Latest news, weather and high school sports for Albany and Southwest Georgia

Thursday, January 24, 2013  Updated with video; The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that the preliminary unemployment rate in metro Albany rose to 9.7 percent in December, up five-tenths of a percentage point from 9.2 percent in November.

Wednesday, January 09, 2013  In a press release issued Wednesday afternoon by the Georgia Department of Labor, they have announced that some recipients of federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) in Georgia will lose extended unemployment benefits after Saturday, January 12th.

Thursday, December 15, 2011  The job increase in November is the largest decrease in joblessness in 34 years.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011  The Internal Revenue Service is offering a break to employers who come clean about wrongly classifying workers as independent contractors to avoid paying federal payroll taxes.

Thursday, August 18, 2011  Georgia's jobless rate for July increases to over 10%.

Monday, December 06, 2010  Story updated with outcome of tax cut negotiations

Thursday, August 26, 2010  New requests for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, the first decline in a month and a hopeful sign after a raft of negative economic reports.

Thursday, August 19, 2010  Employers appear to be laying off workers again as applications for unemployment insurance reached the half-million mark last week for the first time since November.

Thursday, November 12, 2009  1,219 people filed for first-time unemployment in October, and labor department statistics show that number is down 7.4 percent from October 2008.

Thursday, June 11, 2009  A ProPublica report says Georgia is at risk for running out of unemployment insurance funds.

Thursday, June 11, 2009  75,436 laid-off Georgia workers filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance in May, an increase of 68.7% from May of 2008.

Saturday, June 06, 2009  The U.S. Department of Labor says $220.3 million in unemployment insurance modernization incentive funds has been released to Georgia as part of the federal stimulus package.

Thursday, May 14, 2009  The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that 84,346 laid-off workers filed first-time claims for state unemployment insurance benefits in April, an increase of 63.4 percent from April of 2008.

Thursday, April 09, 2009  The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that 96,306 laid-off workers filed first-time claims for state unemployment insurance benefits in March, an increase of 126.3 percent from March of 2008.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009  The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that 86,519 laid-off workers filed first-time claims for state unemployment insurance benefits in February, an increase of 111.2 percent from February of 2008.