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

(AP) -- GEORGIA BUDGET
    Perdue plan to sell loans draws fire
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Gov. Sonny Perdue's proposal to sell part of a
state environmental loan fund on Wall Street to plug a hole in the
state budget is being attacked by a bipartisan chorus of critics.
    They say the plan will threaten the ability of local governments
to finance water and sewer improvements at a time when the funding
is badly needed. And they argue the proposal is a bad deal for the
state. Officials say that in order to bring in $290 million in
revenue, the state would have to cash out more than that amount in
loans.
    Perdue's office maintains the scheme would prevent even deeper
cuts to education, which has seen $479 million in state funds
evaporate in the current fiscal year alone.
   
CARTER-PALESTINIANS
    Carter Center pushes Palestinian elections
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - The nonprofit group headed by former President
Jimmy Carter is pushing the rival Palestinian factions to hold free
elections in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
    The Carter Center said Tuesday that the ongoing rift between
Hamas and Fatah is depriving residents of the right to vote. The
bitter divide between the rivals has made it all but impossible to
hold elections, and Egyptian-mediated talks have so far failed to
resolve them.
    The center called for Palestinian leaders to resist the urge to
hold partial elections, contending it would "reinforce the rift"
amid the Palestinian people.
    The center has observed all Palestinian elections since 1996.
   
DEKALB FIRE INVESTIGATION
    DeKalb County officials identify fire victim
   
    TUCKER, GA (AP) - Authorities have identified a Dunwoody woman
killed in a fire that led officials to place four DeKalb County
Fire Rescue department officers on paid leave pending an
investigation.
    Officials identified the woman as 74-year-old Ann Synder
Bartlett.
    County public safety director William Miller released a
statement Monday saying the internal investigation of the emergency
response to the Sunday fire is standard practice.
    The county 911 center got a call at 1:03 a.m. Sunday but the
call disconnected while the dispatcher was taking down information.
The dispatcher tried to call back several times.
    Emergency personnel were immediately dispatched but found no
signs of fire upon arrival.
    Around 6:40 a.m., the 911 center got a report of a house fire in
the same area. Firefighters found a house fully engulfed in flames.
After the fire was put out, they found Synder.
   
RACIAL PROFILING
    Democrats take aim at racial profiling
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Several Democratic lawmakers say this is the year
for the General Assembly to pass legislation banning racial
profiling in Georgia.
    State Sen. Gloria Butler and Rep. Pedro Marin on Tuesday
introduced bills that would prohibit the practice by state police,
county or municipal law enforcement. Officers would also be
required to track the race, ethnicity, gender and age of any person
subject to a routine traffic stop.
    Lawmakers supporting the bill say that although racial profiling
legislation has been difficult to pass in Georgia in recent years
under Republican leadership, the problem persists and the issue has
had bipartisan support in the past.
   
LARGE SINKHOLE
    Massive sinkhole believed stable
   
    MARIETTA, GA (AP) - Marietta officials say a massive sinkhole
that threatened to swallow a Marietta home seems to have
stabilized.
    Firefighters responded around 7 p.m. Monday after homeowner Lisa
Thompson called 911. She says she saw a tree fall and the ground
near her home open into a sinkhole officials later measured at 25
feet wide and deep, and 40 feet long.
    Public works director Dan Conn says there's speculation the home
may be near an old mine exploration shaft. He says the home is
believed to be safe for now.
    The family stayed elsewhere Monday night.
   
TECH-INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
  GA Tech wins award for international education
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia Tech has won a national award for its
international education programs.
    The Institute of International Education announced Tuesday that
the Atlanta-based university tops the nation in incorporating
international elements into teaching engineering.
    Georgia Tech faculty members have developed global requirements
for each course at the university, which is now used in 25 out of
the campus' 35 undergraduate majors and in nearly all the 11
engineering majors. More than 660 students have taken the globally
focused courses so far.
    The New York-based Institute of International Education, founded
in 1919, gives out the Andrew Heiskell Awards for Innovation in
International Education each year. The organization has more than
20 offices worldwide and 1,000 member institutions.
   
INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION
    GDOT awards $50 million contract
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia Department of Transportation officials
have awarded Reston, Va.-based Serco Inc. a five-year, $50 million
contract to install the state's intelligent transportation system.
    Serco Inc. will provide comprehensive management, installation,
and maintenance of the system, which includes over 2,500 devices
that assist traveling motorists and emergency responders in metro
Atlanta.
    Serco will manage the camera systems, video and presence
detection systems, ramp metering systems, changeable message signs
and structures, and the maintenance of hub buildings which house
and protect the backbone devices of the entire system.
    The intelligent transportation system is used to provide
motorist assistance, traveler information, enhance safety, mitigate
congestion, and reduce carbon emissions.
   
THWARTED RAPE ATTEMPT
    Athens police seek man they say tried to rape teen
   
    ATHENS, GA  (AP) - Police in Athens say a man who tried to rape
a teen fled after he discovered his victim was a male dressed as a
woman and when the teen's cell phone rang.
    Police tell the Athens Banner-Herald the suspect was riding a
bike when he started following a 17-year-old around 6:30 p.m.
Sunday.
    When the teen started walking faster, the man caught up, grabbed
the teen's arm and dragged him into some woods. Police say the
attacker started ripping off the teen's clothes and realized when
he took off the teen's pants that his victim was male.
    Witnesses had already called 911 and the victim was sitting on
the ground crying in the rain when police arrived.
    Police say the attacker will likely face criminal attempted rape
and false imprisonment charges if he's caught.

(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)