Fernando Alfonso and Rita Mateu sought out homeless people at Atlanta area shelters and offered them food or money in exchange for Medicare information. They hired a doctor for a clinic they ran in Woodstock, gaining access to the doctor’s medical billing numbers.

Nearly six out of every 10 unemployed workers in Georgia have been out of work for more than six months — believed to be the highest rate of long-term joblessness since the Great Depression. Even while overall job growth has been improving and the state’s unemployment rate has fallen to 8.

Over the course of almost a decade, Georgia Power reaped $64 million in state tax savings from port tax credits — tens of millions of dollars more than Georgia legislators had intended. The Atlanta utility’s huge port tax credit claims — rivaling what had been statewide totals for all companies — set off a scramble by state tax officials for reasons to deny the claims.

Norcross' economic development manager was concerned businesses might leave town. The police chief fretted about devoting officers to police parks for illegal smokers. The city manager wanted to know the best way to inform residents of the new tobacco ban.

Gov. Nathan Deal will soon have the chance to shape the state's highest court. On Friday, the governor's Judicial Nominating Commission said 31 judges and lawyers applied for a vacancy that will open up in mid-July when Justice George Carley retires from the Georgia Supreme Court.

A year after the biggest fish kill in state history on the Ogeechee River in southeast Georgia, more dead fish were discovered this week on the river, prompting two counties to advise people not to swim and fish in the stream. The number of fish found dead is less than 20.

After months of announcements and rumors of on-again and off-again campaigns and challenges, the candidate lists are set for the upcoming July election. Friday's qualifying deadline set up for voters the ballots for the Democratic and Republican primaries.

The Georgia state conference of the NAACP is preparing to announce its opposition to the July 31 transportation tax referendums statewide, its president said. A spokesman for the campaign to pass the Atlanta-area referendum, Jeff Dickerson, replied that the NAACP was "out of step with African-American leaders" on the issue.

Forty-six current and potential lawmakers signed a pledge to support a cap on lobbyist gifts to legislators, including a late surprise endorsement from a top member of the state Senate. The signatures came as qualifying for 2012 elections closed at noon Friday.

Gov. Nathan Deal has signed an order continuing the work of a criminal justice reform council that was instrumental in sweeping changes enacted this past legislative session. Among the panel's new members are the governor's son, Jason Deal, a Superior Court judge who oversees accountability courts in Hall and Dawson counties.

The jackpot for Saturday's Powerball drawing is up to $128 million after a month with no big winners in the multi-state lottery. The cash option amount for Saturday's jackpot is $83 million. The jackpot has been climbing since a lottery player in Pennsylvania won $173 million in the April 25 drawing, according to Georgia Lottery Corp.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has issued a warning about the Ogeechee River in Bulloch and Effingham counties after 10 dead fish were found. WTOC reports that the Bulloch County Public Safety Division and the Effingham County Emergency Management Agency have both issued fishing and swimming advisories indefinitely.

The bacteria that causes the flesh-decaying infection that attacked Aimee Copeland is present in normal levels in the Little Tallapoosa River, according to a laboratory hired to test the water. The University of West Georgia graduate student from Snellville contracted the infection after gashing her calf on rocks in the river on May 1.

Memorial Day weekend -- with the school year done or nearly so, and the long days of summer stretched out in the horizon -- is the traditional start to the public pool season. Large communities tend to have more options: Atlanta has 17 swimming pools, including four natatoriums and 13 outdoor facilities, while DeKalb County's 11 pools include 10 outdoor sites and one aquatic center.

The debate intensified this week over the July 31 sales tax referendum for transportation, in which voters in the 10-county Atlanta area will consider a 1 percent sales tax for projects in the region. On Tuesday, a member of the group that put the $6.

Baffled. Hurt. Angry, but determined. Such were the reactions of David and Tina Long to the dismissal of a lawsuit they filed against the Murray County School District for failing to stop the bullying of their son, Tyler, who committed suicide in 2009.

Robert Champion was known for his opposition to the hazing rampant in the Florida A&M University marching band, but he was vying to be lead drum major and wanted the respect he could earn by enduring a brutal ritual known as "crossing over.

Nearly 20 lawmakers or candidates, including the top Republican in the Senate, have signed a pledge promising to support a $100 cap on lobbyist gifts to lawmakers. The bipartisan group includes veteran legislators such as Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, Rep.

A Savannah man has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty after authorities say they found 10 dead dogs in his abandoned home and 10 more that were starving but still alive. Kirby Campbell initially faced felony charges after the dead dogs were found last month.

A 23-year-old Conyers man who disappeared over the weekend was found safe Wednesday, police said. Dushaun Ponder, who is schizophrenic and autistic, was detained by MARTA personnel around 4:30 p.m. at the Oakwood MARTA station after a citizen who recognized him from media reports alerted police.

A loggerhead sea turtle nest found this week marks the first of the season discovered on Tybee Island. The Savannah Morning News reports that a public works employee on Monday followed turtle tracks on the beach, which led to a nest of 87 eggs. Last month, the state's first loggerhead sea turtle nest of the year was found on Cumberland Island.

1:23 p.m.: A number of additional primaries are now set for a variety of offices. Here's a run-down as of now: House District 20: Incumbent Republican Charlice Byrd of Woodstock will face Michael Caldwell, a 22-year-old sales manager from Woodstock. House District 46: State Rep.

Construction crews have fenced off a historic dormitory at the University of Georgia to prepare for its demolition. Demolition of 159-bed Rutherford Hall will probably begin in the first full week of June, university spokesman Tom Jackson told The Athens Banner-Herald.

Tea party activists have promised for months to mount challenges to incumbent lawmakers they see as squishy on conservative issues and especially on calls for ethics reform. Beginning Wednesday, Georgians will find out whether those promises are fulfilled.

It's not so much the chills, the high fever, nausea and stomach upset that many survivors of necrotizing fasciitis remember most. It's the pain. "[Doctors] asked me to rate the scale of pain. I said, ‘It's 100, it's 1,000. It's gone,'" recalls Brenda Walker, an Alpharetta woman whose left calf was ravaged by necrotizing fasciitis six years ago.