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

(AP) -- SESSION ENDING
    Lawmakers hit homestretch of marathon session
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia lawmakers are wrapping up an exhaustive
legislative session this week having already taken care of most
major pieces of their agenda.
    With just two days left, the General Assembly still has some
issues left on the table, including divisive legislation on guns,
abortion, texting while driving and seat belts before they gavel to
a close the 40-day session that has stretched four months.
    Senators and representatives must also agree on the $17.8
billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
    Legislators meet Tuesday and Thursday before shifting gears to
the campaign trail, as many plan to seek re-election this fall.
   
WATER WARS
    GA environmental groups want new water rules
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Environmental groups want Georgia lawmakers to
pass a bill requiring that more factors be considered before
transferring water from one river system to another.
    The legislation is pending before the House Rules Commission,
which could decide as soon as Tuesday whether it will get a floor
vote.
    Under the measure, environmental regulators would have to
consider a host of factors before moving water from one river basin
to another. Those factors include whether the need for water is
reasonable and whether there would enough water left for
emergencies, like a drought.
    The proposal comes after Georgia lawmakers approved sweeping new
water conservation rules. The state is locked in a lawsuit against
Alabama and Florida over Atlanta's water supply.
   
XGR-PAROLE CHANGES
    Bills would tweak LA parole requirements
   
    BATON ROUGE, LA (AP) - Louisiana, where one out of every 55
adults is incarcerated, could see its prison population gradually
decline if a package of bills up for debate in the House this week
is passed into law.
    The four bills mainly target nonviolent offenders, who make up
60 percent of the state's inmates. The proposed laws would enable
prisoners not serving time for violent or sexual offenses to be
considered for parole sooner and earn early release for good
behavior.
    Most of the bills would only apply to those convicted after Aug.
15, so it would be years before major reductions in prisoner
numbers would be seen.
    Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc is a strong proponent of the
bills.
    The House is scheduled to consider the proposals Wednesday and
Thursday.
   
COUNTY-EMPLOYMENT
    Study says GA county has too many employees
   
    DECATUR, GA (AP) - A study conducted by Georgia State
University says DeKalb County's government has too many managers
and should lay off at least 909 employees.
    The DeKalb County Commission arranged the study in December
while it dealt with a budget shortfall that has reached $100
million.
    Results released to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday
say extra layers of management add costs and make it unclear who's
in charge and slow down routine actions.
    DeKalb has about the same number of residents as Cobb and
Gwinnett counties, but has twice as many workers.
    Commissioner Lee May, who suggested the study, says it does not
take into account that 582 workers are leaving next month under an
early retirement program.
   
LIBRARY FIRE
    GA county library fire destroys books, documents
   
    JEFFERSONVILLE, GA (AP) - Investigators from the state
insurance commissioner's office are trying to determine the cause
of a fire that destroyed the Twiggs County Library, along with more
than 15,000 books and historical documents.
    Sammy Stokes, director of the Twiggs County Emergency Management
Agency, said the fire broke out just after 4 a.m. Sunday. Fire
chief Morgan Slay says there was no one at the firehouse that
night. He says the department is an all-volunteer unit and that by
the time he received a call, the fire had been burning for about
half an hour.
    Thomas Jones, director of the Middle Georgia Regional Library
System, says opening a temporary facility is one of the options
being considered.
   
CIVIL WAR STUDIES
    UGA gets endowment for Civil War scholar
   
    ATHENS, GA (AP) - A couple has given the University of Georgia
$1 million to establish a chair in Civil War studies, and experts
on the conflict who are already on the UGA faculty say the addition
should provide additional luster for the history department's
reputation in that area.
    One of the experts, professor John Inscoe, says Southern history
has always been a strong point of the department and the addition
of a Civil War expert will add to that strength.
    The new faculty member could start teaching by fall 2012.
    The $1 million grant comes from Amanda and Henry D. Gregory of
Atlanta. The couple also donated $50,000 to support Civil War
research at UGA and $10,000 to bring in a Civil War historian to
deliver a lecture in Athens next year.
   
EARNS-UPS
    UPS optimistic about economic recovery
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Shipping giant UPS is optimistic about the
economic recovery it is seeing in countries where it does busharles Byrd, leapt
from the car and ran to
a nearby home.
    More police were called to the scene and after Byrd emerged from
the home, police noticed the smell of marijuana. Kelly says they
also found another man, Timothy Donahue, hiding in the house.
    After getting a search warrant, police found and seized 69
marijuana plants, 1,490 grams of processed pot and
marijuana-cultivating equipment.
    Both men were arrested.
   
FINANCIAL FRAUD
    GA man faces 7 years in prison on fraud charges
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - An Atlanta man was sentenced to seven years in
federal prison on charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire
fraud.
    Fifty-one-year-old Anthony Tobin was also ordered on Monday to
pay $2.4 million in restitution.
    Prosecutors say Tobin found customers through various networking
websites and then promised them he would help direct venture
capital for their business pitches. They say he would first require
them to pay nonrefundable advance expenses and fees.
    But prosecutors say Tobin never intended to provide them access
to loans and investment fees and instead kept the money. They say
more than three dozen victims lost about $5 million in the scheme.
    Two other co-defendants have been charged in the plot.
Thirty-nine-year-old Eyal Dulin remains a fugitive and 47-year-old
Katherine Twigg is scheduled to be sentenced on May 4.
   
ATLANTA SCHOOLS-AWARD
    Atlanta schools chief to get national award
   
    ATLANTA (AP) - Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly Hall is
the first K-12 school administrator to win a prestigious national
award from the American Educational Research Association.
    Hall is getting the organization's public service award May 2
during an annual meeting in Denver, which will be attended by
thousands of education researchers from around the globe. Gerald E.
Sroufe with the association says the award recognizes Hall's use of
test data to improve schools and increase student learning.
    Past recipients of the award include Richard Atkinson, president
of the University of California; Jack Jennings, director of the
Center on Education Policy; and Ronald Wolk, founder of Education
Week.

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