The state House of Representatives will let a proposed charter school constitutional amendment rest until at least next week. It voted 114-49 Thursday to reconsider the amendment, which did not gain a necessary two-thirds majority vote Wednesday. That means it will be up to the House Rules Committee to send it back to the floor, where Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, can call for another debate.

An Athens man remained in jail Thursday, charged with raping an 11-year-old girl at his home. Athens-Clarke County police arrested Elbert Roman Tate, 33,  Tuesday on charges of rape, child molestation, aggravated sexual battery and sexual battery, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.

Congress was urged Thursday to expand the nation's federal guest-worker program under a resolution passed unanimously by the state Senate. Senate Resolution 715 follows passage last year of Georgia’s immigration law -- House Bill 87. The law seeks to deter illegal immigrants from coming here and encourages those already here to leave by preventing them from getting jobs and public benefits in Georgia.

Georgia is expected today to be released from requirements of a landmark federal education law that some say put too much pressure on students and teachers and contributed to test cheating in Atlanta and other places. The White House is set to announce today that Georgia and nine other states -- Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee -- will be granted waivers from the Bush era No Child Left Behind Act.

Georgia is expected today to be released from requirements of a landmark federal education law that some say put too much pressure on students and teachers and contributed to test cheating in Atlanta and other places. The first 10 states to receive the waivers are Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

State bureaucrats would not be permitted to divert bond funds from one project to another without first getting approval from the General Assembly under legislation filed Wednesday. Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Evans, former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, is championing the bill after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Sunday that more than $4 million in bond money originally approved for a reservoir was “redirected” to two of Gov.

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.

Authorities are investigating after a woman said she was assaulted Sunday during a traffic stop by a man she believed to be a law enforcement officer, the GBI said. The incident happened off U.S. 129 in Jackson County around 10 p.m. The woman said she was pulled over and assaulted near B.

After intense lobbying and lively floor debate, state House members on Wednesday narrowly rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would restore the state's power to approve charter schools. The amendment's sponsors immediately announced plans to ask the House on Thursday to reconsider the 110-62 vote, which was 10 votes short of the two-thirds majority required.

A tax officer says the Chatham County Assessor's Office placed an IKEA furniture distribution center in the unincorporated county at the same time it put the center's contents in Port Wentworth. The Savannah Morning News reports that interim Chief Appraiser Maryellen Burner discussed the discrepancy Tuesday as she was questioned about what led to the error.

The chairman of Cobb County’s legislative delegation, Rep. Ed Setzler, filed a bill Tuesday that would cancel the regional transportation referendum set for July, make changes to the process and call for another referendum in 2014. Setzler, R-Acworth, has long criticized the referendum that, if approved by voters in July, would allow a 1-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects in regions across the state for 10 years.

A truck driver from Indiana was killed Wednesday in a predawn wreck that shut down the southbound lanes of I-75 in northwest Georgia for several hours. The 2005 Freightliner truck driven by Curtis L. Keown was southbound near Exit 320 in Gordon County about 4:35 a.

The U.S. teen pregnancy rate has reached a 40-year low, a new study finds. The study, by the Guttmacher Institute, found that the pregnancy rate declined 42 percent from its peak in 1990, according to the study released Wednesday.  The teen pregnancy rate in 2008 was 68 per 1,000 girls age 15-19, down from 117 per 1,000 in 1990.

Georgia Southern University is building a new venue dedicated to archery and gun sports. Campus officials said Tuesday the Statesboro complex will be constructed with a $3.3 million federal grant obtained by the state Department of Natural Resources as well as with a mix of private and corporate donations.

Two people were found fatally shot Tuesday inside a Newton County home in what investigators are calling a double homicide, authorities said. The victims were identified as Peggy Molden, 66, and her nephew, 56-year-old Donald McCollough, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Former Braves all-star Dale Murphy is a well-known Twitter fanatic, sharing his insights into the Braves, art and his favorite band, the alt-country outfit Wilco. But Murphy lately has used the social media tool to share his thoughts on the Republican presidential primary.

Karen Handel accused the Planned Parenthood Federation of America Tuesday of plotting for a month before launching an orchestrated "shakedown" of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Handel, who resigned Tuesday as Komen's vice president of public policy, said Planned Parenthood was informed in December that Komen had revised its grant-making policies, making Planned Parenthood ineligible for future grants.

Social media helped Douglas County authorities clear the books of 27 break-ins and charge three men with burglary and racketeering, Channel 2 Action News reported. Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies said they arrested the suspects in December and recovered a stash of stolen goods including Xboxes, TVs, watches, cell phones and jewelry.

The logs sank a century or so ago, sentries to history as four Georgia rivers ebbed and flowed around them. Should they now be sold to the highest bidder? One of the Senate's top lawmakers believes so, keeping alive a debate whether loggers may raise the sunken logs and sell the wood.

The Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center is one of 50 nationwide selected as an enrollment site for the Million Veteran Program. The program is a voluntary research initiative, run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Research and Development, that will help researchers better determine how genes affect veteran's health and illnesses.

Alex Morrison says his house in Athens has been broken into more than a dozen times, but the perpetrator never took anything until Monday, when marijuana was stolen. According to Athens-Clarke County police, Morrison's home on Blake Way was broken into Monday and he reported that $60 worth of marijuana was stolen.

The Justice Department is reviewing Georgia’s tough new immigration law and is discussing it with businessmen and law enforcement officials here, but it has not decided to sue to block the statute like it has in four other states, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Tony West said Tuesday.

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp on Tuesday said President Barack Obama meets the state's eligibility requirements to be on the ballot in the March presidential primary. Kemp had referred "birther" challenges to Obama's candidacy to administrative law judge Michael Malihi, who rejected the complaints in a ruling issued Friday.