All Clayton County elementary and some middle school students will have to wear uniforms when they return to classes next month.

Students may wear navy blue or khaki-colored pants, shorts, skirts or jumpers. They should be paired with polo-style shirts that are white and/or school colors.

The district sent surveys to parents this spring and found a majority wanted uniform dress, district spokesman Charles White said Tuesday.

Uniform dress will be required at the county's 37 elementary schools and nine of the middle schools. The middle schools include Jonesboro, Kendrick, Lovejoy, Morrow, Pointe South and Flint River. M.D. Roberts Middle School is requiring only sixth-graders to wear uniforms.

They join Rex Mill Middle School, which has required students to wear uniforms since its opening two years, White said. Sequoyah Middle School students started wearing uniforms last year.

ATLANTA

Escalating row leaves man dead

A weeks-old argument escalated overnight into gunfire in southwest Atlanta that left one man dead and two wounded, police said. Marcus Simpson, 28, died in the shooting, which occurred about 1 a.m. Tuesday at a house in the 400 block of Fletcher Street, Atlanta police spokesman Ron Campbell said.

Two other men, Kenneth Williams and Kingston Ridley, were shot and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in stable condition. Campbell said the altercation apparently stemmed from an argument "a few weeks earlier." He did not know what the argument was over.

Autism center to open in August

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta will open a $17.6 million autism center next month. The Marcus Autism Center will occupy a 90,000-square-foot building on Briarcliff Road. The funding comes from a mix of donor support, the health care system's endowment, government aid and financial support from Atlanta businessman Bernie Marcus. The center expects to serve 4,400 patients a year, officials said. Children's plans to collaborate with Emory University, Georgia Tech and other academic and community-based organizations that serve children with autism.

COBB COUNTY

Six Flags ride OK'd to reopen

State officials from the labor commissioner's office gave the go-ahead for Batman the Ride to resume operations today at Six Flags Over Georgia. The ride will be "operational" at 9 a.m. and ready for the public when the park opens at 10:30 a.m., according to a Six Flags statement. A South Carolina teenager died Saturday after he and his cousin jumped two fences in a restricted area to get to the roller coaster. Asia Leeshawn Ferguson, 17, was decapitated when he was hit by the ride. Within the next 10 days, the park must increase the number and size of warning signs at the park. The message on these signs should include the words "extreme danger," Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said.

LITHONIA

Mayor sets up shop in police station

Mayor Joyce McKibben has moved her office into the city's police station, effectively ending nearly three months of police guards in front of the City Hall annex. McKibben moved about a half-dozen boxes, files and computer equipment on Friday and is continuing to set up her new space in the police station building on Main Street. Those city offices, where the city clerk moved at the end of April, are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A struggle between McKibben and the City Council erupted April 7. McKibben had fired the police chief, only to have the council unanimously reinstate him hours later. The council ordered the locks changed on City Hall and stationed police officers outside the building, after a police report said the mayor and her staff appeared to be shredding documents.

MARIETTA

Some city workers will get pay raise

Nearly 21 percent of Marietta's 803 employees will receive salary increases totaling $380,000 this week following a study that said their pay was not competitive in the local market. The city had some evidence of salary dissatisfaction before the study: 108 people left their jobs in the last fiscal year. The Marietta City Council approved raises for 168 people, including the police chief and fire chief. Salary increases averaged 3.18 percent, with some as high as 9 percent.

PAULDING COUNTY

Police looking into death of boy, 11

Paulding County sheriff's investigators still don't know what killed an 11-year-old boy Monday night at a home south of Dallas.

The boy, whose name had not been released late Tuesday, was found unconscious with a rope around his neck by a unidentified relative, said Paulding sheriff's Cpl. Brandon Gurley. A call was placed to 911 from the family's home on Marshall Fuller Road in the New Georgia community about 9:30 p.m., Gurley said.

The boy died en route to an area hospital. His body was taken to the GBI Crime Lab for an autopsy Tuesday, but authorities still are not releasing information.

"There are still unanswered questions," Gurley said.