Ken Stanford

Tuesday's inauguration of the nation's first black president is a huge step toward realizing Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of racial equality, but there is still work to be done a large crowd was told Monday at the church where the civil rights leader once preached.

A number of celebrations are planned across northeast Georgia Tueday to mark the inauguration of Barack Obama.

Gov. Sonny Perdue is facing $21 million in personal debt after he took out a massive loan last year for his two agricultural businesses, according to public records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Monday is the final day of a long holiday weekend for most government employees in the state but Hall County employees will have one more day off. However, they won't get paid for it.

Gas prices in Georgia increased another four cents last week, on average, and, since the first of the year, have now risen 20 cents.

European stock markets declined Monday with banks in free fall as investors fretted over a second British government bailout of the sector in just over three months. Royal Bank of Scotland shares fell 60 percent after it announced massive losses.

The driver of a car that struck a tree at Countrywide Village early today escaped serious injury.

The third Sunday in January, known as ``King Sunday'' in Atlanta after Martin Luther King Jr., easily could've been called ``Obama Sunday'' this year.

Although he may not get to bed before 3 a.m., Barack Obama plans to make his first full day as president a jam-packed affair of prayer, diplomacy, war discussions and welcoming hundreds of visitors to the White House.

A record plunge in gasoline prices pushed overall consumer prices down for the third straight month in December, closing out a year in which inflation rose at the slowest rate in more than a half-century.