Tornado warning for Walton and Morgan counties+

ATLANTA (AP) - The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for areas of Morgan and Walton counties in north central Georgia.

Deal signs bill incentivizing dual credit classes

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has signed a bill to give high school students an incentive to take dual credit courses and earn college credit.

Boston suspect's father says he's a 'true angel'

Official: 12 bodies recovered after Texas blast

Police go door-to-door in search for Boston bomber

WATERTOWN, Mass. (AP) - State police say officers are going door-to-door, but the Boston Marathon suspect is still on the loose.

UGA stadium concert might lead to more shows

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - University of Georgia President Mike Adams says he had some trepidation about hosting a concert at Sanford Stadium, which he said was a great success.

Republican: Boston raises immigration questions

WASHINGTON (AP) - The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee says the events in Boston make clear the importance of understanding gaps and loopholes in the U.S. immigration system.

IBM tugs Dow lower; S&P 500 up after rough week

Poll: Public pessimism on economy is increasing

Russia's Caucasus: breeding ground for terror

1 of 2 Mass. bomb suspects dead; suburbs shut down

2 teens plead not guilty in Ga. baby slaying

Ga. boy hit by falling tree limb, hospitalized

ATLANTA (AP) - Authorities say an 8-year-old boy has been hospitalized after being hit by a falling tree branch while he was on a school playground in Atlanta.

Rescuers search ruins of Texas fertilizer plant

Attorney: Miss. man denies mailing suspected ricin

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi man charged with mailing letters with suspected ricin to national leaders believed he had uncovered a conspiracy to sell human body parts on the black market, and on Thursday his attorney said he was surprised by his arrest and maintains he is innocent.

Obama departs from Ga. after speech in Decatur

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) - President Barack Obama has left Georgia after visiting an early childhood learning center and giving a speech in the Atlanta area.

Sharp fall in US jobless claims boosts outlook

WASHINGTON (AP) - The outlook for the U.S. job market is brightening after a government report showed a sharp drop in the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits.

Coast Guard: Cruise ship stopped; towline broken

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - A Coast Guard official says a disabled cruise ship is stopped off the coast of Alabama because of a broken towline attached to one of the boats towing the vessel.

Pistorius' girlfriend was a model, law graduate

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - The leggy blonde model tweeted that Valentine's Day should be "a day of love for everyone." Instead Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead in the home of her boyfriend, paralympian superstar Oscar Pistorius, who was charged with her murder. Steenkamp, South African model with a law degree, campaigned against rape and violence against women. Thursday morning, Reeva Steenkamp was to give an inspirational talk at a Johannesburg school. The next day ...

Obama touches down in Georgia, heads to Decatur

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) - President Barack Obama has arrived in Georgia and is expected to visit an early childhood learning center in the Atlanta area.

Buffett's firm dips into $23B Heinz ketchup dea

NEW YORK (AP) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is dipping into the ketchup business as part of $23.3 billion deal to buy the Heinz ketchup company.

Democrats to unveil bill to replace budget cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in the Senate are unveiling legislation to avoid a looming set of sharp, across-the-board spending cuts set to strike the Pentagon and domestic agencies in just two weeks.

Stocks sink after reports of European slowdown

NEW YORK (AP) - Renewed worries about Europe overshadowed an encouraging U.S. jobs report, turning stocks mixed on Thursday.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby says the system is undergoing sever

HOUSTON (AP) - Carnival Cruise Lines has canceled a dozen more planned voyages aboard the Triumph and acknowledged that the crippled ship had been plagued by other mechanical problems in the weeks before it was left powerless in the Gulf of Mexico by an engine-room fire. The company's announcement on Wednesday came as the Triumph was being towed to a port in Mobile, Ala., with more than 4,000 people on board, some of whom ...

Chancellor: Ga. universities must be responsive

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby says the system is undergoing several fundamental changes to its structure to better serve students.

A slump in McDonald's stock drags Dow lower

NEW YORK (AP) - The Dow was held back by a slump in McDonald's stock Wednesday, leaving it short of a record. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 35.79 points to close at 13,982.91. The Dow has gained 6.7 percent this year and is just 182 points below the record close of 14,164 it set in October 2007. McDonald's was the biggest decliner in the Dow, losing $1.10 to $94, as investors worried ...

First lady plugs 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

WASHINGTON (AP) - Michelle Obama on Wednesday gushed over the Oscar-nominated film "Beasts of the Southern Wild," calling it one of the "most powerful and most important" movies in a long time in a ringing endorsement delivered less than two weeks before this month's Academy Awards ceremony.

GOP faults Obama speech for liberalism, hostility

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans said Wednesday that President Barack Obama's State of the Union address was full of well-worn liberal ideas and campaign-style hostility, and did little to ease partisan tensions over major issues.

Gov. Nathan Deal signs Medicaid tax compromise

ATLANTA (AP) - Gov. Nathan Deal has signed into a law his plan to extend a key piece of Medicaid insurance funding without explicitly extending a tax on hospitals.

Pope says he's resigning for the 'good of church

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI told thousands of faithful Wednesday that he was resigning for "the good of the church" - an extraordinary scene of a pope explaining himself to his flock that unfolded in his first appearance since dropping the bombshell announcement.