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

(AP) -- GEORGIA UNEMPLOYMENT
    GA unemployment rate increases
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - The Georgia Department of Labor says the state's
seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to a record 10.4 percent
in January, and Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond says the job
crisis is getting worse.
    The rate tops the previous record of 10.3 percent set in
December. It's also up 2 percentage points from the 8.4 percent at
this same time last year.
    Thurmond says he's concerned that thousands of pending state
government layoffs will do additional damage to Georgia's private
job market.
    The metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of job losses
during the same period are Dalton, down 4.3 percent; Valdosta, down
4.2 percent; and Atlanta, down 4 percent.
    Warner Robins saw no decrease for the month, and Augusta lost
0.4 percent.
   
WINTRY WEATHER
    Lingering ice, snow close more GA schools
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Roads left icy by Tuesday's snowfall and
overnight cold temperatures led to more school closings and delayed
openings around north Georgia on Wednesday.
    Cherokee, Cobb, Fannin, Franklin, Fulton, Gilmer and Pickens
counties were among those delaying the start of the school day.
    Dawson, Forsyth, Hall, Habersham, Lumpkin, Rabun, Towns, White
and Union were counties that closed their schools for the day.
Gainesville city schools also are closed.
    Some school districts are struggling to meet the required 180
classroom days this school year because so many days have been lost
because of bad weather. That includes days missed because of
flooding last September.
    North Georgia College also delayed its opening.
   
COLLEGE CUTS
    GA lawmakers to review proposed cuts to colleges
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia lawmakers are expected to review proposed
cuts Wednesday from the state's 35 colleges and universities that
would mean laying off 4,000 faculty and staff and eliminating
dozens of programs.
    The University System of Georgia released a plan earlier this
week that included closing satellite campuses, shortening library
and student center hours and capping enrollment at campuses.
Lawmakers asked university system officials to plan for $300
million in additional cuts, on top of $265 million in cuts already
in the works, for next fiscal year.
    University system Chancellor Erroll B. Davis is expected to
testify Wednesday before the House Higher Education Appropriations
Subcommittee. College students from various campuses are expected
to be at the Gold Dome later Wednesday to protest the cuts.
   
SOLDIERS KILLED
    2 NC-based soldiers killed in Afghanistan
   
    FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) - Two more soldiers based at Fort Bragg
have been killed in Afghanistan.
    The Pentagon said 27-year-old Spc. Josiah D. Crumpler of
Hillsborough and 24-year-old Spc. Matthew D. Huston of Athens, Ga.,
were killed Monday.
    Officials say their unit was attacked by insurgents using guns
and rocket-propelled grenades.
    Both men were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute
Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.
   
PROSTATE CANCER
    Cancer society stops urging docs to offer PSA test
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - The American Cancer Society has updated its
advice about prostate cancer screening. The society wants doctors
to talk to men and give them plenty of information before they have
a PSA test to make sure they understand its limits.
    Recent studies suggest the popular PSA test may lead to
unnecessary treatment for many men. The test can't clearly indicate
whether a cancer is aggressive or harmless. The cancer society has
not recommended routine screening for most men since the 1990s. And
its new guidelines no longer urge doctors to offer the test.
   
FERAL CATS
    GA county approves feral cat measure
   
    ATHENS, GA (AP) - The Athens-Clarke County Commission has voted
to legalize a program designed to reduce the number of feral cats
in the county.
    The method is called trap-neuter-return. Practitioners may
register with the county to feed, trap, vaccinate and sterilize
feral cats with permission from landowners. The commission is
providing $10,000 in vouchers for rabies vaccine and sterilization.
    Animal activists split on the issue and bombarded commissioners
with letters, e-mails and phone calls.
    Kelly Bettinger, who founded a University of Georgia group, said
the feral cat population in managed colonies on campus has dropped
by half since 2006.
    Critics questioned the figures and told commissioners they are
ignoring scientific consensus that the program does not work.
   
GEORGIA TECH-BOARD
    GA Tech professor named to black college panel
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - A Georgia Tech professor has been named to a
board advising President Barack Obama on historically black
colleges and universities.
    Willie Pearson, a professor of sociology at the Atlanta
university, is one of 11 members on the board that will make
recommendations to Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan on
ways to strengthen historically black institutions. Pearson has
focused his career on increasing minority participation in science
and engineering careers.
    He previously has served as the chairman of the National Science
Foundation's Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and
Engineering and the American Association for the Advancement of
Science's Committee for Science, Engineering and Public Policy.
   
TOILET TISSUE TIFF
    Georgia-Pacific files complaint over toilet paper
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Packaged goods giant Georgia-Pacific has filed a
federal lawsuit claiming that two companies broke trademark laws by
copying packaging and labeling of two popular versions of its
toilet paper.
    The company claimed in a lawsuit filed Monday in Atlanta that
Family Dollar Stores Inc. and Sun Paper Co. violated its trademark
designs for the company's Angel Soft and Quilted Northern branded
tissues.
    The lawsuit claims that Sun Paper Co. manufactured tissue paper
that Family Dollar began selling in February that was "designed to
trade upon the goodwill" of Georgia-Pacific's distinctive designs.
It says the two companies did this "despite having an entire
universe of packaging options available."
    Family Dollar did not immediately respond to a telephone call
and an e-mail seeking comment.
   
CAR WATER RESCUE
    Forsyth Co. motorist rescued after bridge fall
   
    CUMMING, GA (AP) - Forsyth County emergency workers have
rescued a woman whose car plunged off Keith Bridge Road in Forsyth
County.
    Forsyth Fire and Rescue spokesman Capt. Jason Shivers says it
happened around 4 p.m. The car went into Forsyth Creek.
    The unidentified woman was taken to a local hospital in critical
condition due to injuries sustained in the crash and signs of
hypothermia. He says rescue workers struggled to get to her because
she was trapped under the car's dashboard.
    He says they were able to keep the woman's head above water but
had difficulty removing her from the vehicle, which flipped upside
down.
    Shivers says the cause of the accident is unknown and it's
unclear if the weather played a role in the accident.
   
4H CLOSURES
    Univ. Sys. of GA proposes shuttering 4-H programs
   
    CORDELE, GA (AP) - Georgia's 4-H programs could disappear.
    The University System of Georgia is suggesting that 4-H programs
throughout the state be abolished as a cost-saving measure.
    It's part of an effort to cut almost $59 million from the
system's budget. It could save almost $6.4 million - but will also
result in 116 immediate layoffs, including 94 county 4-H agents and
closure of five 4-H facilities across the state.
    These and other recommendations will be presented to the
Legislature as possible means of reducing expenses. State officials
at the Capitol will have the ultimate say, however.

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