At 79, Gaynor Bracewell stands to make $100,000 a year from selling his rights to water from the Apalachee River in North Georgia, Michael Wall writes in Creative Loafing Atlanta. Bracewell's boon could usher in an era, "where water becomes subject to the same rules of commerce as peaches, DVD players and automobiles," Wall writes. In an example of a struggle that's playing out around the globe, "access to water would be not so much an inalienable right as it would be a commodity, delivered to the highest bidder."

Joe Loya ripped off dozens of banks in the late '80s, netting about $250,000. Now Loya, dubbed the "Beirut Bandit" because of his dark complexion, has a book deal and a starring role in his own show, Justin Berton writes in East Bay Express. "Loya is a well-read sophisticate, but he's also an ex-con who can walk up to a stranger on the street and call him 'homeboy' without sounding like a guidance counselor," Berton says.

Renatta Frazier, a rookie Springfield police officer, left the force under a cloud because of her alleged failure to prevent the rape of the daughter of a fellow officer. Dusty Rhodes looks into the resignation and finds more questions than answers. Only the third black female ever to join the Springfield, Ill., police force, Frazier admits she never tried to "be invisible," as she was advised. Instead, Rhodes describes her as alternately "frank, funny and tenderhearted," or, if you were inclined against her, "abrasive, irreverent and lacking in military bearing." Associate Publisher Sharon Whalen tells AAN News the story "made the city shake" and revealed that the alleged rape had happened before the call to police was even made.

Creative Loafing Atlanta's Mara Shalhoup talks to six women victimized by one shady real-estate operator, who allegedly falsified their mortgage applications and helped them buy homes they couldn't afford. These six cases are only the tip of the iceberg of mortgage fraud and identity theft across America. "Nationwide, the FBI estimates that mortgage fraud has increased by 25 percent in the past year alone -- and that up to 15 percent of loan applications contain false information," she reports.