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

(AP) -- FORT BENNING EXPANSION
    Fort Benning eyes expansion of training land
   
    COLUMBUS, GA. (AP) - Fort Benning is looking at adding up to
82,000 acres of land.
    Fort Benning's commanding general, Major General Michael
Ferriter, says the post has been approved by U.S. Secretary of
Defense Robert Gates and the Department of Army to study the
possibility of purchasing more land for training.
    The real estate and environmental study should begin this
summer. An environmental impact study will follow next year. Once
the study is complete, Army leadership will make a decision on
whether to acquire up to 82,000 acres.
    Fort Benning currently includes more than 180,000 acres. Army
officials said it needs to expand to provide a greater variety of
terrain for training.
   
RAPIST ARRESTED
    Rapist released in Georgia arrested in New Jersey
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - A convicted rapist released from a Georgia prison
in February has now been accused of sex crimes in New Jersey.
    Police in Trenton, New Jersey, say 25-year-old Darnell Lavone
Anthony was arrested Thursday night on charges of sexual assault,
criminal sexual contact and kidnapping. The charges stemmed from an
attack on a 36-year-old woman in a parking garage. Police Director
Irving Bradley Junior said the incident was captured on
surveillance cameras, which assisted with Anthony's capture.
    The Georgia Department of Corrections says Anthony served a
10-year sentence for a 2000 rape in Cobb County and was released
from Valdosta State Prison on February 8th.
    Anthony is being held in jail with bond set at $300,000.
   
IRAQ-RAPPING SOLDIER
    US soldier dismissed for threats in Iraq protest
   
    BAGHDAD (AP) - A U.S. soldier who threatened to shoot fellow
troops and sent the Pentagon a violent rap song he wrote to protest
plans to send him back to Iraq has been thrown out of the Army.
    The dismissal means Specialist Marc A. Hall will avoid criminal
charges but receive no benefits for his service.
    An Army spokesman said Saturday that top brass decided to
dismiss Hall instead of taking him to trial in part because he
admitted his guilt.
    Army lawyers say he was charged with communicating a threat
after telling his battalion commander he might shoot or otherwise
attack a fellow U.S. soldier.
    But it was a CD recording of a rap song that Hall wrote and sent
to the Army's personnel office in July 2009 that gained notoriety
for the case.
   
HOMES-CARTERS
    Jimmy, Rosalynn Carter to build homes in Alabama
   
    BIRMINGHAM, AL. (AP) - Two well-known volunteers for Habitat
for Humanity,  and his wife Rosalynn,
are headed to Birmingham.
    The Carters have included the Birmingham area on their 27th
annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project to build homes for
Habitat for Humanity.
    Greater Birmingham Habitat for Humanity says the Carters will
attend a dinner in Birmingham on October 7th and have a work day on
October 8th. The Carters plan to work in Fairfield and in the Wylam
Oaks subdivision in Birmingham.
   
DRIVER CHARGED
    Driver charged in fatal accident in Georgia
   
    SAVANNAH, GA. (AP) - Police in Chatham County say a fatal
traffic accident in Thunderbolt resulted in a motorist being
charged with second-degree vehicular homicide, driving unlicensed
and failure to yield.
    Police said Dionicio O. Rios turned in front of an oncoming
vehicle at 10:46 a.m. Saturday. A passenger in the other vehicle,
86-year-old Freida Shealy, died from her injuries.
    Her husband, 91-year-old John Shealy, was hospitalized.
    Police said Shealy's car struck a Checkers restaurant, where an
employee was injured.
   
MARIJUANA SEIZED
    850 marijuana plants found indoors in Georgia
   
    SAVANNAH, GA. (AP) - Narcotics teams in Savannah have seized
more than 850 marijuana plants being grown indoors and have
arrested two people.
    Officers said the marijuana seized on Friday weighed about 1,900
pounds and had a street value of $2 million.
    Officers said 44-year-old Nathaniel Bryant Junior was charged
with trafficking marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to
distribute, and possession of tools during the commission of a
crime, and 45-year-old Chandra Lee Gaskin was charged with
possession of marijuana.
    They are being held at the Chatham County Jail.
   
CARRIAGE WRECK
    1 charged, 4 injured when car strikes Ga. carriage
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Atlanta police say a driver was speeding when he
struck a horse and carriage on Peachtree Street.
    Police said the driver, 28-year-old Odom Gerald, as treated at
an Atlanta hospital following the wreck Friday night and then
booked into the Atlanta City Jail on Saturday morning. The charges
against the driver were not immediately available.
    Police said four people in the carriage were injured. A
spokeswoman at Grady Memorial Hospital said one is in critical
condition and three are in fair condition.
   
DEKALB SCHOOLS-ARCHITECT
    Work given to DeKalb school official's husband
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - An Atlanta newspaper reports that DeKalb County
school official Pat Pope dismissed two architecture firms working
on separate multimillion-dollar construction projects and altered
the projects in a way that allowed her architect husband to work on
them.
    Documents obtained by The Atlanta Jo
75 Alternate can reach the popular Raven Cliffs trailhead next to
the Raven Cliffs Wilderness Area.
    Traffic heading south from Georgia Highway 180 can reach
Tesnatee Gap, where hikers can access the Appalachian Trail.

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