If you think Downtown Atlanta is traffic-clogged and difficult to drive through under normal circumstances, you'll definitely want to consider avoiding it, or at least walking or taking public transportation, this weekend.

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According to family members, someone has reported finding a pair of eyeglasses in Athens' Memorial Park that may belong to Cayle Bywater, the 29 year-old University of Georgia employee and grad student reported missing on New Year's Eve. (Full article and comments)

Cayle Bywater, a 29 year old Athens resident and local non-profit volunteer, has been missing since Saturday.
A group of volunteers are meeting on Thursday morning off of Milledge Avenue to search for her.

INTERESTED PARTIES - MEET AT:
- the dead end on Woodland Hills Dr. (off of Milledge) near the loop
- 9 am on Thursday, January 3rd.
- Dress appropriately we'll be searching a heavily wooded area and it's supposed to be very cold.

IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT CAYLE, PLEASE CALL: Athens Clarke County Police Central Communications (706) 613-3345

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The Athens-Clarke County Police Department is asking for help in locating 29 year old, Cayle Bywater. (Full article and comments)

For the United States, the consequences of Benazir Bhutto's assassination could be grave indeed.

For us, the timing of the turmoil surrounding the murder presents a problem. The spring thaw in the Hindu Kush usually heralds new offensives by the Taliban. Adm. William Fallon, head of U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has been lobbying since last spring to shift troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. I suspect that Bhutto’s assassination will give him the leverage that he needs to overrule Gen. David Petraeus and make that happen.

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U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson this morning sentenced former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick to 23 months in prison and three years' probation for his role in a dogfighting operation. That puts him out of commission, football-wise, until late 2009, meaning the earliest he could return to the NFL would be the 2010 season.

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I interviewed David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor's for this week's cover story on the economy. Wyss is brilliant--one of the world's most knowledgeable economists who knows just about everything from kitchen table economics to world trade. I also interviewed Richard Marston at the Wharton School at Penn, Richard Jackman at the London School of Economics and Jeff Rosensweig at Emory University. Their predictions for 2008? There's a rough patch ahead, but it doesn't have to be a recession. The weakened dollar will ease our pain significantly. That's right--the falling greenback is our long-overdue friend. Here are some highlights:

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The Malibu home of Atlanta's Butch Walker has fallen victim to the wildfires spreading across California. (Full article and comments)

Several months ago, I photographed and interviewed some picketers in front of WSB in midtown. I kept thinking that they couldn't possibly be construction workers as their signs claimed. They seemed homeless. (Full article and comments)

Looking for experiences of burglary or theft for a crime statistics story. Here's the big question: Did you get your stuff back? (Full article and comments)