ATLANTA – The federal government is expanding the area of South Georgia eligible for assistance for residents affected by Hurricane Idalia. The Georgia Department of Labor announced Wednesday that workers in two additional counties – Berrien and Brooks – may be eligible for federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance to compensate them for income lost directly resulting from the storm, which tore a path through South Georgia on Aug. 30.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's public colleges and universities want high school seniors to know there's a place for them in higher education and soon will be mailing a letter to the state's 120,000 seniors, urging them to claim their spot. Gov. Brian Kemp and others unveiled the new program Thursday, encouraging more young people to attend college. They say college will help students earn more over the long run and give the state a better-qualified workforce.

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia state Senate committee says it will start its own investigation of jail conditions in the state's most populous county, three months after the U.S. Justice Department unveiled its own inquiry of Fulton County jail conditions. State Sens. John Albers of Roswell and Randy Robertson of Cataula will make the announcement in a Thursday news conference, accompanied by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones.

TIFTON, Ga. (AP) — John Fuchko is the new president of Dalton State College, Georgia's Board of Regents confirmed Wednesday. Fuchko had been named the sole finalist for the position last month, typically a prelude to be named president of a public college or university in Georgia.

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. (AP) — A truck that ruined a bridge over an Atlanta-area interstate was carrying a load over the legal weight and height limits, an inspection found. A truck carrying an excavator struck the Mount Vernon Highway bridge over Interstate 285 on Sept. 27, causing westbound lanes of vital freeway to be closed for about 18 hours. An inspection found five of the six beams supporting the bridge were damaged beyond repair.

ATLANTA – The State Election Board late Tuesday unanimously rejected a proposal to let Georgians vote with hand-marked paper ballots in instances where using touch-screen voting machines cannot guarantee privacy. Both state law and the Georgia Constitution require that voters be allowed to cast their ballots in secrecy.

ATLANTA – Area Development magazine has selected Georgia as the No.-1 state for business for the 10th year in a row, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday. Georgia placed in the top 10 for all 14 categories included in the magazine’s annual rankings and earned the No.-1 spot in seven of those categories.

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Police officers in an Atlanta suburb fatally shot a man before dawn Tuesday after he tried to steal a police vehicle, investigators say. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said police in Lawrenceville were conducting a traffic stop when a vehicle sped by around 3 a.m. The black Kia Sorento made a U-turn and drove back toward the officers, with the driver getting out of the car.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A high school football player died after suffering a “medical emergency” on the sidelines of a game in Georgia, the school district said. The junior varsity team from Windsor Forest High School was playing Monday night when on-site emergency responders rushed to help one of its players, the Savannah-Chatham County school district said in a news release.

ATLANTA – Georgia high school athletes will be able to make money off of their name, image, and likeness (NIL) following a unanimous vote by the Georgia High School Association board. Monday’s vote will put high school athletes on a par with their older brothers and sisters playing college sports. The General Assembly passed legislation two years ago letting student-athletes at Georgia colleges, universities and technical colleges receive compensation for use of their name, image and likeness.

AILEY, Ga. (AP) — Authorities in rural southeast Georgia fatally shot a man who was armed with a gun and had made threats against law enforcement officers, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Monday. GBI agents are investigating the death late Sunday at the end of a five-hour standoff in Montgomery County. The GBI is routinely called on by local law enforcement agencies to investigate shootings involving officers in the state.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia man was sentenced Monday to more than five years in federal prison for organizing a scheme that stole nearly $2 million in government aid intended to help businesses endure the coronavirus pandemic. A U.S. District Court judge in Brunswick sentenced 41-year-old Bernard Okojie after a jury in March convicted him of fraud and conspiracy charges.

ATLANTA – An inmate at Smith State Prison in Glennville has been charged with killing a correctional officer who was escorting him from the dining hall. Correctional Officer Robert Clark, 42, was assaulted from behind with a homemade weapon Sunday as he was escorting inmates Layton Lester and Marko Willingham, according to a news release from the Georgia Department of Corrections.

CLARKESVILLE, Ga. – The House Study Committee on Fishing Access to Freshwater Resources will hold its next meeting on Oct.12 at the Habersham Electric Membership Corporation in Clarksville.

Police say a man who used Airbnb to rent a room in Georgia ended up robbing the home’s owner at gunpoint. A homeowner in the metro Atlanta suburb of Buford called Gwinnett County police saying an armed man who had rented his basement through the room-sharing app had fled after stealing his wallet.

A Georgia prison guard died Sunday after he was attacked by an inmate, state officials said. Correctional officer Robert Clark, 42, died at a hospital after an inmate assaulted him with a homemade weapon at Smith State Prison in rural Glennville, the Georgia Department of Corrections said in a news release.

ATLANTA (AP) — J. Edgar Hoover became the federal government’s top cop. Ellis Island closed as a portal for immigrants to the United States. France hosted the first Winter Olympics. And a baby in rural Georgia became the first future American president born in a hospital. The year was 1924, and that tiny fellow in Plains was James Earl Carter Jr., known as “Jimmy” from the start.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Two weeks after local officials weakened restrictions that for decades protected a tiny Georgia island community populated by slaves' descendants, its Black residents hope to force a referendum that would give them the chance to override the zoning changes.

ATLANTA – Simplifying Georgia’s dual enrollment program is the key to making it financially sustainable, a former school counselor who now runs a private counseling business told state lawmakers Tuesday. “Until we can get to the clarity piece, we’re never going to have improvement,” Jill Oldham, co-owner of South River Counseling and Consulting in Conyers, told members of a joint legislative study committee looking for ways to ensure the future stability of what is widely considered a successful program.

SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. (AP) — Flathead catfish are invading another Georgia river, state officials warn, a predator that would threaten native fish included the prized redbreast sunfish. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources said that systematic sampling in August found more than a dozen flathead catfish in a stretch of the Ogeechee River just upstream from Interstate 95.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia police officer has arrested two people for selling nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. An Athens-Clarke County officer made the arrests Thursday, the Athens Banner-Herald reports, after spotting people milling around with balloons following a concert in downtown Athens.

ATLANTA (AP) — At least 360 employees of Georgia's state prison system have been arrested on accusations of smuggling contraband into prisons since 2018, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, with 25 more employees fired for smuggling allegations but not arrested. The newspaper finds that nearly 8 in 10 of Georgia Department of Corrections employees arrested were women, with nearly half of them 30 years or younger, when ages could be verified.

ATLANTA – Georgia public-school students outperformed their counterparts in the nation’s public schools on the SAT this year for the sixth year in a row. The Georgia public-school Class of 2023 recorded a mean SAT score of 1045, 42 points above the national average for public-school students of 1003.

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, on Saturday made a surprise appearance at the Plains Peanut Festival in their Georgia hometown, the Carter Center wrote in a social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

ROME, Ga. (AP) — A judge dismissed a murder charge against a Georgia man who spent more than 20 years in prison, ending a decadeslong legal fight to exonerate him. The Floyd County judge dismissed the case at the request of the district attorney, who decided not to bring Joey Watkins to trial again after his initial conviction was vacated. The Georgia Innocence Project and other attorneys waged a lengthy fight to overturn the conviction.