Here are five things you need to know tonight:

1. In the days after Georgia Tech student James Hubert was found injured on a set of northeast Atlanta train tracks, his mother took to Facebook to announce he had been "jumped, beaten up, robbed and left for dead." But Wednesday, his family conceded that was not the case — and that he was "aboard a moving freight train" prior to his more than two-day disappearance. [ Read more ]

2. Kim Zolciak, who was was forced to withdraw from "Dancing With the Stars" after doctors banned her from flying following a mini stroke she suffered, is on the mend. [ Read more ]

3. A deputy who flipped a disruptive student out of her desk and tossed her across her math class floor was fired on Wednesday. The sheriff called his actions "unacceptable," and said videos recorded by her classmates show the girl posed no danger to anyone. [ Read more ] | [ Maureen Downey wonders, Was that the right call? ]

4. Reading and math scores decreased slightly in Georgia and remain mostly below U.S. averages, with students struggling to improve understanding of the core subjects, according to 2015 data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. [ Read more ]

5. Reports of rapes involving Georgia's largest colleges have jumped again, and nowhere more than at the University of Georgia, according to new statistics analyzed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. [ Read more ]

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, among others, will no longer be considered fee-free days at U.S. National Parks. While the MLK National Historic Park in Atlanta doesn't charge admission, the new schedule will affect such metro Atlanta sites as Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

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Ceudy Gutierrez reads a book to her 2-year-old son, Matias, at their home in Buford, GA, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Ceudy Gutierrez is struggling to make ends meet for herself and her three young kids following her husband’s ICE arrest earlier this fall. (Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez