The European Union has called for Georgia to commute the death sentence of Troy Anthony Davis, who sits on death row for the killing of an off-duty Savannah police officer in 1989.
In a recent statement, High Representative Catherine Ashton said there are "serious and compelling doubts" about Davis' culpability in light of the recantations of a number of witnesses who testified for the prosecution at trial. Ashton also reaffirmed the EU's longstanding opposition to capital punishment. BILL RANKIN
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On Wednesday the Fulton County Commission will consider taking out a $120 million loan to bridge a cash flow gap until property taxes are collected, which could be as late as mid-November. The county would again issue tax anticipation notes, due to be paid back Dec. 31, with an as-yet undetermined interest rate. Bids will be received Wednesday morning.
Last year, the county received its lowest interest rate ever, 0.277143 percent, through Wells Fargo on a $120 million loan. The county is expecting to receive about $385 million in property taxes this year. JOHNNY EDWARDS
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The State Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday denied clemency to Roy Willard Blankenship, who is scheduled to be executed June 23.
Blankenship sits on death row for the 1978 burglary, rape and murder of 78-year-old Sarah Mims Bowen in her Savannah apartment. The board had stayed Blankenship's execution earlier this year to allow for DNA testing; the testing, while inconclusive, did not exclude Blankenship from being the possible assailant. The execution is to be the state's first using the barbiturate pentobarbital in the lethal injection process. BILL RANKIN
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