1. Atlanta's Latin Academy hears pleas, postpones decision on closing.
Latin Academy is in dire financial circumstances board members said were caused in large part by past financial mismanagement and the alleged theft of more than $600,000. But students and staff got a temporary reprieve from closure Thursday night. After dozens of speakers pleaded with the board of Latin Academy, members voted to postpone for a month a decision about closing the school. The board had been slated to consider closing Latin Academy at the end of this school year. Now, they're giving families and staff time to come up with a plan to raise the $500,000 to $600,000 the board members say is needed to keep the school open. Read more.
2. Georgia ex-trooper avoids charges in fatal crash, families of teens angry.
A Georgia state trooper was fired, two teenagers were critically injured and two others died after a car crash Saturday night. This week, that former trooper went before a grand jury, which was investigating why he was driving 91 mph on a dark highway in Carroll County seconds before his car collided with that of the teenagers. The grand jury chose not to indict ex-trooper Anthony Scott. The families of the victims believe Scott got off too easy. Read more.
3. Prosecutor: DeKalb cop ordered beatings, manufactured coverup.
A former DeKalb County police sergeant accused of ordering the beatings of four young suspects attempted to cover up his complicity by exploiting the blue wall of silence, prosecutors said Thursday in opening statements at DeKalb County Superior Court. The first day of testimony in the trial of Sgt. Anthony Remone Robinson offered a revealing glimpse into the culture of a department that was, at the time of the alleged beatings, wracked by scandal. A 2013 investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that more than 25 percent of DeKalb's 900-plus officers had been hit with at least three internal affairs complaints within the previous five years. Read more.
4. New effort to allow guns on Georgia campuses nears key vote.
The Georgia House is likely to vote next week on a bill that would legalize guns on Georgia's college campuses after a committee brought the measure up and passed it without public notice. The move was a wake-up call for critics of the legislation who didn't anticipate the stealth attack. But recent robberies at nearby Georgia State University have given backers ammunition they hope will allow them to beat back opposition from the state's public college system. College campuses and the Capitol itself are two of the last places in Georgia that still ban guns. Read more.
5. Fulton County settles $450,000 pay dispute.
Fulton County commissioners agreed Wednesday to pay $450,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by several network specialists in the county's IT department who said they were not paid the overtime they were entitled. The agreement, which still must be approved by a federal judge, is the latest in a string of lawsuits about pay that were brought in the county. Previous suits, though, were related to intentional pay disparities among employees who had identical job descriptions. In this case, eight IT employees were classified as exempt workers, although they should have been non-exempt. Therefore, they were not paid for working overtime hours they should have been entitled to, said attorney M. Travis Foust, who represented the workers. Read more.
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