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

OBAMA-CIVIL RIGHTS MARCH
    Obama remembers heroes of `Blood Sunday' march in Alabama
   
    WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama has marked the 45th
anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" by praising "these heroes" who
marched into history and endured beatings by Alabama state troopers
at the start of their landmark voting rights trek.
    The nation's first black president says that despite all the
progress since "that terrible day in Selma," more still needs to
be done.
    Marchers were a few blocks into their Selma-to-Montgomery march
on March 7, 1965, when they were beaten by troopers on Selma's
Edmund Pettus Bridge - an event that became known as "Bloody
Sunday."
    The march was later completed under federal protection, with
Martin Luther King Jr. leading it. It led to passage of the Voting
Rights Act, which opened Southern polling places to blacks and
ended all-white government.
   
SELMA MARCH
    Mandela's ex-wife speaks at event commemorating 45th anniversary
of 'Bloody Sunday'
   
    SELMA, AL (AP) - Events are under way in Selma commemorating
the 45th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" voting rights march.
    Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, ex-wife of former South African
President Nelson Mandela, was the keynote speaker Sunday morning at
the Martin and Coretta Scott King Unity Breakfast in Selma.
    The event kicked off the day-long observance of the 1965 event
where voting rights marchers were beaten by state troopers and
sheriff's deputies on Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge.
    Madikizela-Mandela told the 500-plus audience at Wallace
Community College that no American place in the civil rights
struggle was more important than Selma.
   
SCLC-WOES
    SCLC board members call for officials to step down
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - The turmoil is continuing within the top ranks of
the group that the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
helped found.
    Several board members of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference are calling for the resignation of the group's embattled
chairman and treasurer. The two officials are being investigated
over allegations of financial mismanagement.
    After a three-hour meeting Saturday, the group announced that a
majority of "concerned board members" are calling for Chairman
Raleigh Trammell and Treasurer Spiver Gordon to leave office.
Meanwhile, the group has hired an attorney to pursue legal means to
remove the men from the executive board if they do not step aside.
    The gathering was held on the eve of the 45th anniversary of
"Bloody Sunday" and was not an official board meeting.
    The full board of directors is scheduled to meet next on April
19.
   
DEKALB SHOOTINGS
    2 men critically injured in Dekalb shootings; police say
incidents may be related
   
    DECATUR, Ga. (AP) - Police are investigating two shootings in
DeKalb County that detectives believe are related.
    The shootings occurred late Saturday night.
    At about 11:45 p.m., officers responded to a report of a gunshot
victim at the Citgo gas station in the 1300 block of Brockett Road.
The man was in critical condition at an Atlanta hospital.
    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a short time
later, another man was found shot at the nearby Highland Villas
apartments. He too was rushed to the hospital in critical
condition.
    DeKalb police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said detectives believe
the shootings are related but it's unclear if the men shot each
other or if others were involved.
   
FISHERMAN RESCUED
    Fisherman hanging to branch saved in Chattahoochee
   
    SUWANEE, Ga. (AP) - A fisherman clinging to a tree branch on the
Chattahoochee River has been rescued.
    Gwinnett Fire Capt. Tommy Rutledge told the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution the man was fishing in a float tube Sunday
morning when he was pulled away by swift, rising waters in the area
of Buford Dam.
    Forsyth County firefighters could not reach the fisherman by
boat from their location. They then directed a Gwinnett rescue boat
to him. The Swiftwater Rescue Team put in their boat at Buford Dam
Park. The man was rescued downstream in Suwanee.
    He was treated for a hand injury at the scene. Fire fighters
were dispatched about 9:40 a.m.
    The fisherman was not immediately identified.
   
SCHOOL BURGLARY
    Suspects arrest in burglary at Atlanta high school
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Atlanta police have detained two suspects in a
Sunday morning break-in at Douglass High School.
    The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports it's the second Atlanta
public school burglarized in five days.
    In both cases, burglars broke a window to gain entry and stole
computers and other electronic equipment. Police have not said
whether the incidents are related.
    Burglars entered the media center at Maynard Jackson High School
in southeast Atlanta at about 3 p.m. Wednesday. They stole laptop
computers, digital cameras and a video projector. No one was
arrested in that crime.
    The burglary at Douglass in northwest Atlanta was reported at
about 4:30 a.m. Sunday. Names of the two suspects and their charges
have not been released.
   
AU STUDENT SLAIN
    Sept. trial date set in murder of Auburn student
   
    AUBURN, Ala. (AP) - The trial for a man accused of murdering an
Auburn University student from Georgia has been tentatively
scheduled for September 21st but a judge is still deciding on its
location.
    Circuit Court Judge Jacob A. Walker the Third set the date
during a hearing a day after the two-year anniversary of the death
of freshman Lauren Burk.
    The Opelika-Auburn News reports Saturday that the hearing was
held to debate the defense's motion for a change of venue.
    Walker said he would review the material entered Friday by the
defense and prosecution and rule at a later date.
    Courtney Lockhart faces charges of capital murder during a
kidnapping, capital murder during an attempted rape and capital
murder during a robbery.
    Defense attorney Jeremy Armstrong submitted 64 articles from the
Opelika-Auburn News to support his claim that the 25-year-old can
not receive a fair trial in Lee County.
   
SICK INMATES
    GA inmates use of medical reprieves on the rise
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - As Georgia looks to slash its soaring prison
medical costs, state officials are embracing a program that makes
ailing and often elderly inmates eligible for early release.
    Georgia Department of Corrections data obtained by The
Associated Press through an open records request show the use of
medical reprieves has been on the rise.
    There were just 22 granted in fiscal year 2007. Prison system
records show that more than tripled in fiscal year 2009 when 69
sick inmates were granted reprieves.
    The reprieves are given to the sickest inmates who officials say
no longer pose a safety threat. Corrections officials, citing
health privacy laws, declined to provide specifics about the
inmates who have been granted reprieves.
    But in a conservative, law-and-order state like Georgia, the
fact that even sick inmates are being released in greater numbers
shows just how much the bad economy has changed the debate.
   
OBAMA-SPACE PROGRAM
    Obama calls for April conference in Fla. on future of human
space flight
   
    WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama plans to host a
conference in Florida next month on his administration's approach
to the next step in space exploration.
    The White House says Obama and top officials as well as leaders
in space will discuss the future of U.S. efforts in human space
flight. Details of the conference, scheduled for April 15, are to
be announced later.
    America's space program is in a holding pattern of sorts. Its
space shuttle fleet is being retired this year, and the
administration is dropping plans for a return to the moon - changes
closely watched by Alabama-based workers in the space program.
    The White House says Obama will unveil an "ambitious plan" for
NASA. For now, Obama's budget backs private spaceships and
developing new rocket technology.