Embattled former DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Crawford Lewis will get to keep his lead attorney after the state Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling that would have ousted Mike Brown over a conflict of interest.
Lewis and former Chief Operating Officer Patricia Reid were indicted in May 2010 on charges of running a criminal enterprise at the school system.
The following October, Superior Court Judge Cynthia J. Becker dismissed Brown, because his firm, Alston & Bird LLP, also represents the employer of a witness for the state in the school corruption case.
DeKalb Count District Attorney Robert James said his office will spend the next 10 days deciding on whether to appeal the ruling to the State Supreme Court. ERNIE SUGGS
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A new study shows that Georgia's lottery-funded prekindergarten program is boosting student achievement for low income students through middle school. Two University of Georgia College of Education researchers followed the academic performance of 500 students who attended pre-k Clarke County in 1999-2000 through the ninth grade. They found that these students did better than those who did not attend pre-k in kindergarten and first grade reading and mathematics. The students continued to outperform their peers in reading and language arts as they moved into elementary and middle school. The pre-k students also repeated fewer grades, the study by Stacey Neuharth-Pritchett and Cynthia Vail found. NANCY BADERTSCHER
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The Carter Center is seeking community input on improving behavioral health services in Georgia at a town hall meeting in Cartersville on Nov. 3.
The center spent the past three years developing recommendations on how to solve the crisis in Georgia’s mental hospitals. Last year, the state reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to begin moving the mentally ill and developmentally disabled out of institutions and into the community. The event will take place from 12:30 to 4 p.m. at the Clarence Brown Conference Center, 5450 State Route 20. MISTY WILLIAMS
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Kids get a Halloween treat they might have misses thanks to the Atlanta Hawks. B5
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Do bald eagles live around Lake Lanier? B4
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