Obama Draws censure Within Black Community For Refusal to Address Black Union Forum

(AHN) - Barrack Obama's nonattendance at the 'State of the Black Union'' conference prompted both argument and a reaction from the black community.

Presidential candidates Obama and Republicans John McCain and Mike Huckabee refused to attend the forum, leaving Hilary Clinton as the only candidate to address a largely black crowd of thousands in New Orleans' Ernest M. Morial Convention Center - where thousands of the city's poorest residents sought shelter after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Obama chose to focus his campaign in Texas and Ohio in hopes of delivering a knockout blow to Clinton in those states' presidential primaries on March 4.

Obama received criticism from Tavis Smiley, the organizer of the event, saying the Presidential candidate missed an opportunity.

Clinton, meanwhile, is attending because she has to try to woo back black voters who've deserted her in droves, political analysts say. Within a year, black support has flipped from favoring her to backing Obama by as much as 80 percent to 90 percent in recent primaries.

Courtesy AHN

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Victory Ticket Sold in Portal, GA

The victory ticket for the Jumbo Millions lottery drawing was sold in Portal, Georgia on Friday night. The grand prize total is an estimate of $270 million dollars. In addition, 36 players matched all five numbers except the Mega Ball. The victory numbers from Friday night's drawing were: 7, 12, 13, 19 and 22. The Mega Ball number was 10.

Succeed Jumbo Millions ticket sold in Gateway Georgia

A fourty seven-year aged iron worker from the small town of gateway Georgia, Ga., claims to have won the $270 jumbo Millions lottery. He showed up Saturday morning to party at Clyde's Market, where he bought the ticket Friday nighttime.

The victor, who would merely give an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter his name as "Mr. Harris," said he lives in a mobile home with his wife and two daughters and drives to Atlanta to job on skyscrapers.

But all that's about to modify," he said. "I used to live in a preview. And I used to be an iron employee."

Georgia Lottery officials could not be reached for comment Saturday morning to confirm that Harris purchased the winning ticket. Harris said he selected the winning numbers - 7, 12, 13, 19, 22 and Mega Ball 10 - by using the birthdates of his six granddaughters, but he did not elaborate.

"I'm too happy and confused right now to think too clear," he said.

Georgiana Mulrooney - a clerk who works at Clyde's Market on Highway 80, the main road through the town of about 600 - confirmed that the store sold Harris the ticket. She said the store and Harris have been in touch with lottery officials.

Portal is linking Statesboro and Swainsboro.

At the only other place in Portal where lottery tickets are sold, Mighty Mike No. 19 on Highway 80, clerk Bridget Clarke said they were crossing their fingers earlier Saturday morning that the winning ticket had been sold there since a portion of the winnings goes to the retailer that sells the winning ticket.

"It's just between us and the other store," she said.

Guessing who had won was all the talk. Bulloch County Sheriff Lynn M. Anderson, who said he read that the ticket had been sold in Portal on ajc.com, said he and a group of five had bought lottery tickets Friday.

One of the members was absent Saturday morning from their usual coffee gathering. "We thought maybe she already went to Atlanta to collect," Anderson said.

At gateway Auto and Hardware, store owner Sammy Deal said the phone was ringing off the hook with people speculating who won. Were they from Portal or just passing through? And what would it mean to the town, which is a farming community?

"With that kind of money," he said, "they could buy the place."

Harris didn't mention the purchase of the city as one of the items on his shopping list.

Law & Order Star Hands in his Badge

Photo by: Kristin Callahan / Everett Collection.

After nine years on the force, Jesse L. Martin is retiring from Law & Order.

The 39-year-old will film one more episode, in which his character, Detective Ed Green, will be written out of the long-running NBC drama, Reuters reports.

Anthony Anderson – who has appeared on The Shield and the Law & Order spinoff Special Victims Unit – will replace Martin, teaming up with last year's series newcomer, Jeremy Sisto.

Martin first joined the cast in 1999, when he hunted down baddies with Jerry Orbach's wise-cracking Detective Lennie Briscoe.

During the 2004-2005 season, he took a haitus to reprise his Broadway role as Tom Collins in the big-screen version of Rent. He'll be crooning again for his next project: Playing Marvin Gaye in the upcoming biopic, Sexual Healing.