1. Georgia fugitive nabbed, hiding in plain sight nearly 48 years.
Sherman, Conn., population 3,600, is a good place to hide. That's where Robert Gordon Stackowitz, who disappeared from a minimum security Carroll County prison work camp nearly 48 years ago, had been hiding in plain sight since at least 1990. Monday morning, Stackowitz, a well-liked boat repairman, was arrested at his home by Connecticut state troopers and the U.S. Marshal Fugitive Task Force. He's being held in the Bridgeport Correctional Center awaiting extradition to Henry County, where in 1966 he was sentenced to 17 years in prison for robbery by force. Read more.
The shutdown of the Rheem Manufacturing plant in Milledgeville was a low point during the Great Recession for the city along Lake Sinclair in central Georgia. About 1,600 people worked at the factory at its peak, local officials say, but during the downturn the well-known maker of heating and air systems shifted production to factories elsewhere, including Mexico. On Tuesday, local leaders and Gov. Nathan Deal's office announced a long-awaited renewal for the dormant plant: A startup company plans to create more than 1,000 jobs in Rheem's old building over the next five years. Read more.
3. Expecting labor help, South Georgia farmers get inspections instead.
Federal inspectors from the U.S. Department of Labor conducted spot inspections of farms across South Georgia on Tuesday, a week after many farmers complained the agency has failed to properly process visa applications for migrant workers. The agents inspect payroll and personnel records to ensure workers are fairly paid and that the workers are treated properly. The Department of Labor did not respond to requests for comment. The AJC reported May 5 that many farms across the state were expecting to lose millions of dollars as crops died on the vines due to the Department of Labor's backlog on processing visa applications for seasonal migrant workers. Read more.
4. Georgia Regents cap student funding of athletic programs.
Georgia State University would have to cut the amount of student fees and tuition that fund its athletic programs by about $700,000, according to a new policy adopted by the state's Board of Regents on Tuesday.
The Regents set limits on the amount of money from student fees and tuition that can go toward athletic programs at the state's public colleges and universities. The cap will be between 65 percent and 85 percent of the athletic budget at most schools, depending on each school's athletic association. Read more.
5. Atlanta sewage spill fines get initial approval.
Atlanta is poised to pay $378,000 in fines for spewing more than 147 million gallons of sewage-tainted waste water into the Chattahoochee River and various creeks throughout the region over the past seven years. The proposed settlement with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division also covers other permit violations, such as the Department of Watershed Management's failure to monitor water conditions up and down stream from treatment plants, and exceeding permitted levels of effluent discharge for a variety of substances, from ammonia to fecal coliform. Read more.
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