Monday, January 19th

There are no classes today in the Clarke County School System, or at the University of Georgia: Athens Tech and University of North Georgia campuses are also closed in observance of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Junior holiday.

Volunteers are taking part in today’s MLK Day of Service in Athens: activities get underway at 10:30 this morning in Lay Park. Those taking part are asked to bring canned food items that will be donated to area food banks.

Athens’ annual King Day ecumenical service gets underway at noon at the First AME Church on Hull Street.

Athens-Clarke County Police are investigating reports of sexual battery: police say three women claim to have been assaulted by the same man.

An Athens-Clarke County Police report says a man will need surgery for facial injuries suffered in an altercation at a fast-food eatery on Atlanta Highway: the man tells police he was punched in the face at a drive-through. A police investigation is ongoing.

A man from Clarke County is recovering from injuries sustained in a vehicle vs pedestrian accident in Hall County: the victim, a 23 year-old man from Winterville, was hit by a tractor trailer rig. The Georgia State Patrol says he is hospitalized at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. Troopers say the truck driver, a man from Texas, will not face charges.

There are King Day activities today in Elberton: they include an oratorical contest at the Blackwell Cultural Center in Elberton, underway at 10 o’clock this morning.

The University of North Georgia names a Chief Research Officer: the job goes to Dr. Andy Novobilski, who will be an associate provost at UNG and will work out of the University’s main campus in Gainesville.

Two drug suspects—one, an accused gang member—are in custody in Hall County, where drug agents say they found more than $100,000 in drugs and cash in a raid at a home on Sherry Lane in Gainesville. Christopher Rodriguez and Cristina Perez face charges that include marijuana and methamphetamine possession and distribution; investigators say they were also caught with prescription painkillers, and they are looking various weapon possession charges.

One person was killed in a weekend car crash in White County: the Georgia State Patrol says victim Darrell England was 18 years old, from Cleveland. Troopers say the single-vehicle happened on Georgia Highway 115 about five miles west of Cleveland.

There are now two suspects indicted in a murder in Dawson County: 50 year-old Bo Seppenfield and 25 year-old Tory Miguez are charged in the November death of Brandon Weaver. The 37 year-old Weaver was shot and killed on November 22.  Dawson County Sheriff’s Office investigators say the shooting came during an argument that escalated into a fight.

Seppenfield is from Dawsonville; Miguez is from Cartersville.

Investigators say they suspect arson in a weekend fire in DeKalb County: the blaze burned an elementary school in Lithonia.

Hospitalized over the King Holiday weekend: civil rights pioneer Joseph Lowery. His family says the 93 year-old Lowery, who broke a hip in a fall last month in California, is suffering from dehydration.

Is Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson still the world's busiest airport? The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that based on final 2014 numbers Chicago O'Hare is ahead of Atlanta in terms of total number of scheduled airline flights, with around 884,000 to Hartsfield's 846,000. On the other hand, Atlanta is far ahead of Chicago in total number of passengers with an expected nearly 96 million fliers for last year, versus around 70 million for O'Hare. Hartsfield-Jackson officials cite several factors for the decline in the flight count, including Southwest's acquisition of Airtran.

Today's Martin Luther King Junior holiday includes the annual commemorative service at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating in middle Georgia: one person was killed, another injured when a small plane crashed in Fort Valley.

The second execution this month is set for next week at the state prison in Jackson: the state Department of Corrections has scheduled a January 27 execution for Warren Lee Hill, on death row for the beating death of a fellow inmate who was killed in 1990.

Keith Golden is retiring at the end of the month, stepping down as Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Georgia lawmakers are in recess for today’s King Day holiday. State budget hearings begin tomorrow and continue through the week, with House and Senate budget writers working on the spending plan rolled out by Governor Nathan Deal.