Ken Stanford

Consumer confidence held steady in March, with a slight blip upward halting three months of declines as slivers of hopes about the economy buoyed consumers.

New Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on Monday exhorted census volunteers to boost outreach in hard-to-count communities as a top lawmaker urged the government to halt immigration raids to ensure an accurate count.

Brenau University's Board of Trustees has unanimously elected NASA executive Dr. Gale J. Allen, a resident of Springfield, Va., to serve a four-year term on the governing board of the 2,700-student university.

The Georgia Legislature appears on the verge of approving a measure that would require driver's license applicants to take the written exam in English, which could make Georgia the only state to have such a rule.

A class-action lawsuit on behalf of 16,000 registered sex offenders challenging Georgia's restrictions on them can proceed under a federal court ruling.

An unusually wet March has brought major drought relief to north Georgia, according to the state climatologist, who says only the Lake Lanier and Lake Hartwell basins are now in drought. The remainder of north Georgia is drought-free.

The John Hunter Regatta returns to Lake Lanier this weekend after four years in "exile" because of the low levels of the drought-stricken lake.

The state Senate's budget-writing panel has OK'd an $18.6 billion spending plan that funnels more state dollars to Medicaid.

The Hall County School System's Hospitality High Coordinator, Rachael McClain, reports that the Lanier Career Center DECA Chapter and the Hospitality High students recently competed at the state level DECA Career Development Conference.

President Obama said Monday neither General Motors nor Chrysler has proposed sweeping enough changes to justify further large federal bailouts, and demanded "painful concessions" from creditors, unions and others as their price for survival.