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Habersham County officials say they do not plan to pay for the medical expenses of a toddler seriously injured during a police raid.
Bounkham Phonesavah, affectionately known as "Baby Boo Boo," spent weeks in a burn unit after a SWAT team's flash grenade exploded near his face. The toddler was just 19-months-old and asleep in the early morning hours of May 28. SWAT officers threw the device into his home while executing a search warrant for a drug suspect.
Habersham County officials are defending their decision not to pay, but the child's family isn't giving up.
After weeks of recovery at two different hospitals, Channel 2 Action News was there in July as the little boy walked out of a hospital with his family.
He is doing better, but late Friday afternoon, his family's attorney told said the family's medical bills are mounting.
"But at this point, the county is refusing to pay," said attorney Muwali Davis.
Habersham County's attorney provided the following statement, saying: "The question before the board was whether it is legally permitted to pay these expenses. After consideration of this question following advice of counsel, the board of commissioners has concluded that it would be in violation of the law for it to do so."
The attorney for Boo Boo's family insists that is not good enough.
© AFP Photo / Getty Images / Scott OlsonPolice attempt to control demonstrators protesting the killing of teenager Michael Brown on August 18, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri.
Protests over the killing of teenager Michael Brown on August 9 by a police officer continued into their ninth day. Police were telling people not to congregate unless they were in protest-designated areas, a policy needed to protect Ferguson from a "criminal element," it was explained.
Militarized US police face-off with Ferguson protesters LIVE UPDATES
© wikipediaAR-15 rifles
"This is our objective - save lives, bottom line," Compton Unified Police Chief William Wu told the board.
Wu argued officers are woefully underequipped in the event of a terrorist attack or mass shooting, in which shooters increasingly wear body armor, which is not penetrable with standard firearms. He cited a recent FBI study that found that roughly 5 percent of mass shooters have worn such armor. Wu said that while assault-style rifles are more deadly, they're also more accurate.
© Reuters / Joshua Lott
Imperial Wizard Chuck Murray of the New Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan called for donations to the police officer last week in an email obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
"We are setting up a reward/fund for the police officer who shot this thug," wrote Murray, whose group is based in South Carolina. "He is a hero! We need more white cops who are anti-Zog and willing to put Jewish controlled black thugs in their place. Most cops are cowards and do nothing while 90% of interracial crime is black (and non-white) on white."
Murray did not offer comment to SPLC.
The email did not sit well with Frank Acona, Imperial Wizard of the Traditionalist American Knights, one of the largest factions of the KKK in the United States.
© RIA Novosti / Grigoriy SisoevAnatoly Chubais, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Board, RUSNANO Corporation
According to Rusnano CEO Anatoly Chubais, Russia has already found an alternative source for the technology (mostly memory MRAM) in China and other markets.
"This is an example where we were able to quickly find a solution so work at the plant wasn't disrupted," Chubais told ITAR-TASS.
The state-owned tech company said it will look east, and try to better plan investments.
"Generally speaking, we need to refocus on the Asian capital markets. I hope, we'll be able to show some results this year," Chubais said.
On Monday, the head of the Russian Ministry of Communications announced on Twitter that Russia is seeking closer technology ties with China, and will begin to import memory and servers instead of the US, which banned the export of certain technology products that can also be used for military in their latest round of sanctions.
© Reuters / Eddie KeoghThe Canary Wharf business district in London.
Changes to EU banking rules could see London stripped of its financial preeminence. Some major institutions including Bank of America, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are believed to be drawing up plans to desert the City amid concerns the UK is drifting further from the EU.
This is despite a Forbes list of "The World's Most Influential Cities 2014" which ranked London as the most influential city in the world, because it attracts more than double the amount of foreign direct investment deals than New York, which came in second.
Most US and Asian banks currently run their main European operations from the UK, which entitles them to provide services across the EU. But if the UK left the EU, it is unlikely foreign banks based in London would hold on to this benefit.
© AFP/Getty Images/Scott OlsonLesley McSpadden, the mother of slain teenager Michael Brown.
"The Brown family wanted to have this autopsy performed on their behalf because they did not know whether the federal officials were going to conduct their own independent autopsy, and they did not want to be left having to rely on the autopsy done by the St. Louis law enforcement agencies ‒ the same individuals they feel are responsible for executing their son in broad daylight," Benjamin Crump, the lead counsel for the Brown family, said. "So therefore, that is why they begged and pleaded to have an independent autopsy done."
The Brown family hired renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael M. Baden to conduct a second postmortem analysis on their son. The preliminary report, released to the New York Times Sunday night, shows that the unarmed teenager was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, while four shots hit his right arm. Any shots that missed the deceased would not have been able to be counted during the examination.
The number of shots fired "could have been answered on day one [by the Ferguson Police Department] if you really wanted to have transparency as the objective," Crump said, referring to Baden's initial conclusions.
© Image from flickr.com / Reclaim The PowerAs part of a nationwide day of direct action, campaigners have occupied a government building and blockaded both entrances to an energy firm.
Three anti-fracking and climate justice activists superglued themselves to DEFRA's main doors at approximately 8 am this morning, using reinforced arm tubes to prevent access. Another scaled the building and unfurled a large banner inscribed with the message: "What's to hide DEFRA? - Don't frack with our future."
The activists wore black tape pasted across their mouths in an effort to convey the scale of censorship the government had recently employed prior to publishing its report.
'Shale Gas: Rural Economy Impacts,' which details the potential impacts of fracking on rural communities throughout Britain, was released following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request tendered to DEFRA.
Want to know the findings of UK Govt report on the impacts of shale gas on rural communities? Me too. #redactedpic.twitter.com/hqcBm3u0IN
- Sarah Merrick (@SpeakSarahSpeak) August 11, 2014
In what was a community-wide effort, dock workers that showed up for the evening shift on Sunday did not disturb the integrity of the picket line, which was there in anticipation of the ship, operated by Zim Shipping Services Ltd.
Because the line wasn't crossed, no unloading could take place. Organizer Lara Kiswani confirmed that"they're honoring our community picket and they haven't been crossing."
© Rune Stotlz Bertinussen/AFPThe Chess Olympiad in Norway.
Hundreds of spectators attending the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway, and countless others watching live TV coverage on Norway's state broadcaster, reacted with shock after Kurt Meier, 67, a Swiss-born member of the Seychelles team, collapsed on Thursday afternoon, during his final match of the marathon two-week contest. Despite immediate medical attention at the scene he died later in hospital.
Hours later, a player from Uzbekistan who has not yet been named was found dead in his hotel room in central Tromsø. Norwegian police and the event's organisers said on Friday they were not treating the deaths as suspicious.
"We regard these as tragic but natural deaths," said Jarle Heitmann, a spokesman for the Chess Olympiad. "When so many people are gathered for such a long time, these things can happen."
Comment: Calling AR-15s 'tools' doesn't change reality. They are guns and they are going to be available for use at schools (you know, those buildings where kids hang out all day?). For more on the guns-in-schools madness see: