ATLANTA – The state Public Service Commission (PSC) approved a request by Georgia Power Tuesday for a huge increase in electrical generating capacity power utility executives said is needed to meet the growing demands of large industrial customers.

ATLANTA – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport retained its distinction as the world’s busiest airport last year, the industry organization Airport Council International reported Monday.

ATLANTA – Georgia tax collections continued their downward slide last month, declining by 12.6% compared to March of last year, the state Department of Revenue reported Friday. Year-to-date tax receipts were more encouraging, with revenues down a slight 0.5% compared to the first nine months of the last fiscal year.

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (AP) — In a large, empty parking lot outside Atlanta, one car slowly careened around parking spaces. From the passenger seat, driving instructor Nancy Gobran peered over large sunglasses at her student, a 30-year-old Syrian refugee woman who was driving for one of the first times in her life.

ATLANTA (AP) — Two Georgia Republicans are headed to a May 7 runoff in a special election to replace state Rep. Richard Smith of Columbus, who died Jan. 30 while ill with the flu. Sean Knox and Carmen Rice will face off for the remainder of Smith's term on May 7, according to results from the Georgia Secretary of State.

Ralph Puckett Jr., a retired Army colonel awarded the Medal of Honor seven decades after he was wounded leading a company of outnumbered Army Rangers in battle during the Korean War, has died at age 97. Puckett died peacefully Monday at his home in Columbus, Georgia, according to the Striffler-Hamby Mortuary, which is handling funeral arrangements.

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A suburban Atlanta prosecutor says she will seek misdemeanor charges against a man who ran over and killed a 4-year-old girl after family members protested when police said felony charges weren't justified.

ATLANTA (AP) — The former chief financial officer for Atlanta pleaded guilty on Monday to stealing money from the city for personal travel and guns and trying to cheat the federal government on his income taxes. Jim Beard, 60, pleaded guilty to one count of federal program theft and one count of tax obstruction in federal court in Atlanta.

MACON, Ga. (AP) — A student at a private university in Georgia has been arrested on a misdemeanor battery charge after arguing with a person giving a speech about the Israel-Hamas war. WMAZ-TV reports the student was arrested by Mercer University police in Macon after making physical contact with Jennifer Grossman, CEO of the conservative group the Atlas Society.

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — Get ready for a day that won’t leave you in the dark! Join Tellus Science Museum on Monday, April 8, to witness the Great American Solar Eclipse of 2024.

ATLANTA – A man serving a life term in a Georgia state prison has been indicted on charges of constructing and mailing bombs to two federal buildings. David Cassady, 55, is an inmate at Phillips State Prison in Buford. He is accused of building the bombs while serving as an inmate at the now-closed state prison in Reidsville and mailing two of them to a federal courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, and a Justice Department building in Washington, D.C.

An increasingly deadly year for the endangered North Atlantic right whale got worse this week when another member of the species was killed in a collision with a ship, federal authorities said Thursday. The giant species of whale numbers less than 360 and is vulnerable to ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. The whales have suffered high mortality in recent years, and several have died already this year off Georgia and Massachusetts.

ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Transportation has awarded an $8.4 million grant to Norfolk Southern Corp. to fund freight rail improvements in Henry County. The grant will go toward an estimated $21 million project to more than double the length of a passing track at McDonough, which will allow more efficient use of the tracks and reduce road crossings blocked by trains.

ATLANTA – The nuclear expansion at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle has reached another milestone as it nears completion after years of cost overruns and scheduling delays. Unit 4, the second of two new reactors being built at the plant south of Augusta, achieved 100% power on Monday night, the Atlanta-based utility announced Tuesday.

ATLANTA (AP) — A U.S. Navy veteran has been identified as the man accused of ramming an SUV into a barrier at the front gate of the FBI's Atlanta office. A DeKalb County police spokesperson said officers have secured warrants for interference with government property against Ervin Lee Bolling.

ATLANTA (AP) — The FBI says a driver rammed a vehicle into the front gate of its Atlanta office on Monday, but his motives were not immediately known. The crash happened shortly after noon. Pete Ellis, assistant special agent in charge of the agency’s Atlanta office, told reporters the man tried to follow another vehicle through the gate and onto the FBI campus in suburban Chamblee but security precautions prevented him from entering.

Trillions of nature's bizarro wonders, red-eyed periodical cicadas that have pumps in their heads and jet-like muscles in their rears, are about to emerge in numbers not seen in decades and possibly centuries. Crawling out from underground every 13 or 17 years, with a collective song as loud as jet engines, the periodical cicadas are nature’s kings of the calendar.

ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Corrections and the FBI have broken up a multi-state criminal operation involving the use of drones to smuggle contraband into state prisons. “Operation Skyhawk” has led to the arrest of 150 suspects, including eight prison employees who were immediately fired.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's two-year legislative session ended early Friday, after lawmakers stayed past midnight on Thursday pass some bills and reject others as the term ended. Lawmakers rejected legalizing sports betting, but agreed to tighten rules on law enforcement cooperation with immigration officials.

ATLANTA (AP) — Pay raises for Georgia's public school teachers and state employees were never in doubt politically from the moment Gov. Brian Kemp proposed them, but lawmakers finally clinched the deal on Thursday, passing a budget that also boosts spending on education, health care and mental health.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers on Thursday approved new rules for challenging voters and qualifying for the state's presidential ballot that could impact the 2024 presidential race in the battleground state. Senate Bill 189 passed the House by a vote of 101 to 73 and the Senate by a vote of 33-22, sending it to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature or veto.

ATLANTA (AP) — An effort to authorize sports betting in Georgia has failed for another year, after lawmakers couldn't agree on how to spend money collected on taxes. Neither a proposed state constitutional amendment or authorizing legislation ever came to a vote in the House, after a committee passed it out early on Thursday, the last day of the 2024 legislative session.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to a package of legislation they hope will limit property tax increases, in what could be Republicans' signature tax cutting effort of the 2024 session. The measures include a state constitutional amendment that will need voter approval in a November referendum before it can take effect.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's Legislature gave final approval Thursday to a bill that would require local jailers to check the immigration status of inmates and work with federal immigration officials instead of sheltering people who are in the country illegally.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia could join other states in requiring children younger than 16 to have their parents’ explicit permission to create social media accounts. Lawmakers on Friday gave final approval to Senate Bill 351, which also would ban social media use on school devices and internet services, require porn sites to verify users are 18 or over and mandate additional education by schools on social media and internet use.