Tuesday, April 21st

Athens Mayor Nancy Denson names just one finalist to be the next Athens-Clarke County Solicitor: pending the approval of the Athens-Clarke County Commission, Stephanie Maddox will take over for interim Solicitor Steve Martin. Martin has held the post since the departure of former Solicitor John Wolfe. A Commission vote is expected in May.

Athens-Clarke County Commissioners hold their monthly agenda-setting session, 7 o’clock tonight at City Hall. On the agenda: talk about expansion of the Clarke County jail; also plans for park facilities improvements.

The Athens Airport Authority meets, 3:30 this afternoon at Athens-Ben Epps Airport.

There’s an afternoon meeting of the Morton Theatre’s Board of Directors, 5:30 at the Theatre on Washington Street.

Today’s campus blood drive: 9:30 til 2:30 at the University Health Center.

There's another meeting of the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board on tap for today. It's set for 1 o'clock this afternoon at the Walton County Historic Courthouse in Monroe. Preliminary design of the water treatment for the new reservoir is the Board's business agenda. Hard Labor Creek Reservoir will provide drinking water for Walton and Oconee counties.

It was arson: that declaration comes from Barrow County Fire Department, where investigators are still looking into last Friday's fire, a blaze that burned a house on Booth Road in Barrow County. The family was away on vacation at the time of the fire. There's a reward of up to $10,000 for information in the case.

There are charges for the North Carolina man who was driving the tractor-trailer rig that struck and injured a Banks County Sheriff's Deputy: Gary Patterson is 32 years old, from China Grove North Carolina. Charges include DUI and hit-and-run. The Georgia State Patrol says Patterson hit the deputy's car on I-85 in Banks County, then left the scene. He was arrested a short time later. The Deputy was treated for non life-threatening injuries at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.

We have this morning the name of the Stephens County teenager who was struck by a truck and killed while riding a bicycle: the Georgia State Patrol says Damien Roach was 13 years old. State Troopers say the fatal accident happened Sunday afternoon on Nub Garland Road near Toccoa. They say they do not anticipate charges for the 40 year-old Toccoa woman who was driving the truck that hit the bicycle.

Hall County Commission Chairman Dick Mecum will serve as Chairman of the Public Safety and Courts Policy Committee for the Georgia Association of County Commissioners.

President Obama approves federal disaster aid for 15 north Georgia counties that were impacted by winter storms. Banks, Barrow, Dawson, Elbert, Forsyth, Franklin, Habersham, Hall, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison, Oglethorpe, Pickens, Stephens and White counties are eligible to receive federal funds to help offset 75 percent of eligible costs of debris removal, emergency protective measures, and the repair or replacement for disaster-related damages, as determined by FEMA.

The woman who was killed when a storm toppled a tree onto a house in northwest Atlanta has been identified as former DeKalb County school teacher: Patricia Pusha was 60 years old. She taught science at DeKalb County's Ronald McNair Middle School.

U.S. Homeland Security says the Transportation Security Administration is tightening security rules for airline and airport workers in the wake of a criminal case in which an Atlanta baggage handler was accused of smuggling guns on commercial jets at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.

The three Atlanta Public School System administrators who received the longest prison sentences in the APS cheating scandal will be resentenced later this month.

The Atlanta Braves open a series against the Mets tonight in New York. They'll be without the services of relief pitcher Andrew McKirahan, suspended 80 games after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.

The GBI has been called into investigate in Americus: the Sumter County Sheriff's Office reports three murders at two crime scenes.

The first of at least two public hearing will be held tonight on the proposed Palmetto gasoline Pipeline. The line would run from the Augusta area south toward Jacksonville. Property owners in the way are fighting the proposal since it is using imminent domain, and will take a strip of land at least 150 feet wide. Environmentalists are also expressing concern about the proposed pipeline's impact on coastal marshlands in southeast Georgia.

Governor Nathan Deal signs another big piece of legislation today: he'll put pen to paper on the enabling legislation for his Opportunity School District proposal. It's the plan that would allow for state takeover of so-called failing schools in Georgia. It will have to be ratified by voters as a constitutional amendment; it will be on the ballot in November of next year.