Good evening.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Leah Johnson.
And I'm Frank Malloy.
This is Eyewitness News at 11.
Tonight's top story...
David Cooke... The democratic candidate for Bibb county's District Attorney hasn't been quiet when it comes to attacking his opponent's track record.
Cooke has listed a number of cases in a document he released....criticizing current Bibb County D-A... Greg Winters' track record... and he's talked about them in ads.
But employees in the D-A's office told us Cooke has never requested the files on those cases to find out why charges were dropped... but Cooke said someone close to his campaign has.
The D-A's office released those files today.
At Cooke's news conference earlier....we asked him what he found in those cases.
At the time he refused to talk about the files... But after our story aired... He changed his mind.
<"I did discuss it with here but I hadn't discussed it with her before my press conference at two o'clock I had to get ready for my press conference which was to roll out endorsements and I was asked about something when I hadn't even spoke to her yet, I've spoken to her since then."
"she looked at one or two of the files."
"no she told me she looked at all of them"
"really"
"yes, she has notes on all of them."
'what did she tell you about the Davis case?"
"I dont have that immediately before me she just looked over them and she is again a court appointed special advocate for children she's seen my work and she said I think on the five of six cases you would have gone forward because she's seen the kind of work that I do." >
We put in an open records request for those case files.
today we got to review the six child molestation cases that Cooke has talked about.
records show that all six were dismissed for reasons... like lack of evidence.. or the victim's mother asking for the case to be dismissed.. or the alleged victim giving false statements.
But Cooke questions why it took so long for the D-A's office to reveal the case files.
<The reason you and I are sitting here right now is because he cherry-picked and he waited until less than twelve hours before the campaign and there's no getting around that we can argue about a lot of things but you and i are in agreement about what day it is and what time it is and we know that the time for him to turn these records over was a long time ago and he didn't do it until the day before the election if he was proud of them he would have talked about them throughout the campaign. >
Current Bibb County District Attorney Greg Winters says his employees worked over the weekend to get the files ready... and Cooke's supporter came in this morning... looked at a couple of files and said she would come back later... but never did.
He says his office is required by law to redact private information such as dates of birth... social security numbers... and the identification of rape victims... which is time consuming.
He says there is absolutely no attempt to hide any information.
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It's now up to the voters...
President Obama and Mitt Romney wrapped up their tours of several key states today in a race that according to the polls is dead even...
Tara Mergener reports... all that's left is to watch and wait...
PRESIDENT OBAMA AND MITT ROMNEY BUZZED THROUGH BATTLEGROUND STATES MONDAY ON A FINAL PUSH FOR VOTES ON THE EVE OF ELECTION DAY.
THE PRESIDENT'S STOPS INCLUDED OPENINGS ACTS FROM BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND JAY Z. HE TOLD SUPPORTERS ROMNEY'S CAMPAIGN IS A GREATEST HITS COLLECTION OF FAILED POLICIES.
"he's trying to pretend that somehow, these old ideas that did not work are new and will work this time."
WRAPPING UP HIS LAST POLITICAL CAMPAIGN IN OHIO AND IOWA, THE PRESIDENT SAYS THE CHOICE TUESDAY IS A MATTER OF TRUST.
(sot - 16:51:31)
"you know what I believe. You know where I stand. You know I tell the truth. And you know I will fight for you and you family every day as hard as I know how."
STANDUP BRIDGE:
PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL MONITOR TUESDAY'S RETURNS FROM HIS HOMETOWN OF CHICAGO. MITT ROMNEY'S CAMPAIGN AWAIT THE RESULTS IN BOSTON.
NATS
THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE GOT A RAUCUS RECEPTION IN COLUMBUS, OHIO. HE SAID PRESIDENT OBAMA FAILED TO DELIVER THE CHANGE HE PROMISED.
(SOT)
"talk is cheap. But a record is real and it's earned. Change can't be measured in speeches. It's measured in results."
ROMNEY SAID HIS PLAN WILL DELIVER THAT CHANGE.
(SOT)
"the door to a brighter future is there. It's open. It's waiting for us. I need your work. I need your help. I need your vote. "
THE FIRST RETURNS ARE EXPECTED JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT EASTERN TIME IN THE NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWNS OF DIXVILLE NOTCH AND HART'S LOCATION.
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The race between President Obama and Mitt Romney is a close one.
In fact it's so close.. we could see a repeat of the 2000 presidential election
where the popular vote picked Al Gore.. and George W-Bush won the presidency with the highest number of electoral votes.
It's a part of the U-S political system that leaves many voters confused.
Political analyst Clif Winkinson with Georgia College and State University explained how the electoral college vote came to be during our 6pm newscast.
<the electoral college vote and a lot of individuals will get mad because when the popular vote is higher yet, such as that in the 200 election doesn't get the presidency. They complain that it is not democratic and actually, they're correct, we're not democratic. But what a lot of people don't remember is that, we are not a democracy in america. We are a republic and what the founders created in the constitution was an indirect process for the selection of the president.>
Wilkinson says there have been four occassions in our country's history where a presidential candidate has won the popularity vote but not the presidency.
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When you go to the polls tomorrow... you should remember that you need to show a picture ID to vote...
The law requires voters to present any one of several forms of identification.
The most common is a Georgia driver's license.... Even an expired one will do.
Any other valid photo identification card issued by a state or federal government will work as well..
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Some Macon city council members want to investigate the growing number of vacant and abandoned homes.
But they told Katelyn Heck... it's a problem that involves more than just the property owner.
There are 476 vacant homes on the city's demolition to-do list...and over 100 more vacant lots ready for clearing.
That doesn't include the number of abandoned properties that laws bar Macon from doing anything about.
<unfortunately there is a different scenario for every property and just because that property has not been torn down next to you, does not necessarily mean that we do not have a code violation listen for that property. There's several different factors from bankruptcy to foreclosure issues that we're actually dealing with in the community.>
<we've got an obvious problem with blight in the city, you don't have to drive very far to see examples of that. What we've already gotten evidence of is that lending institutions are playing some role in making that worse.>
City leaders say that's because of a miscommunication between banks and property owners.
<there are a number of instances in which people have moved out of homes because they received a letter initiating foreclosure. They get out because they want to leave while they have the opportunity to get out without having all of their possessions put on the curb, and then they find out a year or two or three or four years later that in fact the foreclosure was never filed and so the bank is not on the record as the holder of that deed, so we end up with basically a mess on our hands.>
In some cases, a mix-up like that leads to property taxes piling up.
That mess becomes even bigger when finding the owner turns into nothing more than a wild goose chase.
<we need to be creative here>
City council members say the longer the house sits untouched... The more the entire neighborhood feels the effects like declining property values.
Katelyn Heck 13WMAZ Eyewitness News
A city council committee will handle the investigation into abandoned Macon homes and how banks handle them.
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Warner Robins police are investigating a shooting that injured one person tonight near Wilkinson Lake.
According to police spokeswoman Tabitha Pugh..bofficers were called to the 100 block of Hidden Harbor Drive around 7-15.
The victim was taken to the Medical Center of Central Georgia with minor injuries.
Police are still searching for the shooter.
Anyone with information should call Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 1-877-68-CRIME.
..Again that number is 1-877-68-CRIME.
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It's been a week since Superstorm Sandy hit the Northeast... killing at least 119 people..
Tonight...one and a half million homes and businesses are still in the dark.
Now people dealing the devastation of Sandy could face another storm.
Alison Harmelin has more from New York's Staten Island.
Furniture is now firewood on Staten Island where many residents are braving yet another freezing night with no power and no heat.
(MOS)
"It's very cold and they need to keep warm somehow and I'm glad the fire department's not coming to put the fire out."
And these storm survivors could be in for more cold nights.
Another storm began its march up the east coast Monday .expected to bring 55 mile per hour winds and coastal flooding mid-week.
It could AGAIN knock out power to some gas pumps, making the gas lines even longer.
(nats)
But in the face of what's happened and what's to come, communities are scrambling to make sure storm victims can vote Tuesday.
This tent is for residents in New York's hard-hit Rockaways.
(nats)
Many schools reopened Monday.
MORE THAN A THOUSAND UTILITY CREWS FROM AS FAR AWAY AS CALIFORNIA AND CANADA are GATHERED TO DELPOY FROM CITIFIELD - HOME TO THE NEW YORK METS.
On Staten Island, residents are piling up the rubble in the streets.where trucks are hauling it away to makeshift landfills.
:55 - 1:03
(Standup Bridge: Alison Harmelin/CBS News/Staten Island, NY)
"With another storm on the way some residents are worried that whatever remains of their belongings will be washed away. Others say they have nothing left to recover."
1:04 - 1:10
(SOT: Pedro Correa/Staten Island Resident)
10:51 "My wife is not taking this so well. My children are not taking this so well. If I break down, where are we?"
(nats: 17:59:39 Anybody here need food?)
Delores Degiacamo is delivering sandwiches and juice to storm
(SOT: Delores Degiacamo/Volunteer)
18:02 "I've never seen anything like this before."
She lives in New Jersey now.. but she grew up here...and says this will always be home.
To make matters worse...New York City officials are investigating more than 400 possible cases of price gouging before and after the storm hit..
Among the reports...
The price of a bag of potatoes jumping from three dollars before the storm..to seven.
And the cost of a box of matches more than tripled.. to ten dollars.
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Hurricane Sandy knocked out power and caused destruction to thousands of homes.
It also cancelled more than 320 scheduled blood drives along the east coast... According to the American Red Cross.
Blood drive coordinator Kristen Keifer says those cancellations Resulted in the loss of 12-thousand blood and platelet products.
That... plus the increased demand caused by people injured in the storms... Put the organization at a shortage.
At Warner Robins Christ United Methodist Church in Warner Robins today... More than 180 people made appointments to give blood.
More saw the signs and walked-in willing to give.
<if you're nervous, they will calm you down and it's a great feeling when you get done, knowing you can help other people.>
<you have to think about the fact you can save 3 lives. Where else in your life can you go out and do that?>
Keifer expected today's drive to collect more than 124 pints of blood.
That's about 5 times the average of blood drives in the Macon and Warner Robins area.