SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Paula Deen announced Thursday that she has cut business ties with the agent who helped make her a Food Network star and launch a media and merchandising empire that has largely crumbled in the wake of her admission that she used racial slurs in the past.Deen had worked with New York agent Barry Weiner for more than a decade. She has said he was instrumental in getting her show “Paula’s Home Cooking” on the Food Network in 2002. She gave no reason for her parting with Weiner in a prepared statement.“Paula Deen has separated from her agent,” Deen’s spokeswoman, Elana Weiss, said in an email Thursday.