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

Punxsutawney Phil 'indicted' over spring forecast

CINCINNATI (AP) - Famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil might want to go back into hibernation. Authorities in still-frigid Ohio have issued an "indictment" of the furry rodent, who predicted an early spring when he didn't see his shadow after emerging from his western Pennsylvania lair on Feb. 2. "Punxsutawney Phil did purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the people to believe that spring would come early," Mike Gmoser, the prosecutor in southwestern Ohio's ...

Tolls on Georgia 400 to end before Thanksgiving

ATLANTA (AP) - Transportation officials say the tolls on Georgia 400, a busy commuter route on the north side of Atlanta, will end later this year.

UGA student reports attack by mime

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - A University of Georgia student told police she was attacked by a woman who appeared dressed as a mime.

3 dead, including suspect, in Marine base shooting

QUANTICO, Va. (AP) - A Marine killed a male and female colleague in a shooting at a base in northern Virginia before killing himself, officials said early Friday. Authorities were called to the scene at Marine Corps Base Quantico around 10:30 p.m. Thursday, where they found one Marine dead at a barracks, base commander Col. David W. Maxwell told reporters. Authorities later found a second victim dead, along with the body of the ...

Ex-children's hospital worker accused of abuse

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - A former employee of Children's Hospital of Georgia is accused of sexual battery involving patients at the Augusta facility.

Obama health law anniversary finds two Americas

WASHINGTON (AP) - Three years, two elections, and one Supreme Court decision after President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, its promise of health care for the uninsured may be delayed or undercut in much of the country because of entrenched opposition from many Republican state leaders. In half the states, mainly led by Democrats, officials are racing deadlines to connect uninsured residents to coverage now only months away. In others it's ...

Survey: Low-wage workers missing out on training

WASHINGTON (AP) - As they struggle to get ahead, many low-wage workers are not taking advantage of job training or educational programs that could help them make the leap to better-paying jobs. They are often skeptical about whether such programs are even worth the trouble, a new survey shows.

Universe ages 80M years; Big Bang gets clearer

PARIS (AP) - New results from a look into the split second after the Big Bang indicate the universe is 80 million years older than previously thought but the core concepts of the cosmos - how it began, what it's made of and where it's going - seem to be on the right track. The findings released Thursday bolster a key theory called inflation, which says the universe burst from subatomic size to ...

Ga. jobless rate hits lowest level since early '09

ATLANTA (AP) - State labor officials say Georgia's unemployment rate has dropped 8.6 percent, its lowest level in the past four years.

Judge strikes down section of GA immigration law

ATLANTA (AP) - A federal judge has permanently struck down a section of Georgia's 2011 law targeting illegal immigration that makes it illegal for someone to knowingly harbor or transport an illegal immigrant.

Chairman: Ga. Senate will back $100 lobbying cap

ATLANTA (AP) - The Senate will propose a $100 cap on lobbyist expenditures, not an outright ban, creating a conflict with House lawmakers in the waning days of the General Assembly's annual session, a leading Senate Republican said Wednesday. The Senate Rules Committee will meet Thursday to put forward its version of lobbying restrictions originally written by House Speaker David Ralston, said Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, the committee chairman. Mullis said he hopes the ...

Wal-Mart expands test of mobile checkout program

NEW YORK (AP) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is expanding a test of a new checkout program that allows shoppers to scan items with their smartphones and then pay at self-checkout terminals. The world's largest retailer launched what it calls its "Scan & Go" program late last year in about 70 stores in the Bentonville, Ark., area, where the retailer is based, as well as Atlanta. It is now testing the program in more ...

Senate set to approve huge 2013 spending bill

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate moved toward a vote Wednesday on a huge, bipartisan spending bill aimed at keeping the government running through September and ruling out the chance of a shutdown later this month.

House OKs lower alcohol limits for boat operators

ATLANTA (AP) - Reacting to high-profile deaths on Lake Lanier, the Georgia House of Representatives has approved a proposal to lower the allowable blood-alcohol limits for hunters and anyone driving a water vessel in the state.

Pa. school asks students to cut back on body spray

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania high school wants its students to cut back on the body spray.