. Outraged, Cook posted about it on Facebook on May 21, criticizing the school system, his employer.

In it he wrote:

This child is already on reduced lunch [program] and we can't let him eat. Are you kidding me? I'm certian [sic.] there was leftover food thrown away today. But kids were turned away because they didn't have .40 on there [sic.] account. As a tax payer [sic.], I would much rather feed a child than throw it away. I would rather feed a child than to give food stamps to a crack head [sic.]."

His post, so far, has attracted more than 250 "likes" and 2,000 "shares." It also led to him getting fired. County Superintendent Brett Stanton told local media that the school district has a strict policy about comments on social media. According to CBS Atlanta, the policy says that employees who post anything that causes "substantial disruption to the instructional environment" will be subject to discipline. Stanton told WXIA that Cook never contacted the school system about his concerns, and he said that the school investigated and found no evidence that the incident with the student occurred.

Cook, who is married and the father of two kids, told CBS Atlanta that he felt in his "heart of hearts the kid was telling the truth." His story has captured the public imagination -- a petition has been posted to Change.org calling for Cook's job to be reinstated. It's garnered more than 10,000 signatures.

More: 1 In 10 Young Job Hunters Rejected Because Of Their Social Media

Cook has since been updating his page, too. On one post, he shared a note from the student, who said he "sat at a table with no lunch while other children ate lunch. ... No one offered to pay for my lunch and no one offered me a sandwich or a banana or apple." Citing that note, Cook has called for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to review the National School Lunch Program.

According to Stanton, students who don't have enough money on their reduced lunch card are still offered up to three alternate meals, most often a peanut butter sandwich. "With the policies we have in place," he said. "It would be almost impossible for a student not to be fed if he went through the line."

The student's parents have expressed support for Cook, according to Time.com. In addition to the online petition, supporters have created a Facebook page, called "Johnny's Kids." And on Thursday, Cook's supporters announced two fundraisers throughout the summer in the Atlanta suburb of Buchanan to help Haralson County students pay for school lunches.

Whatever happens to Cook, his experience is no longer unusual. Just recently, AOL Jobs has reported on a Chili's waitress who got fired after insulting the "stupid cops" in her community on her Facebook page. Previously, a Georgia teacher was asked to resign from her job after posting a photo of herself drinking in a European pub.

Prince Alwaleed, Testy Saudi Billionaire, Owns a Lot of Things: Here Are Some Of Them

By Lisa Mahapatra

Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is well known for his extreme wealth and his fun hobbies, like throwing dwarves. But he takes the former very seriously. So much so that he's suing Forbes for libel after the magazine reported his worth at $20 billion, ranking him 29th on its annual list of the world's billionaires. Alwaleed says he's worth at least $9.6 billion more.

He has filed a defamation claim against Forbes in a high court in London, according to the Guardian.

Meanwhile, he can content himself with his toys. Journalist William Cohan interviewed the prince for a feature-length profile for Vanity Fair and wrote about some of the things Alwaleed owns. Here's a sampling:

Kobe Bryant settles with parents, Goldin Auctions on items to be sold

A New Jersey auction house says it has reached a settlement in a lawsuit over memorabilia from NBA star Kobe Bryant's high school and early pro career.
Goldin Auctions sued in federal court last month after Bryant's lawyers wrote the company telling it to cancel the planned June auction. The Los Angeles Lakers star claimed his mother, Pamela, didn't have the right to sell the items.

Bryant sued Goldin Auctions after finding out his parents were going to auction off some of his memorabilia from the early stages of his career. He claimed the memorabilia was not theirs to auction. (AP Photo)

In a statement Monday, the auction house says it will offer some items including jerseys worn by Bryant when he played for Lower Merion High School outside Philadelphia, his 2000 NBA All-Star Game ring and two NBA championship rings from 2000 gifted to his parents.
In all, only about 10 percent of the items originally up for auction will actually be auctioned off, with the other 90 percent taken off the table. On some of the items, including the 2000 All-Star Game ring, will see half of the winning bid be donated to charity.
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Along with taking items out of the auction, Bryant's parents had to issue a public apology.
"We regret our actions and statements related to the Kobe Bryant auction memorabilia," Joe and Pamela Bryant said in the statement provided by a publicist. "We apologize for any misunderstanding and unintended pain we have caused our son and appreciate the financial support he has provided over the years. We also apologize to Goldin Auctions for their inadvertent involvement in this matter and thank them for their assistance."
Goldin had given the Bryants $450,000 up front. That was spent on the purchase of a home in the Las Vegas area.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Lisa Wu suing Keith Sweat for full custody of their children

Lisa Wu, who appeared on the first and second seasons of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” is fighting R&B singer Keith Sweat for custody of their sons.
According to Access Atlanta, which accessed the court records, Wu contends that it is in the best interest of their sons, Jordan Sweat (14) and Justin Sweat (11), to live with her.
“The best interest of the minor children will be served by modifying the current custody and visitation provisions to make Mother the primary physical condition of the minor children,” the Fulton County court papers read. “Since the time of the Divorce Decree, Mother has remarried, owns a successful business and will provide a stable, loving, and nurturing environment in which she can raise the minor children.”
Sweat was awarded full custody of the children in 2003.
Wu and Sweat wed in 1992 and had what a judge called an “extremely tumultuous relationship.”
After divorcing, Lisa married Ed Hartwell in 2005 and later divorced the former NFL player in 2011. –danielle canada

Nelson Mandela Taken To Hospital, In 'Serious' Condition

JOHANNESBURG — South Africans on Saturday said their thoughts were with former President Nelson Mandela, who was in "serious but stable" condition after being taken to a hospital to be treated for a recurring lung infection.
Mandela, who is 94 years old, was treated in a hospital several times in recent months, with the last discharge coming on April 6 after doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia and drained fluid from his lung area. He has been particularly vulnerable to respiratory problems since contracting tuberculosis during his 27-year imprisonment under apartheid.
A small girl and her father stood outside Mandela's Johannesburg home with a stone on which was written a get-well message for Mandela, who helped end white racist rule and became the country's first black president in all-race elections in 1994. A young boy brought a bouquet of flowers that he handed over to guards at the house.
Elsewhere in the city, some worshippers prayed for Mandela during an outdoor gathering.
"If the time comes, we wish for him a good way to go," said Noel Ngwenya, a security officer who was in the congregation.
"During the past few days, former President Nelson Mandela has had a recurrence of lung infection," said a statement from the office of President Jacob Zuma. "This morning at about 1:30 a.m., his condition deteriorated and he was transferred to a Pretoria hospital."
It said Mandela was receiving expert medical care and "doctors are doing everything possible to make him better and comfortable."
Zuma wished Mandela a quick recovery on behalf of the government and the nation and requested that the media and the public respect the privacy of the former leader and his family, the statement said.
Mandela's wife, humanitarian activist Graca Machel, canceled an appearance at an international forum on hunger and nutrition in London on Saturday, citing "personal reasons," said Colleen Harris, a spokeswoman for the meeting.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said Machel had canceled her attendance at the London meeting on Thursday, and had accompanied Mandela to the hospital on Saturday morning, the South African Press Association reported.
"We need to hold our thoughts and keep him in our minds," Maharaj said. "He is a fighter, he has recovered many times from very serious conditions and he will be with us. Let's pray for him and help him to get better."
The African National Congress, the ruling party that has dominated politics in South Africa since the end of apartheid, said it hoped Mandela, known affectionately by his clan name Madiba, would get better soon.
"We will keep President Mandela and his family in our thoughts and prayers at this time and call upon South Africans and the peoples of the globe to do the same for our beloved statesman and icon, Madiba," the party said in a statement.
On April 29, state television broadcast footage of a visit by Zuma and other ANC leaders to Mandela at his Johannesburg home. Zuma said at the time that Mandela was in good shape, but the footage - the first public images of Mandela in nearly a year - showed him silent and unresponsive, even when Zuma tried to hold his hand.
"Nelson Mandela is a father to South Africa and South Africans; every time he is admitted to hospital we feel saddened along with the rest of our country," the Democratic Alliance, the main political opposition party, said in a statement.
South Africans expressed hope that Mandela would recover from his latest setback.
"He is going to survive," said Willie Mokoena, a gardener in Johannesburg. "He's a strong man."
Another city resident, Martha Mawela, said she thought the former president would recover because: "Everybody loves Mandela."
Mandela was robust during his decades as a public figure, endowed with charisma, a powerful memory and an extraordinary talent for articulating the aspirations of his people and winning over many of those who opposed him.
In recent years, however, he has become more frail and last made a public appearance at the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament, where he didn't deliver an address and was bundled against the cold.
In another recent hospitalization, Mandela was treated for a lung infection and had a procedure to remove gallstones in December. In March, he spent a night in a hospital for what authorities said was a scheduled medical test.

Santa Monica Gunman Planned Attack, Had Rifle & 1,300 Rounds Of Ammunition

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Police investigating why a heavily armed gunman plotted a rampage that killed four people and wounded several others were focused Saturday on how the violence began: directed at his own family.
What started as domestic violence led to a chaotic street shooting spree and ended less than 15 minutes later in a college library where the gunman was killed Friday by police as students studying for finals ran for cover or hunkered down to avoid whizzing bullets.
Investigators were looking at family connections to find a motive because the killer's father and brother were the first victims, an official briefed on the probe who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly told The Associated Press.
The killer, who died a day shy of his 24th birthday, was connected to the home that went up in flames after the first shootings, said Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks. She refused to elaborate or name the suspect because a surviving family member was out of the country and couldn't immediately be notified.
At an afternoon news conference next to the weapons and ammo found at multiple crime scenes, Seabrooks said the "cowardly murderer" planned the attack and was capable of firing 1,300 rounds.
"Any time someone puts on a vest, of some sort, comes out with a bag full of loaded magazines, has an extra receiver, has a handgun and has a semi-automatic rifle, carjacks folks, goes to a college, kills more people and has to be neutralized at the hands of the police, I would say that that's premeditated," she said.
The killer had a run-in with police seven years ago, but Seabrooks wouldn't offer more details because he was a juvenile at the time.
His father, Samir Zawahri, 55, brought his family to the neighborhood of small homes and apartment buildings tucked up against Interstate 10 in the mid-1990s, according to property records.
Not long after arriving on Yorkshire Avenue, the couple went through a difficult divorce and split custody of their two boys, said Thomas O'Rourke, a neighbor.
"It was not an easy breakup," O'Rourke said. "It was a bitter divorce."
When the sons got older, one went to live with his mother while the other stayed with the father.
"The father was a very nice gentleman," O'Rourke said. "But the boys just kind of kept to themselves. Didn't really socialize with any of the neighbors."

Francis Gets Personal: 'I Didn't Want To Be Pope'

Pope Francis attends his weekly audience in St. Peter's Square on June 5, 2013 in Vatican City, Vatican. This Wednesday Pope Francis dedicated his general audience with thousands of pilgrims and visitors to St Peter's square to the UN World Environment Day. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis revealed Friday that he never wanted to be pope and that he's living in the Vatican hotel for his "psychiatric" health.
Francis showed a personal and spontaneous side as he met with thousands of children from Jesuit schools across Italy and Albania. Tossing aside his prepared remarks, Francis surprised the kids by asking them if they'd like to ask him some questions instead.
"Yes!" they shouted to cheers and applause – and the concern of teachers who fretted that no one had prepared anything.
Answering their questions one by one, Francis told them the decision to become a priest had been difficult and that he had suffered "moments of interior darkness" when "you feel dry, without interior joy."
But he said he went ahead because he loved Christ.
One of the most touching moments came when Teresa, a bright-eyed redhead no more than six, asked Francis flat out if he had wanted to be pope.
Francis joked that only someone who hated himself would ever want to be pope. But then he became serious: "I didn't want to be pope."
Someone else asked him why he had renounced the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace in favor of his spare suite in the Vatican hotel, where he has been living ever since the March conclave that elected him the first Jesuit pope and first pontiff from the Americas.
It wasn't so much a question of luxury as personality, he said. "I need to live among people," he said. "If I was living alone, isolated, it wouldn't be good for me. A professor asked me the same question, `why don't you go and live there (in the Papal apartments)'? And I replied: `Listen to me professor, it is for psychiatric reasons,'" he said chuckling.
This week, the Vatican confirmed that Francis wouldn't vacation at the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolofo, in the hills south of Rome, and would instead remain in the Santa Marta hotel with a reduced work schedule. Francis' predecessors have all decamped for at least a few weeks each summer to the estate, where the lush gardens, lakeside perch and cool breezes provide a welcome respite to the oppressive summer heat of Rome. The estate, which by acreage is bigger than Vatican City, is entirely walled in, making it a perfect escape for a pope who wants isolation and solitude – but not one who wants to eat breakfast each morning with a group of fellow priests, as Francis does in the communal dining room of the Vatican hotel.
Francis has shown himself to be remarkably comfortable around children, taking up to an hour each Wednesday to greet mostly young people in the crowds at his general audience: He caresses and kisses the dozens of babies handed to him by his bodyguards; and he tousles the hair of older teens and pats them on the back, asking them to pray for him.
He showed a similar ease on Friday as he engaged in a good 30 minutes of banter with the schoolchildren, casually making the points he has made in his homilies and speeches: about the "scandal" of poverty and how the world frets when the stock market dips but cares nothing when a homeless person dies, and how everyone should learn a lesson from the poor.
Once or twice a year, Pope Benedict XVI would take questions from young people, but the questions were always submitted in advance so he could prepare a response.
The questions on Friday were clearly spontaneous. One little boy from Sicily asked Francis if he had ever visited Sicily. (No, Francis said, but he recently saw a beautiful film about the island.) A teacher from Spain asked the pope about "compromised" politicians. (Francis said all Christians had an obligation to be involved in politics.)
His final message to the kid was upbeat: "Don't let anyone rob you of hope.