Stocks gain after unemployment claims fal

NEW YORK (AP) - Encouraging news about the job market and higher profits from CBS, Facebook and other companies lifted stocks Thursday.

Ga. tightens reins on distribution of pain drugs

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia will no longer be a haven for pain clinics that authorities say are fronts for illegal distribution of prescription pain medication.

Deadheads oppose renaming Jerry Garcia venue

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Deadheads are uniting in opposition to a proposal to rename a San Francisco venue named in honor of the Grateful Dead founder.

Georgia child care workers to face more checks

MACON, Ga. (AP) - Gov. Nathan Deal has signed a bill into law requiring childcare workers to undergo comprehensive, fingerprint-based background checks.

New law opens Ga. licenses to certain noncitizens

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has signed two bills into law making it easier for certain noncitizens to get Georgia driver's licenses.

FBI: 3 removed backpack from Boston suspect's room

BOSTON (AP) - Three college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were arrested and accused Wednesday of removing a backpack containing fireworks emptied of gunpowder from Tsarnaev's dorm room three days after the attack to try to keep him from getting into trouble.

Fed keeps stimulus, says taxes and cuts have hurt

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday stood by its aggressive efforts to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment. And it sent its most explicit signal to date that tax increases and spending cuts that kicked in this year are slowing the economy.

Grocery store worker wins big on her lunch hour

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. (AP) - A grocery store worker near Atlanta made more money on her lunch break than many people earn in a lifetime.

Carpet company planning 2 plants in Dalton area

DALTON, Ga. (AP) - A spokesman for Gov. Nathan Deal says a carpet manufacturing company will open two plants in northwest Georgia and create about 2,400 jobs.

Stocks edge lower on manufacturing, jobs slowdown

Scientists find cannibalism at American settlement

Boston police: 3 more suspects in custody bombings

BOSTON (AP) - Three more suspects have been taken into custody in the marathon bombings, city police said Wednesday.

Georgia family finds burning cross in front yard

WOODSTOCK, Ga. (AP) - Police are investigating after a metro Atlanta family found a large cross, which had been set on fire in their front yard.

Lake Lanier begins summer full of water

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) - After persistent drought conditions, a popular north Georgia lake is beginning the summer recreation season with a full pool of water.

456 colonoscopy patients warned of infection risk

ATLANTA (AP) - An Atlanta surgery center is warning 456 patients that their colonoscopies might have put them at risk of HIV and other diseases.

State's highest court asked to take up school case

ATLANTA (AP) - A federal judge has asked the Georgia Supreme Court to consider the constitutionality of the 2011 law that gave Gov. Nathan Deal the authority to suspend six DeKalb County school board members.

Francis pays tribute to Benedict, reflects on age

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis paid a heartfelt tribute Friday to his predecessor Benedict XVI, saying his faith and teaching had "enriched and invigorated" the Catholic Church and would remain its spiritual patrimony forever. Francis offered the respects during an audience with the cardinals who elected him to succeed Benedict, whose resignation set in motion the extraordinary conclave that brought the first prelate from the New World and first Jesuit to the papacy. ...

Pentagon spends nearly $1B a year on unemployment

WASHINGTON (AP) - Even as it faces budget cuts and forced employee furloughs, the Pentagon is spending nearly a $1 billion a year on a program that sends unemployment checks to former troops who left the military voluntarily.

Pentagon: Iranian plane pursued US spy drone

WASHINGTON (AP) - An Iranian fighter jet approached a U.S. surveillance drone aircraft over the Persian Gulf but broke off its pursuit after a U.S. escort plane discharged a warning flare, the Pentagon said Thursday. Pentagon press secretary George Little said the incident occurred Tuesday and that the unarmed MQ-1 Predator surveillance drone as well as two U.S. military escort planes remained over international waters at all times. Little said the drone was conducting ...

Ga. couple arrested on child cruelty charges

POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. (AP) - A metro Atlanta couple has been arrested on child cruelty charges after police say they duct taped their children and locked them in their bedrooms.

Pope Francis' humility: stops by hotel to pay bill

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis put his humility on display during his first day as pontiff Thursday, stopping by his hotel to pick up his luggage and pay the bill himself in a decidedly different style of papacy than his tradition-minded predecessor, who tended to stay ensconced in the frescoed halls of the Vatican. The break from Benedict XVI's pontificate was evident even in Francis' wardrobe choices: He kept the simple pectoral cross ...

US stocks rise in early trading, S&P nears record

NEW YORK (AP) - Encouraging news from the job market pushed the stock market up early Thursday, putting the Standard & Poor's 500 index near its all-time high. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose six points to 1,560. It's just five points away from the record high it reached in October 2007. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 57 points to 14,513, putting the average of 30 big companies on course for ...

Metro Atlanta jobless rate rises to 8.7 percent

ATLANTA (AP) - State labor officials say metro Atlanta's jobless rate rose to 8.7 percent in January, up from 8.4 percent the month before.

Argentine Jorge Bergoglio elected Pope Francis

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope Wednesday, becoming the first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium. He chose the name Francis, associating himself with the humble 13th-century Italian preacher who lived a life of poverty.

Senate Democrats unveil budget blueprint

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats unveiled a largely stand-pat budget Wednesday that calls for $1 trillion in new tax revenues over the coming decade but actually increases spending, while protecting the party's domestic policy priorities and adding $4 trillion more to the national debt than a slashing alternative from House Republicans. The plan by Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., blends about $1 trillion in modest cuts to health care providers, the Pentagon, domestic ...

Dow notches ninth gain in a row, longest since '96

NEW YORK (AP) - The Dow Jones industrial average notched its ninth gain in a row, giving the index its longest winning streak in more than sixteen years. The index edged up 5.22 points, or 0.04 percent, to 14,455.28. The Dow has risen every day this month and is up 10.3 percent this year, having surpassed its previous all-time high of 14,164.53 March 5th. Demand for stocks has been propelled this year by ...

Panel criticizes military on sexual assault cases

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a stinging rebuke of the military's efforts to curb sexual assault, members of a Senate panel hammered Defense Department officials on Wednesday for making too little progress in combating the crimes and failing to improve a military justice system that victims described as slow and uncaring. During a two-part hearing, the panel heard harrowing testimony from several victims, who said military justice is broken and pushed for Congress to ...

57 charged in Florida gambling scandal

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Florida's lieutenant governor resigned and nearly 60 other people were charged in a widening scandal of a purported veterans charity that authorities said Wednesday was $300 million front for illegal gambling. Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll's resignation came a day after she was questioned in the investigation. Her public relations firm did work for the St. Augustine-based charity Allied Veterans of the World, but she has not been accused of ...

Francis is first pope from Americas

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis is the first ever from the Americas, an austere Jesuit intellectual who modernized Argentina's conservative Catholic church.

Teen arrested after stealing police cruiser

EAST POINT, Ga. (AP) - Police say a 13-year-old boy accused of stealing a patrol car and barricading himself inside his house has been taken into custody.