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

(AP) --  

 NUCLEAR EXPANSION
    Judge's ruling questions nuclear power expansion
    
    A ruling by a Fulton County judge has called into
question the expansion of a nuclear power plant in eastern Georgia.
    Environmental advocates say Superior Court Judge Wendy Shoob
ruled from the bench Friday that the state's Public Service
Commission failed to adequately explain the reasoning when it
allowed Georgia Power to try to build two new reactors at Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro. If built, it would be the first U.S.
groundbreaking of a nuclear power plant in 30 years.
    Commission spokesman Bill Edge said the group is conferring with
its attorneys about what to do next. Georgia Power spokesman Jeff
Wilson said construction on Vogtle will continue as planned.
    The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed by the Southern
Alliance For Clean Energy last year in an effort to block the
project.
   
KIDNAP ARREST
    Police: man kidnapped, beat UGA student
    
    Police have charged a 36-year-old man with
kidnapping and beating a 19-year-old University of Georgia student.
    Athens-Clarke County Police spokesman Captain Clarence Holeman
said 36-year-old Jason Avery Harris was arrested Friday in Hart
County in eastern Georgia. Holeman said police had been searching
for Harris since Wednesday's incident.
    The woman told police that Harris came up behind her, grabbed
her by the throat and pulled her into his car. She told police
Harris punched her several times before she was able to escape.
    Police say Harris was just released from prison after serving a
decade on armed robbery charges. He is charged with kidnapping,
aggravated assault and battery.
    It was not immediately clear whether Harris had an attorney. His
home phone number could not be found.
   
GEORGIA CANDIDATES
    Baker, Thurmond, Scott qualify for Ga. offices
    
    Two long-serving statewide officers qualified as
candidates for Georgia's top jobs on the last day to sign up for
the November general election.
    Attorney General Thurbert Baker and Labor Commissioner Mike
Thurmond are seeking the Democratic nominations for governor and
U.S. Senate, respectively. If elected, Baker would be the first
black governor of Georgia, and Thurmond would become the South's
first black senator since Reconstruction.
    Both qualified on Friday ahead of the noon deadline for all
candidates.
    State Representative Austin Scott, a Republican from Tifton,
also qualified on Friday to challenge Democratic incumbent Jim
Marshall in the U.S. House. Scott faces two GOP opponents in the
Republican primary.
    In the state schools superintendent's race, Joe Martin, head of
the Georgia School Funding Association, qualified to run as a
Democrat.
    Georgia's primary is July 20th, and the general election is
November 2nd.
   
GEORGIA LEGISLATURE
    New tone in Ga. legislature prompts breakthroughs
    
    After House Speaker David Ralston gaveled
Georgia's grueling legislative session to a close, he calmly
strolled to a side chamber and embraced a long line of lawmakers
from both parties as he patiently waited to talk to the media.
    It was a far cry from the end-of-session routine of his
predecessor, Glenn Richardson, who seemed to barrel out of the
Capitol as fast his legs could carry him.
    As Georgia lawmakers closed the books on one of their most
productive sessions in years, reaching breakthroughs on a range of
top priorities that had long eluded them, lawmakers in both parties
credited the successes to the stability that Ralston brought to the
House.
    Ralston took charge of the 180-member chamber when Richardson
stepped down in January after allegations of an affair with a
lobbyist.
   
COURTHOUSE ACCESS
    Judge orders sheriff to expand courthouse access
    
    A judge has ordered Fulton County Sheriff Ted
Jackson to open more entrances to the state's busiest courthouse.
    Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Doris Downs on Friday
told Sheriff Ted Jackson to open a pedestrian bridge that links to
the courthouse complex by May 14th. She ordered a second entrance
opened by May 28th.
    Downs has said long lines and waits have routinely delayed the
start of court because all but one entrance to the courthouse
complex had been closed. Jackson's office has said the entrances
were closed because there were not enough deputies to staff those
posts and to provide security in courtrooms.
   
HOMELESS MAN DROWNS
    Police: homeless man drowns in North Oconee River
    
    Authorities say a homeless man has drowned in the
North Oconee River.
    Police identified the man as 39-year-old Dallas Melvin Jones,
who authorities say lived along the river bank near downtown
Athens. Athens-Clarke County police said Jones' body was found
Wednesday by a fisherman.
    Police said Jones suffered from seizures, which may have lead to
his drowning. Authorities said he had been treated at Athens
Regional Medical Center a few days before his body was found.
    Police said his family lives in Elberton.
   
DELTA AIR LINES-EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
    Delta CEO's 2009 pay less than half that of 2008
    
    A regulatory filing shows Delta Air Lines CEO
Richard Anderson saw his total compensation in 2009 cut by more
than half to $8.4 million, compared to the year before.
    According to an analysis of the filing Friday with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, Anderson received a salary of
$600,000, no bonus, no performance-based bonus and other
compensation of $1,173,217.
    Anderson also received stock and option awards the company
valued at $6,602,115.00 on the days they were granted.
    The total compensation of $8,375,332 compared to $17,442,655 he
received in 2008.
    The Associated Press's total pay calculations sometimes differ
from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of
proxy statements.
    Delta is based in Atlanta.
   

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