Bonus pay for teachers revealed in cheating case

ATLANTA (AP) - Atlanta educators accused of crimes in connection with the school system's cheating scandal earned bonuses that totaled as little as $750 and averaged $2,600.

Chris Kelly of 1990s rap duo Kris Kross dies

ATLANTA (AP) - Chris Kelly, half of the 1990s kid rap duo behind one of the decade's most memorable songs, "Jump," has died at an Atlanta hospital of an apparent drug overdose, authorities said. He was 34.

Gunshot at rattlesnake leads to school lock down

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) - A gunshot intended for a rattlesnake led authorities to briefly lock down an elementary school in northeast Georgia.

Gary Michael Hilton gets 4 life sentences

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - A drifter previously convicted of killing and beheading hikers in Florida and Georgia was sentenced Thursday to four additional life sentences in federal prison for kidnapping and murdering a North Carolina couple in a national forest.

Boston Marathon bombing suspect out of hospital

BOSTON - The surviving Boston Marathon bombings suspect has been released from a civilian hospital and transferred to a federal medical detention center in central Massachusetts.

Former Ga. PTA treasurer charged with theft

CANTON, Ga. (AP) - The former treasurer of a metro Atlanta elementary school's PTA is accused of stealing more than $12,000 from the organization and more than $5,800 from another school's booster club.

Napolitano: Men of interest seen in bomb video

WASHINGTON (AP) - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the FBI wants to speak with individuals seen in at least one video from the Boston Marathon but says she isn't calling them suspects.

Gun control backers: Senate defeat won't stop us

WASHINGTON (AP) - One day after the demise of gun control legislation, Senate supporters of the measure vowed to try again, while a leading opponent accused President Barack Obama of taking the "low road" when he harshly criticized lawmakers who voted against key provisions.

Miss. man arrested for mailing suspected ricin

Image leads to hunt for Boston bombing suspect

BOSTON (AP) - The painstaking work to identify a bombing suspect from reams of Boston Marathon footage yielded a possible breakthrough as investigators focused on a man seen dropping off a bag, and then walking away from the site of the second of two deadly explosions.

Feds seek suspects, motive in Boston bombings

BOSTON (AP) - The bombs that blew up seconds apart at the finish line of one of the world's most storied races left the streets spattered with blood and glass, three dead, including an 8-year-old boy, more than 140 wounded and gaping questions of who chose to attack at the Boston Marathon and why.

Official angered by story on 'state secrets' bill

ATLANTA (AP) - Emails show that a Georgia juvenile justice official was angered by a writer's coverage of a bill that would keep some reports of problems in juvenile lockups secret, and she worried that news coverage could derail the legislation.

Plan for cameras in city vehicles raises concerns

ATLANTA (AP) - A plan to install cameras in city-owned vehicles in Atlanta is raising privacy concerns from the workers who will be videotaped.

State agency struggles with computer outage

ATLANTA (AP) - Authorities say the Georgia Department of Driver Services has been struggling with a statewide computer outage at licensing and testing centers across the state.

US couple in jail after fleeing to Cuba with kids

MIAMI (AP) - A Florida couple accused of kidnapping their two young sons and fleeing by boat to Cuba were handed over to the United States and imprisoned and their children were returned to their maternal grandparents, who have official custody, authorities said Wednesday.

Falcons release 3 key players

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) - The Atlanta Falcons started their youth movement Friday by ditching three key players from the most successful era in franchise history.

Ga. couple gets 15 years in alleged abuse case

DALLAS, Ga. (AP) - A Georgia couple accused of confining their teenage son to a bedroom for years with little food has been sentence to serve 15 years in prison.

Organizers cancel this year's Redneck Games

EAST DUBLIN, Ga. (AP) - Organizers of the Redneck Games, a Georgia festival that includes competitions such as toilet seat horseshoes and mud pit belly flops, say this summer's event is being canceled.

Goodbye, red shoes

The red shoes are being retired. The Pope is giving up the trademark that briefly made him a fashion star, trading in his snappy ruby-red loafers for a pair of hand-crafted brown ones made for him by artisans in Mexico. He will wear those in retirement, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi says. The flash of red sparked (unfounded) rumors he was wearing Prada and helped make him Esquire magazine's accessorizer of the year in ...

Senate Democrats, GOP to stage votes on rival cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) - Across-the-board spending cuts all but certain, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are staging a politically charged showdown designed to avoid public blame for any resulting inconvenience or disruption in government services.

Father of Newtown victim: Ban assault weapons

WASHINGTON (AP) - Battling tears, the father of one of the first-graders slain at the December elementary school massacre in Connecticut pleaded with senators on Wednesday to ban assault weapons like the gun that killed his 6-year-old son.

Ga. braces for federal cuts, but effect unknown

ATLANTA (AP) - Amid heated national rhetoric over widespread federal budget cuts that could begin Friday, Georgia political and business leaders say they're bracing for the so-called sequester but don't know exactly what the consequences would be.

Court takes up question of arrestee DNA sampling

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday struggled with what one of the justices called its most important criminal procedure case in decades, whether to let police take DNA from those arrested, but not convicted, in hopes of using it to solve old cases.

Capt. Kirk's 'Vulcan' top name for new Pluto moons

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - "Star Trek" fans, rejoice. An online vote to name Pluto's two newest, itty-bitty moons is over. And the winner is Vulcan, a name suggested by actor William Shatner, who played Capt. Kirk in the original "Star Trek" TV series. All of the potential names had to come from Greek or Roman mythology, and deal with the underworld. Vulcan was the Roman god of lava and smoke, and the nephew of ...

Listen up ladies! Uncle Sam might want you too

WASHINGTON (AP) - Tennnnnn-hut, ladies! The next time Uncle Sam comes calling, he's probably going to want you, too.

Oscar Pistorius gets bail as murder trial looms

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) - Oscar Pistorius walked out of a South African court Friday a free man - for now - after a magistrate agreed to release him on bail ahead of his premeditated murder trial over the shooting death of his girlfriend.

Star Wars fans feel the force at lightsaber class

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A group of San Francisco Star Wars fans who want to travel to a galaxy not that far away have created a combat choreography class for Jedis-in-training with their weapon of choice: the lightsaber.

Police searching for Ga. man posing as attorney

ATLANTA (AP) - An arrest warrant has been issued for a man accused of posing as a lawyer and duping a couple out of more than $5,000.

Bunnies taking toll on cars at Denver airport

DENVER (AP) - Silly rabbits. The furry creatures are wreaking havoc on cars parked at Denver International Airport by eating spark plug cables and other wiring. To stop the problem, federal wildlife workers are removing at least 100 bunnies a month while parking companies install better fences and build perches for predator hawks and eagles. Airport spokeswoman Laura Coale says that out of 4.3 million parking transactions in 2012, three claims were submitted for rodent ...

Police search for driver after deadly hit and run

ATLANTA (AP) - Police say they're searching for the driver of an SUV who they say drove off after striking and killing a woman as she walked to catch a bus in Atlanta.