State Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, was elected to the Board of Directors of the World Chamber of Commerce at the group's annual membership meeting and awards dinner Feb. 2 in Atlanta. Albers serves as vice chairman of the Senate Finance and Science and Technology Committees, and as an active member of the Senate Economic Development Committee.

A 10-year-old Cobb County boy reported missing Wednesday night was found safe overnight. Gyasi Francis had been missing from his family's Powers Ferry Road apartment since around 8 p.m. An employee at a nearby business found Gyasi about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, and the boy was reunited with his family, Cobb police spokesman Mike Bowman said.

The cost of using the I-85 HOT lane on Thursday morning tied the record high that was set 24 hours earlier. Wednesday and Thursday morning's price of $4.70 surpassed  the previous record of $4.55 set on Monday and matched again on Tuesday. According to the State Road and Tollway Authority, the new benchmark to drive the 16-mile stretch of I-85 in the HOT lane was set at 7:11 a.

The day before Southern Co. learns whether it will get the go-ahead to build the first newly approved nuclear reactors in 30 years, company executives sat in a crowded room of federal nuclear regulators telling them the $14 billion project is under strict management and oversight and will be built to the highest of standards.

An airport concessions joint venture run by Atlanta-based Concessions International expects to lay off about 530 employees starting next month, though many of those workers could find jobs with new restaurants. Those affected in the move by the joint venture between Concessions International and Paschal’s include servers, bartenders, kitchen managers and others.

Parents, educators and advocates are expected to pack the room today, when DeKalb County’s House delegation approves the county’s school board map for the next decade. The delegation also will vote on new political lines for the County Commission at its meeting, but there is little controversy over small changes to those districts.

On a day where almost everything went wrong, Atibi Thomas and Keith Roach were lucky about one thing when they met nearly two years ago: Roach wore his bulletproof vest. If Roach had removed the vest when he ended his shift as an Atlanta police officer at 
3 p.

The jackpot for Saturday's Powerball multi-state lottery climbed to $310 million after no players matched all six numbers in Wednesday night's game. One Georgia Lottery player matched the first five numbers drawn Wednesday -- 17, 28, 38, 39 and 51 -- but not the "Power Ball," which was 33.

Fort McPherson, a 488-acre site between Atlanta and East Point, was founded by the U.S. Army in 1885. The Army closed the base last fall and the McPherson Implementing Local Redevelopment Authority is transitioning the property for civilian use. The site will take about 20 to 25 years to develop but work is under way: • MILA is working with the Army to transfer ownership.

Gov. Nathan Deal wants to spend about $28 million to help bring new life to Fort McPherson, but there are few details on how the money will be used and what future investments the state will make. The recently vacated, 488-acre Army post is about four miles south of downtown Atlanta and has been hailed as a strong candidate for redevelopment, although few concrete plans have been advanced so far.

One person was injured in a fire at a DeKalb County apartment building Wednesday night, Channel 2 Action News reported. The incident happened at the Lenox Summit Apartments in the 2400 block of East Club Drive off Peachtree Road around 8 p.m. Nearly 200 elderly and disabled residents were evacuated, and the fire was contained to one first-floor unit of the five-story building, Channel 2 said.

A Fulton County judge ruled Wednesday that a deejay should face felony murder and other charges in the shooting death of a nightclub customer, Channel 2 Action News reported. Johnny Jackson III, who goes by the stage name “DJ Outlaw,” is accused of firing a shotgun at Mark Williams last month, killing him in the parking lot of Rockafella’s Nightclub on Old National Highway in south Fulton County.

The man charged with trying to kidnap a 7-year-old girl Wednesday from a west Georgia Wal-Mart was on probation at the time after serving a sentence for a voluntary manslaughter conviction in DeKalb County, according to police. Thomas Andrew Woods, 25, of Austell, was taken into custody and questioned before being arrested Wednesday afternoon, Bremen Police Chief Keith Pesnell told the AJC.

Are you looking for a job? The Atlanta Police Department may be looking for you. The APD is holding a job fair beginning at 8 a.m. Monday on the 2nd floor of police headquarters, 226 Peachtree Street SW. Police Chief George Turner went before the City Council last year to request more funding to get the police force to 2,000 officers from about 1,800 currently.

The Racquet Club of the South in Norcross, where Marietta tennis sensation Melanie Oudin trained before competing in the U.S. Open and at Wimbledon, has been sold to Life Time Fitness, the company announced this week. The Racquet Club has eight indoor and 28 outdoor tennis courts at its complex on Courtside Drive.

Brandon White said he wasn’t going to call police Saturday after he was attacked and beaten amid a hail of anti-gay slurs outside a southwest Atlanta neighborhood store. But then he learned a video of his beating was posted online and had gone viral. “At first I was embarrassed,” White said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference.

Three members of a freight train crew were taken to a local hospital Monday after their train struck a truck hauling scrap metal in Marietta, Channel 2 Action News reported. The accident happened about 4 p.m. at the CSX Transportation crossing in an industrial area near Loudermilk Drive and Marble Mill Road.

Daniel Vestal has been named director of the new Eula Mae and John Baugh Center for Baptist Leadership at Mercer University. The center is being endowed with a $2.5 million grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation. Vestal will also serve as distinguished university professor.

A company that has lobbied for more than two years to bring commercial passenger service to Gwinnett County’s Briscoe Field is the only firm interested in running the airport. Propeller Investments, which has said it wants to launch service to New York, Chicago, Miami and a host of other cities, on Wednesday submitted the only proposal to operate the county airport near Lawrenceville.

Mental health courts in DeKalb and Cobb counties were among 20 statewide that received $353,676 in grants, the Administrative Office of the Courts said. The DeKalb Magistrate Court's Diversion Treatment Court received a $37,500 grant, and the Cobb Family Dependency Treatment Court and Cobb Juvenile Drug Court were each awarded $4,473.

Robbery was the likely motive for a home invasion last week that resulted in the shooting death of a 15-year-old Norcross High School football player, police said Wednesday. Norcross Police Department said investigators identified robbery as the “preliminary motive” for the incident and that the suspects in the killing targeted the home of Nicholas Jackson II's family on Autry Street as “their intended location.

A traffic stop in north Fulton County led to the seizure of $2.8 million worth of cocaine, methamphetamine and cash, police said Wednesday. Georgia state troopers stopped a brown Honda Accord on Jan. 26 within the Alpharetta city limits and arrested the driver, Ignacio Abarca Pineda, 27, who had only a Mexican driver's license and no proof of ownership for the car, George Gordon, Alpharetta police spokesman, said Wednesday.

Chamblee Charter, DeKalb School of Arts, Dunwoody and Lakeside high schools have been named AP Honor Schools by State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge. AP classes and exams are administered by the College Board, and students with good enough grades can get college credit.

A Gainesville man has been convicted of vehicular homicide in the death of a woman who fell out of the Jeep he was driving on Ga. 400. Colon Louis Hartzler, 45, was convicted Friday of vehicular homicide and DUI, the Gainesville Times reported. Police said Hartzler was driving under the influence of alcohol when passenger Jenna Fitzgerald fell out of the vehicle as he made a left turn onto Carlisle Road from Ga.