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A call about a possible suicide attempt Sunday lead Doraville Police to a marijuana grow house that contained more than 400 plants worth about $2.5 million. A man called police around 6 a.m. Sunday and said that he was concerned his girlfriend might attempt suicide, according to police.

A DeKalb County police sergeant whose wife was beaten and robbed earlier this month outside their home is now out on bail after his own trouble with the law. Sgt. Jerry R. Banks, 42, was arrested Friday morning while police were executing a search warrant at the home of a female acquaintance.

Days after an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation revealed failures of the breathing devices that provide firefighters with clean air while battling fires, at least one city is re-examining the gear and the manufacturer is fighting back. Shortly after DeKalb County firefighters began using  Draeger Safety air packs in 2009, firefighters began reporting problems: their air supply would occasionally cut off and pieces fell off the packs.

Georgia Perimeter College will lay off about 185 people to close what could be a $25 million deficit next year. Tenured and tenure-track faculty will be exempt from layoffs, but they will teach more courses. More students will be crammed into classrooms.

The investigation into leaks from a Feb. 3 closed city council meeting could cost Dunwoody residents twice as much as the $25,000 already reported, according to records obtained by The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Billing statements from Bob Wilson, the attorney heading the investigation, show the city has paid $25,186 for services from mid-February through the end of March.

The same air packs that cut off some DeKalb County firefighters’ air supply in burning buildings -- problems the manufacturer blamed on the firefighters themselves -- have caused similar problems in other fire departments. Firefighters in Phoenix and Anchorage have reported their Draeger Safety air packs had the same issues, from a loss of clean air to disintegrating mouthpieces, while battling blazes, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found.

A man killed in a wreck on I-85 in DeKalb County Thursday has been identified. DeKalb police spokeswoman Lt. Pam Kunz said Peter Chevannes, 70, died in the wreck in the southbound lanes of the interstate just north of Clairmont Road. Police believe Chevannes suffered a medical emergency that caused him to lose control of his car, Kunz said.

Each year, about 160,000 people, many of them schoolchildren, learn about frogs, snakes, bugs and other animals and plants during visits to Fernbank Science Center. The decades-old institution, owned and operated by the DeKalb County public school district, has offered a hands-on education to students and other visitors from across metro Atlanta and elsewhere.

A DeKalb County grand jury indicted a former Tucker Middle School teacher Thursday for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old student and spying on other students and a female relative. Almarcus Dwayne Thomas, 42, is accused of maintaining a seven-month sexual relationship with one of his students, and keeping nude photos of the teen on his computer.

A man accused of killing two DeKalb County police officers won’t be allowed to skip trial because of his claim that he was acting in self-defense. A DeKalb County Superior Court judge has denied William Maurice Woodard’s request for immunity from prosecution in the 2008 shooting deaths of DeKalb Officers Eric Barker and Ricky Bryant Jr.

The DeKalb County Commission lowered the fees and fines for its foreclosure registry this week, but officials don’t expect enforcement to suffer. The county was the first in the state to require landlords to pay, which financed the government's capacity to inspect and maintain a list of foreclosed properties.

The 25-year-old man accused of robbing a Waffle House and then involving police in a four-hour standoff remained Wednesday night in the DeKalb County jail, where he was being held without bond. A second suspect in the Tuesday heist was later released from custody after an investigation cleared him of being involved in the crime, according to police.

DeKalb County installed a temporary chiller in a key county building, which means property assessments will resume on Thursday. The county’s board of equalization hearings, which hear property owners’ appeals, were canceled for Wednesday after the air conditioning in the Callaway Building went out earlier in the week.

Firefighters rescued eight people who were trapped in an apartment fire in DeKalb County on Tuesday night, Channel 2 Action News reported. Five small children and three adults were on the third-floor balcony of their unit at the Kensington Manor Apartments on Mountain Drive when firefighters arrived.

The DeKalb County School District has a tentative 2013 budget with $44.5 million in cuts and nearly $30 million in new taxes. DeKalb officials are wrestling with their most challenging budget in years. Unlike most school systems in Georgia, DeKalb has no money in the bank and is on a trajectory to finish the fiscal year in debt.

The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office is looking for a fugitive who authorities say cut off his ankle monitor Tuesday. Keith Bryan Breaux, 22, is charged with armed robbery, burglary and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony in connection with a crime committed last May.

A police sergeant, indicted on charges of racketeering for allegedly ordering officers to beat teenage suspects, was fired Tuesday, according to the DeKalb County Police Department. Sgt. Anthony Remone Robinson was indicted on May 10, along with two other officers, on charges of aggravated assault, battery, violating his oath as police officer, making false statements and racketeering.

The city of Dunwoody has spent more than $25,000 to uncover which city officials leaked information to a local newspaper about a real estate deal. An investigation, paid for by the city and released late Monday, revealed City Councilwoman Adrian Bonser and City Attorney Brian Anderson were sources of a leak that came to light when details of a closed meeting on Feb.

Property owners scheduled to appeal their assessments Wednesday in DeKalb County don’t need to go. The Clerk of Superior Court has canceled the 250 cases before the board of equalization because the Callaway Building lost air conditioning late Monday.

The American Association of University Professors said Tuesday it regrets giving a national award to Anthony Tricoli, the former president of Georgia Perimeter College. Tricoli stepped down earlier this month when Chancellor Hank Huckaby disclosed that the two-year college faces a $16 million shortfall.

The DeKalb County School District is facing its worst budget in recent memory, so officials are weighing wholesale elimination of programs, including pre-kindergarten, magnet school transportation and Montessori schools. That would just be the start of efforts to close a deficit of more than $70 million.

Dunwoody released a 40-page report late Monday which names City Attorney Brian Anderson and City Council member Adrian Bonser as the sources for leaked information from a closed meeting. The three-month investigation, conducted by former DeKalb County Attorney Bob Wilson, says the two officials leaked information relating to a land sale and swap that had been discussed in a Feb.

A 26-year-old Decatur man was arrested Monday for allegedly using Facebook to threaten an underage girl with whom he had a sexual relationship, Channel 2 Action News reported. Luis Hazel has been charged with statutory rape and making terroristic threats in the incident involving the 15-year-old girl he had met at a party, authorities said.

The DeKalb County Property Appraiser’s office will mail out the 2012 property assessments on May 29 this year. Property values have dropped six percent this year, according to preliminary figures from the appraiser’s office, down to $44.2 billion countywide.

Green Energy Partners has filed its state application for an air permit for its proposed biomass facility near Lithonia. Residents can file comments with the state Environmental Protection Division until June 1 on the proposal, which calls for burning wood chips to create energy that it will sell to Georgia Power.

DeKalb County has extended the business offices of its sanitation office for walk-in customers. The administrative offices are now open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays at 3720 Leroy Scott Dr. near Decatur. The call center, at 404-294-2900, also will be open from 7 a.

The DeKalb County commission recently signed a contract that has it paying 12 percent than last year for lifeguards and pool cleaning at Browns Mill Aquatic Facility this summer. The $225,000 contract with USA Pools of Woodstock will cover services at the center through this fall.

The DeKalb History Center will host a lecture on how urban homesteading helped transform Decatur at an event Tuesday. The lecture will focus on how rehabilitation in the Oakhurst area helped rebrand the neighborhood into its current bustling business and residential district.

The interim president of Georgia Perimeter College vowed to have an outline of a plan by next Friday on how the college will cut millions to eliminate a budget shortfall. The two-year college will not close any campuses, Rob Watts said during a speech to faculty and staff Friday morning.

With her baby asleep in the back seat, Sara Morrison and her boyfriend were watching "The Raven" late Monday night at the Starlight Six Drive-In when they heard what sounded like two loud pops, then the sound of breaking glass and someone screaming. "I saw Mitt standing there and screaming that he had been shot," Morrison, of Newnan, told the AJC Thursday.

A convicted killer and home invasion crew leader was sentenced Thursday to spend the rest of his life in prison as he continued to proclaim his innocence. A DeKalb County Superior Court judge sentenced Michael Blaine to eight consecutive life terms, with no possibility of parole.

A former DeKalb County police officer admitted Thursday he tipped off suspected drug dealers about an impending search warrant because he had sold one of them a gun and did not want agents to find it. "I'm not a bad guy," Gabriel Hoskins, his voice breaking, told U.

A child shot behind a DeKalb County elementary school late Thursday morning was playing hooky with two other youths and was wounded when he accidentally shot himself, police said. The shooting happened in a wooded area about 50 yards from Montclair Elementary School, according to DeKalb Public Safety Director William Miller.

As she continued to shake down the private contractor, DeKalb County public works employee Neacacha Joyner got herself into deeper trouble. By the time she had collected $9,500 in bribes, the FBI had long secured the cooperation of the contractor and built a solid case against Joyner for exploiting her position for personal gain.

With the alleged shooter in custody, friends of the man shot to death at the Starlight Six Drive-In were still struggling to make sense of the tragedy. And one lingering question remained unanswered. Why? “The only person that can answer that question can’t answer that question," Valerie Hammond with the Georgia Renaissance Festival told the AJC.

Property owners in DeKalb County would pay a higher tax rate and students would see more crowded classrooms if the budget proposed by Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson is approved. Atkinson wants to raise the tax rate by 2 mills while also increasing the student-teacher ratio by three per classroom.

A DeKalb County jury found gang leader Michael Blaine guilty of at least one of the malice murder charges against him Wednesday. As DeKalb Superior Court Judge Clarence Seeliger read off verdicts from the 38-count list of charges against the man accused of orchestrating a violent, and on one occasion murderous, robbing crew, Blaine stared intently at the judge’s stand.

A man who eluded officers in a SWAT standoff in Clarkston last week has been arrested. DeKalb sheriff's deputies arrested Jarvis Lamar McElroy, 29, Tuesday in Jonesboro on armed robbery charges, Clarkston police said Wednesday. McElroy is suspected in several home invasion robberies, armed street robberies and burglaries in Clarkston and other parts of DeKalb County, police said.

A father who suffocated his 5-year-old son apparently to get back at his soon-to-be ex-wife will spend the rest of his life in prison, never to be paroled. Gary DeToma said nothing in court Tuesday other than to plead guilty to murdering Gary Jr. and trying to kill his younger son, Will, to avoid a possible death penalty if convicted at trial.

Two men, just one year apart in age, probably didn't know each other. But both likely died within minutes of one another following a quick string of events in DeKalb County. After a martial arts expert and entertainer was shot and killed at the historic Starlight Six Drive-In, a man headed to babysit for a family member was hit and killed by a DeKalb County police officer headed to the homicide scene early Tuesday, police said.

A person was run over and killed by a train Tuesday in Tucker. According to DeKalb police dispatchers, the male victim was trapped beneath the seventh car on a CSX train near Lawrenceville Highway and Hugh Howell Road. Police said the man was trespassing in a "restricted area" at the time of the accident, AM 750 and 95.

Court cases that have loomed over the DeKalb County School District and its taxpayer-funded school construction program are finally heading to trial. The corruption case against former Superintendent Crawford Lewis has been set for trial the second week of September, according to District Attorney Robert James' office.

A DeKalb County jury is to resume deliberations Wednesday morning on the fate of alleged robbing crew leader Michael Blaine, charged with the deaths of two men. Blaine, 31, is accused of shooting and killing Eric Banks and Yusef Ellis during what prosecutors described as an 11-month-long robbing spree.

Dunwoody City Attorney Brian Anderson is in a fight for his job after Mayor Mike Davis and Councilman Terry Nall called for his resignation Monday night. The move to oust Anderson, who has been city attorney since the city was founded four years ago, failed when a majority of the City Council voted to delay action until a later meeting.

A 27-year-old man was struck by a police vehicle and killed early Tuesday while trying to cross a busy DeKalb County street. The man, identified by police as Clinton Hightower, was attempting to cross Memorial Drive at West Mountain Street when he was struck by a patrol car driven by Officer Jason Copper, Mekka Parish, spokesman for DeKalb County police, told the AJC Tuesday afternoon.

What would summer be without the tinny jangle of the ice-cream truck? Answer: DeKalb County. No, county leaders don’t hate cool treats. Or children. It’s just that county code makes it illegal to sell any food – ice cream is specifically listed – from any cart or vehicle on county streets.

Motorists will begin using Georgia's first diverging diamond interchange June 4 if work proceeds according to plan. The Perimeter Community Improvement District and Georgia DOT announced Tuesday that the interchange, at Ashford-Dunwoody Road and I-285, will channel traffic onto the left side of the overpass to ease access for motorists wishing to turn left onto the freeway.

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department has started a flag football league for metro law enforcement agencies. The idea came after a game two years ago between the sheriff’s office and DeKalb Police, to raise public awareness about the dangers of celebratory gunfire.

A DeKalb County police officer's wife remained in critical condition Monday afternoon at Grady Memorial Hospital after being attacked early Sunday morning outside her home. Investigators have determined that she was attacked during what appears to have been a robbery, police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said.

Students at Clarkston High School in Clarkston and Sequoyah Middle in Doraville opened boxes containing $100,000 worth of musical instruments Monday. The DeKalb County School District credited the donation to the Abraham J. & Phyllis Katz Foundation and The Mr.

The jig is up for a Stone Mountain man suspected in several bank robberies, the FBI said Monday. Numerous tips from the public led to the arrest of Benjamin Rivers, 33, by DeKalb County police, said the FBI in a press release. Rivers is charged with multiple federal offenses.

DeKalb County, which spent $1.2 million on county-issued uniforms since 2009, recently agreed to spend up to $145,000 on uniforms from June through October. The contract with E R Partridge has provided uniforms to workers in several departments, ranging from transportation to juvenile court to parks.

The DeKalb County Commission recently signed off on a 10-year lease for its police department in Stone Mountain Industrial Park. The department will house personnel for its specialized units in the 16,400-square foot office. The total cost for the lease will be about $808,000 and funded from confiscated funds.

DeKalb County recently was awarded a grant from the Office of National Drug Control Policy to help its police department patrol high-crime drug areas. The $327,000 can go toward overtime costs, supplies and equipment used by DeKalb Police in a multi-agency taskforce targeting high-intensity drug areas in the county.

DeKalb County recently accepted $1.78 million in federal funds to help deliver services to senior citizens in the county. The county’s community development department will help deliver meals to 600 housebound seniors with the money, as well as sponsor meals at four neighborhood centers across the county and help pay for personal care for disadvantaged seniors.

Library supporters can make a concrete gift to four new expanded branches in DeKalb County through a brick fundraising program. For $100, bricks will be inscribed with a donor’s name, family or company, or in memory of a loved one and then installed in the entryway of the Hairston Crossing, Salem-Panola, Stonecrest and Tucker libraries.

The DeKalb Development Authority recently awarded $20,000 toward the effort to create an economic development plan for a key section of east-central DeKalb. The money will be added to a $80,000 grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission to the Stone Mountain Community Improvement District for the plan.

The Georgia Retired Educators Association in Decatur and DeKalb will hold its monthly meeting this week. Retirees from Decatur and DeKalb schools, both public and private, as well as retirees of other districts who live in the county, are welcome in the group, which will hold its year-end luncheon this month.

Clarkston recently named a former Cobb County worker as its first planning and development manager. Jason Gaines, who most recently worked with Cobb’s Community Development Agency, will be responsible for the small city’s permitting, zoning and land-use issues and also will work with city leaders on economic development issues.

DeKalb County’s Office of Neighborhood Empowerment earned a community award during the recent Association County Commissioners of Georgia annual conference. The association named the office, known as One DeKalb, at its 2012 Civic and Community Engagement Advocate of the Year for its work in creating and supporting community events.

DeKalb County officials touted a recent decision to use in-house financing to expand its landfill as a wise choice that will save taxpayers money on borrowing costs. But the move also means residents, accustomed to some of the most extensive garbage collection in metro Atlanta, can expect service cuts — dropping to once-weekly collection from the current pickup several days a week — perhaps as soon as next year.

An early Saturday crash on North Druid Hills Road left one driver dead and another in critical condition, DeKalb County authorities said. The driver who was killed was traveling westbound in a minivan on North Druid Hills Road when he crossed the center line near Arbordale Drive, police spokesman Major Lionel Higdon told Channel 2 Action News.

The suddenly retired director of Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 band told an Orlando TV station Friday that he agreed the band should be silenced for at least the next year. "Let the Marching 100 know we love you, but you're going to have to have better control … and not engage in any acts of hazing," Julian White told WFTV.

Two DeKalb County men have been arrested in connection with the death of a third man whose body was discovered as firefighters extinguished a brush fire in Social Circle, authorities said Friday. Corey Thomas, 20, and Antonio Jones, 24, have been charged with the murder of Akili Jabari Stewart, according to a news release from the Social Circle Police Department and GBI.

For nearly 15 months, a mangled bike frame hung in Dave Matthews' garage, a vivid reminder of the day an 86-year-old man plowed his Buick into him, smashing his face.. Then around 7:30 a.m. on April 30, having just finished an 18-mile ride with a bunch of buddies in Decatur, he received an email.

The state’s police licensing arm is opening an investigation into the certifications of two DeKalb County policemen accused of allegedly beating handcuffed teens. The Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, the agency that certifies police, is looking at whether Arthur Parker III and Blake Andrew Norwood should continue to be able to serve as police officers in Georgia.

A DeKalb County man who had missed two days of work without notifying his employer was found dead Friday at his home, and investigators are treating his death as a homicide, police said. David Johns, 55, died from blunt force trauma to the body, said DeKalb police spokeswoman Mekka Parish.

Police on Friday issued a warrant for a burglary suspect who eluded officers in a SWAT standoff in Clarkston. Clarkston police charged Jarvis Lamar McElroy, 29, with armed robbery. McElroy was described as black, with dreadlocks, standing 6 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 235 pounds.

Three DeKalb County police officers were charged Thursday with beating teenage suspects in custody, some of them while handcuffed, as part of what prosecutors are calling a criminal conspiracy. A DeKalb County grand jury indicted Blake Andrew Norwood, Arthur Parker III and Sgt.

Florida A&M band director Julian White, who has been under intense criticism since the hazing death of a drum major whose family lives in Decatur, retired unexpectedly Thursday amid more troubling revelations about the beleaguered band. White's attorney, Chuck Hobbs, announced the decision Thursday afternoon.

The former chief audit officer for the University System of Georgia will serve as Georgia Perimeter College's vice president for fiscal affairs, according to a note sent Thursday. Ron Stark has a "career's worth of experience in solving financial problems," Interim President Rob Watts wrote.

Two suspects have been charged after the third was fatally shot by a resident during a home invasion early Tuesday in Doraville, police said. Khaleaf Silvera and Alfred Wilson are facing charges of felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, false imprisonment and kidnapping, authorities said Wednesday.

The FBI and DeKalb County police are looking for a man suspected of robbing seven banks in the county. The heists started in July 2011, and the most recent one was Monday, authorities said. In each robbery, the suspect has waited in line before going to a teller's window, usually while talking on his cellphone.

A DeKalb County dog owner sentenced to jail after her pets attacked an 8-year-old girl, costing the child an arm, was back in court Wednesday asking a judge to reduce her sentence, Channel 2 Action News reported. Twyann Vaughn, found guilty in January and sentenced to 16 months in prison, wants the court to release her from jail after only four months so that she can attend her son’s graduation, her public defender said.

Rob Watts will serve as interim president of Georgia Perimeter College as officials investigate what led to the school's nearly $16 million budget shortfall. The state Board of Regents approved the appointment Wednesday and Chancellor Hank Huckaby sent a letter to faculty and staff informing them that Watts will start May 14.

Pit bulls are no longer a restricted household pet in DeKalb County, a zoning change that its advocates say should help the county focus more on all dangerous dogs and possibly improve the adoption rate from its shelter. "Our criteria always has been and always will be dangerous dogs," said William Z.

A DeKalb County police officer is under criminal investigation after being accused of kicking a woman who was almost nine months pregnant, Channel 2 Action News reported. Raven Dozier said she was trying to help her brother calm down during a child custody issue that involved police.

A man accused of killing two DeKalb County police officers says that he was defending himself against a pair of overzealous cops. And he doesn’t want the personal items he left at the scene of the shooting to be used as evidence. In a hearing Tuesday for a motion to suppress evidence, William Woodard’s defense attorneys told DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gail Flake that the shooting resulted from an illegal arrest.

An unlikely showdown is deepening in DeKalb County, where the CEO and Board of Commissioners are battling over, of all things, how to best reach the public. At issue is up to $150,000 in taxpayer dollars, the possibility the county's cable-access channel could go dark and potential harm to the county's reputation for being able to serve the very people both sides say they want to reach.

Two men have been arrested in suburban Chicago in connection with the slaying of a DeKalb County woman and the kidnapping of another woman. Cristian de la O Hernandez, 22, and Jose Juarez-Vidales, 41, were arrested May 2 at a motel in Beach Park, Ill.

Georgia Perimeter College President Anthony Tricoli has stepped down following the disclosure that the two-year college has a $16 million budget shortfall, Chancellor Hank Huckaby announced Monday. Students will not pay higher tuition and fees to cover the shortfall, but the financial woes will be felt around campus into the next school year, Huckaby wrote in a letter to the college community obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A gas station owner was shot Monday morning during a robbery in DeKalb County. Shirazali Kassam, 64, was shot at the gas station in the 4200 block of Buford Highway near Dresden Drive, family members and DeKalb County police told Channel 2 Action News.

A 77-year-old DeKalb County man with Alzheimer's disease who disappeared Saturday has been found safe, police said Monday. A Mattie's Call was issued for Rufus Holcomb after he left his home on foot around 8:30 p.m. Saturday. An email canceling the alert was sent out Monday when Holcomb was located in good health and was returned to his home, DeKalb police said.

Three people were killed in actions attributed by authorities to a robbery crew that plagued south DeKalb County. Now, the alleged leader of that crew, Michael Blaine, is on trial in DeKalb County Superior Court for two of those murders, as well as for racketeering, three counts of kidnapping and a host of burglaries and armed robberies.

DeKalb County Commissioner Larry Johnson is sponsoring an event later this month designed to stimulate new business in the county. The Local to Global event will display DeKalb’s assets for local and international citizens and businesses. Representatives from several local chambers of commerce will be on hand, as will the U.

A national nonprofit and DeKalb County’s parks department recently teamed up to plant three dozen fruit trees in a county park. The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation supplied the apple, peach, pear and pawpaw trees for DeKalb Memorial Park, a 17-acre park on Wilkinson Drive in Atlanta.

Chamblee will host a citywide festival later this month designed to showcase its diversity through activities, food and music. Celebrate Chamblee will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 19 at City Hall on Peachtree Road. Free activities include salsa lessons, line dancing and special children’s events such as face painting.

A bowling and game party later this month will benefit animals in DeKalb County. The event at Stars and Strikes in Tucker features light refreshments, games and one hour of bowling. Animals from the county shelter also will be on site for adoption at the event, which runs from 5 to 7 p.

Keep DeKalb Beautiful is partnering with local and state agencies to collect new and gently worn shoes for people in need. The Soles4Souls program will accept shoes weekdays at the county’s central transfer station, 3720 Leroy Scott Dr., near Decatur until May 15.

A community survey assessing the state of the arts in DeKalb County is now online. The survey is designed for residents as well as artists and cultural organization to help determine economic development opportunities in cultural and artistic events and facilities.

Tickets are still available for the Senior Prom fundraiser that benefits a nonprofit serving senior citizens in DeKalb and Fulton counties. Senior Connections will honor Jim Miller, Chairman and CEO of Fidelity Southern Corporation, at the event. The party will be held at the Thalia N.

A storytelling series about pioneer life returns to DeKalb History Center in June. The program will include weekly session on craft making every Wednesday between June 6 and July 25. Events run between 10-11 a.m. at the historic Biffle Cabin, 720 W. Trinity Place.

DeKalb County’s newest community improvement district is looking to expand its borders. The Stone Mountain CID is working to add more commercial properties along Lawrenceville Highway to the Gwinnett County line. Properties inside the district self-tax to fund the CID operations, such as roadway improvements and landscaping.

DeKalb police are investigating a home invasion where thieves stole $200,000 worth of rare coins. The burglary happened at Gavinwood Place off North Druid Hills in Decatur, according to Channel 2 Action News. Police said two armed men went to the home at about 11:30 p.

A former chief operating officer of the DeKalb County School District and her architect husband are suspected of stealing thousands of dollars from taxpayers with the help of then-superintendent Crawford Lewis, according to a new indictment. The updated indictment released last week says former school district construction chief Pat Reid did what she could to bloat existing design contracts with then-husband Tony Pope and to steer new ones to him, and Lewis signed off on everything, then did what he could to block the ensuing investigation.

A DeKalb County police sergeant who was being investigated for allegedly interfering with a rape case resigned Friday, Channel 2 Action News reported. Sgt. Eric Adkison, a 13-year veteran with the DeKalb Police Department, had been placed on restrictive duty because of allegations he persuaded the victim of a rape not to press charges, according to DeKalb police.

The cost to taxpayers of a 5-year-old legal dispute between the DeKalb County School District and a construction management company has risen to $37 million, according to new court records. A grand jury highlighted those numbers and other issues in criticizing the school board -- and reiterating a call by a preceding grand jury for a broad investigation.

DeKalb assessors dropped the county's tax digest an average 6 percent Thursday, the first official slide in appraisals for what is expected to be another bad year of home and commercial values in metro Atlanta. The county's board of tax assessors said while there were some good spots of new development and increases in commercial values, the lumbering economy and high foreclosure rates in Georgia kept the county from digging out.

The family of the drum major from DeKalb County who died after a hazing incident at Florida A&M University is calling for the famed Marching 100 to be disbanded. "FAMU cannot go on with business as usual. They need to clean house," Pam Champion, the mother of Robert Champion Jr.

By agreement of the parties, the parents of the late Rusty Sneiderman will spend two days this weekend with their grandchildren, their first extended visit since February. But it's unclear when they'll see the youngsters, ages 6 and 3, next after a Thursday meeting with a Fulton County judge revealed little progress in the ongoing visitation dispute between Don and Marilyn Sneiderman and their daughter-in-law Andrea.