A Roswell woman faces several counts of identity fraud after she allegedly opened phony bank accounts in others' names. And it was the victims who helped police track her down. Five employees of an Alpharetta law firm used social media to help track down the woman, who was arrested Tuesday and booked into the Fulton County Jail.

New orders from the Pentagon: The military on Thursday formally opened thousands of jobs to women in units that are closer to the front lines than ever before, reflecting what's already been going on as female American soldiers fight and die next to their male comrades.

A man operating heavy machinery in a Forsyth County development died Thursday morning after hitting a tree, a fire department captain said. The man, identified by the deputy coroner as Jeffery Lee McGhee, was working on a home under construction off James Burgess Road in the southeastern part of the county at the time of accident, Capt.

Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said investigators know who some of the suspects are who were videotaped attacking a 20-year-old gay man outside a southwest Atlanta neighborhood store. "We've identified two of the three individuals, and we're working on warrants," Turner said Thursday night at an emergency public safety meeting organized by the Pittsburgh Community Improvement Association.

"Hotlanta" has fizzled and it will take a bold plan like the Transportation Investment Act to help the region recover, a nationally known urban planner told a Thursday gathering of metro Atlanta leaders. "You all have a lot of work to do," Brookings Institution visiting fellow Chris Leinberger told the 475 people attending the South Metro Development Outlook conference.

The man charged with trying to kidnap a 7-year-old girl from a west Georgia Wal-Mart was convicted of killing his uncle in 2004 in DeKalb County, according to documents obtained Thursday. Thomas Andrew Woods, 25, of Austell was taken into custody and questioned before being arrested Wednesday afternoon, Bremen Police Chief Keith Pesnell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A produce company employee at the State Farmers Market in Forest Park has been charged with peeping at women in a bathroom, Channel 2 Action News reported. "We caught him peeping. We did our job. We dismissed him. We called the police," Cliff Sherman, owner of Sunbelt Produce, told Channel 2.

A landmark $25 billion settlement with the nation's top mortgage lenders was hailed by government officials Thursday as long-overdue relief for victims of foreclosure abuses. But consumer advocates countered that far too few people will benefit.

The window is rapidly closing for DeKalb County to make tough service or personnel cuts before a midyear budget review this summer. Thursday, the county commission’s budget committee held its second daylong hearing, asking department heads how they would operate with a 5 percent and a 10 percent reduction to their spending.

It’s official: Georgia will be the site of the nation’s first new nuclear reactors in more than 30 years. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s on Thursday approved Southern Co.’s plan to build two reactors at Plant Vogtle, south of Augusta -- though the decision was not without dissent.

Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, the U.S. Postal Service's quarterly loss ballooned to $3.3 billion amid declining mail volume and the soaring costs of health benefits for future retirees. From October through December 2011, losses were $3 billion more than the same period a year ago, even though that quarter is typically the strongest due to increased holiday shipping.

Between blasts of rockets and mortar fire, Syrians used loudspeakers to call for blood donations and medical supplies Thursday in the stricken city of Homs, where a weeklong government offensive has created a deepening humanitarian crisis. Government forces are trying to crush pockets of violent resistance in Homs, the epicenter of an 11-month-old uprising that has brought the country ever closer to civil war.

Authorities are looking for the mother of a toddler left Thursday with Stone Mountain police. DeKalb County police were called in to help find the 18-month-old boy's parents and facilitated getting the child to state Department of Family and Child Services officials, police authorities said.

Berkeley Lake officials announced this week that they received a $723,000 check from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to repair their flood-battered dam. In January, FEMA announced that it would send a total of $2.6 million to Berkeley Lake for dam repairs.

A Gwinnett County sheriff's deputy was in jail without bond Thursday after allegedly having sex with an inmate. Deputy Duone Clark was arrested on Wednesday and charged with sexual assault and violation of oath by a public officer, according to Gwinnett sheriff's Lt.

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.

One person was in custody late Thursday morning following reports of shots being fired in a parking deck across from Grady Memorial Hospital. Atlanta police dispatched two calls to the parking deck of the Fulton County Health Center at 99 Jesse Hill Drive just before 11:15 a.

Five educators accused of cheating in Atlanta Public Schools have lost the license to work in a classroom, a state ethics committee decided Thursday. The five, whose names were not released, violated ethical guidelines set up by the Professional Standards Commission, which certifies and monitors Georgia educators.

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.

The Republican parties of Georgia and Ohio announced Thursday they will team up for the March 1 presidential debate in Atlanta. The debate, which will air live on CNN, will take place somewhere in Metro Atlanta, although state party leaders have yet to say where.

Homeowners would have to be notified of foreclosure sales of their property under a bill passed Thursday by the Senate. Senate Bill 333 closes a loophole in the law, said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Jesse Stone, R-Waynesboro. While homeowners assume it is customary to be notified, the law does not require it.

Crime doesn’t pay, but the Atlanta Police Department does. As part of its goal to have a 2,000-member sworn force, the APD will hold a career fair on Monday. Interviews and testing will begin promptly at 8 a.m. at police headquarters at 226 Peachtree St.

Home-brewed coffee lovers, take note: More than a million popular coffee makers are being recalled after dozens of reports of the brewers spraying hot liquid, coffee grounds or tea leaves onto people. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says there have been 140 reports of problems with the Tassimo (TAH'-sih-moh) single-cup brewers dousing people, including 37 cases involving second-degree burns.