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

(AP) -- MURDER INDICTMENT
    Man indicted in death of girlfriend
   
    MACON, GA (AP) - A 45-year-old Macon man has been indicted in
connection with the October 2009 death of his girlfriend.
    A Bibb County grand jury indicted Alphonzo McNear on one count
of malice murder Tuesday.
    He's accused of strangling 53-year-old Sandra Joann Stell on
October 30th.
    According to a police report, he called authorities at 4 a.m.
that morning. Officers found Stell dead with bruises on her face,
neck and body.
    McNear is being held at the Bibb County jail on $22,200 bond,
according to jail records.
   
GEORGIA REVENUES
    GA revenues continue plunge
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Tax collections in Georgia continue to slide.
    Governor Sonny Perdue announced on Tuesday that revenues for the
month of January dipped 8.7 percent from the same month a year
earlier, from $1.6 billion to $1.4 billion.
    It's the 14th straight month that tax collections in Georgia
have dropped.
    For the fiscal year that ends June 30th, revenues are down 12.9
percent.
    Perdue and state legislators have already slashed state
spending. The slimmed down $17.4 billion state budget is set to be
voted out of committee Wednesday.
    For January, personal income tax collections are down 16 percent
while sales tax inched up slightly.
   
SCLC STRIFE
    Treasurer of civil rights group cut off from funds
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - A Fulton County judge has signed an order cutting
off the access the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's
national treasurer has to SCLC funds.
    Under an order Fulton Superior Court Judge Alford Dempsey signed
Monday, board members Curtis Harris, Rita Samuel or Jewel Devereaux
are now required to sign any checks drawn on the organization's
bank accounts.
    It marks the latest development in an ongoing struggle for
control of the Atlanta-based civil rights organization.
    Members recently tried to remove treasurer Spiver Gordon of
Eutaw, Alabama, and chairman Raleigh Trammell of Dayton, Ohio, for
allegedly writing checks to themselves or moving SCLC funds into
accounts only they could access. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
reports the money involved totaled about $569,000.
   
SALES TAX
    GA legislators pursue uncollected sales tax
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Could more than $1 billion in Georgia sales taxes
be going uncollected every year?
    Maybe, say some Georgia lawmakers. And with the state fighting
its way out of a huge budget hole, they're pushing proposals
designed to ensure businesses pay their share.
    Competing plans being pushed by Republicans and Democrats would
each require business license lists to be crosschecked with sales
tax receipts. The GOP proposal would place that responsibility with
the state Department of Revenue. The Democratic plan would have the
state share lists with local governments.
    But state Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham said the Democratic
plan would violate the state's taxpayer confidentiality laws.
   
SWORD ATTACK
   GA Tech sword attacker had scuffled with victim
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - A 33-year-old Georgia Tech alum who attacked a
research fellow with a samurai sword on campus last week previously
scuffled with the victim about a woman.
    Five months ago at a dance on campus, Kshitij Shrotri, the
alleged attacker, became incensed when he saw a woman he liked
dancing alongside Samer Tawfik.
    According to a Georgia Tech police report, Shrotri yelled in an
undetermined foreign language and then pushed Tawfik several times.
    Police say the unidentified woman considered filing a protection
order against Shrotri, but decided that would only aggravate him.
    That report last September notes that Shrotri, who earned a
Ph.D. from Tech in 2008, had moved to Delaware.
    Tawfik, underwent surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital following
the attack.
    
MORTGAGE FRAUD
    Man charged with manufacturing fake Treasury bonds
   
    DULUTH, GA (AP) - A Duluth man has been charged with
manufacturing more than $1.6 billion in fraudulent U.S. Treasury
bonds and other government documents.
    Gwinnett County sheriff's investigators say they learned on
February 1st that Lloyd Clifford Norris wanted to purchase a home
by using a registered promissory note supposedly certified by
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
    Gwinnett police Corporal David Schiralli says an attorney who
received the note realized it was fake and notified police.
    On Thursday, the suspect attended a loan closing at the
attorney's office, where Norris presented the $225,000 note for
payment to purchase a home in Lawrenceville.
    Investigators confirmed that Norris signed the loan documents
under false pretense and he was arrested. The 57-year-old is
charged with residential mortgage fraud.
   
REGULATING TELECOM
    New law could attract telecommunication investment
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - The Senate has approved a proposal supporters say
will level the playing field in telecommunications and modernize
the industry in the state, giving consumers more choice for
telephone and cable service.
    The Senate on Tuesday voted 46-to-four in favor of H.B. 168.
Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee Chairman Jack Shafer
says the bill removes regulations that applied to telephone
companies but not their competitors, and will encourage
telecommunications investment in Georgia and expand services
statewide. The bill now heads back to the House for final approval.
    Critics expressed concern that the law will raise rates,
especially in rural areas, and could muscle out smaller
telecommunications businesses.
   
ORANGUTAN DIES
    Zoo Atlanta orangutan dies from respiratory issues
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Zoo Atlanta officials say a 20-year-old Sumatran
orangutan has died after suffering from a long-term respiratory
illness.
    Dwight Lawson, senior vice president of collections at the zoo,
said the animal -- known as J.T. -- died Thursday night after a
battle with chronic respiratory infections for the last decade.
Respiratory infections are a common cause of death in orangutans.
    J.T. was born at Emory University's Yerkes National Primate
Research Center in 1989 and came to Zoo Atlanta three years later.
    Zoo Atlanta has the largest population of orangutans in a U.S.
zoo with nine animals. Orangutans are a critically endangered
species, and experts say they could go extinct within a decade.
   
OFFICER SHOT
    Suspect killed in GA domestic dispute
   
    STONE MOUNTAIN, GA (AP) - A police sergeant who was shot in the
leg when officers went to the scene of a domestic dispute that
ended with a fatal shooting has been released from a hospital.
    DeKalb County authorities say Sgt. Charles Broome, who was shot
in the leg at a Stone Mountain apartment complex Monday night, was
treated at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and was released
Tuesday.
    Officer Jason Gagnon says a man at the apartments shot a woman,
then walked outside and turned his gun on police.
    Gagnon says officers killed the man, identified as 24-year-old
Horace Mitchell.
    He says the unidentified woman remains at Grady in critical
condition.
    Broome is a 15-year veteran of the force.

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