Tablets in the classroom push learning, teaching

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. (AP) - At Autrey Mill Middle School in suburban Atlanta, students are using electronic tablets instead of paper and pencil to answer questions, take tests and tell their teachers whether they understand their lesson or not.

CDC: Fecal bacteria common in swimming pools

NEW YORK (AP) - Health officials say they found fecal bacteria in more than half of the water samples taken from Atlanta-area public swimming pools last summer.

Powerball jackpot quickly jumps to $550 million

Obama: No special prosecutor to investigate IRS

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama dismissed the idea of a special prosecutor to investigate the Internal Revenue Service Thursday, saying probes by Congress and the Justice Department should be able to figure out who was responsible for improperly targeting tea party groups when they applied for tax-exempt status.

Stocks flip between gains and losses; Cisco climbs

NEW YORK (AP) - Cisco Systems led the Dow Jones industrial average slightly higher Thursday after the technology company reported higher sales. Mixed corporate earnings and economic reports kept the major stock indexes flipping between slight gains and losses.

Georgia's jobless rate drops to 8.2 percent

ATLANTA (AP) - State labor officials say Georgia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has dropped to 8.2 percent in April.

Woman using bare hands to build house with rocks

SILVER CREEK, Ga. (AP) - A woman is using her bare hands to build a house in the woods of north Georgia by stacking large rocks on top of each other, one rock at a time.

Police: Suspect arrested in La. parade shooting

Bibles reinstated in Ga. state park lodges, cabins

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has ordered the Department of Natural Resources to return Bibles that were removed from cabins and lodges at state parks.

Deal signs order addressing Common Core standards

Ga. avoids limit on reservoir use in Senate bill

Stocks keep climbing even as manufacturing softens

Ga. high school yearbook labels student a 'freak'

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. (AP) - School administrators are trying to find out how a photo caption next to a student's photo labeled him a "freak" in a high school yearbook.

Ga. agency orders removal of Bibles at state parks

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia parks officials say they've ordered that Bibles be removed from guest rooms at state lodges and cabins across the state.

TV-over-Internet service hits Atlanta next month

Wildfire burns outside Great Smoky Mountains

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (AP) - A wildfire burning in a resort area outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern Tennessee has damaged or destroyed nearly 60 large rental cabins and is threatening additional homes.

Woman who lost downloading case says she can't pay

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Minnesota woman at the center of a long-running court fight over the unauthorized downloading of copyrighted music said there's still no way she can pay record companies the $222,000 judgment she owes after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal Monday. The justices did not comment on their decision. Attorneys for Jammie Thomas-Rasset, of Brainerd, argued the amount was excessive. The music industry filed thousands of lawsuits in ...

High court divided over Ariz. voter requirement

WASHINGTON (AP) - Supreme Court justices disagreed Monday over whether states can require would-be voters to prove they are U.S. citizens before using a federal registration system designed to make signing up easier. Arizona and other states told the justices the precaution is needed to keep illegal immigrants and other noncitizens from voting. But some justices asked whether states have the right to force people to document their citizenship when Congress ordered the states ...

Campaign against sex trafficking in Ga. kicks off

ATLANTA (AP) - The Georgia attorney general and other law enforcement officials kicked off a public awareness campaign Monday to target sex trafficking with the focus on those who pay for sex. The campaign bears the slogan "Georgia's not buying it" and includes a public service announcement featuring professional athletes from Atlanta sports teams speaking out against sex trafficking. The campaign also is being promoted through billboards, a designated website and on social media. ...

Accused shoplifter fatally shot by Ga. police

LILBURN, Ga. (AP) - Authorities in Gwinnett County say an accused shoplifter has been fatally shot by police.

Lawyer: Paternity suit against Jordan withdrawn

ATLANTA (AP) - A lawyer for a woman who says Michael Jordan fathered her teenage son has withdrawn her paternity suit, but left open the possibility that it could be refiled. Pamela Smith "stands by the facts alleged in her original filing," Atlanta attorney Randall Kessler told The Associated Press on Monday. Kessler said the lawsuit was withdrawn Friday without prejudice, meaning it can be refiled. Smith filed the suit herself last month against ...

Stocks edge lower, rebounding from Cyprus losses

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks were little changed on Wall Street after recouping losses from an early sell-off caused by concern that a bailout plan for the Mediterranean island nation Cyprus would re-ignite the European debt crisis.

Stocks fall Wall Street on Cyprus bailout

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks fell in early trading on Wall Street on concern that the terms of a proposed bank bailout for the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus could cause the euro crisis to flare up again. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 36 points, or 0.2 percent, to 14,477 as of 10:18 a.m. EDT. The Dow fell as much as 110 points in the early going, then recouped some of ...

Supreme Court upholds sentence in girl's killing

ATLANTA (AP) - The Supreme Court of Georgia has upheld the convictions and life prison sentence given to the stepmother of an 11-year-old girl who prosecutors say was starved and beaten to death in Henry County in 2003.

Ga. day care regulators changing some rules

MACON, Ga. (AP) - Georgia day care regulators are changing some rules and adding others in an effort aimed at better protecting and educating children.

Rise of Latino population blurs US racial lines

WASHINGTON (AP) - Welcome to the new off-white America. A historic decline in the number of U.S. whites and the fast growth of Latinos are blurring traditional black-white color lines, testing the limits of civil rights laws and reshaping political alliances as "whiteness" begins to lose its numerical dominance. Long in coming, the demographic shift was most vividly illustrated in last November's re-election of President Barack Obama, the first black president, despite a historically ...

Pa. guard shot finger trying to remove ring

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A federal prison guard has been charged with shooting his own finger in a drunken attempt to remove his wedding ring during an argument with his wife at their northwestern Pennsylvania home, police said.

CDC: Rare rabies death was from kidney transplant

Four people received donated organs from a man unknowingly infected with rabies, leading to a rare human death more than a year later that has authorities scrambling to treat the other three patients, federal health officials said Friday. The man who died lived in Maryland and had received a kidney. The recipients of the donor's other kidney, heart and liver are getting anti-rabies shots, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said ...

US stocks open lower, threatening long rally

U.S. stocks opened lower Friday, threatening to end the longest winning streak for the Dow Jones industrial average in nearly 17 years. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 43 points, or 0.3, to 14,496 in the first hour and half of trading. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell four points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,559. The Nasdaq composite index fell 10 points, or 0.3 percent, to 3,248. The S&P 500 was six points ...

Prisoner van overturns on Atlanta freeway

ATLANTA (AP) - A van used to transport prisoners overturned on an Atlanta freeway, jamming traffic at the start of the rush hour.