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

(AP) -- GEORGIA GOVERNOR-DEBATE
    5 GOP candidates for GA governor spar in debate
   
    ALPHARETTA, GA  (AP) - Five of the leading Republican candidates
for governor have squared off in a debate, sparring over their
conservative credentials on taxes.
    State Representative Austin Scott told Congressman Nathan Deal
on Thursday that he should have cast more votes in Congress for a
balanced budget. Deal fired back that Scott should "get his facts
straight" and referenced his vote under former House Speaker Newt
Gingrich.
    State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine called for an end to
the state income tax. Former Secretary of State Karen Handel and
former state Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson said they
opposed tax hikes.
    The debate Thursday in Alpharetta was sponsored by Beacon Media.
    Party primaries Georgia are July 20th.
   
WINTER WEATHER
    Parts of GA under flood, winter storm watch
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Parts of central and north Georgia are under a
flood watch, while the extreme northeast part of the state is under
a winter storm watch.
    The National Weather Service says up to two inches of rain will
fall in the metro Atlanta area by Friday night. Widespread flooding
is not expected, but some creeks and rivers could reach flood
stage.
    The rain will be coupled with winds of up to 35 mph.
Temperatures will reach 50 degrees and lows in the upper 30s.
    Rabun County in the northeast Georgia mountains is expected to
get a wintry mix.
   
FOOD INSECURITY
    Study shows increase in Atlanta hunger
   
    ATLANTA, GA (AP) - A national study estimates more than 58,000
Atlanta-area residents a week are depending on food pantries -- up
from a few years ago.
    Hunger in America 2010, conducted by Feeding America, the
nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization, reported on
more than 37 million Americans receiving emergency food assistance
through the Feeding America network.
    Locally, the study reported that 58,900 different people are
receiving emergency food each week through a network of more than
700 nonprofit partner agencies served by the Atlanta Community Food
Bank.
    The findings represent a 39 percent increase in emergency food
distribution in the Atlanta food bank's 38-county service area
since the findings reported in Hunger in America 2006.
   
AMBER ALERT
    GA 4-year-old reported abducted found safe
   
    MABLETON, GA (AP) - Authorities say a four-year-old boy who was
reported to be abducted from a Cobb County trailer park has been
found in a neighboring county.
    Cobb County police spokesman Sergeant Dana Pierce says Christian
Guevara was found safe Thursday in a Gwinnett County apartment
complex about 4:30 p.m. Pierce said two people have been arrested
in the case though no charges have been filed.
    The boy's mother told police that two men wearing ski masks
Tasered her, tied her up and took the child Thursday morning.
    Pierce said the boy will be examined at a hospital to be sure he
is OK before he is reunited with his mother in Cobb County.
   
SWORD ATTACK
    Former GA student arrested for attack with sword
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Authorities a former Georgia Tech graduate
student has been charged with stabbing a university researcher with
a sword.
    Georgia Tech spokesman Matt Nagel says the victim was taken to
Grady Hospital in stable condition after the Thursday afternoon
attack inside a building on campus. The victim's name was not
released pending notification of family.
    Police say Kshitij Shrotri is being held in the Fulton County
Jail on an aggravated assault charge.
    Nagel said Georgia Tech police officer Robert J. Turner of
Griffin was injured slightly during the scuffle. He is in stable
condition.
    University officials say Shrotri received his Ph.D. in aerospace
engineering from Georgia Tech in 2008.
   
STUDENT PRESIDENT KILLED
    Judge: No info about tipsters in Eve Carson case
   
    HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina judge has ruled that
prosecutors don't have to release details about tipsters who
provided information about the shooting of the former student body
president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
    Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour (bah-DURE') ruled Thursday
that prosecutors don't have to release information about the
tipsters who called Crime Stoppers about the shooting death of Eve
Carson. Attorneys for the men accused of killing her -- Demario
Atwater and Laurence Lovette -- had requested information about the
callers.
    Baddour sided with prosecutors, allowing the state's motion for
a protective order for almost all the material, which he ordered
sealed. The only exception is some information that he said doesn't
reveal the identity of an informer.
   
COACH PUNCHED
    Mableton, GA man who hit coach gets 5 years
   
    MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) - A Cobb County man is going to prison for
five years for punching his son's football coach.
    Ronald Lee of Mableton was sentenced Thursday by a Cobb County
jury after being convicted of aggravated battery of a teacher,
aggravated battery of a school employee and cruelty to children.
The attack took place in October 2008.
    The 41-year-old Lee testified that he confronted coach Preston
Moses after Lee's 17-year-old son was forced to run laps as
punishment. Lee claimed he was acting in self defense and that
Moses approached him in a threatening manner.
    Prosecutors say Lee threw the only punch. Prosecutors say Moses'
lip was split from the punch and required surgery.
    Lee also received 10 years' probation for the conviction. He
could have been sentenced to up to 20 years behind bars because the
fight was on school property and against a school employee.
   
MOLESTATION CONVICTION
    GA jury sentences man to 15 years in prison
   
    COLUMBUS, GA (AP) - A jury has sentenced a man accused of
molesting his girlfriend's 5-year-old daughter to 15 years in
prison.
    The Columbus jury deliberated for about four hours Wednesday
before convicting 43-year-old Daniel Hopkins of child molestation.
Hopkins was charged with the crime last year.
    Prosecutors say Hopkins also molested members of his family. Two
of his nieces testified against him during the trial and said they
had been molested when they were younger.
    Hopkins is a former employee of the Muscogee County Sheriff's
Office. He was sentenced to serve five years' probation.

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