Thursday, April 16th

A public hearing on a plan to convert the Clarke County School District to a charter school system is set for 6:30 this evening at Gaines Elementary School. A Clarke County School Board vote on the plan proposed by School Superintendent Phil Lanoue is expected in June.

Athens-Clarke County Police continued overnight the search for a 75 year-old man who went missing Wednesday: Police say Braxton Hightower is 5 feet 11 inches tall and around maybe 190 pounds, a black male who might have dementia. He was last seen in the area of Brockett Drive off Jefferson River Road.

Keith Belli is on campus today: Belli is head of the Forestry Department at the University of Tennessee; he’s a finalist to be the next dean of the Warnell School of Forestry Resources at the University of Georgia.

Today’s campus blood drive: 11 til 5 at the University of Georgia Vet College.

A meeting of the Board of the University of Georgia Research Foundation is on tap for today, 1 o’clock at the Georgia Center.

More Honors Week activities at UGA: the Research Awards Banquet gets underway at 6:30 at the Georgia Center.

The University of Georgia’s Symphony Orchestra is in concert again this evening, 8 o’clock at UGA’s Hodgson Hall.

The Northeast Georgia Regional Commission meets today, noon at the downtown Holiday Inn on Broad Street in Athens.

There’s an afternoon meeting of the Athens Library Board, 3:30 at the Library on Baxter Street.

There was a Wednesday ribbon cutting at the Classic Center, showing off one of the newest electric car charging stations in Athens.

Athens Regional Health systems gets nearly $1 million in state funding: $900,000 will be used to create 102 residency positions for recently graduated physicians. The Athens disbursement comes courtesy of the state Board of Regents, which wrapped up a two-day meeting Wednesday at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville.

Georgia House Speaker David Ralston is among the commencement speakers for next month's graduation exercises at the University of North Georgia. UNG's graduation weekend is May 1 through 3.

A Gainesville City Council work session gets underway at 9 o’clock this morning, taking place in the Administration Building in Gainesville. Gainesville City Manager Kip Padgett is set to make his budget recommendations for the coming fiscal year.

A tragedy in Lumpkin County, where the body of a missing boy has been found in a pond near Dahlonega: Charles Lewis was 3 years old. Searchers found his body shortly after he was reported missing by his mother. The GBI is investigating.

A woman arrested in Gilmer County is accused of selling methamphetamine in the parking lot of a Burger King in Ellijay: charges for 20 year-old Courtney Margalo.

That didn't take long: the first appeals have been filed in the wake of the convictions and sentencing in the Atlanta Public School System cheating scandal. The head of the Georgia Association of Educators is weighing in: Sid Chapman says it’s insulting that the teachers were tried under the racketeering statute he says was meant to deal with organized crime.

Atlanta-based Delta Airlines says it has just had the most profitable first quarter in company history, reporting $746 million for the first three months of 2015. Lower jet fuel prices get much of the credit.

One of the biggest school systems is getting ready to hire 100 new teachers and give 4 percent pay raises to educators already on the job: the announcement comes from Cobb County school officials in Marietta.

A Fayette County grand jury hears evidence in the William McCollum case: he's the former Peachtree City Police Chief who resigned after shooting and wounding his wife. It happened early on New Year's Day; he says it was an accident. The grand jury is considering the possibility of misdemeanor reckless conduct charges.

Macon lost its minor league baseball team several years ago: the single-A Braves now play in Rome. There's word out of Bibb County that officials might make a pitch to land another minor league franchise.

An 80 year old man has drowned in Colquitt County. The coroner in Moultrie says the victim was cleaning a spillway on a pond when he slipped in and became trapped.

Georgia Power closes a coal fired power plant: Plant Branch near Milledgeville was a casualty of federal clean air standards.

Governor Nathan Deal will sign House Bill 1 today: that's the medical marijuana bill.

The Georgia jobless rate holds steady for the month of March, unchanged from February at 6.3 percent. The state Labor Department reports a loss in the number of jobs, down 6,000.